Steve Tello

Stephen J. Tello (born 18 May 1950 in Boston, Massachusetts), known as Steve Tello, is a television executive with over 3 decades of experience working in television news and sports. He currently holds the position of Senior Vice President and General Manager of FOX Sports Houston, a unit of the Fox Entertainment Group. Tello is based in Houston and oversees the FSHouston operation which produces the Astros and Rockets games to 4.2 million viewers. Steve Tello grew in Miami and has lived in Atlanta, Washington DC, New York, London, and Los Angeles along with other cities in his career. He has traveled extensively on many projects over the course of his sojourn.

Television Networks

Tello started his career as a news operations manger at WPLG-TV in Miami Florida responsible for their sports and news business operations. He was recruited to the ABC Network and ultimately became a senior producer for World News Tonight with Peter Jennings. He was based in London for a several years and produced many news broadcasts and specials with Jennings all over the world. In 1992 he left ABC and moved to a senior management role becoming President of Broadcast and Production for Speer Communications. In 1998 he joined Fox Cable Group as Fox was building their regional sports network. He was managing the Sports News operation for several years in Los Angeles as SVP and was later asked to run the Pittsburgh and Houston sports networks as their cable and satellite viewership grew.

Cameras in the Courtroom

While working for Post-Newsweek station WPLG-TV , Tello , with lawyer Talbot " Sandy D'Alemberte ( former American Bar President and Florida State University President ) was successful in the precedent setting movement to place cameras in the courtrooms in the State of Florida. His efforts in Florida grew to many states across the country allowing camera coverage in their courts over subsequent years.

Education

Steve Tello graduated from Florida International Universitywith a BA degree in Journalism and Communications. He returned to the school as an adjunct to teach television production and TV journalism and remained involved with the school while living in Miami.

Honors

Tello has won numerous awards in his career, including five regional Emmy Awards, Associated Press TV awards and the UPI Oversees Press Award. In 1993 he was awarded the Joseph A. Sprague Memorial Award for his unique achievement in securing a place for cameras in courtrooms around the country. He was honored in 2002 with the Distinguished Alumni award for continuing contributions and the Hall of Fame award from Florida International University.

Affiliations

• Texas Bowl committee board member
• Pittsburgh YMCA board member
• Pittsburgh Convention Bureau's Sports Task Force
• Florida International University Adjunct
• University of Montana Journalism board member 2002 - 2004