NEW YORK, NY - January 8, 2003
the cable and telecommunications industry's AIDS action organization, kicks off 2003 reporting "Cable Positive's Top Ten Accomplishments of 2002". The list includes the launch of several new programs, increased participation in programs and services and beginning new partnerships to continue the organization's fight against AIDS, all during a time of declining revenue.
Cable Positive's POP Awards
In February 2002, Cable Positive launched the Positively Outstanding Programming Awards to honor exceptional original HIV/AIDS-related cable network programming. Better known as the POP Awards, Cable Positive handed out awards in 9 categories that including documentary, original series, news coverage, and special programming.
Cable Positive created two online categories with presenting sponsor TV Guide to give the industry the opportunity to recognize the network who contributed the most to the fight against AIDS through programming and to allow viewers to voice their opinion on the celebrity who contributed the most to the fight against HIV/AIDS through their participation on cable television. Showtime was recognized as the POP Network of the Year and Sean "P. Diddy" Combs as the POP Celebrity of the Year for hosting MTV's World AIDS Day special, Staying Alive 3.
This year's POP Awards are slated for February 25, 2003.
Launch of New York and Los Angeles Volunteer Chapters
During 2002, Cable Positive launched two new volunteer chapters to provide cable industry professionals with the opportunity to volunteer their time to Cable Positive's fight against AIDS. The New York Volunteer Chapter under the leadership of President Mark Swirsky of AMC Networks, launched on April 23, 2002 with an event held at The Remote Lounge in New York City. The event raised more than $6,000 for Cable Positive, with a portion of the proceeds donated to Green Chimneys' HIV/AIDS program. In November, FOX Sports Tom Chiapetta worked tirelessly for the New York Chapter in helping to raise some $13,000 for Cable Positive's New York Chapter. Tom Arnold of FOX Sports's The Best Damn Sports Show made a guest appearance at the event.
The Los Angeles Volunteer Chapter under the leadership of President David Nathanson of FOX Cableheld a fund-raising event on National HIV Testing Day, June 27, at Moomba in West Hollywood, CA. Former Playboy Playmate and Cable Positive spokesperson Rebekka Armstrong hosted the event with Big Bad Voodoo Daddy performing. The event raised more than $16,000 for Cable Positive's programs and services.
Absolutely Positively Honors Bill McGorry
For the fifth consecutive year, Cable Positive's Annual Benefit Dinner raised at least $1 million. The 2002 dinner recognized the life long contribution of Reed Television Group Senior Vice President Bill McGorry and featured performances by Comedy Central's Jon Stewart and The B-52's.
The 2003 Benefit Dinner is scheduled for May 1, 2003 and will honor Robert Johnson and Debra Lee of BET.
National HIV Testing Day (June 27)
In June, Cable Positive enlisted the support of a record number of 85% of the top 100 cable systems to participate in Cable Positive's 2002 National HIV Testing Day campaign. More than 110 systems nationwide partnered with the organization to air public service announcements (PSAs) in an effort to get Americans tested for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. National cable networks also joined the effort at record-breaking levels with more than 60 participating in the campaign. Cable Positive's 2002 National HIV Testing Day campaign is an initiative to promote HIV testing among Americans.
Positive Generation
During the fall of 2002, Cable Positive launched Positive Generation at Howard University in Washington, D.C. The program provides college students of color with funding to produce public service announcements (PSAs) on HIV/AIDS and an opportunity to find work in the cable industry. As part of the program, Cable Positive formed a partnership with Comcast in Washington DC to air the spot throughout the month of June, and with MetroTeen AIDS to provide the students with access to current HIV/AIDS statistics and data in their community.
Cable Positive Launches Education Is The Only Vaccine In The
Fight Against AIDS Campaign
In September, Cable Positive launched our AIDS education campaign, Education is the Only Vaccine in the Fight Against AIDS. . The campaign has set the goal of educating 25% of the cable industry workforce within the next two years. Cable Positive believes educating this group of influential media content creators and providers does not stop with them; it will be brought into their daily lives and local communities and executed through their workplace and their medium - cable programming and broadband services. The goal is to reduce the rate of HIV infection, particularly among youth, and reduce stigma surrounding the disease.
