9:00 AM – 10:15 AM
Track I:
Television 2.0: OnDemand, PRV, DRV, Cable, Telco, Satellite & Broadband Redefine the Future of Entertainment and Communications
The television experience has now officially graduated from its status as entertainment king of the living room, to the central component of the entire electronic consumer experience. Television 2.0 has now arrived and it includes Cable – with all of its integrated services of PVR, DRV, VOD, Broadband, Wireless and VoIP; Mobile as a communications as well as scalable video provider of clips and updates to movies and full programming, Telco as the next communications super-player and provider of Video to an always connected consumer; Satellite provider as most innovative and cost effective supplier of video, programming packages and services; finally to the Broadband IP video provider of content and services as the key to the consumer’s heart. The competition for the future of Television 2.0 has just begun. There will be no immediate winner and there will probably never be a winner. With 250 million consumers in this country to service and a global market to reach out to, the media, entertainment and technology companies are not competing in a zero sum marketing arena.
Albie Hecht, founder & CEO, Worldwide Biggies Inc.
Tara Maitra, Vice President, General Manager, Content Services, TiVo Inc.
James Glasscock,Vice President, Video-on-Demand, Playboy Entertainment Group
Paul Colichman, Chief Executive Officer & co-founder, here! Networks
Anne L. Coulombe, Director, Middleware and Games, SeaChange International
Alex Ben Block, Author and Entertainment Industry Journalist, Moderator
James Glasscock, Vice President, Video-on-Demand, Playboy Enterta
inment Group: James Glasscock joined Playboy in November of 2005. In his current role as Vice President, Video-on-Demand, Glasscock manages all aspects of the Company's video-on-demand business and serves as a liaison with Playboy's distribution partners. Glasscock focuses on distribution implementation and optimizing revenue specifically related to VOD and SVOD product. He works closely with Playboy's Sales and Affiliate Relations division and the Programming division. Prior to joining Playboy, Glasscock was the Director of New Media Business Development at Turner Broadcasting System Inc. where he was responsible for developing and executing non-linear distribution for the Turner brands across broadband, VOD, interactive/enhanced television and wireless platforms. While at Turner, he helped develop and launch advertising supported video-on-demand for CNN, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, TBS and TNT. Glasscock has also served as Director of New Ventures for Zone Ventures and as an associate at KPMG Digital Media Incubator. Glasscock has a BA in accounting from the University of San Diego and served 5 years active duty in the U.S. Navy. He is currently a member of the Cable Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM) and the On Demand Consortium. Glasscock is based in Playboy’s Los Angeles Media Center office.Tara Maitra, Vice President, General Manager, Content Services, TiVo, Inc.: Tara Maitra serves as Vice President, General Manager of Content Services for TiVo. In this role, Maitra is responsible for cultivating relationships with content companies and unique content offerings for delivery via broadband. Previously, Maitra served as Senior Director of content development at Comcast, where she was responsible for day-to-day operations of Select on Demand, a collection of new niche non-linear networks delivered via video on-demand and broadband. Maitra helped to create new channels through partnerships, acquisitions and original programming. Prior to Comcast, Maitra was Executive Vice President, General Manager of Primedia Digital Video, where she developed on-demand and broadband video businesses for Primedia's established print franchises. Her accomplishments include launching video services on Comcast and Real Networks. Ms. Maitra also held a series of editorial and management positions at NBC, including Vice President, General Manager of CNBC/Dow Jones Business Video, a joint venture of NBC, Microsoft and Dow Jones. There she led the development and managed one of the first profitable streaming video web sites to offer financial content thru both subscription and syndication models. A graduate of Washington and Lee University, located in Lexington, Virginia, Ms. Maitra holds a B.A. in Journalism and Psychology.
Albie Hecht, founder & CEO, Worldwide Biggies Inc.: As president of film and television entertainment for Nickelodeon, Hecht oversaw the development and production of SpongeBob SquarePants, The Fairy Odd Parents, Blue’s Clues, and the long running live action hit All That, the first multicultural sketch comedy show for kids, which spun off the hit series’ Kenan and Kel and The Amanda Show. He also co-created Nickelodeon’s Kids Choice Awards as the founding principal and Executive Producer for Chauncey Street Productions. During the 14 years he was executive producer, the award show became a must attend event for Hollywood A-listers. At Nickelodeon Movies, he produced some of Paramount’s biggest films of the last five years, most recently, Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events (four Academy Awards Nominations) and The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. Hecht was also nominated for an Oscar in The Academy’s inaugural Best Animated Feature category, as the Producer of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, which was a Golden Globe Nominee, as well. The Rugrats Movie was the first non- Disney animated feature to cross the hundred million dollar mark. Other Nick Movie hits with Albie Hecht as either producer or executive producer include Rugrats in Paris, and the live-action success, Snow Day with Chevy Chase. In all, Albie Hecht’s movie projects brought in over a billion dollars for Paramount and Nickelodeon in box office and licensing revenue. As the creator and President of MTV Networks’ Spike TV, the First Network for Men, Hecht launched what is now an 89-million-subscriber, basic cable network. Time Magazine hailed Spike as "…an example of how media and marketing are reshaping the idea of American manhood." Hecht scored Spike’s first hit with The Joe Schmo Show, a program that gave birth to the genre of faux-reality. He also introduced the cult hit, MXC: Most Extreme Elimination, which Entertainment Weekly rated an "A" saying "take one part Jackass, two parts Iron Chef and 18 parts pure insanity and you have the recipe for MXC."
