Diane Tryneski wears many hats for HBO. As the senior VP of
broadcast and studio operations for the premium cable network, she is
responsible for the channel's operations and engineering centers, including its
main outpost in Hauppauge, N.Y.,
and studio operations in New York and Los Angeles.
But it was at ABC where Tryneski honed her skills, helping
oversee tech-heavy live events including Super Bowls, elections and
inaugurations, along with breaking news such as coverage of the Sept. 11
attacks.
In terms of technical challenges, however, few can compete
with the broadcast network's coverage of New Year's Eve 1999, with the world
turning the clock on the new millennium. "It was literally 24 hours live out of
a control room, going from country to country as they hit the millennium,"
Tryneski recalls.
She got her first break in the television technology
business working for WNET New York in the telesales group, renting out
facilities and providing production expertise to clients. She moved to ABC to
work in studio services, handling staging, craft services and makeup, among
other things, before shifting to affiliate services, where she dealt with
satellite leases and technical operations issues. Tryneski moved up the ladder
at the network, eventually becoming senior VP of TV operations.
In 2003, after 16 years with the broadcast network, Tryneski
moved to cable. She joined Discovery Communications as executive VP of
Discovery's production, technology and media services group, tasked with
building Discovery's in-house production unit.
"That was where I had my ‘a-ha!' moment: that technology and
content from that point forward would be inextricably tied," she points out.
"Having a deeper understanding of that creative process has really helped me."
In 2006, she returned to ABC in a more strategic capacity,
to try to improve workflow and process, before joining HBO in December 2008.
With HBO expanding to video-on-demand and the recently
launched broadband product HBO Go, consumers have the ability to watch what
they want, when and where they want it.
Tryneski is making sure all the hard work done behind the
scenes and on the back end results in a product that will please consumers and
run smoothly for the network.
"We are looking internally at our facilities,
processes, technologies and workflows," she says, "to make sure that we are
adapting and processing that content efficiently and at the highest quality we
can, for whatever medium it will end up on."
