Sony Pictures Digital Sets Sales and Marketing Team

Bill Sanders, Jason Spivak and Jason Wells Join As Vice Presidents

PRNewswire
CULVER CITY, Calif.
09/06/2005

Three vice presidents have joined the Sony Pictures Digital Sales and Marketing team, it was announced today by senior vice presidents Ira Rubenstein and Mike Arrieta. The appointments come as Rubenstein and Arrieta establish their senior team to lead development in several emerging markets.

Bill Sanders has been tapped vice president, programming, Jason Spivak has joined as vice president, digital distribution and licensing, and Jason Wells will serve as vice president, mobile. Sanders, Spivak, and Wells join Emmanuelle Borde, vice president, marketing and production, Shalom Mann vice president, game studio, and Michael Wayne vice president, strategic alliances, to complete the Sony Pictures Digital Sales and Marketing senior management team.

Sony Pictures Digital Sales and Marketing is responsible for extending Sony Pictures Entertainment properties into the digital marketplace through online marketing and promotions, mobile entertainment and personalization products and the digital sale of the studio's film and television programming worldwide.

Bill Sanders joins Sony Pictures Digital Sales and Marketing as the vice president of programming. He will be responsible for overseeing the creation of film and video related programming and applications for the mobile marketplace. Jason Spivak joins as vice president of digital distribution and licensing and will be responsible for developing and managing the distribution of the Sony and MGM libraries to existing and emerging digital platforms. Jason Wells will serve as vice president of mobile and will be responsible for further expanding Sony Pictures Entertainment's properties throughout the mobile space through both mobile operators and direct to consumer opportunities worldwide.

"The growth opportunities available in the digital arena continue to expand at a rapid pace. We are committed to bringing entertainment to our consumers by providing them with choices of where, when, and how they would like to enjoy their favorite properties," said Arrieta. "These three new executives each bring a diverse set of skills, knowledge and background to the team, and will help us to make our vision of the digital future, a reality in the present, added Rubenstein."

Bill Sanders most recently served as president of Pervasive Media where he consulted businesses that focused on entertainment content for mobile devices; in particular, video for cell phones. Prior to that position, Sanders was senior vice president for Big Ticket Television, a Paramount/Viacom company, where he oversaw all current network and syndicated programming and spearheaded Big Ticket's entry into enhanced television. Throughout his career, Sanders has served as vice president of original programming for HBO and supervising producer for the channel's award winning comedy series "Dream On." In addition, he has held positions at Universal Television, Warner Brothers Television, and ABC.

Prior to joining Sony Pictures Digital, Jason Spivak served as vice president, Digital Distribution for MGM Home Entertainment, where he was responsible for developing and executing distribution strategies for MGM's library across all transactional digital platforms, including cable, satellite and internet pay-per-view and video-on-demand services. Prior to that position, Spivak served as Southern European Executive Director for MGM Home Entertainment Europe, LTD. In this role, he oversaw sales, distribution and marketing efforts for MGM Home Entertainment products in the Southern European region. Spivak began his career as a Director of Strategic Planning for MGM Home Entertainment and MGM Consumer Products.

Jason Wells brings years of experience in business development, management consulting and business launch strategy to the Sales and Marketing team. Most recently he was vice president of business development for Handango, where he directed the content and distribution business units. Prior to Handango, Wells was founder and president of Globient Corp, where he opened new channels in Europe, Asia and Latin America for technology companies. As a former management consultant with AT Kearney, Wells worked with telecommunications giants such as Sprint and Telstra to launch and grow new businesses. He has worked extensively throughout Europe, Asia and Latin America in channel development, marketing and strategy roles. His professional experience includes tenure at Marriott International where he was instrumental in establishing new ventures.

About Sony Pictures Digital

Sony Pictures Digital, an operating unit of Sony Pictures Entertainment, consists of Sony Pictures Animation, Sony Pictures Imageworks, Sony Online Entertainment, SonyPictures.com and Digital Sales and Marketing. The division produces stories, characters, images and experiences conceived, created, rendered and delivered digitally. With imagination and technological innovation, Sony Pictures Digital continues to create and expand the entertainment landscape.

Sony Pictures Digital Sales and Marketing extends Sony Pictures Entertainment properties into the digital marketplace through online promotion via SonyPictures.com, mobile entertainment and personalization products, and the digital sale of the studio's film and television programming.

SOURCE: Sony Pictures Digital

CONTACT: Rachel Falikoff of Sony Pictures Digital, +1-310-840-8789,
rfalikoff@imageworks.com; Jonalyn Morris of Bender Helper Impact for Sony
Pictures Digital, +1-310-473-4147, Jonalyn_morris@bhimpact.com

Web site: http://www.spe.sony.com/