The chief executives of four Australian TV broadcasters, the ABC's Mark Scott, Seven West Media's Tim Worner, SBS's Michael Ebeid and Foxtel's Richard Freudenstein, are confirmed to speak at the Screen Forever conference in one-off in-conversation sessions.
“We’re delighted to have brought together, for the first time in a number of years, these powerful heads of Australia’s television networks to SCREEN FOREVER. This is a remarkable opportunity to hear straight from the CEO themselves; the priorities, intentions and forecasts for each of these networks and subscription television platforms” said Matthew Deaner, Executive Director, Screen Producers Australia.
“The networks’ participation reflects the collaboration between different types of businesses within the screen production industry and how SCREEN FOREVER, now in its 29th year, provides a vital platform in bringing the industry together,” said Deaner. “The broadcasters, content creators, producers, agents, financiers, distributors, marketers have an opportunity to meet, share knowledge, and forge new relationships in a highly creative atmosphere,” said Deaner.
Mark Scott is the Managing Director of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Since 2006, under Scott’s leadership, the public broadcaster’s structure and operations have been transformed, with an expansion of both services and reach across traditional and new digital content areas. As Managing Director he has led the organisation’s efficiency gains, and through changing work practices and technological change, has made substantial reinvestments to meet audience expectations with new services such as ABC News 24, iView and the digital re-launch of Double J. Every week, almost 75% of Australians over the age of 18 access ABC content in some form.
Tim Worner is the CEO at Seven West Media, the leading listed multi-platform media business in Australia. The company includes the country’s number one television network Seven, Pacific Magazines, the leading newspaper in Western Australia, The West Australian, the online joint venture Yahoo!7 and a string of regional radio stations. Mr Worner joined the Seven Network in 1995. Since then his roles have included Head of Program Development, Head of Sport and Head of Infotainment. In 2003 he was appointed Director of Programming and Production where he was responsible for the programming of all three Seven channels (Seven, 7TWO and 7mate) and the network’s rapidly expanding production slate. Nine years later (2011) Tim was appointed CEO of the Seven Network and in July 2013 became CEO of Seven West Media.
Michael Ebeid commenced as Managing Director of SBS in June 2011. He has over 25 years’ experience in senior management and executive roles in technology, telecommunications and media. During Michael’s time at the organisation, SBS has launched National Indigenous Television (NITV) free-to-air, Australia’s first national and free Indigenous television channel, refocused SBS 2 to attract younger audiences to the network, and expanded in-language programming across analogue and digital radio. Under his leadership, the organisation has embraced digital technologies and opportunities, with catch-up service SBS ON DEMAND available on more platforms and devices than any other Australian broadcaster, leading to a 90 per cent increase in downloads in the past year, and more than 7 million online video views per month.
Richard Freudenstein is the CEO and Managing Director of Australia’s biggest pay tv platform Foxtel and was formerly the CEO of News Digital Media (the digital division of News Limited) and CEO of The Australian newspaper. At Foxtel, Mr Freudenstein has overseen the finalisation and implementation of the Austar merger, forming a single national subscription television business. Other significant milestones during his time at Foxtel have included: the award winning coverage of London Olympics, the launch of Foxtel Go and Foxtel Play, finalisation of major content deals with HBO, the BBC and Disney, and the launch of the Foxtel Movies service.
The In Conversation sessions are being hosted by Dominic White, Media Editor of The Australian Financial Review.
In addition, these networks, Network 9 and the Ten Network will each also have representatives participating in Ready Steady Pitch, the TV Pitching Market/ speed-dating event that provides an opportunity for delegates to pitch their project to a television network executives in five minutes, and Meet The Buyer, where Commissioning Editors, Programmers, and Controllers provide insights into their schedules, outline their own production priorities and explain how Australian producers can best work with them.
Below are the details for the Network CEO in conversations to be held at the SCREEN FOREVER 2014 conference:
MARK SCOTT, ABC: MONDAY, 17th November: 11.30am – 12.15pm
MICHAEL EBEID, SBS: MONDAY, 17th November: 1.30pm- 2.15pm
RICHARD FREUDENSTEIN, FOXTEL: TUESDAY, 18th November: 10.00am – 10.45am
TIM WORNER, SEVEN: TUESDAY, 18th November: 12.15pm – 1.05pm
SCREEN FOREVER
16 to 19 November 2014. Crown Conference Centre, Melbourne Australia.
Registrations now open at www.screenforever.org.au
For program updates, go to www.screenforever.org.au,
For video updates go to youtube.com/user/ScreenProducersAust
@screenproducers.org.au / #SCREENFOREVER