HBO executive to discuss television programming, syndication during URI web chat, Jan. 23

KINGSTON, R.I. – January 10, 2007 – Tom Cerio, executive vice president of program distribution at cable television network HBO, will answer questions about television programming and syndication in a University of Rhode Island online chat on Tuesday, Jan. 23 at 1 p.m.


A 1976 alumnus of URI, Cerio is responsible for the sale of HBO programs to syndication, such as Sex and the City to TBS, The Sopranos to A&E, The Wire to BET, and Band of Brothers to the History Channel. Previously he was executive vice president of sales at Buena Vista Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Co.


A service of the URI Division of University Advancement’s electronic communications program, online chats are free and open to the public and are accessible through the URI website.


To enter the chat, go http://advance.uri.edu/chats for instructions. Participants may submit questions in advance, but the chat will not begin until the scheduled date and time. Thirty minutes is the total time allotted for the chat. A full transcript will be posted to the University’s website once the chat has been completed. Questions about web chats should be directed to the URI Publications Office at 401-874-2075.


URI’s online chats, which began in September 2004, have featured question-and-answer sessions with such alumni as Tom Mulligan, Los Angeles Times senior correspondent discussing the Iraq war, and Academy Award-winning filmmaker Ross Kaufman talking about the making of Born into Brothels, as well as with URI administrators, faculty and coaches.


The chats are made possible through the cooperation of the URI Athletics Department and College Sports Online, hosts of the GoRhody.com web site.