2014 Schedule
Interactive: March 7–11  •  Film: March 7–15  •  Music: March 11–16

24-Hour Sports in the Age of Bite-Sized Content

#sxsw #sportstv SXsports

Executives from several leading 24-hour sports networks talk about how to program in the age of bite-sized, disposable content. This session is part of the brand new SXsports programming at SXSW 2014.

Presenters

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David Nathanson

GM/COO

Fox Sports

David Nathanson serves as General Manager and Chief Operating Officer for FOX Sports 1 and FOX Sports 2. He works closely with FOX Sports’ existing service departments, including programming and research, distribution, sales, marketing and communications to oversee the developing channels in his charge. He will also continue to manage FOX Soccer Plus, the leading premium international sports network.

In his former position Nathanson served as General Manager and Executive Vice President of FOX Soccer where he helped spearhead FOX Sports’ FIFA World Cup rights acquisition in 2011. Under his leadership, FOX Soccer was the nation’s leading television destination for domestic and international soccer, offering more than 1,700 annual hours of live matches, highlight programs, talk shows, nightly newscasts and original series including the Emmy nominated, Being: Liverpool. Foxsoccer.com was also the most visited soccer website in the U.S., while FOXSoccer.tv was the leading premium broadband video portal dedicated to live soccer coverage.

Nathanson joined FOX Soccer in January, 2010, after previously serving as President of Television Games Network from 2005 to 2009. Under his leadership, TVG became the largest legal Internet gaming provider in the United States and one of the most widely distributed niche sports networks on television worldwide. After years of growth in revenue and distribution, Mr. Nathanson led the sale of TVG to Betfair Group LTD in 2009.

Prior to leading TVG, Nathanson worked at News Corporation in various increasingly responsible capacities, starting in 1999 as Director of Marketing for New Media. In 2001 he was promoted to Director, Broadband Strategy and Channel Development for Fox Cable Networks and became Vice President, Advanced Services and Channel Development in 2002. Throughout most of his original tenure at Fox, Mr. Nathanson also served as General Manager of Fox College Sports. In 2004, he launched the Fox Reality Channel as Vice President, Business and Operations, where he remained until moving to TVG in 2005.

Before joining Fox, he worked for both Cablevision Systems and Comcast Corporation.

Nathanson earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania, graduating with honors. He also holds an MBA from the Anderson School of Management at UCLA.

Currently, Mr. Nathanson is a member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) and serves on the board of Mapleton Investments, Falcon Waterfree Technologies, and the Brentwood School. . He was the recipient of the prestigious “40 Under 40” award in 2012 presented by the Sports Business Journal and was twice named by CableFax as one of the 100 most influential persons in the television industry.

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Eric Weinberger

Exec Producer

NFL Network

Media executive Eric Weinberger was named NFL Network’s first ever Executive Producer by NFL Network EVP and CEO Steve Bornstein, a position he currently holds to this day. He is a TV executive with vast experience in live studio shows, awards and event shows, games and all aspects of sports and entertainment programming. In this position, Weinberger oversees and manages all aspects of NFL Network’s studio and remote show productions, all talent and production staff, budgets, on-screen look, engineering and content. He has created all of NFL Network’s more than 2500 hours of live studio programming that includes NFL Total Access, NFL GameDay Morning, NFL GameDay Final, Around the League Live and Path to the Draft. He has launched and overseen all of the network’s live event coverage including Super Bowl Week, Scouting Combine, and NFL Draft always looking for ways to bring sports and entertainment together. NFLN’s full-time production team has grown from 20 employees in 2003 to over 100 in 2012. Ratings growth for all NFL Network’s live programming has grown year over year while he has been in the Executive Producer role.

Since the launch of NFL Network Weinberger has been responsible for recruiting, hiring, and managing all of NFL Network’s on-air talent including Marshall Faulk, Deion Sanders, Rich Eisen, Kurt Warner, Warren Sapp, Steve Mariucci, Michael Irvin, Melissa Stark and Chris Rose. The NFL Media Groups talent roster has grown from 5 to 65 over the past 9 years.

Since 2010 Weinberger has been responsible bringing various areas of NFL Network and NFL Digital together into one NFL Media Group. He leads a team that has created a Super Newsroom combining all the assets of NFL Network, NFL.com and NFL Mobile and oversees the media group’s long-form feature department. Most recently this team worked on a long-form music open for Thursday Night Football with musician Cee-Lo.

