Rodgers, TV One CEO Calls It A Day

TV One has won multiple NAACP Image Awards and was recognized with the National Association of Black Journalists’ Best Practices Award in 2009 for its coverage of the Democratic convention and election night in 2008.

[Business News]

After a distinguished 45-year career in the media business, TV One President and CEO Johnathan Rodgers will retire effective July 31, 2011.

Under his leadership the last seven years, TV One, an award-winning cable network available in 53 million homes, has become recognized as the quality programming alternative for African American adults. The network, profitable after only five years, also set successive viewership records over the past three television seasons.

TV One has won multiple NAACP Image Awards and was recognized with the National Association of Black Journalists’ Best Practices Award in 2009 for its coverage of the Democratic convention and election night in 2008.

Educated as a journalist at the University of California at Berkeley, Rodgers began his career as a writer-reporter for Sports Illustrated in 1967 and in the succeeding years worked for NBC and CBS as a television writer, reporter and producer. After moving into media management, Rodgers eventually became an Executive Producer at CBS News and later the President of the CBS Television Stations group.

In 1996, he joined the cable industry when he went to Discovery Communications as the President of the U.S. Networks group. While at Discovery, he oversaw the conversion of The Learning Channel into TLC and the successful launches of Animal Planet, Discovery Kids and Discovery Health.

“Running TV One has been an honor, a privilege and a labor of love for me,” said Johnathan Rodgers. “I was able to bring all my experiences from my previous jobs to help create this wonderful network. I want to thank Brian Roberts and Comcast for their support, and especially Alfred Liggins for his vision in creating and funding TV One and for allowing me to run it for the past seven years. There could have been no better way to cap off a long and satisfying career in the television business for me than to help build a sustainable channel that African American adults, indeed all Americans can be very proud of.”

“When I realized that there was a business opportunity for launching a black cable channel nearly a decade ago, Quincy Jones told me there was only one person I should pursue to develop the channel, and that was Johnathan Rodgers,” said TV One Chairman and Radio One President and CEO Alfred Liggins. “That was great advice, and Johnathan’s involvement in TV One has been invaluable in its success on so many different levels. He is leaving the network on very solid footing for the future.”

“Having Johnathan as a friend and partner in TV One has been a real honor. We knew we were in good hands from the beginning of our relationship, with Johnathan’s industry knowledge, experience and strategic skills and Alfred Liggins’ solid business plan,” said Brian L. Roberts, Chairman and CEO, Comcast Corporation.  “Johnathan’s personal commitment and dedication have helped build TV One into one of the cable industry’s great success stories.”

Launched in January 2004, TV One (www.tvoneonline.com) serves nearly 53 million households, offering a broad range of real-life and entertainment-focused original programming, classic series, movies, and music designed to entertain, inform and inspire a diverse audience of adult African American viewers.  In December 2008, the company launched TV One High Def, which now serves more than 10.3 million households. TV One is a joint venture owned by Radio One [NASDAQ: ROIA and ROIAK; www.radio-one.com], the largest radio company that primarily targets African American and urban listeners; and Comcast Corporation [NASDAQ: CMCSA, CMCSK); www.comcast.com].

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