The Carmel Group’s true expertise in broadcast dates back to the early 1970s, when Jimmy Schaeffler, the company’s founder, closely assisted Peter Jennings, Roone Arledge, and Jim McKay during ABC’s production of the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany, and nearly every other Olympics through Sarajevo in 1984. Numerous high-level TV legal, production, and executive positions, covering two decades, followed and were part of that service.
Since then, The Carmel Group has repeatedly studied and followed the U.S. and international broadcast realms, completing numerous reports, studies, and analyses for private and public clients and trade groups alike. Additionally, The Carmel Group has been asked to attend and present at various broadcast seminars and conferences, which in 1996, 1999, 2005 and 2011, included presentations at the NAB Futures event, once held annually in late March in locales like Pebble Beach, CA, plus numerous Super Sessions at the NAB 2005, 2007 and 2009 annual shows in Las Vegas, NV. Specifically, as an example, Jimmy Schaeffler moderated the NAB 2007 Super Session titled “IPTV,” in Las Vegas, before several hundred attendees and with participants from AT&T, OpenTV, Capital Broadcasting, SES Americom, and Qualcomm.
On a smaller scale, The Carmel Group has made numerous “Future of Broadcasting”-type presentations before small-to-medium-sized broadcast groups during annual meetings across the country and in Asia, Australia, and Europe. As an example, one of The Carmel Group’s most notable past presentations looked at the future of the telecom industry players, in a speech in Atlanta, GA, during early 2004, wherein the broadcasters were labeled the “Wanderers,” the telcos were labeled the “Wannabees,” the cable operators were labeled the “Followers,” and the satellite operators were labeled the “Innovators.” It is exactly this kind of thought-provoking presentation that places The Carmel Group in such high regard and demand for industry consulting, conferences, and publishing projects.
