The Nov. 7 conference in Hollywood is designed to enhance the experience, audience and production of live television programming. In addition to Greenblatt, it will feature speakers including David Neal of Fox Sports, David Hill from National Geographic Channels, Stacey Foster of Saturday Night Live and Freemantle’s Dan Goldberg.
NBC’s Bob Greenblatt To Keynote LiveTV:LA
Robert Greenblatt, chairman of NBC Entertainment, has been named keynote speaker of the inaugural LiveTV:LA conference, Nov. 7 at the Loews Hollywood Hotel in Los Angeles.
Greenblatt, who has revived live musicals on network television and led NBC to its first primetime win in the 18-49 demographic in a decade, will be interviewed in an exclusive one-on-one interview with veteran television business journalist and TVNewsCheck Editor Harry A. Jessell. The session will address how broadcasters and producers are enhancing the live TV viewer experience with innovative programming, advanced production and companion digital technologies.
“Bob’s historic turnaround of NBC’s primetime-ratings fortunes, his reinvention of Showtime as a source for cutting edge original programming and his history as a successful producer for TV and theater, have put him in the entertainment industry’s brightest spotlight,” said Jessell. “His thoughts on how we can further enhance live TV will set the stage for LiveTV:LA’s day-long focus on advancements in this important and rapidly growing segment of broadcast television.”
Presented by TVNewsCheck and Sports Video Group (SVG) in association with Variety and Variety 411, LiveTV:LA will gather senior executives in TV entertainment, news, sports, and second-screen–media to talk about enhancing the experience, audience, production and monetization of live TV programming. Other speakers include David Neal (Fox Sports), David Hill (National Geographic Channels, American Idol), Stacey Foster (Saturday Night Live) and Dan Goldberg (Freemantle).
Greenblatt, who joined NBC Universal in January 2011, is responsible for all aspects of primetime, latenight and scripted daytime programming, business affairs, marketing, communications, scheduling, West Coast research and digital operations.
Last year, he greenlighted the Dec. 5 live broadcast of Sound of Music on NBC-TV, a performance that averaged 21.8 million viewers in live-plus-seven-day ratings, giving the network its most watched Thursday night, excluding sports, since the night of the Frasier finale on May 13, 2004.
Greenblatt also led the highly successful transition that increased NBC’s dominance in late night, where The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon achieved a 71% increase in adults 18-49, while Late Night with Seth Myers saw a 14% increase.
Prior to joining NBC, Greenblatt was president of entertainment at Showtime Networks Inc., where he supervised a slate of original programming that repositioned the network as a leader in premium cable TV, while doubling profits and boosting subscribers by 52%. While at Showtime, Greenblatt oversaw the development of high-profile programs such as Weeds, Dexter, Shameless, The Borgias, The Big C and This American Life.
His producing credits include Six Feet Under, for which he received the 2002 Golden Globe Award for Best Television Drama Series, dozens of Emmys, three GLAAD Media Awards and a George Foster Peabody Award.
Greenblatt began his television career at Fox Broadcasting Co., where he ran primetime programming and developed Beverly Hills 90210, Melrose Place, X-Files, Ally McBeal and King of the Hill.
This year, a Tony Award for best musical for the critically acclaimed play, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, highlighted Greenblatt’s career as a Broadway producer.
The Live TV:LA conference will take place Friday Nov. 7 at Loews Hollywood and will include speakers and attendees from the live-TV programming, production and technology-management communities.
For more information about LiveTV:LA, contact Kathy Haley, [email protected], 484-412-8297. For sponsorship information contact Joe Palombo, [email protected], 914-447-4614.
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