NATPE - National Association of Television Program Executives

NATPE 2009 Offers Digital Briefings

Wed, 31 Dec 2008 18:03:37 +0100

With the goal of providing a clear understanding of the technologies and transformations that are impacting the television production and distribution business models of the past, NATPE has organized a series of Digital Briefings that will help you to navigate current and future opportunities. Each day during the NATPE Market & Conference in Las Vegas, NATPE will present Digital Briefings that examine the companies leading the charge into the digital and broadband age as well as introduces you to key decision-makers from technology and new media sectors. Whether it’s cutting-edge research, formal overviews, in-depth case studies or stimulating discussions, each Digital Briefing provides an opportunity to leverage content in new and exciting ways.

Steve Cooperman, product line business manager for Panasonic Broadcast and Television Systems’ P2 HD Systems, gets the Digital Briefings started on Tuesday, January 27, at 11 a.m. with a how-to session on Creating High Quality, Cost-Efficient Network Pilots with the Panasonic P2 HD system.

Following Panasonic, Adobe will be raffling off a copy of its Production Premium CS4 software during its Digital Briefing on New Ways to Create and Monetize Video for Multiple Screens at 11:45 a.m. Citing the successes of media companies using Adobe’s integrated tools, the briefing will give real-world examples of how to reach the widest possible audiences by utilizing faster, more efficient workflow from planning to playback with unmatched creative control, including support for tapeless workflows, speech to text conversion and XMP metadata.

At 12:30 p.m. Capgemini, a global leader in consulting, technology and outsourcing services, presents findings and recommendations on innovative applications for drama on original and cross-media platforms during its Reinventing Television: The Future of TV Drama. Delivering the data straight from writing creatives and leading network, studio and production company drama executives are Katrina Wood, founder and CEO of MediaXchange Ltd., a media consultancy assisting media professionals in the development of effective knowledge, contacts and business in the international marketplace; and Theodore Garcia, strategy and advisory lead for Capgemini America’s Media & Entertainment division.

MicrosoftTV looks Beyond the Entertainment Network: The Lifestyle Package during its Digital Briefing at 1:15 p.m. Shari Barnett, director of marketing for Microsoft, examines how the business of TV as well as the screen itself is evolving as part of the consumer’s connected universe.

Teradata Corporation’s principal industry consultant James Semenak and Capgemini’s strategy and business transformation lead James Rooke consider Reinventing Television: Audience Collaboration – New Revenue and Funding Opportunities at 2 p.m. Analyzing consumer behaviors and preferences has created an opportunity for those who can match the right advertising and content to the right audience sector, resulting in an effective means for monetizing production and distribution.

George Winslow, contributing editor of HD Update, leads Douglas A. Lee, EVP worldwide digital media at MGM, and Maryann Baldwin, VP of Frank N. Magid Associates, through a discussion on Synergizing the High Definition Explosion at 3:30 p.m. Citing recent consumer studies on HD TV purchases, the trio examine how telcos, retailers and HD programmers can work together to educate consumers.

On Wednesday, January 28, Kirk Kopic, president of Vimation, a video interactive media firm that has developed an interactive video and rich media platform called VIM, will present three case studies demonstrating how content publishers, advertisers and consumers are engaging and interacting with content on the VIM platform during Monetizing Premium Content for the Online Environment at 9:30 a.m.

For those interested in knowing Who Is Funding Who? catch the Digital Briefing slated for 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, January 29, to find out.

Entertainment and media companies hoping to drive growth over the next five years will need to accommodate dramatic changes in devices, market and consumer behavior through striking strategic business alliances, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Global Entertainment and Media Outlook: 2008–2012, released last month.

The report also underscores the importance of continuing to extract revenues from traditional business segments while emerging technologies continue to solidify their consumer position. The highly anticipated annual report pegs global compound annual growth rate (CAGR) at 6.6% for the sector, anticipating it reaching $2.2 trillion in 2012.

“We’re seeing a new business model solidify for entertainment and media companies,” said Marcel Fenez, managing partner, Global Entertainment & Media practice, PricewaterhouseCoopers. “Some, such as the film industry, have dabbled in this in the past, but those will be small movements compared to what lies ahead. No single company will be able to successfully go it alone over the next five years. The challenges are too significant and the demand for innovation too complete.”

Strategic Alliances Will Replace Vertical Integration
Several critical technologies are now reaching tipping points that will deeply influence both the pace and direction of entertainment and media growth over the next five years. Broadband penetration continues to accelerate globally. Mobile is gaining ground quickly – adding subscribers and upgrading infrastructure to enable the next wave of mobile expansion, driven by Internet access, advertising and television. Modern movie houses, digital cinemas and 3-D upgrades are enhancing the cinema-going experience, while high-definition television subscriptions and a resolution of the high-definition DVD format wars will invigorate digital living rooms. The impetus behind these new technologies is rarely established companies. The global broadband boom continues unabated, fuelling overall growth, and more than doubling again to 661 million households in 2012, a 16.4% compound annual increase.

While digital and mobile are driving growth, established and traditional business segments will continue to dominate revenues, with the exception of recorded music, where digital distribution will surpass physical distribution in 2011. Although digital and mobile distribution comprised only 5% of global entertainment and media spending in 2007, these revenues will account for 24% of all growth throughout the industry during the next five years. By 2012, digital and mobile revenues will account for just 11% of total entertainment and media spending, or $234 billion of the $2.2 trillion global market.

Health of Media Driven by Net Generation and Maintained by Consumers 50+
The Net Generation continues to set the pace and direction of change in the entertainment and media industry while exhibiting an influence that is driving new business models that are revolutionizing the relationship between companies and their customers. As they make these technologies regular components of their everyday lives, the Net Generation is also driving the technology engagement of prior generations, connecting older generations with the latest trends in emerging media technology.

This is truly a global phenomenon that companies are increasingly paying attention to. Consider:

In the BRIC countries, people under the age of 25 comprise at least 31% of the countries’ total populations – 43% in Brazil, 31% in Russia, 50% in India and 38% in China. Meanwhile, in the United States, people under the age of 25 represent 34% of the total population. The imperative, then, is that companies must expand their global reach to young people who will propel spending on Internet access and digital entertainment and media during the coming years.

Consumers over the age of 50 are creating a balance in the industry by devoting significant amounts of attention to the more traditional media of their generation as the Net Generation drives growth in digital and mobile entertainment. In every region of the world except EMEA, the 50+ population will see double-digit growth rates, and globally this population will increase from 1.1 billion to 1.25 billion, a 13.1% rise through 2012. This growth will help sustain traditional formats even as this generation becomes increasingly interested in the platforms embraced by their children and grandchildren.

Over the next five years, Asia Pacific and Latin America will be the fastest-growing regions. Double-digit increases are expected in each region for Internet advertising, Internet access spending, TV subscription and license fees, casino and other regulated gaming and video games. Latin America will total $85 billion in 2012, up from $51 billion in 2007, advancing from a relatively small base at 10.6% CAGR. Meanwhile, spending in Asia Pacific will average 8.8% CAGR, the second highest of any region, increasing from $333 billion in 2007 to $508 billion in 2012.

EMEA, the second largest market, will expand at a 6.8% CAGR to reach $792 billion in 2012. Central and Eastern Europe and Middle East/Africa will fuel growth in this territory. Internet advertising, Internet access spending and video games will continue to average double-digit compound annual increases during the next five years.

The U.S. currently remains the largest but slowest-growing entertainment and media market, growing at a 4.8% compound annual growth rate and reaching $759 billion in 2012. Internet advertising and Internet access spending will be the only two segments with double-digit growth during the next five years, boosted by continued growth in broadband.

“In the U.S., consumers are taking a preference for free, or heavily discounted, ad-supported content and services in the new digital and mobile environment,” said Jim O’Shaughnessy, global chairman, Entertainment & Media practice, PricewaterhouseCoopers. “This ensures that the importance of advertising will continue to grow – both to entertainment and media companies themselves and to their customers.”

As the trend toward globalization in the entertainment and media industry continues, Brazil, Russia, India and China will remain important sources for growth throughout the entire sector, driven by rising disposable incomes and an increasingly urbanized middle class. In addition, a large and diverse group of countries are also breaking away from the pack. Entertainment and media markets across 15 countries will expand at double-digit annual rates during the next five years, with Saudi Arabia and the Pan-Arab region experiencing the fastest growth. Vietnam will be the world’s fastest-growing television subscription and license fee market over the next five years – growing at 29.3% CAGR.

Colombia will be the fastest-growing entertainment and media market in Latin America. The Internet access market in Saudi Arabia and the pan-Arab states will grow at 30.1% CAGR, rising to $13.8 billion in 2012, surpassing Russia and rivaling France. Internet advertising, Internet access spending and TV subscriptions will lead the industry expansion in these territories – the broadband household universe will expand at more than 20% CAGR.

Growth Is Driven by the Rising Value of Online and Mobile Opportunities
While Internet advertising growth will moderate from that in recent years, it will see the most robust growth, at 19.5% CAGR through to 2012. Internet access (12.1% CAGR), video games (10.3% CAGR) and television subscriptions and license fees (10.1% CAGR) will all experience double-digit growth.

More established segments – television advertising (5.9% CAGR), theme parks (5% CAGR), casino gaming (6.5% CAGR), filmed entertainment (5.3% CAGR) and sports (6.5% CAGR) – are all set to grow at between 5% and 7% compounded annually.

