Preston Padden
Head of Advocacy & Government Relations
C-band Alliance
As Head of Advocacy & Government Relations for CBA, Preston Padden will continue the CBA’s efforts to work closely with government agencies to make mid-band spectrum available quickly, thus supporting the U.S. objective of winning the race to introduce terrestrial 5G services.
Over the course of his 40-year career in the media sector, Mr. Padden has held senior leadership positions with many of the broadcasting and entertainment industry’s best-known companies.
Those include: President of ABC Television Network; President, Network Distribution for the Fox Broadcasting Company; Executive Vice President, Government Relations for the Walt Disney Company; and Chairman and CEO of American Sky Broadcasting (merged into Dish Network).
Prior to assuming his new role with CBA, Mr. Padden served as principal of the consulting firm Boulder Thinking, LLC.
Mr. Padden has also served on the board of directors of the National Association of Broadcasters and the Motion Picture Association of America.
From 2010-13, Mr. Padden served as an Adjunct Professor of Communications Law at the University of Colorado and as a Senior Fellow at that law school’s Silicon Flatirons Center. From 2012-15, he served as the Executive Director of the Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition.
Recent Events and Presentations
Mid-band Spectrum: Transitioning the C-Band and More
Spectrum remains the lifeblood of wireless communications, but not all spectrum is the same.Mid-band spectrum is the goldilocks of frequencies—not too high, and not too low. Portions of this spectrum will be crucial for next-generation networks, and other nations are moving full steam ahead to allocate this spectrum for 5G services.
