Chinese American Hero: John J. Sie

Name in English: John J. Sie
Name in Chinese: 谢诚刚 [謝誠剛]
Name in Pinyin: Xiè Chénggāng
Gender: Male
Birth Year: 1936
Birth Place: China
Current location: Denver, Colorado
Philanthropy: Yes

Profession(s): Cable Television Executive, Entertainment Visionary, Philanthropist

Education: Bachelor Electrical Engineering, Manhattan College, 1957; Master Electrical Engineering, Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn

Awards: 2003, Inductee, Cable Television Hall of Fame; 2001, Chairman’s Award, Cable Television Administration and Marketing Association (CTAM); 2001, Stanley B. Thomas Lifetime Achievement Award, National Association of Minorities in Communications (NAMIC); 2001, Bridge Builder Asian American Leadership Award, The AURA Fund and aMedia, Inc. ; 2001, Bill Daniels Business Leader of the Year, The Denver Business Journal; 1986, Grand Tam Award CTAM; 1982, Robert H. Beisswenger Memorial Award (Vanguard Associates Award) by the National Cable Television Association (NCTA); 1960, RCA David Sarnoff Fellowship.

Contribution(s): John J. Sie is the Founder and Chairman and former President and CEO of Starz Entertainment LLC. Sie, a native of China, came to the United States at the age of 14 in 1950. He stayed at a Catholic orphanage on Staten Island, N.Y. until he graduated from high school in 1953 and went to college. In 1960, he co-founded Micro State Electronics Corp, later becoming president of it as a subsidiary of Raytheon. In 1972, Sie joined Jerrold Electronics Corp, a subsidiary of General Instrument Co., as Sr. Vice President of the CATV division. In 1977, he joined Showtime Entertainment as Sr. Vice President of Sales and Marketing advocating the then revolutionary idea that people would be willing to pay for more than one premium cable channel. In 1984, Sie joined Tele-Communications Inc., as Senior Vice President in charge of strategic planning, programming, marketing, technology, and government relations. He pushed cable operators to pool their money and buy programming that would be attractive to much bigger audiences than the 30% of US households they were then getting. Most industry professionals thought he was insane but when the NFL agreed to air Sunday games on ESPN in the same year it increased cable viewer ratings tenfold. In 1993, he founded Starz Encore, pioneering theme channels and subscription video-on-demand, now mainstream concepts of the cable television industry. Sales neared $1 billion yearly by the time he retired as President and CEO in 2004.

Philanthropy: The Anna and John J Sie Foundation supports the sharing of knowledge amongst peoples and cultures in the global community, with emphasis on media, business, technology, and education. The foundation is a supporter of the Starz Film Center, the University of Colorado’s “The Sie Family Down Syndrome Break-Through Research Initiative”, the Denver School of Science and Technology, the Denver Art Museum, and the Festival Italiano. Sie also sits on the Board of Trustees for the Denver Art Museum and the University of Denver.