BOSTON – A large contingent of Canadian cable delegates who journeyed to Boston rose to lead a standing ovation for Rogers Communications vice-chairman Phil Lind as he was inducted into the Cable Hall of Fame Monday night.
Lind and five others, Ann Rallis Carlsen, CEO of Carlsen Resources; legendary CNN broadcaster Larry King; BET Networks chair and CEO Debra Lee; Lenfest Group president and CEO Gerry Lenfest; and Leo Hindery Jr., managing partner of InterMedia Partners (but best known as the CEO who turned around TCI and the fortunes of U.S. cable in the late 1990s leading the so-called “Summer of Love” when U.S. cable companies were speedily bought and sold so they could be clustered together, geographically); were all honoured by their peers Monday evening.
Lind is just the third Canadian to have earned the honour in the 15 years the Hall of Fame has been run, with Ted Rogers and Shaw Communications founder JR Shaw preceding him.
Shaw, an inductee in 2010, said of Lind in a short interview with Cartt.ca on Monday night: “Being named to the Hall of Fame is probably the highest honour you can get in the cable industry and to have Phil Lind, who was so responsible for cable in Canada to be inducted tonight, well, I call him the king of cable in Canada. Even though there was Ted Rogers and a whole bunch of others around, Phil Lind is still the king of cable to me.”
Lind joined Ted Rogers at what was a much smaller company in 1969 (it had two radio stations and 10,000 cable customers) and the two together grew Rogers into a cable powerhouse in Canada. However, after acquiring so many cable outfits through the 1970s and 80s, Rogers and Lind then thought their best chance at growth (since the CRTC made them slow down in Canada) would come from the United States. So, Lind led an aggressive campaign in the ruthless “franchise wars” of the day in the U.S. Unlike in Canada where companies apply to the CRTC for a cable license, American cable companies must win a cable franchise from each city or town, which meant building a cable company by winning franchises was no easy task, especially as a Canuck coming to town.
There are as many stories around what happened to get those franchises and how those businesses were built as there are franchises (likely more, given there are two or more sides to every story…). They are Lind’s very favourite stories to regale people with and he mentioned a couple on Sunday night during a cocktail party put on by investment fund Tuckamore Capital Management, which is run by former Rogers Cable COO Dean MacDonald. Lind also sits on its board.
One such story involved an American executive battling Lind and Rogers for the Portland, Oregon franchise who badmouthed Canadians and Canada in the hopes of winning that cable franchise over the upstarts from the north. Lind knew this executive did a significant amount of business in lumber in British Columbia and so he called up the forestry minister then to let him know what this American fellow was saying about Canadians. Mysteriously, the next day that same executive apologized for and retracted his statements about Canada – and Rogers went on to win the franchise.
While Lind helped build a Canadian communications behemoth employing tens of thousands of Canadians and creating billions in wealth for the country (former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney called him “A man of accomplishment, a man of principle, a man of great integrity,” in a tribute video on Monday), Lind fondly remembers his days leading Rogers’ U.S. charge.
“It was the most satisfying period for me because it was tough. Franchising was very, very tough… The exhilaration that you feel when you’ve won something, it’s just so thrilling,” said Lind (pictured at the podium on Monday).
The decade Lind spent leading Rogers in the States, with people like Colin Watson, whom he also thanked, was “the highlight of my career and some of the happiest days of my professional life,” he added.
“This means a great deal to me, considering those who have already been honoured, and especially because the two Canadians who have received this, JR Shaw and Ted Rogers, are held in such high regard in both countries,” Lind continued. He called Rogers, with whom he worked for 43 years, “My leader, my partner, my boss, my friend. I admired him greatly. It saddens me not to see Ted. He always loved a party and would have loved this one. We came a long way together and he was just one hell of a guy.”
Reflecting on what Rogers has become, primarily a huge wireless firm which has long been larger than the company’s cable operations, Lind noted he can’t shake what he is and is proud to stand apart. “When you’re referred to as a cable guy, you wear it as a badge of pride,” he said… “once a cable guy, always a cable guy.”
Shaw Communications president Peter Bissonnette (left) and Astral CEO Ian Greenberg flank Rogers’ Phil Lind on his induction night Monday.
Shaw’s John Piercy (left) and Zoran Stakic were in attendance.
Bil Trainor of Capital Networks, CPAC’s Natalie Lemay-Calcutt, and CRTC acting chair Len Katz were also on hand (left to right), as were dozens of other Canadians on Monday night.
Photos by Greg O'Brien.
