Harbert's Words of Wisdom

The Museum of Television and Radio welcomed Ted Harbert, President and CEO of Comcast Entertainment Group on Wednesday night as part of the fourth season of its Industry Forum, the Museum’s executive speaker series for the next generation of media, entertainment, and business professionals.

An exclusive group of fewer than 50 guests ranging from network execs to William Morris agents to CAA mailroom employees schmoozed while sipping Hypnotiq cocktails and dining on bruschetta-wrapped breadsticks, Vietnamese noodles and lobster paste cakes. Gary Newman, President of 20th Century Fox TV, introduced Harbert, who spoke about current industry trends and business models including the Comcast brands of  E!, Style Network and G4TV.

The effects of new media can be seen clear as day, even in Harbert’s own home. “My son, who sits upstairs in his room watching television on his laptop, isn’t seeing advertising and that’s bad news for the networks. If he was a good American, he’d be downstairs watching network TV. What the public is supposed to do is make me rich by watching advertisements. But advertisers need to make more executions of a spot. They should treat commercials like programming and try harder to entertain the viewer. If they don’t, this place (the MTR) could get really dusty if we’re not careful, because we’re in the brand, content and experience business. We have to push a firm brand, otherwise we’re up the creek in a boat captained by Britney Spears, who I might add, has been giving us fantastic ratings. I hope she keeps the insanity up,” Harbert quipped. (J. Sneider)