NEW YORK—Satellite has been one of the key distribution methods for broadcasters for the last 40 years, but the last few years have seen growth in new technologies and services that are changing the status quo.

An artist's rendering of the SES-11 Satellite, courtesy of exhibitor SES

The sessions in the SATCON track will focus on a number of these new technologies and just what satellite providers can do to make sure they stay current and relevant in the new landscape.

The session “The Great Transition to OTT: What's the Impact?” will take a look at how content providers can us satellites to get the most out of OTT delivery. Panelists include Crystal Chief Operation Officer Alan Young and Globecomm Chief Commercial Offier Bryan McGuirk. Robert Bell, executive director for the Society of Satellite Professionals International, will moderate.

Like other technologies, satellites are also getting smaller, with companies launching constellations of smaller satellites that can handle broadband communications or RF monitoring. Satellite Industry Association President Tom Stroup will talk with Bruce Chesley, vice president global broadband for Boeing, about the impact of smaller satellites on traditional media applications.

In the first SATCON keynote session “IOT—Tapping Into the World's Most Profound Communication Tools—Easy as Delivering a Pizza,” session moderator Catherine Melquist, president of the Mobile Satellite Users Association and senior vice president of the satellite division at Sage Communication, unfortunately made it clear there wouldn't be pizza at the session. She said the title refers to the efforts by sessions panelist Nathan Kundtz and his company Kymeta Corp. to make satellite connectivity convenient.

“It's one thing to get information fast—our whole world has sped up a lot. But what Kymeta also wants to talk about is how their innovation is going to help make our life easier, [enabling us to] access the information that we have grown to rely upon on a day-to-day basis,” Melquist said.

The second SATCON keynote, “Above and Beyond—The Transformative State of the Satellite Industry,” will feature a panel that tackles the ways the satellite industry can adapt to the changing media landscape.

“How are the satellite industry and the satellite operators really going to accelerate their entry into their transition? And what services do they really need to consider to be a key part of the ecosystem?” posed Richard Wolf, executive vice president, sales and marketing, for The Switch/Beers Enterprises Inc., one of the keynote's panelists. He will be joined on the panel by Mike Antonovich, CEO Eutelsat Americas; Kurt Riegelman, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Intelsat Global S.A.; and Brent Stranathan, vice president, broadcast distribution, CBS; with moderator Susan Irwin, president of Irwin Communications.

The final SATCON session, “Analyze This—Capital Market Trends Impacting the Satellite Sector,” will be a series of Lightning Talks with PJT Partners' Jim Murray, Milbank Tweed's Peter Nesgos and GH Partners' Noel Rimalovski on a number of different market trends. J. Armand Musey of Summit Ridge Group LLC will moderate.

All SATCON sessions will take place on Tech FWD Stag 1, except “Above and Beyond,” which will take place on the Focus FWD Keynote Stage.

Steve Mosko, chairman of Sony Pictures Television, will deliver the CCW keynote, Wednesday morning, Nov. 11.

NEW YORK—There’s no one thing that is drawing nearly 7,000 attendees to the 2015 Content Communications World conference.

And that’s exactly the point.

CCW, featuring SATCON—which is held Nov. 11–12 in conjunction with InfoComm Connections at the Javits Convention Center, has a scope and a focus like no other event in the professional video industry. Sessions on content creation merge into panels on satellite security and then jump into workshops on audio/video connectivity and back again.

The redesigned two-day conference and exhibition—which was acquired by NAB Show in 2013—stands apart because of its wide reach: spanning the contrasting yet interconnected worlds of satellite communications, content creation and communications technology.

“CCW provides a unique opportunity to efficiently experience some of the ‘best of’ [experiences that can be found at] the NAB Show,” said Chris Brown, executive vice president of conventions and business operations for NAB. “It provides a comprehensive expo as well as strong educational content, presented in a way that allows participants to get their arms fully around the technologies and trends that are driving change in media and entertainment. [It offers] a chance to take a deeper dive with both supplier partners and in terms of learning opportunity.”

INCREASING CROSSOVER
The show has experienced a steady pace of growth over the last few years, and flourished again after the announcement in November 2014 that InfoComm International would co-locate its InfoComm Connections event with CCW and SATCON in 2015. The result is an expanded show that reaches a wider audience via panels, sessions and workshops showcasing the intersection of these industries.

“CCW and SATCON have been complementary events for a number of years; InfoComm Connections is a new addition that we are very excited about because of the event’s great reputation,” Brown said. “With the increasing crossover that exists between broadcast, corporate communications and live production, we see this audience as driving great synergy across every element of the overall event.”

