The Birth of a Media Empire

After the military, and graduating from Harvard Business School, Bill embarked on a 33-year career in media. He joined HBO in 1979, as part of a new television cable revolution and rose to Vice President, overseeing offices in L.A and Philadelphia, negotiating distribution and marketing partnerships and launching HBO across the US. He was later honored as a Cable TV Pioneer.

In 1989, Bill led the start-up MTV Europe, bringing a new form of television to viewers on both sides of the Iron Curtain. In 1993, he established the headquarters of MTV Networks Latin America (“MTVNLA”) in Miami Beach, Florida which became the leading international media company to establish Miami Beach as the entertainment capital of Latin America, staffing the operations with a full television production studio and 300 person office on Lincoln Road. Led by Bill Roedy, MTVNLA originally produced content of MTV and Nickelodeon in Spanish to 22 countries from Mexico to Central America to South America, introducing now mega artists like Shakira and Mana to the US markets via successful MTV Unpluggeds and Video Music Awards Latin America.

Over the next 22 years, he built from scratch a global operation of 200 channels, 20 brands (including MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central), in 200 countries, reaching an audience of 2 Billion people, launching the most channels in the history of television. His strategy centered on 1) creative, relentless distribution, 2) ground-breaking content that was reflective and respectful of local cultures and 3) social responsibility, highlighted by the largest multi-media initiative to fight the global pandemic of HIV/AIDS. Through diplomacy and entrepreneurship, he successfully navigated the complexity of diverse cultures, regulatory and geopolitical challenges, while at the same time pioneering a strategy of localization with global scale. He was recognized in 2015 with his induction into the Cable Hall of Fame.

During this time, he was appointed the first Ambassador of UNAIDS, addressing the UN General Assembly on several occasions regarding the pandemic. He was a founding member and Chair of the Global Business Coalition (GBC) on HIV/AIDS, galvanizing the business response to AIDS, TB and Malaria. In 2005, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed him founding chair of the Global Media AIDS Initiative, negotiating airtime commitments to fight AIDS.

He is the Founding Chair of the MTV Staying Alive Foundation, which provides young people with resources at the grassroots level in combination with MTV’s award-winning HIV/AIDS programming.