The Clarion

Issue date: 10/16/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Justin Edmonds ABC's Tom Bergeron greets his long-time friend Anne M. Sweeney at the Cable Center's Hall of Fame last week. [Click to enlarge]

The Cable Center held its annual Cable Days event last week that focused on the rise of user-generated content on television and on the Internet.

In addition, six cable television executives were inducted into the Cable Hall of Fame.

TV personality Tom Bergeron acted as master of ceremonies for the 10th Anniversary of the Cable Hall of Fame. Bergeron who hosts "Dancing with the Stars" and is the former host of popular shows such as "America's Funniest Home Videos" and "Hollywood Squares" presided over the induction ceremonies.

The rising importance of user-generated content was the topic of the conference that was held in conjunction with the Hall of Fame inductions. With Time naming the person of the year "you," television executives are taking notice of Web sites like YouTube, Flikr and Wikipedia, and of the increasing number of bloggers who are quickly achieving fame outside of the Hollywood spotlight.

Media executives explored ways consumers use the user-generated content and how it can be transformed into a lucrative business model, while also touching on its legal implications with intellectual property rights. A large amount of user-generated content uses copyrighted material without permission.

The Cable Center is affiliated with DU only by proximity although it is used as a distance-learning center for one mass communications class. The center is the leading resource for information on the cable industry. It hosts the Cable Days celebration each year.

Those inducted in to the Hall Fame were: Glenn Britt, president and chief executive of Time Warner Cable Inc.; Bob Wright, the former chief of NBC Universal and executive officer of General Electric; Anne Sweeney, co-chairwoman of Disney Media Networks; Doug Dittrick, president and chief executive of Douglass Communications Corp; Jim Chiddix, former chief executive of Open TV, and Barbara York, senior vice-president for consumer affairs for the National Cable and Telecommunications Association.

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