Shane O’Donoghue joins Backchannelmedia

Backchannelmedia Inc., an advanced technology solution provider for ad response tracking, announced today that Shane O’Donoghue, former vice president of technical services and quality assurance for the CBS Television Network and current president of ODA Consulting, has joined the company as senior vice president, engineering. With more than 15 years of experience working with leading broadcast and cable companies, O’Donoghue will be responsible for developing the core Backchannelmedia technology that will finally bring accountability to television advertising for both viewers and advertisers.

As senior vice president, engineering of Backchannelmedia, Shane will be responsible for designing and constructing an engineering lab used for testing TV infrastructure requirements and ensuring integration with set-top boxes, TV provider feeds (including cable, DBS, off-air and others) and other equipment and services. The lab, which will be one of the most advanced television labs on the East Coast, will also be used to integrate Backchannelmedia solutions with other broadcast testing groups’ product initiatives, such as CableLabs, and with broadcast trafficking applications such as Harris Broadcast Communications.

“Shane brings invaluable knowledge to Backchannelmedia as we execute on our technology vision and develop platform integration with the broadcast network stream,” said Michael Kokernak, founder and co-CEO of Backchannelmedia. “Broadcasters and advertisers require direct broadcast experience from their technology vendors, and Shane’s expertise and the years of broadcast experience existing at Backchannelmedia are a huge advantage for us. Backchannelmedia is going to fundamentally change the entire television world, and Shane is a great proof point to the fact that the best minds in the broadcast world are taking notice of Backchannelmedia.”

“Backchannelmedia’s products include an incredible amount of technical expertise and innovation and Shane’s work will allow us to continue to build products that integrate with all of the platforms service providers and broadcasters need,” said Dan Hassan, co-CEO of Backchannelmedia. “New technologies such as switched digital video offer unlimited potential for companies that have the vision to use them, and Backchannelmedia is the only company to be taking advantage of these innovations and to understand the potential they offer to make television advertising accountable. Shane will be a huge part of continuing this technical dominance.”

O’Donoghue’s appointment is the latest in a string of recent key executive additions to Backchannelmedia’s management team. The company recently announced that former Citigroup CIO, Harvey Koeppel, was named COO of Backchannelmedia. In January, the company also announced that Keith Krach, co-founder and former CEO of Ariba, has joined the company’s board of advisors which also includes Erwin Ephron and Clayton M. Christiansen.

“The 2009 transition to an all digital TV environment enables the broadcast and cable distribution platforms to support the technology for capturing program information combined with viewer preferences for targeted TV advertising directly to a household,” said O’Donoghue. “Backchannelmedia is the one company that has the vision, creativity and technology that will free the TV viewer and the advertiser from the ineffective and unaccountable bombardment of mass advertisements that air on TV today.”

With a background in engineering, electronics manufacturing, quality assurance and R & D technology in hi-density circuitry design, Shane has spent the last 15 years in broadcast operations and engineering that included eight years at CBS as director of quality assurance, and vice president of technical services and quality assurance. While at CBS, he managed more than 200 employees in technical operations and maintenance at the CBS Broadcast Center and served on a joint broadcast committee with NBC, ABC, & FOX to develop a TV audience measuring system to compete with Nielsen ratings system.

Since 1999, Shane has been president of ODA Consulting, specializing in broadcast engineering and operations for clients CBS Television, ABC, ShowTime, Sony Electronics Inc., XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio. He is also a member of the Media Security & Reliability Council of the FCC, working with the Toolkit committee to develop Disaster Recovery plans for the TV and Radio Broadcasting Industry.