John Pascarelli has 33 years of cable-industry experience and has served as Mediacom Communications’ executive vice president, operations since November of 2003.
The NCTA this year is honoring Pascarelli with its Vanguard Award for Cable Operations Management, which recognizes the efforts of cable’s system managers, who work under intensely competitive conditions in today’s dynamic telecommunications environment and are critical to the cable industry’s success at the local level.
“When I started out as a door-to-door sales representative with Continental Cablevision, we were just introducing cable-TV service to communities in Eastern Massachusetts,” Pascarelli said. “Our only product was video and it consisted of a 25-channel basic lineup and HBO, Cinemax and Showtime as premium movie services.”
Fast-forward to today, and Mediacom has a dynamic fiber network spanning 22 states and nearly going coast-to-coast. The company provides a full suite of interactive residential services, including HD video, broadband Internet, voice, and home automation. But Pascarelli believes the best is yet to come.
Prior to taking on his current job, Pascarelli was senior vice president, marketing and consumer services and vice president of marketing. Before joining Mediacom, Pascarelli served as vice president, marketing for Helicon Communications from January 1996 to February 1998. He has worked at CableVision Industries, Continental Cablevision, Cablevision Systems and Storer Communications. He became a Cable Pioneer in 2008 and was recently elected to the board of directors. He serves on the board for Catholic Charities Community Services of Orange County, N.Y.
Pascarelli said video affordability is the most signifi cant issue the industry faces today and said he doesn’t see anything that will “stop the relentless rise in programming costs for video distributors and their customers … I fear that one day we will reach the tipping point where the average American household will simply say they cannot afford the basic-video package.”
Still, he remains bullish on cable and sees upside potential in commercial services and more broadband offerings. He’s also excited about the potential of such new areas as home automation.
Fun Fact:
Pascarelli first worked with Mediacom Communications CEO Rocco Commisso when the two executives worked at Cablevision Industries Inc. in the late ’80s and early ’90s.
