“What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?,” is not just an old song title. It was a daunting unknown objective for the ultra-organized project manager Lisa Pedrogo in mid-November. She has overseen major projects for CNN and Turner Broadcasting (prior to its merger into AT&T’s WarnerMedia), but didn’t yet know the plan for CNN’s live Times Square telecast on Dec. 31.  

Pedrogo supervised last year’s WarnerMedia development of its new 110,000 square-foot Hudson Yards facility and, 15 years earlier, managed the creation of CNN’s production venue in the then-new Time-Warner Center at Columbus Circle. The uncertainty about this year’s New Year’s Eve party was frustrating, although she felt able to handle whatever task ultimately evolved. 

Pedrogo manages the engineering team that supports news and sports production at Hudson Yards, including maintenance of all technical production equipment and facilities for CNN, plus desktop support for other WarnerMedia news, sports and entertainment groups.  

When she began her career, with a nontechnical degree, Pedrogo worked as a production assistant for CNN’s Business News and assigned to its flagship Lou Dobbs newscast. She moved up to an assignment editor and producer and eventually joined Dobbs when he launched Space.com. After the dotcom bubble burst, Pedrogo returned to CNN.  

At CNNfn, she oversaw the media management process during the conversion to Avid nonlinear editing.  CNN was a beta test site for Avid, she explained, which had only one other customer for the product. 

“The variety of formats that are out there and remain there,” is the major hurdle for today’s media industry, Pedrogo said, citing the strategic decisions that went into plans for WarnerMedia’s Hudson Yards studio, which supports multimedia content creation and other forward-vision features. “We are moving to software-based technologies.” 

IP is the next big thing, Pedrogo added. “Making it affordable for smaller networks is the challenge,” as is security.  

By mid-November, Pedrogo was still thinking about the New Year’s Eve telecast, knowing that whenever the production decision is made, her team will be up to the challenge.  

NEW YORK—TV Technology's sister publication Broadcasting & Cable has announced five of the 10 executives who will receive its annual Technology Leadership Awards.

B&C has been giving these awards since 1999 to honor individuals who have made important and innovative contributions to the way TV, digital and streaming media companies use technology in their businesses.

“This year’s winners highlight the growing importance of tech innovation in helping media companies navigate rapid changes in their businesses,” said Kent Gibbons, content director, B&C. “The 2020 award winners have been tech leaders in deploying new technologies and infrastructures that have helped companies build new businesses and strengthen existing ones while helping consumers access TV series, news, sports and streaming media in new ways.”

Each year, B&C honors 10 Tech Leadership Award Winners. This year, it is announcing the winners in two stages.

The first five are: Fred Baumgartner, director of next gen TV implementation, ONE Media 3.0 - Sinclair Broadcast Group; Renard Jenkins, vice president, production, media and distribution operations, PBS Technology and Operations; Stephanie Lone, senior VP, engineering, CBS Sports Digital, CBS Interactive; Jeff Mayzurk, senior VP of operations and technology, NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises; and Lisa Pedrogo, VP of NY engineering & strategic initiatives, WarnerMedia Technology and Operations.

Their full bios can be found at: https://www.technologyleadershipsummit.com/awards.

The honorees will be profiled in the Feb. 17 issue of B&C and receive their awards at an awards dinner on March 5 during the annual Technology Leadership Summit in Atlanta, Georgia.

For the first time, the awards will be presented at this year’s Technology Leadership Summit, which is produced by Broadcasting & Cable, TV Technology and Multichannel News.

In addition to receiving their awards at the March 5 dinner, the winners will sit on panels at the summit.

With panels on the newest developments on cloud, AI and IP technologies as well as discussions of news, sports and streaming operations, this conference is designed to help executives at stations, networks and digital companies deploy new technologies and strategies for the future of their businesses.

During the summit, leading technologists, including the honorees, will share their expertise on new technologies and explain how they are using new technologies to build new business, cut costs and boost profits.

In addition to the panels, attendees will have complementary access to the awards dinner, where they can meet and mingle with the winners and colleagues, as well as free hotel rooms and meals. Attendees must be approved by the organizers and attendance is limited.

To apply for access to the summit or to get more information on the agenda or sponsorship opportunities see: https://www.technologyleadershipsummit.com/