NEW YORK: The Cable Advertising Bureau (CAB), a professional organisation of ad-supported cable networks and system operators, has appointed Sean Cunningham as its president-CEO. Cunningham will step down as the managing director of Interpublic Group of Cos.' Universal McCann to assume charge at the CAB from 23 June onwards.

An adage report says that Cunningham will replace Joe Ostrow at CAB. Ostrow is retiring and will be a part-time consultant to CAB.

The 42-year old Cunningham has managed Universal McCann's New York office since 2000. The agency's clients include Wendy's International, Maytag Corp. and Sony Corp. Universal McCann, part of Interpublic's McCann-Erickson WorldGroup, was named Advertising Age's 2002 Media Agency of the Year.

"I'm happy as a clam here," Cunningham was quoted as saying about Universal McCann. "They've got great people, great clients. This was the only place I wanted to work on the buy-side. But I think [cable] is such a powerful sector, that even as great as it is working here, the CAB is an even better opportunity."

The cable industry indeed is looking to tally its highest revenue and cost-per-thousand (CPM) increases during the current cable upfront TV ad sales market. The adage report says that executives from media companies and agencies have been quoted as saying that CPM increases alone this year are up 12 per cent, while overall revenue increases are about 20 per cent higher than last year, with close to $6 billion in sales being done.