10:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Session B - DH2:
Subscription Models in Music, Film and Information Content Distribution
The conversation is about subscriptions. Whether it’s the music MP3 industry, the Cable VOD industry, the radio industry or the information content industry, everyone is experimenting with subscriptions. In the cable industry, the original subscription model is being gussied up with new packages, genre choices and greater access to content. In the music industry, the goal is to strike some a necessary answer to the upside down world of Napster, and in the news and content industry, subscription models are being tested out every day to determine customer appetites. The question of which subscription model will serve which type of product is yet to be determined. In this session however, we bring together companies who are investing their futures on the answer.
Andy Schuon, President & Chief Executive Officer, pressplay
Patrick Kennedy, Senior Vice President, Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment
Chris Kitze, CEO, Yaga Media
Michael Kassan, co-President Digital Media & Entertainment Group, CenterSpan Communications
Ben Tatta, Chief Operating Officer, Lagardere Active
David Mandelbrot, VP/GM Entertainment, Yahoo! Inc.
Dr. Joe Winograd, Chief Technical Officer, Verance, Moderator
Chris Kitze, CEO, Yaga: A proven entrepreneur with a successful trail of startups,
Chris Kitze co-founded Yaga, Inc. in September 2000. As CEO and chairman of the board, Kitze provides a strategic vision as well as extensive technology and electronic media expertise, from startups to multibillion-dollar market cap companies. Prior to Yaga, Inc., he was the CEO of NBC Internet (NASDAQ:NBCI), a company created in December 1999 as a result of the XOOM.com and Snap.com merger. Kitze also co-founded XOOM.com in September 1996, took it public in December 1998, and served as chairman of the board and secretary since its inception. With his Internet and marketing savvy, Kitze has started and sold three interactive companies. Prior to XOOM.com, Mr. Kitze co-founded Point Communications Corporation, a Web directory company that was acquired by Lycos in October 1995. Mr. Kitze remained and managed the Point division, as well as served as overall vice president of marketing for Lycos, where he helped take the company public with a $225 million valuation. Prior to founding Point, Kitze co-founded Aris Entertainment, which published interactive CD-ROM titles, including the award-winning MPC Wizard, MediaClips and Video Cube product lines. Aris Entertainment sold more than 2 million CD-ROM units in less than three years and was purchased by SoftKey International (now The Learning Company), a publicly-traded, $300 million company, in June 1994. Kitze is a recent recipient of Israel’s prestigious Albert Einstein Technology Award that recognizes path-breaking leaders who have pushed the envelope of technology in the service of mankind through their entrepreneurship and risk taking, enabling others to benefit from their cutting-edge technologies. Presently, Kitze serves on the boards of eVineyard and ShopEaze. Mr. Kitze holds a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Colorado.Andy Schuon, President & Chief Executive Officer, pressplay: Andy Schuon was named
President and Chief Executive Officer of pressplay in June 2001. As head of the company, Mr. Schuon oversees all aspects of pressplay’s operations, including the launch of the online subscription service, the management of its technical operations and the overall branding and development of the service. Prior to joining pressplay, Mr. Schuon was president and Chief Operating Officer of Jimmy and Doug’s Farmclub.com where he was responsible for overseeing all aspects of the company’s record label operations, online activities and television programming since its launch in January 2000. Previously, Mr. Schuon was Executive Vice President and General Manager of Warner Brothers Records, with responsibility for all creative and administrative issues including promotion, marketing, artist relations, advertising, art, sales and production. Before his post at Warner Brothers, Mr. Schuon spent several years at MTV: Music Television, culminating in his title as Executive Vice President of Programming. Mr. Schuon is credited with engineering the station's evolution from "video jukebox" to a fully realized "youth culture" network. He was the executive producer of the MTV Video Music Awards and the MTV Movie Awards, and created and developed such programming as "Alternative Nation," "MTV Live (now TRL)," "MTV Jams," and "The MTV Beach House." Mr. Schuon also served as Executive Vice President of Programming at VH-1 where he supervised the channel’s successful re-launch.Benjamin K. Tatta is chief operating officer of Lagardère Active North America (LANA), a
