Talk:Roger L. Werner

Untitled
Roger Werner has developed and led several of the nation’s largest cable television networks.

In 1979, Werner began his career in the television programming industry when he joined the international management firm McKinsey & Company. While at McKinsey & Co., Werner began his work with ESPN, aiding in the development and implementation of the strategic and operational plans of the then start-up network, a role which lasted from 1980-1982. In March of 1982, Werner left McKinsey to join ESPN as the network’s Chief Operating Officer.

Werner spent the next six years working as ESPN’s Chief Operating Officer, during which time the company became the world’s largest and most profitable cable television network – growing from $1 million to over $600 million in annual sales, and from an annual loss of $30 million to approximately $150 million in profits. In 1988, Werner became the network’s President and CEO. Throughout his eight year tenure at ESPN, Werner’s team pioneered exclusive Sunday night NFL coverage, and international events such as the America’s Cup and the Formula One World Championship, in addition to introducing ESPN-branded sports networks in over twenty international markets.

In November 1990, Werner joined cable pioneer Bill Daniels, to help develop an emerging regional sports network. For the next five years, Werner worked alongside Daniels in building the Los Angeles-based Prime Ticket Network into America’s largest regional cable network. While working with Daniels, Werner launched La Cadena Deportiva (now “Fox Sports America”), America’s first Spanish language sports network. Werner also managed Daniels’ partnership interests with Liberty Media in an additional five regional networks, and in August of 1994 Werner successfully concluded the sale of the last of these business to a Fox/Liberty joint venture. Following the sale, Werner began work on what would one day become the Speedvision network.

Between 1995 and 2002, Werner developed Speedvision (now Fox’s “Fox Sports 1”) and Outdoor Life Network (now “NBC Sports”) and served as both networks’ President and CEO. He developed these networks in partnership with investors, Cox, Comcast and AT&T. Following their launch in December of 1995, both Speedvision and Outdoor Life achieved profitability, coming to a combined revenue of over $100 million in 2001. It was during this year that Werner and two of his partners, Cox and AT&T, finalized the sale of their shareholdings to Fox and Comcast – a deal which valued the two networks $1.4 billion, making the networks two of the largest programming start-ups in cable history.

From November 2006 to February 2012 he served as President and CEO of Outdoor Channel Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:OUTD), growing its subscriber base from 20 to 38 million, increasing profitability fourfold and dramatically improving program quality and market presence. In February 2012 he served as Co-Chairman and helped negotiate the sale of Outdoor Channel to Kroenke Sports and Entertainment, a Denver-based private company.

Werner serves as chairman of ACCUS (the Automobile Competition Committee of The United States) America’s representative to the FIA. He is a former board member of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association and a past recipient of the Cable Advertising Board’s President’s Award.

He is a graduate of Trinity College in Hartford, CT (BA 1972), and holds a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Virginia (1977) where he was class president and now serves as a member Darden Business School alumni board.

First draft

 * 1) You essentially copied from here.  This is a copyright violation.  Use your own words.
 * 2) You imply he is on the Board of Trustees for the University of Virginia, which is false.  He is on the board of the University's Business School's Foundation.
 * 3) The ESPN paragraph is promotional...  "ESPN became the world’s largest and most profitable cable television network"  This partially true, the ref said largest, not profitable.  " Werner’s team pioneered exclusive Sunday night NFL coverage"   Werner didn't personally do this and there is no ref that mentions his team.  "pioneered exclusive" is embellishing/promotional...   Just state ESPN started Sunday Night football.
 * 4) Do you have any refs for... 1) When he started at ESPN.   2)  The profit/loss ESPN sentence 3) International markets sentence?

Bgwhite (talk) 09:31, 17 January 2015 (UTC)