Monday, September 29 12:45 PM - 2:00 PM Track I: Digital Cable and Satellite Television Strategies: Channel Launches, SVOD-VOD, HDTV, International and Interactive With DTV having passed the threshold of consumer acceptance, being fully embraced, the consumer is now first experiencing what the future of cable and satellite programming is all about. For a decade, industry leaders have speculated on the future of the 500 channel universe and now it is here. With DTV, HDTV and broadband rolling out in communities across the country, the opportunity to innovate, to offer unique and exciting new channels and subscription and VOD packages will be the ongoing challenge for the industry. The entire universe of basic and pay services will be up for grabs in the coming five years. The combination of new technologies, new services, new partnerships, content innovation, aggressive marketing, not to mention new investment will remake the landscape of home entertainment. Michael Thornton, SVP Programming Acquisitions, DIRECTV Patrick Vien, President, Network Enterprises & Universal Studios Networks, Universal Television Group Steve Heeb, Vice President, Product & Business Development, Comcast Roger Keating, President, Time Warner Cable Los Angeles Greg DePrez, VP, Subscription VOD, Starz Encore Group LLC Moderator: Alex Ben Block, Editor, Television Week Michael Thornton is senior vice president of Programming Acquisitions for DIRECTV, Inc., provider of the nation’s leading digital television service. Thornton is responsible for all program acquisition activities for DIRECTV and DIRECTV PARA TODOS™, including negotiating local television retransmission consent agreements, theatrical product from all major and independent film studios, cable network programming, live, taped and pay television events as well as private networks and sports programming. DIRECTV delivers more than 225 channels of entertainment programming to customers nationwide. Prior to joining DIRECTV in April 1999, Thornton worked with MediaOne, in Denver, Colo. as vice president of Programming. In this capacity, he oversaw investments and relationships with all national and regional programming suppliers for MediaOne’s U.S. broadband service, and was also responsible for MediaOne’s international programming interests and strategies. Thornton also served on the Board of Directors for Sunshine Network, a Florida-based regional sports network, and Quokka Sports, a digital sports entertainment company based in San Francisco, and was a Board Observer for Liquid Audio, a digital music service provider. From 1994 to 1997, Thornton worked in International TV Programming for MediaOne/US WEST Media Group, where he oversaw regional programming strategies worldwide. Before his positions with MediaOne, Thornton was an agent at United Talent Agency (UTA) in Beverly Hills, Calif. from 1992 to 1994. While at UTA, he worked in network television and developed and negotiated projects for CD-ROM, Internet and location-based entertainment. As an attorney with Fenwick and West from 1991 to 1992, Thornton specialized in litigation and alternative dispute resolution for complex business, copyright, trademark and employment matters. Thornton graduated Magna Cum Laude from Dartmouth College with an A.B. degree in Economics, and holds a Juris Doctorate from the UCLA School of Law and an MBA in Entertainment Marketing and Finance from the Anderson Graduate School of Management, also at UCLA. He is a member of the California Bar. Roger Keating, President, Time Warner Cable Los AngelesRoger: Keating runs the Los Angeles Division of Time Warner Cable, comprised of 1,100 employees serving 350,000 customers in Los Angeles and Orange Counties. In the Los Angeles area, Time Warner has built the most state-of-the-art video product in the country with hundreds of digital channels, video-on-demand, digital video recorders, a vast array of international programming and the largest line-up of High Definition TV signals. Time Warner Cable also offers high speed data services to residents and businesses alike, including a Wi-Fi wireless networking product for homes and virtual private network services, web hosting and domain name services for businesses. Prior to joining the Los Angeles team in April of 2003, Mr. Keating ran Time Warner Cable's National Division based in Denver for a year. Mr. Keating came over to Time Warner Cable from the AOL Division of AOLTW where he spent two years building or running a variety of businesses including AOL by Phone, AOL Voicemail, AOL Travel and AOL Health. Mr. Keating began his career after graduating in 1983 from Notre Dame with an Industrial Engineering degree as an efficiency expert, working in factories and distribution facilities. After obtaining an MBA from Stanford, Mr. Keating worked as a strategy consultant in far flung industries ranging from jet fighters, to office furniture, to bread bakeries to trucking. Much of the consulting work he did however centered in the info/data tech and entertainment sectors, managing engagements for large phone companies, cable MSO's and computer manufacturers. Mr. Keating left consulting in 1993 to run the cable properties for Comcast in west and central Florida, and