EuroVoD is thrilled to welcome 3 new members in its network, on time for the end of this challenging year!
Joining us as an Associate Member is an Irish VOD aggregator and encoding house, Grupa BB Media. Created in 2013 their goal is to offer the widest distribution among all VOD / EST / SVOD operators in order to optimize our clients digital revenues. They advise clients in their digital strategy and in its application. They help to deliver content in the proper format to TV broadcasters and VOD platforms anywhere in the world, and protect clients content on the Internet. GBBM works with Netflix, AmazonPrime Video, Canal+ and local VOD platforms.
The Association also decided to create a new type of members in its newly adopted Statutes
and is glad to officially welcome two long-time collaborators, Michael Gubbins and Wendy Bernfeld, as Consultative Members.
Michael Gubbins has been the moderator of our European VoD Meetings since its 1st edition and wrote our EuroVoD report on VoD services this year. He is co-founder of analysis and consultancy company SampoMedia, chair of film fund, Ffilm Cymru Wales and project leader of a major creative cluster development in the West Midlands of the UK. Gubbins was editor of titles, including Screen International and Screen Daily, and Music Week in a 25-year career in newspapers and magazines. He writes influential reports on the changing media and cultural environment in Europe; and is a sought-after and experienced moderator, keynote speaker and organiser of conferences, Think Tanks and events around the world. In the last six years, Gubbins has worked in more than. 30 countries with clients interested in the changing on-demand, always-on converged economy. He is an Honorary Visiting Fellow of the University of Exeter, a member of the West Midlands Film Bureau, and sits on the advisory boards of Power to the Pixel and the Met Film School.
Wendy Bernfeld has also been part of the pedagogical team for the European VoD Meetings and intervened as a speaker. She is the founder/Managing Director of Rights Stuff, with 25+ years in film/pay-tv/vod channel start-up, biz dev and content/programming experience in N.A. and EMEA/international, including prior multi-region roles as CEO Canal+ International, MD Alliance Atlantis and earlier on in her career as an entertainment lawyer. She provides content strategy and pragmatic licensing, including content curation, acquisition, distribution and development, so as to help maximise rights/windows/audiences across an evolving digital landscape. Key expertise is international pay/svod/ott licensing and ‘’Originals’’ deals. This includes hybrid and digital distribution going beyond just the Big5, to the many other key EMEA/international thematic and regional players who compete and complement them. Wendy has a Law Degree (L.L.B.)/J.D) from Queens University, after a year of B.A./M.B.A. courses in McGill and Univ. of Toronto. She is a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada as well as on the Roll of Solicitors in the UK. Earlier, she was one of 10 honoured appointees as Law Clerk to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.