John A. ("Jack") Schneider (December 4, 1926 - December 10, 2019 in Stamford, CT) was a former president of the

CBS Television Network CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

from 1965-1976, and from 1979 until 1984, the first president of Warner Amex Satellite Entertainment, the company that created

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

. He was born in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. After serving in the

United States Naval Reserve The United States Navy Reserve (USNR), known as the United States Naval Reserve from 1915 to 2005, is the Reserve Component (RC) of the United States Navy. Members of the Navy Reserve, called Reservists, are categorized as being in either the Sele ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he graduated from the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...

in 1948. Schneider told ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' upon taking the job "I'm 38 now, but I'll be 55 next week" on the suddenness of the promotion, Schneider having no experience at the network level.

Career

Schneider joined CBS in Chicago in 1950 and was working in national advertising sales when the network in 1958 bought

WCAU-TV WCAU (channel 10) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Mount Laurel, New Jerse ...

in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Schneider was named general manager of the station, serving until October 1964, when he was named general manager of

WCBS-TV WCBS-TV (channel 2) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside Riverhead, New York–licensed independent station WL ...

in New York City. On February 28, 1965, Schneider was appointed president of the

and a vice president and board member of CBS, Inc. Schneider next became the first president of the newly formed CBS Broadcast Group in 1966. He became an executive VP of CBS Inc. in 1969 and held that position until 1978. He was responsible for the CBS Television Network, CBS News, CBS stations, and CBS radio. CBS was the preeminent broadcast network under his tenure. In 1977 CBS removed John A. Schneider as president of the broadcast group and was made a senior vice president on the corporate level, responsible for governmental, industrial and international relations. He was the original president of

Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment Paramount Media Networks (formerly known as Warner Cable Communications, Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, MTV Networks, Viacom Media Networks, and ViacomCBS Domestic Media Networks) is an American mass media division of Paramount Global tha ...

Company in 1979, a joint venture of

Warner Communications Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by ...

' Warner Cable and

American Express American Express Company (Amex) is an American multinational corporation specialized in payment card services headquartered at 200 Vesey Street in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. The company was found ...

. By 1981, he oversaw the launch of

. He was also awarded the IRTS (International Radio and Television Society) Gold Medal.

Personal life

He was the son of Arnold and Anna Schneider. Following high school, he enrolled at the University of Notre Dame to study Naval Science and Tactics where he earned his B.S. degree in Naval Science in 1946. He served as an ensign in the Navy aboard the destroyer USS Hobson during World War II. After the war, he returned to Notre Dame and earned a degree in Marketing in 1948.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schneider, John A. 1926 births 2019 deaths American television executives Businesspeople from Chicago United States Navy sailors University of Notre Dame alumni University of Notre Dame Trustees 20th-century American businesspeople