• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, March 9, 2007

After cable sales executives expressed frustration with the committee pushing the eBay Media Marketplace, one of the committee's members offered an olive branch Thursday. He conceded that a failure to communicate properly may have justly led to the unrest. His goal: A face-to-face meeting to clear the air and begin working in tandem toward a launch.

"It's important that we do a better job of communicating, more clearly and directly, about exactly what we see this marketplace helping us solve," said the soft-spoken David Grubb, Microsoft's global media director. "And I'm not surprised that there are questions and issues around some of this."

Cable executives, including Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau chief Sean Cunningham, felt slighted by suggestions that they've been obstacles in the process, particularly when they hadn't seen a version of the proposed online system for buying and selling TV time. But a live demo is now available, and they were invited to examine it Wednesday.

Grubb said that after a review period, he's eager for a face-to-face meeting between committee members and cable sales executives--along with eBay--where the sales-side can make suggestions and raise objections. As head of the CAB, Cunningham is expected to act as the point person in working with the committee to plan a possible get-together.

It is important to provide "the marketers' point of view about how much of the buying footprint should go through this model, says Grubb. "Are we actually saying that there shouldn't be a hand-crafted, high-touch level of negotiations?"

"I think they deserve some answers straight from the people whose budgets are involved on those topics, and that's the meeting that I'm proposing we have in New York," he added.

Sales executives have raised a series of objections since the committee began pushing the eBay system in earnest last year. They include: the fear it would commoditize their business, concern that it would supplement traditional one-on-one deal making, and worries that it might replace the upfront.

Cunningham said this week that cable executives are interested in placing some inventory up for sale and "collaboration," but only after vetting the system. The steering committee, comprised of executives at leading agencies and marketers, such as Microsoft and Home Depot, believes the system will facilitate the sales process. They are seeking cable networks to engage in a test with actual transactions.

Microsoft's Grubb said some of the sales-side frustration--driven partly by a presentation at a conference last week by committee members--was justified, since the committee continued to postpone target dates for providing a pilot for review.

"The shots are deserved, in the regard that we haven't delivered the look that they should have to be able to be full partners," he said. "At the same time, we're excited that they want to be involved and look forward to a lot of depth in that engagement."

Grubb said once the system launches, he anticipates sort of a "snowball effect," in which wary sellers make some deals, then word gets out about their execution and more parties begin to engage each other. Previous reports that marketers would pool together $50 million to entice cable sellers have been nullified.

Finally, Grubb said he is hopeful that a launch will occur in "weeks, not months."