Q&A Bill Abbott - Crown Media

Although Bill Abbott started his career as a buyer at an agency, he soon moved into Research where he honed his strong analytical skills and then on to Affiliates and Sales. But it was in Research, according to Bill, where he gained his strong grounding for his future media roles – what drives the bottom line and what determines success and failure.  His current position as the CEO of Crown Media gives him the ability to put all of his experience to good use in steering his corporation through a sea of media change and disruption.  In this fascinating interview, Bill talks about Independent networks, Hallmark programming, current research efforts in his company and some insights into how the media landscape will look in the next five years.

The five videos of the interview are as follows:

Subject                                                 Length (in minutes)

Background                                                 (6:33)

Independent networks                                 (4:32)

Programming                                              (7:20)

Research and Data                                      (5:18)

Predictions, Smart TV and DVRs               (6:15)

Charlene Weisler interviews Crown Media CEO Bill Abbott who discusses his background in this 6:33 minute video:

Crown Media CEO Bill Abbott talks to Charlene Weisler about Independent Networks, such as Hallmark, in this 4:32 minute video:

 

Charlene Weisler interviews Crown Media CEO Bill Abbott who discusses Hallmark programming in this 7:20 minute video:

Crown Media CEO Bill Abbott talks to Charlene Weisler about research and data in this 5:18 minute video:

In this final video, Charlene Weisler asks Bill Abbott to comment on DVRs, Smart TVs and the overall media landscape in this 6:15 minute video:

Q&A Interview with Liz Janneman - OvationTV

Liz Janneman not only speaks fluent Dutch, she is also a very effective senior sales executive for OvationTV. Her background spans local to national and agency to network. She started in the business at a rep firm before moving into the agency side of the business in local and then in national cable buying. She talks about buying networks according to their “brand essence” before there was Nielsen measurement for cable. She eventually moved into cable television to Turner and is currently at Ovation TV where she is the senior sales executive for the company.

Ovation TV, which is a personal favorite of mine, is the only arts-oriented cable network available to subscribers. And yet, Time Warner Cable has decided to drop Ovation from its line-up effectively shutting out the arts network in major cities like New York and Los Angeles. According to the TWC customer service people I have spoken to about the network, they dropped Ovation without adding any suitable replacement in that tier, effectively lowering the value of their service to their subscribers.

In this interview, Liz talks about the impact of the Time Warner decision, the importance of arts for communities, the challenges of independent cable networks to survive when competing for channel space with multi-network corporations and the future for media based on the current business models.

The five videos of the interview are as follows:

Subject                                    Length (in minutes)

Background and Measurement      (11:30)

Ovation and Independent nets    (10:58)

Time Warner Cable                    (8:47)

Value of Arts, Social Media       (5:56)

Predictions                               (2:40)

Charlene Weisler interviews Ovation TV's EVP Sales Liz Janneman about her background and measurement of media in this 11:30 minute video:

Liz Janneman of Ovation TV talks to Charlene Weisler about Ovation and the challenge for smaller independently owned networks to gain (and hold) MVPD coverage. This fascinating video is 10:58 minutes:

Charlene Weisler talks to Liz Janneman specifically about TIme Warner Cable's decision to drop the only arts-oriented cable network from its footprint. Learn more in this 8:47 minute video:

What is the value of the arts in society and why is it so important to have accessible arts programming as part of an MSOs franchise agreement with a municipality? Charlene Weisler asks Liz Janneman of Ovation to talk about the arts and its value in this 5:56 minute video:

Liz Janneman shares her predictions for Ovation and media in general with Charlene Weisler in this 2:40 minute video: