Bethpage, N.Y.-based Cablevision Systems said Tuesday that it will completely underwrite the Lustgarten Foundation's administrative costs and launch a massive multiplatform public-service-announcement campaign to support the fight against pancreatic cancer, which has no cure. It kills about 35,000 people a year, with little notice.
The foundation takes its name from the late Marc Lustgarten, Cablevision's vice chairman, who was diagnosed in 1998 and died the next year.
The announcement from Cablevision means that all donations to fight the disease will do just that, and not be spent on administering the charity.
The Cablevision campaign will be unusually broad, using each of its holdings to inform the public about pancreatic cancer. That includes the newly acquired Newsday daily on Long Island, Madison Square Garden (where the PSA will air on the jumbo scoreboard), Radio City Music Hall, Clearview Cinemas, its cable networks -- including WE tv, Fuse, AMC, The Independent Film Channel, Sundance Channel and two regional sports networks -- and various Web sites.
Two PSAs have been produced already, with more to come.
The foundation and Cablevision also started a Web site, curePC.org.
Cablevision president and CEO James L. Dolan said, "Pancreatic cancer is a highly aggressive and lethal disease that needs more attention, and we think Cablevision is in unique position to help."
