Rights Stuff Boosts Operation
Sports heavyweight Amory Schwartz teams up with Wendy Bernfeld, to set up Rights Stuff Media (Ireland).
International content licensing consultancy Rights Stuff, headed up by Wendy Bernfeld, is expanding its operation by teaming up with sports programming and digital channel veteran Amory Schwartz. Bernfeld and Schwartz have established a new Irish company, Rights Stuff Media (Ireland), to complement Bernfeld’s longstanding international office in Amsterdam.
‘I am thrilled to be working again with Amory, a seasoned entrepreneur with a wealth of sports programming and channel development expertise. With the media landscape ever-evolving and the economy in freefall, new media and traditional TV companies are having to continually re-evaluate their position. Rights Stuff helps companies to establish or flex approaches and develop robust solutions relating to content acquisition, licensing, and business development,’ commented Wendy Bernfeld, Managing Director, Rights Stuff.
Schwartz, previously co-founder and chief executive of NASN (North American Sports Network), the pan-European sports network which was acquired by ESPN in 2007, worked previously with Wendy Bernfeld within the Filmnet/ProNet/MNet/ Nethold group of companies and later with Canal Plus. He has notched up a formidable track record working on a variety of sports and entertainment projects, including television and online platform development, channel distribution and content licensing and acquisition.
‘Wendy has worked with an impressive list of media companies, and has developed great relationships with most of the major players as well as scouting and nurturing niche projects. We will utilise our complementary skill-sets and experience to help companies realise the full value of their content, and exploit these assets creatively and effectively across all suitable platforms and business models,’ said Schwartz.
European-based Rights Stuff, established in 1999, works with a range of international content owners, telcos, IPTV operators, producers, distributors and TV, cable and satellite, internet and mobile channels; expertise and guidance is offered in pragmatic international content acquisition, business and legal consulting, and in deal structuring and rights exploitation across all forms of media. In recent years, extensive work has been carried out on evolving new digital media platforms around the world, and related content and business/consumer models.
Over the last decade, Rights Stuff BV has worked for an extensive range of clients including Joost, France Telecom/Orange, Endemol, Canal+, UPC/ChelloMedia, Fremantle, Sony, 2waytraffic, Movielink and Disney/ABC International Television (Europe).
For further information,
Please contact:
Sarah Horner, MediaVision, London,
tel. 44 791 250 40 45 or e-mail. mediavision@dial.pipex.com
Or visit www.rights-stuff.com
Editors’ notes:
About Rights Stuff
European-based Rights Stuff provides pragmatic international content licensing (acquisition and distribution), business and legal consulting for companies within the traditional film/television world, and for new digital media ventures across various ‘viewing screens’ and tailored for various consumer and business models. These include: Video On Demand (whether ad supported, subscription or transactional) – to TV, set-top-box, PC); Interactive TV; Websites; Wireless/Mobile phones/Mobile TV; and the newest Portable Entertainment Media Players.
Rights Stuff is involved in sourcing, negotiating and securing rights for emerging digital platforms, such as internet, mobile, interactive TV, VOD and portable devices, as well as advising on start-up phases of new media or cross platform ventures. In addition, Rights Stuff is instrumental in sourcing and securing global distribution for made-for-new-media original programming, e.g., mobisodes and webisodes.
About Wendy Lynn Bernfeld.
Canadian-born content acquisitions expert (originally an entertainment lawyer and international pay TV/pay per view content executive), Wendy Bernfeld then set up Rights Stuff BV in Amsterdam in 1999. She specializes in core content licensing sourcing, negotiations and related rights advice for traditional and digital new media.
Wendy has over 20 years experience in film and pay TV channel startup and program buying. She has spent the bulk of her career as a senior movie buyer/TV executive in various international TV networks, including CEO of Canal+ International Acquisitions, MD Alliance-Atlantis in Europe, and VP Program Acquisition/Special Projects, First Choice Movie Network, Canada.
About Amory Schwartz
Schwartz has nearly 15 years experience in international media business development. Prior to setting up his own media consultancy outfit in Dublin, Ireland, Schwartz was the co-founder and chief executive of NASN (the North American Sports Network), which was acquired by ESPN in 2007. At the time of Amory’s departure in July 2008, NASN was available in more than 20 million households in over 65 countries in Europe and the Middle East.
Prior to establishing NASN, Schwartz served several companies in senior positions, focusing on business strategy and execution. These roles included: Vice President of Strategic Business at Parthus Technologies, a leading provider of platform-level semiconductor intellectual property solutions targeting the mobile Internet market; The Digital Broadcasting Company as Head of Business Affairs; and ProNet (the programming acquisition subsidiary of Nethold -- and later Canal Plus) as Director of Business & Legal Affairs.
