10:45 AM - Noon
Track II:
Hollywood and the Digital Consumer: How Technology, Content and Services Establish the Next Level of Consumer Entertainment Experience
The next generation of technology within the digital home will bring with it not only more content to the consumer, it will bring with it greater choice and more individual personalization into the process. While the actual definition of the digital home is still emerging, the idea of a fully connected consumer, living in a high speed DTV, PVR, HD, broadband and wireless environment is a good jumping off place. Hollywood, the provider of the content will not only flourish in this environment, it will probably enter a new golden age of production as it discovers how best to relate to it consumer base. How Hollywood will respond to a fully realized OnDemand television, film and games universe is the latest challenge to be faced. The technologies now finding their way into the home are disruptive, not only to the content community, but to the consumer electronics community as well. The brave new world of the digital home is not only an exciting new market opportunity for Hollywood, it is also brings with it a complex labyrinth of difficult options.
Blair Westlake, Corporate Vice President, Media/Entertainment & Technology Convergence Group, Microsoft
Jeffrey Calman, EVP, VOD & PPV, Warner Bros.
David Bishop, President, Worldwide Brand Integration, Sony Pictures Entertainment
Ty Ahmad-Taylor, Senior Director, Interactive Products, Comcast Cable
Vince Messina, Entertainment Category Development Officer, Yahoo!
Jennifer Feikin, Director, Google Video
Ira Rubenstein, Senior Vice President, Sony Pictures Digital Sales and Marketing, Moderator
Blair Westlake, Corporate Vice President, Media/Entertainment & Technology Convergence Group, Microsoft: As corporate vice president of the
Media/Entertainment & Technology Convergence Group at Microsoft Corp., Blair Westlake directs a cross-organizational group dedicated to ensuring that effective business relationships, technologies and policies are in place to meet the increasing consumer demand for access to high-quality audio entertainment via Windows Powered devices in the home. Under Westlake's leadership, the Convergence Group consolidates and drives Microsoft's efforts and strategies around digital convergence of home entertainment technologies, personal computing and media, particularly in the areas of business and market development, technical and IP policy, and industry-standards initiatives. Blair Westlake is a seasoned media and entertainment industry veteran, with more than 20 years of diverse experience encompassing home video, pay and free television distribution, video on demand and pay per view, nontheatrical television production, physical studio operations, international thematic channels development and management, strategic planning and execution for a global television business unit, magazine publishing, and theme parks. Before joining Microsoft, Westlake consulted for various media companies including Comcast Corp. and GE-NBC and was corporate executive vice president of Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc., based at the company's headquarters in Pasadena, Calif. Before that, Westlake was chairman of Universal Television & Networks Group, a position he was appointed to in December 1997. He was an executive with Universal Studios Inc. (formerly known as MCA Inc.) for more than 19 years, joining the company in January 1982. A recognized leader in the media and entertainment industry, Westlake was the first recipient of the Whittier Law School Alumni Award for Business Excellence (2002) and has held many industry advisory and committee level positions in The Museum of Television & Radio, Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, National Association of Television Arts and Sciences and the Pacific Council on International Policy. Outside Microsoft, Westlake enjoys bicycling, fishing and gourmet cooking. Westlake and his wife have a son and adult daughter and live in Clyde Hill, Wash.David Bishop, President, Worldwide Brand Integration, Sony Picture
s Entertainment: David Bishop is currently President of Worldwide Brand Integration for Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE). Mr. Bishop oversees the integration of MGM assets over the various SPE worldwide distribution entities including the worldwide home entertainment, international theatrical and international television divisions. Additionally, he works with SPE senior management across the company’s various divisions to target and help coordinate the implementation of new business opportunities. Prior to joining SPE, Mr. Bishop was President and Chief Operating Officer of MGM Home Entertainment, where his career spanned more than 15 years. At MGM, he oversaw worldwide operations for the home entertainment division which included home video and DVD, consumer products, on-line, interactive games, video-on-demand, pay-per-view and emerging technologies groups as well as MGM’s international theatrical marketing and distribution unit. Before joining MGM Home Entertainment, he spent three years at LIVE home video where he was responsible for US and Canadian home video operations and eventually became President and Chief Operating Officer. As the head of LIVE Home Video, Mr. Bishop built the company into the largest independent distributor in the industry. During his tenure at MGM, Mr. Bishop helped lead the industry in the initial launch of DVD as the first President of the DVD Video Group. With Mr. Bishop at MGM Home Entertainment’s