The Digital Hollywood Experience

Watch Videos From Digital Hollywood

Tuesday, January 6th, 2015

10:15 - 11:15 AM

Track II – DH8 - Digital Hollywood

Location: LVCC, North Hall, Room N262

The Future of TV: From Primetime to MultiPlatforms

Television 3.0 is here. With PVR, DVR, VOD, broadband, mobile apps and 4K, it's the central component of the consumer experience. How do media, advertising and technology companies position themselves and compete for the global consumers gathered around "the set”?

Lisa Hsia, Executive Vice President, Digital Bravo and Oxygen Media, NBCUniversal

Jonathan Mantell, Vice President, Mobile Entertainment and Video, CBS Interactive

Michael Thornton, Chief Revenue Officer, Starz

Vin Di Bona, CEO, Vin Di Bona Productions/ Chairman FishBowl Worldwide Media

Jeff Clark, Head of Publisher Video Monetization, Google

John Calkins, President of Programming, AMC Entertainment

Jerry Belson, U.S. Media & Entertainment Sector Leader, Deloitte LLP, Moderator

Jonathan Mantell, Vice President, Mobile Entertainment and Video, CBS Interactive:  As Vice President, Mobile Entertainment and Video, for CBS Interactive, Jonathan Mantell is responsible for all mobile products for the CBS Digital Platform group and for the overall video experience on CBS.com and the CBS Audience Network.   Jon has been part of the CBS Interactive team for four years and has managed various functional aspects of the emerging media business, including licensing and distribution, product development and operations.   In this role, he has spearheaded the development and operations of award winning mobile and video products, including the TV.com and CW mobile apps,

which have both held the #1 spot for entertainment apps in both the Apple App Store and Google Play.  He has also created mobile product experiences for some of the most popular shows on television such as Survivor, NCIS: Los Angeles, The GRAMMY® Awards and Big Brother.  Prior to joining CBS Jon has held positions in both startups and established companies within digital media and technology, including the Universal Music Group, Helio, The Walt Disney Company, E! Entertainment and CNET.  Jon holds an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management and a BA from the University of Pennsylvania.

Lisa Hsia, Executive Vice President of Digital, Bravo and Oxygen Media:  As Executive Vice President of Bravo and Oxygen Digital Media, Lisa Hsia oversees both brands digital businesses including the networks’ websites, as well as all initiatives on emerging platforms – mobile, apps, gaming, social TV and multiplatform programming.  Based in New York, Hsia reports to Frances Berwick, President, Lifestyle Networks, NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment.  During her tenure, Hsia has built Bravo Digital into an interactive powerhouse with breakthrough innovations including Bravo Talk Bubble, the first real-time social TV event to combine Facebook and Twitter with live TV viewing, Bravo Now, the first ever tablet/smart phone co-viewing companion experience, the Emmy winning “Last Chance Kitchen,” the ambitious transmedia initiative for “Top Chef,” and Play Live, a new form of participation TV.  The cutting edge digital series “Last Chance Kitchen” allowed viewers to follow storylines across multiple platforms and resulted in the most streamed series in NBCUniversal history.   Hsia added oversight of Oxygen in 2013 and has continued the network’s trajectory as one of the most talked-about cable reality networks. Currently, Hsia is focused on the redesign of Oxygen.com as well launching a fresh slate of digital offerings tied to the rebrand of the network, which will debut a new look and tagline – very real.  In a network first, Oxygen debuted the popular Play Live interactive technology during the new competition series “Nail’d It.”  Hsia originally joined NBCUniversal as Katie Couric’s Senior Producer and served as Vice President of NBC News since 2001, where she had executive oversight for the “Today” show, “Dateline” and the long-form programming unit Peacock Productions. An NBC News veteran of eleven years, she previously worked for ABC News as Diane Sawyer’s producer at “Prime Time Live.” Hsia has been the recipient of numerous journalism awards including six News Emmy Awards, the Edward R. Murrow Award, a Sigma Delta Chi award, an IRE award and the National Press Club's Freedom of the Press Award.  Prior, Hsia was a producer and director of documentaries including "The Emperor's Eye: Art and Power in Imperial China" and "Made in China."  She was also the producer and associate producer of two feature films, "A Great Wall" and "Old Enough," both released by Orion Classics.  Throughout her career, Hsia has served as an industry expert participating in various panels and speaking engagements such as Consumer Electronics Show (CES), South by Southwest (SXSW), Variety Entertainment & Technology Summit and The TV of Tomorrow Show (TVOT.) Hsia has received several honors including Variety’s “New York Women’s Impact Report,” one of the “Top Women in Technology” by Multichannel News, Broadcasting & Cable’s “Digital All-Stars List,” Cynopsis Media’s “Most Intriguing People of the Year” and CableFAX’s “Most Powerful Women in Cable” and “Digital Hot List.”  Under Hsia’s leadership, Bravo Digital has been recognized with numerous awards including a Primetime Emmy Award and nine nominations, Webby Award, Media Vanguard Award, Mobile Excellence Award, Mobile Marketing Association Award and ITVT Award.  Hsia currently serves on the board of the Tribeca Film Institute. She is a graduate of Harvard University and has a MBA from Columbia University Business School.

