Set Top Box 2008 + Interface 2008

October 7 - Set Top Box 2008 Sessions
8:00 - 9:00	Registration and Breakfast
9:00 - 9:45	Keynote: Loving TV: What Consumers Really Want from Consumer Electronics Genevieve Bell, Director of User Experience, Intel Digital Home - Intel Televisions are everywhere; and everyone has an opinion about them – we love them, we hate them, we cannot live without them. But over the last eighteen months, the television and its broader consumer electronics ecosystem has been subject to a new set of technical and technological forces. The arrival of the internet and an IP backbone, in a market meaningful way, signals the beginning of an era of genuinely connected consumer devices. For consumers this era holds great promise but also great peril. Take IPTV for instance. For IPTV to succeed, the consumer electronics industry must learn what IP services TV viewers really want – and which ones they will pay for; conversely they must also understand what it is about TVs that consumers really love and strive to honor and protect that. In this talk, a TV-centric vision helps frame consumer aspirations, expectations and current practices that are critical to making a successful shift to a connected consumer electronics world.
9:45 - 10:30	Keynote : Media Mobility - Accelerating the Delivery of Personalized Experiences" Ray Sokola, Chief Technology Officer, Home and Networks Mobility Business - Motorola With the early days of the Internet, along came search engines and Web search technology. It solved a problem that most Web users didn’t yet know they had – that at some point, the Web would become so large and full of information that to navigate it, you would need a comprehensive, accurate way to search for the content you were looking for. Now, of course, Web search is in the bedrock of accessing the Web, and it also has built an entirely new business model – and ecosystem of business – around enabling people to search the ever-expanding Web. Expansion has become explosion, however, and we’re now dealing with unprecedented amounts of content not only on the Web, but in the other digital media experiences that are part of our lives – mobile, home entertainment, etc. YouTube has millions of videos. Your choices for news and daily content has never been larger, with millions of posts and stories created each day. Even your home cable service now has thousand of movies on-demand. As technologies like WiMAX make mobile wireless broadband a reality and untether the Web from the PC, we’re facing an entirely new question – it can’t just be about searching for content, content needs to be found. Ray Sokola, CTO of Motorola’s Home and Networks Mobility business, will discuss this concept of found and how it ultimately will harness a new user experience that delivers information and content you want, before you have even asked for it. With libraries of rich media content and the amount of information presented to us daily growing beyond manageable levels, the importance of the next step beyond search is ever more important. Sokola will present the issues that are powering the explosion of content and the need for a found solution, as well as the technologies that will power a personalized service to surface the content you’ll want the most, anytime, anywhere.
10:30 - 10:45	Break (Exhibits Open)
10:45 - 11:30	Donner Pass Ballroom
	Set-Top Box Evolution: Gateway, Command Center and Entertainment Server Ellis Lindsay, Alcatel-Lucent The role of the set top box has expanded beyond television, reaching out to all forms of content and services. As more devices become IP enabled, service providers should take a greater role in managing all aspects of the digital home. The future set top box or home gateway must provide appropriate capabilities for the service provider to deliver high quality experiences beyond just television. Attendees will learn why: 1. STBs are no longer just about television and must be IP enabled 2. Service providers should leverage their network management expertise into the home environment 3. Future STB/home gateways must enable service providers to deliver and manage rich services for the consumer
	Siskiyou Ballroom
	Television 2.0: Moving Toward Interactive, Personalized and Immersive Service Brian Henrichs, Vice President of Business Development, Telco Division - Actiontec The rise of triple and quad-play service opens the door to enhanced collaboration among television, voice, and data services. In the next-generation digital home, the television moves beyond its traditional entertainment programming to become the key platform and point of connection for new value-added and revenue-generating services. In this session, Brian Henrichs explores the potential of the new home gateway and television, focusing on key television-based applications such as: Cross-platform applications (photo slideshow on TV, Voice/video mail on the TV, TV online gambling, cross platform simultaneous gaming) Remote DVR programming (from mobile phone or office PC) Caller ID on TV, You Have Mail on TV Value-added television widgets including weather, traffic information, family calendar, home automation, select RSS feeds New personalized advertising applications
	Cascade Ballroom
	Enabling the UI Revolution Joseph Del Rio, Senior Product Line Manager, Cable Set-Top Box Products Broadband Communications Group - Broadcom This session will examine technology solutions for STBs to enable the next generation of rich, advanced user interface experiences using enhanced graphics, 3D navigation, immersive video and a host of other technologies. See first- hand how to develop and deploy the next generation of user interfaces on STBs.
