Digital TV Central and Eastern Europe '08

Dave Alpert
Vice President of Operations & CTO
HBO Central Europe

Tomasz Berezowski,
TVN Poland

In the last decade responsible for introducing innovative technological solutions in TV and radio broadcasting sector. Between 1991 and 1997 as Technical Manager of RMF FM radio channel activated the first commercial radio network and the first satellite communication system in Poland. In 1997 he started work for TVN which was just launching its operation as the second private TV channel in Poland. As Vice President and Technical Manager of TV WISLA he was responsible for restructuring and technical modernization of the enterprise after its purchase by TVN. In 1998 he also became Broadcast Operation Manager of TVN and dynamically developed the channel's broadcasting network. Under his management TVN's coverage increased from 54% to 86% households. For two years (2000-2002) Mr. Berezowski managed a self-owned company which was the first enterprise in Poland dealing with production of SNG vehicles for radio and TV stations. In 2003 he became Member of the Board and Technical Operations Manager of TVN. In January 2007, after the company's restructuring, he became the Chief Technology Officer responsible for technical infrastructure, all technological operations and technical development.

Geir Bjorndal
Conax

Craig Butcher
Partner
Mid Europa

Andrew Glasspool
Managing Partner
Farncombe Technology

Nuri Çolakoglu
Vice President, Executive Board
Dogan Media Group

Nuri M. Colakoglu has a BA in Diplomacy and International Relations from school of Political Sciences, Ankara. He had been working as a journalist & broadcaster and media executive since 1969. He has held positions in Turkey and abroad, including as CEO & President at CNN Turk. Since 1991 has been involved in launching a number of private TV channels - Show TV, Cine 5, NTV, CNBC-e, CNN Turk and Fenerbahce TV. He is currently Vice President of Dogan Media Group and the CEO of The Turkish Daily News. He is also a Board member of Kanal D Romania. He is involved in a number of NGOs - currently serving as the Chairman of TV Broadcasters Association of Turkey, Executive Board Member of Istanbul Arts&Culture Foundation, Executive Board Member of Istanbul Modern Arts Museum, Chairman of Education Committee of Turkish Businessmen and Industrialists' Association, Executive Board Member of TEMA Turkish Environment Protection Association and most recently Executive Board Chairman of Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture.

Jean Grenier,
President AEPOC

Jean Grenier was born in 1935 and is a graduate of the Ecole Polytechnique and the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications, both in Paris, France. During his early professional development he was an engineer with the Centre National d'Etudes des Télécommunications and the Direction des Services Radioélectriques.

Stages in his nearly 30 years with Direction Générale des Télécommunications and FRANCE TELECOM included: Sous-Directeur des Télécommunications Spatiales et Sous-Marines, Chef du Service des Affaires Internationales and Executive Vice-President in charge of Affaires Industrielles et Internationales, where he headed one of FRANCE TELECOM's four divisions. It is here that he became one of the driving forces in the implementation of GSM, the European mobile telephone system.

Jean Grenier was also responsible for the development of the French national satellite system, TELECOM 1, as well as of a subsequent system called TELECOM 2. As part of his international involvement he was also Chairman of the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in 1989 in Nice, France.

In 1990 Jean Grenier was elected Director General of EUTELSAT, then an inter-governmental organisation. His six-year mandate was extended to the end of 1998. Under his management 21 new members from Central and Eastern Europe joined the organisation, 10 satellites were launched, existing services developed and new services added. These included audiovisual services, Internet via satellite, multimedia and mobile services as well as satellite communication services with demand-assigned bandwidth.

Jean Grenier has been leading with success AEPOC (Association Européenne pour la Protection des Œuvres et services Cryptés - the European Association for the Protection of Encrypted Works and Services) since 1998. He has managed to reach important goals such as the approval in 2004 of the Bratislava Charter, a code of ethics, approved by all AEPOC members, which has become a reference point for all operators of the telecommunication sector.

