Women in Television Breakfast

Sandra Levy, Chief Executive Officer, Australian Film Television and Radio School, has had an outstanding career as both a creative producer of feature films and television drama as well as an executive at the highest level in the industry including the roles of CEO, Network Head and Executive Director. Sandra was appointed CEO of the Australian Film Television and Radio School in mid 2007 following on from Network Nine, Head of Drama Southern Star, and Head of ABC TV and as an independent drama producer for ten years.

Deirdre Brennan joined Nickelodeon Australia as Director of Programming in 2007 and is responsible for content development, programming, acquisitions and the delivery of compelling entertainment for Australian families. Winner of ASTRA’s Channel of The Year, Nickelodeon Australia’s two channels broadcast 24 hours a day, seven days a week and are seen in over 2.3 million households via AUSTAR and FOXTEL. The company portfolio extends across television, online, mobile, theme parks, consumer products and music. From 2001-2007, Deirdre Brennan was ABC Kids Programmer for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. She became one of Australia’s first female television announcers when she joined ABC TV in 1986 whilst studying Economics/Law at Sydney University. She extended her on-air experience with radio broadcasting, as well as directing, stage management and choreography. With a television career that spans 24 years, Deirdre has a proven track record including three years as ABC TV Marketing Planner.

Joe Pollard was appointed CEO of NineMSN in 2008, prior to that she was Director of Sales and Marketing for PBL Media. Ms Pollard started her career in Australia and worked initially on the agency side with JWT and later Mindshare before moving offshore to Asia as Regional Media Director. She then entered a 10-year career with Nike Inc. in the US and Japan. Initially she was Global Director of Media, Digital and Content where she oversaw Nike’s media investments in more than 30 countries.

ASTRA 2010 Conference

Keynote Address

Mike Fries is a 20-year veteran of the cable and media industry, he has spent nearly his entire career building international distribution and programming businesses. Today Liberty Global is the second largest cable TV operator in the world and the largest outside the U.S. with over 26 million video, voice, and broadband Internet subscribers, operations in 14 countries and $11.3 billion of annualized revenue.

Plenary Address

Mark Burnett is a leading executive producer for primetime television, cable and the Internet, and has produced over 1,100 hours of television programming which regularly air in over 70 countries around the world. Burnett has revolutionized television with continuing hits such as “Survivor” (CBS), “The Apprentice” (NBC), the now syndicated “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?” (FOX), which is currently being produced in 55 countries, the daytime syndicated hit “Martha,” and the new hit series “Shark Tank” (ABC).

Burnett has garnered other current hit cable series in 2009 with “Bully Beatdown” (MTV), “StarMaker” (MTV), and “How’d You Get So Rich” (TV Land). In the summers of 2007, 2008, and 2009, Burnett entered the world of award shows, when he served as executive producer for the MTV Movie Awards. Additionally, Mark is on board to produce the 36th annual People’s Choice Awards which will air on CBS in January of 2010. Since 2001, Burnett shows have garnered a total of 60 Emmy nominations including two wins for best reality series, along with four People’s Choice Awards, also for favorite reality series. Burnett has been named one of the most influential people in the world by TIME magazine and named TV Guide’s most valuable player. He has won BRANDWEEK’S Marketer of the Year Award, The Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Award, and the prestigious ROSE D’OR FRAPA Format Award. In 2007, Burnett was inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame. In July of 2009, Burnett was honored by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce with a star on the Hollywood walk of fame. In 2010, Burnett is to receive the Norman Lear achievement award from the Producer’s Guild of America.

If Content is King… Who Are the Future Rulers?

Having the right content has been the critical element which determines success or failure for media businesses throughout the industry’s history. Join a panel of international leaders across the key content genres of News, Sport, Lifestyle, General Entertainment and Kids and hear first hand how they see the current state of play and their predictions on content challenges for the future.