11:30 - 11:45	Break (Exhibits Open)
11:45 - 12:30	Donner Pass Ballroom
	Beyond the Entertainment Network: The Lifestyle Package Shari Barnett, Director of Media Services, TV Business - Microsoft There was a day when phones, PCs, game systems, and music devices didn’t connect to the world. The TV is now, finally, becoming part of that connected universe -- but what does that mean for our beloved boob tube? How might TV, and the business of TV, evolve to take advantage of this sea change? Microsoft Mediaroom is building the underpinnings for that future and Shari Barnett will discuss the place the connected TV is and can take in our lives.
	Siskiyou Ballroom
	tru2way™ Applications and The Next Generation Set-Top Box Jaspal Bhasin, Chief Operating Office - itaas, Inc. Operators today are looking for ways to build wide scale deployments of new products and applications. All the while, developers are creating new interactive television applications and services, and set-top box manufacturers are placing their bets on a number of technologies to develop and deploy the next generation of set-top boxes. The three universes (operators, developers, and STB manufacturers), merge when operators attempt to accelerate interactive television application deployments using tru2way middleware that requires next generation STBs with more robust processing, memory and graphics rendering power –enabling true interactivity within video streams across millions of set top boxes worldwide. This presentation will draw on experience from collaborative industry efforts that follow the vision of making tru2way happen in the near future. It will explore tru2way developer programs that accelerate large-scale ITV application deployments. Additionally, the presentation will provide examples of tru2way applications such as cross platform tools that allow content portability from TV to mobile, internet feeds on the TV, games on demand TV, shopping applications, caller ID on TV, and more.
	Cascade Ballroom
	Advanced STB Applications -- Portable Media Player Synchronization & More Steve Francis, Chief Executive Office - Avtrex Transferring video content from a PC to a portable media player often requires complicated logistics and may require several steps to ensure that the result is encoded and packaged properly. If the content isn't on the PC, it's even harder. This presentation will describe a recent project to allow a PVR STB to sync content directly with a variety of portable devices, including industry-leading iPod's and the Play Station Portable. The discussion will delve into some of the design tradeoffs, hardware and software requirements, and DRM limitations of the process. The presentation will conclude with a short description of other advanced application features, including direct connection with web-cams for home security and remote access.
12:30 - 1:30	Lunch
1:30 - 2:15	Donner Pass Ballroom
	The Myth of the Future Proof Set Top Box Paul Kavanagh, General Manager - Silcion & Software Systems (S3) North America Abstract: A one-size fits all Set-Top Box? You were promised it 10 years ago, you are being promised it today, and you will still be waiting for it in 10 years time. Simply put, the magic bullet of a Future Proof STB is a myth. The way forward is smart system integration. This presentation will outline why it is believed that the structure of the broadcast industry and the technologies and business models underpinning it dictate against the emergence of a Future Proof STB. The presentation will examine the strategies the smartest industry players are adopting to minimize the consequences of this reality while maximizing the opportunities for service differentiation, increased ROI and early exploitation of creative business models.
	Siskiyou Ballroom
	The "Grand Unification" in Entertainment Networking Chano Gomez, Vice President for Technology and Strategic Partnerships - DS2 A "Grand Unification" trend is taking place in the home networking industry: three wired technologies that seemed completely different (powerline, phoneline and coaxial cable networking) are now being unified into a single technology (HomeGrid) capable of doing it all, carrying high-speed data over power lines, phone lines and coaxial cables. A single-PHY/single-MAC technology capable of operating over any wire has the potential to change dramatically the dynamics of the home networking industry, which for years has lagged behind Wi-Fi technology in terms of market share due to fragmentation. Once Service Providers, Equipment Manufacturers and Silicon Vendors standardize on a single PHY/MAC technology for all three wires, the market for wired networking is expected to increase exponentially. The speaker will provide an overview of current trends in standardization of wired technologies, with a focus on the unified HomeGrid/ITU-T G.HN technology. He'll offer a detailed technical analysis of how HomeGrid technology will provide a definitive solution for Service Providers that need to distribute HD video anywhere in the home.
