Thursday, June 8 Friday, June 9
Over the course of his career, Bruce Tuchman has been responsible for taking some of the most popular and influential US television networks worldwide, transforming them into dynamic in-ternational brands. Currently, he is an active investor and entrepreneur within the global media and technology sectors. Bruce is a Board member of the global data science company Parrot Analytics and a senior advisor to iflix. He is also Chairman of the Americas Fund for the London School of Economics, and is on the executive committee and Board of Directors for the Interna-tional Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
Most recently, Bruce served as President of AMC Global and Sundance Channel Global. Previ-ously, he headed MGM Worldwide Networks, Nickelodeon Global Network Ventures and New Media Ventures, and international development for MTV Networks. Bruce began his career as an M&A attorney with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom in New York and London.
Bruno has been working as an EY (formerly Ernst & Young) Partner in the Media Industry for the past 30 years and has been the Markets leader for Telecom Media and Technology for France, North Africa and Luxembourg. Bruno is member of the EY Media advisory panel at global level in the M&E Industry.
Bruno has been or is the client Partner in charge of several major actors on the French market in the following sectors: motion picture, publishing, broadcasting, advertising and events. Bruno is also Partner on several large international clients for France or Europe such as Time Warner, Clear Channel, or Disney as auditor or consultant. He led significant strategic diagnostics for broadcasters and participated in various finance performance reviews.
Bruno as member of the Think Tank Forum d’Avignon participated in many studies: Monetizing Digital Intellectual Property; Mastering Tempo in the Digital Industry; Cultural behavior and personal data at the heart of the Big data industry and create, share and protect – the agility of intellectual property facing the challenges of the Digital Single Market.
Bruno also led several studies on the impact of Cultural and Creative Industries at the French, European and World wide level. Bruno’s latest study for EY is on the impact in France of visual content piracy and its consequences for the State and stakeholders.
As MyRepublic’s Chief Technology Officer, Cedric oversees the teams responsible for driving network and service innovation to regional markets. In 2014, he led the deployment of a network that enabled the launch of MyRepublic’s consumer 1Gbps service, breaking new ground in the fibre broadband landscape in Singapore.
Cedric is the former COO of Pixelmetrix (Singapore), a leading digital TV monitoring vendor, and has previously held senior positions at Vodafone Group (UK), SFR (France) and Sagem (France). Cedric holds an MSc in Telecom Engineering from Telecom ParisTech and an MBA from INSEAD.
Chem has a strong experience in the world of digital television and content services, for instance during his tenure at OpenTV, the worldwide leader in interactive television, he managed operations in Europe and the Middle East, growing revenues in the company’s largest business region.
Chem also led the worldwide sales, marketing, and business development functions for the MediaHighway® product line at NDS (now part of Cisco Systems). In the late 2000s he was also a key figure in Europe’s mobile TV and mobile broadcast industry, leading Qualcomm’s MediaFLO division in the region.
Aside from his corporate sales and business experience, Assayag is an entrepreneur who founded, managed, and sold his own company, and has also driven a number of business startups.
Chem graduated in management from EM Lyon, and holds a postgraduate degree in media management from ESCP Europe.
Christine Maury Panis is the Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Security Viaccess-Orca. Prior to this role, Christine was legal counsel within the Thomson Consumer Electronics division from 1986 and was focused on the Pay TV activities within the IP section and their newly created licensing entity. Christine was promoted to Deputy General Counsel, Europe for Thomson Multimedia and managed a team of several lawyers. In 1996, Christine moved to CANAL Group to manage the launch of the digital bouquet of CANAL + and helped created CANAL + Technologies which continues to develop, protect and license technologies worldwide. Christine joined Viaccess in 2001 to create the legal and IP department and is currently Vice President of the Audiovisual Anti-Piracy Alliance, the successor to AEPOC (European Association for the Protection of Encrypted Works and Services).
Christine is a graduate of the Paris Law University in International Business law and of French Institute for Interpreters and Translators where she graduated as Interpreter and translator in French, German and English.
Courtney Williams is the European Regional Director for Parrot Analytics. With more than 20 years’ experience in the international media and entertainment sector both as a senior executive at several networks and studios, as well as having been a successful entrepreneur in several media ventures, Mr. Williams brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to Parrot Analytics.
Most recently Mr. Williams has provided strategic consulting services to Turner Europe, MGM Networks, Chellomedia, AMC Networks International and Digiturk DTH Platform. Prior to this he was acting MD for AMC Networks Asia Pacific and acting GM for MGM Channel Italy. Mr. Williams also spent five years at MGM Studios in the MGM Networks group: Initially as Vice President of International Sales and Marketing based in New York, and eventually as Vice President of EMEA based in London. Earlier in his career Mr. Williams held several positions with Viacom’s Nickelodeon division, the last of which was Director of New Media Ventures.
