NAB Sticking With CCW+SATCON Formula

When it comes to this year’s CCW+SATCON at the Javits Convention Center in New York City, Nov. 12-13, it would seem the National Association of Broadcasters is taking the oft-quoted advice of Bert Lance, director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Jimmy Carter: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

This year’s event, the first Content and Communications World and Satellite Communications Conference, CCW+SATCON, to be put on by the association since buying the show in December 2013, will continue down the path charted by the annual gathering’s previous owner JD Events, says Chris Brown, NAB EVP of conventions and business operations.

“We have not substantially altered what has been a very successful formula for CCW+SATCON,” says Brown. “We bought a highly successful event, one that was riding a good deal of momentum coming off a 2013 show that grew its audience by 22%.”

Of course, there will be a few tweaks. One is the addition of the NY Post-Production Conference, Nov. 11-13, produced by Future Media Concepts, which will be a mini version of the Post|Production World [P|PW] Conference held at the NAB Show in Las Vegas.

Day one of NYP|PC will be conducted at FMC’s offices in New York and focus on hands-on learning of Adobe software and DaVinci Resolve.

On Nov. 12-13, the NYP|PC sessions will be presented at Javits in four parallel tracks — editing workflow, motion graphics design, finishing and production techniques and marketing and social media for creative professionals.

NYP|PC also will offer two field trips into the streets of New York City — one on time-lapse photography and the other on on-street photography. “Attendees will start from the Javits Center and then literally use New York City as a lab to learn and practice one of these crafts,” Brown says.

The other tweak is the addition of the Hollywood IT Society’s Broadcast IT Conference on Nov. 11, which is being presented in partnership with Media & Entertainment Services Alliance, MENSA. “This event will target the CTO and CIO audience within the broadcast industry, and with the growing importance of software and IP across the media ecosystem, this is an extremely timely launch,” Brown says.

For the 7,000 people expected at CCW+SATCON, the gathering will offer a conference with sessions on the shift to IP-based broadcast infrastructures, 4K/ultra HD and the development of the next-generation ATSC 3.0 broadcast transmission standard, as well as timely satellite-related issues, such as the way digital is driving media and entertainment innovation and satellite use in newsgathering.

CCW sessions related to UHD and 4K include “UHD: Beyond the Hype,” by SMPTE Fellow Mark Schubin; separate sessions presented by Canon, AJA Video and Panasonic; and discussions on distribution of UHD and high dynamic range content via OTT.

Three sessions will give CCW attendees a look at the transition to IP. Bob Seidel, VP engineering and advanced technology at CBS, will moderate the “The IP-Based Facility: Is It For You? If So, When?” with panelists Clyde Smith, SVP engineering, Fox; Mario Vecchi, CTO of PBS; and Steve Fastook, SVP of technical and commercial operations at CNBC.

The other two IP sessions include “IP Networking for Studio and Outside Broadcast Production” presented by Sony, and discussions about migrating to IP workflows put on by Cisco.

CCW’s “ATSC 3.0: The Next Generation” session will be a panel discussion of the standard moderated by recently appointed NAB EVP-CTO Sam Matheny. Panelists will include Winston Caldwell, VP, spectrum engineer for Fox Networks Group; Dave Siegler, VP, technical operations, Cox Media Group; John Godfrey, VP, communications policy and regulatory affairs, Samsung Electronics; and Jay Adrick, independent consultant and former VP at Harris Broadcast (now GatesAir).

The SATCON portion of the conference schedule offers a full two-day program of satellite-related sessions. While many focus on topics not related to television, a few will be of particular interest to those from the media and entertainment industry.

Chris Ornelas, NAB chief operating and strategy officer, will moderate the “How Digital Is Driving Innovation in Media and Entertainment” SATCON general session with panelists Catherine Badalamente, VP, digital media, Graham Media Group; Mike Rosellini, VP, digital operations, Hearst Television; and Ron Stitt, group VP, digital media, Fox Television Stations.

Another SATCON session with a TV orientation is “Newsgathering Continues To Change Quickly: How Is It Evolving?” The session will be moderated by Christine Ehrenbard, director, broadcast distribution, CBS, with panelists Arnie Christianson, senior manager, OU technical sales, SES; Tim Gaughan, director, digital newsgathering and senior producer, special events, CBS; Missy Gralish, senior marketing and communications manager, LTN Global Communications; and Michael Verma, director of logistics, ABC News.

On the convention floor, attendees will have the opportunity to visit the booths of more than 300 exhibitors, 70 of which are new. “Many of these new players are part of our loyal base in the Las Vegas show, such as Red Digital, Vizrt, Cisco and Atomos,” Brown says.

The show floor also will offer two separate theaters, one devoted to production and post and the other for presentations on streaming and over-the-top technology. A mix of vendor-sponsored and non-sponsored sessions at the theaters will provide attendees with the chance to participate in “true peer-to-peer learning and networking,” says Brown.

CCW+SATCON and the HITS Broadcast IT Conference will offer keynote speeches as well. John Landgraf, CEO, FX Networks and FX Productions, will present the CCW keynote, Wednesday, Nov. 12, at 1:30 p.m. Landgraf oversaw the recent debut of FXX and the expansion of FX and FXM.

The SATCON keynote will be delivered by retired Lt. Gen. Tom Sheridan, VP, national security space, Vencore. Sheridan, who will speak Thursday, Nov. 13, at 1:30 p.m., develops Vencore’s systems engineering and integration services strategy for customers in the U.S. intelligence community.
Cameron Davies, SVP, research and analytics, NBCUniversal News Group, will present the HITS conference keynote Thursday, Nov. 13, at 1:10 p.m. He is expected to speak about the role of advanced analytics in shifting business environments. A panel session on the same topic will immediately follow the keynote.

While this year’s CCW+SATCON won’t stray from the direction set for the event by its previous owners, NAB believes it serves as a completion to its big tech show each April in Las Vegas.

“We see tremendous synergy with the NAB Show,” says Brown. “Many companies will use the NAB Show in April to announce new products or projects. Six months later there is definitely a need to engage the marketplace with updates on those plans, and CCW presents that opportunity.”

“We see tremendous potential on many fronts for this event,” Brown adds. “New York is home to a vibrant media and entertainment community – there is so much going on there all year round, so this is the place to be … well, definitely the place to be in November.”

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