Nickolas Davatzes
Encyclopedia
Nickolas "Nick" Davatzes is an American television executive who is CEO Emeritus of A&E Network
. He created and developed two cable television networks: The A&E Network
and The History Channel
. A&E was formed in 1983 through the merger of ABC and Hearst's ARTS Network and NBC's Entertainment Channel, creating a partnership as unlikely as it has been successful.
, graduated from St. John's University
and received an honorary Ph.D. from St. John's University. After 12 years with Xerox
he was recruited to work for Gus Hauser at Warner Amex, which owned cable systems and programming services and where MTV
and Nickelodeon
were created. At Warner Amex Davatzes learned the basics of the cable business and helped develop some of the innovative cable systems that the company built in cities such as Dallas
. He was given the experience of working with franchising, programming and building and running the interactive QUBE systems. He also touched on the activities of some of his colleagues such as Dick Aurelio and Larry Wangberg.
In 1983 he was recruited to run a merger between two failed cable networks: the Entertainment Network, owned by RCA
and the Rockefeller family
and the ARTS Network, owned by Hearst
and ABC
. Out of the wreckage of these he built the A&E Network
, taking it to profitability in three years. Through the years he obtained distribution, product and establishing an identity for the new network with such hits as the Biography series, the Hornblower
series, 100 Centre Street
and A Nero Wolfe Mystery
. In 1995 A&E launched a second network, The History Channel
, which also proved to be a quick success with viewers and advertisers. Davatzes was also involved in many of the legislative battles the cable industry fought in Washington
over the years.
Davatzes has been able to handle special issues attached to running a business owned by different partners for more than 17 years and has managed to keep all parties involved and satisfied. This has resulted in this team becoming the longest-running executive team in the television business. In recent years the cable company has also developed additional successful programming, including the Biography Channel, History Channel International and History Channel en Español.
To most observers, Nick appears quiet and low-key, but he is passionate about his work and about social causes, especially education and job opportunities. He serves on the board of St. John's University
, whose mission is to educate the children of the poor. Forty percent of students there, he says, are from homes with an income of less than $30,000 annually. "We need more institutions like that," he believes.
The History Channel has created a resource website for history teachers.
's Chelsea
district long before it was fashionable to live there. His apartment building had no central heating and had a bar on the first floor. He attended P.S. 11 Elementary School on 20th Street and Bryant High School in Astoria
, Queens
.
Nick has been married for 38 years to his wife, Dorie. They have two sons – one a professor of structural geology at Temple University and the other a financial executive at GE Capital
. The son of immigrants, a US Marine Corps veteran, whose father served in both the Greek and U.S. armies http://www.cablecenter.org/education/library/oralHistoryDetails.cfm?id=76, Nick's success story personifies the values and opportunities that were unique to 20th century America
. Davatzes is the recipient of the Marine Corps
Historical Foundation Heritage Award for his support to the foundation. He received a National Humanities Medal
from President George W. Bush
and was admitted to the Phi Kappa Tau
Hall of Fame in 2006. In October 2005, the Cable Center inducted Mr. Davatzes into the Cable Television Hall of Fame Class of 2005 honoring his significant contributions to the cable telecommunications industry. In June 2003, Davatzes received the 2003 Vanguard Award for Distinguished Leadership from the National Cable Television Association.
Nick has one sister, a mathematician, whom he calls "brilliant and very smart".
A&E Network
The A&E Network is a United States-based cable and satellite television network with headquarters in New York City and offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, London, Los Angeles and Stamford. A&E also airs in Canada and Latin America. Initially named the Arts & Entertainment Network, A&E launched...
. He created and developed two cable television networks: The A&E Network
A&E Network
The A&E Network is a United States-based cable and satellite television network with headquarters in New York City and offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, London, Los Angeles and Stamford. A&E also airs in Canada and Latin America. Initially named the Arts & Entertainment Network, A&E launched...
and The History Channel
The History Channel
History, formerly known as The History Channel, is an American-based international satellite and cable TV channel that broadcasts a variety of reality shows and documentary programs including those of fictional and non-fictional historical content, together with speculation about the future.-...
. A&E was formed in 1983 through the merger of ABC and Hearst's ARTS Network and NBC's Entertainment Channel, creating a partnership as unlikely as it has been successful.
Career
The son of Greek immigrants, Davatzes was born and raised in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, graduated from St. John's University
St. John's University (New York City)
St. John's University is a private, Roman Catholic, coeducational university located in New York City, United States. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission in 1870, the school was originally located in the borough of Brooklyn in the neighborhood of Bedford–Stuyvesant...
and received an honorary Ph.D. from St. John's University. After 12 years with Xerox
Xerox
Xerox Corporation is an American multinational document management corporation that produced and sells a range of color and black-and-white printers, multifunction systems, photo copiers, digital production printing presses, and related consulting services and supplies...
he was recruited to work for Gus Hauser at Warner Amex, which owned cable systems and programming services and where MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
and Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (TV channel)
Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...
were created. At Warner Amex Davatzes learned the basics of the cable business and helped develop some of the innovative cable systems that the company built in cities such as Dallas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
. He was given the experience of working with franchising, programming and building and running the interactive QUBE systems. He also touched on the activities of some of his colleagues such as Dick Aurelio and Larry Wangberg.
