10:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Session A - DH1:
Transforming Television: From Reality TV, HDTV and Interactive TV, to PVR TV and VOD TV
While the television industry – from content producer to content provider - continues to serve as a punching bag for the media critics - with such success stories as Reality TV - consumer support for the future of TV as a whole appears to be more than secure. The future of TV may well be typified by an increasingly personalized experience for the consumer, in both on-screen content as well as the delivery system and display. As on-demand and interactive television continues to emerge, the viewing experience will be nearly unrecognizable. Along with the home theater, as plasma HDTVs move into the home, the viewing experience will feel more like a screening room – better, or certainly more comfortable than most cinemas. Content will be controlled at will, coming from cable, satellite, telco, wireless and broadband sources. Programmers as well as advertisers will have a much more personalized relationship with the consumer. The future of television, we will continue to probe the question of how the new technologies in the home, from DTV, VOD, PRV to broadband and home networks will change the nature of TV – from content, technology developed for the home as well as consumer’s relationship to the new choices. Major change is now in process. What will the TV experience look like in two years, in five years. In this session we will try to find out.
Adam Hume, Head of Futurology, BBC Broadcast
Albert Cheng, SVP of Distribution Strategy & Operations, ABC Cable Networks Group
Kevin Cohen, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Interactive/Enhanced Television, Turner Network Sales
Tim Hanlon, Senior Vice President/Director, Emerging Contacts Starcom MediaVest Group
Ty Ahmad-Taylor, Director Strategic Planning, Comcast Online
Stacy Jolna, Senior Vice President, General Manager, TV Guide Television Group
Ken Rutkowski, founder, KenRadio Broadcasting, Moderator
Albert Cheng, Senior Vice President, Business Strategy and Developm
ent, ABC Cable Networks Group: As Senior Vice President, Business Strategy and Development for Disney and ESPN Networks Affiliate Sales and Marketing, Albert Cheng is responsible for developing business strategies to increase distribution and generate revenue streams from new Disney and ESPN products and services. In addition, he will be leading Disney ABC Cable Networks Group Interactive Product Development. Based in Burbank, he works in close association with the Disney ABC Cable Networks Group finance team in sales forecasting and planning for all Disney ABC Cable Networks assets, and with the ESPN finance team, who lead those efforts for the ESPN cable assets. Most recently, Cheng served as Senior Vice President, Distribution Strategy and Operations for ABC Cable Networks Group and was responsible for developing distribution strategies, negotiating deals and creating economic plans for ABC Cable Networks Group. In this role, he was charged with the development and implementation of the division’s video-on-demand strategy and interactive television applications. Cheng joined the company in December 2000 as Vice President, National Accounts and Distribution Strategy. Previously, Cheng was Director of Distribution Strategy for Fox Cable Networks Group, leading business development and implementation of three digital cable channels currently known as Fox College Sports. While there, he also developed strategies in digital cable and broadband services and prepared deal proposals with cable affiliates. Prior to that, he served as the Director of Business Development at Fox/Liberty Networks focusing on business issues and analysis for Fox Sports Net and FX Networks. Before his tenure at Fox, he worked as a business strategy consultant for the Boston Consulting Group. Cheng earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Master in Business Administration degree from Harvard University Graduate School of Business Administration. Cheng resides in Los Angeles with his wife.Adam Hume, Head of Futurology, BBC Broadcast: Adam Hume, Head of Futurology at BBC Broadcast, has worked in the television industry for thirty years. He has seen the UK market move from a three channel environment to a multi-channel world where TV is one of many leisure time activities centred around the screen - sharing it with the Internet, interactive applications, EPGs and games. When BBC Broadcast was formed in 2002 bringing to market the complete range of services required to launch, promote, play-out and manage channels, Adam became its Head of Futurology and is responsible for envisioning how the company can stay ahead of the issues raised by the new consumer propositions created by new CE technology and predicting what new services BBC Broadcast can provide to meet the changing needs of its clients. At the outset of his career in broadcasting, Adam was a studio floor manager in BBC News. From here he moved into directing the playout of channels and the production of promotional and branding spots. He then spent six years as the creative head of the BBC’s promotions department. During this time he was also a founder member of the board of PromaxUK and chaired its first London conference. In 1997 he created the BBC’s New Media Operations team supporting bbc.co.uk and all BBC Interactive TV playout systems. In the same year he also formed the unit responsible for producing the BBC’s digital listings data service that supplies the UK’s major EPGs. Adam has also been involved in the international standard setting body TV Anytime since 2000 and led a group of TVA members and broadcasters in developing the content classification specification in the TVA standard. In 2003 he became convenor of the business models group and in 2004 was appointed Vice Chairman of the forum.