Nick McArdle is one of Australia’s most respected TV sports presenters with a career spanning 20 years in the media industry. McArdle joined FOX SPORTS in January 2007 as a senior presenter on FOX SPORTS News. He also hosts FOX SPORTS coverage of the US Open from Flushing Meadows and is the in-studio presenter of Australia’s overseas cricket tours after beginning with the tour of India in late 2008. He hosted the first two Tests of the 2009 Ashes series with former Australian cricketers Mark Waugh and Damien Fleming before travelling to England to host the final three Tests and report for FOX SPORTS News. McArdle began his career at GTS/BKN Television in Port Pirie, South Australia in 1989 before spending six years with the Austereo radio network in Adelaide (SAFM), Brisbane (B105 FM) and Sydney (2Day FM). Prior to joining FOX SPORTS, McArdle spent 12 years at the Seven Network where he was the weekend sports presenter and senior sports reporter for Seven News in Sydney. He previously presented the sport report on Seven Late News, and was a fill-in host on SUNRISE and presenter of Seven Morning News.

Paul Robinson was appointed Managing Director of KidsCo, the joint venture children’s channel owned by leading media companies, NBC Universal, Cookie Jar Group and Corus Entertainment Inc., in April 2007. KidsCo is a 24/7 channel aimed at children and families. KidsCo programming is focussed on boys and girls aged 6-10 years as well as preschool and aims to connect families by providing safe, trusted, age-appropriate and educational programming for our specially created ‘pre-school’, ‘kids’ and ’family ’zones. Prior to joining KidsCo, Paul founded his own company, PR Media Consulting Ltd, servicing clients including Disney, Sony BMG, HIT Entertainment, Chello Media, Liberty Media Corporation, PPL and GCap Media. Paul spent 7 years at Walt Disney Television/ABC Cable Networks Group as Senior Vice President/Managing Director, responsible for global kids programming strategy and the UK channels and production businesses.

Phil O’Sullivan is Executive Producer in Hong Kong responsible for the daily programming and newsgathering production and planning from CNN’s Hong Kong bureau, which also acts as the network’s Asia-Pacific headquarters. In the role O’Sullivan has recently managed key newsgathering coverage across the region including the 2008 Beijing Olympics, reporting and producing coverage from Mumbai during the November terror attacks in 2008. In addition, his role extends to editorial oversight of a wide range of breaking news stories from across Asia Pacific that reach hundreds of millions of viewers around the world. He is Executive Producer of CNN’s award-winning weekly ‘Talk Asia’ show and has travelled to Shanghai, New York and London to oversee ‘The Boardroom Master Class’ series where prominent global business figures are interviewed in front of live audiences at top business schools.

Eric Schrier is Executive Vice President, FX Productions, overseeing FX’s in house production unit, and Senior Vice President Series Development, overseeing the development of all new original series for the network.
As EVP of FX Productions, Schrier oversees production and collaborates with FX’s studio partners, as well as overseeing FX’s interest in foreign sales, home entertainment, new media opportunities and merchandising on all FX original series under the FX Productions banner. Schrier is responsible for the development of all new original series for FX, which includes drama, comedy and alternative series. In 2004, Schrier took over the development of FX’s alternative programming where he developed FX’s most successful unscripted series ever, Morgan Spurlock’s 30 Days, as well as the network’s Black.White. Schrier was also associated with the development of FX’s newest drama series Sons of Anarchy.

Bruce Mann has been the CEO of XYZnetworks since 2002. XYZnetworks owns, operates and or distributes 12 STV channels which are among the most prominent brands in Australian Subscription TV. XYZnetworks is recognised for its local productions, local talent and specialist brands. Prior to joining XYZnetworks Bruce spent seven years in various senior management roles at Austar United Communications. He was a founding executive sent by US based communications giant UnitedGlobalCom (now Liberty Global) to launch the business in 1995. During his time at AUSTAR Bruce was responsible for all marketing, programming and sales. He also served on the Board of XYZnetworks for four years holding the role of Chairman for two. Before coming to Australia Bruce held significant roles in communications, entertainment and sports organisations around the world such as Time Warner, E Entertainment and The Washington Redskins.

