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K.C. NEEL
The Cable and Telecommunications Human Resources Association (CTHRA) drafted an industry-wide diversity initiative designed to help companies deploy employee hiring and retention standards.
About 40 industry companies have signed off on the employee practices drafted by the group, which includes most of the top MSOs, programming networks and vendors.
"We have come to recognize that work force diversity is not just `the right thing to do,'" says Pandit Wright, SVP-human resources for Discovery Communications and CTHRA president. "It is vital that we increase sensitivity at every level to effectively match the virtually limitless diversity of the global market for cable services."
Diversity shouldn't be just a recruiting effort, and it should be more than an affirmative action initiative, according to panelists at a diversity panel held during the Western Cable Show in Los Angeles last week. Affirmative action is thought of in terms of numbers and requirements, while diversity is a way of thinking and acting, says Pat Andrews-Keenan, president of the National Association of Minorities in Cable and VP for AT&T Broadband in Chicago.
Among the principles encompassing the standards initiative:
- Focus on acquiring talent by expanding the resource pool's contacts to identify possible candidates.
- Make sure managers are good managers. Ensure the integrity and effectiveness of management processes, not just for minorities, but for all employees by establishing good employee relations, managing conflict and providing training and developmental opportunities.
- Understand cross-cultural differences and reward achievement.
- Be accountable individually and corporately.
- Promote diversity inside and outside the company by supporting minority vendors.
t Verizon Communications pulled out if its $800 million merger with NorthPoint Communications. NorthPoint's DSL business has been losing money and has only 87,000 lines installed. Phone giant Verizon planned to use NorthPoint as a vehicle to offer DSL in more than 30 states.
s Walt Disney Co. and Comcast Corp. agreed to extend their retransmission consent standoff until New Year's Eve. ABC owns stations in Comcast markets in New Jersey, Los Angeles, Chicago, Toledo, Ohio and Flint, Mich..
t The Federal Communications Commission fined Cablevision Systems for not carrying Univision affiliate WXTV on its proper channel in 17 of 41 cable systems in the New York area. The commission fined Cablevision $127,500 for the misplacement after Univision had sought a fine of up to $18 million.
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