Robert J. Dowling - During his 15-year tenure as Editor-in-Chief
and Publisher of The Hollywood Reporter, the entertainment industry's
premier daily trade publication, Robert J. Dowling emerged as one of the
leading authorities and spokesmen on entertainment issues and trends worldwide,
including the 2001 terrorist attacks and their effects on the industry.
Mr. Dowling created and executed a successful business plan to position
The Hollywood Reporter as the definitive authority on the fast-changing
entertainment industry landscape of the 21st century. He proved adept at
identifying emerging growth areas early, guiding the paper to unparalleled
coverage of labor, convergence, new media, international and Hollywood-Washington
political issues in addition to its core reporting on the movie, television,
cable and video businesses.
He launched The Hollywood Reporter's Web site in 1996, the industry's
first real-time, online delivery of entertainment news, pioneered the first
regular entertainment coverage devoted to the convergence of traditional
entertainment and new media, and started THR-East, an electronically
distributed daily edition designed to bring East Coast readers breaking news
stories hours before the competition.
Mr. Dowling is Chairman of the Digital Coast Roundtable and sits on the boards
of the Hollywood Radio & Television Society (HRTS) and Los Angeles Sports and
Entertainment Commission. He is a frequent guest speaker at universities on
the major trends in the markets he covers. In 2000 Mr. Dowling was invited
to Washington D.C. to brief members of the White House Cabinet on the
entertainment industry for the Office of National Drug Control Policy. He has
taught a course at UCLA and lectured at USC and Loyola Marymount.
Dan York, Executive Vice President, Programming, leads video content
strategy and acquisition for AT&T Project Lightspeed. Project Lightspeed is
the initiative to expand the fiber-optics network deeper into neighborhoods to
deliver AT&T U-verse TV, voice and high-speed Internet access services. AT&T
companies expect to reach approximately 18 million households by the end of
2008 as part of the initial deployment, using fiber-to-the-node and
fiber-to-the-premises technologies.
York was recently senior vice president of programming and development at
iN Demand Networks for several years. He oversaw all programming, content
acquisition, program planning, scheduling and distribution to other platforms.
This included over seventy linear channels of high def, pay-per-view,
out-of-market professional and college sports packages, and more VOD content
than any other entity. He was the first to program titles in high definition
VOD, and has overseen many of the biggest events in TV history.
Previously, York spent more than 12 years at HBO, including as VP/GM of Time
Warner Sports/HBOPPV. There he was responsible for distribution, marketing,
programming operations, content acquisition and sponsorship. He started his
career at HBO in marketing.

Click here
to return to the Chairman's Roundtable Event Series invitation.