Concurrent Session I: The Power of the PVR

With PVR penetration growing rapidly, an IQ or MySTAR in every home is no longer a dream. In this session we look into the new audience measurement figures and the insights revealed.

James Manning has been the editor and publisher of Mediaweek Magazine and The Mediaweek Morning Report since January 2000. He started in the media as a freelance music journalist in Melbourne, later launching Australia’s biggest-ever selling music magazine, Smash Hits, for Fairfax Magazines in 1984 and later worked for Mason Stewart Publishing and Emap Australia. He helped launch the Mediaweek TV show on the Sky News Business Channel in 2008 and currently co-hosts the program with Bridie Barry.

Christian Brent is Vice President for Strategy & Audiences within BBC Worldwide Channels, responsible for developing the strategic direction of the channels business, including the impact of the shift by audiences away from linear towards digital services. Based in London, he also oversees the management and interpretation of audience figures and market research for the existing channel portfolio. Christian joined BBC Worldwide in 2006 from mobile operator O2 where he was Head of Insight. Previous to this, he spent five years with Walt Disney Television International where he worked on numerous Disney Channel launches from London and later Miami. He also spent three years with the brand consultancy Dragon Rouge where he worked on strategy projects for global brands owners including Cadbury Schweppes, Carlsberg Breweries & Unilever.

Ross Crowley has been with FOXTEL since before launch 1995, excepting an assignment with News Corp’s Star TV in Asia. He is responsible for the operation of the 10 Owned and Operated channels including the Fox8, Arena and the A&E brands, pay-per-view and content strategy. Ross came to Foxtel from the Nine Network’s headquarters in Sydney. He has a background in finance, and holds a Bachelor of Management Studies in marketing and human behavior from Waikato University in NZ.

Ian Garland has spent the last 25 years developing and using information services to assist businesses in their growth objectives. His experience includes nearly twenty years with Nielsen in a range of senior management roles at a local, regional and global level and four years as Commercial Director with ASTRA, subscription television’s peak body. In July 2009 he was appointed Managing Director, Multiview Analytics. Multiview’s brief is to support subscription TV with custom research and analytical services that provide an enhanced understanding of STV customers, improved insights into viewing behaviours and to deliver increased levels of accountability to the industry’s advertising partners.

Rob Leach joined MCn, the multi channel sales house for the Foxtel and Austar subscription TV platforms, in October 2006. He is now Head of MCn Connect, the newly formed department responsible for the strategic development and sales of all the new digital media on these platforms, including interactive advertising, online, mobile, VOD and IPTV. Rob worked in Advertising and Marketing on both the client and agency before he joined BSkyB as Client Sales Manager in September 1997. He became Controller of Interactive Airtime Sales in September 2000, with the responsibility for creating and launching Sky’s ground-breaking interactive TV advertising services. Rob was responsible for assembling an interactive sales team from scratch and developing and implementing pioneering sales, pricing, and marketing strategies for this new service. Rob was promoted to Head of Interactive Services for Sky Media in August 2003 with the additional remit of developing commercial models across all Sky’s digital media offerings.

Concurrent Session 2: Striving to be Different: STV’s Customer Service Focus

In this session we look into managing expectations and meeting customer demand in an environment of endless choices, subscription television must be about much more than great content that is well packaged and well priced.

Nick Bryant is the BBC’s Sydney correspondent. Before coming to Australia, he was the BBC’s South Asia correspondent, and the BBC’s Washington correspondent. During his fifteen years with the BBC, he has covered some of the major stories of our times: from 9/11 to the Asian Tsunami, from the war in Afghanistan to Black Saturday, from the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide to the conflict in the Middle East, from the impeachment of Bill Clinton to the death of Diana. He was educated at Cambridge, Oxford and MIT, and is the author of The Bystander: John F. Kennedy and the Struggle for Black Equality.

