Grade to Keynote Pact’s RightsLab

LONDON, April 3: ITV’s executive chairman, Michael Grade,
will deliver the keynote speech at RightsLab, the conference on cross-platform
rights exploitation being held by the British independent producers body Pact
on June 14 at the Chancery Court Hotel in London.

The panels, case studies and interviews during RightsLab
will address broadcast commissioning and funding, cross-platform rights
exploitation, alternative business models and new platforms for content.

Grade will use the keynote to talk about his plans for ITV
and the opportunities for independent producers. The conference, to be chaired
by Newsnight presenter Kirsty Wark, will
also feature AOL’s Niall McOnegal, BSkyB’s Sophie Turner Laing, Peter
Bazalgette from Endemol, Patrick McKenna from Ingenious, Alex Taylor from Jalipo,
Claudia Lloyd from Tiger Aspect, TLC’s Ed Crick, Peter Bennett-Jones from PBJ
Management, RDF Comedy’s Zad Rogers and Love Film’s Mark Livingstone. In an
special afternoon session, Wall to Wall chief executive and Pact chair, Alex
Graham, will discuss terrestrial VOD and multiplatform strategies with Jana
Bennett, the director of BBC Vision; Simon Shaps, ITV’s controller of
television; Kevin Lygo, Channel 4’s director of television, and Lisa Opie, the
managing director of content at Five.

“Producers are now faced with a matrix of new distribution
and revenue opportunities for their programs, from download-to-own to
video-on-demand to mobile TV,” said John McVay, the chief executive of Pact.
“It’s an exciting, but complex new business environment. RightsLab is a must
attend for any production company with commercial content because it will help
them not only understand these new platforms but also build strategies to best
maximize their content and revenues.”