MIPCOM 2010 NEWS N°4

Thursday

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MIPCOM News #4

7 October 2010

www.mipcom.com

SARAH JESSICA PARKER Sex And The City star Sarah Jessica Parker was in Cannes for the launch of the new FremantleMedia Enterprises’ series Work Of Art: The Next Great Artist

See page 12

WRAP-UP SESSION If you missed any of MIPCOM’s Redefining The Entertainment Experience series of conferences, Jumpwire’s Gavin McGarry gives a summary of the sessions today at 14.30

ASIAN CONTENT EXCHANGE

Read how MIPCOM’s first Asian Content Exchange Matchmaking Sessions helped foster new relationships between this vast territory and the rest of the world See page 8

WORKING WITH YOUTUBE

Hear Tales From The Digital Frontier with panelists including Franck Bywalsky of X-Treme Video, Gregory Dray of Lagardere and Andrea Portante of Rai New Media, at 10.00 today. Introduction is by Patrick Walker, director of YouTube partnerships, EMEA

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MIPCOM News 4 The official MIPCOM daily news publication Thursday, October 7, 2010 Director of publications: Paul Zilk Editorial Department – Editor in Chief: Julian Newby • Deputy Editor: Debbie Lincoln • Sub Editors: Max Leonard, Phil Sommerich • Reporters: Daniela Burnham, Marlene Edmunds, Andy Fry, Emelia Jones, Juliana Koranteng, Rachel Murrell, Gary Smith, Joanna Stephens • Technical Editor in Chief: Herve Traisnel • Deputy Technical Editor in Chief: Frederic Beauseigneur • Graphic Designers: Veronique Duthille, Carole Peres •

Head of Photographers: Yann Coatsaliou – 360 Medias • Photographers: Christian Alminana, Georges Auclaire, Olivier Houeix, Michel Johner • Editorial Management: Boutique Editions Ltd. Production Department – Content Director: Jean-Marc Andre • Publications Production and Development Manager: Martin Screpel • Publishing Coordinators: Amrane Lamiri, Bruno Piauger • Production Assistants: Emilie Lambert, David Le Chapelain • Production Assistant, Cannes Office: Eric Laurent • Printer: Riccobono Imprimeurs, Le Muy (France) Management, Marketing & Sales Team – Director of the Television Division: Laurine Garaude • Director of Digital Media: Ted Baracos • Sales Director: Sabine Chemaly • Communications and Partnerships Manager: Dee Perryman • Programme Director: Tania Dugaro • Managing Director (UK / Australia / New Zealand): Peter Rhodes OBE • Sales Manager: Elizabeth Delaney • Vice President Sales and Business Development, Americas: Robert Marking • Vice President Business Development, North America: JP Bommel • Executive Sales Director, North America: MJ Sorenson • Sales Executive: Panayiota Pagoulatos • Sales Manager: Paul Barbaro • Sales Executive: Liliane Dacruz Sales Manager: Nathalie Gastone • International Sales Managers: Fabienne Germond, Olivia Screpel • Sales Manager: Samira Haddi • Digital Media Sales Manager: Nancy Denole • Australia and New Zealand Representative: Natalie Apostolou • China Representative: Anke Redl • CIS Representative: Alexandra Modestova • Czech Republic and Slovakia Representative: Milan Stritesky • English-speaking Africa representative: Arnaud de Nanteuil • India Representative: Anil Wanvari • Israel Representative: Guy Martinovsky • Japan Representative: Lily Ono • Latin America Representative: Elisa Aquino • Middle-East Representative: Bassil Hajjar • Poland Representative: Monika Bednarek • South Korea Representative: Sunny Kim • Taiwan Representative: Irene Liu • Germany Mobile & Music Representative: Renate Radke Adam • Germany Advertising Representative: Nathalie Daube

MIPCOM Buyer’s Award For Japanese Drama was won this year by Ryoichi Nitta of TBS, for the drama series Jin. The award was presented during the MIPCOM Opening Night Party. MIPCOM is partnering with the International Drama Festival in Tokyo (TIDF) for the second year, to present a MIPCOM Buyer Award for Japanese Drama. A jury of 14 western buyers selected what they considered to be the most exportable Japanese drama among the seven finalists from the TIDF, which takes place annually in Tokyo following MIPCOM. The jury also gave a special mention to Nippon Television’s series Mother. Pictured at the awards ceremony are International Drama Festival in Tokyo chairman Michisada Hirose (left), Makito Sugiyama of TBS, MIPCOM Buyer’s Award For Japanese Drama winner, Ryoichi Nitta of TBS, juror Sergey Kornikhin of Ovivo, Reed MIDEM’s Laurine Garaude, and juror Mathieu Bejot of TV France International.