Dana Strong was appointed Chief Operating Officer in 2002 with responsibility for AUSTAR’s nationwide operations. During her time as COO Dana has had responsibilities spanning sales, customer service, field operations, installation contractors, warehousing, credit & collections, information technology, and engineering. Dana joined AUSTAR in September 1999 as the Managing Director of AUSTAR United Broadband, a fully owned subsidiary of AUSTAR United Communications. In 2001 Dana was appointed Group Director, Strategy, Technology and Infrastructure for AUSTAR United Communications. Before joining AUSTAR, Dana was a Principal at Mercer Management Consulting a leading strategic management consultancy in North America and Europe.

Shona Bishop was appointed Executive Director, Customer Service and Installation in November 2008 with responsibility for FOXTEL’s customer service and operations. Her role has responsibilities spanning customer service, subscriber sales, subscriber marketing, technical support, installation contractors, credit & collections, multi-channel development and process improvement. Before joining FOXTEL, Shona was with the Bank of New Zealand for 7 years in a number of senior sales & marketing roles including General Manager, Marketing & Business Development and GM Channels. Prior to she was with Telecom NZ for 11 years in sales, marketing and operational roles.

Gerry O’Shaughnessy is the Call Centre Operations Director, for Auto & General Insurance Services responsible for over 350 staff representing major retail brands Budget Direct, Australia Post & Virgin Car Insurance. A&G Insurance Services is recognised for consistently achieving top quartile Net Promoter & Customer Satisfaction scores, and recently won the ATA Australian Contact Centre of the Year award for 2009 and the Budget Direct brand was awarded the Best General Insurance Product at the 2009 Australian Banking + Finance Insurance Awards.

Laurence Jackson is Account Director at callcentres.net and ACA Research. He has extensive experience across all aspects of the research consultancy spectrum, and has particular expertise in the measurement of the customer experience. Laurence has a BA (Hons) in English Literature and an MSc in Marketing from The University of Birmingham in the UK and has worked for nine years in both the private and public sectors in the UK and Australia. Laurence is also a regular public speaker and workshop facilitator.

Concurrent Session I: Winning the Hearts and Minds of Consumers

The media landscape is more cluttered, more complicated and more competitive than ever. In this session we look at how within this fragmented environment it is critical to understand what drives consumers and to adapt strategies to reach target audiences.

David Chalke is one of Australia’s leading social analysts. Working with AustraliaSCAN, the annual monitor of cultural change, David advises governments and businesses on the shifting sands of the mood of the public and the impact of this on the formulation of effective public policy and business strategy. David is a frequent speaker at National & International conferences, a regular Social Commentator, and an occasional columnist.

Adam Ferrier is a Consumer Psychologist and a Founding Partner of Naked Communications, Australia. After completing university with degrees in Psychology and Commerce Adam began his career as a psychologist working in maximum security prisons before making the natural, seamless, move into advertising. During this time Adam also managed to complete a post-graduate thesis into what makes people cool, and create a psychological board game ‘The Analyst’ (apparently selling well in the Benelux countries). Now at Naked, Adam works with the country’s most ambitious marketers and some of the world’s most desired brands. Adam writes and talks about consumer behaviour, living in a branded world, and what it means to be cool (or not).