The publishing segments including Newspapers (2.2% CAGR), Consumer Magazine (3.5% CAGR), Consumer & Educational books (2.8% CAGR), Business-to-business publishing (3.2% CAGR) as well as recorded music (-0.6% CAGR) face the stiffest challenges, where the declines in physical distribution are at their most significant and growth in digital distribution – although rapid – is struggling to make up for the shortfall.

“Companies are rapidly embracing new and emerging technologies in the entertainment and media industry, while adapting to the demands of the Net Generation. And rightly so, because it will help to drive their business forward and remain competitive in a marketplace driven by innovation. However, they must also remain focused on managing their traditional businesses, a key component and driver of their revenues. By effectively managing emerging and traditional business lines, they will be able to identify opportunities they can exploit so they can migrate to the new digital environment and meet the demands of the Net Generation,” added Marcel Fenez.

PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Global Entertainment and Media Outlook: 2008–2012, the ninth annual edition, contains in-depth analyses and forecasts of 15 major industry segments across five regions of the globe – the United States, EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa), Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Canada – plus a Global Overview. It is available in hard copy or electronically (PDF) for US$995 at Global Entertainment & Media Outlook: 2008–2012[http://www.pwc.com/extweb/pwcpublications.nsf/docid/5AC172F2C9DED8F5852570210044EEA7?opendocument&vendor=none]. The Global Overview is available separately for US$95 in hard copy or electronically, and individual segment chapters are also available for US$95 in electronic format only.

About PricewaterhouseCoopers
PricewaterhouseCoopers[http://www.pwc.com/], the network of member firms of PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited, each of which is a separate and independent legal entity, provides industry-focused assurance, tax and advisory services to build public trust and enhance value for its clients and their stakeholders. More than 146,000 people in 150 countries across its network share their thinking, experience and solutions to develop fresh perspectives and practical advice.

Fiona Scholes Tel: +44 (0) 20 7804 2695 email request reference number PWCK55N3FI14

NATPE's 6th Annual Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Award Recipients

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 19:06:03 +0100

Each year as part of the NATPE Conference & Exhibition, the organization pays tribute to one of television’s greatest programmers, Brandon Tartikoff, with the presentation of the Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Award. Recognizing the enormous impact this one man had on the television industry, the award presented in his name acknowledges a select group of television professionals who share Tartikoff’s extraordinary passion, leadership, independence and vision in the process of creating television programming. This year’s recipients are writer/producer Chuck Lorre, writer/actor/producer/director Tyler Perry, NBC Universal’s Ben Silverman and Disney-ABC’s Anne Sweeney.

Chuck Lorre

A musician at heart, Chuck Lorre was, as he describes it, “unhealthfully enamored by Randy Newman songs, and the way he wrote lyrics and told stories.” Realizing that he was much more adroit at writing comedy then he was at playing in a rock ’n’ roll band, he says he has always believed that with comedy “you bring a little bit of rock ’n’ roll into television, a little bit of that abandon and energy and excitement, and that makes what you do all worthwhile.”

His passion for television comes from his relationship to the characters he creates. “Great television characters, for me anyway, you have to care about them, even if they’re the evil characters, you feel them. That’s part of the magic of the actor in playing the character that you watch and you root for. The other part of it is that laughter can be explosive. Boom! It erupts, it’s spontaneous, like a Pete Townsend power chord.”

Serving as writer, co-executive producer and supervising producer on Roseanne for two years, Lorre created his first sitcom, Grace Under Fire, for the ABC network in 1993. The series, the highest-rated new comedy of the 1993/94 season, starred comedian Brett Butler as a divorced single mother and recovering alcoholic. Produced by Carsey-Werner International, the show was nominated in 1995 for the Golden Globe Award for Best TV series (Musical or Comedy).

Lorre’s next project was the sitcom Cybill, which he also created, wrote and executive produced. The show starred Cybill Shepherd as an aging actress and divorced mother and aired for four seasons on CBS. A critical success, the show also won two Golden Globe Awards in 1996 for Best TV series (Musical or Comedy) and Best Actress (Cybill Shepherd) in a TV series (Musical or Comedy).

All three shows – Roseanne, Grace Under Fire and Cybill – centered around strong female leads. When asked about his ability to develop and write dialogue for these female characters, Lorre explains: “When I was approached by Carsey-Werner to develop a show about a single mother, originally I didn’t know that I could do something like that. Then, when I did some research, I saw a heroic story about a woman raising a family on her own without a safety net; so there’s this Greek tragedy element to it. And then the other side of it was something I could identify with more personally, which is the story about a woman starting her life over after divorce. Starting over is something I understood. Grace was about starting over, Cybill was also about a character who is starting over – her career was winding down, marriages didn’t work, children were grown, now what? That “now what?” in the middle of your life was something I could feel internally and was something I could dig into. You don’t have to be the character, but you do have to be able to relate to them.”

Dharma & Greg, which Lorre created, wrote and executive produced from 1997 through 2002, was produced by Chuck Lorre Productions, More-Medavoy Productions and 4 to 6 Foot Productions in association with 20th Century Fox Television for ABC. It starred Jenna Elfman and Thomas Gibson as a couple who marry instantly on their first date despite being complete opposites. The series was a top-20 fixture in the U.S. during its first three seasons.

In discussing the show, Lorre says: “Greg wanted so much to feel, to come up from this wrapped tight life that he lived that had all these boundaries and rules and this woman, Dharma, was a path to feeling, to getting in touch with some kind of life that he had been denied growing up. Dharma was a magical creature. We had been writing shows about women who were angry but then we tried writing a show about a woman who was entirely and unconditionally loving and supportive. It was like writing someone from Mars!”

Dharma & Greg also launched Lorre’s vanity cards, billboards at the end of the credits of the show that express his personal views and opinions or musings on a variety of subjects. These vanity cards are also seen at the end of Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory, and can also be viewed on Chuck Lorre Productions’ website. “At the beginning, unless you had a really good VCR, the cards were impossible to read, and really just looked like boilerplate,” says Lorre. “Then they started to appear on the Internet and TiVo came along and you could pause the screen and read it and that one second started to count. I started getting in trouble and censors got involved wanting me to change them or drop them entirely. Every two or three weeks I have one that they say I can’t air, so I put up a card that says CENSORED, and then people go read it on the website. I’m getting better and better at getting them censored!”

In 2003, Lorre struck gold again with Two and a Half Men, which premiered on CBS and soon became the anchor of its Monday night comedy lineup. Centering around a freewheeling bachelor, Charlie, whose carefree lifestyle is interrupted when his newly separated brother Alan moves in, along with his son, Jake, the series was co-created and is executive produced by Lorre and Lee Aronsohn.

The series, which has received multiple award nods, including 23 Primetime Emmy Award nominations and two Golden Globe nominations, debuted in local syndication in September 2007 and has consistently earned the #1 ranking among off-net syndicated shows. Warner Bros. Domestic Cable Distribution also made history with the sale of the show’s cable rights to Fox’s FX cable network for an estimated $750,000 per episode, the second-richest deal in cable history. Two and a Half Men begins airing on FX in 2010.

When CBS was looking for complementary comedies for its Monday night comedy block in 2007, Lorre scored yet again with The Big Bang Theory, created and executive produced with Bill Prady for Warner Bros. Television. The show focuses on 20-something prodigies – a theoretical physicist and an experimental physicist who work at Caltech and live across the hall from a blonde waitress with show-biz aspirations. Their geekiness and intellect are contrasted to her social skills and common sense.

When asked if he had any advice for writers, Lorre says: “Write what you love. I think if you try to write what you think is hot or commercial, that’s a dead end. If I can wrap my heart around something, the end result is better and more gratifying, maybe not always successful, but I was proud of the end result. The goal is to get it on and keep it on, but god forbid you get something on that you don’t care about. Now you’re a slave to writing something you don’t feel strongly about and that’s hell. Start from some kind of compassionate place for the characters.”

Tyler Perry

From the onset of his career, Tyler Perry has done it all. A prolific writer, actor, producer, director and now head of his own studio, Perry’s own story is fodder for Hollywood moviemaking. Citing an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show as his inspiration to begin writing, Perry turned his childhood pain into the hit musical I Know I’ve Been Changed.

“I know people find it funny that a big black man is sitting around watching The Oprah Show, but yeah, I was watching Oprah. She said it was cathartic to write things down. That was back in the ’90s and that’s when I started writing. That’s what led me to where I am now,” explains Perry.

Bill Cosby, especially The Cosby Show, was another early influence. Says Perry, “I took all the bits I saw on The Cosby Show and the advice that Oprah gave and put it all together. Between the two of them, the example they provide and the way they modeled their lives, it inspired me.”

From there, Perry created his most indelible character, Madea, the star of his 2005 hit feature film Diary of a Mad Black Woman. He not only wrote and produced the film, he also starred as Madea. Simultaneous to the opening of Diary, Perry also mounted the successful stage production Madea Goes to Jail, which he also wrote, produced and scored. That was followed by a national tour of Meet the Browns. Between the two productions, Perry sold out more than 500 shows in theaters across the country.

Other Tyler Perry feature film releases include Madea’s Family Reunion, Daddy’s Little Girls, Why Did I Get Married, Meet the Browns and The Family That Preys. His theatrical productions include I Can Do Bad All by Myself, Madea’s Class Reunion, What’s Done in the Dark and The Marriage Counselor.

“I relied on my past, the things that I saw my mother go through, that was my inspiration for my women characters, what I watched my mother and my two sisters go through,” say Perry. “But as far as relationships go, I’ve seen enough people go through enough stuff that I don’t have to experience it myself to be able to write about it. I can look at those examples. But me and my dog are gonna be together for a long time.”

