Wednesday, March 7 9:00 AM - 10:15 AM Session B: Enhanced TV Networks and Critical Mass Audience: Entertainment, Sports, News & Finance The definitions are confusing, but whether it’s Interactive TV programming or Internet/TV companion programming, it is all part of the evolution of what is being called Enhanced TV, and its day is near. Within the next year, every TV show will have a significant Internet presence and it may even come in the form of real-time companion programming. In this session we bring together the brand name programming executives and creators who are dealing with what it means to leverage and extend their on-air television programming to the Internet or into the Interactive TV space. What is this process really all about? Can you effectively mix entertainment with marketing? What about building a community with programming that keeps an audience coming back? What does it mean to be a TV/Internet hybrid programmer? We are pleased to welcome a distinguished panel of experts. Andy Beers, Group Business Development Manager, Microsoft TV Platforms Group Eric Scholl, Executive Producer and Director, Yahoo!, FinanceVision Nick DeMartino, Director of Strategic Planning, AFI American Film Institute Frederic Bien, Senior VP, New Media Technology, Turner Broadcasting Bill Niemeyer, Director of Strategic Development, Spiderdance, Moderator Additional speaker to be announced Jonathan Leess, Senior Vice President, the Walt Disney Internet Group, General Manager and Executive Producer, Enhanced Television Division: Jonathan Leess is senior vice president for the Walt Disney Internet Group (NYSE:DIG) and he also serves as general manager and executive producer of the Enhanced Television division. Since joining the Walt Disney Internet Group (WDIG), he has overseen all business development, production, technical, and integrated sales for the Enhanced Television division, a joint initiative between WDIG and the ABC Television Network that focuses on the business and content development for convergence programming. Prior to joining WDIG, Leess was with ABC Sports for nearly 20 years, most recently as vice president of multimedia & interactive programming. He was responsible for the creation and management of all ABC Sports' online programming businesses and spearheaded the expansion of ABC Sports into the new area of online and interactive programming with Monday Night Football and Fiesta Bowl Enhanced TV applications. Before his role in interactive programming, Leess was vice president of production planning and coordinated ABC Sports' worldwide television coverage and operations for all of ABC Sports television programming, including Monday Night Football, Wide World of Sports, World Cup Soccer, Super Bowls, Kentucky Derby and Indianapolis 500. During his tenure, Leess won the Special Class: Individual Achievement Sports Emmy Award for his successful production coordination of ABC's live telecasts of the 1991 Pan American Games from Cuba. Leess also served as director of remote operations & program control as well as sports production manager at ABC Sports. As early as 1995, Leess headed up the development of online and interactive convergent programming by pioneering the invention of live, real-time internet displays from data feeds during ABC Sports' live telecasts, encouraging viewers to go online while they watch TV. Leess began his career as a television commercial producer for a New York based TV Production Company producing spots for Estée Lauder and Revlon. Leess holds a B.A. in film & television form New York University. Eric Scholl is the executive producer and director of Yahoo! Inc. FinanceVision. In this role, Scholl oversees the development of streaming video and data content for Web distribution. Prior to his arrival at Yahoo! in September 1999, he was the executive producer of CNNfn where he headed up the production team which launched the network in December 1995 and was subsequently responsible for programming, daily news coverage, and editing. The programs Scholl created for CNNfn included the first daily show devoted to technology and technology investing, as well as the first daily show devoted to deal-making and initial public offerings. In addition, Scholl served as the executive producer of MONEYLINE WITH LOU DOBBS, CNN’s flagship nightly business program. Before starting up CNNfn, Scholl had been with NBC Hong Kong, where he was responsible for launching its new Asia networks. He had previously been managing editor for NHK Television in Tokyo for five years, where he developed news programs that were seen on ABC, CNBC, SkyTelevision and ABN, on every continent around the globe. Scholl began his television career with CNN Business News in 1981 and worked as a producer, news editor and supervising producer before going to Asia in 1990. In addition to his television work, Scholl has had articles published in The New York Times, TJFR (financial news trade publication,) and Playboy. He received a George Foster Peabody Award for coverage of the 1987 stock market crash. Scholl holds a B.A. in English from Columbia University. Bill Niemeyer is the Director of Strategic Development of Spiderdance, Inc., an AIP (Application Infrastructure Provider) offering convergence infrastructure, programming and advertising to television networks and producers. Spiderdance has established its market leadership by developing and launching fully integrated interactive television show applications for MTV (Viacom), TBS Superstation (Time Warner), Game Show Network (Sony) and The History Channel (A&E Networks). Prior to Spiderdance, Niemeyer developed web, e-commerce and online community projects for Fortune 500 clients, including Apple, Sears and NTT. Prior to that, he was with Mondo Media, as part of the team that produced two top-selling CD-ROM games. Previous to that, he was co-founder of StudioGraphics, which produced award-winning interactive multimedia applications for corporate clients, including IBM, HP, Logitech and Autodesk. Nick DeMartino is Associate Director of the American Film Institute (Strategic Planning) and Director of the newly established AFI New Media Ventures division. DeMartino is responsible for creating and managing the components will become the "virtual AFI," including