Media confab kicks off amid sweeping changes
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SUN VALLEY, ID - JULY 09: Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer (COO) of Facebook, and her husband David Goldberg, CEO of SurveyMonkey, attend the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference on July 9, 2014 in Sun Valley, Idaho. Many of the worlds wealthiest and most powerful businessmen from media, finance, and technology attend the annual week-long conference which is in its 32nd year. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) ORG XMIT: 500033463 ORIG FILE ID: 451902774(Photo: Scott Olson Getty Images)
The annual retreat of the media industry's most exclusive club kicks off in earnest today at the Sun Valley resort in Idaho, as CEOs of Silicon Valley giants, cable companies, Hollywood studios and hot tech startups seek out each other for casual networking, doing deals and a bit of business intelligence.
With nearly all major media and tech moguls and bigwigs invited, the confab, hosted by investment bank Allen & Company, is largely closed to the press. The event is occurring at a time of a sweeping media consolidation and mega-mergers unleashed by technological changes and evolving consumer behavior. AT&T's deal to buy DirecTV and Comcast's still-pending merger with Time Warner Cable will be frequently discussed. And attempts at early seeding of other deals are expected.
Amazon Chairman Jeff Bezos's $250 million purchase of the Washington Post took root at the conference last year as Bezos and Don Graham, whose family controlled the paper, whispered on the sidelines. During the same event, Liberty Media chairman and cable legend John Malone made news by urging cable companies to buy Neflix competitor Hulu.
The roughly 250 invitees include the usual suspects -- Bill and Melinda Gates, Rupert Murdoch, Barry Diller, Apple's Tim Cook, Miramax's Harvey Weinstein, Comcast's Brian Roberts, AT&T's Randall Stephenson and Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg. But startup execs getting the most attention and venture funding now -- Brian Chesky of Airbnb, Pinterest's Ben Silbermann and Nick Woodman of camera maker GoPro – will also be there.
The consolidation of pay-TV providers and other controllers of the content "pipe" may be close to reaching its limit. But analysts expect a round of mergers by cable networks and other content providers eager to keep their bargaining leverage against their distributors. David Zaslav, CEO of Discovery Communications, is expected at the conference, as are Les Moonves of CBS and Philippe Dauman of Viacom.
Several top sports executives have been invited as well, underscoring the crucial leverage live games lend to broadcast and cable networks in negotiations with pay-TV providers and retaining customers who might otherwise cut the cord. The commissioners of the four major sports leagues -- Adam Silver of the National Basketball Association, Roger Goodell of the National Football League, Bud Selig of Major League Baseball and Gary Bettman of the National Hockey League – are on the list.
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