Kevin Cohen is senior vice president and general manager, interactiv
e/enhanced television for Turner Network Sales, the domestic distribution arm of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (TBS, Inc.). Cohen is responsible for developing and managing the company's interactive and enhanced television efforts, coordinating all Turner network interactive initiatives, partnering with the networks in Turner’s interactive product creation and design, and exploring external partnerships and affiliate relationships. He is based in Atlanta and reports to Dennis Quinn, executive vice president, business operations, TBS, Inc. Cohen most recently served as vice president, business development, new media for Turner International Asia Pacific Ltd., where he managed Turner’s interactive business development in Asia. He was responsible for developing new interactive properties, including regional/local language versions of CNN Interactive and exploring strategic new media partnerships and equity investments. Cohen played key roles in the launch of CNN.co.jp, CNN Interactive’s Japanese language Web site, and the launch of Time Warner’s AsiaNow super-site (http://www.CNN.com/AsiaNow), the most comprehensive Web site dedicated to news and information on the Asia Pacific from the editors of CNN.com, TIME Asia and Asiaweek. Cohen also oversaw Turner’s mobile phone and broadband licensing revenue streams. In addition to interactive responsibilities, Cohen worked on business development functions that included Turner’s on-air properties. He helped engineer Turner’s equity investment in the Korean animation channel, Tooniverse, and served on the Tooniverse Board of Directors. He also played a key role in planning, implementing and launching Cartoon Network Japan in 1997 and served on the network’s management committee. Cohen joined TBS, Inc., in 1996 as director, business development, where he was responsible for identifying new business opportunities and leveraging CNN Interactive content across new distribution platforms. Prior to joining Turner, he served as administrator for the Asia Pacific Policy Center. From 1988 to 1991, Cohen worked with the story departments of top film studios 20th Century Fox Films Corp. and MGM/UA and assisted in the development of United Artists’ films from 1986 to 1988. Cohen holds a bachelor of arts degree in government and legal studies from Bowdoin College and a master of science degree in business administration from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.Ty Ahmad-Taylor, Director Strategic Planning, Comcast Online: Ty 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. This was done under the guidance of Tom Bodkin, the chief Art Director at the paper. 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 and the designer Roger Black. 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 cable operators. He is currently the Director of Strategic Planning for Comcast Cable Corporation, working with their broadband group, their new media development group, and their cable set-top box group to develop interactive convergent products for Comcast customers. His mandate includes devising and executing Comcast's wireless (GPRS, UMTS and WiFi) strategy, gaming products, and interactive content and applications. Ty has over seven years of experience in designing for broadband, six years in interactive television, and 13 years in information design. He has lectured at 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.
Tim Hanlon is Senior Vice President/Director, Emerging Contacts for
Starcom MediaVest Group, a global media services network of Publicis Groupe, S.A. He is chiefly responsible for all US client activity and agency initiatives in the field of emerging media technologies, including the firm’s ground-breakingTV 2.0 Practice, centered around evolutionary television platforms such as interactive/enhanced television, on-demand video, digital video recording, interactive program guide navigation, addressable advertising, and digital broadcasting/datacasting. Hanlon has over a decade of traditional and interactive agency media experience including roles as Vice President/Director, Strategy & Business Development for the Digital Marketing Group of Chicago-based marketing services agency Frankel, and Director of Interactive Media at Creative Alliance in Louisville, KY, USA. He also served as Advertising Media Manager for the in-house agency of credit card issuer MBNA America in Wilmington, DE, USA. Hanlon also has wide-ranging journalism experience, including production and writing stints at CBS News, Sports Illustrated and the Voice of America. Among numerous advertising and television industry activities, Hanlon currently serves as Chairman of the American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA) Advanced Television Committee, as a member of the Steering Committee of the Innovation in Digital Advertising (IDiA) Consortium, and as a member of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) Advanced Media Committee. He is also an inaugural recipient of Interactive Television Today’s Leadership in Interactive Television Award, and has been named as one of MEDIA Magazine’s "100 People to Know." Hanlon holds a BA from Georgetown University, an MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, and an MA from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California.
