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CABLE POSITIVE BREAKS NEW GROUND WITH TOP TEN ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF 2004 NEW YORK, NY - December 15, 2004 “Throughout 2004, the cable industry continued to roll-up its sleeves in the daily work involved in HIV/AIDS education, awareness and prevention,” said Cable Positive President & CEO, Steve Villano. “Each year, the industry has done more HIV/AIDS related-programming, and deepened its involvement with local AIDS Service Organizations in communities across the country. Hundreds of volunteers, hundreds of thousands of dollars raised, and millions of dollars worth of cable air-time donated to communicate about HIV/AIDS represent this industry’s solid commitment to furthering the fight—through Cable Positive—against the most deadly disease of our time.” 1. Launch of JOIN THE FIGHT National Awareness Campaign on World AIDS Day, December 1, 2004 Cable Positive launched its new HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention campaign - JOIN THE FIGHT - in support of World AIDS Day, December 1, 2004. The campaign takes a positive stance on the fight against HIV/AIDS by promoting ideas and actions individuals can take to join the fight. Cable Positive enlisted the talents of acclaimed director Joel Schumacher (THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, PHONE BOOTH, ST. ELMO’S FIRE) and celebrity spokespersons Jamie Lynn DiScala (THE SOPRANOS), Jennifer Esposito (TAXI, SPIN CITY), Nathan Lane (THE PRODUCERS, BIRDCAGE), Christopher Meloni (LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT), Jeffrey Wright (ANGELS IN AMERICA) to declare personal messages of how they have joined the fight against HIV and AIDS. The campaign was distributed to cable networks and systems across the United States, reaching 73 million cable television households. Each national spot directs viewers to www.cablepositive.org/jointhefight, a website dedicated to providing information how to better educate yourself about HIV/AIDS, general information on HIV testing, how to volunteer your time and efforts to the cause, and provides some on ideas on how to talk to your friends, family and loved ones about the epidemic. To date, the website has received more than 150,000 hits. 2. First Time Support of National Latino AIDS Awareness Day In an effort to continue our reach to the groups most at risk for HIV transmission, Cable Positive supported the 2nd Annual National Latino AIDS Awareness Day, October 15, 2004; a campaign organized by the Latino Commission on AIDS to promote a national day of awareness and prevention against HIV/AIDS in the Latino community. A reel of four Spanish language public service announcements that promote HIV/AIDS awareness, prevention and testing were distributed to cable networks. The spots aired exclusively on VHUno and MTV en Espanol reaching 30 million Latino cable television households. In 2005, Cable Positive plans to target other high risks groups with public awareness campaigns. 3. Cable Positive Forms Partnership with VH1 and Cable in the Classroom to Create and Distribute HIV/AIDS Education Curriculum for Young People Education is key component in the fight against HIV/AIDS, so Cable Positive teamed up with VH1 and Cable in the Classroom, the cable telecommunications industry's organization committed to education -- to improve teaching and learning for children in schools, at home, and in their communities, by creating a curriculum to educate young people about HIV and AIDS through the program VH1 News Presents AIDS: A Pop Culture History. The program -- hosted by AIDS activist and actress Ashley Judd -- reveals how pop culture influenced the way the public has experienced the epidemic over the past 20 years. With interviews by some of entertainment’s biggest names including, Sharon Stone, Paul Michael Glaser, Russell Simmons and Clive Davis, AIDS: A Pop Culture History, explores the influence of pop culture on the American psyche as well as the limits of its reach. This project was made possible through a grant from the John D. Evans Foundation. To receive the curriculum, please contact VH1’s Irma Arizmendi at irma.arizmendi@vh1staff.com or 212.846.4739. 4. Cable Positive Galvanizes Southern California Cable Community To Support 12th Annual World Team Tennis All-Star Smash Hits & Raises $1.6 Million for Local AIDS Services; Cable Positive, working through its Southern California Chapter, galvanized Southern California’s cable community partners Adelphia, Cox, Charter and Time Warner to support the 12th Annual World Team Tennis All-Star Smash Hits charity fundraiser by providing more than $200,000 in pro-bono advertising and promotion support for the event. The industry’s powerful involvement helped raise more than $1.6 million to benefit local AIDS service organizations through the Elton John AIDS Foundation and the National AIDS Fund. 5. The Denver Chapter of Cable Positive’s Positively Cable Reaches 10th Anniversary and Raises Record Amount - $144,200 Cable