	Cascade Ballroom
	The Future Box: Deploying the Truly Future-Proof STB Wilfred Martis, Director of Platform/Product Strategy & Planning, Digital Home Group - Intel The rapid pace of innovation in digital entertainment, interactive services, personalization and consumer expectations poses both challenges and opportunities to the service provider. Converged entertainment platforms are complex and sophisticated. They evolve quickly, and service providers are challenged with ensuring their technology strategies keep pace. Evolving codecs, delivery mechanisms, quality of service schemes, remote management, DRM, device support and security are all constantly evolving. Perpetually redeploying set-top boxes is not an economical option. This series of sessions will examine solutions from silicon providers, software vendors and platform OEMs which will help operators meet CPE cost requirements today while ensuring that the STB can scale with future consumer expectations and constantly evolving services
2:15 - 2:30	Lunch (Exhibits Open)
2:30 - 3:15	Donner Pass Ballroom
	Not Your Father's TV: Advancing and Enhancing the Viewing Experience Through Personalization Adolf Proidl, Founder and Chief Technology Officer, APRICO, a Technology Venture of Philips The digitization of television and video content led the way to a universe of video entertainment content, both from traditional linear sources (broadcast, cable, satellite) and more recent non-linear ones (video on demand, downloadable Internet content). Increasingly, consumers find that their ever more dynamic lifestyles fit less and less with the broadcaster schedule programming paradigm. This lack of fit is hammered home by modern society's emphasis on attention to the individual. The "one size fits all" approach to entertainment provision is rendered increasingly irrelevant by emerging services that allow consumers to "create their own entertainment network". Ten years after the Philips-TiVo product first enabled consumers to do this, it is time for the next quantum leap in the personalization of video entertainment. This session will explore the usability and technology issues that TV and its viewers grapple with in a changing entertainment environment, surveying solutions that have been around for some time and their effectiveness at addressing those issues. It will then present the results of more recent research into personalization at Philips, and examine its application towards a more personal television consumption experience.
	Siskiyou Ballroom
	Designing for Home Networking 2.0 William Simmelink, President - CopperGate Communications The media environment in the home is experiencing tremendous change and the next generation home network needs to support these new requirements. A new vision for the entertainment home network is emerging that satisfies the growing needs of service providers, OEMs and consumers -- at an ever-declining price. The speaker will outline the emerging new home entertainment applications, how Home Networking 2.0 will deliver high bandwidth, complete home coverage, self-installation by consumers and reveal a new architecture desired by service providers. You will discover how the combination of G.hn and iNIDs can deliver utility-level SLA performance, breakthrough reductions in deployment costs and enable exciting new applications and services. In addition, you will discover how to smoothly transition to this new environment.
	Cascade Ballroom
	What is “2.0”? David Allred, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Product Development - Sezmi Ever since Tim O’Reilly coined the phrase “Web 2.0” in 2004, people, companies and even entire industries have jumped on the “2.0” bandwagon. But what does it take to truly deliver the next generation set top box, or create a television or entertainment 2.0 experience? Legacy companies and dozens of new entrants in the television space all seek to answer this question; offering TV content online, online content on the TV, on-demand video, HDTV content, DVRs, etc. As with any industry breaking new ground, there aren’t any guidebooks or standards to lead the way, which may create a confusing landscape at times for consumers, but also creates numerous opportunities. Join Dave Allred, senior vice president of marketing and product development for Sezmi, as he explores how the Web reached Web 2.0 status and what similar technologies, advancements and features are required for the entertainment industry to tout “TV 2.0” status.
3:15 - 3:30	Break (Exhibits Open)
3:30 - 4:15	Donner Pass Ballroom
	Set Top Box Audio – Challenges and Opportunities Alan Kraemer - SRS Labs Audio system design for set top boxes is becoming more and more complex. With outputs supported that range from the RF modulator, to SP/DIF, to HDMI and with multi-channel content now commonly available, a number of use cases must be supported. At the same time the opportunity now exists to deliver added value next generation audio that can render surround sound through standard stereo TV audio systems, and that can improve the consumer’s experience while reducing trouble calls to the MSO’s by normalizing volume across channels or between program and commercials. Mr. Kraemer will discuss these advanced audio signal processing techniques as they apply to set top boxes.
