India Tribune

New York: RCN Strategic External Affairs & Programming Senior Vice President Richard Ramlall recently received double recognition at the joint National Association for Multi-ethnicity (NAMIC) and CableFAX awards ceremony held at the 23rd annual NAMIC conference in Denver, Colorado.
Ramlall, who is of South Asian descent, was recognized for being one of CableFAX: The Magazine’s 2009 Most Influential Minorities in Cable. In citing his achievements, CableFAX magazine said, “Few executives are as well known and lauded as Ramlall, whose reputation as a workhorse and expert multitasker are legendary. It’s no wonder then that tiny RCN has been able to compete so effectively against some of the largest MSOs and DBS providers.”
RCN, under Ramlall’s leadership, also won a national second place winner award for case studies/campaigns by the National Association for Multi-ethnicity In Communications (NAMIC) in its 2009 Excellence in Multi-cultural Marketing Awards (EMMA) competition that showcases top marketing tactics and case studies/campaigns targeted to multi-cultural audiences.
Campaigns developed for the cable and telecommunications industry targeting the African American, Asian, Hispanic and other ethnic markets were evaluated on sound and innovative strategy, strength of creative execution against the strategy and tactics, implementation and results.
“We are honored to be recognized by NAMIC for our Global Passport case study and campaigns in which we developed a very robust international cable lineup that rivals our competitors and aggressively marketed and promoted it directly to our multi-ethnic communities within our footprint,” said RCN President & CEO Peter Aquino. “I also congratulate Richard Ramlall for being recognized by CableFAX as one of the 2009 most influential minorities.”
Aquino explained that RCN’s switch to an all-digital network enabled it to focus on customer demand for international and multi-cultural programming, RCN now has more than 500 international viewing choices, including 85 linear channels, covering 14 different language groups, surpassing many other cable competitor offerings today.
“I grew up watching or reading Hindi-language news and programs. So I knew personally from family and friends that there is a demand for more multi-cultural programming,” the award-winning Ramlall explained. “RCN’s push for more South Asian and international programming is being driven by the unique multi-cultural characteristic of the big cities RCN serves and the research that showed significant pent up demand for foreign films and language news and entertainment.”
RCN (NASDAQ: RCNI) is a leading provider of all-digital and high definition video, high-speed Internet, and premium voice services to residential and small-medium business customers, as well as high-capacity transport services to carrier and large enterprise customers.
“RCN brings so much more than international cable television. We recently introduced a new International Triple Play cable, phone and internet offer,” Ramlall said. “Customers, who order at least one International channel such as: Zee TV, ITV, TV Asia, STAR India GOLD, STAR India PLUS, STAR ONE, or Bollywood Hits On DEMAND, can get up to 100 digital cable channels; fast, reliable high-speed Internet; and unlimited nationwide phone service.
Ramlall added that subscribers to this plan also get 250 free monthly international calling minutes and can call India and up to 67 other countries. To find out more about RCN, call 1.866.726.9946 or visit rcn.com/globalpassport.