Noon - 1:00 PM
Session B- ME2:
Wireless – Participation TV Programming & Marketing - "SMS – Mobile and Telephony"
With the explosion of reality TV programming, so has the phenomenon of participation TV, the polls, the contests, the games, quizzes and chats – value-added concepts integrated into the context of the TV programming. From sporting events to quiz and reality shows, Participation TV is being embraced by the consumer. In this session, we will hear from the experts about both the phenomenon of the programming as well as the technological advances being made to enhance the relationship between the programmer and the viewer. A bonus in this process is of course the profitability of the enterprise. What does it mean to the programmer, the advertiser or mobile partner when ten million viewers are engaged in a participating experience? What is the future of Participation TV? What does it mean for the bottom line? In this session, we will explore a growing phenomenon and opportunity.
John Smelzer, VP Business Development, Fox Sports Interactive Media
Robert Hayes, SVP of New Media, Showtime Networks
Bruce Gersh, Senior Vice President Business Development, ABC Entertainment Group
Dr. Alexander Trommen, COO, MINICK Holding AG
Timothy Shey, Creative Director and co-founder, Proteus
John Penney, Executive Director, Strategy and Advertising Management, SBC Project Lightspeed
Ben Fritz, Technology Reporter, Variety / Daily Variety, Moderator
Ross Levinsohn, Senior Vice President & General Manager – Fox Spo
rts Interactive Media: As Senior Vice President and General Manager, Ross Levinsohn is responsible for the overall Interactive Media businesses of for FOX SPORTS including internet, wireless, broadband and interactive television. In this role, he oversees the interactive presence and opportunities for Fox Sports, Fox Sports Net and Fox Sports World and Fuel, the new extreme sports and lifestyle channel. His responsibilities include oversight of all aspects of the interactive businesses and interaction between all four broadcast and cable networks within the Fox Sports Group. Prior to joining Fox, Levinsohn served as Vice President and Executive Producer of the AltaVista Network. In this role, he was responsible for the overall development and implementation of the AltaVista Network, which includes all search, directory and content areas within the site. He joined the company in April, 1999 as Vice President and General Manager, New Media, where he oversaw the development and launch of AltaVista LIVE!, the personalized portal content offering from AltaVista, which launched in October, 1999. Previously, Levinsohn served as Vice President, Programming and Executive Producer of CBS Sportsline, where he oversaw all content and development for the top rated sports site. As one of the first employees at the internet start up, Levinsohn helped craft the overall online strategy for the company, and managed the day to day programming and content execution for the web site and its related production relationships with AOL, PGA Tour.com, Michael Jordan.com; and, SanFrancisco49ers.com. He also created and served as Executive Producer for the syndicated weekly television program "Football Playbook" starring former NFL coaches Marv Levy and Sam Wyche. Prior to joining CBS Sportsline, Levinsohn was Director of Production and Marketing Enterprises for HBO. In that role, he developed television programming, and licensing, merchandising and new media opportunities for the world’s largest Pay-TV network. Levinsohn spent three years at ProServ, Inc., a leading sports marketing and management company, where he represented a variety of athletes and developed marketing and sponsorship programs. He began his career at Saatchi and Saatchi in New York, and worked at the sports public relations firm Lapin and Rose, where he oversee marketing and publicity for a variety of sports clients including Top Rank Boxing, Showtime and the MLB Old Timers Baseball Series. Levinsohn is an advisory board member for Winmec, the Wireless Internet for the Mobile Enterprise Consortium and Convizion, a privately funded digital rights management company. He is also a former board member of the Florida Make-A-Wish Foundation. In 1995, while at HBO, GQ Magazine named him one of the "40 under 40" people to watch in the sports business.Robert Hayes is the Senior Vice President, New Media for Showtime Ne
tworks Inc. In this position, Hayes is responsible for all of the company’s online initiatives including day-to-day leadership, content, and production. In addition, he oversees production related to the company’s interactive television (ITV), personal video recorder (PVR) and wireless efforts. Most recently, Hayes served as Vice President of New Media for Showtime Networks Inc., a position he held since April 2001. Prior to that, he was Vice President of Business Development and was instrumental in the strategy and launch of Showtime’s digital multiplexes including SHOWTIME NEXT, SHOWTIME WOMEN and SHOWTIME FAMILYZONE. Hayes also served as Vice President, International Business Development, charged with assessing opportunities for SHOWTIME and other SNI brands in the international marketplace including launching and overseeing Showtime’s ventures in Spain and the Middle East. He joined the company as Director of International Business Development in 1995. Previously, Hayes worked at Home Box Office as Manager of Programming, based in Prague, Czech Republic, as well as Manager of International Business Development based in New York. Hayes received his M.B.A. in International Business from American University in Washington, D.C and his B.A. degree in Marketing from Stockton State College in Pomona, New Jersey. He works in the company's New York headquarters.Bruce Gersh was named Senior Vice President Business Developme
nt, ABC Entertainment Group, in April 2004. In this position, Mr. Gersh has responsibility for all traditional and online business development programs across ABC Daytime/Primetime, Touchstone Television. Since joining ABC in 2000, Mr. Gersh has been involved in several groundbreaking business development initiatives for the online and traditional business units of the Network. Mr. Gersh developed the nation's first "premium-rate" Short Messaging Service campaign for ABC Daytime. Mr. Gersh also devised and manages, "Shop the Soaps" on ABC Daytime, which is considered to be the first fully integrated cross-media shopping program on network television. Finally, Mr. Gersh oversees several new business initiatives including, merchandise licensing, book publishing, music soundtracks, home video, e-commerce, and product placement. Before joining ABC, Mr. Gersh was a business development consultant for NBC Enterprises, where he identified and created new revenue generating programs. Mr. Gersh was instrumental in the creation and expansion