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In an industry where seismic shifts occur on a daily basis, the Paley Center Media Council is both catalyst and neutral forum, facilitating discussions on pressing topics that span all areas of the industry, including technology, creative content, and journalism. [more]
Its global reach and extraordinary convening authority enable it to host a broad spectrum of gatherings—including Roundtable Breakfasts, Boardroom Luncheons, Dialogues, Panel Discussions, an Innovators Series, and other Special Events—at its distinctive locations in New York City and Los Angeles.
Founded in 2002, the Media Council assembles these gatherings for the benefit of its members—senior executives and key decision-makers in media companies and related industries, who are visionaries in their own right. Membership is limited and available by invitation only. To find out if you qualify for membership, call 212-621-6732. [close]
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Upcoming Events
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September Events
For four decades, Michael Eisner has been a leader in the American entertainment industry. He began his career at ABC, where he helped take the network from number three to number one in primetime, daytime and children’s television with such landmark shows as Happy Days; Barney Miller; Rich Man, Poor Man; and Roots. In 1976, he became president of Paramount Pictures, turning out hit films such as Raiders of the Lost Ark, Saturday Night Fever, Grease, and Terms of Endearment.
In 1984 Michael assumed the position of chairman and chief executive officer of The Walt Disney Company and, in the ensuing twenty-one years, transformed it from a film and theme park company with $1.8 billion in enterprise value into a global media empire valued at $80 billion.
In 2005, Michael began the “next act” of his career, by founding the Tornante Company; a privately held company that makes investments and incubates companies and opportunities in the media and entertainment space. Through the Tornante Company, he created Vuguru, a new media studio that produces world class content for the internet and emerging digital platforms.
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As president and CEO of the world’s leading entertainment content company, Philippe Dauman oversees approximately 160 channels and 325 online properties in 160 countries and territories around the globe. From the classic laughs of Nick at Nite and TV Land to the pop culture playgrounds of MTV and VH1 to the stand-up hijinks of Comedy Central, Viacom engages audiences on television, motion picture, and digital platforms through many of the world’s best known entertainment brands. Prior to his current role, Dauman was cofounder, cochairman, and CEO of DND Capital Partners, LLC, a private equity firm specializing in media and telecommunications investments. He also served in several positions at Viacom, including deputy chairman and executive vice president. He has served on the company’s board of directors since 1987 and is a director of National Amusements. Dauman is also a Paley Center trustee and serves on the Dean’s Council of Columbia University Law School, where he earned his law degree in 1978.
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Providence Equity Partners, founded in 1989, has become the world’s leading private equity firm focused on media, entertainment, communications, and information investments. At its helm is CEO Jonathan Nelson, a graduate of Brown University and Harvard Business School, who serves on the boards of directors of Hulu, MGM, Univision Communications, Warner Music Group, YES Network, and Bresnan Communications. He was the founder and managing director of Narragansett Capital Inc. and currently oversees the firm’s $22 billion in equity commitments and its investments in over 100 companies across the globe.
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Media Council Series Sponsors
NY Roundtable Breakfasts: Booz Allen Hamilton
NY Boardroom Luncheons: BMO Capital Markets
LA Roundtable Breakfasts: McKinsey & Co.
Innovators: Accenture
Table of Contents
Journalism in the Service of Democracy Summit, Sponsored by Carnegie Corporation of New York
January 8-9, 2008
(Click on panels for more info)
Moderator: David Westin, President, ABC News
Participants:
Vartan Gregorian, President, Carnegie Corporation of New York
Alberto Ibarguen, President and CEO, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
Bill Keller, Executive Editor, The New York Times
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Moderator: Geoffrey Sands, Director & Leader, Global Media Entertainment, McKinsey & Co.
