Mr. Danks started his career in the entertainment industry as an entertainment lawyer. He practiced in Vancouver for more than 12 years, practicing first at his own, and later at some of Canada’s most prestigious law firms. His work included hundreds of film and television productions, ranging from development and acquisition through to financing and distribution. Brad also worked on numerous international television and film co-productions involving countries from around the world. His clients included major US Broadcasters such as CBS, NBC, MTV and Fox Family Channel, along with major studios such as Warner Television, Paramount and others. He has significant experience with a vast area of financing structures and broadcasting regulatory requirements in many international territories.
For several years after leaving law, he consulted and provided strategic advice to numerous private and public companies around the world on entertainment and media business matters. His particular emphasis has been in developing strategies to take advantage of technological changes and their impact on traditional business models. Brad has advised on the development of branded content properties and new financing models for programs distributed across multiple media broadcast platforms. Mr. Danks because the Chief Operating Officer of OUTtv in 2006, after a group led by prolific film-maker and television producer James Shavick, acquired the Canadian network. He ran the company and oversaw all aspects of the operations including the development of an overall corporate strategy, regulatory matters, operations, acquisitions, production, distribution, marketing, advertising and digital strategy. Mr. Danks was instrumental in guiding the network to a rise in subscribers from under 300,000 to nearly 1.2, million and an increase in revenue of more than 400% since that time. The network is carried on all the cable, telco and satellite providers in Canada. He also oversaw the development and production of more than 500 hours of original television and filmed programming. OUTtv is now considered by many to be the world’s premium LGBT television brand. In 2016, Mr. Danks saw that the opportunity was emerging to launch a direct over-the-top (“OTT”) version of OUTtv to the global LGBTQ community. Mr. Danks led an initiative to bring in a private equity partner, Stern Partners, to help finance the expansion. The new ownership group made Mr. Danks the CEO in September of 2016. Brad Danks continues to oversee all aspects of OUTtv, including the launch of its OTT service OUTtvGo in August of 2016. He is a frequent speaker on matters pertaining to the future of television. His upcoming speaking events include the OTT Executive Summit in New York in June and the Banff World Media Festival. In addition, he continues to lecture on Entertainment Law and is currently an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Victoria in Canada.

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