Pioneering Cable Exec Carolyn Chambers Dies, 79

Entrepreneur produced movies, served on Federal Reserve Bank board

 

By Kent Gibbons, Multichannel News -- Broadcasting & Cable, 8/8/2011 5:34:43 PM

Chambers Communications founder and chairwoman Carolyn S. Chambers died on Monday of cancer at age 79, her company reported.

Chambers, who among many accomplishments served on the boards of the National Cable Television Association and of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, began Chambers Communications with a license for TV station KEZI in Eugene, Ore., in 1959, at age 25, according to a biography on the Cable Center Web site.Carolyn S. Chambers. Photo: KEZI-TV

KEZI-TV became the start of Liberty Communications, which grew to include six TV stations and 33 cable systems in 11 states, according to a biographical video shown at her Cable TV Hall of Fame induction in 2006 and which can be viewed at this Cable Center link.

Liberty Communications was sold to Tele-Communications Inc. in 1983, with Chambers retaining KEZI-TV and four cable systems in Washington and California as Chambers Communications. After other acquisitions and sales, Chambers Communications was left with three TV stations, a cable system, a video production company and an Internet service provider, the Cable Center biography reported.

Click here to read the full story at Multichannel.com.