joint venture of Hachette Filipacchi Medias and its French parent company, Lagardère SCA. In this role, he oversees the development of all television, cable, interactive TV, wireless, broadband and Internet initiatives. Tatta focuses on expanding into new content categories and distribution platforms, as well as extending the reach of HFM's magazines. Tatta joined the company when it was formed in February 2001. Over the past 15 years, Benjamin Tatta has pioneered new media initiatives encompassing online programming, digital media, marketing, e-commerce and convergence for some of the industry's most respected players including USA Networks, ABC, IBM, and Concrete Media. From 1998 to 2001, Tatta served as senior vice president of USA Networks' Interactive division and President of SCIFI.COM, where he led the formation and growth of USA Networks' Interactive unit, including the dramatic transformation and expansion of its flagship property, SCIFI.COM. Tatta was also responsible for directing the interactive and convergence strategies for USA's cable, film and television businesses including interactive programming, mergers and acquisitions, and digital distribution. Tatta developed over 30 new digital programs and doubled the traffic to SCIFI.COM. Under his management, SCIFI.COM received national acclaim as the third stickiest site on the Web (Media Metrix). At Concrete Media, Tatta developed and launched Bolt.com & GirlsOnFilm.com, two of the most successful content sites on the Web. In addition, he created content and eCommerce strategies for top Internet brands including Bertelsmann Online (BOL.com), Tripod.com, MTV.com, and Disney.com. Previously Tatta played a key role in the formation of the Internet consulting division of IBM. He developed partnerships with top media companies such as ABC, Viacom, Bertelsmann, and Time Warner. During his tenure at IBM, Tatta oversaw the expansion and development of over 25 new digital media businesses. Tatta began his career at ABC as regional sales manager for the magazine publishing division. After two years, Tatta was recruited to head the newly formed electronic publishing division at ABC. In this role, he was responsible for extending the distribution of ABC's print titles to digital media.Dr. Joe Winograd, Ph.D., Chief Technical Officer, Verance: Joseph Winograd has served as the Executive Vice President, Technology since the merger of Aris and Solana Technology in October 1999. Dr. Winograd served as a technical consultant to Aris before becoming Aris' Chief Technology Officer in 1997. Prior to his work at Verance, Dr. Winograd conducted Digital Signal Processing research at Boston University under the Defense Advance Research Projects Agency RASSP program. Dr. Winograd's technical developments are currently incorporated within products offered by The MathWorks, Inc. and Wolfram Research, Inc., both of which are developers and suppliers of technical computing software for scientists and engineers. Dr. Winograd holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Boston University.
Patrick Kennedy, Senior Vice President, Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment: Pat
rick Kennedy joined Sony Pictures Entertainment in 1996, after two years as a strategy consultant with Monitor Company's Los Angeles office. An engineer by education (M.S.E.E., Ph.D. ABD from Stanford), Mr. Kennedy has focused his professional career on business strategy and corporate development issues in the telecom and entertainment fields. Since joining Sony, he has worked on film financing, business plans for international cable / satellite TV channels and on strategic investments in new media companies. In 1997, he was asked to represent Sony Pictures in Tokyo to work with Sony Corporation on negotiations and planning for the launch of a major satellite television service, JskyB. Once JSkyB was founded, he stayed in Japan to form Sony Pictures Television Japan and to launch two satellite channels for SPE: AXN and Animax. After returning from Tokyo in 1998, Mr. Kennedy assumed leadership of a group of M.B.A.'s involved in analyzing TV and new media investment opportunities available to Sony Pictures around the world. Mr. Kennedy was instrumental in SPE's recent reorganization of its digital media assets into the newly created Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment, where he reports to Yair Landau. David Mandelbrot, VP/GM Entertainment, Yahoo! Inc.: As the Vice President and Gen
eral Manager of Entertainment at Yahoo! Inc., David Mandelbrot is a key force behind strategic agreements and partnerships in Yahoo!'s media and entertainment businesses including movies, television, radio, broadcast, and entertainment, among others. Before Mandelbrot took the reigns of Yahoo!'s media and entertainment relationships, he served as Senior Corporate Counsel for the company, specializing in mergers and acquisitions. Mandelbrot represented Yahoo! in its acquisitions of GeoCities, Broadcast.com, Online Anywhere, Encompass and Innovative Systems Services Group (ISSG). Prior to joining Yahoo!, Mandelbrot worked in as a business development executive and attorney for Electronics For Imaging (EFI), spearheading the company's investments, acquisitions and strategic partnerships. Additionally, Mandelbrot worked as an attorney for Netscape Communications Corporation and Venture Law Group before joining EFI. Mandelbrot holds a B.A. in business administration from the University of California, Berkeley and a J.D. from Duke University School of Law