CONNECTED EXPERIENCE A Connected Experience networking lunch, from 12.45 to 14.15, awaits attendees of today’s panel Connected Everywhere: The Rights Dilemma. The lunch gives participants a further opportunity to explore the panel’s debate on the maze of new digital rights in a world of content anytime, everywhere.

Location: Conference Networking Room, Level 5

MIPCOM PRESS CONFERENCE 11.10 - 12.00 Reed MIDEM MIPCOM 2010 Wrap-up Press Conference presented by Laurine Garaude, director of the TV Division, Reed MIDEM BLUE LOUGE

www.mipcom.com Published by Reed MIDEM BP 572 • 11, rue du Colonel Pierre Avia 75726 Paris Cedex 15 • Contents © 2010, Reed MIDEM Market Publications • Publication Registered: 4th quarter 2010

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...and live on MIPBlog: - MIPCOM day 3 conference liveblog reports and full videos - MIPCOM day 4 realtime coverage blog.mipworld.com

CONFERENCE AND EVENTS

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All today’s conferences and special events at a glance

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NEWS

Experts expect a flood of tablets in the wake of the iPad’s popularity AT THE iPad Apps Showcase during The New Publishing Revolution session, delegates heard that, although the iPad is currently very strong, there are many variations on the way.

“There are 50 other tablets coming to market and they are definitely going to revolutionise the content business,” said moderator Ferhan Cook of Any Screen Productions. “The iPad is not just a bigger iPhone, it is a whole new publishing and entertainment medium.”

Cook demonstrated iPad apps, while soliciting comments from a panel of experts. “The traditional publishing industry is starting to get involved, and learn and integrate,” Daniel Efergan of Aardman Digital said.

Channel 4’s Jen Topping admitted her preference. “I am mostly interested in two-screen experiences, where users are watching TV with another device such as a smartphone, iPad or laptop on their lap,” she said.

Any Screen’s Ferhan Cook (left) with Orange’s Patrice Slupowski, Endemol’s Pasa Mustafa, Channel 4’s Jen Topping and Aardman Digital’s Daniel Efergan

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PLAY Watch this conference in full video, only on blog.mipworld.com According to Endemol Group’s Pasa Mustafa, the real killer apps are not even available yet: “Even so, the idea of co-viewing is very exciting, and I am impressed by how the iPad connects with other devices.”

Patrice Slupowski from Orange agreed

and enthused about apps that use the iPad as a screen without any relation to other devices.

Cook highlighted Toy Story, Disney’s interactive app based on its popular animated film. “It lets the user record their own voice telling the story, so

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children can have it narrated by a parent. It even has a karaoke mode for the songs, and mini-games.”

Despite her enthusiasm, Slupowski voiced a criticism: “I’m a little bit disappointed that they are not really using the touch thing for the iPad.”

Next generation of EPGs is unveiled A NEW generation of electronic programme guides (EPG) is set to capitalise on the ways in which viewers select programmes to watch at home, said Sean Besser, Rovi’s vicepresident, business development, at Wednesday’s Digital Lunch.

Rovi, the event’s host and market leader in on-screen TV guides, is developing ‘universal search’ and personalisation tools to make textbased programme guides far more powerful. It owns the search technology powering digital retailers such as Amazon, iTunes and Wal-Mart, and is working on cross-platform opensearch tools to simplify and enhance search capability.

Rovi’s Sean Besser: “Context is king”

Recent research suggests that 83% of people switch on the TV without knowing what they want to watch,

Besser said: “This represents a huge marketing opportunity for content owners.”

But cluttering up the EPG with banner ads or pop-ups during a movie is not what he has in mind.

“Research shows that viewers switching on the guide are looking to be advertised to — but they don’t want it to feel like advertising.” An effective ad might simply be a still from a television show which — when clicked — offers background information on characters and storylines.

“As always, context is king,” Basser said. “It’s not the quantity of options that matters to the user, but their relevance. So content owners need to use the metadata intelligently, buy ads strategically and make ads less ad-like.”

CONFERENCES & EVENTS

➤ CONNECTED EXPERIENCE

➤ EVENTS

THURSDAY 7 OCTOBER

CONNECTED EXPERIENCE 9.30 > 10.00 WELCOME BREAKFAST

12.45 > 14.15 CONNECTED EXPERIENCE NETWORKING LUNCH

FOYER AUDITORIUM K, LEVEL 4

A casual networking buffet lunch for all conference speakers and delegates.

