MEF Executive Questionnaire #4: Mark Kortekaas, BBC

MEF continues to seek new ways to profile its members and promote the thought-leadership of the senior executives within these companies. We are pleased to launch the MEF Executive Questionnaire to reveal the real people behind the industry in an informal and entertaining manner.

This will be a regular feature of the MEF blog, so make sure you subscribe via email or RSS. If you are a senior executive from one of our member companies and would like to be featured then please contact MEF Marketing Director, Stephen Jenkins.

The fourth in the series is from Mark Kortekaas, Controller Audio & Music & Mobile at the BBC.

1. Please describe briefly your main company activities and your role within that organisation
The BBC exists to enrich people’s lives with great programmes and services that inform, educate and entertain. It provides a wide range of distinctive programmes and services for everyone, free of commercial interests and political bias. They include television, radio, national, local, children’s, educational, language and other services for key interest groups.

My role is to coordinate Mobile and Audio/Music audience facing technology and trends.

2. Without necessarily revealing any confidential information, please outline the principal business models your company uses
We are a public service broadcaster in the UK entirely funded by the UK TV License fee.

3. What has been your company’s greatest achievement to-date?
We have been on mobile for a long time now, what continues to impress us is the increasing monthly usage from our audiences. Some content like sports we all ‘knew’ was going to work well in the space, but the continued usage of long form video via our iPlayer service is something to watch.

4. What is your company currently working on that is going to move the industry forward?
Examining how content moves between mobile, desktop and television in a seamless fashion

5. What is exciting you most in 2010 (either personally or professionally)?
Continued growth of location-aware services

6. What is the most important piece of technology in your life?
Blackberry

7. What mobile device(s) do you use?
N95, Blackberry and iPhone

8. What’s your favourite application?
Mapping, but I’m very impressed with the new google voice search – no more tapping out what you are looking for.

9. What’s your ringtone?
I tend to use what ever the default tone on the device is so I know which unit is ringing

10. Which mobile industry blogs do you regularly read and why?
I am still a bit of a die-hard techy – still watch Slashdot daily as I’ve done for years and hope something there flags me to everything I need to know.

11. What is the biggest mobile content issue that is likely to affect the industry within the next 12 months?
Network capacity issues

12. Which other MEF member organisation do you most admire?
Shazam for helping me figure out what is playing on the radio