McSlarrow Going to Comcast; Powell May Take His Spot at NCTA
NCTA President Kyle McSlarrow is going to work for Comcast, with the title of president of Comcast/NBC Universal in Washington, the cable association and the No. 1 U.S. cable operator confirmed Wednesday afternoon. Comcast is the biggest member of the NCTA. McSlarrow said in November that he was leaving the cable association, where he’s held the top job since 2005. Those close to him at the time had said he hoped to work as an executive in the cable industry, and some had speculated he'd go to Comcast.
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McSlarrow will start at Comcast in early April with “dual responsibilities in business operations and public policy” in the city, Comcast said. “On the operations side, Mr. McSlarrow will help lead the company’s efforts in the Washington metropolitan area around the customer experience and product development. In addition, Mr. McSlarrow will participate in national efforts to improve the customer experience and will help lead strategic planning around the extension of Comcast Business Services at the federal and state government levels.” McSlarrow also gives the company a high-profile person to lobby Capitol Hill and the FCC, cable industry executives said. He'll report to Executive Vice President David Cohen, who has overseen Comcast’s lobbying operations from Philadelphia.
McSlarrow is expected to be replaced at NCTA by ex-FCC Chairman Michael Powell, who has been seen as among the top contenders for the job (CD Feb 14 p1), said cable executives watching the search. The NCTA board met Wednesday, and the topic of Powell almost certainly came up, they said. Powell may have interviewed with the executives of NCTA-member companies who are helping find a replacement for McSlarrow, other executives said. Powell and an NCTA spokesman had no comment.
If Powell gets the top job at NCTA, he'll have a growing divide to bridge between the association’s cable-operator and programmer members on issues including retransmission consent and net neutrality, several industry executives said. Any new NCTA president may find himself refereeing policy disputes that include McSlarrow, cable executives said. On retrans, some members might prefer there not be changes to rules, as is sought by many cable operators and other pay-TV providers, including telcos and DBS companies, they said. And there’s a split of sorts between content distributors and content providers on net neutrality, with distributors generally against rules and some programmers for it, they said.
"The content owners and distributors are just on new planets now” on some issues, said a cable executive. Powell has shown he’s a “bridge builder” and he'd need to put those skills to work if he’s hired by the NCTA, the executive said. Powell was the first Republican chairman of the FCC under President George W. Bush, between 2001 and 2005, and more recently has worked at Providence Equity Partners, a buyout firm with many media and telecom investments.
McSlarrow will be “a great asset for Comcast” and “we're especially glad he'll remain within the cable family,” said NCTA Chairman Pat Esser. Also the president of Cox Communications, Esser has been closely involved in the search for McSlarrow’s successor. “That search continues, and we're working very hard to complete it,” Esser said. NCTA Executive Vice President James Assey will run the association “for the duration of any transition,” Esser said.