Tara Maitra, Vice President, General Manager, Content Services, TiVo Inc.: Tara Maitra serves as Vice President, General Manager of Content Services for TiVo. In this role, Maitra is responsible for cultivating relationships with content companies and unique content offerings for delivery via broadband. Previously, Maitra served as Senior Director of content development at Comcast, where she was responsible for day-to-day operations of Select on Demand, a collection of new niche non-linear networks delivered via video on-demand and broadband. Maitra helped to create new channels through partnerships, acquisitions and original programming. Prior to Comcast, Maitra was Executive Vice President, General Manager of Primedia Digital Video, where she developed on-demand and broadband video businesses for Primedia’s established print franchises. Her accomplishments include launching video services on Comcast and Real Networks. Ms. Maitra also held a series of editorial and management positions at NBC, including Vice President, General Manager of CNBC/Dow Jones Business Video, a joint venture of NBC, Microsoft and Dow Jones. There she led the development and managed one of the first profitable streaming video web sites to offer financial content thru both subscription and syndication models. A graduate of Washington and Lee University, located in Lexington, Virginia, Ms. Maitra holds a B.A. in Journalism and Psychology.
Anne L. Coulombe, Director, Middleware and Games, SeaChange Int
ernational: With over 20-years experience in high-technology spanning software, games, telecom and convergence products, Anne Coulombe heads initiatives behind SeaChange’s Middleware and Games platform. Throughout her career, Coulombe has brought 120 products to market on different continents with companies including Microsoft, Electronic Arts, Mitel and Enterasys Networks. Coulombe is a recognized industry speaker, having engaged in worldwide conferences including COMDEX, Voice on the Net (VON) and VoicEcon, in addition to garnering radio and television presence.Alex Ben Block – Entertainment industry journalist, author, broadcaster and show business historian. He was Editor of two top Hollywood trades, "TelevisionWeek," and The Hollywood Reporter," and was Associate Editor of Forbes Magazine. He was a columnist in Detroit and a movie critic in Miami. He has served as Executive Director of the Los Angeles Press Club and is heard weekly on NPR affiliate KPCC-FM’s "Call Sheet."
Paul Colichman is chief executive officer and co-founder of here! Networ
ks, America's first gay television network, which he established in 2002 with Stephen P. Jarchow. Colichman is also president of Regent Entertainment, a major producer and distributor of high quality, profitable motion pictures, with a valuable library of motion picture copyrights and distribution rights. Colichman is one of Hollywood’s premier creative executives and producers of reasonably budgeted motion pictures for theatrical and television release. He has over 20 years of experience in the entertainment business and has been involved in the production and distribution of over 200 motion pictures. He has created and/or produced thousands of hours of television, including made-for-TV movies, talk shows, live events and original series. His films include the critically acclaimed One False Move, My New Gun; Music of Chance; Gas Food Lodging; Tom and Viv; The Twilight of the Golds and the Academy Award winner Gods and Monsters. Colichman has the savvy to make a $2 million independent film look like a major studio release, a keen eye for fresh writing and directing talent, and a broad knowledge of ancillary markets and multi-platform distribution. In just over two years since its launch, here! is now available nationwide to more than 48 million digital households via major cable and satellite providers and leading online services. Colichman and his executive team developed here! to deliver a variety of premium entertainment to the gay and lesbian audience through cable, satellite, broadband, mobile, podcast, home video and audio CD. Colichman has built his business on an extensive library of acquired and original programming as well as strong digital capabilities in order to provide flexible carriage options for operators and distributors. The here! on demand model has been a key component to this business strategy. With a mission to create accessible, identifiable premium entertainment for the long underserved GLBT audience, Colichman developed here! as a digital service, with content that could be distributed on demand via multiple platforms. As a content provider, Colichman’s distribution partnerships speak to his commitment to reach far and wide utilizing advanced technology to deliver high quality, relevant entertainment for the broad gay and lesbian audience. In 2005, Colichman expanded availability of here! to the Internet, securing deals with leading companies in the broadband space including Akimbo Systems, MovieLink and Google Video. In 2005 he also launched here! Tunes, a music publishing company and virtual record label that focuses on gay and lesbian musicians. here! Tunes controls a pipeline of 45-50 films and series via its relationship with here! Networks. As a producer, Colichman balances the creative daring of independent films with the pragmatic goals of a movie magnate Colichman’s current productions include made-for-network movies, original series and specials including John Waters Presents Movies That Will Corrupt You, the heralded film series hosted by the legendary director from his hometown of Baltimore, MD; In Her Line of Fire, an original film starring Mariel Hemingway as a lesbian action hero; Dante’s Cove, a gothic horror series; and Trapped, an original film starring Alexandra Paul as an Internet security expert. Recent successful shows include Margaret Cho’s concert film, Assassin; and Third Man Out, first in a series of made-for-network films based on the Donald Strachey mysteries and starring Chad Allen as a gay private investigator. Among Colichman’s other achievements is the highly acclaimed film Gods and Monsters which garnered an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay as well as Academy Award nominations for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress. The picture also received a Golden Globe for Best Actress and a nomination for Best Picture. He also produced the Academy Award-Nominated Tom and Viv; a film version of the off-Broadway hit, Twilight of the Golds, which won three Cable Ace Awards; and My New Gun, which debuted in the coveted Director's Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.