The gatekeepers

A fairly accurate job description for a cable system programming executive is deciding what gets pumped into millions of cable homes, and dealing with scores of executives, all of whom want their product to be a part of that payload. The job is done in an atmosphere where programming costs outpace inflation, but consumers resist paying more while stockholders expect spectacular results. Eight executives who hold the programming keys to most of the US's cable homes are profiled, including: Matt Bond of AT&T Broadband, Fred Dressler of Time Warner, Rich Goldberg of DirecTV, Patty McCaskill of Charter, Bob Wilson of Cox, Mac Budill of Cablevision, Italia Weinand of Mediacom, and Jerry McKenna of Cable One.