The show also addresses the real-world blending that has occurred between the broadcast, IT and communications disciplines, according to Brown. “SATCON addresses the unique challenges and opportunities that exist within the satellite industry, and given the important role satellite services continue to play in media and entertainment and the broader communications space, we think having SATCON tied to CCW and now InfoComm Connections brings another important community to the experience in New York City,” Brown said.

Brandon Berger, chief digital officer for Ogilvy and Mather will keynote the Wednesday morning workshop.

INTERNET OF THINGS & MARKETING
One example is the session “The Internet of Things,” held the first day of the show, which will delve into the myriad ways that fiber, wireless and satellite communications can be used to make the evolving Internet of Things, or “IoT,” work together seamlessly.

The convention will introduce several new panels and sessions, such as the half-day workshop “Advertising Outlook: Trends in Content and Technology” that will focus on programmatic media buying, the evolution of short-form video advertising and consumption trends.

The fickle and oft-changing realm of advertising will be thread across the show in numerous areas, most significantly with the Wednesday morning workshop keynote address given by Brandon Berger, the chief digital officer of advertising firm Ogilvy and Mather. Berger’s keynote, titled “A View from 35,000 Feet” will will discuss how technology is enabling distributors and brands to reach consumers faster than ever before, and will discuss what this new paradigm actually means as it pertains to the dynamics between the parties involved—what advertisers and consumers are thinking about, and rather, what they should be thinking about.

“As content further decouples from distribution, what does it mean for the industry, and what does it mean for the future of content and advertising?” Berger asked. “In a direct sense, what does it mean for the relationship between consumers and advertisers?” The session will examine solutions that the industry needs to think about on behalf of consumers and broadcasters.

Other new offerings this year include the Digital Asset Management 2.0 workshop, which will tackle the major issues facing DAM and will look at real-world ways of incorporating marketing, automation, analytics, ROI and future casting into a business.

HITS BROADCAST IT SUMMIT
Previous events will return as well, including one of the more popular programs: the HITS Broadcast IT Summit, a grouping of sessions and panels that touch on key issues in broadcast, production, publishing and advertising. To kick off the event—and attempt to put a stopper on the theory that television is a fading institution—will be a keynote address from Michael Wollf, whose new book “Television is the New Television” was released last summer. Wolff will look at consumer habits, market conditions and disruptive technologies that are confronting the theory that the Web, social media and various mobile platforms are replacing television when it comes to ad dollars.

Other sessions within the HITS Summit will address the challenges of integrating and providing consistency across a platform, both in terms of dollars and technology. The panel discussion “Generating $ and Sense Across Platforms” will explore data analytics, advertising IDs and the ability to leverage the information gained from devices to evolve consumer engagement measurement.

As it has in other arenas, the cloud is playing a increasing role in broadcast and media, an issue that will be raised in the session “The New Cloud: Collaboration by the Numbers.” Cloud platforms have allowed media and entertainment companies to increase internal collaboration, an issue that panelist speaker Jeff Davidson with Viacom will discuss, along with the way that emerging software and advances in the enterprise can continue to drive efficiencies in content management.

OTHER KEYNOTES OF NOTE
In addition to IT, the conference will look at other key technologies impacting the industry, from high dynamic range to virtual reality and its kin augmented reality, which will be highlighted in the session “Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and 360: The Future at Hand.” The panel will offer a review of today’s immersive storytelling experiences and will touch on the ways that these platforms can better reach a much more mainstream audience. The CCW keynote on Wednesday morning will be given by Steve Mosko, chairman of Sony Pictures Television, who will touch on the changing television landscape.

The conference also has a significant focus on satellite technologies, ranging from introductory sources like the “Fundamentals of Satellite Communications Systems” and “DTH Around the World.” The SATCON keynote address will be given by John Celli, president of Space Systems Loral, who will discuss the trends and challenges facing the satellite industry.

In addition to the co-location of CCW and SATCON with InfoComm Connections, post-production professionals will have access to their own two-day workshop during the New York Post|Production Conference, a training program designed for editors, producers, graphic artists and new media specialists.

There’s also expected to be a good bit of buzz about the ongoing deployment of 4K technology across the content creation and distribution workflow, ATSC 3.0 and the migration to an IP-dominant infrastructure.

“This conference is unique not that it focuses on content, but how it focuses on content,” Mather from Berger at Ogilvy said. “We need to think about how consumers consume, how they have access, and how the modern participation economy is impacted by the intersection of TV/video content and their role with brands.”

For more information and to register for the show, visit www.ccwexpo.com.