It was 25 Years Ago Today

Posted by Bob Greenberger on December 8, 2005

Twenty-five years ago, Deb and I finished watching Lou Grant, and went to sleep. It wasn’t until the following morning that we heard the news.

We were stunned and saddened, of course.

We took the train to Penn Station and while there, I picked up The New York Times to read more about what happened. I strolled from Penn to the Starlog offices thinking about John Lennon’s assassination, the Beatles, the harshness of the winter weather and the world we lived in.

No sooner had I finished reading the coverage than Norman Jacobs, the co-publisher, stormed down the halls in search of an editor. As it was, I tended to be the first in, around 8 a.m., so he found me.

“I had Sparta pull the film and we’re going to go on press tomorrow. I’m pulling the inside cover and we need an obituary. We’re fixing the cover and I need to send the mechanicals tonight. Can you do it?”

It seems some time in the dim past he had published a Beatles one-shot and was going back to press to cash in on the tragedy.

Now, I had been at the company a scant three months so Norman didn’t really know my capabilities or me. His partner Kerry O’Quinn was the one to hire me, to show faith in my skills and interests. Still, I was an editor and was expected to be a professional. So of course I said yes and set to work.

As he stormed back to the conference room to open the mail, I stared at my Olympia typewriter and the Times. While John Lennon had been on my mind, I wasn’t necessarily in a good frame of mind to write a respectful obituary for one of the most influential songwriters of the latter 20th Century.

Still, I had to get started. Rolling a sheet of paper into the typewriter, I scanned the bio material from a copy of the Beatles one-shot, then read from the Times. I began with the facts, made sure to touch on the highlights of his life and career. I was writing about the days in Liverpool and crush of Beatlemania and the ultimate breakup as artists began growing in new directions and the solo career and of course Yoko. I wrote of the tragedy and the sense of loss.

Once I finished it, Norman had Howard Zimmerman, Starlog’s editor-in-chief copyedit, not quite trusting me yet. Heck, I wouldn’t have trusted me with this. Howard fixed a few things but basically left it alone, jealous I beat him in that morning.

The Art Department turned the text into a mechanical and the revised cover and new inside cover went to the Printer. A week or so later, we got printed copies of the magazine and I have one tucked in a box in some corner of the basement office. I’m somewhat tempted to go back and look at it but most likely will not, since I was never comfortable with the assignment and suspect I won’t like what I see.

John Lennon’s death was a shock for so many reasons – ringing down the end of an era, quashing any hope of a Beatles reunion, displaying how unsafe the streets of Manhattan had become, the fatal wounding of a generation – but his words and music have endured. “Imagine” is still played constantly as is, especially this month, Give Peace a Chance.” Recent works have demystified the man, a natural stage in the evolution of an icon, but I can still hear a Beatles song on the radio and want to sing along.

A Quick Update

Posted by Bob Greenberger on December 6, 2005

Just a quick update to let people know where things stand with the various writing I’ve mentioned.

Ages of War: A Classic BattleTech Anthology

The story is written, running long, and in the hands of my editor, the esteemed Loren Coleman. Once I get his notes, I’ll see how best to whittle it down to size.

Star Trek: Corps of Engineers “Troubleshooting”

Next up. Outline’s approved by Paramount so I can start noodling with this while waiting to see what happens in the installment prior to this one.

Other Stuff

The media tie-in short story outline has been revised and is with the editor or licensor. If approved, it’ll have to be written ahead of “Troubleshooting”.

The media tie-in novel proposal was revised over the weekend and sent to the editor who reported back that her 2006 slots are likely full and 2007 hasn’t been decided as yet so I’m in a weird sort of limbo. Too bad since she liked my writing sample and it’d be fun to work in another universe.

The original urban fantasy outline continues to gnaw at me and will likely get back to that during the next lull in the action, or around February 1 after “Troubleshooting” is delivered.

Appearances

Related to the above, I will be out and about, doing the self-promotion thing at a handful of early 2006 events including:

Farpoint in February
Lunacon in March
I-Con in March

And on behalf of DC Comics, will be at the big New York Comic-con.

A Slight Revision

Posted by Bob Greenberger on December 4, 2005

I’ve been meaning to write this for a day or two, but life keeps getting in the way. Friday was nuts at work with a lot of time spent on a forthcoming title plus a cover meeting to pick images for releases from June to August 2006 (wow, what a concept). Saturday was errands, errands, errands followed by the last bit of raking. This morning, I found myself switching from rake to shovel as the first snow of the year blanketed Fairfield in white silence. It was very nice waking up to that silence.

Anyway, no sooner did I write my letter to Cablevision on Thursday than I discovered on Friday that Charles Dolan, the founder of the firm, has gone on the record in favor of ala carte. In fact, according to an article I found that Dolan has been in favor of the format, going so far as to testify to that in 2003.

So, I have rewritten the letter and in the interests of accuracy, share this with you:

John Bickham
President – Cable & Communications
Cablevision Systems Corp.
1111 Stewart Avenue
Bethpage, NY 11714

Dear Mr. Bickham,

Following up on my letter from the spring, I couldn’t let this past week’s news from the FCC go without comment.

