London, 2011: London has been chosen as the host city for the first Global Broadcast Summit to take place on 15-16 May 2012. The Summit will bring together, by invitation only, Chief Executives of the world’s leading broadcasters, as well as regulators and government officials to debate and discuss the global broadcast industry from a strategic economic, technological and regulatory perspective. Moreover, against a backdrop of media crisis and uncertainty, the summit will look at television and its changing role in society, in both the public and private broadcasting arenas.

In the past 20 years conventional TV has gone from a position of overwhelming dominance to one of many competing entertainment and information choices. Faster broadband access, increased internet penetration, mobile devices and new digital technologies have enabled consumers to choose TV services that offer better quality, more choice, flexibility and mobility. As a result, social behaviour and the way audiences interact with television have changed. Until now there has not been a forum for the world’s broadcast leaders to come together and debate and discuss how these changes are impacting their organisations and how they are shaping their future business, creation of content, distribution platforms and changing the national and international context by which broadcasters are regulated and mandated.

Michael McEwen, Global Broadcast Summit Chair said, “Digital innovation, changing social policy and the evolution of consumer behaviour have revolutionized television broadcasting and in turn impacted content development, production, delivery and how audiences access and utilize their TV. The Global Broadcast Summit provides a much needed opportunity for broadcast leaders from across the world, to meet in a peer environment to debate, assess and collaborate on the needs and opportunities for the future”.

The Global Broadcast Summit, which has already attracted the support of the Mayor of London Boris Johnson, will be held in the International Convention Centre (ICC) at ExCeL London and will be the final event in the new convention centre before it becomes a key venue for the London 2012 games.

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson said: “It is fantastic news that London, and the International Conference Centre, have been chosen to host the first ever Global Broadcast Summit in 2012. As a world media hub the capital is home to a huge variety of media outlets from virtually every part of the world and with all eyes firmly fixed on us ahead of the Olympic Games there simply couldn’t be a better time for the biggest names in the industry to come and see for themselves what makes London the best big city in the world to do business.”

Chaired by Michael McEwen, the Global Broadcast Summit will be made up of three key elements – a worldwide survey a strategy paper prepared by each participating CEO and a CEO forum. The agenda for the Summit will be based on the research findings from an industry stakeholder survey of the global leaders attending the summit. Each CEO will also submit a strategic paper outlining their individual company view of the media landscape, their strategies for success and defining their future requirements from legislators and regulators.

For the first time, the industry will derive substantial data about themselves and those issues which have been long talked about inside companies will be given the opportunity to be debated and tested in the context of hard evidence. These issues include the future sources of revenue, changing demographics, sources of programming, costs of programming and promotion, the role of public service broadcasters and audience building strategies

The one and a half day forum will feature keynotes from broadcaster CEOs, and Government ministers (whose responsibility is broadcasting) to set the direction of the summit. This will be followed by presentations, debate and discussion of the survey results outlining the lessons learned to date, focusing on the challenges and defining the needs going forward.