Participants:
Amanda Bennett, Executive Editor/Enterprise, Bloomberg News
Jim Kennedy, Vice President and Director of Strategic Planning, The Associated Press
Betsy Morgan, CEO, The Huffington Post
John Stack, Vice President, Newsgathering, Fox News
Jim Willse, Editor, The Star-Ledger
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Moderator: David Doss, Senior Executive Producer, Anderson Cooper 360
Participants:
Jon Alpert, Co-Founder and Co-Director, DCTV
Steve Grove, News & Politics Editor, YouTube
Christof Putzel, Correspondent/Producer, Vanguard Journalism, Current TV
Paul Steiger, President and Editor-in-Chief, ProPublica
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Recent Events
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Breakfast with Andrea Wong, President & CEO, Lifetime Networks
June 10, 2008
Video clip to come
Andrea Wong was named president and CEO, Lifetime Networks, in April 2007. Known for her broad scope of television experience, expertise in programming and her ability to identify and deliver on distinct brands, Ms. Wong oversees all the day-to-day operations for Lifetime Television, Lifetime Movie Network, Lifetime Real Women and Lifetime Digital (and myLifetime.com), including advertising sales, distribution, research, programming, public affairs, marketing, business and legal affairs, and strategic planning and operations. Under her leadership, Lifetime Networks reached a groundbreaking partnership with The Weinstein Company that will move cable's top reality series, the Peabody Award-winning and Emmy Award-nominated Project Runway, to the top network for women beginning in November 2008 with the premiere of season six. Lifetime Television and Lifetime Movie Network are far and away the top two women's networks. Lifetime Television finished 2007 as the number one basic cable network in total day among both Women 18-49 and Women 25-54. Last year, Lifetime Movie Network--the only basic cable movie channel for women--finished for the fifth consecutive year as the number two women's network in both prime and total day.
Funding for the Roundtable Breakfast Series in Los Angeles provided by McKinsey & Co.
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Breakfast with Louis V. Gerstner, Jr., Chairman, The Carlyle Group
June 3, 2008
Video clip to come
An accomplished business executive and education advocate, Louis V. Gerstner, Jr., current chairman of The Carlyle Group, has held a number of prominent positions over the course of his notable career?including his most recent tenure as chairman and CEO of IBM from 1993 to 2002, where he is credited with the company?s successful transformation from a business in freefall to an industry leader. Previously, Gerstner served four years as chairman and COO of RJR Nabisco, Inc., and filled a number of executive roles at American Express Company, including president of the parent company and chairman and CEO of American Express Travel Related Services Company. Prior to that time, he was a director of McKinsey & Co., which he joined in 1965. Gerstner is a member of the advisory board of Sony Corporation and a director of the National Committee on United States-China Relations. He also serves as vice chairman of the boards of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the American Museum of Natural History. Gerstner was awarded the designation of honorary Knight of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in June 2001 for his accomplishments in the public education and business arenas. He is the author of Who Says Elephants Can't Dance: Leading a Great Enterprise through Dramatic Change, a memoir about his time at IBM.
Funding for the Roundtable Breakfast Series in New York provided by Booz Allen Hamilton
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Lunch with Doug Lebda, President & COO, IAC
May 28, 2008
Doug Lebda is president and chief operating officer of IAC and serves in the Office of the Chairman and will become chairman & CEO, financial services and real estate of IAC after the company is reconfigured. He joined IAC in 2003, where he oversees 20,000 employees in twenty-eight countries and more than sixty brands, including such household names as Ticketmaster, Match.com, HSN, and Evite, among others. During his nine-year tenure at LendingTree, he led the company through a successful IPO, five acquisitions, and expansion into the consumer real estate category, and he grew the business to more than $300 million in revenue. Prior to LendingTree, Lebda worked as an auditor and consultant for PriceWaterhouseCoopers. He serves on the board of directors of Eastman Kodak Company and the Darden School Foundation board of trustees at the University of Virginia.
Funding for the Boardroom Luncheon Series in New York provided by BMO Capital Markets
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Breakfast with Jeremy Allaire, Chairman & CEO, Brightcove
May 21, 2008
Video clip to come
With an innovative vision for the transformation of television through the Internet, Jeremy Allaire founded Brightcove in 2004. As chairman and CEO, he heads up the company?s technology, marketing, and business development strategy. Prior to founding Brightcove, Allaire worked as a technologist and entrepreneur-in-residence for the venture capital firm General Catalyst. He was previously the chief technology officer of Macromedia, where his work contributed to the evolution of Macromedia Flash into a dominant platform for rich media applications on the Internet. Allaire joined Macromedia during its merger with Allaire Corporation?a pioneer in using the web as an application platform.
Funding for the Roundtable Breakfast Series in New York provided by Booz Allen Hamilton
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Lunch with Steve Koonin, President, Turner Entertainment Networks
May 13, 2008
As the driving force behind the successful rebranding of top cable networks TNT ("We Know Drama") and TBS ("Very Funny"), Steve Koonin clearly has his finger on the pulse of the viewing public. During his tenure as president of Turner Entertainment Networks, Koonin has also ramped up the production of original series programming on the two networks, scoring big with The Closer (ad-supported cable?s highest-rated series of all time) and Saving Grace (ad-supported cable?s highest-rated series launch for the year-to-date). Additional hits include Tyler Perry?s House of Payne, The Bill Engvall Show, and My Boys. In October 2006, Turner Classic Movies (TCM) and Court TV (soon to become truTV) were added to Koonin?s portfolio. Prior to joining Turner Broadcasting, Koonin spent fourteen years at The Coca-Cola Company, serving as vice president of consumer marketing. In 1998, as vice president of Coca Cola?s sports and entertainment marketing division, he was named Sports Executive of the Year by Sports Business Journal.
