It’s Comcast's Roberts vs. Amazon's Salke for the most powerful person in video

It’s been about one week since we kicked off voting and now it’s down to the finals: Comcast’s Brian Roberts versus Amazon Studios’ Jennifer Salke.

Last week, we started with 26 of the top executives from the U.S. video industry, and now it’s down to two. After a big last-minute push, Salke made it past Netflix CEO Reed Hastings. The biggest turnout of the poll so far was the match between Roberts and Jeff Binder, executive vice president of home and entertainment for T-Mobile. Binder had a great run getting past Viacom’s Bob Bakish, Disney’s Bob Iger and NBCUniversal’s Steve Burke, but his luck ran out against Roberts.

In our final vote, we have the CEO of the nation’s largest cable operator versus the head of one of the nation’s leading streaming content studios.

We’ll close this final vote at 10 a.m. Eastern time tomorrow, on Tuesday, Dec. 11, and then we’ll announce the winner. As in previous rounds, we’re using Polldaddy.com for the actual voting, and repeated voting is prohibited with a block to cookies and IP addresses. The tournament bracket is below, and below that is the actual matchup you can vote on.

Thanks again to everyone who’s voted so far. — Ben | @fierce__video

FV finals bracket

 

 

Reed Hastings: As CEO of Netflix, Hastings oversees the biggest subscription streaming service in the U.S. along with a growing international business.

Bob Iger: As CEO of Disney, Iger runs a diverse company that includes hugely popular cable and broadcast networks, studios and franchises.

Brian Roberts: As CEO of Comcast, Roberts is at the head of the most powerful cable company in the U.S. and a massive media conglomerate.

John Donovan: As CEO of AT&T Communications, Donovan runs DirecTV, the biggest U.S. pay TV provider and home of one of the biggest virtual MVPDs.

John Stankey: As CEO of WarnerMedia, Stankey runs HBO, Turner and Warner Bros. along with the subscription streaming service coming in late 2019.

Jennifer Salke: As head of Amazon Studios, Salke runs the content arm of one of the biggest and most well-financed subscription streaming services in the U.S.

Tom Rutledge: As CEO of Charter, Rutledge leads one of the biggest cable operators in the U.S.

Charlie Ergen: As chairman at Dish Network, Ergen guides the second biggest satellite TV operator in the U.S. and the biggest virtual MVPD.

Joe Ianniello: As acting CEO of CBS, Ianniello has assumed the reins at a major broadcaster and a streaming empire including CBS All Access.

Steve Burke: As CEO of NBCUniversal, Burke runs a media conglomerate amassing networks, studios and streaming platforms.

Randy Freer: As CEO of Hulu, Freer runs the third largest streaming company in the U.S. and an up-and-coming virtual MVPD.

Susan Wojcicki: As CEO of YouTube, Wojcicki is in charge of the biggest ad-supported video platform, a fast-growing vMVPD, an original content lineup and more.

Rupert Murdoch: As executive chairman at 21st Century Fox, Murdoch is the key figure at a transitioning media empire with big transactions underway.

David Zaslav: As CEO of Discovery Inc., Zaslav runs a vast cable network empire encompassing Discovery and the recently acquired Scripps.

Jeff Binder: As executive vice president of home and entertainment at T-Mobile, Binder is at the forefront of T-Mobile’s much-anticipated move into pay TV.

Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg: As heads of worldwide video programming at Apple, Erlicht and Van Amburg are the brains behind Apple’s big push into original programming.

Shari Redstone: As president at National Amusements, Redstone runs a media empire with controlling interests in CBS and Showtime.

Bob Bakish: As CEO of Viacom, Bakish is leading the still-nascent resurgence of a once-mighty cable network group and studio system.

Makan Delrahim: As assistant attorney general of the Antitrust Division at the U.S. Justice Department, Delrahim is a top anticompetitiveness watchdog and a key figure in the DOJ’s challenge of the AT&T-Time Warner merger.

Ajit Pai: As chairman of the FCC, Pai is a deciding factor in many of the most impactful rules and regulations that touch the media and entertainment industry.

Mark Zuckerberg: As CEO of Facebook, Zuckerberg is helping to drive video platform innovations and fuel a growing original video content machine.

Dexter Goei: As CEO of Altice USA, Goei oversees one of the U.S.’ largest cable operators and a growing advanced advertising business.

Josh Sapan: As CEO of AMC Networks, Sapan runs some of the top cable networks in the U.S. and a handful of growing subscription streaming services.

Chris Ripley: As CEO of Sinclair Broadcast Group, Ripley runs a major U.S. broadcasting group with more than 200 television stations nationwide.

Tom Leighton: As CEO of Akamai, Leighton sits at the head of a key U.S. provider of CDN services and video technologies.

Marvin Edwards: As CEO of Commscope, Edwards runs a big network infrastructure provider in the process of buying major pay TV supplier ARRIS.