Perry has become a multi-hyphenate millionaire with a never-ending list of credits that encompass film, stage, television, and books. His first book, Don’t Make a Black Woman Take Off Her Earrings: Madea’s Uninhibited Commentaries on Life and Love, debuted at #1 on the New York Times hardcover nonfiction bestseller list and remained in the Top 10 for eight weeks.

Perry is enjoying the success of his first-run syndicated comedy series, House of Payne, which debuted on TBS in the fall of 2007 and will be joined by sitcom spin-off Meet the Browns in early 2009.

“I tried to explain my approach to people because it had never been done in television,” explains Perry. “The UPN and The WB merged and a lot of affiliates were left without programming. They wanted something and I had just finished the ten episodes of House of Payne so the timing was perfect. And then here comes TBS, just as crazy as I was, and they said ‘OK, we’ll take 100 episodes’ so it’s been a fantastic relationship with DebMar Mercury and William Morris and with TBS and I’m very excited that the show continues to do so well.”

Currently working on a one-hour scripted drama series, Perry offers a bit of advice for writers, saying: “To anyone who is creative or an artist, stay true to your gift. If you have something you know is natural and pure and you know is you, stay true to it no matter what anybody says, no matter how anybody tries to change it or taint it. Stay true. I’m sure a lot of executives are probably going ‘to hell with that, if you want to come over here, you’re going to change a couple things.’ But what I’ve found that is happening in Hollywood is that there are so many of the same type of things happening because the original creativity is being drowned. Television executives should encourage that kind of independent thinking because those are the people who know a lot about niche audiences and can really change everything. A lot of people are intimidated by the system, but there are other ways around the system. If they won’t let you in the door, cut a hole in the roof. If you can’t cut a hole in the roof, bust through the window. Ask questions. Ask why it has to be done that way and if no one has an answer, you’re on the right path.”

Ben Silverman

As co-chairman, NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios, a position he was named to in May 2007, Ben Silverman works alongside co-chairman Marc Graboff to direct the efforts of NBC Universal’s television operations based in Burbank and Universal City, California.

Noting the similarities between his own meteoric rise to the top entertainment post at NBC to that of Brandon Tartikoff, Silverman says: “All of the people involved with the Tartikoff Legacy Award clearly have a dedication to television and a love of television that I too share. Brandon was a teacher and mentor of mine and someone I read about in New York magazine when I was 15 years old. Our shared love of programming comes through in the programming that we choose to make and how we approach broadcasting at NBC.”

Like Tartikoff, Silverman joined the network at a challenging time, notably when it was fourth among the big broadcast networks. But while Tartikoff was able to turn the network around with big hit shows like Hill Street Blues, Cheers, L.A. Law, Family Ties and others, Silverman has yet to find his breakout hit. “There’s no question that there are similarities between when I arrived at NBC to when Brandon arrived. It took him a number of years to start to shift the attention of the network from its placement to its elevation of its shows. We obviously have some unbelievable shows and have seen growth in those shows, but I think just as Brandon exercised patience with shows like Hill Street Blues and Cheers, on our own watch, patience has been shown to The Office and now 30 Rock. The difference is that you can’t catch that lightning in a bottle right out of the gate anymore. But there are still huge opportunities to continue to grow and find audience. There’s no question that the audience is consuming our content differently now, and technology impacts how our audience consumes our content, so we need to think about what defines a hit in a different way than just focusing on the rating of a premiere episode.”

Prior to joining NBC Universal, in 2002 Silverman launched Reveille, a leading independent production and distribution company focusing on exploiting worldwide intellectual property rights through scripted and alternative television formats. The company leverages its unique relationships with the world’s top broadcasters and producers to acquire, produce and distribute innovative entertainment programming across all television genres. Reveille has been a world leader in creating integrated marketing opportunities for leading advertisers and developing alternative financing paradigms for the television business.

Asked about the adjustments in moving from independent production to media conglomerate, Silverman explains: “Being independently minded within a big organization has its challenges, but it’s also incredibly rewarding and enriching. The opportunities for us at NBC Universal to define the future of media through the changes we implement and how we shift with the technology, which continues to impact how audiences consume our content – we’re continually evolving how we program that content, market that content and how we produce that content as well. It’s fun to be inside an organization that is trying to change but also has a leadership position in creating change. Even though it’s a big organization, it provides entrepreneurial energy.”

Silverman is also involved as executive producer of the Emmy-winning NBC comedy The Office and is co-creator and executive producer of the hit reality shows The Biggest Loser for NBC and USA Network’s Nashville Star. Additionally, he is executive producer of the critically acclaimed The Tudors for Showtime. Silverman’s other projects include Date My Mom for MTV, the FX series 30 Days (created by Oscar® nominee Morgan Spurlock), the Emmy Award-winning TV movie 9/11, and MTV’s Parental Consent.

In 2003, Silverman joined forces with media giant Interpublic Group to produce The Restaurant, followed by Bravo’s Blow Out in 2004. Both shows chronicled the creation, launch and operation of a business within a competitive market and were fully financed by context-relevant advertisers.

Previously, Silverman was in charge of the international packaging division at the William Morris Agency (WMA), where he was the company’s youngest division head. Among the more than 25 television series he is credited with packaging are the game shows Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and The Weakest Link, the reality show Big Brother, and the one-hour drama series Queer as Folk. Silverman also led WMA’s New York consulting branch, extending such well-known brands as Maxim, InStyle, eBay and Anheuser-Busch into alternative and traditional media outlets.

Prior to joining William Morris, Silverman was vice president for New World/Marvel Entertainment, where he developed sitcoms and envisioned live-action projects for film and television. He has also held posts at CBS and Warner Bros.

For those next-generation producers and executives, Silverman advises “There are so many opportunities in media today. The number of screens that everybody has in their own pocket, let alone in their homes and cars and trains and elevators, has spurred a need for content to go on those screens, and it is only going to increase. At the same time, as the opportunities expand, the hard costs of making that content go down. You can make a film on your phone now, so the barrier to entry has gotten a lot lower for people who are willing to apply entrepreneurial energy.”

He continues: “The next generation of executive producers have to go out and actually produce and generate ideas as well as execute ideas, they can’t just talk about those ideas anymore. As the price point gets lower, there is nothing that gets our attention more than a piece of tape. Don’t let yourself be siloed, continue to keep your eyes open to the world at large. It’s not just about narrative scripted content, but think about interactive and digital and across as many genres as you can. And never be scared by the word no, because no is the easiest thing for someone to say to you. Perseverance gets through the no.”

Anne Sweeney

First inspired by a love for theatre during her school years, Anne Sweeney, co-chair, Disney Media Networks and president, Disney-ABC Television Group, says her passion for television grew as a natural progression during her very first job as a page at ABC in New York.

Currently responsible for The Walt Disney Company’s entertainment and news television properties globally, a position she was promoted to in April 2004, Sweeney says: “The page program was so wonderful because you never knew where you would be from one day to the next. I’d be at ABC News one day, ABC Radio the next. Not only did I get to see so many different areas of the business, but I worked with so many different people who loved what they did and wanted to talk about their jobs and answer any questions I had.”

Certainly that experience benefits Sweeney today, as she now oversees the ABC Television Network. Delivering entertainment, news and kids programming to viewers via 228 affiliated stations across the U.S. in addition to other technological platforms, ABC series, many of which are produced by ABC Studios, are distributed to more than 200 territories across the globe by Disney-ABC Worldwide Television.

Disney-ABC Television Group also encompasses Disney Channels Worldwide, which includes 27 Disney Channels, 10 Playhouse Disney Channels, nine Toon Disney Channels and 19 Jetix/GXT Channels, as well as Radio Disney and Walt Disney Television Animation, a TV animation studio. Today Disney Channel programming reaches more than 500 million individuals in 127 countries.

It spite of the huge corporate responsibility she shoulders, Sweeney continues to demonstrate her independence and vision. “It’s so critical every day knowing that you’re independent, knowing that you’re being charged with being an entrepreneur in your own company, knowing that you have to have a vision, a lot of courage and more than anything, know and understand and stay so connected to your audience.”

Sweeney also manages cable networks ABC Family and SOAPnet, as well as Disney’s publishing imprint, Hyperion, and the company’s equity interest in Lifetime Entertainment Services and A&E Television Network.

During her tenure, Disney-ABC Television Group’s properties have experienced tremendous growth. With the help of hit series Grey’s Anatomy, Desperate Housewives and Dancing With the Stars, ABC’s primetime audience has grown consistently from the 2003-04 TV season to the present. ABC Studios has expanded its creative product output from 11 series in 2004 to more than 20 currently across broadcast and cable television. Popular series such as Lost have found new audiences across a variety of platforms, including VOD, broadband and mobile, in addition to the Internet. ABC News’ World News with Charles Gibson has forged into the 24-hour digital space, with content available throughout the day on ABCNews.com and an afternoon webcast that is downloaded by millions.

Giving all the credit for the network’s programming success to ABC Entertainment president Stephen McPherson and his team, Sweeney explains: “My business philosophy is to hire the smartest people I can find and then let them do their jobs. Steve McPherson and his team have done an extraordinary job. I am engaged in the process, but more than anything, I love seeing what they do, seeing what they create and supporting them.”

Consistently ranked as basic cable’s #1 network in primetime among kids 6-11 and ’'tweens 9-14, Disney Channel has continued to develop branded programming and franchises with worldwide appeal, utilizing popular series like Hannah Montana, the CG animated My Friends Tigger & Pooh and Disney Channel Original Movies like the smash hit High School Musical 2 to continue its ratings momentum and expand into additional markets around the world. ABC Family, available in more than 95 million U.S. homes, also continues to grow its core audience with exciting, hip programming like Greek and Kyle XY.

