Top Fox negotiator leaves, while Shaw loses wireless head

After a year of being point man in brutal retransmission battles, including a blackout of portions of the World Series, Tony Vinciquerra has opted out of his contract with Fox Networks Group.

Named the "most powerful person in cable" for 2010 by CableFAX, Vinciquerra had apparently asked COO Chase Carey--the man to whom he reported and with whom he shared many duties--to get out of the remaining two years of his contract as early as last summer. Lest any cable execs pull hats and hooters from the New Year's Eve closet in celebration, Carey has made it clear that he will be just as tough--if not tougher--as a negotiator.

Elsewhere in cable personnel decisions, Laurence Cooke, hired last summer to move Shaw Communications (NYSE: SJR) into the wireless business, "has abruptly left the troubled cable giant for both professional and personal reasons," according to the Globe & Mail.

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