The leaders of Australia’s largest media companies will share their business objectives and growth strategies for the coming year at the 5th annual Australasian Media & Broadcasting Congress at the Swissotel in Sydney.

International keynote presenter Nicholas Wodtke, Vice President, Business Strategy & Development for Disney will open the conference with a presentation on Network TV’s changing business model and its response to the disruption brought about by new technologies.

West Australian Newspaper Holdings CEO Chris Wharton, News Magazines CEO Sandra Hook and Mark Hollands, CEO of the Newspaper Publishers’ Association, will represent the print media with a discussion of new revenue streams and the role of the Internet in shaping future business models.

Past speakers Jack Matthews, CEO of Fairfax Digital, Jeremy Macvean, Head of Digital Strategy for Austereo, and Ben Liebmann, Vice President Licensing FremantleMedia, will provide insights into the growth of digital media.

Gaven Morris, Head of Continuous News at the ABC will provide a case study of the broadcaster’s 24 hour news channel, while David Sibley, the head of MTV Australia, will provide a subscription TV perspective on content creation and delivering value to today’s customers.

Telstra’s Chris Taylor will speak about the blurring of the digital and broadcasting lines brought about by IPTV, while Robbee Minicola, Chief Executive of on-demand content provider Hybrid TV, will establish the business case for long tail content in an on-demand universe.

In the session on advertising, Harold Mitchell, Executive Chairman of the Mitchell Communication Group, will open the discussion with a presentation about the structural change caused by the Internet. He will be joined by a number of advertising agencies and media buyers presenting case studies on multiplatform advertising and branded content.

In a separately bookable conference day on “Online Video”, digital strategists from companies such as APN News & Media, Ninemsn, Nickelodeon, Fairfax Digital, News Digital Media, YouTube and Network Ten will discuss how media companies can leverage video to generate revenue and remain relevant in the new media landscape.