Bob Magness
The founder of Tele-Communications Inc. (TCI), Bob Magness, began his career as a cottonseed salesman and part-time cattle rancher after graduating from Southwestern State College in Weatherford, OK. During a visit to a cotton gin one evening in 1956, he met two men who were having car trouble and needed a ride to the nearest town. Magness offered to help and, during the 30-mile drive, heard all about the new business the men were building: a community antenna system in nearby Paducah, TX.
Intrigued, Magness drove back to Paducah a week later, found the two men, and picked their brains some more. Encouraged by his wife Betsy, Magness sold the cattle, mortgaged their home, and borrowed $2500 from his father to raise capital for the couple's first community antenna system in Memphis, TX. Magness strung wires while Betsy kept the books.
Two years later, the Magnesses sold that first system and began looking for an opportunity to reinvest. A cable operator and broker named Bill Daniels showed them a community antenna system in Bozeman, MT. In partnership with another television entrepreneur, the Magnesses bought the system and later built six more in the area, reaching more than 12,000 homes.
They relocated to Denver and, in 1968, combined their two companies into Tele-Communications Inc. Even as he built his cable empire, Magness kept up his life as a rancher. He'd bought his first Arabian horse after World War II, and later in his life, he raised and bred horses on a ranch in Colorado and another in California.
At the same time, he was a sought-after board member, serving as a trustee of the University of Denver, the Denver Art Museum, the National Western Stock Show Association, and the Denver Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America.
Intrigued, Magness drove back to Paducah a week later, found the two men, and picked their brains some more. Encouraged by his wife Betsy, Magness sold the cattle, mortgaged their home, and borrowed $2500 from his father to raise capital for the couple's first community antenna system in Memphis, TX. Magness strung wires while Betsy kept the books.
Two years later, the Magnesses sold that first system and began looking for an opportunity to reinvest. A cable operator and broker named Bill Daniels showed them a community antenna system in Bozeman, MT. In partnership with another television entrepreneur, the Magnesses bought the system and later built six more in the area, reaching more than 12,000 homes.
They relocated to Denver and, in 1968, combined their two companies into Tele-Communications Inc. Even as he built his cable empire, Magness kept up his life as a rancher. He'd bought his first Arabian horse after World War II, and later in his life, he raised and bred horses on a ranch in Colorado and another in California.
At the same time, he was a sought-after board member, serving as a trustee of the University of Denver, the Denver Art Museum, the National Western Stock Show Association, and the Denver Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America.