In 1983 he was recruited to run a merger between two failed cable networks: the Entertainment Network, owned by RCA
RCA
RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
and the Rockefeller family
Rockefeller family
The Rockefeller family , the Cleveland family of John D. Rockefeller and his brother William Rockefeller , is an American industrial, banking, and political family of German origin that made one of the world's largest private fortunes in the oil business during the late 19th and early 20th...
and the ARTS Network, owned by Hearst
Hearst Corporation
The Hearst Corporation is an American media conglomerate based in the Hearst Tower, Manhattan in New York City, New York, United States. Founded by William Randolph Hearst as an owner of newspapers, the company's holdings now include a wide variety of media...
and ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
. Out of the wreckage of these he built the A&E Network
A&E Network
The A&E Network is a United States-based cable and satellite television network with headquarters in New York City and offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, London, Los Angeles and Stamford. A&E also airs in Canada and Latin America. Initially named the Arts & Entertainment Network, A&E launched...
, taking it to profitability in three years. Through the years he obtained distribution, product and establishing an identity for the new network with such hits as the Biography series, the Hornblower
Hornblower (TV series)
Hornblower is the umbrella title of a series of television drama programmes based on C. S. Forester's novels about the fictional character Horatio Hornblower, a Royal Naval officer during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars....
series, 100 Centre Street
100 Centre Street
100 Centre Street is an American legal drama created by Sidney Lumet and starring Alan Arkin.-Premise:The show takes its name for the street address of the criminal division of the New York Supreme Court for New York County. The show aired in the United States on the A&E Network cable television...
and A Nero Wolfe Mystery
A Nero Wolfe Mystery
A Nero Wolfe Mystery is a television series adapted from Rex Stout's classic series of detective stories that aired for two seasons on the A&E Network. Set in New York City in the early 1950s, the stylized period drama stars Maury Chaykin as Nero Wolfe and Timothy Hutton as Archie Goodwin...
. In 1995 A&E launched a second network, The History Channel
The History Channel
History, formerly known as The History Channel, is an American-based international satellite and cable TV channel that broadcasts a variety of reality shows and documentary programs including those of fictional and non-fictional historical content, together with speculation about the future.-...
, which also proved to be a quick success with viewers and advertisers. Davatzes was also involved in many of the legislative battles the cable industry fought in Washington
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
over the years.
Davatzes has been able to handle special issues attached to running a business owned by different partners for more than 17 years and has managed to keep all parties involved and satisfied. This has resulted in this team becoming the longest-running executive team in the television business. In recent years the cable company has also developed additional successful programming, including the Biography Channel, History Channel International and History Channel en Español.
To most observers, Nick appears quiet and low-key, but he is passionate about his work and about social causes, especially education and job opportunities. He serves on the board of St. John's University
St. John's University (New York City)
St. John's University is a private, Roman Catholic, coeducational university located in New York City, United States. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission in 1870, the school was originally located in the borough of Brooklyn in the neighborhood of Bedford–Stuyvesant...
, whose mission is to educate the children of the poor. Forty percent of students there, he says, are from homes with an income of less than $30,000 annually. "We need more institutions like that," he believes.
The History Channel has created a resource website for history teachers.
Personal
Nick grew up the son of Greek immigrants, on Eighth Avenue and 19th Street in New YorkNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
's Chelsea
Chelsea, Manhattan
Chelsea is a neighborhood on the West Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The district's boundaries are roughly 14th Street to the south, 30th Street to the north, the western boundary of the Ladies' Mile Historic District – which lies between the Avenue of the Americas and...
district long before it was fashionable to live there. His apartment building had no central heating and had a bar on the first floor. He attended P.S. 11 Elementary School on 20th Street and Bryant High School in Astoria
Astoria, Queens
Astoria is a neighborhood in the northwestern corner of the borough of Queens in New York City. Located in Community Board 1, Astoria is bounded by the East River and is adjacent to three other Queens neighborhoods: Long Island City, Sunnyside , and Woodside...
, Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
.
Nick has been married for 38 years to his wife, Dorie. They have two sons – one a professor of structural geology at Temple University and the other a financial executive at GE Capital
GE Capital
GE Capital is the financial services unit of General Electric, one of five major units. Its various divisions include GE Capital Aviation Services, GE Capital Real Estate, GE Energy Financial Services and GE Money....
. The son of immigrants, a US Marine Corps veteran, whose father served in both the Greek and U.S. armies http://www.cablecenter.org/education/library/oralHistoryDetails.cfm?id=76, Nick's success story personifies the values and opportunities that were unique to 20th century America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Davatzes is the recipient of the Marine Corps
Marine corps
A marine is a member of a force that specializes in expeditionary operations such as amphibious assault and occupation. The marines traditionally have strong links with the country's navy...
Historical Foundation Heritage Award for his support to the foundation. He received a National Humanities Medal
National Humanities Medal
The National Humanities Medal honors individuals or groups whose work has deepened the nation’s understanding of the humanities, broadened citizens’ engagement with the humanities, or helped preserve and expand Americans’ access to important resources in the humanities.The award, given by the...
from President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
and was admitted to the Phi Kappa Tau
Phi Kappa Tau
Phi Kappa Tau is a U.S. national collegiate fraternity.-History:Phi Kappa Tau Fraternity was founded in the Union Literary Society Hall of Miami University's Old Main Building in Oxford, Ohio on March 17, 1906...
Hall of Fame in 2006. In October 2005, the Cable Center inducted Mr. Davatzes into the Cable Television Hall of Fame Class of 2005 honoring his significant contributions to the cable telecommunications industry. In June 2003, Davatzes received the 2003 Vanguard Award for Distinguished Leadership from the National Cable Television Association.
Nick has one sister, a mathematician, whom he calls "brilliant and very smart".