This is the first installment of a series highlighting TV industry thought leaders who spoke at or attended WideOrbit Connect 2018.

In August of this year, TV leaders from around the world gathered in San Francisco for WideOrbit Connect 2018. Among these leaders was Al Lustgarten, VP of Technology and IT at Hearst Television. Lustgarten shared his thoughts on the TIP Initiative, ATSC 3.0, and the extensive targeting capabilities of local broadcast television.

The Television Interface Practices (TIP) Initiative is spearheaded by a group of station groups that support open interfaces to facilitate workflows between local broadcasters and media agencies. The group, consisting of station groups Hearst, TEGNA, Tribune, Sinclair, Nexstar, and Raycom Media, agrees that automating advertising transactions is key to streamlining relationships between broadcasters and agencies.

According to Lustgarten, the TIP Initiative is essential for local broadcast TV. He told Beet.TV, “We have an opportunity now to bring more efficiency to the buy-sell process.”

WideOrbit is collaborating with the TIP consortium to streamline the flow of data across station business groups and has developed an API for exporting air time data from WO Traffic. More information can be found in our recent press release about our support for TIP.

Watch the interview to hear more of what Al Lustgarten had to say.