Preston Padden, principal at Boulder Thinking LLC, a veteran media industry executive whose latest role involves serving as Executive Director of the Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition, will be interviewed by media publishing veteran Paul Maxwell, Founder and CEO of Media-Max Advisors, for a keynote session at Media Finance Focus 2016, the 56th annual conference for MFM and its BCCA subsidiary, the media industry’s credit association.
Themed “An Avalanche of Knowledge, Networking, and New Ideas,” the conference will be held May 23-25 at the Sheraton Downtown Denver. The general session featuring Padden’s interview by Maxwell is scheduled for Wednesday morning, May 25.
“The FCC’s incentive auction for broadcast spectrum, its latest moves to ‘unlock set top boxes,’ the retransmission consent situation, and the ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard stand rank among the top issues of interest to virtually every media or telecom business,” said Mary M. Collins, President and CEO of MFM and BCCA. “Combining Preston Padden’s extensive background in broadcasting and video programming with Paul Maxwell’s many years of following the industry is guaranteed to provide conference attendees with valuable insights on these issues and much, much more."
Preston Padden’s 38-year career in the media business encompasses serving as President of the ABC Television Network, Executive Vice-President of The Walt Disney Company;; President of Network Distribution for Fox Broadcasting; President of The Association of Independent Television Stations; Chairman and CEO of American Sky Broadcasting, which merged into Dish Network, as Assistant General Counsel of Metromedia, and until recently, Executive Director of the Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition, where he focused on ensuring a favorable outcome from the FCC’s Broadcast Incentive Auction for owners of broadcast media properties and their stakeholders. Padden has also served on the Boards of The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) and The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).
Paul S. Maxwell, who studied journalism at the University of Colorado School of Journalism, has been chronicling and commenting on the cable industry since 1969. He founded and led more than two dozen of the industry’s top-ranking trade publications, including Cablefax, Multichannel News, Cablevision Magazine, and The BRIDGE suite of news and analysis products. He has also been involved with many additional publications over the years, including CATV Newsweekly, TV & Communications, CED magazine, Communications Technology, and CableWorld. He is currently a featured columnist for MediaVillage.com.
In between publishing stints, Maxwell served as an advisor and/or consultant to a number of major media companies and media start-ups including running a unit of MCI and managing X*PRESS Information Services a partnership of TCI and McGraw-Hill which served as a precursor today’s online publishing platforms by distributing news and stock quotes to personal computers via satellite and cable systems. A recipient of the SCTA's R.E. Turner Innovator of the Year Award and the NCTA's Vanguard Award, Maxwell was inducted into the Cable TV Hall of Fame in 2004. He is a Board Member of the Cable Center, a past Member of the Board of Cable TV Pioneers, a founding Board Member of The Walter Kaitz Foundation and a founding member of CTAM.
About Media Finance Focus 2016:
Media Finance Focus 2016 serves as the primary source of professional education for business and credit management executives in the media industry, including its newspaper, television, radio, cable, online, mobile and other digital media enterprises. The conference will feature presentations from more than 150 industry experts, who will provide the latest information on accounting, economic projections, valuations, M&A, taxes, human resources, regulatory, and technological developments affecting the media industry.
MFM is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. Registered participants can earn 20 or more CPE credits.
BCCA, the media industry’s credit association, will provide a full track of sessions designed to meet the needs of today’s credit and collections professionals, including the latest trends in credit policies, initiatives for streamlining the financial management of integrated advertising campaigns, and tips for improving the collections process.
In addition, the Association of New Media Internal Auditors (NMIA) is co-locating its 2016 meeting with Media Finance Focus 2016, providing its members an opportunity to participate in sessions offered by both events. Media Finance Focus 2016 is also collaborating with the Media Industry Tax Group to offer a full track of tax-related topics of interest to the media industry’s tax professionals.
Media Finance Focus includes a number of formal and informal networking activities that are designed to foster idea-sharing and an exhibit hall featuring the latest in products and services for addressing the industry’s financial management and credit and collections requirements. Additional information about Media Finance Focus 2016 and an online registration form may be found on the conference Web site: www.mediafinancefocus.org.
About MFM and BCCA:
Media Financial Management Association (MFM) is the premiere resource for financial professionals for media industry education, networking, and information sharing throughout the U.S. and Canada. More information about MFM is available on its Web site: http://www.mediafinance.org. Its BCCA subsidiary serves as the media industry’s credit association. BCCA’s revenue management services encompass a variety of credit reports on national and local media advertisers, including Media Whys, a credit report for media businesses which offers a credit score based on industry-specific aging combined with trade data from Experian or D+B. More information about BCCA is available at http://www.bccacredit.com.