The campaign was launched during Cable Positive's first-ever Diversity Week AIDS In The Workplace Teach-In. AOL Time Warner and ABC Cable Networks sponsored the event co-chaired by Cox Communications' Mae Douglas and James & Co's Michele James. The event provided human resource professionals from cable companies and networks with the opportunity to preview the re-designed AIDS In The Workplace program along with an industry panel discussion on HIV/AIDS issues in the workplace and HIV/AIDS Update provided by Yolan LaPorte of the Business Responds to AIDS initiative of the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Hairspray Broadway Benefit Raises $50,000
Every fall, the cable industry convenes in New York during Diversity Week, where the cable community discusses issues surrounding diversity within the industry. This year, Cable Positive held a theater fund-raiser with tickets to Broadway's hottest show "Hairspray", which featured a theme of diversity and Broadway star Harvey Fierstein. An after-party at Noche attracted hundreds of Cable Positive supporters, including Fierstein. The evening raised more than $50,000 for Cable Positive.
Cable Positive's first Broadway benefit of 2003 will be "Gypsy" on May 20, starring Bernadette Peters.
A Community Remembers, A Community Acts: A Salute to Cable
Positive's 10th Anniversary
Reed Business Information collaborated with Cable Positive to produce A Community Remembers, A Community Acts: A Salute to Cable Positive's 10th Anniversary. The publication chronicled the 10 years of the organization's fight against HIV/AIDS through first person interviews and profiles on the organization's most influential supporters including Lifetime's Carole Black, Court TV's Henry Schlieff, Showtime's Matt Blank, YES Network's Leo Hindery, Jr. and BET's Debra Lee.
Reed Business Information donated $30,250 to Cable Positive, from industry sponsorships.
The project was underwritten by funds from the John Evans Foundation
and Moe Berger, father of Joel A. Berger, an early Cable Positive
activist and former publisher of Multichannel News.
World AIDS Day Partnership with the Ad Council and UN Foundation
For World AIDS Day, December 1, Cable Positive teamed up with
the Ad Council to distribute a new PSA sponsored by the UN Foundation.
It was the first time in Cable Positive's ten-year history of
a PSA partnership with the Ad Council.
The new campaign uses a portrayal of children orphaned by AIDS in an effort to raise awareness of the global AIDS crisis. The PSA depicts a world in which young children live in a city without the help and love of parents and other adults. Somber music plays in the background as children walk the streets unaccompanied and perform other roles without adults. The spots conclude with a voiceover by actor Michael Douglas equating the 14 million children orphaned as a result of AIDS with every child under the age of five in America. Viewers then see and hear the campaign tagline, "AIDS is preventable. Apathy is lethal."
Cable Positive's partnership was recognized in article in the
December 3, 2002 issue of The Wall Street Journal.
AIDS In The 21st Century Airs Nationally on Discovery Health
Channel In Support of World AIDS Day
Cable Positive partnered with Discovery Health Channel to air
the Cable Positive-produced documentary AIDS In The 21st Century
on World AIDS Day, December 1. The documentary examines the AIDS
crisis in the United States through the eyes of those infected,
AIDS activists and health experts. To illustrate the controversies
surrounding the epidemic, AIDS In The 21st Century tells the stories
of several individuals including an HIV-positive mother of two
in Atlanta, a college age HIV prevention outreach worker in San
Francisco, and
Cleve Jones, founder of the AIDS Memorial Quilt.
Cable Positive held three screenings of the documentary for the cable industry and AIDS activists in Washington, D.C. at NCTA; during Broadband Plus: The New Western Show in Anaheim, California; and to a standing room only audience in Sacramento, California.
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Cable Positive is a national non-profit organization that was founded in February
1992 by three concerned cable executives with the mission of organizing
cable's resources in the fight against AIDS. Cable Positive is
dedicated to unifying the talents, resources, access, and influence
of the communications industry to raise AIDS awareness; to fund
AIDS education, research and care; and to promote a more compassionate
climate for people whose lives have been affected by HIV and AIDS.
Cable Positive has grown to include supporters from every major
cable network, MSO, system, hardware manufacturer, trade association,
media publication, and affiliated industry vendors and suppliers.
For more information about Cable Positive, call 212.459.1502 or
visit www.cablepositive.org.