after several years started up Comcast's online division when he presided over the launch of their high speed data business. Mr. Keating left Comcast in 1998 and founded an internet company named Zatso that launched the world's first ever personalized newscast service, which delivered on-demand a video newscast tailored to the interest of each viewer, over high speed connections to the viewer's computer. The service was launched in 40 markets across the country in conjunction with local TV station broadcasting partners. Mr. Keating joined AOLTW in late 2000. Patrick Vien is President of Network Enterprises and Universal Studios Networks, a division of Universal Television Group (UTG) in the U.S. and President of Universal Television Networks, (UTN) in the international marketplace. He is responsible for managing an operating group that includes eight television channels as well as overseeing the development of new cable networks. As head of Network Enterprises, Mr. Vien oversees the fast-growing popular arts channel TRIO and global news channel NWI (Newsworld International) – both channels for which he is the founding chief executive. He also manages the development of new programming vehicles, which include subscription video-on-demand (SVOD). His responsibilities for this division is U.S. focused. On the global front, Mr. Vien is also President of Universal Studio Networks (USN), which operates six pay-channels in Europe and Latin America. Collectively, they reach 30 million subscribers across 30 countries. The USN channel-brands are SCI-FI (UK & Germany), 13th Street (France, Spain & Germany), Studio Universal (Italy), and USA (Latin America). He has held these added responsibilities since September 2002. Previously, Mr. Vien worked at North American Television as President & Chief Operating Officer where he built and managed TRIO and NWI prior to their sale to USA Networks in May 2000. Prior to that, Mr. Vien worked for Power Corporation, in both France and Canada, for the company’s television holdings. There, he held a number of management positions from 1992 to 2000. Mr. Vien is an economics graduate of McGill University in Montreal (1985-1989) and holds a Master’s degree in communications from the Annenberg School for Communications at the University of Southern California (1990-1992). In 2002, Mr. Vien began serving on the Board of Directors of The Sundance Channel and is a member of YPO (Young President’s Organization). Greg DePrez is vice president, subscription video-on-demand (SVOD), at Starz Encore Group LLC (Starz Encore). DePrez is responsible for taking advantage of emerging "on demand" opportunities to enhance Starz Encore’s subscription premium television business. This includes supporting the deployment of Starz Encore’s SVOD service offering, Starz On Demand, on cable TV, direct broadcast satellite and broadband platforms. A 22-year cable and new media veteran, DePrez joined Starz Encore from City Media LLC, which he founded to provide cable operators with programming and marketing support for video-on-demand rollouts. Prior to that, DePrez spent eight years as an executive with TCI Communications and United Artists Cable Television managing their pay-per-view businesses. He has headed regional sales and marketing for the Request Television PPV networks, Group W Satellite Communications and Daniels Cablevision. DePrez has developed an industry-wide reputation as a knowledgeable and successful professional in the area of transactional services development and deployment. His experience and industry relationships position him as an ideal candidate for keynote addresses and panel discussions on interactive programming services. DePrez resides in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, with his wife, Susie, and their two children, Stephanie and Danny. Alex Ben Block, Editor, Television Week: Mr. Block has served as editor of The Hollywood Reporter and was associate editor at Forbes Magazine. Author of the nonfiction book "Outfoxed: The Inside Story of America's Fourth Network," which chronicled the tumultuous birth of Fox Broadcasting, including the battles among Barry Diller, Marvin Davis and Rupert Murdoch, Mr. Block, for the past two years has been executive director of the Los Angeles Press Club as well as editor in chief of Hollywood Star News. He was also a regular contributor to "Call Sheet," a weekly independent look at the entertainment business on KPCC-FM, a major National Public Radio outlet in Los Angeles. Mr. Block was editor of The Hollywood Reporter for seven years -- 1992 to 1998 -- holding that title longer than anyone in The Reporter's history. A native of Syracuse, N.Y., and graduate of Ithaca College, Mr. Block began his career at Forbes Magazine in New York and worked for Forbes again during the mid-1980s in Los Angeles. He has been entertainment editor and movie critic for the Miami News, columnist and critic at The Detroit News, columnist and city editor for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner and movie critic for KGIL-AM in Los Angeles. Mr. Block lives in Encino, Calif., with his wife, actress and producer Jodi Taylor, and is the father of actress, musician and artist Hayley Taylor-Block