Kay Koplovitz (nee Smith, born April 11, 1945[1]) is an American businesswoman, best known as the founder of the cable television channel USA Network, for which she served as chairwoman and CEO from its founding in 1977 until 1998 when it was sold for $4.5 billion.
She is also the author of the books Bold Women, Big Ideas: Learning to Play the High-Risk Entrepreneurial Game, and Been There, Run That.
[3] Between her junior and senior year Koplovitz visited England, and while on her travels saw a poster advertising a lecture on geosynchronous orbiting satellites.
The timing of the sporting event would be the turning point Koplovitz would need in order to launch her idea.
[10] Koplovitz is also credited with creating the business model for cable networks after introducing the concept of two revenue streams: licensing and advertising.
[3] However, at USA Networks she was known for overspending on things such as television reruns, eventually became a financial problem by the late 1990s, as interest in airing new content on a more regular basis grew.
[11] Upon hiring former CBS executive Rod Perth as entertainment chief of USA Networks by 1997, Koplovitz decided to focus more on airing higher-budget miniseries content, such as Moby Dick, as well as other new shows.
In early 1994, Koplovitz was among the tv executives who would assist President Bill Clinton in pushing a public service announcement campaign against violence in society, and was also later among media executives who personally met with President Clinton in 1996 to discuss TV's violence rating system.