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John Goddard

Sep 15, 2003  •  Post A Comment

The Kaitz Foundation in 1995 honored John Goddard, a co-founder and later president and CEO of Viacom Cable. Mr. Goddard’s cable roots run deep. His father built a system in Aberdeen, Wash., in the early 1950s.
After earning his MBA in 1966, Mr. Goddard went to work for Tele-Vue Systems, which morphed into Viacom five years later.
During his cable career, Mr. Goddard served as chairman and treasurer of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association and president of the California Cable Television Association. He has served on the boards of CableLabs, the industry’s research arm; TCI Satellite Entertainment; the Walter Kaitz Foundation; and his own charitable fund, The Goddard Foundation.
When he wasn’t running companies, Mr. Goddard was advising them. He was a founding adviser of cable channel ZDTV in 1997, a member of the advisory board for iDial Networks Inc., and a member of the transition committee for Primestar, the defunct cable-owned satellite service.
Left partly deaf as a child from a severe case of mumps, Mr. Goddard was for many years active in the National Campaign for Hearing Health.