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Los Angeles June 8th 2009: Screen Digest, the leading media analyst firm, has expanded its presence in the US by promoting Arash Amel, a respected commentator on the global entertainment industry, to Research Director for Digital Media.

Based in Los Angeles, Arash will be integrating and overseeing the global output of both Screen Digest and Adams Media Research on all matters relating to digital media content and technologies. In his new role, Arash will be working closely with Dan Cryan, promoted to Head of Broadband and based in Screen Digest's London headquarters and Tom Adams of Adams Media Research in Monterey, CA, to offer an unprecedented global media intelligence service to US and International clients.

This move follows Screen Digest's acquisition of Adams Media Research in 2007 and signals the company's continued commitment to the entertainment industry as it faces new opportunities and challenges presented by the emergence of new media.

Arash Amel is an expert on the business and economics of broadband, the digital distribution of movies, music, TV and user-generated content and the relationship between content, open internet distribution platforms and consumer technology. He regularly advises senior management at the world's largest media companies including the Hollywood Studios, television networks, technology companies, telcos, regulators and major investment firms on the opportunities and obstacles posed to the entertainment sector by the internet.

A regular speaker at international conferences and author of research, opinion and forecast pieces on his core areas of expertise, Arash is regularly quoted in the media providing insight and analysis into the business of new media. Well-respected in Europe for his extensive knowledge of this complex industry, he is renowned for his ability to predict trends, to break news stories and to provide insightful and often controversial views on the industry.

In 2006, he became the first to provide accurate service-by-service, market-by-market revenue forecasts for the digital distribution of filmed entertainment and one of the first to provide data correctly identifying the limited revenue potential of user-generated video and online social networks. He has subsequently identified the rise of major broadcaster online video platforms, such as the BBC's iPlayer, the potential of online video for major sports leagues, the dominance of Apple's iTunes in transactional video and, in 2008, he became the first to provide independent market insight into the prospects of Hulu and the challenges facing Google's YouTube.

Forthcoming reports from Arash will include an analysis of the economics for Netflix as it moves towards digital; the long-term potential of Time Warner Cable's 'TV Everywhere' strategy; the evolution of connected entertainment devices and the economics of online content delivery as it relates to content delivery networks such as Akamai and Limelight Networks.

"We're in the middle of a very challenging period for the media business, not only in the US, but around the world. The open internet and the problem of piracy have destroyed the 'control' that was required for effective media distribution, meaning that the film and television businesses, like music before them, require fresh thinking and unprecedented change in how they market themselves to audiences and consumers. Increasingly these challenges and opportunities are appearing across many regions, meaning global media and technology companies need 'global picture thinking' to gain the best insight into what works, what doesn't and why and extending that global and regional understanding to a local level.

At Screen Digest we are already working with our US and international clients to facilitate a multiplatform understanding of digital media within the US and across borders, providing insight not only into the existing US digital media business, but also those best practices that will determine success over coming decades. With the eyes of the world on the US digital media business right now, I'm very excited to be stepping up our good work here in a rapidly evolving and extremely dynamic market."