of the NBC direct response business, which was measured as revolutionary in the network television world. Prior to joining ABC, Mr. Gersh was a business development consultant for NBC Enterprises, where he identified and created new revenue generating programs. He began his career at Arthur Andersen, and was recently selected by the Hollywood Reporter in the Next Generation issue as one of the young executives poised to become an industry leader. Mr. Gersh holds a degree in Accounting Theory and Practice from California State University, Northridge. He resides in Los Angeles with his wife, Sharon, and their three children, Casey, Nicki and Hailey.John Penney is Executive Director, Strategy and Advertising Management for SBC's new IPTV initiative, Project Lightspeed. At SBC, he is responsible for strategic planning and the development of new content and advertising related services and business opportunities. Prior to joining SBC, He was vice president, Business Development, for Home Box Office, responsible for strategic planning and development of HBO's new business opportunities. He joined HBO in this position in August 2003. Prior to joining HBO, Penney worked as executive vice president, Licensing & Business Development, for ACTV, Inc., overseeing the development and licensing of technologies for interactive television, personal computer, wireless data, and mobile computing environments. From 1999 to 2000, he joined Scient, Inc. as managing director, Media & Entertainment, responsible for creating and marketing strategy blueprints for the digital migration of major entertainment content and distribution companies. Penney worked at Viacom, Inc. from 1997 to 1999 as vice president, Planning and Development, managing the formation and implementation of domestic and international corporate business strategies. Prior to his tenure at Viacom, Penney was a securities analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., Inc. and a financial analyst in the Media & Telecommunications Corporate Finance group of The Chase Manhattan Bank, N.A. Penney holds a B.A. in Social Psychology from Wesleyan University and a Master's Degree in Public Policy & Administration from Columbia University.
Timothy Shey, Creative Director and Co-founder, Proteus: As leader of Proteus' creative efforts, Timothy Shey has been responsible for the creative direction of hundreds of successful client engagements since 1996, integrating knowledge of user experience design, interface engineering, usability, and branding to create compelling interactive experiences. Clients who have benefited from Proteus’ services in web development, wireless applications, interactive television, and consumer electronics include Speedpass, ExxonMobil, FOX Sports, ABC, Sprint, AT&T Wireless, Sony, Ericsson, and Motorola, with whom Proteus produced the first-ever wireless interactive television experience for FOX Sports' Super Bowl XXXVI broadcast. Most recently, Proteus has developed wireless entertainment and enhanced television solutions for HBO ("The Sopranos") and Discovery Communications ("Trading Spaces: Home Free," "American Chopper"), and partnered with AT&T Wireless, McDonald’s, and NBC to produce the official wireless games and alerts for the 2004 Olympic Games, to be featured on over 320 million pieces of consumer packaging and NBC’s national television broadcasts. Mr. Shey's work has featured by media outlets including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Wired, The San Francisco Chronicle, USA Today, Wireless Week, Advertising Age, TechTV, and the Gartner.com website, and has earned Proteus an American Advertising Award as well as two International WAP Award nominations, the first ever for a U.S. company. In 2004, their work for Gibson Music earned several industry honors, including International CES 2004’s Best in Show. Since 2001, Proteus has served as lead mentors for the AFI Enhanced Television Workshop, where they produced innovative new prototypes for ITV such as the first interactive long-form commercial, for Callaway Rule 35, and an enhanced AFI Life Achievement Award broadcast. Proteus also worked with ABC to develop wireless interactive television experiences for The View: His and Her Body Test in 2003 , which was nominated for an Emmy for interactive television, and to produce multiple seasons of interactive television with FOX Sports, including the popular Sprint Virtual Manager (MLB on FOX) and Sprint Virtual Coach (NFL on FOX). Mr. Shey was profiled by Washington Techway's 2002 "Young Lions" issue as one of the D.C. area's ten leading technology executives under age thirty. Prior to co-founding Proteus, Mr. Shey was a National Merit Scholar, and graduated with Honors from The George Washington University, where he studied English and Fine Arts. He serves as co-chair of the AIGA D.C. Experience Design community, which promotes advancement of the practice of user-oriented design, and regularly speaks at national and local industry events such as AdTech, CES, and AFI’s eTV Creative Showcase.
Alexander R. Trommen is COO and Shareholder of the MINICK Group, r
esponsible for Sales and Marketing in all subsidiaries of MINICK. He shares his time between the firm's Hamburg and Zurich offices. As one of the most experienced professionals in mobile services for the entertainment sector he is a frequent speaker in conferences throughout Europe and author of several books and articles. Alexander is a true Pan-European Professional, since his university days when he studied in Paris, Oxford and Berlin. He gained his first working experience at Bossard Consultants – a McKinsey Spin off (today merged with CGEY) – where he specialized in Strategy and Organisation. After more than four years in Top-Management Consulting he left the consulting sector to work for his former client Knorr-Bremse AG. During three years he restructured the railways business from a functional to a product-focused-organisation and implemented Total Quality Management on a pan-European level. In June 2000 he joined MINICK as Managing Director for Germany. After one year of successful growth from 0 to 5 Million _ turnover Alexander was given the responsibility to expand MINICK’s operations on a pan-European level. Since the Management Buyout in 2002 Alexander holds the position of Group COO in which he grew revenues by 100% over the past two years. His mobile services and media expertise includes the negotiation and realization of mobile interactive services for major TV shows such as Big Brother (CH, UK and Germany), MTV European Music Awards, RTL Teletext Chat, Fame Academy on BBC and RTL2 and many others. He was the brain behind one of Europe’s most successful operator-related MMS application MMS-2-Postcard and has worked on many telecoms projects throughout Europe including major content deals e.g. for JAVA Games or MTVs mobile videos.