London, 26 January 2009: Screen Digest is delighted to announce that David Bishop, President, Worldwide, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) will make the Opening Keynote speech at this year's Screen Digest PEVE Digital Entertainment conference which takes place in Paris on 12-13 March.

Bishop, who oversees all aspects of Sony's worldwide home entertainment division, including sales, marketing and operations, has been with Sony Pictures since 2006. Initially appointed as President of Worldwide Brand Integration for Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE), he was responsible for the integration of MGM assets over the various SPE worldwide distribution entities. He subsequently served as President of North America for SPHE, where he oversaw all aspects of the North American business as well as the international operations of the MGM catalogue. Prior to joining SPE, Bishop spent more than 15 years at MGM Home Entertainment and three years at Live Home Video, in each case rising to the position of President and Chief Operating Officer.

Over the past 20 years Bishop has been a key player in the drive to improve the home entertainment experience, becoming the first President of the Digital Entertainment Group (DEG) during his tenure at MGM. His current role at the heart of the studio behind Blu-ray means he is ideally placed to open this year's Screen Digest PEVE Digital Entertainment conference with a wide-ranging speech that will outline Sony's vision of a high definition future and assess the prospects for home entertainment – whether packaged or digitally-delivered – over the next few years.

And while the opening session of the conference will give delegates the opportunity to hear one of the industry's most experienced voices, the closing session on 13 March will offer an unmissable opportunity to learn what today's consumers really want. Screen Digest has partnered with new media market consumer research experts Interpret to provide a unique, 'live' insight into the European digital media consumer. Building on Interpret's seminal 2009 State of UK Digital Media Study on consumer attitudes toward digital media and home entertainment, the 'live' panel will bring together five carefully-selected consumers, each representing one of the consumer segments developed from Interpret's quantitative research.

Ben Keen, Screen Digest's Chief Analyst, says "Consumers today are faced with more choices than ever before for accessing movies and TV programmes, making it more important than ever for the industry to understand how consumers really feel about the proliferating media options around them. We are delighted to be working with Interpret to give delegates the opportunity to hear directly from consumers - no matter how unsettling their views may be."

Jason Kramer, Chief Strategy Officer at Interpret says "PEVE has always been a key source of industry intelligence, and Interpret is delighted to give attendees unique insight into the needs of the home entertainment consumer. For the first time ever, Screen Digest PEVE's consumer panel will combine rigorous quantitative research findings with a 'live' consumer research session."

This unique session is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to listen to real consumers and apply the missing piece of information needed to give you a complete picture of the marketplace. Don't miss it!

Delegates registering before 31 January 2009 will save Euro 100 on the standard delegate fee.
For further details see REGISTER NOW