	Siskiyou Ballroom
	Leveraging the Data Management Layer: Building Efficiency and Extensibility Into Electronic Programming Guide Software Steve Graves, President and CEO, McObject Set-top box software architectures vary by manufacturer, but in general have evolved into a complex layout that includes hardware interface layers, operating system, middleware and applications. Critical to nearly all such designs is an electronic programming guide (EPG) application that stores programming information, including program descriptions, schedules, ratings, user configuration information such as favorite channel lists, and multimedia content. The EPG, more than any other software component, adds a data management challenge to the design of digital receivers. This presentation looks at the smart—and increasingly common—practice of “future-proofing” STB software designs by integrating a data management middleware layer, often in the form of an off-the-shelf database system. In addition to facilitating EPGs’ extension and maintenance, this approach supports optimal data designs, transactions and data integrity, and often proves critical in minimizing the impact of data management tasks on performance and on RAM and CPU usage. The use of an embedded database in STB middleware can enable development of one EPG application for use across multiple hardware platforms, supporting diskless and disk-based designs and various CPU architectures, thereby avoiding significant coding, testing and QA tasks.
	Cascade Ballroom
	The Set Top Box as Fusion of TV and OTTP Content Dr. Ken Morse - Cisco As the cable video architecture evolves, it will go well beyond the current Digital Broadcast, Switched Digital Video, and Video on Demand offerings. The next set of cable video architectures, through the addition of end-to-end IP video delivery, will open up an opportunity for the service provider to address the use of Over-The-Top Premium (OTTP) content and how to drive incremental revenue from offering it. Instead of current solutions that require a subscriber to switch between different applications and devices to access the full range of broadcast, premium on-demand, and OTTP content, these video architectures will provide the ability to seamlessly blend all forms of content into a compelling user experience In addition, service providers will be able to leverage their next-generation wireline and wireless communications capabilities to introduce a set of unprecedented social networking capabilities, further enhancing the value of their converged entertainment services. This presentation will consider all the benefits and deployment scenarios for the use and integration of Over-The-Top Premium Content in the coming years, as well as current development challenges with existing technology. It will also discuss the unique opportunity that service providers have to leverage their unique collection of assets and deliver on the full promise of convergence.
4:15 - 4:30	Break (Exhibits Open)
4:30 - 5:15	Donner Pass Ballroom
	A is for Audio, V is for Video - So That Puts Audio First, Right? Simon Woollard, Applications Engineer, Prism Sound The transition to high definition formats in digital video broadcast and playback has been largely marketed as an opportunity to offer increased programming choice and improved video performance to the consumer. Audio performance has received less attention. Similarly, for emerging set top box technologies, the marketing focus has largely been on increased functionality and interoperability. Does this mean that the mass market is unlikely to respond to the promise of improved audio quality afforded by new AV technologies? Is the consumer destined to respond only to the most tangible benefits of these technologies such as pixel count, number of channels and cross-platform functionality? Or, as TV, music, gaming, communication and the surround sound experience increasingly converge, demanding a common hardware platform, is the current AV and HD revolution the opportunity for set top box manufacturers to market superior sound quality to the consumer to leverage the next generation of products? This presentation aims to debate these questions, and to illustrate that with modern audio analysis tools and off-the-shelf silicone, high performance audio delivery does not have to mean a higher cost to the consumer. Audio performance will thus be proposed as a key differentiating factor in the rapidly evolving and highly competitive set top box market.
	Siskiyou Ballroom
	IP-STBs: Enabling High-Quality, Affordable Video Services Ken Lowe, Vice President, Strategic Marketing - Sigma Designs While cable and satellite infrastructures may still dominate in the U.S., telcos are gaining significant momentum in IPTV, with the help of software and chip companies, in bringing a high-quality and affordable TV/video service to market. IPTV, although still viewed in its early stages, is right on the cusp of reaching its tipping point. Companies such as Sigma Designs are leading the charge and providing their set-top box customers, new ways to reduce costs and improve the performance of their IPTV service deployments. Ken Lowe of Sigma Designs, the company whose SoC (system on a chip) supports approximately 80% of all IPTV set-top boxes, as well as 24 of the largest telco operators worldwide, can speak candidly about how lower overall system costs can provide a substantially improved value proposition for the burgeoning IPTV market, share lessons learned from the early days of IPTV and also talk about the challenges and opportunities IPTV is facing in the U.S.