Michael Thornton, Chief Revenue Officer, Starz: Based in Englewood at the company's corporate headquarters, Thornton is responsible for programming acquisitions for the seventeen Starz channels as well as its on-demand offerings. In addition, he oversees the strategic direction of business and legal affairs related to the acquisition of programming content as well as business and legal affairs for distribution of the Starz companies' content with online/broadband distributors, transactional VOD/EST, and worldwide syndication of proprietary STARZ Original series and other Starz proprietary/licensed content. Prior to joining Starz in 2011, Thornton served in several senior executive positions with legal and programming responsibilities during his career, and most recently at Disney/ABC Domestic Television as executive vice president, business and legal affairs since 2005. Thornton oversaw multi-platform strategy and negotiations for post-theatrical distribution of The Walt Disney Studios' film output and the post-network distribution of ABC Studios' television product. Prior to that, Thornton was Senior Vice President, Programming Acquisitions for DIRECTV since 1999 where he led programming strategy, including the acquisition of all on-air acquired and original programming and negotiated successfully numerous network, local broadcast station, sports subscription, and one-off event deals. Thornton graduated Magna Cum Laude from Dartmouth College with an A.B. degree in Economics, and holds a Juris Doctorate from the UCLA School of Law and an MBA in Entertainment Marketing and Finance from the Anderson Graduate School of Management, also at UCLA.

Jeff Clark is the Head of Publisher Video Monetization at Google. Clark has more than two decades of experience in the media and technology sectors. He comes to Google through the recent acquisition of mDialog where he was the Chief Revenue Officer overseeing the company’s global sales, marketing and business development. Clark previously served as Vice President and General Manager of CBS Interactive’s Entertainment division where he was primarily responsible for the network’s flagship property, CBS.com, and the distribution and management of all online ad-supported video. Clark also had senior management experience with Yahoo! and successful start-ups including Dotspotter (sold to CBS in 2006) and Videosurf (sold to Microsoft in 2011).

John Calkins is President of Programming at AMC Entertainment, Inc., leading the studio partnership team responsible for the studio film rental negotiations and development of strategic initiatives focused on creating more overall shared value in the first window of film exploitation.  Before coming to AMC he was Executive Vice President, Global Digital and Commercial Innovation for Sony Pictures Home Entertainment responsible for the digital transactional exploitation of SPE's film and television properties around the world, as well as developing and helping to implement an integrated approach to the home entertainment market across both digital and physical channels of distribution.  Previously at Sony he served as Executive Vice President of Corporate Development for Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE), responsible for driving corporate initiatives in emerging business areas, coordinating corporate and divisional investments and divestitures and overseeing the implementation of the SPE mid range planning process.  Prior to coming to Sony Pictures, he was President of Warren N. Lieberfarb & Associates (WNLA), and came to WNLA from Warner Bros, where he ultimately held the post of Senior Vice President of Corporate Business Development and Strategy.  Prior to joining Warner Bros, Calkins was with McKinsey & Company, as an Associate Principal in its Los Angeles office.  He received his MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business as a Fuqua Scholar, and is active on a number of private company and charity boards of directors.

