SE P T E M B E R/ OC T O B E R 2 0 1 2 V I D E O • A G E 28 The New York City-based National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC) kicked off its 26th annual conference last month with a roster of the world’s largest companies represented by their top executives. On September 11, for its opening event at the Hilton New York in Manhattan, NAMICgatheredPat Esser, president of Cox Communications; Ken Lowe, chairman, president and CEO of Scripps Networks; Glenn Britt, chairman of Time Warner Cable; Hernan Lopez, president and CEO of Fox International Channels; and David L. Cohen, EVP of Comcast Corporation. The panelists spoke about rapid technological changes to the industry, saying that, if in the past they were just coping, now they feel confident they’ve got it under control — finally able to meet consumers’ demand no matter how fast technology innovates. While Scripps’s Lowe pointed to his networks’ synergy with old media (illustrated by the creation of Food Network Magazine), Cox’s Esser recalled the days when cable companies were belittled for revolving around the life of a set-top box (STB), which was seven years. This is something that is no longer happening since cable’s STBs now evolve just as fast as technology allows. The three-day annual conference attracted some 650 people — out of NAMIC’s membership of about 2,700 — with a multi-part theme: “Culture. Audience. Innovation. Leadership,” but it was limited to a U.S. domestic agenda. The association, founded in 1980, has 16 U.S. chapters — of its members, 50 percent are African American and 12 percent Hispanic. Non-member participants paid $1,600 to attend the conference, while the member fee was $1,325. Even though the conference was dominated by topics mainly of concern to women, blacks and Hispanics in the entertainment industry, the subject of foreign ethnic TV channels in the U.S. was recognized too. One of the general sessions was entitled “Creating Original Programming for Multicultural Audiences,” and touched on the subject of bringing foreign programs into the U.S. According to Nicole E. Turner-Lee, NAMIC’s newly appointed president and CEO, channels such as Zee-TV from India and TV Japan were included in the conference program. As TurnerLee just joined NAMIC last March, she said she’s still studying and familiarizing herself with the role of foreign ethnic media in the U.S. landscape. Prior to joining NAMIC, Turner-Lee was vice president and the first director of the Media and Technology Institute for the Washington, D.C.-based Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. Most of the ethnic channels that took part in the event were from the U.S., such as New York-based The Africa Channel and Asia TV USA (part of Zee TV), with massive participation from both of the U.S.’s largest Spanishlanguage TV networks, Telemundo and Univision. Attending from Telemundo were COO Jacqueline Hernandez, EVP Doug Darfield, EVP Joshua Mintz and SVP Borja Perez. From Univision, president Kevin Cuddihy, VP Jaime Rodriguez and Content Development manager Fernando Rodriguez-Vila were in attendance. A strong delegation came from BET, the U.S. African American-themed TV network, led by chairman Debra Lee. One of the Concurrent Sessions, entitled “Global Marketing,” presented in partnership with PROMAX, the U.S.-based marketing association, featured moderator Niels Schuurmans, EVP of Spike TV, Tracy Barash VP of TBS’s Cartoon Network (CN), Cristina Mancini SVP of Fox TV Distribution, and Claudine Lilien, SVP of FOX One (FOX’s global sales unit). This session drew a large crowd and analyzed two case studies: the worldwide launch of CN’s Ben10 and Fox’s Touch with Kiefer Sutherland. According to Mancini, the launch emulated a theatrical worldwide dayand-date opening, with the only difference being not having the luxury of time to prepare it, since from inception to completion, the time allotted was just four months. Lilien explained how she was able to sign Unilever — a group with many brands around the world — as the global sponsor of the worldwide launch, so that local stations did not have to contribute financially but could take advantage of the promotion. Mancini added that local stations were only asked to schedule the series on primetime. An impressive list of more than 100 top entertainment and technology executives participated at NAMIC in some 30 events listed as keynotes, general and concurrent sessions, master classes and special presentations. In addition to the conferences, keynotes and seminars, NAMIC featured a “Career Fair” exhibition for employment opportunities among the 20 exhibitors, including NBC-Uni, CBS, Discovery, FOX, ESPN, Viacom and The Africa Channel. Ethnic Multimedia Has Colorful Shades of Issues TV’s top U.S. execs keen on multi-ethnicity N A M I C R e p o r t Mark Walton (left) and his The Africa Channel team The “Global Marketing” session featured l. to r.: Spike TV’s Niels Schuurmans, TBS’s Tracy Barash, FOX One’s Claudine Lilien, Fox TV Distribution’s Cristina Mancini NAMIC’s president and CEO Nicole E. Turner-Lee Opening general session’s power line-up, l.to.r. : David L. Cohen (Comcast), Pat Esser (Cox), Ken Lowe (Scripps), Glenn Britt (Time Warner Cable), Hernan Lopez (FOX Int’l Channels). On the far left is moderator Randal Pinkett. NAMIC’s “Career Fair” exhibition stands
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