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International content licensing consultancy Rights Stuff, headed up by Wendy Bernfeld, is expanding its operation by teaming up with sports programming and digital channel veteran Amory Schwartz. Bernfeld and Schwartz have established a new Irish company, Rights Stuff Media (Ireland), to complement Bernfeld’s longstanding international office in Amsterdam.
‘I am thrilled to be working again with Amory, a seasoned entrepreneur with a wealth of sports programming and channel development expertise. With the media landscape ever-evolving and the economy in freefall, new media and traditional TV companies are having to continually re-evaluate their position. Rights Stuff helps companies to establish or flex approaches and develop robust solutions relating to content acquisition, licensing, and business development,’ commented Wendy Bernfeld, Managing Director, Rights Stuff.
Schwartz, previously co-founder and chief executive of NASN (North American Sports Network), the pan-European sports network which was acquired by ESPN in 2007, worked previously with Wendy Bernfeld within the Filmnet/ProNet/MNet/ Nethold group of companies and later with Canal Plus. He has notched up a formidable track record working on a variety of sports and entertainment projects, including television and online platform development, channel distribution and content licensing and acquisition.
‘Wendy has worked with an impressive list of media companies, and has developed great relationships with most of the major players as well as scouting and nurturing niche projects. We will utilise our complementary skill-sets and experience to help companies realise the full value of their content, and exploit these assets creatively and effectively across all suitable platforms and business models,’ said Schwartz.
European-based Rights Stuff, established in 1999, works with a range of international content owners, telcos, IPTV operators, producers, distributors and TV, cable and satellite, internet and mobile channels; expertise and guidance is offered in pragmatic international content acquisition, business and legal consulting, and in deal structuring and rights exploitation across all forms of media. In recent years, extensive work has been carried out on evolving new digital media platforms around the world, and related content and business/consumer models.
Over the last decade, Rights Stuff BV has worked for an extensive range of clients including Joost, France Telecom/Orange, Endemol, Canal+, UPC/ChelloMedia, Fremantle, Sony, 2waytraffic, Movielink and Disney/ABC International Television (Europe).
For further information,
Please contact:
Sarah Horner, MediaVision, London,
tel. 44 791 250 40 45 or e-mail. mediavision@dial.pipex.com
Or visit www.rights-stuff.com
Editors’ notes:
About Rights Stuff
European-based Rights Stuff provides pragmatic international content licensing (acquisition and distribution), business and legal consulting for companies within the traditional film/television world, and for new digital media ventures across various ‘viewing screens’ and tailored for various consumer and business models. These include: Video On Demand (whether ad supported, subscription or transactional) – to TV, set-top-box, PC); Interactive TV; Websites; Wireless/Mobile phones/Mobile TV; and the newest Portable Entertainment Media Players.
Rights Stuff is involved in sourcing, negotiating and securing rights for emerging digital platforms, such as internet, mobile, interactive TV, VOD and portable devices, as well as advising on start-up phases of new media or cross platform ventures. In addition, Rights Stuff is instrumental in sourcing and securing global distribution for made-for-new-media original programming, e.g., mobisodes and webisodes.
About Wendy Lynn Bernfeld.
Canadian-born content acquisitions expert (originally an entertainment lawyer and international pay TV/pay per view content executive), Wendy Bernfeld then set up Rights Stuff BV in Amsterdam in 1999. She specializes in core content licensing sourcing, negotiations and related rights advice for traditional and digital new media.
Wendy has over 20 years experience in film and pay TV channel startup and program buying. She has spent the bulk of her career as a senior movie buyer/TV executive in various international TV networks, including CEO of Canal+ International Acquisitions, MD Alliance-Atlantis in Europe, and VP Program Acquisition/Special Projects, First Choice Movie Network, Canada.
About Amory Schwartz
Schwartz has nearly 15 years experience in international media business development. Prior to setting up his own media consultancy outfit in Dublin, Ireland, Schwartz was the co-founder and chief executive of NASN (the North American Sports Network), which was acquired by ESPN in 2007. At the time of Amory’s departure in July 2008, NASN was available in more than 20 million households in over 65 countries in Europe and the Middle East.
Prior to establishing NASN, Schwartz served several companies in senior positions, focusing on business strategy and execution. These roles included: Vice President of Strategic Business at Parthus Technologies, a leading provider of platform-level semiconductor intellectual property solutions targeting the mobile Internet market; The Digital Broadcasting Company as Head of Business Affairs; and ProNet (the programming acquisition subsidiary of Nethold -- and later Canal Plus) as Director of Business & Legal Affairs.
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