In his position for Parrot Analytics, Mr. Williams' responsibilities include business development in the European market to ensure corporate growth, and working closely with European business partners and customers to ensure their respective needs and interests. Mr. Williams earned his MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business and is currently based in London.
Elizabeth Guider is a longtime entertainment journalist who has lived and worked in Rome, Paris and London as well as in New York and Los Angeles. Born in the South, she holds a doctorate in Renaissance Studies from New York University. While in Europe in the 1980's, she worked for various publications including the showbiz newspaper Variety, focusing on the film business, television and theater. She also traveled widely, reporting on the politics affecting media from Eastern Europe to Hong Kong as well as covering various festivals and trade shows in Cannes, Monte Carlo, Venice and Berlin. Back in the States since the early 1990’s, she specialized on the burgeoning TV industry and eventually held top editor positions at Variety and latterly at The Hollywood Reporter. Most recently she has freelanced for World Screen News as senior contributing editor. She has also written two published novels of historical fiction, one set in Italy in the 1970's and the other set in the Deep South in the post-World War I era. She is currently working on a third.
Florence Le Borgne, Director of Studies, joined IDATE in July 1998. She is now Future TV & Video Lead Analyst. Florence's prime area of focus is the digitalization process in the TV and video in-dustry dealing with both the economic and strategic aspects of those sectors, at a macro and microeconomic level. More generally, her work involves analysis of media groups' strategies. She works for private companies (broadcasters, telecom operators, manufacturers), French and foreign regulatory authorities and public bodies (CSA, CNC, Centre d'Analyse Strategique, HADOPI, OFCOM), ministries (Industry, Culture), the European Commission and French regional authorities.
Florence is also a lecturer at the University of Montpellier I since 2010 where she teaches audi-ovisual economy.
Before coming to !DATE, Florence Le Borgne worked as Head of Research in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais Regional Development Agency's Economic Observation department, where she devoted herself primarily to issues relating to the Information Society, the development of telework and the mastery of key technologies. Ms. In Borgne is a graduate of the Lille school of management EDHEC (Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales).
Gabriel is part of the Business Development team in Nokia’s Video Business Unit, and currently covers the EMEA/APAC regions. With more than 18 years of experience in sales and business development for Telecom Operators / Service Providers, Gabriel is focused on the Video and Media areas for the last 3 years.
South Wales, a BA in Communications and is a qualified lawyer in England and Wales and Gordon Finlayson is the former General Counsel of HBO Europe, the European subsidiary of Home Box Office Inc. the world's leading pay television network. Prior to joining HBO Gordon was based in Dubai as the general counsel of Showtime Arabia / OSN, the leading pay television platform in the MENA region and also worked as an in-house TMT lawyer for clients such as Warner/Chappell, Michelin and Hearst Magazines.
Before qualifying as a lawyer, Gordon commenced his career as journalist, he was the Managing Editor of CNET Networks Australia and worked for Excite@Home in the development of first generation broadband content.
Gordon has an LLM from University College London, a Certificate in Global Management from INSEAD, a LLB from the University of New Australia.
Jerome brings 20 years of experience of helping digital companies to embrace new strategic positioning. He has worked for European subscription companies, technological providers and French media groups.
As VP Growth & Partnerships of L’Express, a leading news publisher in France, he is in charge of developing digital usages of 12 million monthly active users.
Jerome has a Masters Degree in IT and telecoms from Telecom ParisTech, and a PhD in Economics from the University Pantheon-Assas.
Nicolas BONARD currently CEO of Vice Media Group France, with overall overall P&L and managerial responsibilities overseeing all lines of business, including all the Vice online verticals (Vice, Vice News, Vice Sports, I-D, Motherboard, Munchies and Creator’s Projects & social media), the TV channel, VICELAND, as well as the in-house Content Media Agency, VIRTUE. Previously to this position, Bonard has held senior positions with various Global Media Companies. Most recently he was the General Manager and Senior Vice President of Discovery Studios Group the in-house production, development and content monetization group of Discovery Communications. In his role, he headed up the Global program distribution, licensing and location based entertainment of Discovery Communications. During his tenure, he was also the General Manager for France. Bonard came to Discovery from Screen Opus, Ltd., where he served as Founder and Co-President of this film/content financing company. Prior to that, Bonard spent more than seven years with MTV Networks International, most recently as the VP of Sales and Co-Productions. Before joining MTV, Bonard was with NBA Europe/NBA Entertainment, based in Paris. He is also a Founder and non-executive Partner of Brand Partners International, a Hong Kong based brand management company, which is in partnership with PPW and who owns and operates various interests in China including the Bear Grylls brand for the territory. Today he sits on the Board of Directors of Televista SA (France) and Sandbox and Co (UK).
