Kay Koplovitz
Founder, Chair and CEO—USA Network Co-Founder and Chair—Springboard Enterprises
The night of the most famous boxing match in history, Kay Koplovitz scored a knockout. She wasn’t in the ring. The fight that night—Sept. 30, 1975—was between Muhammed Ali and Joe Frazier for the world heavyweight crown. The “Thrilla in Manila” (as the contest was known) went fourteen rounds before officials called a stop; it’s still considered one of the most exciting, brutal boxing matches ever.
Kay was a winner that night because she consulted for Home Box Office and promoted the fight, which was broadcast in a revolutionary way—live by connecting satellites to cable transmission. This was the first time that satellite transmission to cable was demonstrated for commercial use, and Kay calls it “the night that changed television history.” The event was held in Vero Beach, Florida, for congressmen, leaders in the cable industry, and other officials from Washington, D.C and the press. They witnessed the huge commercial potential of satellite communications—something Kay had advocated for for seven years.
Her dream had begun when Kay was in college and happened to drop in on a lecture by science fiction writer and futurist Arthur C. Clarke. Clarke talked about putting satellites into geostationary orbits above earth to transform global communications. Such geosynchronous satellites had just been launched, and the possibilities described in Clarke’s powerful presentation “just wouldn’t let me go,” Kay says.
She was used to being tenacious and a little ahead of the curve. Growing up near Milwaukee, she was the middle child of a homemaker and a salesman for a metal forging company. Competing was in her blood from the start. Watching her older sister read, Kay insisted on learning to as well, and started nursery school at age four already reading and able to tell time. She adored sports, but organized athletics for girls then were virtually non-existent. So, Kay often found herself competing with the boys. On her own, Kay took up speedskating, which she could do on ponds near home. She began competing against girls from some of the best skating clubs in the country, because Olympic skaters trained nearby on the other side of Milwaukee.
Her father was a strict disciplinarian, but also a mentor. “Maybe my dad had more of an influence on me because he spent the most time with me. I was demanding,” says Kay. “I wanted to do this; I wanted to do that. He was the one who took me to speed skating competitions. He even took me horseback riding when he hated it because I asked. He didn’t have a college education, but he was self-taught in many areas. He showed me how to use a slide rule when I was in second or third grade.”
Kay’s mother was less strict, but still very much in Kay’s corner. “She was always like, ‘You go, girl,’” says Kay. When Kay was valedictorian of her high school class, she was passed over as the graduation speaker in lieu of a boy who ranked lower in class standings. “My mother was livid,” says Kay. “She went to the school and gave them what for. Really, she never got over it until the day she died.”
At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Kay studied communications and biology and contemplated medical school. Instead, she graduated from with a bachelor’s degree in communications and then an MA in communications from Michigan State University. She wrote her master’s thesis on the idea that wouldn’t let her go—the potential of satellite technology to transform communications.
She wasn’t alone in her interest. The first American-engineered satellite in geosynchronous orbit launched in 1964, and others gradually followed. Kay went to work for the Communications Satellite Corporation (COMSAT) promoting satellite usage. She also got married. She and her husband moved to Medford, Oregon, where television service was sketchy. Folks there relied on cable to watch TV, so Kay learned about the cable industry. She worked as an independent TV producer for the Olympic Track Qualifying Trials in Eugene, Oregon, and wrote a column for the local paper about the timber industry. (They paid her 25 cents per column inch.)
After a few years out west, the Koplovitzs moved back east and went to work for a national cable company—UA-Columbia—to compete for cable television franchises as a team. After two successful years, Kay wanted to pursue her dream of launching a cable network. Her satellite knowledge was a perfect fit for Home Box Office. In 1975, Kay consulted for the company that led the fight for satellite distribution in the cable industry. September 30th, 1975, became the “night that changed the television industry” when the “Thrilla in Manilla” heavyweight boxing championship between Muhammed Ali and Joe Frazier rocked the world. The success of that bout was the night Kay’s dream finally came true. In 1977, she became the first woman to head a television network when she launched Madison Garden Sports Network. In 1980, it became USA Network. With it, Kay returned to one of her first loves: sports.
“Back then,” Kay says, “sports were only on television on the weekends. Plus, Monday Night Football. My goal was to have sports on every single night.” Starting by broadcasting events from Madison Square Gardens, USA Network soon added college competitions and events from lesser-known athletic pursuits. Eventually, in addition to sports, USA Network carried programming for children, a talk show, C-SPAN, and material from Black Entertainment Television. In 1992, USA Network launched the Sci-Fi Channel, and in 1994, USA Network International.
Kay was succeeding, but it wasn’t easy. “All the people running the cable systems were men,” she remembers. While she didn’t feel overtly discriminated against, none of her peers seemed to notice the obstacles she faced routinely.
“Back then, there were a lot of eating clubs for men,” says Kay. “It’s where they gathered to discuss business. Women weren’t allowed in those places. In 1982, we got the rights to broadcast The Masters golf tournament at Augusta National. We’re heading upstairs to eat lunch at the Augusta clubhouse and all of sudden, we stop. Women aren’t allowed on the second floor of the clubhouse. We had to go back down to the Trophy Room, where women could eat. It’s not like the men I was with didn’t realize I was a woman, but it never dawned on them what that meant sometimes.”
In 1998, the USA Network was sold for $4.5 billion. The same year, President Clinton asked Kay to chair the National Women’s Business Council. It was the right challenge at the right time. “I really needed to regenerate my enthusiasm,” she says. “I loved building USA Network, but I wanted to go learn completely new things.”
What she learned is that women entrepreneurs needed more help starting and leading high-potential, high-growth businesses. In 2000, she co-founded Springboard Enterprises, a non-profit dedicated to supporting women leaders in technology and the life sciences. The success of Springboard Enterprises as a business accelerator inspired Kay to start Springboard Growth Capital in 2016, a vehicle for investing in women-led companies. She continues to expand the network of business sectors, such as the New York Fashion Tech Lab, which she co-founded in 2014 to connect more up-and-coming technology companies with the fashion and retail industry.
“I felt that I could do something to change the trajectory for women,” says Kay. “It’s still really tough for women to raise capital. I’m determined to make the playing field more equitable. I know what I was up against. And I know what it takes for women to succeed.”