From October 2000 to April 2004, Sweeney served as president of ABC Cable Networks Group and Disney Channels Worldwide. Under her leadership, Disney Channel more than quintupled its subscriber base with its mix of original series and movies and acquired programming. It is now available on basic cable in nearly 95 million homes in the United States and will soon be adding Russia to its long list of international Disney Channels.

Her brand philosophy, she says, “is very simple. It’s the relationship you have with your audience. In order for a brand to stay strong, in order for Disney to stay strong, we have to know what’s going on with our audience. We have to be as connected to them as they are to their best friend. We have to be a part of their lives, we have to know what their lives are about, what they’re thinking about, what technology they’re using, what characters they love, what stories are relevant to them in their lives. Working for Disney is an honor but it’s also a great responsibility because you realize the trust that people have in the entertainment that we make, and on the ABC side, the news and information we provide to people.”

Sweeney also oversaw the successful launch of the 24-hour animation channel Toon Disney in April 1998, and built it to its current reach of more than 68 million homes in the United States. Less than two years later, in January 2000, she oversaw the launch of SOAPnet, the 24-hour soap opera network now available in more than 68 million U.S. homes.

Sweeney joined The Walt Disney Company in February 1996 as president of Disney Channel and executive vice president of Disney/ABC Cable Networks. Previously she was chairman and CEO of FX Networks, Inc., since 1993. During her tenure there, she presided over the launch of two basic cable networks: FX, an entertainment network representing the most successful basic cable launch in history; and FXM: Movies from Fox, Hollywood’s first studio-based movie network.

Before joining Fox, Sweeney spent 12 years at Nickelodeon/Nick at Nite in various executive positions, most recently as senior vice president of program enterprises. Among many accomplishments, she oversaw Nickelodeon’s international expansion, including launching the channel in the United Kingdom, resulting in a joint venture with British Sky Broadcasting.

Sweeney encourages up and coming entertainment executives to follow the advice she herself adheres to, which is: “Take the job that scares you. Take the job that you’re so curious about. Forget about the title and everything else and really focus on learning. Focus on the things that challenge you the most. That’s how you’re going to grow. And if you focus on the challenges, everything else will follow.”

The Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Awards will be presented on Monday, January 26 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm. at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. A limited number of tickets to the event, benefiting the NATPE Educational Foundation, are available online for $100 each. NATPE is also planning one-on-one discussions with the 2009 honorees on Tuesday, January 27. The sessions will be moderated by Broadcasting & Cable editor Ben Grossman.

NATPE’s Celebrity Chef Kitchen

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 22:00:18 +0100

Celebrating the long-standing and successful bond between television and cooking programs – from the early days of THE FRENCH CHEF with Julia Child to today’s HELL’S KITCHEN with Gordon Ramsay – NATPE is bringing larger-than-life chefs to this year’s exhibition floor in its Celebrity Chef Kitchen.

Among the celebrity chefs demonstrating their mastery of the culinary arts at this year’s Celebrity Chef Kitchen are:

	Border Grill’s Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger (TOO HOT TAMALES) have been inspired by a love for bold flavors and strong statements. For over two decades, the chefs have transformed street foods and comfort foods into critically acclaimed cuisine, and themselves from a couple of Midwestern gringas into two of the country’s foremost authorities on the Latin kitchen. Feniger, trained at The Culinary Institute of America, met Milliken, who graduated from Washburne Culinary Institute, in1978 at Le Perroquet, one of Chicago’s best French restaurants, where they were the first women to break into the all-male kitchen. They both went on to work in France before meeting up again in 1981 when they opened City Cafe on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles. Their success there led to the opening of City Restaurant, known for its eclectic dishes from around the globe. In 1985, the two turned the cafe site into Border Grill, a “taco stand” serving authentic home cooking and street foods of Mexico. In 1990 it moved to its current home on 4th Street in Santa Monica where it now serves upscale, modern Mexican food in an urban cantina setting. In 1998, the partners opened Ciudad in downtown Los Angeles, presenting the bold and seductive flavors of the Latin world from Havana to Buenos Aires to Barcelona. In 1999, the Border Grill concept grew to encompass another restaurant located at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. The two launched their television career in 1993 with Julia Child on her PBS series COOKING WITH MASTER CHEFS, and by 1995 were hosting their own show TOO HOT TAMALES. They also have a line of prepared foods under the Border Grill brand and have authored five cookbooks.
	Kerry Simon, dubbed The Rock n’ Roll Chef by ROLLING STONE magazine, was one of the first chefs on the Las Vegas scene and now has three eateries here – Simon kitchen + bar at the Hard Rock, CatHouse at the Luxor and Simon at Palms Place. After graduating from the Culinary Institute of America, Simon apprenticed at Jean Morels’ L’hostellerie Bressane, learning the basics of French cuisine. He then went on to work in some of Manhattan’s most legendary kitchens including La Cote Basque, Lutece and Lafayette restaurant in the Drake Hotel. At Lafayette, he held both pastry and sous chef positions, helping the restaurant receive its NEW YORK TIMES four-star rating in 1988. Soon after, he was appointed executive chef of The Plaza Hotel’s Edwardian Room, where he was the youngest to hold that title. In search of a new adventure, Simon left the Edwardian Room and headed to Miami, where he opened Blue Star and Starfish at the Raleigh Hotel. In 1998, he joined Jean Georges Vongerichten to launch and oversee Mercer Kitchen in NYC, Prime in Las Vegas and other properties in Hong Kong, London and Chicago. Back in Las Vegas, Simon met his business partner Elizabeth Blau, and together they opened Simon kitchen + bar at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in 2002 and Simon LA at the Sofitel in 2006. In 2008 he returned to the city he calls home with two exciting openings: CatHouse at the Luxor Hotel & Casino and Simon at Palms Place.
	An award-winning chef, NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author and one of the most influential chefs in the country, Jeff Henderson (CHEF JEFF PROJECT) made history in 2001 when he became the first African American chef de cuisine at Caesars Palace. He also served as an executive chef of Café Bellagio in the world-famous Bellagio Hotel Resort in Las Vegas. Henderson’s remarkable story of redemption and finding his hidden passion for cooking while incarcerated was chronicled in his bestselling memoir COOKED (published by William Morrow). Will Smith’s Overbrook Entertainment and Escape Artists, the team who also produced THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS, is now turning Henderson’s life story into a major motion picture. An inspiring personality, the chef made countless TV appearances before launching The CHEF JEFF PROJECT on The Food Network. He also recently published his first cookbook, CHEFF JEFF COOKS: IN THE KITCHEN WITH AMERICA'S INSPIRATIONAL NEW CULINARY STAR (published by Scribner/Simon and Schuster), and is CEO of Posh Urban Cuisine.
	Mandalay Bay’s own executive chef Sean DiCicco was named Las Vegas Chef of the Year for Culinary Excellence by the American Tasting Institute in 2001. At this year’s NATPE Market & Conference he will also be overseeing the Power Lunch Restaurant & Café on the exhibition floor, creating his signature dishes for hungry television executives taking advantage of the convenience and cuisine of the restaurant. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, DiCicco landed a lead cook position at New York’s famous Tavern on the Green shortly after graduation. He later became chef/owner of a fine dining establishment in Philadelphia specializing in American continental cuisine. He continued with executive chef positions in such hotels as The Hualalai Resort Four Seasons in Kona, Hawaii, and Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Prior to joining Mandalay Bay, DiCicco served as director of culinary operations at The Venetian.
	Jet Tila is currently is Las Vegas developing a pan-Asian restaurant for Steve Wynn’s new Encore resort. A nationally renowned chef of Asian cuisine, Tila is known across the country for his skill, enthusiasm, expertise and knowledge of Asian regional food, with main emphasis on Thailand, China, Japan, Vietnam, Singapore, Korea and India. As a youngster, Tila spent time with his Chinese-Thai grandmother learning many of the ancient traditions of classical Asian cuisine from her. By his early teens he was cooking at his family’s Royal Thai restaurants and working at the family’s Bangkok Market, the nation’s first Thai grocery and import company. At 22, Tila caught the attention of the LOS ANGELES TIMES, spurring him on to formalize his culinary expertise at the California School of Culinary Art. He also completed an intensive study program at the California Sushi Academy. He then went to work at the LLOS ANGELES TIMES, regularly writing feature pieces for the paper’s food section. A regular on KCRW’s GOOD FOOD program with Evan Kleiman, he also hosts his own television show CHASING THE YUM on the Veria Network. More recently he was responsible for opening the Pacific Cafe at Google headquarters in Silicon Valley.
	Chef Paul Bartolotta leads Steve Wynn’s Bartolotta Ristorante di Mare, which was nominated for the prestigious James Beard Foundation Best New Restaurant award in 2006 for its Mediterranean seafood dishes. Just 24 when he was named chef de cuisine at the esteemed Ristorante San Domenico in Italy, Bartolotta expanded his culinary horizons in France, training at Moulin de Mougins, Paul Bocuse, Troisgros and Taillevent. Bartolotta opened San Domenico’s lauded New York outpost and spent nine years running the stoves at Chicago’s Spiaggia. He won the 1994 James Beard Foundation Best Chef: Midwest award, and was the recipient of the Insegna del Ristorante Italiano del Mondo in 1997.
	Jean Francois Meteigner, owner of Los Angeles’ La Cachette, is one of only 50 U.S. chefs to be inducted into the Association Des Maitres-Cuisiners, the premier international society of the finest French chefs in the world. Since opening La Cachette (the Hideaway) in 1994, Meteigner has earned a reputation as one of the most innovative French chefs in California. Growing up in Vichy, France, at the age of 15 Meteigner began apprenticing in the kitchen at the three-star Troisgros in Roanne. Next, he cooked with chef Jean Ramet at the two-star Le Chapon Fin in Bordeaux and then on to Paris to cook with chef Alain Senderens at the three-star L’Archestrade and Michel Bidier at the two-star Chiberta. In the early 1980s he came to the United States, where he spent a decade as executive chef of Los Angeles’ premier French restaurant, L’Orangerie.
	Andrew Steiner was born in Brooklyn, NY, and grew up with the flavors of a mostly Jewish and Italian neighborhood in Queens (which, not coincidentally, produced amazing fresh mozzarella). After working in the New York catering world he headed for Los Angeles in the early ‘90s and landed a job waiting tables at Joachim Splichal’s legendary Patina at its original location on Melrose. Patina was where Steiner fell madly and passionately in love with cheese, and the young waiter made it his mission to learn everything about it. On the bus to work, Steiner read Steve Jenkins’ Cheese Primer. At work, he worked the cheese cart, learning the basics of serving cheese and quickly developing an insatiable hunger to know and taste more. After making numerous requests to then-Executive Chef Eric Greenspan for particular cheeses, Greenspan finally put him in charge of the cheese program. Under Steiner’s hand the program expanded dramatically in its sophistication. Upon Patina’s downtown relocation at the Walt Disney Hall, Splichal gave him the formal title and full-time position of Maitre d’Fromage. Steiner subsequently went on to serve as general manager with Greenspan at his new place, The Foundry on Melrose. After 24 years in the restaurant business, the now-veteran cheese expert decided it was time to open his own store and follow his calling: to bring the world of cheese to the public. He had an affinity for creating relationships with customers, and he wanted to be able to share his profound knowledge with people who loved cheese and—perhaps more importantly—those who knew nothing about it. Winning cheese converts one by one is what sets Steiner apart from the rest. “Working in restaurants was a whole lesson in hospitality,” Steiner says. “I love talking to people and getting to know them. With my own business, I have an opportunity to do the same—and blab on about cheese at the same time. That’s why this shop is a dream come true for me.”

