By Brian Galante
Special to RBR+TVBR
MINNEAPOLIS — Tightrope Media Systems has built a reputation for consistency over its 27 years in business, anchored through a managerial structure and staff that rarely changes. That consistency is a distinction. Yet, Tightrope’s longstanding managerial structure is on the verge of change.
A retirement is coming at the end of 2024 for Steve Israelsky, bringing a memorable and successful 45-year career to a close at Tightrope’s Cablecast Community Media division.
Tightrope CEO and Co-Founder JJ Parker will step into the role of President of Cablecast as 2025 begins. Cablecast Community Media will also expand its executive team to support the division’s overall growth, with two C-Level appointments expected before the end of December.
Israelsky first became known at Arlington Community Television, serving as its first Executive Director, in the 1980s. He later spent six years at USA Networks and two years at Fox Family Channel in a Regional VP role before taking a detour into the technology supplier space. He spent 18 years at Tightrope, and in 2017 was tapped to lead the newly created Cablecast division.
“Steve has long recognized the value that community media brings to local populations, and the opportunity to build the business through relationships with municipal governments and local schools,” Parker said. “That gave us the knowledge, power and confidence to look beyond the traditional cable access market. Perhaps most importantly, his past experiences gave him a direct sightline to the dedication of those that work across all these community media segments. He understood the need to innovate new technology solutions that helped our business, our customers, and the larger community find new ways to grow.”
Israelsky says he is particularly proud of how the Cablecast brand grew beyond the dedicated cable playout automation box to support live streaming, video-on-demand and content delivery to free Cablecast apps available on mobile/OTT devices.
He adds that he’s played an active development role for a new Cablecast solution he expects will open new doors for the brand upon its introduction next year.
“The Cablecast team has always exceled at understanding the needs of our customers,” said Israelsky. “We actively listen and apply what we learn to product development and other initiatives. We maintain fair pricing to remain aligned with the reality of their budgets. These tenets were established in the early days of the company. I later carried them to the Cablecast business, where they have been faithfully adopted by others who has since joined this staff. The company culture is unlike any I’ve seen, and it has truly been a great place to work.”
