Our guest for this episode of the podcast was Angelo Fiouris.  Angelo works for Altice Media, but people in the New Jersey area probably know the company better as Cablevision.  Angelo talks with Tom about the ever-changing industry of advertising on cable television, and sheds some light on some common misconceptions surrounding the business.  It was truly a pleasure sitting down with Angelo, and we hope you enjoy the conversation!

MAM 185: Angelo Fiouris of Altice Media Transcript

Tom Mullooly: Welcome back to the Mullooly Asset Management podcast. This is episode number 185 and our guest today is Angelo Fiouris from Altice Media Sales. Angelo?

Angelo Fiouris: Thanks for having me.

Tom Mullooly: Glad you could join us today.

Angelo Fiouris: I’m excited to be here.

Tom Mullooly: Who in the world is Altice Media? You want to talk a little bit about that?

Angelo Fiouris: Sure.

Tom Mullooly: I don’t think that’s a name, a household name, yet.

Angelo Fiouris: It’s not. It became one today, perhaps. Leading up to today, I don’t think there’s a great awareness of the Altice brand just yet. The reason for that is because they’re based in Europe. Altice is based in Europe. They’re a French company based in Amsterdam.

Tom Mullooly: So what Angelo is referring to is we happen to be recording this on the day that Altice Media went public.

Angelo Fiouris: That’s right. Altice USA went public today, the initial public offering. Pretty exciting day. We rang the bell at the stock market and everything today, so 200 employees were on scene and it was an exciting day for the company.

Tom Mullooly: All right, so tell us what your role is with Altice.

Angelo Fiouris: Sure. Basically I’m an account executive, right? What does that mean, I’m more of a consultant. I see myself as a guy that provides solutions to businesses that know they need help and to businesses that don’t yet know that they need help.

Tom Mullooly: I think you could probably count Mullooly Asset Management in that second group. We didn’t know that we needed help.

Angelo Fiouris: You might think that initially, but before you and I met, we had the appointment booked. I did a little research on you guys and I went to your website. I had looked at what you were already doing and I said, “Wow, these guys are ahead of the game. They have a podcast, they have a blog, they’re doing things that most small businesses don’t do.” Although you thought you didn’t have any help, you were actually helping yourselves. Now you’ve got the domination combination of TV with your digital efforts. You were farther ahead than you thought you were.

Tom Mullooly: (laughter). Do you want to talk a little bit about how we actually began working with you?

Angelo Fiouris: Sure. If I recall correctly, I got a call from your son, Tim, or an email from Tim on the Friday of Labor Day weekend. I won’t forget that because it was 2:00 in the afternoon and I said, “Wow, I’m not the only guy that works on a Friday afternoon before a holiday.”

Tom Mullooly: He’s got a slave driver for a dad.

Angelo Fiouris: There you go, right? I gave Tim a call that afternoon and we made the appointment. You guys were referred to me, if I’m not mistaken … I can’t remember where that was from. Oh, here’s what it was. Tim had filled out the online … that’s what it was. Yeah, that’s what it was. Online, we request some information regarding, so I had to think about that for a minute. There it is.

Tom Mullooly: We met in early September and our ads were running at the end of October.

Angelo Fiouris: I think the middle of October we were live, the third week or something like that. It didn’t take long.