Other activities at the Celebrity Test Kitchen include a visit from the Canadian child chefs of Oasis Entertainment’s TASTE BUDS; a 101 on wine from Caymus Winery and the how-to on cheese presented by Andrew Steiner, KCRW’s THE CHEESE GUY and owner of Andrew’s Cheese Shop; and a visit from cookbook author (SUMMERTIME ANYTIME), TV chef and co-owner of Los Angeles’ Shutters on the Beach Dana Slatkin.

NATPE’s Celebrity Chef Kitchen is sponsored by Whole Foods Market, Caymus Vineyards, Piper Heidsieck Champagne and Southern Wine & Spirits.

Celebrity Chef Kitchen is produced by Shelley Janson, former owner of Los Angeles’ respected Epicurean School of Culinary Arts, and NATPE’s VP of business development and sales Denise O’Connor.

C21Media.net’s Can digital Hollywood deliver?

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 21:56:42 +0100

Hollywood is stepping up its efforts to create original online series, but is the studio system capable of coming up with a hit Internet format, and just how do you judge success in this medium? C21 Media.net’s Jonathan Webdale, in a story filed on October 31, asks Can digital Hollywood deliver?

Sorority Forever (left) debuted on MySpaceTV in September, the latest among a rapidly lengthening roll-call of online shows emerging from Hollywood’s studio system in a bid to crack the dark art of Internet entertainment.

If a couple of guys in a garage can create a phenomenon like Lonelygirl15, then surely the collective talents of Tinseltown can come up with something better.

Well maybe, but Sorority is playing it safe, drawing on the popularity of LG15 lead Jessica Rose and the coproduction skills of Big Fantastic, the outfit behind web series Sam Has 7 Friends and the Michael Eisner-backed Prom Queen.

Sorority comes out of Warner Bros. Studio 2.0, the division the company set up two years ago to tackle perhaps the greatest challenge facing Hollywood right now: how to come to grips with a medium that’s threatening its existence.

Can Jessica Rose really come to the rescue? At the time of this writing – 18 episodes into the series’ 40-installment run – MySpace was clocking up reasonable numbers, between 50,000 and 200,000 for each.

It’s not clear how the show’s performing on TheWB.com (left), Warner Bros.’ broadband revival of its one-time TV network, but either way, Sorority still doesn’t look like the breakaway hit Hollywood’s holding out for.

If only the web weren’t there at all. Life would be so much easier. People would stay glued to their TV screens and continue to consume the multimillion-dollar-per-episode dramas and sitcoms the studios have traded in for decades.

The Internet isn’t exactly blowing all that away, but it is exerting considerable pressure on the status quo. The plot Hollywood is having to figure out is how to take its big-budget genius and apply it to an environment that plays by an entirely different set of rules, if indeed there are any rules at all.

The trouble is, no one’s written a script like this before. But at a time when TV advertising is purportedly in decline and viewers are spending more and more time online, it’s critical that someone come up with a working draft soon.

Gemini Division (left) is NBC Universal’s (NBCU) first attempt, a 50-episode online sci-fi series that kicked off in August. The plot is unmistakably a Hollywood product, and so is its star, Rosario Dawson, who first sprang to fame in Sin City as a machine-gun-toting, fishnet-stocking-wearing hooker.

When NBCU announced Gemini in April it came with the news that it was setting up a new digital studio. But in truth the Peacock trumpeted the creation of the same operation back in the autumn of 2005. If the aim this time around was to erase all memories of series such as Junior Year Abroad and About Face, it really didn’t need to bother.

What is different now is that NBCU has to some extent honed its business model, partnering with Omnicom Media Group to try to bring in the agency’s clients at the earliest stages of potential projects.

“We’re lining up advertisers and brands before we move forward into production, which is a little different from how other folk are looking at this,” says Cameron Death (left), VP at NBCU Digital Studio.

“We have a first-look deal where we’re providing Omnicom with a look at our slate prior to other agencies and they’re pulling us in early and giving us a look at some of the brand plans and briefings that are occurring with them. Advertisers and brands are critical to us and the studio’s success.”

Gemini has been entirely funded by advertising, although Microsoft, Cisco, Intel, Acura and UPS were wooed by Creative Artists Agency before NBCU was named U.S. distribution partner.

The show actually comes from Electric Farm Entertainment and is co-owned by Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI). The two collaborated last year on Afterworld (below), Sony’s first foray into original digital – a futuristic multiplatform animated series for which Dawson provided a voice-over, and which has sold globally since its debut in the U.S. on Anheuser-Busch’s ill-fated Bud.tv.

“It was a property that defined us as a group because we’ve always been a traditional TV company and through the success of Afterworld I was able to bring in a mobile and digital team,” says Marie Jacobson, SPTI’s executive VP of programming and production. “That’s really spawned what we’re now setting out to do, which is create a full suite of original proprietary digital projects.”

Jacobson says the experience of Afterworld taught Sony some important lessons that it’s carried through to Gemini, the first international sale of which has been sealed in Australia, where Afterworld aired to great success on Sci Fi Channel.

In the pipeline is Woke Up Dead, an online zombie comedy with Napoleon Dynamite star Jon Heder, which also comes from Electric Farm – a firm set up by veteran Hollywood producers Stan Rogow, Brent Friedman and Jeff Sagansky. NBCU has again claimed U.S. distribution.

Jacobson (left) says the series will debut early next year and that Sony has another six projects in the works, three of which it will look to launch next spring. “We’re definitely spending seven figures on development but we’re not being silly. We’re investing very tactically.”

NBCU isn’t exclusively choosing original web productions that are entirely ad-funded and has nine shows in development, some of which it will fund and produce in-house, but it's actively pitching all to advertisers right now. Jacobson says Sony’s approach is less brand-centric.

“Advertising is critical to our success but I don’t think like a media planner, I think like a programmer and a development executive. Something that’s really important to me personally is that we apply the same creative standards to whatever we commission for the web, and it’s not dependent solely on whatever advertisers we have on board.”

NBCU’s Death says the Digital Studio’s attempts at weaving brands more deeply into its web series will not compromise their integrity. “I won’t put anything online that I wouldn’t feel comfortable putting on air or putting the Peacock logo on. We’re upping the game in terms of the level of production quality, the star power and the way we’re having brands interact with the content,” he says.

Over at CBS Interactive, director of web original content Jigar Thakarar has just presided over the launch of the company’s first two online shows. The first, an Ikea-sponsored comedy, stars … wait for it … Illeana Douglas, Jeff Goldblum, Tom Arnold, Craig Bierko, Kevin Pollack, Justine Bateman, Robert Patrick and Ed Begley Jr.

CBS acquired the show from SXM a few days after it debuted on YouTube, pulling it from the world’s biggest video-sharing site in favor of running the remaining episodes exclusively on TV.com, a business CBS picked up with its $1.8 billion summer acquisition of CNET Networks.

“It’s a little bit of a departure from our primary model, which is developing shows ourselves, taking them to sponsors, pre-funding them and then distributing them through our Audience Network,” says Thakarar, referring to CBS’s string of online distribution partners – AOL, MSN, Yahoo! and Bebo among them.

This model has been adhered to with the company’s second web series, a clip show about primetime TV called The Dial, which it’s also chosen to window on TV.com before considering a wider release. Created and funded in-house, the series is currently without a brand on board.

