FOBTV

Speaker

Ben Keen

Mark Richer

Chief Analyst, IHS Screen Digest

Ben Keen has been instrumental in building Screen Digest into the world’s premiere research company focusing on the media and entertainment space. Through Ben’s leadership, Screen Digest has become the primary source of market analysis and strategic insight for many of the largest communications corporations in the US, Europe and Asia-Pacific. This leading position was reinforced through the acquisition of the foremost US analyst group in the field, Adams Media Research, which Ben now also directs.

In late 2010, Screen Digest was acquired by IHS Inc. along with the leading technology analyst firm iSuppli Corporation. Screen Digest and iSuppli have formed a new business unit within IHS responsible for tracking and analysing the entire TMT (technology, media and telecommunications) value-chain. Ben has been appointed Senior Vice President and Chief Analyst of the Media business unit within this combined operation.

As Chief Analyst, Mr Keen directs all IHS Screen Digest’s research and consultancy activities. He has overall responsibility for the hundreds of major research reports published by the company since 1997 and the ongoing continuous strategic Intelligence services supplied to more than 200 major clients, including Time Warner, Sony, ITV, Microsoft, NBC Universal, 20th Century Fox, Nintendo, BBC, Vodafone, Philips, The Walt Disney Company, Deutsche Telekom, Paramount Pictures, Cisco, Electronic Arts, Discovery Networks, Kodak, BT, JP Morgan, MTV, and Apple.

Under Ben’s management, Screen Digest has grown rapidly from 13 specialist analysts in 2003 to over 50 in 2011.

Renowned for his insight and vision, Ben is one of the most sought-after speakers on the international conference circuit. He has delivered over 500 presentations and lectures, including keynote addresses at many international conventions. Additionally, he has contributed articles to more than 20 different books, magazines and newspapers.

As an internationally recognised expert in the media and communications business, Ben’s services as a consultant and advisor are constantly in demand. Since 1988, he has been retained as an advisor to the British Screen Advisory Council, a government-industry liaison organisation that counts the elite of the UK media management amongst its membership. Recently Mr Keen has been an advisor to the CEO and Board of a leading TV technology manufacturer, and has consulted at board-level to a UK broadcaster Plc, a large entertainment retailer, a top 5 games publisher, a leading silicon vendor, a major public broadcaster, and the UK Film Council.

In 2009, he also became a guest lecturer at the National Film & TV School, the Cass Business School, and the Media Business School.

 


Keiichi Kubota

Mark Richer

Director-General, Japan Broadcasting Corporation Science and Technology Research Laboratories (NHK STRL), Japan

Keiichi Kubota joined Japan Broadcasting Corporation in 1976.Since August 1980, he had been with the Science and Technology Research Laboratories of NHK, working in the areas of satellite transmission systems of HDTV, signal processing for HDTV. From 1989 through 1993, he was the Senior Scientist at NHK's New York Office. During this period he participated in various HDTV standardization activities in SMPTE, ATSC, and the FCC Advisory Committee on ATV Service. In 1993, he was transferred to NHK Laboratories as the Senior Research Scientist, and later the Deputy Director of Advanced Television Systems Research Division, where he was in charge of research activities in digital coding of HDTV. In 1996 he was transferred to the Planning Division of the Engineering Administration Department where he was responsible for starting NHK's digital satellite broadcasting service. From 2001 through 2005, he was the Director of Planning and Coordination Division, and then the Deputy Director-General of the Laboratories. From 2005 through 2007 he was in charge of the nationwide rollout of NHK’s terrestrial digital broadcasting services serving as Engineering Controller for the Engineering Administration Department. Currently, he is the Director-General of the NHK Science and Technology Research Laboratories. He received his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Tokyo in 1976 and1987 respectively, and is a fellow of SMPTE and IEEE.

 


Mark Richer

Mark Richer

President, Advanced Television Systems Committee, Inc (ATSC), USA

Mark S. Richer is the President of the Advanced Television Systems Committee, Inc (ATSC). The ATSC is an international, non-profit organization developing voluntary standards for digital television. The ATSC member organizations represent the broadcast, broadcast equipment, motion picture, consumer electronics, computer, cable, satellite, and semiconductor industries. The ATSC DTV Standard has been adopted by the United States, Canada, Mexico, South Korea and Argentina.

Mr. Richer was Vice President & General Manager , CDS a division of Thomcast Communications (now Thales). While at Thomcast, he created and managed Comark Digital Services, providing consulting, design and turnkey services for broadcast television stations making the conversion to digital technology. He was also responsible for marketing, communications, strategic planning and business development for Thomcast Communications, including its Comark and Comwave subsidiaries.
Mr. Richer first joined the ATSC after 16 years with the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) where, as Vice President of Engineering & Computer Services, he was responsible for development of new technologies for PBS and its member stations, design of audio/video systems, and management of computer operations. He was instrumental in the development of technological innovations, including the Line 21 closed captioning for the deaf system for which PBS was awarded an Emmy for Engineering Development. He was also responsible for the selection and implementation of digital video compression and transmission technology and led PBS efforts in the area of digital and high definition television.

Prior to joining PBS in 1979, Mr. Richer worked in various engineering positions in both commercial and instructional television as well as for a major video/film production facility. Mr. Richer served as Chairman of the System Subcommittee Working Party on Test and Evaluation for the FCC Advisory Committee on Advanced Television Service. In this position, he was responsible for testing proponent ATV systems, including that of the digital HDTV Grand Alliance. He is a Fellow of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and serves on the Board of Directors of the ATSC Forum. Mr. Richer has been profiled in Worth and Broadcasting & Cable magazines.

Mr. Richer was chairman of the Cable Television Advisory Commission for the City of Alexandria, Virginia from 1994-1995. He holds two patents, and has a Bachelor of Science degree from the Rochester Institute of Technology.

 


Lieven Vermaele

Mark Richer

Technical Director, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), EU

Lieven Vermaele began his career at VRT, the Belgian, Flemish, broadcaster, where he worked on the broadcaster's digital roadmap with a focus on transmission, ICT, digital radio and television and new media projects. In particular, he played a key role in developing and planning the digital future of VRT.
After six years with VRT, he moved to Alcatel-Lucent, from where he now joins the EBU.

Lieven Vermaele was born in Gent (Belgium) in 1975. He obtained his “Master of Science in Engineering” from the University of Gent, and pursued several post-graduate studies.

 


Wenjun Zhang

Mark Richer

Chief Scientist, National Engineering Research Center of Digital Television (NERC-DTV), China

Dr. Wenjun Zhang received the B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electronic engineering from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China, in 1984, 1987 and 1989, respectively and is a fellow of IEEE.

From 1990 to 1993, He worked as a post-doctoral fellow at Philips Kommunikation Industrie AG in Nuremberg, Germany, where he was actively involved in developing HD-MAC system. He joined the Faculty of Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 1993 and became a full professor in the Department of Electronic Engineering in 1995. As the project leader, he successfully developed the first Chinese HDTV prototype system in 1998. He was one of the main contributors to the Chinese Digital Television Terrestrial Broadcasting Standard issued in 2006. He holds more than 37 patents and published more than 90 papers in international journals and conferences.

Prof. Zhang’s main research interests include digital video coding and transmission, multimedia semantic processing and intelligent video surveillance. He is the vice president for Research of Shanghai Jiao Tong University and the Chief Scientist of the Chinese Natioanal Engineering Research Centre of Digital Television, an industry/government consortium in DTV technology research and standardization.