As I stated earlier this year, I feel Cablevision, if not switching entirely to an ala carte package, should take a leadership role and offer clustered tiers, similar to your existing Sports Pak. This way, viewers can at least build a service that would please them and still profit you.

While I have always agreed with Kevin Martin’s ala carte concept, I do recognize that this may prove too pricey to be useful. I suspect the jury is out on this issue but it does allow for survival of the fittest channels that have the programming people want, so they have enough viewers to keep the price low as opposed to specialized channels where the diehard viewers will be willing to pay a somewhat higher price. In turn, that gives the channel a very specific demographic which would allow them to profit by setting the appropriate ad rates.

Imagine my surprise to see coverage of Charles Dolan’s comments in support of the FCC’s statements. According to the coverage, Mr. Dolan has been in favor of ala carte for years. I applaud that but now must question why then, the i/oDigital Cable packages are so limited. Rather than say he’s in favor, why does he not show his customers and his competitors how it can be done.

You have a huge gap between Basic and your Silver and Gold packages. Knowing full well that the average viewer uses seventeen out of the hundred-plus channels, you need to start addressing these varied interests. In between the pricey packages you could offer a family tier or a Shopping Pak. If nothing else, a Bronze Package should offer the basic premium movie channels (HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, Starz, The Movie Channel and Encore) without the dozen iterations of each channel so someone can be exposed to the full spectrum of feature films at a more affordable price.

You also push the On Demand channels. The selling point seems to be the ability to see a feature film sooner. If I’m paying $80+ a month for i/oGold, where’s the benefit of shelling out an additional $4.95 just to watch a movie three months sooner? On Demand doesn’t have anything compelling at this time, something that needs to be addressed.

While the thrust of the Congressional and FCC commentary was in response the “indecency” issue, something that has been debated since Philo Farnsworth broadcast the first signal, Cablevision shouldn’t lose sight of the customer dissatisfaction with current offerings. I certainly don’t want all the channels I currently receive and when you jack my rates up another 2% next month, I’ll resent it even further.

A final note from a customer: after the YES debacle, I hope you avoid fights over the Sportsnet New York and have it ready to debut when the Mets open their season on April 3.

I look forward to hearing back from you (as opposed to a clueless customer service rep, as happened in the spring).

The FCC is on my Side

Posted by Bob Greenberger on December 1, 2005

Regular readers know I’ve been battling Cablevision for some time now, mostly over their limited package choices (and in vain). As a result, you know how thrilled I was by the FCC’s push this week to force the cable companies to consider ala carte. They say it’s prompted by the proliferation of “indecent” material on the basic channels. It’s an age-old political issue easily solved by personal responsibility. We all know there’s an off button on the cable box and its a parent’s responsibility, not a bradcaster’s, to determine what’s watched in someone’s home.

Anyway, I could resist and wrote the following to Cablevision. I’ll keep you posted if I hear back.

John Bickham
President – Cable & Communications
Cablevision Systems Corp.
1111 Stewart Avenue
Bethpage, NY 11714

Dear Mr. Bickham,

Following up on my letter from the spring, I couldn’t let this week’s news from the FCC go without comment.

As I stated earlier this year, I feel Cablevision, if not switching entirely to an ala carte package, should take a leadership role (something it is unused to) and offer clustered tiers, similar to your existing Sports Pak. This way, viewers can at least build a service that would please them and still profit you.

While I have always agreed with Kevin Martin’s ala carte concept, I do recognize that this may prove too pricey to be useful. I suspect the jury is out on this issue but it does allow for survival of the fittest channels that have the programming people want, so they have enough viewers to keep the price low as opposed to specialized channels where the diehard viewers will be willing to pay a somewhat higher price. In turn, that gives the channel a very specific demographic which would allow them to profit by setting the appropriate ad rates.

You have a huge gap between Basic and your Silver and Gold packages. Knowing full well that the average viewer uses seventeen out of the hundred-plus channels, you need to start addressing these varied interests. In between the pricey packages you could offer a family tier or a Shopping Pak. If nothing else, a Bronze Package should offer the basic premium movie channels (HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, Starz, The Movie Channel and Encore) without the dozen iterations of each channel so someone can be exposed to the full spectrum of feature films at a more affordable price.

You also push the On Demand channels. The selling point seems to be the ability to see a feature film sooner. If I’m paying $80+ a month for i/oGold, where’s the benefit of shelling out an additional $4.95 just to watch a movie three months sooner? On Demand doesn’t have anything compelling at this time, something that needs to be addressed.

While the thrust of the Congressional and FCC commentary was in response the “indecency” issue, something that has been debated since Philo Farnsworth broadcast the first signal, Cablevision shouldn’t lose sight of the customer dissatisfaction with current offerings. I certainly don’t want all the channels I currently receive and when you jack my rates up another 2% next month, I’ll resent it even further.

A final note from a customer: after the YES debacle, I hope you avoid fights over the Sports Channel New York and have it ready to debut when the Mets open their season on April 3.

I look forward to hearing back from you (as opposed to a clueless customer service rep, as happened in the spring).