“We’re putting it up to test demand and we’re actively seeking out sponsors for it now,” says Thakarar. Several other projects are in the early stages and again, bringing in advertising partners from the outset is a crucial part of the equation.

“What we’re pitching to them is scripted, branded entertainment that they’re going to see and have input on. These ideas were generated with an advertiser in mind but it’s not going to be overt product placement to the extent that the story doesn’t come first. Although the brand is featured and is in some cases the star, the entertainment value is really what we try to focus on and strive for.”

Gauging success on the Internet is also something the studios are still very much trying to come to grips with. NBCU’s Death says it’s “an interesting philosophical discussion” the Digital Studio group has all the time.

“Would I turn down tens of millions of views on YouTube? No, not at all, but I think we need to change the conversation about what success looks like. What I look for is how engaged people are with my brand and how much time they are spending with it, and that’s a very different measure from just a raw view number.”

Indeed, if this barometer were applied to Squeegees (above), the first original series to come out of Disney-ABC digital studio Stage 9, it certainly wouldn’t qualify for hit status. Having shown promise, with its second episode racking up over 300,000 YouTube views, by the fifth installment the number had dropped to little more than 3,000.

Barry Jossen (below), ABC Studios executive VP of creative and Stage 9 general manager, says that such a narrow definition doesn’t do justice to the Handsome Donkey co-production, which debuted in February. “We think it’s been very successful. It premiered on ABC.com and YouTube, sponsored by Toyota. Following the initial launch we’ve expanded the distribution to a number of different sites. Mevio, Hulu, eBaum’s World are examples. When we aggregate all the views together, Squeegees is now at over 2.5 million views, which is a significant number for any original online video.”

A further mark of the series’ success, he says, is that Disney-ABC Television International has now sold it to MSN Europe, where it’s due to launch soon. “We have very high expectations it will perform well there too,” he says, and Stage 9 is already in post-production on Handsome Donkey’s next project, Decisions Decisions.

But hopes of having Stage 9’s second series – an ambitious sci-fi action thriller called Trenches – out by last spring were dashed, highlighting the challenges Hollywood studios are encountering with web content.

“It’s probably the largest production ever made for new media, loaded with visual effects and space battles. Due to the complication of the production and the cost structure we have, it took a long time to complete post-production, which has now finally happened. You’re going to see it this fall,” says Jossen.

“There’s a lot to be learned but there’s also the issue of building up enough inventory so that we can have regularity and frequency of releases. What’s been going on over the past six months has been a re-evaluation of our development and getting projects through the production process.”

Some are skeptical that any of the studios will succeed in original digital entertainment, partly due to the fact that their main motivation is rationalizing their businesses rather than innovation for innovation’s sake, and also because newcomers tend to succeed in new media.

“NBC and CBS didn’t make it in cable, Ted Turner and MTV Networks did – they were new brands on a new platform,” says Herb Scannell (left), chairman of Next New Networks, owner of a portfolio of Internet TV channels.

He should know. Prior to co-founding Next New in January last year, Scannell was vice-chairman of MTVN and president of Nickelodeon. Like former Disney CEO Michael Eisner with his digital media studio Vuguru, Scannell decided to step out of the Hollywood system and try to create web content from there.

Obama Girl (below), star of one of Next New’s channels, Barely Political, is probably the biggest success story to have emerged from these attempts. “She regularly gets 2 to 3 million views any time she makes a video. Barely Political last month had 42 million views,” says Scannell.

He gives short shrift to the Hollywood studios’ attempts to generate online hits by bringing in the likes of Rosario Dawson. “It’s a strategy that can work. Stars are stars and they are of every medium but I think stars are also born of a medium,” he says.

Disney’s Rossen is unfazed by such comments and admits great creativity can come from anywhere, but believes that the opportunity and the resources that the studio system provides mean it’s as good a place as anywhere for it to happen.

“What I can say with a lot of confidence is that the transcendent pop cultural hit from new media has not emerged yet. We’re pioneers now. There’s no path to success, no path to profitability, no path to longevity, so we’re all out here forging ahead, trying our own ideas to find that formula and establish an industry that will have durability.”

What the studios have learned so far:

Quality
It’s absolutely essential to have high-quality content, both in terms of production values and in execution. It needs strong storytelling and good performances.

Delivery
People want great, deep storytelling but they also want it fast. Asking them to wait six months for a narrative to play out in such an immediate medium is asking too much.

Awareness
Having proper marketing and promotion is crucial to make sure the audience knows where the content is and how to find it.

Ubiquity
Having distribution that enables the audience to access the content from multiple locations is very important.

Sponsorship
Since most content is available free but there is some cost involved in producing it, you must have sponsorship to drive the whole system.

Community
Video drives viewership and creates an audience, a community. Once that is formed it needs a place to congregate. Interactivity or social networking are helpful tools in building and maintaining the community.
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What to Expect Mid-Season

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 19:54:27 +0100

As the final tally from November’s primetime sweeps register, the nation’s five broadcast networks are readying their schedules for mid-season. Although a new president and a promise of change have filled many with hope and excitement, a slowing economy and predictions of a lean advertising year ahead have already prompted significant layoffs across media companies nationwide. In spite of less than optimistic expectations, here are the network programming changes we can look forward to in 2009…

ABC

First in adults 18-49 for the fourth consecutive November sweeps period, ABC averaged a 3.2 rating/9 share while amassing 10.53 million viewers for a second place finish in total viewers behind CBS.

The network will be introducing four new shows to its mid-season lineup, including Monday night’s reality competition True Beauty, which will end in March, opening the time period for Castle on March 9.

True Beauty, from executive producers Tyra Banks (The Tyra Banks Show, America’s Next Top Model) and Ashton Kutcher (Punk’d, Beauty and the Geek) redefine the concept of beauty on Monday, January 5 at 10 p.m. Hosted and judged by Vanessa Minnillo (former host of TRL and Entertainment Tonight), along with former supermodel Cheryl Tiegs and fashion expert Nolé Marin, the series will determine the inner beauty of six stunning females and four handsome males who live together in a spectacular Los Angeles mansion as they undergo a series of challenges to determine who is truly the most beautiful.

For Tuesdays, Primetime: What Would You Do? will debut January 6 followed in the time period by the drama series Cupid beginning March 24. In the 8 p.m. time slot, Homeland Security USA, formerly titled Border Security, replaces a one-hour block of According to Jim on January 6.

Seres Premiere

Cupid, which had a 15-episode run on ABC during the 1998-99 season, returns with Bobby Cannavle (Will & Grace) playing Pierce, who may be the Roman god of love. The romantic dramedy, created by Rob Thomas, is set to air on March 24, 2009, at 10 p.m. and is produced by ABC Studios with Sony Pictures Television and Slave Rats.

Homeland Security USA, made up of 13 hour-long episodes shot entirely on location throughout the United States, is based on a popular Australian series now in its fifth season. Produced by Oscar® and Emmy winner Arnold Shapiro (Scared Straight, Big Brother), the series has been given unprecedented access to the agencies of the Department of Homeland Security and has the full cooperation of CBP (Customs & Border Protection) including CBP’s Border Patrol; ICE (Immigration & Customs Enforcement); TSA (Transportation Security Administration); USCG (United States Coast Guard); and USCIS (United States Citizenship & Immigration Services). Each episode will take cameras and viewers into situations never before seen on television, covering eight or more locations on the front lines where the officers and agents work each day. Paul J. Coyne is supervising producer, and Gigi D’Amore is coordinating producer. Homeland Security USA is a Nate and Lil Production.

On Wednesdays, ABC will premiere The Goode Family at 8:30 p.m. Life on Mars continues in January and will be followed by The Unusuals from Sony Pictures Television beginning April 8 at 10 p.m.

The Goode Family is a new animated series from Mike Judge (King of the Hill) about a family that is obsessed with doing the “right” thing whether it’s environmentally, politically or socially. Unfortunately their efforts often have unintended comic consequences. Voiced by Mike Judge as Gerald, Nancy Carell as Helen, Dave Herman as Ubuntu, and Linda Cardellini as Bliss. Executive producers for The Goode Family, produced by MRC and 3 Arts Entertainment, are Mike Judge, David Krinsky, John Altschuler, Michael Rotenberg and Tom Lassally.

The Unusuals is a new drama series about an NYPD vice detective who is unexpectedly transferred to the homicide division. It premieres on Wednesday, April 8 at 10 p.m. The series is written by Noah Hawley and directed by Stephen Hopkins.

CBS

Leading in total viewers (live + same day) with 11.74 million for the November sweeps period, CBS finished second to ABC in adults 18-49 with a 3.1 rating/8 share.

CBS will bring in the new Game Show in My Head from Ashton Kutcher on Saturday, January 3 at 8 p.m. for a one-hour block, Flashpoint returns on January 9 at 9 p.m., with mystery drama Harper’s Island on April 9 at 10 p.m. CBS also ordered five more episodes of Eleventh Hour from Jerry Bruckheimer and Warner Bros. Television. To date, the drama has averaged a 3.3/9 among adults 18-49.

Game Show in My Head is a hidden camera game show that asks ordinary people to perform extraordinary tasks on an unsuspecting public to win up to $50,000. Under the watchful eye of host Joe Rogan, each contestant performs five outrageous, embarrassing and hilarious tasks worth $5,000 each. In a no-holds-barred bonus round, each contestant has the chance to double their money up to $50,000. From fox21, Game Show in My Head is produced by Hat Trick Productions and Katalyst Films. Executive producers are Jimmy Mulville & Leon Wilde and Ashton Kutcher, Jason Goldberg, Karey Burke and Michael Binkow.