helm, MGM received numerous prestigious customer service awards from top retailers, including Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Target. In the video game category, the company garnered critical acclaim and unprecedented success with the launch of huge hits like Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough and The Great Escape. Additionally, Mr. Bishop led the company’s major expansion efforts in worldwide sales, marketing and distribution in over 90% of the global DVD marketplace. Mr. Bishop is also involved in a variety of charitable and industry-related organizations. He is founding Co-Chairman of Fast Forward To End Hunger and has served on the boards of the End Hunger Network, Stanford University’s Positive Coaching Alliance and Graziadio School of Business & Management’s mentoring program at Pepperdine University. In addition, Mr. Bishop has served as one of the founding partners and board member for the video-on-demand service, Movielink, and was a former Chairman of the Manufacturing Committee for Video Software Dealers Association.Ira Rubenstein, Senior Vice President, Sony Pictures Digital Sales a
nd Marketing: Ira Rubenstein has built a career on identifying and implementing new marketing tactics for entertainment properties through interactive, online and mobile initiatives. As senior vice president of Sony Pictures Digital Sales and Marketing, a division of Sony Pictures Digital, he is responsible for overseeing the division’s efforts to extend Sony Pictures properties into the digital marketplace through SonyPictures.com, mobile entertainment and personalization products and innovative strategic partnerships. Under Rubenstein’s leadership, SonyPictures.com has generated online awareness for the studio’s film, television, and home entertainment properties by driving traffic with partnership marketing, media buys, community building, e-commerce, auctions, games and original content. Rubenstein is also responsible for extending Sony Pictures properties into the burgeoning mobile marketplace. The group has developed an array of successful mobile entertainment offerings including games, ringtones, wallpaper and other phone candy for such diverse properties as Spider-Man 2, "Wheel of Fortune," "Jeopardy!," Q*Bert and Snoop Dogg Boxing. Previously, Rubenstein directed Sony Pictures Integrated Network’s brand integration and sponsorship strategies and was also responsible for overseeing the production and creative direction for SonyPictures.com. Beginning in 2000, Rubenstein oversaw the establishment of Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment’s on-demand movie initiative to offer theatrically released motion pictures via digital delivery for broadband Internet users. From concept to working technical trials, Rubenstein directed the project (developed under the name Moviefly), which ultimately became Movielink, a groundbreaking partnership among five studios. Prior to the establishment of Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment, Rubenstein was vice president, marketing, Columbia TriStar Interactive, charged with the strategic implementation of media planning, promotional and creative advertising campaigns for more than 100 film sites including Stuart Little, Men in Black, Air Force One, As Good As It Gets and The Mask of Zorro. Recognition for his work includes honors such as Webby awards, a Gold Clio and The Hollywood Reporter Key Art award. Before joining Columbia TriStar Interactive, Rubenstein served as manager of media research and interactive marketing for Twentieth Century Fox. Rubenstein holds a B.A. in Management Science from the University of California at San Diego and an M.F.A. from the Peter Stark Motion Picture Producing Program at the University of Southern California.Jennifer Feikin, Director, Google Video: Jennifer manages partnerships with Google Video content providers and oversees the development of the product. She joined Google from AOL Time Warner's Strategic Development group. Prior to AOL, Ms. Feikin worked in business affairs at 20th Century Fox and Morgan Creek Productions, and was a management consultant at McKinsey & Company. She holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a B.A. from Duke University.
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.
Vince Messina, Entertainment Category Development Officer, Yahoo!: Vince Messina serves as entertainment category development officer for Yahoo!, where he was recently promoted from entertainment sales director. As entertainment category development officer, Messina will develop and lead the go-to-market strategy for media sales in the Theatrical, Home Video, TV and Game industries. Additional oversight includes Product Marketing, Research, Market Insights and Client Development. During Messina’s tenure at Yahoo!, he has substantially grown Yahoo!’s entertainment business and sales by building stronger relationships with the major studios. From 1995-2000, Messina was SVP/General Sales Manager for Telepictures Distribution, a division of Warner Bros. Studios. Under his leadership, the group developed and distributed original and off-network series to the broadcast syndication market. Prior, Messina was vice president at Warner Bros. Domestic Television, where he started in 1984. Additional roles at Warner Bros. included the marketing and sales for all Warner Bros. feature films to the broadcast and cable market. Messina got his start in media as an account executive at Katz Communications. He graduated from Hostra University’s School of Communications with a B.A. in 1983.