Jean Grenier is Officier de la Légion d'Honneur, Officier de l'Ordre National du Mérite, Officier de l'Ordre du Cèdre (Liban) and Officier de l'Ordre de Saint-Charles (Principality of Monaco).

Alex Griffiths
FitchRatings

Ales Hudsky
Alliance for Digital TV Broadcasting
Czech Republic

Linda Jensen
CEO
HBO

Peter Kotai
(origo) Zrt

Nimrod Kovacs
Executive Chairman, UPC and chellomedia Central and Eastern Europe Group
Liberty Global, Inc

As Executive Chairman of the Central and Eastern Europe Group for UPC and Chellomedia, Nimrod is responsible for the cable, DTH satellite and TV channel operations in Hungary, Poland, The Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia and Romania. UPC and Chellomedia are the main European subsidiaries of Liberty Global, Inc., the largest broadband cable operator outside of the U.S. in terms of subscribers.

Zbigniew Łapiński,
Investment Director,
3TS Capital Partners
Warsaw

Zbigniew works in the Warsaw office and is responsible for Polish investment sourcing, transactions and portfolio management. Zbigniew prior to joining 3TS in September 2005 worked as a CFO in WSE listed telecommunication company Netia, Regional Telecom Analyst for Deutsche Bank, Equity Analyst for Creditanstalt Securities SA and Investment Officer for UNIDO. Zbigniew is also a Supervisory Board member of few listed and privately held Polish companies. He holds a M.Sc. from the Warsaw School of Economics.

About 3TS Capital Partners
3TS Capital Partners (www.3tscapital.com) is one of the leading private equity and venture capital firms in Central and Eastern Europe. 3TS is the exclusive adviser to three funds with over € 200 million under management of which Funds I and III are focused exclusively on TMT. Investors in the Funds include 3i Group, Sitra, EBRD and KfW among others. 3TS operates through dedicated teams and offices in Warsaw, Budapest, Prague, Bucharest and Vienna.

Bob Leighton
Senior Vice President, Programming,
Liberty Global, Inc.

Robert Leighton is Senior Vice President, Programming for Liberty Global, a position he has held since July 2007. In his current position, Mr. Leighton is an executive officer of Liberty Global and he sits on the Company’s Executive Management Committee.Mr. Leighton is a 28 year veteran of the television industry. Most recently, he was a consultant on programming issues to Liberty Global, as well as Comcast Cable. Prior to this, Mr. Leighton was EVP, Programming for Starz Encore Group (now known as Starz Entertainment) for 7 years. At Starz, Mr. Leighton was responsible for all programming functions for 13 channels, including film acquisition, original program development, production, on-air promotion, and technical operations.Mr. Leighton earlier was at HBO for 17 years. From 1991, he was based in Eastern Europe for HBO and oversaw the earliest development, launch and operation of various pay and basic cable channels throughout the region. Previous assignments at HBO during the 1980’s in New York included Director of Programming, Cinemax and Director of Audience Research. Mr. Leighton began his television career at Young & Rubicam where he bought advertising time on both broadcast networks and ad-supported cable channels.

Mr. Leighton holds a B.A. from Harvard College and an M.B.A. from Columbia University

Frederic Maizeret
Viaccess

Levente Malnay
General Manager and Vice President
MTV Networks Hungary

Olivier Millies-Lacroix
Eutelsat

Kateryna Myasnykova
Executive director
Independent association of broadcasters
Kyiv, Ukraine

Kateryna Myasnykova has been at the head of the Independent Association of Broadcasters since 2003. Before she worked as a law-adviser in several state bodies. For the present moment she is also a member of the Public Council of the National Council on TV and radio and Parliament Committee on freedom of speech.

Today the IAB (Independent Association of Broadcasters) unites over 100 private TV and radio companies of Ukraine. It is the largest professional organization which simultaneously represents the interests of both TV and radio companies, powerful national networks and smaller local broadcasters from all parts of Ukraine. IAB’s mission is to unite the electronic mass media market of Ukraine in order to create and develop a civilized broadcast market by means of advancing and protecting corporate interests and creating a general system of high quality service for association members.