Niko is Global Head of GfK’s Customer and Audience Activation unit. The mandate of the newly formed unit is to leverage GfK’s unique data and platform capabilities to enable brands,
agencies and media groups to enhance their customer and audience data. An enhanced single customer view allows for better and timely insights along experience touchpoints, smarter
activation and more robust measurement.
Niko has worked at GfK for four years, most recently as Global Industry Head for Media and
Entertainment, providing research and data services to clients such as Google, Facebook, Time Warner and The Walt Disney Company.
Prior to his role at GfK, Niko held several prominent media roles. He co-founded GMPVC, a
Berlin-based media-for-equity fund, which allows media groups to use their advertising
inventory to invest in startups. At IBM, he was responsible for the Media and Entertainment Industry in Europe, supporting the digital transformation of key accounts and running an
outsourcing program for one of Europe’s largest broadcasters. Niko is widely published. His
latest book, “SimplySeven” (Palgrave Macmillan) is a guide to the seven business models of the web.
Niko has a Ph.D. from the London School of Economics and also studied at the Johann-Goethe-Universität in Frankfurt and Brown University in Providence. He is based in London.
Canadian-born Odile McDonald has a solid track record in French drama as the former partner of Paris-based independent producer PM, which she co-founded in 1992.
She is responsible for over 200 hours of diversified scripted fare for leading French channels.
Her credits include some casting-driven primetime series such as three seasons of France 2’s landmark crime show Frank Riva, featuring one of Europe’s most-prominent actors, Alain Delon, and procedural series such as Greco, a supernatural cop drama for the same channel. She ventured into new territory with the wildlife drama for TF1 Victor Sauvage in 2010, introducing a lion as supporting actor, and also experimented in lighter half-hour crime series.
Over years she has maintained relationships with her home country, Canada, and through those relationships she coproduced her first primetime series in the late 90s, Madame Le Consul, which aired for three seasons on TF1.
Odile has now has returned to her international drama roots by joining forces with international production/distribution veteran Valérie Pechels to form Wildcats Productions. Among Wildcats’ first credits is the hit procedural drama series Ransom (13x45’), which is coproduced with global distributor eOne International and Sienna Films for Global TV in Canada, together with Frank Spotniz and his company Big Light Productions as executive producer. U.S. broadcaster CBS and Germany’s RTL stepped in for primetime broadcasts.
Born in November 1973, Olivier Abecassis is a graduate of the French National Institute of Telecommunications.
He began his career in 1996 when he was involved in the launch of the French satellite broadcaster TPS. At the end of 1998, he joined TF1 to oversee the analogue-to-digital switchover of the TEl and LCI channels. He was appointed Director of Engineering and Technical Procurement in 2001.
In 2004, he became Director of New Technologies.
In 2006, he co-founded and managed the WAT digital content platform and piloted the TF1 group's web developments, including the acquisition of an equity stake in Overblog, the leading French blog platform.
In 2008, he became Executive Vice President of e-TF1, the Group's online business, with responsibility for the web/mobile offering and for marketing and implementing the transformation of the TF1.fr portal. He became Chief Executive Officer of e-TF1 in 2010. He subsequently launched MYTF1, organising its makeover in May 2015.
Since 2010, he has also been a member of the Management Committee of Teads, formed out of the merger of Overblog with Wikio, eBuning, BeeAd and Teads.
In 2014, in addition to his Operational responsibilities at e-TF1, he was given responsibility for Open Innovation, a transverse department within the TF1 group.
In February 2016, Olivier Abecassis was appointed Vice President, Innovation and Digital. He is tasked with the digitalisation of the Group and with rolling out its digital strategy. He also oversees the Group's start-up incubator, which aims to anticipate trends in media use and monetisation. All broadcasting and digital technologies are under his responsibility, as are information systems, infrastructure management and security.
Olivier Laouchez is of French Caribbean descent (Martinique) and has more than 25 year experience in TV and music industry. After graduated from Paris Business School, he spent 2 years working in South East Asia and he launched his FTA TV channel in Martinique at 25 yo.
In 1998, Laouchez was appointed CEO of Secteur Ä - leading independent Hip-Hop and R&B record label in France - where he designed an audio-visual project dedicated to the fans of urban music and culture the “Urban Youth”.
