The close partnership between MEDIA CONVENTION Berlin and re:publica was been strengthened even further with a joint ticket this year. Participants can look forward to a broader range of contents. Here is a first taste of some of this year’s prestigious speakers from the media track.

As our star guest, MEDIA CONVENTION and re:publica welcome the co-founder and CEO of Netflix, Reed Hastings. The US video streaming service has become popular with TV series fans in Germany since its launch here last September at the very latest. Worldwide, Netflix is available in more than 40 countries, with a total of over 50 million film fans as subscribers. Their self-produced series “House of Cards” and “Orange is the New Black” won numerous awards, now considered flagship products of the on-demand and streaming industry. 

At his fist talk after last year's Berlin visit to mark Netflix's launch in Germany, Reed Hastings will talk about the future of digital entertainment and the next steps for Netflix in Germany, Europe and the rest of the world. Interesting to know about Hastings’ background is that he is actively involved in the American education system, and was a member of the California Committee on Education from 2000 to 2004. He is a board member of various educational institutions, and on Facebook’s supervisory board. From 2007 to 2012, he was member of the board with Microsoft. We are excited to hear what he has to say!

We are also happy to announce a number of other prominent MEDIA CONVENTION speakers: The mayors of the largest German cities will be represented with talks, namely Michael Müller, governing mayor of Berlin, and Olaf Scholz, mayor of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg. From the German Federal Ministry of Economy and Energy, we welcome Parliamentary Secretary Brigitte Zypries.

All major German TV stations will be present as well: We are looking forward to guest speaker Lutz Marmor, chairman of the public broadcasting corporation ARD and director of the NDR, as well as Moritz Pohl (Head of Strategic Programming with RTL Television), Ronald Horstman (CEO of Studio71, the multi-channel network of ProSiebenSat1), Marcus Ammon (Senior Vice President Film with Sky Germany), and the cast of the new "Tatort" episode from Berlin, Meret Becker and Mark Waschke.