Where Will the Streaming Wars Lead Us?

Where Will the Streaming Wars Lead Us?

Pank Patel, in Conversation With LA Copyright Society Trustee Ian Slotin

Third Annual Jamie Lichtman Members' Soirée

Even before COVID disrupted our lives and viewing habits in 2020, Netflix had been busy disrupting the film and TV business.  It offered its customers nearly unlimited premium television and film content for a low monthly price, the ability to binge entire series immediately, Oscar-level direct-to-streaming films, no advertising, and the option to cancel at any time.  Netflix had created a product so compelling that it forced other major distributors to follow suit, which in turn accelerated the decline of more reliable ways to make money from content, including pay TV, digital sales and rentals, and windowing.  Now, in 2023, it's clear that the streaming ecosystem is in trouble, or at least ripe for more upheaval. As content behemoths like Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount, NBCUniversal and Sony struggle to formulate their plans to attempt streaming profitability, the resulting changes will affect everyone in the audiovisual creative industries.  Could the old strategies -- advertising? bundling? contingent compensation? consolidation? -- ultimately save the industry?  And where will newer players like Amazon and Apple fit in?

Join us for a provocative conversation about our collective film and television future with Pank Patel, Head of Strategy and Corporate Development atNorth Road. Reporting into North Road's CEO Peter Chernin, Pank works with North Road's leadership to set the company's strategic direction and leads all global investment and M&A activity.  Before joining North Road, Pank was EVP, Strategy & Business Development at NBCUniversal where he spent over a decade supporting C-level executives in developing and executing strategic initiatives including M&A. Pank has held leadership positions at Universal Pictures (Film), Universal Studio Group (TV) and NBCUniversal International, based in LA and London. In addition, he spent a year in Mumbai supporting Comcast's development of its entry strategy for India. Prior to joining NBCUniversal, Pank worked in the M&A team at Goldman Sachs in London.  Pank holds a BA in Economics from Girton College, Cambridge University and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Ian Slotin, SVP, Intellectual Property at NBCUniversal, leads the Innovation, Technology and Policy team in the company’s Intellectual Property Legal Group.  His team supports the company’s emerging technology initiatives, handles the IP aspects of M&A transactions and oversees the company’s patent strategy.  Ian is also the lead IP attorney for the company’s global policy and legislative strategies on copyright, rights of publicity and other IP-related disciplines.  He also advises business leaders on the legal and policy ramifications of disruptive technologies, and chairs a cross-functional working group that develops policies and guidance on new technologies.  Before joining NBCUniversal, Ian was an associate at Irell & Manella, LLP and TroyGould LLP, and served as a law clerk to the Honorable A. Howard Matz in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. He is a graduate of the Yale Law School.