Prior to NFL Network, Weinberger served as the Senior Producer of Fox Sports Net’s Best Damn Sports Show Period from its launch in July 2001 through May 2003, where he produced the two-hour daily show. His duties included all aspects of the sports, entertainment and comedy program, including: producing, creating and formatting the show. In addition to coordinating a 75-person production staff, Weinberger ran daily production meetings with talent, producers, editors and comedy writers. His involvement with all aspects of sports and entertainment from booking to talent coaching were a major part of his responsibilities.

One of the original staffers of the Fox Sports Net team assembled to launch national programming in 1996, Weinberger served as the producer of The Keith Olbermann Evening News from September 2000 to May 2001. A weekly sports-news program airing on Sunday nights, Weinberger was accountable for coordinating and producing the show hosted by Olbermann.

Also at Fox Sports Net, Weinberger was a producer for Fox Sports News. He was responsible for remote coverage & operations and producing as many as four one-hour shows a night for the daily sports news program.

Weinberger is a graduate of Union College in Schenectady, NY where he played ice hockey until the beginning of his sophomore year. He currently resides in Los Angeles with his wife Alexandra and their 4 children.

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Jon Miller

Pres of Programming

NBC Sports

JON MILLER
President, Programming
NBC Sports and NBC Sports Network

Jon Miller is President, Programming, NBC Sports and NBC Sports Network where he oversees programming and is prominently involved in sales for both networks. Previously, Miller served as Executive Vice President, NBC Sports since November 2006. He reports to Mark Lazarus, Chairman, NBC Sports Group.

Miller, who is credited for co-creating the NHL Winter Classic – an event that the New York Times said “has stolen New Year’s Day” – oversees nearly 9,000 hours of annual programming on NBC Sports and NBC Sports Network (NBCSN) including the Triple Crown and its surrounding horse racing coverage, the NFL, the NHL, French Open, Notre Dame Football, MLS, Tour de France, IndyCar and NBC’s golf properties, which include the PGA TOUR’s Players Championship and Presidents Cup, the PGA of America’s Ryder Cup and the USGA Championships including the U.S. Open. Miller, who has been with NBC for more than three decades, is also responsible for original programming on NBCSN and has been integral in creating programs such as Pro Football Talk and NFL Turning Point.

Most recently, Miller has been instrumental in the acquisition of some of the world’s top sports properties, helping solidify multi-year agreements for Formula One, the top international open-wheel racing series, NASCAR, America’s top Motorsports Franchise and the Premier League, the preeminent soccer league in the world.

An innovative and resourceful leader, Miller created the successful NBC Sports Ventures unit, which generates income from non-traditional revenue streams and does not rely merely on advertising as the sole source of income. The unit acquires and develops new and existing sports properties, and is actively involved in the organization, marketing and promotion of the events. Properties under that umbrella include the highly successful American Century Golf Championship, PNC’s Father/Son Challenge and the USA Rugby 7’s World Series and Collegiate Championships.

Successful events/shows he has created include the Skills Challenge, National Heads-Up Poker Championship; the U.S. Army All-American Bowl; the Golf Digest U.S. Open Challenge; and the National Dog Show, which has become a Thanksgiving Day tradition.

Previously, Miller served as Vice President, Program Planning and Development, NBC Sports, starting in 1988. Prior to that, he was an account executive in the NBC Sports & Olympics sales department. He has been with NBC since October 1978, beginning his career as an account executive at WRC-TV, the NBC television station in Washington, D.C.

Miller, who was born in Washington, D.C., and raised in Bethesda, Md., graduated from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. He and his wife, Jan, have two sons, Jeff and Robby, and live in Demarest, N.J.

October, 2013

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Kaylee Hartung

Reporter

ESPN/LHN

Kaylee Hartung is an ESPN reporter covering college sports as well as a host and reporter for ESPN's Longhorn Network. Hartung has contributed to ESPN’s coverage of the College World Series, college football and college basketball. Additionally, she hosts Longhorn Network’s flagship program Longhorn Extra, reports for Texas GameDay and crafts feature stories.
Hartung was previously a sideline reporter for CBS Sports Network and a correspondent for CBSNews.com.
During her career at CBS Sports, Hartung served as a reporter for CBS and Turner Sports’ online NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament coverage and CBSSports.com’s PGA Championship and tennis’ U.S. Open coverage.
Along with her duties at CBS Sports, she also worked in the CBS News Washington Bureau where she produced, photographed and edited her own reports. As a CBSNews.com correspondent, she interviewed a wide range of professionals including members of Congress, White House officials, entrepreneurs and professional athletes.
Hartung first joined CBS News as Bob Schieffer’s assistant, and quickly advanced to associate producer of “Face the Nation” where she was responsible for all research.
Hartung graduated from Washington and Lee University where she majored in broadcast journalism and politics. She is a native of Baton Rouge, LA.

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