VIN DI BONA, Chairman and Executive Producer, Chairman, FishBowl Worldwide Media: A successful singing career snuffed out by the Beatles put Vin Di Bona on the road to changing the way America watches television -- by watching themselves.  A pioneer in comedic reality programming and a 45-year entertainment industry veteran, Peabody and Emmy Award-winning Executive Producer, Vin Di Bona captivated television audiences when he introduced to start America's Funniest Home Videos in 1989.  The longest-running, primetime entertainment show in the history of the ABC network, America’s Funniest Home Videos is in its 24th year on the air.  A native of Cranston, Rhode Island, Di Bona changed his name to Johnny Lindy before heading to Nashville to record “My Arms.”  The song was a regional success in New England and gave Di Bona his first number one hit, a hint of things to come in his future television career.  Two more songs recorded for Frank Sinatra’s manager, Hank Senicola, looked promising until that fateful night on the Ed Sullivan show when the Beatles stormed America and solo singers were pretty much passé.  Di Bona, always the gentleman, holds no grudge.  An Emerson College education gave Di Bona the chance to work in radio as station manager of the campus AM station, for which he received the President’s Prize for outstanding achievement in broadcasting upon graduation in 1966.  As president of his junior and senior classes, Di Bona was ever-involved with Emerson, something he’s continued through to the present.  He now holds the esteemed position of Vice-Chairman of the Board of Trustees.  Di Bona followed the Emerson experience with an MFA degree from the UCLA film school and upon graduation in 1968 he left sunny California for those wonderful winters in Boston as a producer/director at WBZ-TV.  During his nine years at the station, Di Bona produced and directed major documentary specials, breakthrough public affairs programs, and the first commercially sponsored African American magazine show in the nation.  In 1977 Di Bona returned to Los Angeles.  Working at KNXT, which later became KCBS, he produced and directed public affairs specials. An eight-time Emmy Award nominee, Di Bona won four Emmys while at KNXT.  One each for the documentaries Down at the Dunbar, for which he also received the prestigious Peabody Award; Zoot Suit:  The Play and the Promise; and Streets of Anger, Streets of Hope.  He garnered another Emmy for the series Project Parenting.  In 1981 Di Bona became the producer of a new fledgling show called Entertainment Tonight which, like Videos, is still on the air.  During the 480 daily and weekly shows produced by Di Bona, he created several breakthrough series which included “25 Years of Television in 25 Days,” “The Ed Sullivan Days,” “25 Years of the Best Movies,” and “The Top Ten News Events That Shook the World.”  Breaking new ground once again, Di Bona was senior producer for Metromedia’s On Stage America in 1983; it was considered the first variety/reality show to air on television.   A change of pace came in 1984-85 when Di Bona teamed up with his Emerson fraternity brother, Henry Winkler, to work on the pilot and subsequent first year of MacGyver.  Winkler executive produced and Di Bona was supervising producer and second unit director.  Changing gears again, Di Bona was honored when asked to produce Papal Spacebridge ’87.  It documented Pope John Paul II’s visit to the U.S. and his two-way satellite discussions with young adults across the country.    A special year for Di Bona was 1986, when he put out his own shingle, Vin Di Bona Productions.  The first show under his banner was Animal Crack-Ups, based on Tokyo Broadcasting System’s Waku Waku, for ABC Saturday mornings which ran for three years. Then in 1989 Di Bona made television history when America sat down to watch themselves, their family, neighbors, friends, children and pets on Sunday nights at 7 p.m. on America’s Funniest Home Videos.  The series, which hit the coveted number one spot many times, has always garnered high ratings at ABC, consistently finishing first or second in the highly sought-after 18-39 demographic. Originally hosted by Bob Saget and presently by Tom Bergeron, America’s Funniest Home Videos is enjoying immense popularity on the network, in syndication, and on cable.  Another landmark for Di Bona was realized in 2003 when the  show reached an impressive 300th episode, followed in 2008, with a remarkable 400th episode.  In November of 2012, AFV reached a milestone 500th episode, an accomplishment previously achieved by only three other primetime entertainment shows:   Lassie, Gunsmoke and The Simpsons.  America’s Funniest Home Videos airs nightly on ABC Family Network and is seen on TBS Superstation, TV Land, and Nickelodean.  Moreover, the show is seen in 35 countries worldwide.   Di Bona is once again “back in the saddle,” executive producing and directing this year’s record-breaking 24th season of America’s Funniest Home Videos for ABC.  Taking Videos one step further, Di Bona executive produced The Long Weekend, a feature film that uses outrageous videos “too spicy” for television.    Adding the element of performance to his concept of spontaneous "grass-roots" humor, Di Bona created a sister show, America's Funniest People, in 1990.  Hosted by Dave Coulier, the series was the only bona-fide hit of the season and ran for four years on ABC.   Still looking to make people laugh, Di Bona executive produced 155 episodes of Show Me the Funny, which premiered in the launch of the Fox Family network in 1998.  This was followed in 2002 by Meet the Marks, a highly innovative, reality sitcom for the Fox network, currently airing on the Fox Reality Channel. Also in 2002 Di Bona was executive producer on four one-hour episodes of The Dating Experiment for ABC.  In 2004 Di Bona executive produced 80 episodes of That’s Funny, a comedy clip and hidden camera show for syndication.   After achieving unprecedented success in the reality arena, Di Bona branched into other areas of programming.  In 2005 he served as an executive producer on the controversial TV movie Trump Unauthorized for ABC.  He also produced three highly acclaimed movies-of-the-week; For the Love of Nancy, which was the second highest-rated movie-of-the-week the year it aired, Touched By Evil, which also garnered extremely high ratings for ABC, and Voices From Within for NBC.  Di Bona ventured into cable programming with a bawdy entry, a sitcom, Sherman Oaks, for Showtime.  It aired for two seasons and has since become a cult classic among cable devotees. He was also executive producer on Chicken Soup For The Soul in 1999/2000, a series based on the best-selling book for PAX TV, as well as on Maximum Drive, a children’s competition show for The Family Channel. Maximum Drive was nominated for an ACE Award, the industry's top honor in the Children's Programming Series category.   Di Bona has also produced many reality-based specials for ABC including four I Survived A Disaster specials. Other series include The Big Moment, a primetime family show for ABC, Disney Channel’s game show Off the Wall, Fox Family’s Extraordinary World of Animals and Richard Simmons’ Dream Maker for daytime syndication.   In 2010, as chairman, Di Bona launched his second shingle, FishBowl Worldwide Media. This next generation studio is a transmedia storyteller developing properties for television, digital platforms and brands. FishBowl is in production on several reality television series including the high-profile Upload with Shaquille O’Neal for TruTV, Tone It Up for Bravo, I’m Married To A… for VH1 and Offbeat for Fuse.  Scripted projects are currently in various stages of development with NBC, Fox, ABC, The CW, MTV and Cartoon Network.  FishBowl’s Digital division develops and produces original series for the web including Ultimate Proposal, Ultimate Surprises and Stunt Nation for Yahoo! and the animated series The Potts.  The company also creates innovative YouTube channels, among them Petsami, a channel for pets by pets, and CuteWinFail, which is ranked in the YouTube Comedy Channel Top 20.  Additionally, FishBowl manages the world's largest curated library of cleared user-generated content and offers a white-label clearance management service used by advertisers and major brands.  Aside from his many accomplishments in the entertainment industry, including a local New England Emmy for Lifetime Achievement in television, Di Bona is also highly recognized for his four-year stint as Chairman for The Caucus for Television Producers, Writers & Directors and received the organization’s prestigious Chair’s Award.  The Caucus is a prominent voice in the Hollywood community that recognizes and responds to issues facing the independent artist in today’s conglomerate climate.  As mentioned earlier, Di Bona is Vice-Chairman of the Board of Trustees for Emerson College, which bestowed upon him an Honorary Doctorate Degree, Doctor of Humane Letters. Di Bona also serves as Chairman, Paulist Productions Board of Directors. As one who has many charitable interests, Di Bona is a member of the Board of Trustees for the St. James Inn and works with ACT Today! to assist families with autistic children in need of support and treatment.  The organization recently awarded him their 2013 ACTivist Award.  Di Bona is also active with Bread for the Poor, Teach for America, the Newport Historical Society and the Preservation Society of Newport in Newport Rhode, Island.  As a supporter of the arts, Di Bona is on the board of The Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles as well as being on the board of Newport Music Festival.  On August 23rd, 2007, Di Bona celebrated his 35+ year career in Los Angeles by receiving a star on the legendary Hollywood Walk of Fame.  Di Bona was further honored in April 6, 2009 when objects from America’s Funniest Home Videos were accepted into the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Selected for inclusion into the Museum’s permanent Entertainment Collection was a camcorder that taped the first winning video of the series in 1989, a cassette of home videos Di Bona used to sell the show to ABC, a ticket to the pilot and a script from the first episode.  At the ceremony, Di Bona accepted a Certificate of Donation and America’s Funniest Home Videos became a part of history.  In 2010 the camcorder was put on display in the lobby of the Museum.  Di Bona’s achievements were recognized by his home state in 2011 when he was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame.   Most recently, Di Bona has become a member of the Smithsonian Institute’s National Board.