Flashpoint, which enjoyed a successful summer run, returns to Friday nights at 9 p.m. on January 9. Starring Enrico Colantoni, Hugh Dillon, Amy Jo Johnson, David Paetkau, Michael Cram, Sergio Di Zio, Ruth Marshall and Mark Taylor, the series depicts the emotional journey into the tough, risk-filled lives of a group of cops in the Strategic Response Unit (inspired by Toronto’s Emergency Task Force). Produced by Pink Sky Entertainment in association with CBS Paramount Network Television, Bill Mustos and Anne Marie La Traverse are executive producers.

Billed as a 13-episode mystery event, Harper’s Island premieres Thursday, April 9 at 10 p.m. and concludes Thursday, July 2. The mystery drama series follows a group of family and friends who travel to a secluded island for a destination wedding. As the wedding festivities begin, friendships are tested and secrets exposed as a murderer claims victims, one by one, transforming the wedding week of fun and celebration into a terrifying struggle for survival. Jon Turteltaub (Jericho) and Jeffrey Bell (Alias, The X-Files) are executive producers for CBS Paramount Network Television in association with Junction Entertainment. Karim Zreik (Jericho), Dan Shotz (Jericho) and Tyler Bensinger (Cold Case) are co-executive producers and Ari Schlossberg (Hide and Seek) is co-executive producer and creator.

NBC

Placing third in both adults 18-49 (2.8 rating/8 share) and total viewers with 7.70 million, NBC announced a new hour-long The Office which premieres in the coveted spot immediately following Super Bowl XLIII on February 1 at 10:30 p.m. In addition, NBC has scheduled the two-hour series finale of ER for Thursday, March 12 at 9 p.m.

The original movie event XIII, starring Val Kilmer and Stephen Dorff, will air on Sunday, February 8 and 15 at 9 p.m. both nights. Then beginning on March 1, special two-hour episodes of Celebrity Apprentice begin at 9 p.m.

XIII is an adrenaline-charged miniseries that begins dramatically as the first female U.S. president is shot dead by a sniper during her Veterans Day speech. Three months later, a wounded man is found tattered in a forest with no memory of his identity. The only clue is a tattoo on his neck – XIII. Submerged in a far-reaching conspiracy that threatens to overthrow the entire government, XIII’s identity becomes the key to unraveling a complex and dangerous secret that will shock and excite. XIII is an official Canada/France co-production, developed and produced by Prodigy Pictures and Cipango in association with Power. Prodigy Pictures’ Jay Firestone, Cipango’s Edouard Vesinne and Thomas Anargyros and Power’s Justin Bodle will serve as executive producers. Directed by Duane Clark (CSI, Meadowlands), XIII is written by David Wolkove (La Femme Nikita, Relic Hunter) and Philippe Lyon (The Trail, Alive).

The Celebrity Apprentice and host Donald Trump will return with two-hour episodes and a dynamic cast of brilliant celebrity business minds as 16 new celebrities will be vying for the coveted title, using all their business savvy as they fight for causes close to their hearts. Celebrities will be subjected to long hours, grueling mental challenges, personality clashes, and intense scrutiny – and, ultimately, will face the judgment of Donald Trump and his advisors in the boardroom, which include his children (and colleagues) Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr.

On March 19, a two-hour premiere of the highly anticipated drama series Kings is slated for 9 p.m., and moves to its regular time slot of Thursday night at 10 p.m. beginning March 26.

From executive producer Michael Green (Heroes), Kings is a riveting new drama about a modern-day monarchy. A contemporary retelling of the timeless tale of David and Goliath, the series is an epic story of greed and power, war and romance, forbidden loves and secret alliances – and a young hero who rises to power in a modern-day kingdom. Ian McShane (Deadwood) stars as King Silas Benjamin, the well-entrenched king of Gilboa. Silas must deal with the tensions rising between Gilboa and neighboring nation Gath. When several prisoners of war are taken, a young soldier, played by Chris Egan (Eragon), defies orders and crosses enemy lines to save them. Unknown to the young soldier is that one of the men he saves, played by Sebastian Stan (The Covenant), is the son of the king. The series is from Universal Media Studios and is executive produced by Green, Erwin Stoff (I Am Legend) and Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend), who also directed the pilot.

Premieres for additional mid-season shows – The Untitled Amy Poehler Project and The Philanthropist – will be announced at a future date.

Fox

Lagging just slightly behind NBC in adults 18-49 (2.7 rating/7 share) and total viewers (7.1 million), Fox has one drama and one unscripted series to launch mid-season and will premiere its two new animated series in the spring.

From Joss Whedon, creator of groundbreaking cult favorites Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly, comes Dollhouse, Monday nights at 8 p.m. The gripping, high-action drama stars Eliza Dushku (Tru Calling) as Echo, a member of an underground group of “Actives” who have their personalities wiped clean so they can be imprinted with any number of new personas to carry out a variety of missions. The Actives don’t just pretend to be new people – they become new people, yet they are never aware they are actually pawns in someone else’s game. Produced by 20th Century Fox Television and Mutant Enemy Inc., the series is written, directed and executive produced by Joss Whedon and stars co-stars Olivia Williams as Adelle, Tahmoh Penikett as Paul, Fran Kranz as Topher, Dichen Lachman as Sierra, Enver Gjokaj as Victor and Harry Lennix as Boyd.

Secret Millionaire is a heartwarming new unscripted series that focuses on a different millionaire each week. The millionaire of the week goes undercover to some of America’s most disadvantaged areas in search of everyday heroes to possibly change their lives forever. Airing Thursday at 9 p.m., the series is produced by RDF USA with Chris Coelen, Greg Goldman and Bruce Toms serving as executive producers.

The new animated comedies joining the schedule in the spring include The Cleveland Show (working title), the story of what happens when Family Guy’s Cleveland Brown moves to Stoolbend, Virginia, to make good on a promise to his high school sweetheart. The series will air Sunday night at 9:30 p.m. The Cleveland Show is produced by 20th Century Fox Television, with Seth MacFarlane, Rich Appel and Mike Henry serving as executive producers and Henry also voicing Cleveland Brown.

Created by Emmy Award winner Mitchell Hurwitz (Arrested Development), Sit Down, Shut Up airs Sundays at 8:30 p.m. and follows a group of unconventional teachers and staff members working at a high school in a small northeastern fishing town who never lose sight of the fact that the students must ALWAYS come second. Produced by Sony Pictures Television, 20th Century Fox Television, Granada America and Tantamount, Sit Down, Shut Up is executive produced by Mitchell Hurwitz, Eric Tannenbaum, Kim Tannenbaum, Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein.

The CW
Still struggling to attract viewers, The CW finished last in both adults 18-49 (0.9 rating/2 share) and total viewers (2.03 million). The network is planning on resurrecting Reaper for a 13-episode second season following 90210 Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. beginning March 17.

But beginning at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, January 7, The CW will debut its new hybrid horror reality series 13 Fear Is Real. Produced by Magic Molehill Productions, Inc. and Warner Horizon Television Inc. in association with Jay Bienstock Productions and Ghost House Pictures, the elimination competition series follows 13 contestants as they battle to stay in the game while coming face-to-face with their deepest fears. The lone person remaining will win a grand prize of $66,666. Encore performances of the series will air on Friday night at 9 p.m.

The 2008/09 Syndication Debuts, Part II

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 00:11:36 +0100

With two months of airtime under their belts, the freshman first-run syndication strips have yet to yield a breakout hit. But as the November sweeps kicked off, viewers were settling into post-election, cold weather viewing habits just as the new hosts and judges were finding their footing…

Game

For the week of September 29, NBCU’s Deal or No Deal delivered a household average audience of 1.6 and bumped a bit up to a 1.7 for the week of October 6. And by late October, it rose to 1.9 and 2.7 million viewers, with Howie Mandell continuing to bring in women 18-49 and women 25-54. The first week of November sweeps saw Deal drop to a 1.7 but by mid-sweeps it was back at 1.9. Producers added a wheel element, reduced the role of models bearing briefcases and cut the top prize money, tightening up the show and renewing viewers’ interest.

In an interview with Television Week, NBC Universal domestic television distribution president Barry Wallach explained: “Deal or No Deal is the highest-rated new first-run show in syndication in households and all key demos. It continues to grow week in and week out and it attracts the youngest audience for any game show in syndication.”

Debmar Mercury’s Trivial Pursuit: America Plays was averaging a 0.6 for most of October and November.

Talk

CBS’ The Doctors continues to hold its own, bringing in an average audience of 1.3 for late September/early October. By October 27, the show rose to a 1.5 which it held during the first few days of the November sweeps. Mid-November, The Doctors delivered a 1.7 and in spite of some challenging time periods in key markets, the show is impressing station buyers with the level of viewer feedback it instigates as well as solid word of mouth recommendations.

The Bonnie Hunt Show, hovering at 0.8, did show significant increases in women 25-54 and women 18-34 as the charming and personable Hunt began to settle into her hosting duties. The trend continued for the week of October 27, when Hunt earned a 0.9 in households, increasing its season-to-date average by 13%, and holding steady for the first two weeks of November sweeps.

Court

Competing among 11 current court shows, Sony Pictures Television’s Judge Karen has a steady hold on her 1.0 average audience, dropping to a 0.9 at the kickoff of November sweeps. By the second week of November, Judge Karen was posting a 1.1.

Program Partners’ Family Court With Judge Penny was percolating with a 0.6 throughout October and into the November sweeps. Program Partners also announced additional clearances and time period upgrades for the show. New markets for Family Court With Judge Penny include WBFS Miami, WBKI Louisville, WNAB Nashville, KCSG Salt Lake City, KCWX San Antonio and KSTC Minneapolis. And WMLW Milwaukee, WFTX Fort Myers and WIAT Birmingham will all be having second airings of the show.

