NBC Sports & Olympics chairman Dick Ebersol is one of the recipients of the 8th annual Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Awards, which will be handed out at the NATPE 2011 conference in Miami, Florida.
The awards are named after former NBC programming chief Brandon Tartikoff, who died from Hodgkins disease. The other recipients are “Entertainment Tonight” host Mary Hart, “Live! with Regis & Kelly” co-host Regis Philbin and RTL Group CEO Gerhard Zeiler.
“We believe that Dick, Mary, Regis and Gerhard have remarkably shaped the global television industry on both business and pop cultural levels, and truly embody the spirit of the Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Award,” said NATPE CEO Rick Feldman in a statement. “Both NATPE and Lilly Tartikoff Karatz are delighted to honor the recipients’ storied careers through this special celebration.”
More information in the release after the jump.
DICK EBERSOL, MARY HART, REGIS PHILBIN AND GERHARD ZEILER TO RECEIVE NATPE’S 8TH ANNUAL BRANDON TARTIKOFF LEGACY AWARD
Recipients to be Honored at the NATPE 2011 Market & Conference January 25 in Miami
LOS ANGELES, October 18, 2010 – Dick Ebersol, Mary Hart, Regis Philbin and Gerhard Zeiler will receive NATPE||Content First‘s 8th annual Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Award, to be presented on Tuesday, Jan. 25 during the NATPE 2011 Market & Conference in Miami. The announcement was made today by NATPE President & CEO Rick Feldman.
Named in honor of Brandon Tartikoff, arguably one of television’s greatest programmers, the Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Award was created to recognize a select group of television professionals who exhibit extraordinary passion, leadership, independence and vision in the process of creating television programming.
“We believe that Dick, Mary, Regis and Gerhard have remarkably shaped the global television industry on both business and pop cultural levels, and truly embody the spirit of the Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Award,” said Feldman. “Both NATPE and Lilly Tartikoff Karatz are delighted to honor the recipients’ storied careers through this special celebration.”
The recipients will be honored at a cocktail celebration on Tuesday, Jan. 25 during NATPE’s Miami marketplace at the Fontainebleau Resort. A limited number of event tickets are available for $125, benefiting the NATPE Educational Foundation, and can be purchased online here. The event is sponsored by NBC Universal Entertainment and Broadcasting & Cable / Multichannel News.
Noted NBCU Entertainment, “We are thrilled to continue our support of NATPE’s annual Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Awards. This year’s list of honorees once again represents everything Brandon stood for in our industry. Congratulations to Regis, Mary, Gerhard and to our colleague and friend Dick.”
“Broadcasting & Cable and Multichannel News are looking forward to honoring this year’s Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Award recipients with NATPE and the Tartikoff family. In conjunction with the move to Miami, the celebration deservedly takes to the stage in front of an international audience to recognize the global impact of four television icons,” added NewBay Media Group Publisher Louis Hilleson.
A prolific producer and executive, Dick Ebersol is currently the Chairman of NBC Universal Sports & Olympics, and in the past three decades has produced eight of the top 10 most-watched television events in U.S. history. Responsible for award-winning sports, entertainment and news productions, Ebersol negotiated an unprecedented number of Summer and Winter Olympics broadcasting rights deals for NBC, establishing NBC as “America’s Olympic Network.”
Not only a powerhouse sports broadcasting executive, Ebersol also conceived and createdSaturday Night Live with Lorne Michaels. He was awarded the Olympic Order in 1992 by the International Olympic Committee and is a part of the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame.
Mary Hart is the host of the No. 1 syndicated entertainment newsmagazine show in the world, ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT. For the past 29 seasons, Hart has interviewed some of the most distinguished personalities in entertainment while providing compelling coverage of global events and major news. She was the only journalist granted access to Quincy Jones’ all-star recording session for “We are the World,” and the only entertainment journalist who interviewed all presidential and vice-presidential candidates during the 2008 presidential campaign.
She is a member of Broadcasting & Cable’s Hall of Fame and was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She is also actively involved in several philanthropic organizations dedicated to children. Earlier this year Hart announced that the 2010-2011 season will be her last as host of ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT.
Regis Philbin is an Emmy Award-winning broadcasting industry icon. Since first stepping in front of the camera more than 40 years ago, he has ambitiously tackled talk shows, game shows, the literary world and even the music industry. Philbin is best known for his many years as co-host of the nationally-syndicated morning program “LIVE! with Regis and Kelly.” He later took his daytime success to primetime as host of ABC’s ratings juggernaut “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.”
The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences honored Philbin with a Daytime Emmy as Outstanding Talk Show Host for “LIVE,” and another Emmy award as Outstanding Game Show Host for “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.” He has been inducted to the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame, and was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2008 Daytime Emmys. Â He also holds the Guinness World Recordâ„¢ for “Most Hours on Camera.”
Gerhard Zeiler is CEO of the European television and radio network RTL Group and member of the Bertelsmann AG Executive Board. He is the first international recipient of the Award. During his tenure RTL Group has impressively grown to have shareholdings in 45 television channels and 32 radio stations in 11 countries, becoming Europe’s leading family of entertainment channels. Nearly 200 million people tune into RTL networks every day.
Under Zeiler’s leadership, RTL Group has become actively involved in worldwide content production through its production arm, Fremantle Media. The company currently produces more than 300 programs and 10,000 hours of programming yearly in 57 countries including film and series. Zeiler was named Media Personality of the Year at MIPCOM in 2004.
NATPE||Content First is a global, nonprofit organization committed to serving as a catalyst for the content revolution. Evolving to meet the needs of a changing media landscape, NATPE, through its many activities including exclusive videos, live streaming events and vibrant annual market, is at the nexus of the multiplatform content world. Moving to Miami, a major international destination, NATPE 2011, January 24 to 26 is where creativity meets connectivity and commerce.