Funding for the Boardroom Luncheon Series in New York provided by BMO Capital Markets
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MC Dialogue—Changing Business Models: What Happens Next
May 19, 2008
On May 19 at its Beverly Hills headquaters, the Paley Center convened Changing Business Models: What Happens Next, a Dialogue examining the impact that new technologies and emerging platforms are having on the historical revenue streams that have been the backbone of the entertainment industry throughout the 20th century. Moderated by Ron Grover, Los Angeles Bureau Chief for Business Week and sponsored by Deloitte, the conversation attracted more than a dozen industry leaders including Steve Mosko, president of Sony Pictures Television and Monica Karo, managing director, West Coast, OMD who with Ernie Del, partner, Del, Shaw Moonves, Tanaka, Finkelstein & Lezcano served as conveners. Other participants included Gordie Crawford, senior vice president of Capital Research and Management Company, Craig Hunegs, executive vice president, Warner Bros. Television and writer/producers Marshall Herskovitz and Steve Levitan.
Funding for this event provided by Deloitte
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With reported worldwide revenues of over $5.5 billion in 2007 and approximately 8,000 stores throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Australia, Blockbuster Inc. is one of the world's leading providers of in-home movie and game entertainment-and Jim Keyes aims to keep it that way. A record-setting leader and twenty-one year veteran of 7-Eleven Inc., Keyes joined Blockbuster last year as chairman and CEO, bringing with him a slate of thirty-six consecutive quarters of revenue growth at 7-Eleven and a profit of $106 million in his last full year as head. He served as president and CEO of 7-Eleven from 2000 to 2005, and prior to that time held a variety of positions, including CFO and EVP and COO. Keyes serves on a number of civic boards, including the national board of governors of the American Red Cross, and is a recipient of the Horatio Alger Award and the founder of the Education is Freedom foundation.
Funding for the Roundtable Breakfast Series in New York provided by Booz Allen Hamilton
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Breakfast with David Bonderman, Founding Partner, Texas Pacific Group
May 6, 2008
David Bonderman is a founding partner of TPG. TPG makes significant investments in operating companies through acquisitions and restructurings across a broad range of industries throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. TPG and its affiliates have more than $40 billion of capital under management. Portfolio companies controlled by TPG have combined revenues of over $115 billion, operate in over 120 countries and employ more than 580,000 people. Among the portfolio companies of TPG and its principals are: J. Crew; Burger King; PETCO; Freescale Semiconductor; Debenhams; Seagate Technology; Ryanair; MEMC; Shenzhen Development Bank and Raffles Holdings, Ltd.
Prior to forming TPG in 1992, Mr. Bonderman was chief operating officer of the Robert M. Bass Group, Inc. (now doing business as Keystone, Inc.) in Fort Worth, Texas.
Funding for the Roundtable Breakfast Series in Los Angeles provided by McKinsey & Co.
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MC Panel—Plotting the Placement: Branded Entertainment and the Creative Process
April 23, 2008
Video clip to come
This panel, which is part of an ongoing series of forums on critical challenges and opportunities across the media landscape, will focus on the evolving roles product integration and product placement are playing in content. As traditional media companies adjust their business and advertising models and new technologies and platforms change the way content is consumed, developing new revenue streams is crucial. Branded entertainment has become a billion-dollar business over the last few years, and we?ll look to explore the risks and strategies of product integration.
Stuart Elliot, Advertising Columnist for The New York Times will moderate this Panel.
Panelists include: Allison Tarrant, Senior Vice President, Integrated Sales & Marketing, The CW; Eric Schrier, Senior Vice President, Original Programming, FX; John Shea, Executive Vice President, Integrated Marketing & Brand Partnerships, MTV Networks; Justin Wilkes, Vice President, Media & Entertainment Radical Media; Peter Geary, EVP, BBDO; and Stephanie Savage, Executive Producer, Gossip Girl.
