Click on the Video Below and Sample a Session from the last Digital Hollywood event. For Additional Video Sessions, Click Here Hollywood Europe in London, ExCeL London, The Docklands November 29 - December 1, 2006 The Agenda - Day One Wednesday, November 29th 4:10 PM – 5:15 PM Track I: Television 2.0: As Cable, Telco, Satellite, OnDemand & 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, VoIP and Mobile as a communications as well as scalable video provider of clips and updates to movies and full programming. 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. In this session, we will address these issues and more. Ty Ahmad-Taylor, Senior Director, Interactive Products, Comcast Cable Gerard Grech, Strategy and Business Development, Content Partnerships and Services, Orange-France Telecom Martin Blakstad, Head of New Media, Granada International John Pink, Commercial Director, Red Bee Media Todd Lituchy, President, Entertainment, Viasat Broadcasting Antony Walker, Intellect Director & CEO, Broadband Stakeholder Group, Moderator Gerard Grech, Business Development and Content Strategy Director at the Content Division of France Telecom: Gerard worked in the music and media industries before joining Orange and then France Telecom. He was a founding member of Centric Records (signings included Craig David), a new media correspondent for Music Week and business consultant for clients including Warner Music Strategic Marketing, Universal Music Group, and Manga Film Entertainment. After his MBA, Gerard joined to launch the Orange Consulting Group, before moving to Orange International as Head of Music and Video. He spearheaded the delivery of new mobile content services by forging strong links between the mobile and media industries, introducing music track download and streaming, VOD, major artist and film promotions, Caller Ringback Tones and co-supervised the Orange-Star Wars franchise deal. Last year he was invited to join France Telecom's newly formed Content Division, where he is responsible for strategy and business development for the partnerships and services team. He is also a board director of the Mobile Entertainment Forum. Martin Blakstad, Head of New Media, Granada International: Martin Blakstad joined Granada International in 2005 as Head of New Media. He is responsible for the company’s New Media strategy and has spearheaded the businesses drive in to New Media, advising on industry and regulatory issues and establishing major content supply deals with broadcasters, telcos, ISP’s and other New Media clients. Before joining Granada International, Martin held senior positions at both traditional media companies and in New Media, with experience of running a number of internet based companies. After 10 years at Columbia Tri-Star as Director of Operations EMEA and VP at Sony Music, Martin was eCommerce Director EMEA for AltaVista, CEO of easyValue, an online shopping comparison site and also founded an advanced eCommerce marketplace and a mobile content developer and aggregator. Martin has also recently consulted for several New Media companies including work for France Telecom. Todd Lituchy, President, Entertainment, Viasat Broadcasting: Todd Lituchy is President of Entertainment for Viasat Broadcasting in London, overseeing the company’s development, program planning, scheduling and acquisitions. Viasat offers free-to-air broadcasting operations in nine countries (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Russia, Hungary, The Czech Republic, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia) and pay-TV broadcasting operations in 19 countries. Lituchy travels extensively throughout the world, working closely with local programming teams to maximize Viasat’s ratings and develop top-notch programming for each market. Joining Viasat in early 2003, Lituchy helped strengthen the company’s balance sheet by increasing audience figures in seven out of eight free-TV countries. The key components of his success lie in identifying strategic acquisitions and local productions with high ratings potential. Recent acquisitions by Lituchy on behalf of Viasat include: Desperate Housewives, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, America’s Next Top Model, CSI, CSI Miami, Prison Break, My Name is Earl, Dr. Phil and The Simple Life. Lituchy has helped Viasat restructure its pay television film offerings from two channels in Scandinavia to six themed movie channels, a feat that has lead to improved pay television buy rates and lower churn ratios. In 2004, the company launched the Viasat History Channel, which is currently available in 15 countries. For five years, Lituchy served as Senior Vice President of Scheduling and Acquisitions at the United Paramount Network (UPN). He was responsible for all aspects of program planning, scheduling and acquisitions for the network. Prior to UPN, Lituchy was the Director of Research for Walt Disney Television, a position he held for two years. During his tenure, he oversaw all primary and secondary research for numerous network prime time series including: Home Improvement, Ellen and Boy Meets World. Lituchy transferred to Disney’s network television division after serving for almost three years in its syndication arm, Buena Vista Television (BVT). Lituchy helped create national and local syndication sales pitches for Home Improvement, Siskel & Ebert and LIVE with Regis & Kathie Lee. While living in New York prior to his move to Los Angeles, Lituchy worked in Scheduling and Program Planning for Lifetime Television. Previously, he was Senior Writer/Researcher at Viacom Entertainment, where helped launch the show Roseanne in syndication. A graduate of Binghamton University in New York and the Columbia Business School where he earned his Masters in Business, Lituchy began his career as an intern for NBC while still attending college. Todd Lituchy lives in London, England with his wife and two children. John Pink, Commercial Director of Red Bee Media: John Pink is the Commercial Director at Red Bee Media and has led the successful growth of the company into new areas such as video-on-demand, content to mobile and navigation services. Red Bee Media was formerly part of the BBC and John played a key role at the time of sale and has worked with the new owners to develop it into an independent company. He continues to be responsible for delivering growth; company strategy; sales, marketing and communication; company-wide client management; and the research and development of new technologies and products - all of which have been brought together under an integrated Business Development department. Ty Ahmad-Taylor, Senior Director, Interactive Products, Comcast Cable: Ty Ahmad-Taylor began his career at the New York Times in their graphics department, working in National and International news. While there, he covered the Waco, TX standoff, the Los Angeles riots, the Gulf War, the Oklahoma City bombing and other large news events from a visual perspective, using schematics, databases and cartography. In 1995, his last year at the paper, he wrote articles on the emerging Internet, special effects in cinema, and the video game industry. From the Times he moved West to join the @Home Network. Ty became the Creative Director of @Home in 1997, and led their efforts to create next-generation portals for broadband and interactive television. After a year sabbatical in 2000, where he took cooking and French lessons, he returned to technology, working as the Chief Creative Architect for MetaTV, an iTV concern based in Mill Valley, CA, just north of San Francisco. While there, Ty generated user interface patents, and led the design of interactive television portals for Comcast, Cox, Echostar and other MSO and satellite operators. After working at Comcast Cable Corporation as the Director of Strategic Planning in their broadband group, where his mandate included devising and executing Comcast’s wireless (GPRS, UMTS and WiFi) strategy, and interactive content and applications. He is currently the Senior Director for Cross-platform applications at the company. His job duties encompass applications that straddle distribution channels, such as search, games and music. Ty has over nine years of experience in designing for broadband, eight years in interactive television, and 15 years in information design. He has lectured at Digital Hollywood, CES, Milia, AIGA conferences, HOW Design Conferences, Seybold Seminars, as well as the Poynter Institute for Journalism in St. Petersberg, Fla. Ty lives in New York City, though he is originally from the San Francisco Bay Area. Antony Walker is director of strategy at Intellect, the trade association that brings together hi-tech companies to inform and influence public policy, develop markets, and improve business performance. Antony has a background in communications policy and the impact of convergence on the hi-tech sector. In 2002 Antony was appointed as chief executive of the Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG), which was set up by government to advise on the development and implementation of the UK's broadband strategy. Antony has been closely involved with broadband policy development since the BSG was established and is the author of three major BSG reports to government. Prior to joining Intellect, Antony spent six years working in Brussels for the American Chamber of Commerce and as a consultant to the European Commission. Antony is a graduate of Aberdeen University and has an MA from the Institute of European Studies, KU Leuven, Belgium.