Quick Jump Menu to this Month’s Articles Batter-up: Three Telcos Tout Their Triple Play Success: The Telco Jukebox: Something Else to Think About A Day with Dave Now, for a really big show – the Fall, iTVcc Questions, Questions, Questions .
Now, for a really big show – the Fall, iTVcc
by Ken Pyle
August, 2003 Issue
The excitement is continuing to build for the Fall, Independent Telco Video Content Conference, the iTVcc. This event is being held in conjunction with USTA’s Telecom ’03 conference at the Venetian in Las Vegas October 14th and 15th. I appreciate the many telco friends who helped shape the agenda. The speakers slated to appear are all going to have interesting perspectives when it comes to telephone companies and video services. Their participation is very much appreciated.
—————————————————————————————————————-
Hotel Note:
The Rooms at the Venetian seem to be going quickly. There are a number of nearby hotels that have competitive rates. http//www.lasvegas.com is one resource where you can find lower-cost alternatives.
————————————————————————————————————————————–
Tony Distefano, Vice President of Operations for All West Communications will be the lead-off speaker. He will address the reasons they chose to move from a coaxial network to a true triple play offering. He will provide insight into how well they are doing against plan.
Andrew Mellet, Vice President of PPV andVOD sales for Warner Home Video, will give the studio perspective as to the prospects for VOD and PPV in a world that is still dominated by DVD and home video. The view point of the content aggregator will be given by Bruce Eisen, Executive Vice President of CinemaNow. CinemaNow is a company that has kept a low-profile, while quietly proving that the online movie rental business model can work.
Lack of content has been a complaint by some as they try to deploy VOD. The model of subscription and “free” on demand services could circumvent this issue. Tom Gove, Senior Director of New Media for Starz-Encore, will discuss the Starz on demand model, which promises 100 different movies a month for, what is effectively, one flat fee. The creation of content specifically for on-demand applications will be discussed by John Baghdassarian of MagRack. Finally, Channing Dawson of Scripps Networks will discuss some of the ways they have helped MSOs customize their VOD offerings by repurposing some of the 15,000 hours that they have from their cable network properties, such as Food Network, DIY [Do It Yourself] and HGTV [Home and Garden TV].
Following a day of intense content about content, we will get the regulatory and legal perspective from David Irwin, Managing Partner of Irwin, Campbell & Tannewald, P.C., as well Howard Shapiro, Senior Counsel for Bennet & Bennet, PLLC. These two gentlemen always have interesting viewpoints when it comes to intricacies of the legal aspects of video and the triple play. Rounding out the legal section, will be Laurie Hughes of Director of Business Affairs for ASCAP [click here for related article].
Peter Lowten, Principal Consultant for Pixel Consulting, is putting together the session regarding HDTV, titled, “HDTV – more definition, more TV”. This will be followed by a presentation from Ian Tapp, Vice President of Market Development for NDS regarding the importance of content protection. The importance of middleware to a telco’s video deployment will be the subject of a talk by Mike Curran, Director of Western Sales for Myrio.
The broad question of why should subscribers explicitly pay for the cost of a delivery network will be addressed in the session, “Advertainment – another way to pay for your network.” This session will delve into different ways to monetize a telcos existing asset base through various forms of advertising.
Pete Pifer, President of ETI, will discuss the model for insertion of local ads. David Ernst, Vice President of Initiative Media, will explain what national advertisers are looking for in terms of critical masses of subscribers. Gary Kitchen, a computer gaming pioneer and President of Skyworks, will discuss several possible ways telcos can incorporate games as part of their advertising and online strategy.
Taylor Summer, Director of Marketing and Media for Pioneer Communications will then bring the operator’s perspective to advertising insertion and local content. Taylor is in charge of Pioneer’s ad insertion effort that delivers 2000 daily commercial avails to more than twenty western Kansas communities via a singular, fiber-distributed regional headend.
Using video as a lever to drive CLEC penetration will be the subject of Paul Bertino’s talk. Bertino, who is Director of Marketing for HickoryTech in Minnesota, will discuss the techniques they have used to make their VDSL rollout work outside of their existing exchange areas. Finally, Karen McKee, Director of Marketing for Horizon Chillicothe Telephone, will give point out the marketing and customer service strategies and tactics they have used to successfully compete against very aggressive and entrenched competition.
Copyright 2003 Viodi, LLC. All Rights Reserved
Leave a Reply