Funding for this event provided by Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation
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Some of the world?s best-known music, film, and TV companies have experienced the leadership of veteran music and media business executive Roger Faxon, who most recently became chairman and sole CEO of EMI Music Publishing in April 2007, succeeding Marty Bandier. Faxon had previously served in a number of senior roles at the company, including president and COO of EMI Music Publishing, CFO and executive director of EMI Group, and EVP and CFO of EMI Music Publishing. Prior to entering the music business, he was based in London as COO of Sotheby?s North and South America and then as CEO of Sotheby?s Europe. Throughout the1980s, Faxon held several posts in the film and TV industries, including the role of EVP and COO of LUCASFILM Ltd, where he guided the company?s operational affairs?including the motion pictures Raiders of the Lost Ark, Return of the Jedi, and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
Funding for the Roundtable Breakfast Series in New York provided by Booz Allen Hamilton
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David Kenny is chairman and CEO of Digitas. Earlier this year when Publicis Groupe acquired Digitas, Kenny became a member of Publicis' executive committee, the P12, where he leads Publicis' overall digital and interactive strategy. Kenny has been CEO of the Internet marketing specialist since 1997. Digitas helps global brands develop, engage, and profit from their customers through digital relationships. Previously David was a partner, and eventually senior partner, of the global strategy consulting firm Bain & Company from 1991 to 1997. He was named to its Policy Committee in 1995 at the age of 33. Prior to his consulting career, David held marketing and strategy positions with General Motors Corporation. David holds a BS from the General Motors Institute (Kettering University) and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He is a board member for Teach For America and a director of The Corporate Executive Board.
Funding for the Roundtable Breakfast Series in New York provided by Booz Allen Hamilton
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Timothy J. Leiweke, recently selected by the Los Angeles Times as one of the hundred most influential people in southern California, serves as president & CEO of AEG, a collection of companies owned or operated by the organization considered to be one of the world?s leading presenters of sports and entertainment programming. Now in his twelfth year with the organization, Tim and has acquired or merged more than fifty divisions and companies whose alliances create a global live entertainment organization capable of developing, producing, promoting, marketing and managing sports and entertainment programming in both facilities owned and operated by AEG such as STAPLES Center, Sprint Center, The Home Depot Center, and Prudential Center.
Under Leiweke?s direction, AEG Development is currently focused on the creation of several multi-faceted sports and entertainment districts worldwide including L.A. LIVE, a 4 million square foot / $2.5 billion sports and entertainment district adjacent to STAPLES Center.
Funding for the Roundtable Breakfast Series in Los Angeles provided by McKinsey & Co.
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Sam Zell is the co-founder and chairman of Equity International. His investments span the finance, energy, transportation, communications, and real estate industries, and he maintains substantial interests in, and is the chairman of, five public companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange. In April 2007, Zell submitted a proposal to finance the sale of the Tribune Company to an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). Named to the Tribune board in May 2007, he will be appointed chairman upon close of the transaction. Zell is also the chairman of his private entrepreneurial investment firm, Equity Group Investments, which was the originator of three of the largest real estate investment trusts in the industry. He serves on the JPMorgan National Advisory Board; the Eurohypo International Advisory Board; the President?s Advisory Board at the University of Michigan; the Visitor?s Committee at the University of Michigan Law School; and, with the combined efforts of the University of Michigan Business School, he established the Zell/Lurie Entrepreneurial Center. A native Chicagoan, Zell is a graduate of the University of Michigan and the University of Michigan Law School.
Funding for the Roundtable Breakfast Series in New York provided by Booz Allen Hamilton
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A notable force in the financial arena, Jim Cramer is the lively host of CNBC’s Mad Money and cofounder of TheStreet.com, where he serves as columnist and contributor. A graduate of Harvard Law School, Cramer started his own hedge fund in 1987, and helped create SmartMoney Magazine for Dow Jones. In 2000, he retired from active money management to embrace media full-time, including radio and television. He is a frequent contributor to New York Magazine and has been featured on 60 Minutes, Nightly News with Brian Williams, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, and Today. Cramer is the author of Confessions of a Street Addict; You Got Screwed; Jim Cramer’s Real Money; Jim Cramer’s Mad Money; and Jim Cramer’s Stay Mad for Life.
Funding for the Roundtable Breakfast Series in New York provided by Booz Allen Hamilton
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The Innovators Series salutes those whose contributions have left an indelible mark on our world and helped redefine the media industry. Robert L. Johnson revolutionized the business when he founded Black Entertainment Television (BET), the nation?s first and leading television network providing quality entertainment, music, news, sports, and public affairs programming for the African-American audience. Under Johnson?s leadership as chairman, BET became the first African-American-owned company to be publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. In 2000, he sold BET to Viacom for approximately $3 billion and remained the Chief Executive Officer through 2005. As owner of the Charlotte Bobcats NBA Franchise and the WNBA Charlotte Sting, Johnson was also the first African-American to become the majority owner of a professional sports organization when he was approved by the NBA Board of Governors in January 2003. Currently, Johnson serves as the founder and chairman of The RLJ Companies?an innovative business network that provides strategic investment and direction in and for a diverse portfolio of companies in the financial services, real estate, hospitality/restaurant, professional sports, film production, gaming, and recording industries.