Open to all participants

10.00 > 11.00 WORKING WITH YOUTUBE: TALES FROM THE DIGITAL FRONTIER

CONFERENCE NETWORKING ROOM, LEVEL 5

14.30 > 16.00 MIPCOM CROSS-MEDIA WRAP-UP SESSION

Introduced by: ■ Patrick Walker, Director of YouTube Partnerships, EMEA, Youtube Speakers:

If your MIPCOM schedule was to busy for you to attend the REDEFINING THE ENTERTAINMENT EXPERIENCE conferences, then this session will provide you with a global overview and wrap-up of the essential developments that MIPCOM has illustrated during the week.

Franck Bywalski, Founder, X-Treme Video

Join Gavin McGarry, President of Jumpwire Media, who will be closing your MIPCOM experience with guidance, case studies and statistics to throw light on where media companies need to focus in the year to come.

Gregory Dray, Director, International Business Development, Largardère Active

AUDITORIUM A, LEVEL 3

Andrea Portante, Marketing and Business Development, Rai New Media

FOLLOW MIPCOM LIVE! AUDITORIUM K, LEVEL 4

11.15 > 12.30 CONTENT EVERYWHERE: THE RIGHTS DILEMMA Moderator: ■ Jonathan Webdale, Editor, C21 Media

For all MIPCOM live conference content updates, follow twitter.com/_mip_ For conference videos & liveblogging, visit MIPBlog (blog.mipworld.com) & all live content also available on our mobile apps (road.ie/mipcom)

JOIN THE CONVERSATION

Speakers: Andrew Baker, Managing Director, Rights.tv

To make your own tweets more visible, include the #MIPCOM hashtag & if uploading photos to flickr, please tag them with “MIPCOM” too!

Alan Handel, President, Executive Producer, Handel Productions Inc. Richard Kingsbury, Channel Head of Good Food and Yesterday, UKTV ■ Ali Vahdati, Managing Director, Digital-i ■ ■

Transcripts of selected sessions available on mipcom.com, via Take 1 Transcription, from October 11

MIPCOM thanks its partners & sponsors Sponsors

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Visit www.mipcom.com for speaker information & regular updates

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MIPCOM® is a registered trademark of Reed MIDEM - All rights reserved.

AUDITORIUM A, LEVEL 3

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NEWS

Connected TV must ‘augment not ambush’ traditional offer 2010 is the year in which 3DTV exploded into life. But an even more significant industry trend, perhaps, is the emergence of connected TVs — living-room sets capable of delivering internet content to audiences in a seamless fashion. This was the subject of a high-powered conference session in the Esterel room on Wednesday morning.

Samsung’s director of european business development, Vassilis Seferidis, kicked off the debate by predicting there will be 600-700m connected devices on the global market by 2014, with TVs and Blu-ray players joining games consoles as the main forms of hardware driving the market.

Shirlene Chandrapal, director, europe, of connected TV at Yahoo!, said her company is partnering with set manufacturers to get its brand into the connected-TV space. But she warned that the best approach “is to complement and augment TV not ambush it”.

Critical to connected TV’s prospects is a simple user interface which enables consumers to find content

Shirlene Chandrapal of Yahoo!: “partnering with set manufacturers”

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PLAY Watch this conference in full video, only on blog.mipworld.com quickly and easily, added Lesley Mackenzie, group digital officer at movie rental service Lovefilm.com.

Her observation was that “lots of people have bought connected devices but don’t yet understand what they do”.

Innovators include Gideon Coussin of Boxee — who used the panel to

demonstrate how his own company has created a piece of kit designed to reinvent the user interface, so that audiences can shift seamlessly between online- and TV-sourced content.

MGM Worldwide Television copresident Jim Packer said connected TV adds to the complexity of rights

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distribution. For him, there were two critical points: “What are consumers going to be able to use easily? And how do we explore the new opportunities without messing up the revenue-generating relationships we already have with more traditional partners?”

Transmedia: theory into practice

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PLAY Watch this conference in full video, only on blog.mipworld.com

05:15 MENU

Channel 4’s Jody Smith uses lighthearted series Misfits to explain to moderator Gavin McGarry of Jumpwire Media his ideas about “cracking storytelling”

THE TRANSMEDIA Content Show And Tell was one of the most anticipated sessions at MIPCOM, because it moved out of the realm of theory and dealt with real case studies.

The panel discussed the definition of transmedia at some length, although Channel 4′s cross-platform commissioner, drama, comedy and entertainment, Jody Smith took a down-to-earth attitude: “I don’t really know what transmedia means,” he said. “It’s not about platforms, it’s about telling a cracking story.”

A question from the audience focused the panel on how smaller companies are fi-

nancing a transmedia project to the point where brands will get involved. “We’re actually looking at brands first,” said Brian Seth Hurst, CEO of the Opportunity Management Company, who participated in the debate via a video call. “We’re looking at all sorts of business models, and we’ve had several television production companies approach us now.”