	Cascade Ballroom
	Set Top Box's Role in Emerging and Innovative Applications Aaron Claessens, Global Strategic Manager for IPTV - UT Starcom Although the United States may have just received approval to proceed with plans for network DVR (nDVR) service, many countries such as India and China have long relied on nDVR capabilities to enable the advanced, interactive IPTV service and applications that have allowed their operators to gain an edge over the competition. However, while many people are questioning the viability of the set top box in an nDVR world, Aaron Claessens, global strategic technology manager for IPTV at UTStarcom, can talk about how set top boxes still factor significantly into the enablement of emerging interactive applications on a nDVR system. Despite a likely shift to a more centralized nDVR storage architecture, set top boxes still play a critical role in powering the overall experience and user interface. Set top boxes serve as the primary access point from which subscribers can search and select content from the television, DVR and Web, as well as set up personalized experience profiles that enable them to interact through live television polling and voting during shows; compete with neighbors and other subscribers in TV-based karaoke and gaming; and complete their education with IPTV-based distance learning programs. The set top box plays a critical role in the enablement of emerging applications and the user management of all integrated services. Aaron can explain how service providers must still leverage and rely on the set top box to deliver innovative new television applications and provide real-life nDVR/set top box implementation examples from some of the most competitive interactive television markets in the world.


October 8 - Interface 2008 Sessions
9:00 - 9:45	Keynote: The New World of Connected TV: Are You Ready? Joe Seidel, Director Global Partner Ecosystem for TV Business, Microsoft Technology innovation continues to change the landscape of digital TV, where price and STB processing power are no longer sufficient differentiators for TV service providers. Today’s Internet-savvy consumers are looking for more connected experiences that bring together their digital devices and services in new and simplified ways. This is now possible with the TV becoming connected not just to the broadband network, but to a new array of connected devices. TV is becoming a personalized statement of lifestyle—one that requires digital entertainment on demand, from any device, anywhere. This presentation will introduce how software is changing the game and enabling a new world of connected TV enhanced by dynamic Web-based content. You will learn about the experiences and best practices from services providers who are rolling out connected TV services and applications, as well as the implications for chipset, device and content providers.
9:45 - 10:30	Are You Designing a Product Your Users Will Love? Margret Schmidt, Vice President, User Experience Design & Research - TiVO Users LOVE content — it is the reason they are using your set-top box. Does your design process lead to the creation of an experience that helps users discover and enjoy the content that is right for them? Do you acknowledge the role of the family and co-viewing in the living room and their individual needs for content? Learn from TiVo, the most-loved set top box on the planet, how to create a culture of user-centered design that leads to user passion and excitement for your products — when you focus on what the users want most: content.
10:30 - 10:45	Break
10:45 - 11:30	Donner Pass Ballroom
	Making the User Interface Pay: How Operators Globally are Using UI for Service Differentiation Justin Hewlet, Director - PayMedia Consulting Group Around the world, the fortunes of Pay TV operators are being defined in part by the user experience they offer their customers. Design, Performance and Available Features are some of the criteria separating the winners from the losers in an increasingly competitive home entertainment market. Justin will showcase best practice examples in user interface design from around the world, identify some of the success factors and outline the challenges Cable, Satellite, DTT and IPTV providers are likely to face going forward.
	Siskiyou Ballroom
	The Money Making Program Guide Steve Shannon, Executive Vice President of Product Development - Macrovision As new cable and set top boxes flood the market, opportunities for differentiation and new revenue models will flourish. After two decades of false starts, TVs and STBs are going through a fundamental transition from broadcast receivers to client-server devices that will deliver Internet business models to the living room. However, the use cases between TVs and PCs are fundamentally different, and our challenge will be to deliver true mainstream consumer value. One thing we do know is that, as perhaps the most heavily used class of software in the world, the television program guide is the right place to start innovating. In this session, Steve Shannon will discuss how the program guide is key to driving revenue streams whether you are an operator, manufacturer, content provider, or advertiser. He will discuss how the program guides will evolve into living room Internet portals and will show how they can be personalized to deliver the most relevant content. Steve will also explain the program guide advertising opportunity and ways that even the traditional grid-based program guide can be used to promote Internet video and other rich content.