“Family Court With Judge Penny is the only new series in 2008-09 that has shown growth over week one and maintained both its lead-in and year-ago time period average among women 25-54,” said Ritch Colbert of Program Partners. “It is clearly off to a fast start, and stations are definitely paying attention.”

NATPE VideoNuze: Daily Feed

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:49:21 +0100

http://www.videonuze.com/atom/analysis/

Cable U’s Emerging Producer Nonfiction TV Competition

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 22:18:56 +0100

If you’re an independent producer with a great idea for a nonfiction project, has NATPE got a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for you! CableU, the online industry resource for information and analysis of cable network program sales, distribution, production and scheduling, is sponsoring an Emerging Producer Nonfiction TV Competition, with the top three finalists earning complimentary admission to the NATPE 2009 Market & Conference in Las Vegas and the opportunity to pitch their program idea to the development team of distributor CABLEready during a live pitch session at the conference.

CABLEready’s senior vice president of operations, Lou Occhicone, explains: “Gary Lico, founder, president and CEO of CABLEready, has participated in NATPE’s Pitch Pit events in the past, giving producers recommendations for being better at pitching their project, and we’ve served on panels of various pitch competitions before, but this is the first time we’re conducting our own pitch contest.”

“Our sister company, CableU, is a website designed specifically for independent producers and programmers,” adds Liz Levenson, CABLEready’s manager of programming. “The site provides an inside perspective on the industry and we really encourage independent producers to become subscribers because there’s excellent information available on the site as to what the networks are looking for and how best to position pitches to the cable networks. With CableU in mind, we created this contest so that we could give independent producers who might not ordinarily have a chance to pitch directly to a network executive, the opportunity to do that and hopefully, they’ll be using CableU along the way.”

Detailing the criteria used for judging the submissions, Levenson says determining how saleable the project or concept is a key factor. “Knowing your target network is really important for an independent producer. You’ve got to watch the network and create a show that matches and meshes well with what the network is looking for, that’s essential. You can span so many genres, there are so many nonfiction networks covering everything from science and history to women’s entertainment and all across the board.”

Producers interested in participating must submit their independently produced nonfiction project by December 1, 2008. A completed submission form, accessible at http://www.cableu.tv/assets/program_submission_form.pdf, must be included with each submission. Submissions must also include a written treatment and a biography and/or filmography of the submitting producer. Other relevant material such as a press kit or VHS/DVD preview copies are optional. If video content is included, it should not exceed 5 minutes in length. Please do not send masters or other irreplaceable content. And if you want your preview tape returned, please include a self-addressed stamped envelope with your submission.

All materials should be sent to CableU, to the attention of Liz Levenson, 98 East Avenue, Norwalk, CT 06851 USA. If you are submitting only a written treatment, please e-mail your treatment and completed submission form to emergingproducers@cableu.tv This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, so you’ll need JavaScript enabled to view it. If you wish to fax your submission materials, the fax number is (203) 855-8370.

The top three finalist submissions selected to participate at the NATPE Opportunity of a Lifetime session, slated for Wednesday, January 28 at 11a.m., will be notified by December 2, 2008. Submissions will be judged on their uniqueness, the strength of the pitch and the program’s viability.

The NATPE Opportunity of a Lifetime session will be chaired by CABLEready founder, president and CEO Gary Lico, recognized as an expert in representing existing program libraries and developing original program ideas for U.S. cable networks. Lico, who gained his programming experience and knowledge through executive positions with both Columbia Pictures Television and Katz Communications, will be offering pitch advice and other insights during the session. He’ll be assisted by Sabrina Toledo, CABLEready’s VP of sales and marketing, who will contribute an international perspective to the session, along with observations and recommendations from CABLEready’s Levenson.

The winner of the Opportunity of a Lifetime competition will receive a one-year membership to CableU (valued at $850) and a possible one-year representation deal from CABLEready.

“We encourage producers to develop unique angles and bring something new to the table that other producers can’t do,” says Levenson.

“That’s the key to any pitch,” adds Occhicone. “You have to be able to bring the access to that character or location, you have to do your homework and you’ve got to have everything locked up before you make that pitch. And that’s part of the advice that we’ll be giving during the panel presentation at NATPE.”

About CableU

CABLEready (http://www.cableready.net) combined its successful sales tools with the massive resources of Cynopsis (http://www.cynopsis.com) to create CableU: the industry’s up-to-date and already-proven resource of effective cable network program sales, distribution, production and scheduling information and analysis. CableU monitors and analyzes cable network performance and programming trends to give networks and producers a unique competitive advantage. For producers, it’s about knowing your clients better. For programmers, it’s about knowing your competitors and program sources best. For CableU subscription information, visit http://www.cableu.tv/enrollment-jumpage/.

Making the most of technological innovations, NATPE is partnering with HipCricket Inc., specialists in producing interactive mobile marketing campaigns that generate new revenue for radio, television and agency clients, to provide session reminders and alerts for NATPE 2008 Conference & Exhibition participants through their mobile phones while in Las Vegas. Reminder messages are delivered 30 minutes prior to session start times as well as updates regarding changes to sessions. To sign up for mobile alerts, text the alphanumeric code that follows the session description in the online 2008 NATPE agenda (http://www.natpe.org/conference/agenda/?_mode=DYNAMIC) to the shortcode 36617. To learn more about HipCricket’s Mobile Marketing Solutions, text the word DEMO to 36617.

One track of sessions sure to warrant a mobile reminder is the new Digital Briefings series, a special daylong track that runs throughout the day on Tuesday, January 29 in the Breakers L meeting room. The sessions introduce companies leading the charge into the digital and broadband age. Key decision-makers from technology and new media companies will be on hand to provide cutting-edge research, share formal overviews and participate in Q&A sessions moderated by Will Richmond, a 20-year veteran of the broadband, cable TV, content and technology industries and the president and founder of Broadband Directions LLC.

Kicking off the daylong briefings at 10:30 a.m. is Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst at Leichtman Research Group, Inc. Leichtman will examine The Market for New Video Services: Where Do Consumers Stand? Presenting recent LRG study findings, Leichtman will help NATPE participants assess where the real opportunities are when it comes to how, when and where consumers are using DVRs, VOD, online video, iPods, cell phones and HDTV. At 11:15 a.m., Yvette Alberdingk Thijm, executive vice president, content acquisition & strategy for Joost, will make a special presentation, Joost: Building a Media Business, explaining the benefits and opportunities offered through partnering with the online video service that bills itself as “next generation TV.”

SpotStock executive producer and creative director Sandra Caryl joins Trisha Lasar, vice president of music for The Film and Music Company, for a three-part presentation entitled The Wealth on Your Shelf at 12 noon in the Digital Briefing room. The presentation will cover the viral marketing influences of social networking sites as well as how library footage and music can be turned into new market revenues.

Broadband Enterprises delivers its Digital Briefing, Context Is King, at 12:45 p.m. The hyphenate company – part rep firm, part syndication company, part production company – will discuss the future of interactive marketing and contextual distribution. The company’s CEO, Matt Wasserlauf, chief operating officer Bryon Evje and senior vice president of distribution Jeff Hufford will make the presentation.

Livid Media president and co-founder Charles Vaughn steps into the Digital Briefing room at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday to examine User-Submitted Content 2.0: Original Programming’s NEW Best Friend. Vaughn will explore exactly what user-generated content is and can be, as demonstrated by Livid.tv’s professionally produced original video content incorporation of user-generated content in the creation of a unique web viewing experience for users and marketers.

Gilles BianRosa, chief executive officer for Vuze, Inc., a next-generation online entertainment platform, makes his Digital Briefing presentation, How to Make IPTV Work, at 2:15 p.m. Vuze is also sponsoring wireless access available throughout the NATPE Conference & Exhibition areas.

Enticent’s president and CEO Chris Bell will address Interactive Audience Loyalty Programs That Increase Revenue, Web Traffic, and Ratings during his Digital Briefing at 3 p.m. Interactive loyalty programs have been used by radio for years to increase non-spot revenue, web traffic and ratings. Now these high-impact programs are being introduced to television. Enticent, provider of interactive loyalty programs to over 300 media companies, will showcase the benefits, explore case studies, and give a brief demonstration of a live loyalty program.

At 3:45 p.m., Teletrax president and managing director Andy Nobbs will explore Tools for Enhancing Value in the New TV Marketplace. Nobbs will discuss how investing in new technologies such as a media measurement service can help programming executives successfully manage their video assets and measure ROI, and will also provide real-world examples of where this technology is currently being used effectively.

Matt Kaplan, VP creative and client services for PermissionTV, presents Taming the Online Video Beast: User Experience and Monetization Strategies at 4:30 in the Digital Briefing area. Online video and the evolution of Internet television (aka TV 2.0) are changing the game for content owners, brands and marketers. The session will explore the online video evolution; core differences between traditional TV and TV 2.0; critical elements for success; audience monetization strategies and challenges; and case studies such as Boston Pops, Mitt Romney and Quarterlife.

At 5:15 p.m., Charlie Oppenheimer, CEO of Digital Fountain, a leading provider of advanced standardized solutions for digital media delivery, addresses TV Quality Video Made Easy. Oppenheimer will reveal new technological advancements and unique business approaches for content delivery that he believes will set a new bar for streaming video over the Internet, changing consumer viewing habits, and making high-quality video more accessible to content providers of all shapes and sizes.