The earliest roots of The Carmel Group are tied to its place as a 1995 spin-off of the Kagan organization, and a focus on the burgeoning Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) multichannel subsector. In fact, the “coming out party” for The Carmel Group was its inaugural conference, in early 1996, entitled “DBS: The 5 Burning Questions.” This event was held in early February 1996, in Woodland Hills, CA, just north of downtown L..A. Inaugural participants included U.S. Satellite Broadcasting’s Stanley E. and Stanley S. Hubbard, PrimeStar’s Jim Gray, AlphaStar’s Murray Klippenstein, EchoStar’s Charlie Ergen, and “The Father of U.S. DBS,” DirecTV’s Eddy Hartenstein. The keynote address that day was delivered by FCC Commissioner, Andrew Barrett. In 2007, as an example, The Carmel Group, in association with Hannover Fairs USA, conducted its 12th Annual “DBS: The 5 Burning Qs,”
More recent conferences center on the broader multichannel industry, especially “hybrid networks,” such as those involving distribution of cable, telco, satellite and broadcast entities and their related industry partners. Over-The-Top (OTT)/Broadband/Online Video has also become such a critical part of today’s broadcast and pay TV landscape that it, too, has become a most topical topic among many in the “innovation and change” category. Yet, whatever happens, DBS will always remain a main-stay of The Carmel Group.
Beyond events, The Carmel Group’s DBS expertise extends to a deep knowledge of the individuals and companies that make up the industry, both on a domestic U.S. and global scale, where The Carmel Group’s staff deal regularly with the industry’s top players, including many more former and existing presidents and chairmen of the best-of-class companies in the business.
In the area of studies and analyses, The Carmel Group has studied the DBS industry from every imaginable angle, and point of view, with projects looking at the old and new, and the competitive and growth oriented. Former and existing clients range from small start-ups looking for market assessments, to the largest players, looking at new business models and competitive understandings.