Gustave M Hauser

The bold experiment Mr. Hauser undertook in Columbus, Ohio, in 1977 helped usher in the modern era of multichannel digital cable television. In December 1977, Warner Communications unveiled QUBE, an experimental cable system offering a package of 30 themed channels that provided movies, sports, children’s programming and documentaries. The system not only offered customers content unavailable on broadcast television; it also introduced new technology to bring that content to them. QUBE’s innovations included the first set-top boxes and remote control devices for cable. Mr. Hauser needed new programming that was attractive but affordable. Finding that programming would define the cable television market. His concept of inexpensive special-interest channels led to the development of the Movie Channel, Nickelodeon and MTV, along with computer-based interactive services like pay-per-view. Mr. Hauser died on February 14 2021 at an assisted living facility in New York City. He was 91. His death, which was not widely reported at the time, was confirmed by his wife, the foreign affairs and human rights lawyer Rita E. Hauser. Having built Warner Cable into an industry giant — it became Warner Amex Cable Communications in 1979 and, after several changes of ownership, is now MTV Networks — Mr. Hauser decided to leave and start his own cable company. In 1983 he founded Hauser Communications, which he built over the next 10 years into a successful and highly regarded cable provider, with properties in Washington and Minneapolis among other locations. In 1993 he sold his company to Southwestern Bell for $650 million Mr. Hauser and his wife in 1988 created the Hauser Foundation and began a life of charitable giving, especially to Harvard and New York University. (He had graduated from Harvard’s law school; she began her law studies there but graduated from N.Y.U.’s.) In 1969, shortly after President Richard M. Nixon took office, Mr. Hauser was named by the president to start the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. In 1971 he joined Western Union International, a spinoff of Western Union, as executive vice president. By the 1970s he was chairman and chief executive of Warner Cable Communications In addition to his wife, Mr. Hauser is survived by a daughter, Ana Burtnett, and a grandson.