Media, Tech Titans At 'Summer Camp'

The annual Allen and Co. conference at the Sun Valley Resort, otherwise known as "summer camp for billionaires"

The titans of media and technology are back in Sun Valley, Idaho, for their annual summit to plot the future of their industries, but it seems like world politics and the economy are what everyone really wants to talk about, according to Bloomberg.

Take David Zaslav, whose Discovery Communications Inc. has made big bets on TV rights for European sports. Holding court with reporters Tuesday, he focused as much on the continent’s poor-performing economy as he did the changing media landscape.

While the conference typically focuses on technology, telecom and media, and has spawned more than a few big mergers, this year’s lineup features more government and foreign delegations.

Shari Redstone (CNBC Photo)

Others arriving Tuesday included Michael Eisner, former chief executive officer of Walt Disney Co., Comcast Corp. CEO Brian Roberts, and Hollywood superagents Michael Ovitz and Jeff Berg, a board member at Oracle Corp. Ovitz, co-founder of Creative Artists Associates, said Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union will be a key topic during the five-day conference, along with the economic fallout and the U.S. presidential race.

Eisner chatted briefly with CBS Corp. Chairman and CEO Les Moonves and CBS Vice Chairman Shari Redstone, who’s been embroiled in a dispute over control of her father’s other company, Viacom Inc. Shari Redstone backed Moonves’s promotion to chairman this year, and he waited about half an hour outside the lodge for her to appear Tuesday evening.

Meantime, he spoke with his rivals at Walt Disney Co., CEO Bob Iger and Disney-ABC Television Group President Ben Sherwood.

Sherwood had arrived in a car with his co-worker, ESPN President John Skipper, and with Tom Staggs, the former Disney chief operating officer who stepped down earlier this year after losing his status as the frontrunner to replace Iger when his contract expires in 2018. Iger followed later in a separate vehicle.

Variety reports, this edition is also being closely monitored because it presents a rare opportunity to see Viacom combatants Shari Redstone and Philippe Dauman in proximity — outside of a courtroom, at least.

Alas, shutterbugs huddled outside of the Sun Valley inn to document guests’ arrival were foiled in their attempts to get a Shari and Philippe two-fer. They did, however, see Shari Redstone get into a car captained by CBS Corp. chairman Les Moonves, as the television executive drove them both to dinner. CBS, like Viacom, is controlled by National Amusements, the theater company started by Redstone’s father, Sumner Redstone. The senior Redstone’s ailing health has triggered a pitched legal battle for control of the media empire he amassed. Shari Redstone is pushing for Dauman’s ouster, but supports Moonves.