Friday, January 9 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM Session B: DH10: VOD & SVOD and the Set-Top Box - DTV and the Expanded Content Opportunity In this session, we will take a look at the VOD and SVOD Subscription Video on Demand marketplace primarily as it is being transformed by the cable and satellite industries. The era of three or four films-a-night being offered to the consumer is finally being retired, system by system and in its place, the new digital set-tops are offering up a host of new packages - a host of subscription style services, ranging from an entire month’s package of thirty or so films available on demand to whole new libraries available on an on-demand basis. In this session we will take a look at the packages and the technology behind them that makes these new offerings possible. The transition to an SVOD and On-Demand world is now underway. Stephen DiFranco, VP Corporate & Brand Marketing, Maxtor Corporation James Kelso, Vice President/General Manager, Broadband Systems, SeaChange International Ed Huguez, CEO, MidStream Technologies Rob Glidden, Market Development Manager, Broadband & iTV, Sun Microsystems Raj Amin, Vice President Business Development, N2 Broadband Ben Mendelson, founder & President, Interactive Television Alliance, Moderator Stephen DiFranco is Vice President of Corporate & Brand Marketing for Maxtor Corporation. He joined the company in May 2002 and is responsible for Maxtor’s global marketing strategy including all marketing activities, channel development, corporate branding initiatives, and marketing communications. Prior to joining Maxtor, Mr. DiFranco served as the executive vice president of marketing for WebGain, Inc., a software provider for enterprise companies. There, he led the company’s global marketing strategy, including product strategy, brand development, marketing communications, corporate positioning and analyst relations. From 1998 to 2000, Mr. DiFranco was director of marketing for Iomega Corporation, and held the general manager role for its professional products and business division. At Iomega, he handled brand management for the $350M JAZZ product line, establishing new consumer, business-to-business, OEM and vertical marketing programs. Prior to his work at Iomega, Mr. DiFranco was with Sony Electronics, Inc. from 1989 to 1998. During his decade with the company, he held senior marketing positions and worked on such high profile launches as the JumboTron, CD-ROM XA and Digital TV. Mr. DiFranco also acted as Sony's spokesperson on the economic impact and professional application for DTV, and served as liaison to network TV executives on issues relating to implementing DTV for sports production. Mr. DiFranco currently serves on the mass storage editorial board for Business Solutions magazine, which assists in setting the future storage focus of the magazine. He holds a bachelor’s degree in speech and theater from Montclair University in New Jersey. James Kelso, Vice President/General Manager, Broadband Systems, SeaChange International: James Kelso leads product development and marketing efforts behind SeaChange’s video-on-demand and cable advertising systems. Every day, television companies around the world stream millions of ads, television programs, movies and other media on these fully-automated digital video storage and delivery platforms. Prior to joining SeaChange in 1997, Kelso was the director of engineering operations for one of the largest cable television operators in the United States, Atlanta-based Cox Communications, Inc. He was responsible for the evaluation and implementation of video insertion, management and billing technologies underlying the operator’s multi-million dollar local advertising sales organization. Kelso’s articles, white papers and commentaries on emergent digital video, advertising and on-demand technologies have been published in domestic and international television trade journals. An active participant in television’s advancement through open technologies, his engineering organization collaborates closely with standards bodies including the Society of Cable Television Engineers and the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. Kelso frequently addresses television, advertising and consumer technology conferences – most recently CES 2003 and the Spring 2003 Kagan Broadband Summit, where he focused on the emergence of advertising in on-demand television. He graduated from the University of Florida with a major in telecommunications management and a specialization in business. Edward Huguez, President & CEO, MidStream Technologies: With over 15 years of senior management experience in media and media services sector, President and CEO Ed Huguez epitomizes MidStream’s approach towards improving the digital video experience. Previously, Ed served as senior vice president of Akamai Technologies, followed by its acquisition of INTERVU, Inc., as Chief Operation Officer at INTERVU, Ed helped drive the evolution of the company from a start-up into the leading provider of content delivery services. Prior to joining Intervu, Ed held executive positions at DIRECTV, and ESPN. He was instrumental in the launch of DIRECTV, and was responsible for developing key strategic alliances with content developers, content rights holders, technology partners and satellite and Internet Service Providers, as well as overseeing all aspects of DIRECTV Interactive services. At ESPN, Ed’s responsibilities included network distribution and local and