David Ellen has been promoted to executive vice president
and general counsel for all of Cablevision Systems Corp., the company said.
The 44-year-old executive, a former Federal Communications
Commission attorney, joined Cablevision in 2004 as senior VP and general
counsel for cable, telecommunications and programming. In October 2008, he was
promoted to EVP and general counsel of cable and communications.
During those five years, Ellen oversaw and directed the
legal affairs of Cablevision's cable and telecommunications businesses as well
as News 12 Networks, the Rainbow ad sales organization and Newsday Media Group.
He also assisted Rainbow, during part of that time, with its legal affairs. He
also served as lead in-house counsel on a variety of strategic legal matters,
such as the issues related to the development of Cablevision's innovative
RS-DVR technology and the subsequent litigation over its lawfulness.
CEO James Dolan, to whom he reports, said in a release:
"David is a talented and successful lawyer with a strong background in the
cable television industry and with meaningful professional experience. We have
come to rely on his thoughtful judgment and insights as we have pursued
strategic initiatives that have contributed to the company's growth, and we
very much look forward to his ongoing counsel and guidance as Cablevision's top
legal officer."
Ellen said: "I am very grateful for this opportunity.
Cablevision is a company with terrific assets and enormous prospects, and I
look forward to working closely with our executive management team
to serve the company in any way I can."
From 2001 to 2004, Ellen was VP and deputy general counsel
of IAC. Before that he was general counsel for Eureka Broadband, a private New
York-based telecommunications company.
Before those two positions, Ellen worked for Cablevision as
senior counsel in the company's government affairs department from 1997 to 2000.
He came to Cablevision after working at the FCC as a special counsel focusing
on the implementation of the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
Earlier, Ellen was a law clerk for now-retired U.S. Supreme
Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. He also clerked for U.S. Supreme Court
Justices Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg when they were U.S. Circuit
Court judges. He graduated from Harvard
Law School
in 1992, where he served as president of the Harvard Law Review.
