Bryan Burns, former ESPN point man for emerging technologies...

Bryan Burns, former ESPN point man for emerging technologies including HDTV and 3D, launched a consulting company called The Forward Direction Group (FDG), based in Guilford, Conn. The group comprises eight members totaling “125 years” of industry experience in sports marketing, production of emerging technologies, sports law, programming and business, promotional activities, and licensing and merchandising, Burns told Consumer Electronics Daily. Burns left ESPN in July (CED July 16 p5) following ESPN’s decision to stop 3D programming at the end of the year. He praised ESPN Thursday for its pioneering work in bringing 3D to the TV screen and understood the network’s need to devote resources elsewhere when it didn’t receive support from the rest of the industry. “The enthusiasm for it had waned and companies don’t need to place their bets if everybody else isn’t betting at the same time with them,” Burns said. Burns maintained his enthusiasm about 3D, though, recalling the positive response sports fans in the field showed for sports in 3D. “They couldn’t believe how good it was, but everybody around us in the business was not embracing it the way we were,” he said. He said ESPN’s decision disbanding ESPN 3D wasn’t “the wrong call for them to make at that particular time.” Burns said his group of eight independent consultants will work under a “flex” concept, taking the people who are needed, do what needs to be done and “efficiently provide services without having to support brick-and-mortar or a big infrastructure,” he said. He hopes to provide a bridge between content providers and CE companies, he said, citing a “disconnect between those who create and own content and those in the CE business.” Burns observed having watched announcements “come and go at CES,” never resulting in a product introduction. “Why didn’t they realize that was going to happen?” Burns said. Issues with over-the-top (OTT) video are especially important today, he said. “People have to understand the value of content,” he said. OTT is “dicey stuff, and it’s new, and we're all trying to find our way,” he said. FDG’s hope is to provide advice from “people who have hiked that path,” Burns said.