In 2020 the television production business faced major obstacles due to the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced production stoppages for most television shows. Only the most creative and innovative producers were able to navigate the challenges of the pandemic to deliver original content to network and viewers. 

One of those companies was ITV America under the leadership of CEO David George. The company -- through its vertical production companies including Leftfield Pictures, Sirens Media and Thinkfactory Media -- was able to deliver more than 400 hours of programming across 53 series in 2020 ranging from Netflix’s Emmy-winning series Queer Eye and Bravo’s Real Housewives of New Jersey to HGTV’s Good Bones and Fox’s Hell’s Kitchen despite the challenges posed by the deadly pandemic. For some shows like CBS' reality series Love Island, ITV America was able to devise a strictly-enforced, safe “bubble” environment to produce new episodes for an industry hungry for new, original programming.  

New shows such as ABC game show The Chase and recent talent deals with such celebrities as Tiger King’s Howard and Carole Baskin has ITV America well positioned for continued success in the future. George’s innovative and successful leadership of ITV America has earned him Broadcasting & Cable’s 2021 Producer of the Year Award, joining producers Craig Piligian (Pilgrim Films & Television); Steven Weinstock and Glenda Hersh (Truly Original); and Dan Cesareo (Big Fish Entertainment) and Arthur Smith (A. Smith & Co.) in receiving the honor.  

Read more about David George's career in a special report in the Feb. 15 Broadcasting+Cable magazine.

Bravo Media has named Noah Samton senior VP of current production.

Samton, previously VP of current programming at Truly Original, will lead a team overseeing unscripted series including The Real Housewives of New Jersey, Don’t Be Tardy and Summer House, plus the upcoming Relative Success With Tabatha Coffey and Stripped.

He will report to Shari Levine, executive VP of current production at Bravo, part of NBCUniversal, and will be based in New York.

“Noah has a proven track record of delivering high-quality unscripted content across multiple brands,” Levine said.

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.

Staying current with shifting trends in the business of on demand television and video will be the focus of next week’s On Demand conference, presented by Broadcasting & Cable and Multichannel News. The event is presented only once each year and will be held on Thursday, Sept. 29, at Manhattan NYC – An Affinia Hotel, across from Penn Station on Seventh Avenue at West 31st Street in New York City.  

Attendees at this year’s On Demand conference will hear data and research findings from comScore and MAGNA about changing preferences of viewership. The conference also features a keynote interview with Michael Paull of Amazon who will provide insights into the reasons for the current trends, as well as address timely topics like enhancing the viewer experience and identifying the ideal set of skills required for TV executives, today. Attendees will learn how these industry changes present a challenge for live sports coverage, and how studios are preparing themselves to make wise budgetary decisions for greenlighting original content. They’ll also hear how advertisers and advertising sales representatives are growing a fairly new revenue stream for on demand.  

Participants in this conference will enjoy discussions about traditional pay-per-view and movies on demand, which have long sustained the profitability of this segment of the industry, and how new options are influencing the latest financial forecasts. Those on the distribution roundtable will debate where the profitability will be in the near future, and will argue the long term benefits of current business models. A closing discussion about viewers and content focuses on the amount of content choices, the distinct advantages of linear vs. on demand distribution, as well as the best content to drive transactions. 

The afternoon keynote presentation by Comcast Cable’s Stephen Meyer will present this leading company’s strategy for staying ahead of the trends like “stacking”, new platforms like Comcast’s X1, and the best on demand options from this fall’s lineup of new shows. Hillelson added, “This keynote, plus the other special presentations and roundtables in our program, will offer attendees details, data, ideas and perspective, and hopefully, a plan for next steps, so that they are prepared to leverage the shifting trend towards on demand viewing.”

The conference will also include opportunities for networking as well as smaller group discussions during the “Meet, Greet & Eat” luncheon period. There will be an interactive movie quiz you can play throughout the day, a “my favorite movie photo booth,” plus a chance to win a top-brand, large-screen Smart 4K Ultra HD with HDR TV. Attendees can also meet Melissa Gorga of Bravo’s Real Housewives of New Jersey. She will be on-site to sign autographs during the event's closing reception from 5-6 p.m. Doors open at 9:30 a.m. and the program kicks-off at 10 a.m. See the full agenda and all participants online, and register by visiting https://nbmedia.swoogo.com/ondemand. The On Demand conference is produced by Schramm Marketing Group for Broadcasting & Cable and Multichannel News.