4:00 PM - 5:15 PM
Session A:
Digital Entertainment Convergence: Old Media & New Media Converge on the Net
The convergence of broadband technology and content is the “next wave” racing across the entertainment land. If a content company isn’t partnered with a broadband delivery company, it is suspect. And if a technology company doesn’t have a ready content game plan, it is perceived as potentially falling behind the competition. What is a telecommunications company without a cable play? What does it mean to be a media company today? In trying to focus on these questions, Digital Hollywood brings together some of the leading figures from entertainment and technology in an effort to make sense out of the movement of the entertainment industry into a broadband environment. What does it mean to be a music company, a film company or a television company in a broadband environment? Entertainment convergence is not theory to our guests, it is their everyday practice.
Danny Goldberg, President, Artemis Records and Sheridan Square Entertainment
Neil Braun, President, Media, VastVideo (former President of NBC Television Network)
Kurt Andersen, Co-Chairman, Inside.com
Richard Glover, Executive Vice President, Internet Media, ABC, Inc. & GO.com
Larry Divney, President and CEO, Comedy Central
Ben Tatta, Senior Vice President, USA Networks Interactive
Max Keiser, Co-Chair & co-founder, Hollywood Stock Exchange, Moderator
Neil Braun, President, Media, VastVideo: Neil Braun joins VastVideo after a year as President and CEO of iCast Corporation, a new company that integrates celebrity brands of entertainment content with the community and commerce functionality of the Internet. For the five years prior to his term at iCast, Mr. Braun was President of the NBC Television Network and a Corporate Officer of the General Electric Company, reporting to Robert Wright, President of NBC, Inc. While Chairman and CEO of Viacom from 1988 through 1994, Mr. Braun was responsible for prime time network programming, first-run syndicated programming, licensing & merchandising, international distribution and Viacom's New Media effort. While at Viacom, and prior to his term as Chairman and CEO, Mr. Braun was Senior Vice President, Corporate Development & Administration and responsible for Corporate Development, Facilities, Human Resources, Science & Technology. From 1986 through 1988, Mr. Braun was President & Chief Operating Officer of Imagine Films Entertainment. He took the Ron Howard/Brian Grazer production company public through Allen & Company and structured financing and distribution of film and television projects. As Senior Vice President, Film Programming and Executive Vice President, Home Video at Home Box Office, Inc. from 1982 through 1986, Mr. Braun Headed HBO's film financing and home-video activities and was part of the negotiating team for the licensing of pay-television rights from the studios. He also created Silver Screen Partners. From 1978 through 1982, Mr. Braun was Senior Vice President & General Counsel for International Film Investors. There, he structured and negotiated financing and distribution for feature films including Ghandi, The Killing Fields, Hopscotch, Escape from New York and The Howling. From 1977 through 1978, Mr. Braun was a corporate attorney at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in New York. He holds his JD from the University of Chicago (1977) and his BA from the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Braun and his wife, Dr. Anne Flick, live in New York City with their two children.
Max Keiser, is Co-Chairman and Co-Founder of the Hollywood Stock Exchange, a d
igital media company that operates an entertainment stock market at www.hsx.com. Max has his roots in the trenches of Wall Street, where, during the high-flying 80’s, he worked as a leading options broker for the some of the most prominent brokerage firms in the world. The mission then was to ride the bull market that has made the US stock market the forefront of the American Dream. At the apex of his career, Max went to Paris for a two-week vacation that turned into a five-year retreat. It was there that he dreamt up the Hollywood Stock Exchange. The vision was clear. Why couldn’t entertainment properties become commodities, the same way companies have been for hundreds of years? "The Internet, this great equalizer that puts the power of information into the hands of the people was in its infancy and it marked the beginning of a new era in mass communication that could support the dream I had," says Max. Max went directly to Los Angeles to see the only person he knew there, a prominent investment banker he worked with in his Wall Street days. Six months later, the dream had become a reality. The Hollywood Stock Exchange opened its doors to the world in April of 1996, the offices of the company located in the bedroom of a Hollywood apartment. Today, the Santa Monica, California based Hollywood Stock Exchange boasts approximately 65 employees and over 500,000 registered traders that are shifting the values of movies, stars and musical artists in real time. In fact, the dream has exceeded the reality, as more shares are traded on the Hollywood Stock Exchange than on some of the biggest stock markets in the world. "The future of entertainment is now controlled by the masses and we give people the medium by which they can express their thoughts on the entertainment that is produced," says Max. Max is now writing a new chapter in the company’s history, one that has the Hollywood Stock Exchange leveraging it new media experience into the world of traditional media. He currently hosts both "The Hollywood Stock Exchange Market Update" on NBC’s top-rate entertainment news program, Access Hollywood and "The Hollywood Stock Exchange Radio Show" on CBS affiliate 97.1 KLSX. He is also currently developing new ways to enhance the entertainment experience through the promise of interactive television.Larry Divney, President and CEO, Comedy Central: Cable television advertising pioneer Larry Divney was named president and CEO of COMEDY CENTRAL on February 18,1999. The