Positive’s longest running regional chapter event reached a milestone this year. Over the past ten years, Positively Cable, has raised more than $600,000 for Cable Positive and our local Denver HIV/AIDS initiatives. This year the Denver Chapter of Cable Positive presented Positively Cable Book X: Bobo Broadband and the Tchamber of Tchotchkes on November 11, 2004 at The Cable Center in Denver, Colorado. The sold-out show, written and performed by industry volunteers, lampooned the cable industry in a plot influenced by both Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings helping to raise more than $144,000 for the fight against HIV/AIDS. 6. More Than $290,000 Provided in Grants to AIDS Service Organizations To Fight HIV/AIDS Locally Cable Positive provided more than $290,000 in grants to over 40 AIDS service organizations for the fight against HIV/AIDS in local communities across the United States during 2004. Cable Positive made grants to the Black AIDS Institute and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, two national organizations, who utilized the funds to reach out to local communities. Funding was also provided through our Tony Cox Community Fund, a program that promotes partnerships between community-based AIDS service organizations and cable outlets. The fund reached a historic $1 million in funding this year nurturing more than 200 projects in 33 states across the United States to date. These grants provide monies for local outreach, production of public service announcements and programming and prevention promotion. Cable Positive’s five regional chapters also raised and distributed a record amount of targeted funding for local HIV/AIDS services programs. (see accomplishment 9 for more details). 7. Cable Positive’s AIDS in the Workplace Program Reaches 60,000 Educated Mark Cable Positive’s one-of-a-kind workplace-based AIDS education program – AIDS in the Workplace -- was created to increase HIV prevention and AIDS awareness efforts and reduce stigma surrounding the disease by informing employees about HIV and AIDS. In 2004, the program—with a newly revised curriculum and an updated video presentation that includes clips from some of cable television’s most popular programs—reached a record 60,000 educated individuals over the past 11 years. 8. Cable Spring Break Week Success: Cable Positive Annual Benefit Dinner Hits All-Time High Attendance Cable Spring Break Week, launched as a joint venture in late March/early April 2004, between Cable Positive, Women in Cable and Telecommunications (WICT) and Horowitz Associates, turned into a successful week for the cable industry offering a convenient, cost-effective way to bring the industry together to advance diversity and HIV/AIDS awareness. Held at New York’s Marriott Marquis, New York City, the week heralded a record-breaking attendance of executives from around the cable industry with each organization reporting at least a 30% increase in attendance than at their individual events in 2003. New attendance records were also set at Cable Positive’s Annual Benefit Dinner, where some 1,050 industry leaders showed their strong support for Cable Positive and for 2004 Joel A. Berger Memorial Award recipient, Matt Blank, Chairman & CEO of Showtime Networks, Inc. The Cable Positive Benefit raised $1.25 million for Cable Positive’s important programs and services. The 2005 Benefit Dinner, Carole Positive!, is scheduled for May 10, 2005, in conjunction with Cable Spring Break Week, and will recognize Lifetime Entertainment Service’s Carole Black. 9. Cable Positive Chapters Provide Much Needed Funds and Volunteers to Support Local AIDS Initiatives Cable Positive’s five chapters in Atlanta, Denver, New York, Philadelphia and Southern California raised more than $230,000 in 2004 for Cable Positive and our local HIV/AIDS initiatives in their communities. The combined efforts of the chapters help to make an impact in the cable community and the local community in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Thousands of cable industry employees attended fundraising events and participated in volunteer activities such as AIDS Walks, clothing drives and holiday gift wrapping to support the work of Cable Positive and of Action AIDS in Philadelphia, AIDS Atlanta, AIDS Service Center of New York, AIDS Service Center of Pasadena, the Volunteers of America’s Rainbow House and Mi Casa in Denver. Organizational plans are already underway to develop a Cable Positive Baltimore/Washington DC area chapter in 2005. 10. Cable Cooks 2: The Inside Dish Serves Up The FUN in Fundraising The brainchild of Cable Positive Honorary Chair Michele James, Principal, James & Co., Cable Cooks 2: The Inside Dish is the cookbook serving up food, foibles and fodder from cable luminaries to raise funds for Cable Positive. This second volume of the wildly popular Cable Cooks: The Inside Dish is in memory of Joel Berger. To date, the book has raised more than $140,000 selling over 2,500 books.
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