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Joseph M. Cohen, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of HTN Communications, LLC, is recognized universally for both his accomplishments in and contributions to the television broadcast industry. He is highly regarded as a pioneer in the sports television Industry, but his record of achievement extends well beyond television. The Cohen touch has created and revived companies and organizations in television, cable, radio, arena operations, arena development and management, and professional sports franchises, among others.
Born and raised in New York, he attended Joel Braverman High School in Brooklyn before matriculating to the University of Pennsylvania where he earned a BS in Economics in 1968.
He earned an MBA at Penn�s Wharton School of Business two years later.
Cohen began to make his mark in New York when he was Assistant to the Vice-President of Operations at Madison Square Garden Corporation from 1970-72. He ascended rapidly in Garden operations becoming the Director of Special Forces from 1972-73 and Director of Bookings from 1973-74.
In 1975, he was named Vice-President of MSG Cable and Vice-President of Development for the Garden serving in both roles for four years. In 1979 he was elevated to President of MSG Network where he was responsible for advertising, sales, production, and program development for MSGN as well as the broadcast and cable operations of all Garden events. During his tenure, MSGN experienced unmatched growth and established itself as one of the largest regional cable broadcast networks in the country. One of his first moves was to acquire Hughes Television Network, a broadcast transmission delivery company. It would prove to be a move he would repeat again in 2003.
During his tenure as president, Cohen used his ntrepreneurial spirit and his unique understanding of the industry to co-found the USA Network with Bob Rosencrans, transforming UA/Columbia Cable Television into a 24-hour, national broadcast entity. It was that opportunity that saw Cohen and USA Network negotiate the first-ever cable broadcast contracts for the NBA, NHL, and Major League Baseball.
In 1985, Cohen left Madison Square Garden and MSGN to form an investment group which would, ironically, purchase the Hughes Television Network from the Garden. He served as HTN president and CEO after the acquisition. Just a year later, he put together another investment group, this time buying the Z Channel in Los Angeles and adding Dodgers, Anaheim Angels and LA Clippers games to the mix. He served as the company�s CEO and promptly led the entity to its former prominence in the market.
Cohen was on the move again in 1989, when he became a consultant for Spectacor and Rainbow Program Services. In 1991 he was named President of Spectacor West and President and CEO of Spectacor Films. His consultancy with Rainbow ended in 1991 and his CEO and President roles with Spectacor ended in 1993 when he was named Chairman of the NHL�s Los Angeles Kings. Along the way, he sold HTN to IDB.
In 1995, after eight years away from New York, he returned to Madison Square Garden as Executive Vice-President where he was responsible for MSGN, Fox Sports Net New York (FSNY), and MSG Radio, among a host of other duties. Always at the forefront of the profession, he is responsible for MSGN�s development of High Definition Television (HDTV) capacities and for the network�s record Emmy awards during his tenure. It was fitting that Cohen, who had nurtured the network in its infancy, came back to run it in its teenage years.
In the fall of 2000 Cohen was charged with the responsibility of developing a new, state-of-the-art Madison Square Garden arena and entertainment complex as well as a practice facility for the Rangers, Knicks, and Liberty. This acclaimed facility, located in Greenburgh, New York, opened in the fall of 2002.
In 2005 Cohen served as principal architect of STO Sportstime Ohio is a Northern Ohio regional sports network reaching nearly 3 million homes and designed to offer a variety of sports programming produced for the Ohio sports fan. STO offers 150 Cleveland Indians games annually with ALL games in HD and 52 weeks of Indians Cleveland Brown coverage.
Cohen�s expertise has been called on in service to a myriad of committees and organizations. He served on the television committees for both the NHL and NBA between 1976 and 1985, representing the Rangers and Knicks. He also helped negotiate the NHL�s contract with ESPN. In addition, he was active in the production and management of live events at arenas and racetracks. He is a board member for the March of Dimes, the Police Athletic League, is a trustee of the New York Sports Museum and Hall of Fame, and has advised numerous public organizations, including the New York State Council for the Arts. In 1996 he was the recipient of the Boy Scouts Good Scout Award and in 1998 received the prestigious Ellis Island Medal of Honor. He has also been named a Cable Pioneer, one of the highest accolades an individual can receive from the industry.
In 2004 Cohen was elected to the Board of Trustees of California Institute of the Arts (CALARTS), one of leading arts colleges in the United States. He is also Vice Chairman of Campus Affairs of the institute.
As of 2007 Cohen serves on the Board of Directors for Vootage.com, a web based software solution for video storage, statistics, and video streaming of high school sporting events. Created in 2006, Vootage.com allows high schools and their athletic programs the ability to control, distribute, monetize, and index their video.
Cohen is currently a Board Member of MediaXstream, a production and broadcast company. MedaXStream specializes in source content management technologies and network applications, connecting captured images with production services to be handed off to broadcasters. Solutions are designed for producers, broadcasters, and content distributors who create, manage, and distribute original media with an emphasis on high definition. |
