Cable Positive said Wednesday that it will present Cox Communications Inc. and its CEO, James O. Robbins, with its highest honor, the “Joel A. Berger Memorial Award,” for their contributions to the fight against HIV/AIDS.
The award is named for Joel A. Berger, a Cable Positive honorary chair and former group publisher of Multichannel News, who died of complications due to AIDS in April 1995.
The award will be presented at Cable Positive’s annual benefit dinner, “Positively Community,” Tuesday, March 7 in New York.
“Jim Robbins represents the kind of progressive, socially responsible leader who motivates others by his strong example and is in turn moved to action by the work of others,” Cable Positive CEO Steve Villano said in a prepared statement.
“The efforts of Jim and his team at Cox are having a profound and continuing impact in the Atlanta community and in communities across the country where Cox cable systems have formed working partnerships with local AIDS-service organizations,” he added.
Previous Joel A. Berger Memorial Award winners were: Lifetime Entertainment Services’ Carole Black (2005); Showtime Networks Inc.’s Matt Blank (2004); Black Entertainment Television’s Robert L. Johnson and Debra Lee (2003); Reed Business Information’s (parent company of Multichannel News) Bill McGorry (2002); Cablevision Systems Corp.’s James L. Dolan (2001); Falcon Communications’ Marc B. Nathanson (2000); ABC Cable Networks’ Anne Sweeney (1999); Yankees Entertainment & Sports Network’s Leo J. Hindery Jr. (1998); Time Warner Cable’s Dick Aurelio (1997); Showtime Networks’ Winston H. “Tony” Cox (1996, posthumously); and Time Warner Inc.’s Jeffrey Bewkes and Michael Fuchs (1995).
