The Gerrys Gab
-- Broadcasting & Cable, 12/4/2000
Time Warner Chairman and HBO pioneer Gerald Levin and Oxygen President and CEO Geraldine Laybourne were among the cable luminaries talking old times at the Museum of Television and Radio in Los Angeles last week after the first day of the Western Show. They were just two in a star-studded group celebrating the 25th anniversary of cable's first commercial satellite transmission: HBO's coverage of the Oct. 1, 1975, Ali-Frazier bout.
A day later, the FCC's Michael Powell met with Laybourne when Henry Schleiff, Court TV's CEO, got the two face-to-face to discuss the problem retransmission consent causes fledgling networks like Oxygen. Schleiff and Laybourne contend that, without the muscle of cable networks owned by ABC, CBS, NBC or Fox, channels like Oxygen have a hard time getting carriage. Powell, we hear, told Laybourne he wanted to hear more about that.
