media leaders will meet to discuss the state of convergence at Convergence iTV & Beyond, a two-day conference Aug. 13-14 at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Toronto. The conference will open the floor to new media producers, film and television producers and broadcasters, funding agencies, educators, technology manufacturers and cable providers to offer their insights on the future of popular media.

Sessions will address the impact of broadband, business models, financing, set-top box standardization, iTV platforms, intellectual property issues, technology developments, convergence overseas and video-on-demand.

The list of more than 50 panel and presentation participants includes: David Colter, VP technology, Warner Bros.; Peter Kent, anchor, Global TV news; Michael McEwen, president, CDTV; Farrel Miller, CEO, JumpTV; Ruston Panabaker, group program manager, Microsoft TV; and keynote speaker Karen Lennon, a U.S. new media and communications strategist.

Convergence iTV & Beyond is presented by Playback. Mark Dillon

-www.convergence-tv.com