After SNC went off the air in 1983 due to distribution issues, Gardner was hired to produce Eyewitness News for WWL-TV, the CBS affiliate in New Orleans.

[citation needed] In 1999, Gardner joined Fox Networks, and in 2006 he was promoted to president of affiliate sales and marketing.

[11] In 2010, he joined Oaktree Capital Management, a Los Angeles-based private equity firm, as a senior advisor.

[14] He coined the phrase "concierge cable" in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter when asked to characterize Layer3's focus on customer experience.

[18][19] Gardner is Chairman of the Board of the Courage Campaign Institute, a Los Angeles based non-profit which seeks to defend and extend human rights through leadership-development training, strategic research and public education.