TV or Not TV? Defining Networks in the Digital Age
In a multi-platform, decentralized, fast-growing marketplace, how can traditional television networks evolve to remain relevant? Viewers are demanding more choices, more content and more convenience, which is pushing media organizations to re-think the way they do business. In this session, leaders from several of television's most iconic brands will share their views of where this is all going and what it means for content creators, distributors and viewers.
Presenters
Brian Stelter
Reporter
CNN
Brian Stelter is the host of “Reliable Sources,” which examines the week’s top media stories every Sunday at 11:00 a.m. ET on CNN/U.S, and the senior media correspondent for CNN Worldwide. Stelter reports and writes for CNN/U.S., CNN International, CNN.com, and CNNMoney.com on a regular basis.
Prior to joining CNN in November 2013, Stelter was a media reporter at The New York Times. Starting in 2007, he covered television and digital media for the Business Day and Arts section of the newspaper. He was also a lead contributor to the “Media Decoder” blog.
In January 2004, while he was still a freshman in college, Stelter created TV Newser, a blog dedicated to coverage of the television news industry. He sold it to Mediabistro.com in July 2004, but continued to edit and write for the blog during the next three years until he graduated college and joined The New York Times.
Stelter published The New York Times best-selling book, Top of the Morning: Inside the Cutthroat World of Morning TV (2013), about the competitive world of morning news shows. He was featured in the 2011 documentary, “Page One: Inside the New York Times”, directed by Andrew Rossi. He has been named to Forbes Magazine’s “30 Under 30: Media” lists for the past three years.
Stelter graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications with a concentration in Journalism from Towson University in Baltimore, Maryland, in 2007. He is on the board of Baltimore Student Media, a nonprofit that publishes Towson’s independent student newspaper, The Towerlight.
On Twitter, follow Brian, @BrianStelter, and Reliable Sources, @CNNReliable. Brian is also on Instagram as @BrianStelter. Become a fan of Brian Stelter on Facebook by liking his page.
John Skipper
Pres, ESPN Inc & Co-Chairman, Disney Media Networks
ESPN/Disney
In his 14 years with the company prior to becoming ESPN President and Co-Chairman, Disney Media Networks on January 1, 2012, John Skipper was a key architect of ESPN’s explosive growth. He played leadership roles overseeing the company’s television, digital, print and advertising sales initiatives, as well as ESPN’s focus on brand extensions, bringing the company’s “best available screen” philosophy to life across more platforms and with more wide-ranging major rights agreements than at any time since ESPN’s 1979 launch. This strategy – along with an emphasis on live sports - has strengthened ESPN’s unparalleled relationship with fans while meeting the growing business needs of ESPN’s distributors and advertisers.
Full bio can be found here: http://thewaltdisneycompany.com/about-disney/leadership/business-unit-management-team/john-skipper
Kevin Conroy
Pres
Univision Communications
President of Digital and Enterprise Development, Univision Communications; previously: EVP, Global Products and Marketing, AOL; president of New Technology at BMG Entertainment, a division of Bertelsmann AG; VP, Marketing at CBS/Fox Video; has served on public, private, non-profit and industry boards, including Newell Rubbermaid, Recyclebank, Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and the Online Publishers Association (OPA); lives in Washington, DC with wife Janet and his three children; BA, Bowdoin College
Paula Kerger
Pres & CEO
PBS
Paula A. Kerger is president and chief executive officer of PBS, the nation’s largest non-commercial media organization with more than 350 member stations throughout the country. Since her arrival in 2006, Ms. Kerger has made particularly strong commitments to the arts, news and public affairs, high-quality content for education, diversity, and the use of new technology to bring public media into the lives of all Americans.
Under Ms. Kerger’s leadership, PBS has been growing its audiences across genres, and platforms. In the course of a year, nearly ninety percent of all television households in America watch PBS, and over eighty percent of all children watch PBS. Six of the top ten children’s television shows are on PBS. And online, viewers stream 188 million videos per month on PBS platforms.
Among her accomplishments are the pop-culture phenomenon “Downton Abbey,” which is the most-watched MASTERPIECE program in the series’ history; Ken Burns’s 2012 documentary, “The Dust Bowl”; the debut of such acclaimed children’s programs as “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood,” and “Curious George” (the number one show for children ages 2-5 since 2006); new primetime science and arts series; and comprehensive online sites for parents and caregivers. PBS has also developed the new PBS LearningMedia, which provides educators with strategies, tools, and professional development resources to fully utilize digital learning in the classroom.
In addition to leading PBS, Ms. Kerger is president of the PBS Foundation, an independent organization that raises private sector funding for PBS, and has become a significant source of revenue for new projects at PBS. Ms. Kerger is regularly included in the Hollywood Reporter’s “Women in Entertainment Power 100,” an annual survey of the nation’s top women executives in media. In 2008, Ms. Kerger received the Woman of Achievement Award from Women in Development, New York. And in 2012, she was honored by Promax/BDA, B&C and Multichannel News with their 2012 Brand Builder Award.
Ms. Kerger received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Baltimore, where she serves on the Merrick School of Business Dean’s Advisory Council. She is also a director of the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and a member of the board of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History, and the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.
Ms. Kerger and her husband Joseph Kerger live in Washington, D.C.
Thanks to our sponsors
Music sponsor
Interactive sponsors