The IAB has become the founder of the annual Ukrainian Digital Forum. It represents the interests of its members at the state level in the process of digital TV implementation.

Patrick Nebout
VP Business Development East Europe
Zodiak Television

Born 1969.
Euro Disney, Broadcasting Department 1992-1995. Position: Producer
Canal + Scandinavia, Programming Department 1996-1998. Position: Producer
SVT-Swedish Public Television, Sales Division 1999-2001. Position: Director International Programme Distribution
SVT-Swedish Public Television, Fiction Division 2002-2005. Position: Head of International Co-productions
Zodiak Television, 2005-present. Position: VP Business Development East Europe

Ori Onn
Spacecom

Alexander Oudendijk
SVP and Chief Commercial Officer,
SES ASTRA, S.A.

Alexander Oudendijk is responsible for all SES ASTRA commercial and marketing activities and is a member of the SES ASTRA Management Committee. He joined SES ASTRA in 2002 as Chief Commercial Officer. He has held previous positions in Germany as Vice-President of Satellite Services Sales at Hughes Network Systems Europe and Managing Director of Hughes-Olivetti Telecommunications GmbH and as Sales & Marketing Director for Hughes-Olivetti Telecom Ltd. In the UK. Before that he has held positions with Ericsson-GE in Canada and Siemens AG in Indonesia and in the Netherlands. He began his career as an Associate Expert of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), based in East Africa.

Alexander Oudendijk is a Dutch national and holds a BSc and a MSc in Telecommunications from the University of Delft (Netherlands).

Carter Pilcher
Shorts International

Andras Pillar
CEO
FN Cable Holdings

Paul Robinson
Managing Director Worldwide
KidsCo

Mark Rooney
Partner
Pace Micro Technology

Toby Russell
Chief Executive Officer,
3vision

Toby is the founder of 3Vision. He is responsible for the strategic direction of the business as well as managing the company’s high level content provider relationships.

Toby has wide ranging experience in the content marketplace. Over the years, he has built up many strategic business relationships with key contacts around the world including the Hollywood Studios, leading broadcasters like the BBC and major music labels such as EMI and Warner Music.

His work history includes:

• 10 years in the international TV division of Walt Disney, in a range of senior roles including Executive Director of Pay TV
• Representing Disney on the board of HBO Movie Channels in Central Europe
• Managing Director for the content solutions division of Yes Television, one of the pioneers of IPTV and Video on Demand

In addition, Toby is the Director of 3Vision People - a specialist recruitment firm for the media and telecoms industries.

Murat Saygi
D-SMART

Clement Schwebig
Chief Operating Officer
RTL Televizija

Bhavneet Singh
Managing Director and Senior Vice President, Emerging Markets
MTV Networks International

Bhavneet Singh is Managing Director and Senior Vice President of the fast expanding Emerging Markets Group, which is a part of MTV Networks International (MTVNI). Bhavneet is responsible for the management and direction of one of the largest regions internationally with 22 broadcast and broadband channels across Central & Eastern Europe, Russia, CIS and the Middle East.

Bhavneet’s role includes a specific focus on development and establishing brands across the region as well as new platforms, such as broadband and mobile.

Bhavneet oversees approximately 400 people across the Emerging Markets region. Based in London, Bhavneet reports to Alex Ferrari, COO, MTVNI.

Since joining the Emerging Markets Group in 2006 as Deputy General Manager, Bhavneet has been integral to the recent successes which include the launch of MTV Arabia, a pan-regional channel which reaches nearly 200 million people across the Middle East, MTV Baltics, MTV Turkey, the very first Comedy Central channel to launch outside of the US, Comedy Central Poland and the launch of MTV On-Demand in Romania. Up coming projects include the launch of Nickelodeon Arabia.

Prior to his appointment with the MTVNI Emerging Markets Group, Bhavneet initially joined MTV Networks in June 2004, serving as Director International Sales Strategy, for the corporate strategy group, working across all international markets.