strategic partnerships with national corporations, especially those in technology and new media; operation and expansion of AFI Online, the institute's award-winning web site; the launch of www.AFIfilm.com, a new venture being produced in association with Intertainer, Inc.; enhanced and digital broadband television programming, teaching and production; and distance learning applications and alliances, including the recently announced relationship with Fathom.com, a learning portal developed by Columbia University and other educational and cultural institutions. Before his elevation to the Senior Vice President role, DeMartino served as Director of Strategic Planning for the American Film Institute since January, 1995, responsible for AFI's continuing expansion into digitally based information and education. He has created and managed AFI’s partnership programs with high technology companies including Intel Corporation, Apple Computer, Inc., Compaq Computer Corporation, Softbank/Ziff-Davis, and Internet startup FasTV and many others. Most recently he headed negotiations to productize AFI's short film library, forging an agreement with Intertainer, Inc., an on-demand broadband company. DeMartino has defined a new form of creative collaborative R&D between Hollywood and Silicon Valley with such programs as the AFI-Intel Enhanced Television Workshop, the California Digital Arts Workshop, the AFI Computer Media Salons, the AFI Millennium Council, and AFI’s Advanced Technology Programs. He was named one of twenty leaders in broadband technology in August, 1999, by the Los Angeles Business Journal. He made the top technology list of that publication in 1995, as well. DeMartino spearheaded the launch of AFI's World Wide Web site (http://www.afionline.org) in October, 1995. AFI is exploring a wide range of content publishing collaborations centered around its web and broadband production capabilities. In addition, DeMartino is responsible for AFI's online distance learning initiatives. He joined AFI in 1990 to direct the Cinetex trade show, conference and film festival. Prior to joining the AFI, DeMartino held a number of positions at the Labor Institute of Public Affairs, a media production and distribution unit for organized labor. He developed and managed a $20 million advertising and communications program, teleconferences, training programs and a cable television service. As an independent consultant and documentary television producer, DeMartino has produced television documentaries on such subjects as nuclear power, the abortion debate, prime time television comedy and other issues. He was a programming and educational consultant to Charles Dolan's Cablevision Systems. He is the author of two books on communications technology, and has been a consultant on emerging technology to broadcasters, producers, music companies, and nonprofits. DeMartino holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Louisville and a Master of Arts in Media Studies from Antioch College. Frederic V. Bien, Senior Vice President New Media Technology, Turner Broadcasting, Time-Warner: Frederic Bien oversees new media technology for the entertainment division of Turner: TBS, TNT, TCM, Cartoon Network, sports team, Nascar.com. In 1999-2000, Bien was Vice President Communities and Marketing Technology, then CTO of BigStar Entertainment http://www.BigStar.com. Bien is the CEO and founder of Belamo Corp., that produces and markets http://FLIRT.com, the Online Romance Channel, a commercial web site about romance and relationships. FLIRT.com was accessed by over 2 million people in 1999, mostly women. Partnerships with Elle and RoadRunner. In the first half of 1999, Bien was VP Business Development for Playboy.com and managed Playboy Online' Los Angeles office, helping the company in integration of new content partnerships. From 1993 to 1997, Bien founded and was CEO of Bien Logic Inc. an Internet software company that signed and fulfilled multimedia software contracts with Paramount Publishing, Franklin Electronic Publishers, and Apple Computer. Bien Logic developed and marketed web traffic analysis software: SurfReport and ProxyReport. Major customers included Netscape, Oracle, WalMart, ANS, Xerox, Hewlett-Packard, Smithsonian Institute. Bien Logic was sold to Netrics, Inc. in October 1997. Bien Logic was also the largest web design agency in San Diego and Orange County with over 30 major accounts. This agency division was sold to SiteLab International, LLC, in July 1997. Bien received a Ph.D. in Mathematics from MIT in 1986, was Assistant Professor at Princeton University, 1986-92 and was a tenured Associate Professor of Mathematics at University of California San Diego, 1992-96. Bien recorded rock albums in Belgium in 1979-81, as a drummer, composer and band manager. Bien's jazz fusion band, Spring, was the feature of an Amnesty International Concert in Europe in 1981. Bien toured in New England, Québec Canada and New York (Blue Note) in 1983-88. Andy Beers, Group Business Development Manager, Microsoft TV Platforms Group: As Group Business Development Manager for Microsoft TV Platform Marketing, Andy Beers is working with broadcasters and cable programmers to understand the new revenue opportunities available with enhanced TV, and adopt new technologies for interactive television production. As television converts to digital transmission, Microsoft is developing tools and technologies that will enable television producers to create interactive content. Until March 1998, Andy was Executive Producer of MSNBC on the Internet. He was responsible for the international and national news content on MSNBC's World Wide Web site. MSNBC is a joint venture between Microsoft and NBC. Previously, Andy was the News Director of MSN News, which was the interactive, multimedia news service of The Microsoft Network prior to MSNBC. Before coming to Microsoft he spent twenty years in television news, most recently as the News Director at KING-TV the NBC affiliate in Seattle, Washington. He has been a photographer, producer, Washington DC bureau chief, and has worked in a number of newsroom management positions. Andy is on the advisory boards of several universities, advising faculty on the development of new media journalism curricula.