San Francisco -- Oxygen Media president Geraldine Laybourne
and DirecTV Inc. president Eddy Hartenstein are among several cable and direct-broadcast
satellite executives scheduled to speak at a National Basketball Association-sponsored
technology summit at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel here Feb. 11.
The event, which will take place during NBA All-Star
Weekend, will feature several panel sessions dealing with the future of sports programming
in the digital age, including debates on branding, content development, strategic
alliances and new-media business models, NBA officials said.
Along with Laybourne and Hartenstein, other industry
executives scheduled to appear include Paul Kagan Associates Inc. president Paul Kagan,
Fox Sports president David Hill, Turner Sports president Mark Lazarus and cable-network
veteran Kay Koplovitz.
Other summit participants include NBA commissioner David
Stern, NBC Sports president Dick Ebersol and current and past NBA stars Magic Johnson,
Shaquille O'Neal, Allan Houston, Isiah Thomas, Bill Walton and Grant Hill.
The conference will also include a discussion on the
digital divide and the leading role sports can play in ensuring that the Internet is
accessible to all citizens, league officials said.
