DEG redefines mission, restructures
DIGITAL: New committees reflect changes in industry
By Marcy Magiera -- Video Business, 8/20/2009
AUG. 20 | DIGITAL: BURBANK, Calif.—Trade association DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group has redefined its mission and restructured its organization to better reflect the mix of established and emerging platforms on which home entertainment will be delivered.
(L. to r.) DEG Board members Eisuke Tsuyuzaki, Panasonic North America; DEG President Ron Sanders, Warner Home Video; Dennis Maguire, Paramount Home Entertainment; DEG Chairman Bob Chapek, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment; DEG Executive Director Amy Jo Smith; Steve Beeks, Lionsgate; David Bishop, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment; Andy Parsons, Pioneer Electronics; and Marty Gordon, Philips Electronics. Click for more photos
Changes—announced in a luncheon press briefing in the Warner Home Video offices here and attended by the heads of almost every major studio home video division—beef up the group’s attention to digital formats, putting the emerging area on par with physical media.
DEG’s new standing committees include Established Categories, which will support home entertainment product already in the market, including Blu-ray Disc and DVD; Developing Platforms, which will evaluate emerging services and platforms for delivering content; Supply Chain, which exists to identify efficiencies in the industry supply chain of both physical and digital products and further green practices; and Communications.
Previously, content and technology were addressed by separate committees. Those two areas are combined in the current structure.
“The old distinction between physical and digital gets washed away in the future,” said Ron Sanders, president of Warner Home Video and DEG, using the examples of such packaged media as DVD and Blu-ray carrying digital files and digital downloads that can be saved from some form of physical media. “The [new] structure kind of reflects that,” he said.
The move opens opportunities to recruit members from sectors not currently represented, including mobile, cable, satellite and I.T., said Bob Chapek, president of Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment and chairman of the DEG.
“Now that these changes are implemented, the DEG will be better prepared to respond to the current trends before us and provide needed support to the marketplace,” Chapek said.
The trade group launched a redesigned Web site, at DEGOnline.org, in conjunction with the changes.
New committees are chaired by:
• Established Categories: Jeffrey Thompson, VP of worldwide business development, WDSHE
• Developing Platforms: Leslie Cohen, senior VP of new products and services, Sony Music Entertainment
• Supply Chain: Dan Miron, VP of worldwide supply chain management, WHV
• Communications: Jim Noonan, senior VP of worldwide strategic promotions and communications, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group