	Cascade Ballroom
	Future Proofing the STB- for the YouTube Generation and Beyond ARM and Adobe Consumers want an easy, intuitive manner to configure the TV, search a Program Guide, choose/personalize content, and select programs for viewing. This is applicable to broadcast TV services, VOD, and to content streamed over the Internet. From HD sports programming to User-generated video sharing, the STB and TV combination must display a huge range of video content. Adobe Systems announced in May, 2008, its Open Screen Project an industry collaborative initiative to accelerate the deployment of a consistent runtime across devices, including desktops, mobile phones, TVs, and other Consumer Electronics devices. Adobe's technology will not only enhance the User Experience, but also permit the TV to display the myriad of Internet-based video content. ARM is a key consortium partner in the Adobe Open Screen Project. ARM offers its System-on-a-Chip CPU and 3D Graphics acceleration technology to semiconductor companies and STB OEMs to provide low cost, low power, and high performance processing power to STBs and digital TVs, that enable the maximum capability of Adobe’s software. This includes the capacity to render 3D graphics onto the TV, mimicking the desktop computer experience, and the capability to provide much greater STB performance features, e.g., multiple HD programs decoding/recording, enhanced TV services, and engaging interactive and targeted advertising. In this session, see and hear how Adobe and ARM are making possible the convergence of TV, Internet, and telecommunication application services within one device.
11:30 - 11:45	Break
11:45 - 12:30	Donner Pass Ballroom
	Personal TV - How to Survive and Thrive in the New Video Democracy Ned Wiley, Managing Director - Axel Springer Digital TV Guide GmbH Television as a medium continues to evolve, with recent developments such as video-on-demand, downloadable and "non-linear" content accelerating changes in the viewing experience. Consumers are gaining progressively more control over when, where and how they watch an ever-growing universe of available content. This increasing democratization of television presents challenges and opportunities for advertisers, media outlets and system operators. This keynote addresses the continuing evolution of television and consumers' interaction with the medium. It explores the effects of these changes on advertising, and suggests ways all parties involved can adapt to benefit from this trend.
	Siskiyou Ballroom
	Integrating the Social Network Experience: Fad or Reality? Joe Flynn, Senior Product Marketing Manager - OpenTV “Definitely a reality,” says OpenTV. Today's viewers can be overwhelmed by the amount of content that is made available to them. In a world of hundreds of thousands, some times hundreds of millions of choices, we need powerful and effective interfaces to help viewers manage their viewing choices and find the content that's right for them. Today, OpenTV leverages the concept of social networking to filter the vast amounts of content and deliver relevant content to the viewer. Social networking is not just an industry buzz word, but a means to an end at the service of the viewer.
	Cascade Ballroom
	Where Does the STB Play in Device Convergence? Wade Vesey, North American Business Development - Movial Corporation In this session, Wade Vesey, head of North American business development, Movial Corporation, explores the evolving role of the STB as the multimedia hub in the home and as a communications vehicle. In order for the STB to command this central, core role, the development of an interface between STB, PCs and mobile devices is essential. Ensuring that STBs interact with other devices and is part of a converged and unified experience is critical to adoption and will mark its success within the coming next five years.
12:30 - 1:30	Lunch
1:30 - 2:15	Donner Pass Ballroom
	The Future of Content Discovery on TV: Adding Choices without Complexity Andy Addis - Executive Vice President, Marketing, Hillcrest Labs The volume of digital content choices –whether TV programming, movies, music, games, personal photos, or home videos -- keeps growing every day, as do the number of devices carrying that content into the living room (TV, DVR, set top boxes, media adapters, and game consoles). Despite the dramatic growth of innovation in digital content, the means by which people access and interact with this content has seen comparatively little innovation. For example, today's text-based TV guide grids and 50 button remote control will not scale when consumers are faced with the millions of available content choices. What next generation platforms will disrupt the digital living room as we know it? This presentation will discuss newly available technologies that bring a 3-D like user experience and motion-control based system to various CE platforms and service providers. These technologies enable consumers not only to browse and interact with digital content, but also to discover content choices that are typically hiding under layers of large volumes of digital media in the living room. Additionally, the presentation will highlight the importance of a consistent navigation experience when managing and interacting with digital media in the home.
