When Redstone Speaks, People Take Different Notes
One speech can create many different articles with varying points of emphasis. Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone spoke at the Media and Money conference in New York. Here's how they reported it:
Billboard.biz: "Redstone: Ads Will Pay The Way." "Ads will pay the way into the digital future, Sumner predicted. Today, advertisers are not necessarily shifting their dollars, but they are taking advantage of integrated ad opportunities over multi-platform placements."
Hollywood Reporter: "Redstone: Content Still King in Digital Domain." "Redstone argued that with consumers having taken charge in the digital age, content must be 'viral, ubiquitous and easy to use.' And with 500 channels and 8 billion Internet sites out there, "digital means dollars for those with the best content," he said. "
Forbes: "Redstone: 'If Content Is King, Copyright Is Its Castle'." "'If content is king, copyright is its castle,'' he said. 'Copyright compels creativity, it furnishes the incentive to innovate. If you limit the protection of copyright, you stifle the expression of self.'"
New York Times: "CBS and Viacom Executive Chairman Hip to Digital Trends." "When it comes to technology, Sumner Redstone says he’s not an early adopter, but rather a 'non-adopter', joking about the fact that he doesn’t blog or Twitter. Still, during his keynote address to the Media and Money Conference, he made sure to get across that he’s hip to big digital trends and that CBS and Viacom are well positioned to take advantage of industry changes."
Most of the articles I've seen outlined the main themes of Redstone's speech: copyright (still important), distribution (need to follow consumers' needs and behavior), advertising ("will pay the way") and content ("Professionally produced content only increases in value as digital platforms multiply"). Redstone's opinion matters a great deal as Viacom has a wide media footprint that includes MTV, BET, Paramount Pictures and video game maker Harmonix ("Guitar Hero").
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