regional marketing of the service for the western division. This combined programming, marketing, business development and content distribution expertise has provided him with an intuitive understanding of the issues and opportunities facing service providers of new digital video services. Ed received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Economics at Arizona State University, and a Masters of Business Administration from the Andersen School of Business at UCLA. Raj Amin, Vice President of Business Development, N2 Broadband: Raj Amin has served the interactive television industry for the last seven years in a variety of roles. Currently, he leads business development activities at N2 Broadband, a leader in on-demand content delivery and management infrastructure. Prior to N2 Broadband, Raj was Sr. Product Manager for Advertising and Premium Services at ReplayTV, a leader in personal video recorder technology and services. Raj also spent four years with Scientific-Atlanta, where he assumed a variety of roles in strategic business development and marketing. While at Scientific-Atlanta, he conceptualized and launched the CreativEdge Developer Program and helped drive Scientific-Atlanta’s leading position as an ITV platform, working with leaders such as Liberate, Microsoft, ACTV and Wink. Raj is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and Wharton School of Business’ Management and Technology Program with degrees in Finance and Telecommunications Systems John Gilles, Director of Interactive Television, TechTV: With a tech savvy audience who is excited by and curious about the latest technologies, TechTV must continuously strive to deliver its viewers with the advanced, interactive experience they desire. John Gilles, TechTV's director of interactive television, succeeds in keeping the network ahead of this interactive curve. A pioneer in the world of interactive television, John's expertise falls in all areas of interactive television and beyond ? from VOD and virtual channels to industry ecology and the latest interactive technologies. He is an expert in the full experience of iTV application deployment, and has seen through the process from application discovery to full interactive deployment. John was instrumental in the launch of the network's interactive virtual channel, TechTVi, on Cablevision System Corporation's suite of digital services, iO: Interactive Optimum. TechTVi provides viewers with an interactive format and video on-demand capability to access its technology information, news and entertainment programming. In addition, John also coordinated the interactive enhancements of various TechTV shows, including Extended Play and Fresh Gear. Using the Wink Platform, these interactive elements are distributed by DirecTV, Charter and Time-Warner. John is a frequent speaker on interactive television and has presented at various industry events including Kagan Interactive TV Summit, Carmel Group's Convergence 2001, Broadband Developers Conference, among others Ben Mendelson is the founder and president of the Interactive Television Alliance, an independent trade association representing the broad interests of the entire iTV industry. He is also the co-founder and sr. partner in 2degree Partners, a management consultancy involved in iTV, Direct Response TV, and integrated online services. Ben has been an innovator in developing interactive "t-commerce" applications and has been involved in New Media marketing from its earliest days. He was a founding member of Digital Bayside and the Addressable Media Coalition and has held leadership positions in various organizations, including the Electronic Retailing Assoc. (ERA) and the Assoc. of Interactive Media (AIM). In January 1994, he started one of the first commercial Internet companies, where his clients included Sony Pictures, HBO, House of Blues, Philips Media, and Graham Nash. In 1996, Ben created the Internet Services Division for Curtco Freedom Publishing, where he designed online versions of various magazines including HomeTheater, Entertainment@Home, and Mobile Computing. In 1999, he developed the Internet division for Williams Direct, a full service Direct Response TV (DRTV) advertising agency. Later that year, Ben was hired to head the Internet program for the Electronic Retailing Association, the primary trade organization for the DRTV industry. In April 2000, Ben became VP of Business Development for the Winterberry Group, a research based consultancy that specializes in Direct Marketing; his focus was integrating iTV / DRTV and developing new business models. Prior to his Internet experience (from 1982 - 1991), Ben was the owner and director of LAPA (L.A. Art Photographers Association), an art gallery and resource center for commercial and fine art photography. In 1992, he founded PhotoSource, a showcase, service bureau, and training center for digital imaging. Ben has long established relationships with EarthLink, Netscape/AOL, and WebTV/MicrosoftTV along with Liberate, OpenTV, Wink, QVC, HSN, and Guthy-Renker. He has taught at the American Film Institute(AFI), UCLA Extension, So. CA Institute of Architecture(SCIArch), L.A. Internet Group, and the Learning Annex. Ben writes a regular column for Response Magazine and has been published in MediaTrends, Digitrends, Retailing.org, and Entertainment@Home. He is on the advisory board of the American Film Institute (AFI) Enhanced TV Program and is a familiar speaker at many iTV, Internet, and Direct Marketing conferences.