Leaders of the cable television industry gathered to laud Matt Blank, Chairman and CEO of Showtime, for his outstanding contribution to the fight against AIDS, and to benefit Cable Positive, a national nonprofit AIDS organization for the cable and telecommunications industries. Blank received the 2004 Joel A. Berger Memorial Award at the Marriott Marquis dinner, hosted by Colin Quinn (of Comedy Central’s Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn).

Other boldnames circulating included: Jen-nifer Beals (Showtime’s The L Word); Randy Harrison (Showtime’s Queer As Folk); Black Entertainment Television’s Robert Johnson; Cablevision’s James Dolan; Evander Holyfield; Mandy Patinkin; Paul Sorvino; Sharon Gless; Michelle Clunie; Thea Gill; Jackie Collins; Curtis Symonds; Kyra Sedgwick; and Adrienne Barbeau and Billy Van Zandt. Britney Spears, Salma Hayek, and Viacom’s Sumner Redstone, among others, sent congrats via videoclip.

“You have become the powerful, well-connected friend of the communities of color, of women and young people whose lives are being terrorized by HIV and AIDS,” said Cable Positive Prez and CEO Steve Villano. It was a positively perfect evening in support of this notable cause.