Bhavneet possesses an impressive array of experience having gained new media knowledge working for Manchester United PLC, commercial experience working as Director of Sales at IMG TWI in New Delhi, India, and also as head of ad-sales at Discovery Channel in Asia. Bhavneet also holds an MBA from Manchester Business School.

Steve Smith
Managing Director
Playboy TV International

CHICAGO, April 3 -- Playboy Enterprises, Inc. announced the appointment today of Steve Smith as Managing Director, Playboy Television International, in its Entertainment Group. He will be responsible for the leadership, management and growth of Playboy TV International and report to Jim Griffiths, Senior Executive Vice President and President, Entertainment Group. He will be based in Playboy's Los Angeles office.

"Steve brings a wealth of business and international experience to Playboy, which will benefit the company greatly as we continue our global expansion," said Griffiths.

Smith is a 25-year veteran of the cable and satellite industry with experience in U.S., Asian and European markets. He was most recently the Managing Director of International Networks/AZN, responsible for the overall operations of the company under its ownership by Comcast Corporation. Prior to joining International Networks, Steve served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Encore International ("EI") where he was responsible for managing Encore's Mainland China operation out of Beijing. Before joining EI, Smith served as Chief Operating Officer of Intertainer Asia, a broadband content aggregator based in Singapore. He also served as Managing Director of Channel [V] Music Network, a youth-oriented bouquet of localized music channels owned by News Corp's STAR TV venture in Hong Kong. Steve's Asian experience began as President and General Manager of MGM Gold Networks (Asia), a premium movie channel distributed across Asia. Before moving to Asia, he spent 17 years with HBO, the last six as Managing Director for HBO Central Europe. In this role he was responsible for launching and managing three cable channels in Hungary. In addition, Steve led the construction and operation of Central European Uplink, HBO's transmission facility serving all its Central European markets.

Smith has a bachelor's degree in Psychology from Colgate University and an MBA from Columbia University.

Mirek Smyk
General Manager Video Services, Romtelecom

Maciej Sojka
CEO
ITI Neovision

Leiv Svenning,
Head of Central & Eastern Europe
Telenor Satellite Broadcasting

Leiv Svenning, Head of CEE, Telenor Satellite Broadcasting AS- has served as Managing Director of Telenor Bulgaria and Head of TSBc in Central and Eastern Europe since 2006. Mr Svenning joined Telenor in 1969 and has held a number of positions within the group. He has gained much experience in the international arena where he held senior positions in Sweden and Ireland. He has also served on the board of Pannon, ESat, Digifone, Kievstar and Telenor Sweden AS. Mr Svenning completed his studies at the Norwegian Institute of Technology in 1976.

Michal Taborsky
IPTV Project Head
Telefonica 02
Czech Republic

Bruce Tuchman
MGM Networks

Arnaud de Villeneuve
President & CEO
Cyfra Plus Poland

Marina Williams
Executive Vice President
CME

Mariusz Walkowiak,
ADB

Tomasz Żurański
CEO,
Vectra

CEO of VECTRA S.A., the mother company of the Capital Group VECTRA, second largest cable operator in Poland.

Started his professional career at Gdańsk Foundation for Management Development, as the consultant in the scope of psychology of management, personnel management, marketing as well as strategic management. Next he was affiliated with RB Polish-American Enterprise Ltd. - company acting in the investment-property business, where he was responsible for marketing and sale activities. In 1998 began the cooperation with VECTRA Group where first he was a consultant responsible for creating the Controlling Department and participated in the process of acquiring the financial investor for the company. In the following years he held several management positions in VECTRA Group expanding the scope of responsibility and duties. In 2001 assumed position of deputy CFO of VECTRA Group finance. In 2003 he was appointed as CEO at VECTRA S.A., the mother company of the VECTRA Group.

Graduate of the Gdańsk University (psychology), of Gdańsk Technical University (environmental engineering, economics and management), as well as Executive MBA University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.