TV Group CEOs To Highlight TV2020

The top executives of four TV station groups will survey the state of the TV broadcast business and its major growth opportunities at TVNewsCheck’s third annual TV2020: Monetizing the Future conference in New York.

Abernethy

Jack Abernethy, CEO of Fox Television Stations; Perry Sook, chairman, president and CEO of Nexstar Media Group; Hilton Howell, chairman, president and CEO of Gray Television; and Emily Barr, president and CEO of Graham Media will appear on a panel moderated by Harry A. Jessell, editor and co-founder of TVNewsCheck, at 11:15 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 17, at New York’s Javits Center.

“This panel will let us take a good look at how broadcast’s leaders see the future of retransmission consent, advertising and digital revenue streams,” Jessell said. “We’ll also examine the investment case for ATSC 3.0 and prospects for network relations, local news and M&A.”

As CEO of Fox Television Stations, TVNewsCheck’s 2018 Station Group of the Year, Abernethy has leveraged locally Fox’s national NFL TV rights and increased its news production. He oversees 28 Fox stations in the nation’s largest television markets.

Sook

Sook, who founded Nexstar in 1996 with one TV station, has grown the company into the second-largest local broadcast television operator in the U.S. with 170 stations reaching 100 markets following its acquisition of Media General.

Howell

Howell has been CEO of Gray since 2008, adding duties as president in 2013 in addition to serving as president and CEO of the Atlantic American Corp., an insurance holding company, since 1995.

Barr

Barr has served as president and CEO of Graham Media, the TV broadcasting division of Graham Holdings Co., since 2012, where she oversees seven TV stations, each in a top 70 market.

TV2020: Monetizing the Future, is a TVNewsCheck conference, now in its third year, presented at NAB Show New York. This year’s conference will examine a range of issues facing the broadcasting industry, including the outlook for retransmission consent revenue, the impact of advanced advertising on spot TV and the investment case for technologies including IP infrastructure, cloud-enabled distribution, OTT platforms and AI-enabled news production. Sean McManus, chairman of CBS Sports, will be the keynote interview and Ken Auletta, New Yorker staff writer and author of Frenemies: The Epic Disruption of the Ad Business, will kick off the conference.

Produced by the National Association of Broadcasters and co-located with the Audio Engineering Society’s East Coast convention, NAB Show New York will be held Oct. 17-18 at the Javits Convention Center. With more than 14,000 attendees and 300-plus exhibitors, NAB Show New York showcases the best in next-generation technology for media, entertainment and telecom professionals with conferences and workshops focused on television, film, satellite, online video, live events, podcasting, advertising, corporate A/V, production and post.

To register for TV2020, click here.