BILL BRIDGEN
As executive vice president and general manager of New England Cable News (NECN) and Comcast SportsNet New England (CSN), Bill Bridgen is focused on positioning the networks as the premier destinations for regional news and sports information by developing new programming and attracting new audiences.
Bridgen oversees both networks’ operations, including programming, distribution, and ad sales. He joined CSN in January 2008 following Comcast’s acquisition of the network in June of 2007. Bridgen assumed leadership of NECN in June 2009 following Comcast’s acquisition of the regional cable news network from Hearst.
NECN is the largest, most honored 24-hour regional news network in the country, with more than 3 million subscribers in nearly 1,120 cities and towns in all six New England states. The station specializes in long-form journalism, producing documentaries and extensive local and national political coverage.
Comcast SportsNet New England reaches more than 4 million homes in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont with live sports programming, led by the 17-time NBA Champion Boston Celtics. Other sports programming includes daily local sports news and analysis on Mohegan Sun Sports Tonight; Celtics Now; The Baseball Show and Sports Sunday.
Previously, Bridgen served as Comcast executive vice president of distribution and network development, overseeing the distribution and subscriber growth of Comcast’s owned or managed networks, which include E!, The Golf Channel, Versus, Style, Sprout, G4, AZN, The Mtn. – MountainWest Sports Network and the Comcast Sports Group of regional sports networks.
Prior to joining Comcast, Bridgen founded and served as president of HorseRacing TV. He was also executive vice president of business operations at Headline Media Group, which operates the Canadian sports television network The Score, and was vice president of affiliate relations for Fox Sports Net/Fox Cable Networks. Prior to joining Fox, Mr. Bridgen was a partner at Keesal, Young & Logan, a Los Angeles-area securities law firm. Mr. Bridgen earned his law degree from Temple University and his Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Management with a minor in Political Science from Gettysburg College.
Bridgen, 45, lives in Boston with his wife and two children.
TOM MELVILLE
Tom Melville was named the second News Director in the history of NECN in 2008. He is responsible for all programming including news, sports, weather, and other targeted and long form programs. Tom began his career with NECN in 1993 as the station’s chief political correspondent. He was promoted to executive producer in 1995 and to assistant news director in 2001.
Before coming to NECN, Melville was consumer reporter at WPTV-TV in West Palm Beach, FL, and an anchor and reporter at WNNE-TV in White River Junction, VT, KCAU-TV in Sioux City, IA, WASR-AM in Wolfeboro, NH and WLNH-FM in Laconia, NH.
Melville began his career in journalism as a sports writer at the Boston Herald-American. He served for two years in the United States Peace Corps, as an agriculture extension agent and school teacher in the Dominican Republic. Melville is a native of Newton, Massachusetts. A graduate of Boston University and Boston College Law School, Melville is a member of the Massachusetts bar. He has won many awards for his journalism.
He was co-writer and executive producer of the 1997 NECN documentary, Look For Me Here: 299 Days in the Life of Nora Lenihan, which was awarded television’s highest honor, the George Foster Peabody Award. He also wrote and produced the 2004 NECN documentary, “John Kerry: A Confrontation with History.” He lives in the suburbs west of Boston with his wife and two daughters.
