This guy owned MTV & Comedy Central (but fumbled Facebook)

TL;DR

The guest co-founded MTV and ran Viacom's cable networks (MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central) growing revenue to $8-9B, then was fired after failing to acquire MySpace. He started his career bankrupt at 33, used the book What Color Is Your Parachute? to pivot into media, and emphasizes hiring "aberrant" creative people, building a culture that attracts talent, and betting on niche programming.

Key insights

• MTV was conceived as a "narrowcast" niche network (one genre, one audience segment) rather than a broad broadcast network, modeled on FM radio's genre-slicing strategy.
• The "filters" used to greenlight shows at Nickelodeon included: non-violence, pro-kid values, fun, irreverence, modern presentation, and a "hipper" positioning vs. Disney.
• MTV programmed to a core audience of 22-24 year olds and deliberately excluded teenagers from appearing on air, even though teens were ~1/3 of viewers, to avoid a "teeny bopper" perception.