	Siskiyou Ballroom
	Digital Experiences and Convergence - Enabling Consumer Interactivity and Personalized TV Albert Chu, Vice President, Marketing & Alliances, ACCESS Systems Americas, Inc. Over the past few years, we have seen significant advances in technologies and services available at the digital home. As communications, broadcast media and broadband entertainment are continuing to converge, a major shift has begun in the connected home environment. The integration of the television experience with the complete power of new end user technologies opens the door to not only an exclusive world of entertainment and information, it brings a next generation idea of full consumer interactivity within diverse experiences. Personalized television will forever change the consumer entertainment landscape and will open the door to a consumer with more and greater control over his or her environment. 2008 and 2009 will see tremendous growth in the areas of IPTV and set top boxes. In this presentation, Albert Chu will discuss the next generation home digital experience and how this will affect the consumer in the era of convergence. We will also examine how the convergence of technologies and platforms will impact future set top box developments.
	Cascade Ballroom
	Monetizing Interactive TV Steve Tranter, VP, Interactive and Broadband - NDS Americas As the TV viewing model continues to change for consumers, what works and what doesn’t when trying to engage a viewer more deeply through the use of interactive TV? What business models make sense, and make money? Here we’ll explore three key methods of engagement and evaluate the models they offer: Advertising: Based on information NDS has gleaned from deploying interactive ads over numerous platforms around the world for the last 7 years, we’ll show the methods used and success rates of this interactive advertising approach. Many of these platforms, such as the BskyB platform, highlight many capabilities that can successfully translated to the US and show how these can be implemented without cannibalizing existing advertising revenue. Importance of Brands: How do brands translate for interactivity and what is their importance in capturing consumers? Here we’ll discuss how enhanced TV applications and brands can successfully be used to reduce churn and increase viewership. The Internet: How do you use community and user-generated content as a tool for aiding consumers in discovering content that is meaningful and personal? Here we’ll examine how Internet content can be used to supplement broadcast viewing content, extend brand presence and bring content via the broadband experience to consumers via the TV. For platform operators and content providers, this session will provide a great overview of how to move forward building a meaningful interactive program, one step at a time, that will engage and not overwhelm consumers and advertisers.
2:15 - 2:30	Break
2:30 - 3:15	Donner Pass Ballroom
	The Operational Roadmap for Creating New Advertising Driven Business Models TM Forum Service providers of all kinds are looking toward “personalized advertising” as an important incremental revenue stream. But what is actually needed to make that new business model real? On the front end, to personalize advertising, you need to understand your customer which means drawing in customer characteristics, subscription profiles, device information, usage pattern details and more to create customer profiles. Once advertising is inserted into the customers service, a new range of operational concerns need to be addressed. Billing is impacted, as service prices may decline when ads are included. Partners need to be paid across the value chain for their role in the ad. And success needs to be measured. . In this talk, you will learn about these operational challenges and how the TM Forum is bringing players across the value chain together to drive profitability through industry-driven solutions.
	Siskiyou Ballroom
	Making Personalized TV a Business Reality David Price - Harmonic Inc. IPTV is the provisioning of video programming targeted at a television display using Internet protocols to provide addressable delivery, and has now been widely adopted by DSL service providers around the world. How does this compete with other forms of “television”? It cannot and should not try to compete just on price and it cannot rely on an initial surge of subscribers that are disenchanted with their existing providers as these represent a limited market and represent a higher likelihood for churn. The magic ingredient has to be quality of service (in the truest sense), choice of programming and a truly personalized experience. This presentation develops ideas based on the real life experience gained with more than 100 leading Telco service providers and how the stage is now set for the transition from the cpm advertising model. We will consider the technological, commercial and legal challenges that must be tackled by any successful operator in this space.
	Cascade Ballroom
	The New Frontier: Going Beyond Video and Television Chris Ruff, CEO and President, UIEvolution Delivering the next generation of services requires continually evolving the user experience through design, content management and target devices. As the industry moves beyond EPG and video to interactive media, user generated content and ecommerce, technology flexibility and speed to market will separate successful service providers from their competitors. Efficiently delivered and managed multimedia services and rich interfaces increase consumer adoption. The consumer of today is looking for simple, consistent and intuitive navigation in technically advanced and feature rich applications. The services that reach consumers must seamlessly integrate live features like personalization, social networking, local alerts, regional weather, sports scores and community sharing. Successful commercial deployments now have the ability to easily manage content, quickly publish new features and media updates over-the-air and monetize services through integrated advertising. In this session hear business and technical insights on how to bridge the divide that separates users from the interactive content they desire. UIEvolution has helped leading media companies and service providers deliver groundbreaking user experiences in multimedia entertainment and commerce across devices to challenging platforms like mobile, consumer products and the TV.