Funding for this event provided by Accenture
View Conversations with Michael Eisner website
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Harry Sloan was named to the post of chairman and CEO of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM) in October of 2005. He has invested in MGM to become part of the ownership group, which includes four private equity firms and two media companies. Mr. Sloan brings extensive leadership and investment experience in the media and entertainment industries. He has invested in and headed three media companies: SBS Broadcasting, Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., and New World Entertainment. Most recently, he was executive chairman of SBS Broadcasting, a leading European media company, which he founded in 1990. After starting SBS in 1990, Mr. Sloan built the company into the second largest broadcaster in Europe with sixteen television stations, twenty-one premium pay channels and eleven radio networks, reaching 100 million people across Europe. He led the Company?s initial public offering in 1993. In 1999, SBS became the largest shareholder of Lions Gate Entertainment. Lions Gate has since become a premier independent producer and distributor of motion pictures, television programming, home entertainment, and video-on-demand content. Its film library is one of the largest in the industry. Mr. Sloan was chairman of the Board of Lions Gate until April 2005.
Funding for the Roundtable Breakfast Series in Los Angeles provided by McKinsey & Co.
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MC Dialogue—Face Off: Finding Common Ground in Today's Sports Media Landscape
November 14, 2007
This Dialogue focused on how the traditional relationship between the sports and media industries is being redefined as new distribution platforms emerge, economic needs change, and consumer tastes shift. Issues ranging from rights fees and a la carte carriage to media access, media ownership of sports properties, and the impact of new technologies were explored with the ultimate goal of determining how sports and media can strengthen their partnership, where the biggest challenges lie, and what is needed from each side to move forward. Additionally, the discussion covered how the media has altered its coverage of sports stories, particularly those involving controversy, and whether media accurately reflects the attitudes and views of the public.
Participants included NBA Commissioner David Stern and NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman. Neal Pilson, president of Pilson Communications and former president of CBS Sports moderated.
Funding for this dialogue is generously provided by Bank of America.
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Magazine maven Cathie Black has been in the media industry for four decades and has broken many a glass ceiling ? as head of USA Today, the nation's first four-color daily newspaper, and as the first woman to become publisher of a weekly consumer magazine, New York. Currently, at Hearst she oversees nineteen US magazines that include juggernauts like Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, and O, The Oprah Magazine. Now, Black adds author to her lengthy list of accomplishments, releasing Basic Black in October that will reveal how she has balanced her incredible business success with personal contentment.
Funding for this event provided by Booz Allen Hamilton
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As president of New Corporation's Fox Interactive Media, Peter Levinsohn is responsible for driving vision and strategy for the division that includes such category leading sites as MySpace, IGN Entertainment, FOXSports.com, RottenTomatoes, AskMen, AmericanIdol.com, and more. Together, these sites make up one of the largest and most-engaged audiences in a border-free online network that caters to consumers by giving them the platform and tools to express themselves, communicate with each other, and engage with the best music, TV, film, sports, information and more. Prior to taking the helm at Fox Interactive Media, Levinsohn, an eighteen year veteran of News Crop, was the president of both Fox Digital Media for the Fox Entertainment Group as well as Worldwide Pay Television and Video-on-Demand for Fox Filmed Entertainment.
Funding for the Roundtable Breakfast Series in Los Angeles provided by McKinsey & Co.
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Norm Pearlstine, former Time Inc. editor-in-chief and author of Off the Record: The Press, the Government and the War over Anonymous Sources, moderated this in-depth discussion looking at the relationship between the government and the media in wartime. Part two of a two-part series funded by the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation, this panel focused on the collision between investigative journalism, reporting methods and the government. Participants include Paul Steiger, editor-at-large and former managing editor of the Wall Street Journal; Robert Grenier, managing director, Kroll Inc. and a former CIA Counter-Terrorism Chief; Mary Louise Kelly, intelligence correspondent for National Public Radio; Adam Liptak, national legal correspondent for the New York Times; and James Goodale, founding partner, Debevoise & Plimpton.
Funding for this event provided by Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation
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Highlights from Past Seasons
(Click on each event for more info)
Past Seasons
2006-2007 Season Archive
 Printable 2006-2007 Season Schedule
Printable 2005-2006 Season Schedule
MC Newsletter
(Click on issue to download PDF)
Issue 3, November 2007 New issue
Issue 2, July 2007
Issue 1, April 2007
International Council Meeting 2007
(Click on each item to read or watch)
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