Top Execs to Address NATPE

Attendees will hear from Zaslav, Murdoch, Eisner at Vegas confab

By Paige Albiniak -- Broadcasting & Cable, 12/16/2009 4:47:46 PM

Discovery President and CEO David Zaslav, Shine Group Chairman and CEO Elisabeth Murdoch and Tornante CEO Michael Eisner are some of the top executives who will address this year's National Association of Television Programming Executives (NATPE) conference in Las Vegas from Jan. 25-27, 2010, said NATPE President and CEO Rick Feldman in a call to preview the conference on Wednesday morning.

"For professionals involved in all aspects of content and distribution, NATPE has always been about networking and this year, we've doubled our efforts to facilitate meaningful business opportunities for every attendee, from the top-tier executive ranks to the young professionals who will drive the future of our business," said Feldman. "It is our hope that these initiatives, coupled with the changes to the familiar layout of past NATPE Market & Conferences, will make the 2010 event easily managed and highly productive for everyone."

Several of television's top producers also will address the conference, sharing their knowledge and experience with attendees, including CSI's Anthony Zuiker; House's David Shore, Katie Jacobs and Hugh Laurie; Cougartown and Scrubs' Bill Lawrence; and Modern Family's Steven Levitan.

"In the end, NATPE is really about having the highest level of people across as many disciplines as possible raise as many questions as they can about the business and then try to answer those questions," says Feldman.

This year's show floor will move to ballrooms on the first level of the Mandalay Bay Convention Center, making it closer to the compound's various hotels. Many syndicators also will meet with clients in hotel suites.

In 2011 and 2012, NATPE will move to Miami's South Beach, meeting at the newly renovated Fontainebleu and adjacent Eden Roc hotels.