Media Wonk

NAB: Final notes and quotes - April 17, 2008

It was hard for any speaker at the National Association of Broadcasters convention, which ended Wednesday, to top actor/producer/director/"dupe of left-wing appeasers" Tim Robbins' keynote, in which he called on the assembled broadcasters to eliminate diversity, remain focused on sex scandals and remember their "moral obligation to distract" the public with trivia.

But Media Wonk managed to scribble down a few other utterances worth noting:

Show us the (new) money: "Our business is structured around management; our investment structure is built around maximizing cash flow. It's not structured around innovation or the consumer. It may take new money coming into the business to really change that." -- WorldNow CEO Gary Gannaway on why established broadcasters have trouble innovating.

Blu, the hard way: "Making [Blu-ray discs] has been harder that we thought, because there are more steps and tighter tolerances and a lot of new technology. But we're making them in commercial volumes and we'll continue to get better at it as we refine the process." -- Technicolor chief marketing & technology officer and former Disney technology chief Chris Carey on the replicator's efforts to ramp up Blu-ray Disc production.

Working it: "It's Amazing how many times someone from a content company, a business development person, will go into a room with someone from a technology company and come out with a deal that nobody wants. You'd have to really try hard to be wrong that often. It's a skill unto itself." -- Sling Media Entertainment Group president Jason Hirschorn on difficulties faced by technology developers in dealing with the media companies.

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