Brian Sullivan is Managing Director of Sky's Customer Group. In this role he has responsibility for marketing and sales across all routes to market, customer retention, product and pricing strategy, customer and field operations, and research and analysis,. Brian joined Sky in February 1996 and has held a variety of roles within the business from the original Sky digital project through to product development and management for Sky+, Sky+HD, Sky Broadband and Sky Talk. Prior to joining Sky, Brian spent the majority of his career in the Pay TV industry in the US, primarily with Viacom's Showtime Networks division

In this extended interview from our Televisionaries series Brian discusses the key innovations Sky have brought to market; from Sky +, red button and Sky Anytime to HD and Sky Player. He also looks forward to the next generation of Sky + boxes, outlines what they may mean for the TV advertising model going forward and contributes to the key debates regarding TV technology, namely "on-demand versus a linear schedule" and "Internet TV versus broadcasting".

"When you put Sky Plus in a home, a consumer watches more TV. They watch more recorded TV and they watch more live TV because, ultimately, what it does, it allows them to re-engage with TV."

Brian Sullivan, Managing Director of Sky's Customer Group

About Televisionaries on film

Thinkbox's Televisionaries on film series is designed to explore the future of TV - what it means for viewers and what it means for brands - through a series of interviews with the cream of the TV and advertising industries.

We hope you find these films inspiring and that you come out at the other end of each web TV extract filled with fresh knowledge, informed opinion and with a renewed enthusiasm about TV and its capabilities tucked under your arm. In short, we would very much like you to be as excited about the changes that are happening in TV as we are. 

Finally, a big thank you to all the brilliant Televisionaries who have given up their time to share their ideas with us on film, and to you, for watching.

More Televisionaries on film

Jill McDonald, Chief Marketing Officer, McDonald's

In the latest of our series of Televisionaries on film, The Marketing Society's 2008 Marketer of the Year discusses the role of TV in McDonald's marketing mix; how consumers are changing the way they relate to brands; HD television; return path technologies; and the opportunities afforded by the current economic environment. You can watch the full interview with Jill right here.