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Michael S. Willner spent his entire career in the cable television industry. He co-founded Insight Communications in 1985 and served as its CEO, a director and vice chairman of the board until the company was sold to Time Warner Cable in February, 2012.

As a young boy in Miami, Florida, Michael had a fascination with the television business at a very early age. He often rode his bicycle to the local NBC affiliate after school where the staff allowed him to help out in the studio while they produced and aired a live children's puppet show and the local news. Michael began his career in 1974 as the program director and news reporter for a small suburban New York cable system after graduating from the Boston University College of Communications. Soon after, he shifted his focus to general management and eventually became the chief operating officer of Vision Cable Communications, a cable company owned by a division of Newhouse Newspapers.

After starting Insight Communications, Michael quickly developed his hands-on style of management as CEO. He is a firm believer in open, honest communication. He personally ensured that employees and customers were always well-informed and had input and influence over important Company decisions. This commitment led to a secondary career - that of a leading man in a number of Insight television commercials in which he comfortably played himself with a great sense of self-deprecating humor.

Michael also became very active in industry affairs and has been one of cable's most active and effective ambassadors on Capitol Hill, testifying regularly before Congress on industry issues and pending legislation. He has served two consecutive terms as chairman of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA), the cable industry's trade lobby and currently served on its executive committee for many years. Michael also served as chairman of the board of the Cable Center from 2007 through 2011. He served on the executive committee of CableLabs; on the board of directors of C-SPAN, and the Walter Kaitz Foundation.

A recipient of the NCTA's 2004 Vanguard Award for Distinguished Leadership and a 2005 inductee into the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame, Michael has yet to achieve his greatest goal of winning an Emmy for his leading role in Insight's commercials.

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Apple looking to move to streaming TV show rentals

New Apple TV Will Push 99 Cent Streaming TV Rentals [NewTeeVee]

Spock-ipad More news is leaking out about Apple's plans to bring iTunes to the cloud, as NewTeeVee picks up on the company's plans to offer streaming television shows for rent. Unlike the current iTunes model, where users can purchase standard definition and HD versions of shows, download them and watch them as many times as they like as long as they want, Apple's iTunes rentals would provide users the ability to rent at a lower price but only allow viewing within a 30-day window. Once a user started watching the content, they would have 24 hours to finish viewing.

It's a plan that looks similar to Hulu's recently announced plans to offer streaming broadcast television content for a monthly subscription. Apple's TV plans, should the rental offerings be the same as the current fare on iTunes, will offer broadcast options in addition to many cable programs that aren't featured on Hulu.

The table for the next stage of online video viewing is beginning to be set. It's going to happen in the cloud and Internet connected tablets, phones, set-tops and televisions will be the main content viewing platforms - not computer screens.

Posted at 05:15 AM in Broadband Internet |

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