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President of Comcast's West Division Oversees Five-State Operation

Posted on: Wednesday, 26 November 2003, 06:00 CST

Nov. 26--As president of Comcast's Arapahoe County-based West Division, Brad Dusto oversees a five-state operation larger than all but five U.S. cable companies.

That ranks the affable, tech-savvy Dusto, 50, among the most influential cable executives in a city that long has touted itself as the world's cable capital.

A 14-year veteran of Philadelphia-based Comcast, Dusto arrived in Denver last year as Comcast wrapped up its acquisition of AT&T Broadband. His charge: to lead Comcast's western unit, which this month swelled from 3.5 million subscribers to 4.9 million when Comcast shuffled territories.

"It's been a very exciting but very busy time," Dusto said Tuesday in an interview.

Dusto, a married father of two boys, says he keeps close ties to his family and community while dedicating his weekdays to Comcast.

After earning his master's degree in business from New York University, Dusto did stints in the satellite division of RCA Americom and at American Cable Telecommunications before joining Comcast in 1989.

At Comcast, Dusto managed cable systems in New York, Connecticut, Louisiana and Arizona before serving 11 years as Comcast's chief technology officer. As CTO, he oversaw Comcast's development of technologies including interactive TV, video on demand, high-speed Internet service and phone service over cable lines.

By 2002, Dusto yearned to return to an operational role and did so as part of the AT&T Broadband deal. "It was a chance to implement these products I had been developing for years," he said.

The one-year anniversary this month of the AT&T Broadband deal brought a change for Dusto and his division. Comcast shifted management of several cable systems in Texas from Dusto's area to another division. In exchange, Comcast gave Dusto oversight of systems in Northern California.

The West Division now oversees cable systems in Colorado, California, Oregon, Utah and Washington. It employs 15,000 people, including 3,500 in Colorado. It also faces the challenge of continually pushing to reverse the industrywide trend of losing subscribers to satellite-TV competitors.

Dusto plans a renewed push to keep and add subscribers now that Comcast has completed most of the costly upgrade of its cable systems to handle digital programming and advanced services. In metropolitan Denver, Comcast's $400 million effort to upgrade its systems is all but complete.

The upgrade will allow Comcast to push digital TV plus services satellite TV cannot offer: cable modem Internet service, phone service and video-phone service. Dusto envisions Comcast offering a new phone service via Internet technology in Colorado by late 2004 or early 2005.

So far, some cities Comcast serves are taking a wait-and-see approach to judging the performance of Dusto's division.

"Generally speaking, it appears as if they are adhering to the requirements of the franchise," said Dean Smits, Denver's director of telecommunications.

Rich Esposto, executive director of the Sacramento Metropolitan Cable Television Commission, said Comcast has taken a more proactive approach to solving issues in his California city than AT&T did.

"Overall, I'm a Comcast supporter," Esposto said. "There are other regulators in California that have nothing but heartburn in dealing with Comcast."

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To see more of The Denver Post, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.denverpost.com

(c) 2003, The Denver Post. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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