Amanda King started her career as one of the first data planners in London. She moved to Australia to work for O&M but left within 6 months to set up her own company Octopus. Octopus was a full service agency that won clients like MasterCard, Westpac and Optus. After 8 successful years WPP purchased the agency and Amanda was headhunted to work for the Publicis group. Here she managed the successful growth of their integrated suite of companies. In early 2000 she joined DDB Sydney as head of all non advertising companies. Her reports included Rapp Collins, Tribal, Mango (PR) and Remedy (Healthcare). In 2004 she was promoted to Group Managing Director winning fully integrated accounts such as AV Jennings, Konica Minolta, Continental and Arnott’s. In 2005 she won the Dell account by providing a better way for Dell to do business in the ANZ region. In the following 18 months she led the highly talented team to gain savings for the client in excess of 46%. She totally challenged the ODG strategy and introduced an affiliate strategy reducing cost per sale down by 60%. In 2006 she moved up into the APJ region as VP Business Development. July 2007 saw her take on the APJ President role at Tribal DDB. In two years she has grown the network to 17 offices, more than tripled revenues and recruited a very strong and talented group of leaders. The industry recognised this and awarded Tribal DDB the honor of Media’s Digital Agency of the Year. Amanda is a regular speaker around the region. Innovation has driven her career and her passion is to work with people who want to redefine the business world. She has two teenage children and loves to travel, which is a good thing!

Douglas Nicol is currently a Partner and Owner at integrated agency ‘The Works’. Douglas has over 21 years experience in direct and digital marketing. Working in all major product and service categories including financial (home loans, credit cards, insurance), telecommunications, packaged goods, automotive, not for profit, leisure and Government. Douglas is passionate about direct and digital marketing and spent a decade as Managing Partner, Direct and CRM at George Patterson where he experimented with better ways to channel plan campaigns. In this time Douglas’ team won over 40 Australian Direct Marketing Association (ADMA) Awards for creativity and effectiveness. In 2000, Douglas was announced as “Australian Direct Marketer of the Year”. In 2006 Douglas was elected Chairman of the Board of the Australian Direct Marketing Association (ADMA). He then continued to be the Chairman in 2007 & 2008. In 2008 Douglas was named by Marketing Magazine as on the ‘five of the best’ marketers. And he has also been Chair of the Mobile Marketing Awards in 2006 and 2007.

Concurrent Session 2: New Media: Disruptive or Advantage?

This session will look into the profound technological and consumer changes of the digital economy that are bringing fundamental changes to the media and communications sectors, shattering long established business models and the way media companies engage with consumers.

Evan Hansen joined Wired.com in April 2005 from CNET News.com, where he led consumer and media coverage. Under his stewardship, Wired.com’s traffic has grown fourfold, reaching more than 10 million unique visitors monthly. At the same time, Wired.com has been cited for journalistic excellence on several occasions, including being named best magazine website in 2009 by both the MPA and AdWeek. Wired.com received a 2009 ASME nomination for best interactive feature, and a 2008 Webby award for best writing. In 2007 and 2008, Wired.com won back-to-back honors for innovation in journalism from the Knight Batten foundation for experiments in user-generated reporting methods. Hansen has won numerous awards for technology reporting and writing, and, in 2006, was named as a finalist for the Gerald Loeb Award.

Kym Niblock has 20 years of media experience with the last 10 in senior management positions across satellite, cable and on-line businesses. Leading and shaping businesses she has filled key roles in defining business propositions with large scale complex dynamics. Kym joined FOXTEL in Sept 2009 on her return from London and is currently working with FOXTEL’s executive on setting strategic direction for FOXTEL’s online digital proposition. Kym oversees, develops and manages all of FOXTEL’s online and mobile properties. In the UK, Kym was Managing Director of BBC.com, the highly successful BBC website that presents advertising to the 52 million* users outside the UK. Working directly with BBC Worldwide, BBC Public Service and BBC News, Kym was responsible for the ongoing development and strategic direction of the site.

Iain McDonald is one of the original co-founders of Amnesia, which for almost a decade has been at the forefront of the digital industry in Australia. As an independent agency, Amnesia gathered a who’s who list of local and international clients including Pepsi, Xbox, Disney, IKEA, Warner Music and Unilever before being acquired in 2006 by the world’s largest digital agency, AvenueA|Razorfish, now owned by Microsoft as part of the $6.1b acquisition of aQuantive.