Gerald Belson is vice chairman and U.S. Media & Entertainment leader for Deloitte's Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT) industry practice. He also serves as the Global Consulting leader for TMT and previously led the Telecommunications Consulting practice in the U.S. Jerry has more than 27 years of experience advising a broad range of clients across the three TMT sectors - from major U.S. and global telecommunications carriers and global technology and entertainment companies to emerging market players. He has been deeply involved in identifying opportunities where the sectors intersect and creating cross-industry solutions that exploit this convergence. Jerry draws upon his deep experience in information technology (IT) and business strategy, operations improvement, merger integration and enterprise transformation, as well as his extensive background in telecommunications, to help clients explore and exploit the opportunities in the broader TMT ecosystem brought on by convergence. He brings a depth of knowledge about the underlying technologies to help media and entertainment clients stay ahead of the risks and opportunities as mobility rapidly transforms the delivery and consumption of content. Jerry leads strategic industry research, service development and delivery to clients, including major cable operators and television networks, filmed entertainment, interactive gaming and Internet firms, publishers, music companies and advertisers. He frequently speaks at industry conferences and has directed studies resulting in published articles. Jerry has been quoted in CIO Magazine and other major publications and represents Deloitte on the Board of Advisors of the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business Institute for Communications Management. He holds a bachelor's degree in computer science from the University of Maryland.