Stacy Jolna, General Manager, TV Guide Television Group: As general
manager of the TV Guide Television Group, Stacy Jolna oversees the development and programming of TV Guide’s new interactive network designed for VOD, DVRs, broadband and cellular distribution. The new network, which will be named in the upcoming months, will provide television viewers with impulse TV information and guidance about what to watch. Mr. Jolna is a seasoned television network executive, widely recognized in the industry as a leader in on-demand interactive television. A multiple Emmy® and Peabody award-winner, Mr. Jolna’s combined expertise in both sales & marketing as well as programming have earned him industry recognition for consistently developing creative media that integrates entertainment with commerce initiatives across multiple media platforms, from television to the Web. In 2000, Advertising Age named him to its list of "100 Marketing Executives of the Year" and in 1999 he was included on the publication’s "I-20" list of the most influential new media executives. Mr. Jolna comes to TV Guide from TiVo, where he was Chief Programming Officer and one of the company’s founding executives. During his four year tenure at TiVo, Mr. Jolna forged strategic investment and commercial alliances with both Madison Avenue and Hollywood, and developed the service’s interactive entertainment, advertising and research products including "iPreview," "telescoping ads," and "Video Showcases." Mr. Jolna was also instrumental in developing the first interactive magazine for PVR owners—TiVo Takes—which allows viewers to use their remotes to record shows directly from this innovative video magazine. His career in television began at CNN where, during his 14-year tenure, he helped launch CNN Headline News, and created the CNN Special Reports team and the acclaimed weekly magazine CNN Presents, which garnered numerous awards including three Emmy’s® and the prestigious George Foster Peabody. As the news network’s vice president and senior executive producer for Special Programming, Mr. Jolna captured six CableAce awards and his work was nominated as a finalist more than 40 times. Mr. Jolna began his career as a journalist, covering the New England area for the Washington Post and TIME. He was an executive editor for WEEI/CBS newsradio and associate editor for Boston Magazine. Mr. Jolna holds a Masters degree in Journalism from Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the State University of New York. He is a founding Chairman of the Marketing committee of the Interactive Television Alliance, an industry group representing media, advertising and technology companies aimed at propelling iTV. He resides in Los Angeles with his wife and son. Ken Rutkowski, founder, KenRadio Broadcasting: As a medi
a personality and industry figure, Ken has been profiled in The Wall Street Journal, Fox News, BBC, Wired, Business Week, The Red Herring, Internet World, Electronic Media, Online Journalism Review, Chicago Tribune, Chicago SunTimes, Boston Times, Asahi Shinbun, Bangkok Times, Finland Helsingin Sanomat, Yahoo Internet Life and dozens of other publications worldwide. He has been a featured presenter at over seventy industry conferences, including , CES, CTIA, NATPE, IBC, NAB, Digital Hollywood, Internet World, Streaming Media, COMDEX, N+I Interop, Radio Ink and MILIA. Ken has cultivated extensive relationships, ranging from the biggest tech companies (Microsoft, Sun, Nokia and IBM) to the motion picture studios. He has particular networking reach into the local software development and media companies, IT outsourcers and consultants. Ken stays in touch with a huge number of people via his daily newsletter (KenRadio's Daily Tech News Clicks - read by an audience of over 42,000 daily); a daily radio show ("World Tech Round Up" - commanding over 175,000 daily listeners) produced in LA and occasionally on location at big trade shows and other events, covering technology and entertainment topics; and most importantly, regular events to connect individuals and companies with key relationships they need in the entertainment and technology worlds.