In 2003, Laouchez get funding from Goldman Sachs to launch this project. He then acquired TRACE brand and magazine and MCM Africa, a loss making music TV channel owned by Lagardère Group. He re-branded MCM Africa to TRACE and started the global deployment of TRACE TV network.
14 years later, TRACE is active in 160 countries with 60 million pay-TV subscribers, 22 localized TV channels, 30 FM and digital radios, several mobile services and digital platforms engaging with 200 million fans of urban music and culture.
TRACE is by far the leading music and youth media brand of Africa and the newly launched Trace Play digital platform combines SVOD + LIVE TV + LIVE Radio to be the one stop destination that links urban fans and creators all over the world.
Based in South Africa with his wife and 3 kids, Laouchez is a serial entrepreneur, a social activist with TRACE Foundation and an active speaker at multiple organizations and forums about brand and media building and promotion of equality of rights and opportunities for people of African descent.
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Patricia Frith is a PR and marketing professional who has represented leading media companies in the US and around the world. Over the course of her career, Patricia has worked with such channel brands as Discovery (including HD, mobile and international), Ovation TV, Sundance TV, Fox International, Channel 6 (Ireland), HBO, G4, E! Networks, Zone Vision, TechTV, Esquire TV,MGM Networks Global, and Encore International (China). She has also represented production, distribution, and technology companies such as Shaftesbury, Smokebomb Entertainment, 1895 Films, Iwerks Entertainment, Technicolor, Parrot Analytics, PGS Entertainment, CEG-TEK, Cineflix, SportsHD Productions, and Entriq.
Prior to founding her company, Patricia held senior PR/Marketing positions at E! Networks, Starz Encore, Bender, Goldman & Helper, and dick clark productions, inc. She began her career in the music industry, working with top recording artists at Elektra Records and Sony Music.
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Rahul Telang is a Professor of Information Systems at the Heinz College, Carnegie Mellon University. His major research focus is on Economics of Digitization where he studies how content digitization is affecting firms, users and our policy. His work has appeared in top scientific journals and won numerous awards. He is co-author of a new book, Streaming, Sharing, Stealing: Big Data and the Future of Entertainment (MIT Press, 9/6).
CEO of Viaccess-Orca, Paul Molinier has more than 25 years’ experience in the IT and telecom industries. Prior to joining Viaccess-Orca, Paul Molinier worked within Orange Business Services, where he initially led a new initiative around the transformation of the company towards services.
Most recently, Paul Molinier led OBS’ Unified Communication & Collaboration global business unit, where he developed and marketed a renewed portfolio of solutions and services for SMB and large multinational accounts.
Before joining OBS, Paul held a variety of executive positions within international technology companies, including Texas Instruments and Siemens, where he was instrumental at increasing sales and driving growth.
Paul Molinier graduated from Ecole Polytechnique in Paris and holds an MBA from INSEAD.
Simon founded Digital TV Research in January 2011. He has been covering international media developments since 1988, having previously worked for Saatchi & Saatchi, Kagan World Media, Baskerville Communications and Informa Telecoms and Media.
Stefan Lager, VP Sales at Zenterio AB, has more than 25 years of top management experience in the Telecommunications and Broadcasting industries, with a strong track record in both turnaround situations and expansion to new markets.
Zenterio provides an independent OS for interactive TV as well as an intuitive multiscreen UI, a powerful Data Analytics solution, Consulting Services and additional Value Added Services to TV operators.
In December 2016, Zenterio acquired Adscribe, a company able to collect and analyze TV operators’ customer viewing data across multiple devices, thus enabling the TV operators to use this data to improve customer experience and drive revenue.
Valerie Pechels has built her career as an independent entrepreneur. Prior to her move into production, Valérie Pechels de Saint Sardos developed a solid knowledge of the international scripted market as an independent international distributor.
In 1993, she co-founded indie distributor Double V, specialising in the import of foreign drama for France and later for other European territories. The company sold over 10,000 hours of scripted content to French and European broadcasters. It was exclusive agent for major players such as Orion Pictures and Showtime in France and, together with RTL group, launched French theatrical distributor SND, which was later acquired by M6. Double V was instrumental in bringing US crime series Dexter to Canal+ and TF1. o meet new market demands, Valérie and Odile McDonalc are now applying their expertise as co-founders of Wildcats Productions. Their first production “Ransom” is the 13x45’ procedural series coproduced with global distributor eOne International and Sienna Films for Global TV in Canada, together with Frank Spotniz and his company Big Light Productions as executive producer. US Network CBS and German RTL stepped in for a primetime broadcast.
