Sue Buske, President, The Buske Group

Sue Buske has been involved in cable television field and local cable programming since 1972. Her practice includes providing advice in the areas of initial franchising, franchise renewal, ownership transfer, cable operator performance monitoring, assessment, and all aspects of local cable programming.

Ms. Buske served as the principal franchise consultant and negotiator to many cities, ranging from Monterey, California to Salina, Kansas and Cambridge, Massachusetts; and as a principal member of franchise renewal consulting teams that assisted scores of other communities. Her work has required her to analyze franchise agreements, develop and implement monitoring and compliance processes, develop franchising procedures, conduct needs assessments specific to franchise renewal, translate the outcome of those assessments to franchise and ordinance language, analyze proposals submitted to cities by cable companies, and serve as a principal negotiator during franchise renewal and compliance proceedings. Ms. Buske is recognized as one of the foremost national experts in the PEG field. Her background and experience in cable policy, regulation and PEG comes not only from the perspective of a consultant, but also from having served as a full-time cable administrator and also as a pioneer in the field of PEG management.

Prior to the creation of The Buske Group, Ms. Buske served for six years as the Executive Director of the National Federation of Local Cable Programmers (NFLCP, now known as the Alliance for Community Media), a Washington, DC based national organization serving cities, schools, and nonprofit PEG corporations. During those years she served as the coordinator for numerous projects undertaken by the organization. She conducted extensive research into all types of local cable programming and published numerous articles on PEG and telecommunications policy.

Ms. Buske's tenure at NFLCP was during a time when hundreds of Access corporations were being created in the United States. She assisted many of those entities via telephone or on a consulting basis as part of her duties as Executive Director of NFLCP. 

Prior to her employment with NFLCP, Ms. Buske served as Regional Director at the Cable Television Information Center at the Urban Institute (also in Washington, DC) and was involved in supervising city franchising processes on behalf of C.T.I.C. While at C.T.I.C. she conducted in-depth analysis of cable proposals submitted during franchising processes.

From 1978-1980, Ms. Buske served as the first Executive Director of the Miami Valley Cable Television Council, a multi-city council of governments that included a cluster of cities and towns located in the south suburbs of Dayton, Ohio. While employed by M.V.C.T.C. she served as the Chief Regulatory Officer for the cities and established and coordinated all aspects of PEG operations. Ms. Buske's early years in the cable television field were spent as Director of Access and Local Origination in Dubuque, Iowa (1972-1977).

Ms. Buske is widely recognized as one of the leading experts in the United States on cable policy and local cable programming issues. She has received numerous national awards, including the George Stoney Award for Humanistic Communications. An award bearing her name, The Buske Leadership Award, is presented annually by the Alliance for Community Media to persons providing outstanding leadership in the field of local cable programming. She co-authored the Access Manager's Handbook and has written many articles for a number of publications.