first person to sell MTV and Cable News Network (CNN) at the same time, Divney entered the fledgling field in 1981, when he joined MTV as it's first Vice President of Advertising Sales. That year MTV took over the advertising sales of CNN and CNN Headline News; at which point Divney began working with Tom Freston and Ted Turner simultaneously - a strange foreshadowing of his situation at COMEDY CENTRAL (the network is co-owned by Time Warner and Viacom). In his previous position Divney was responsible for the advertising sales; sales research; traffic; and sales planning and operations departments. Immediately prior to COMEDY CENTRAL, he joined The Comedy Channel and HA! The TV Comedy Network merged to become COMEDY CENTRAL in 1991, Divney was named the Senior Vice President, Advertising Sales. Although few would describe Divney as a Boy Scout, it is his Scout-like sales philosophy "Know your clients needs; Be prepared; and Sell with integrity" which has allowed the all-comedy network to enjoy 20-40% advertising sales increases every yea since launch. After his time at MTV, Divney went on to work for the Cable Health Network (now Lifetime) as the Vice President of Market Development and Sales; then joined CNN as Vice President National Sales Manager for CNN and CNN Headline News where he helped to rebuild the sales department thereby taking over the sales from MTV. Divney also spent time at Business Times, a now defunct business news programming block that aired on ESPN. In addition, Divney spent four years at A&E helping to build the network's sales strength initially utilizing customer service surveys and following up on a reworked client-based sales strategy. Before cable, Divney spent 15 years in the radio business in various capacities as well as General Manager for WDAI-FM and Station Manager of WLS-FM/AM both located in Chicago, and the General Sales Manager for WPLJ-FM in New York. Divney is the co-chair of the 1997 CAB conference, a member of the CAB's National Sales Advisory Board, a committee member of the cable industry's effort for City Meals-On-Wheels and is on the Executive Steering Committee for the Electronic Data Interface (EDI). Divney is married and resides in Manhattan. He has two children, William and Elizabeth.
Richard K. (Dick) Glover serves as executive vice president, Internet Media, ABC, Inc. In this capacity, Mr. Glover is responsible for setting the strategy of ABC’s and ESPN’s properties on the Internet and serves as the key liaison between GO.com and the ABC and ESPN television properties. He also has operational responsibilities for the ABC Internet Group properties, including ABC.com and ABCNEWS.com, and ESPN Internet Ventures properties, including ESPN.com, NFL.com, NBA.com and ABC Sports Online. Glover has more than 20 years experience in broadcasting, the Internet and starting and managing news businesses. He spent seven years with ESPN, most recently as executive vice president, programming, where he was responsible for all aspects of ESPN, Inc.’s domestic programming efforts, which included ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNEWS and ESPN Classic. Glover joined ESPN in 1992 as senior vice president, Enterprises, where he managed ESPN’s expansion into new media including online services, pay-per-view, multimedia, out-of-home entertainment, merchandising and magazines. He was the executive in charge of the planning, development and launch of ESPN.com and was instrumental in the site’s impressive growth to its current position as industry leader. From 1985-92 Glover served as senior vice president of Titan Sports, Inc., the parent company of the World Wide Wrestling Federation. He managed all of Titan’s home video, licensing, pay-per-view and international operations, as well as its legal and business affairs and talent management. Before joining Titan, Glover was vice president, chief administrative officer of the NBA’s Washington Bullets (now the Wizards) from 1983-85. Glover’s television programming experience includes eight years with Westinghouse Broadcasting (now CBS). While serving as vice president, program planning at Group W Satellite Communications from 1981-83, he was instrumental in the launch of The Nashville Network, Satellite News Channel and two regional sports networks – Home Team Sports in Washington, D.C., and Seattle Super Channel. A 1970 graduate of Duke University with a B.A. in economics, he is married and has two children.
Danny Goldberg, President of the newly formed Artemis Records, and Sheridan Square Entertainment, has worked hands on with more popular musical talent than literally any other recorded music executive in the 1990's. He is also one of the very few who has worked with every major genre of popular music, rap, country, folk, classical, jazz, pop, rock, R&B and jazz. Artemis was formed in June 1999, and has on its roster Steve Earle, Kittie, Warren Zevon, The Spooks, and Kurupt, among others. Within seven months of its creation, Artemis placed three albums--by rapper Kurupt, singer/songwriter Warren Zevon and hard rock group Kittie--on the Billboard charts in January 2000, the first time in memory that a new record company had placed three albums on the charts in its first year. Sheridan Square is owned by Goldberg and C&P Capitol and also owns ArtistEnt.com, an original Internet content company. Prior to coming to Mercury, Goldberg was Chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. Records in 1995, during which time Warner Bros. was the #1 U.S. record label. In 1993-94, he was President of Atlantic Records, also a division of Time-Warner, which likewise attained the number one ranking among U.S. companies during Goldberg's tenure. He joined Atlantic as Senior Vice-President in Los Angeles in 1992. (Originally a New Yorker, Goldberg lived in Los Angeles from 1982-1993 before moving back when he became President of Atlantic.) Among artists Goldberg worked with at Atlantic and Warner Bros. are Madonna, Neil Young, REM, and Phil Collins. Among those signed under his regimes were Jewel, Stone Temple Pilots, Brandy, Hootie and the Blowfish and Paula Cole.