Gavin McGarry from Jumpwire Media was moderating the panel session, which also featured Mathieu Ferland, transmedia senior producer at Ubisoft Entertainment, and Jean-Francois Rodriguez, vice-president of games and social media at Orange.

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Asian Content Exchange is given vote of approval by participants

Business is busy at Wednesday’s inaugural Asian matchmaking event

MIPCOM’s first Asian Content Exchange, including screenings and a matchmaking session, took place in Cannes on Wednesday to packed auditoriums and screening rooms.

“This kind of event is very important to us, especially considering the large number of Asian companies we have here,” said Ted Baracos, director of digital media, Reed MIDEM. “The screenings, coming right before the matchmaking session, especially

helped focus interest.” The event featured international research company The Wit’s CEO, Virginia Mouseler, presenting 21 of the most talked-about dramas, animations and formats from three of Asia’s leading production countries, China, Japan and Korea.

Yukihiko Amagi, executive vice-president of NHK Enterprises, said the time limit of 90 seconds for each programme worked well. “Of course, being NHK, we would really have liked to take up just a bit more time, but in all honesty it was just right and we are really hoping this will continue.”

The matchmaking event following the screenings offered the chance for companies to talk to players in Asia. Vicky Brophy, head of production for the UK’s Wonky Films, said she went to China last year to look at the animation market. “There’s a lot of product, but finding the right fit is the key,” she

said. Wonky Films had co-developed a project in Singapore and is now looking for companies in other territories in Asia to work with.

China’s Fantawild Animation distribution manager, Lena Ni, said the screenings were very useful in helping focus everyone on what they wanted and who to contact to get it.

Korea’s Angela (Eun Ju) Lee, senior manager of international sales, international contents team, for ON Media, agreed. “The time recommen-

dation of three minutes at the matchmaking event was very effective. It’s enough time to get to know each other, exchange a few comments and ideas, and see if we are the right fit. It’s very effective.”

Gerhard Spiehs, CEO of Switzerland’s VideoOnDemand IPTV and VOD operator, said his company worked on a revenue-share basis and was very eager to get into the Asian market. “It’s quite a good way to get an introduction to the companies.”

VideoOnDemand’s Gerhard Spiehs (left) and ON Media’s Angela (Eun Ju) Lee

Wonky Films’s Vicky Brophy (left) with Fantawild Animation’s Lena Ni

MSN refuses to shut door on the portal REPORTS of the internet portal’s death is greatly exaggerated, declared speakers at the conference session titled Media Convergence: Reinventing Portals Around Online Videos And Tablets.

Extolling portals’ virtues were two leading content decision-makers at MSN, Microsoft’s international news and entertainment platform.

Scott Moore, MSN’s executive producer/general manager, and Geoff Sutton, MSN International Media’s general manager, said a portal’s function of aggregating content is vital to the internet’s long-term commercial viability.

The rise of social-media networks, the accelerated reach of mobile phones

and apps, plus the growing penetration of computer tablets (forecast to reach120 million units in 2014, up from 12 million this year) require a doorway that helps consumers find content and advertisers target consumers in an overcrowded internet.

Portals fulfil that need.

“That is why our slogan is ‘MSN is the place to go to be in the know’,” Moore said. He added that portals’ growing value is confirmed by facts such as: 25% of all internet pages consumed in the US are found through portals; and content, search activities and social-media networks are increasingly overlapping in portals.

Geoff Sutton: surprised by online ad surge

Scott Moore: proof of portals’ worth

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PLAY Watch this conference in full video, only on blog.mipworld.com

The advertising sector is beginning to appreciate the value that brings, Sutton added.

Although all media channels suffered a slump in advertising during the re-

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cession, Sutton said, there is a revival, especially online.

“In the UK, online advertising is bigger than TV. I never thought that would ever happen.”

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NEWS

Online video experts insist that adverts are only part of picture Blinkbox Entertainme nt’s Michael Comish: ad model needs “colossal skill”

Spirit Digital Media’s Peter Cowley: “hybrid model is fundamental” 00:00

Watch this conference in full video, only on blog.mipworld.com

HYBRID financial models are the only way to make online video pay — and the more blended the better.

“Personally, I’ll be throwing everything into the mix, the kitchen sink included,” Peter Cowley told yesterday’s Online Video: To Pay

Or Not To Pay session.

The former Endemol digital chief, who launched Spirit Digital Media last month to help media and brands monetise their IP on the web, said the “hybrid model is fundamental” to the future of online video.

Nobody disagreed. Michael Comish, CEO of Blinkbox Entertainment, said that “colossal skill” was needed to make advertising-supported video platforms break even, let alone thrive.

“Unless you have huge scale, you can’t make it work on ads,” he added.

Duccio Donati, executive vice-president of Comcast International Media Group, went further, describing the ad model “as next to impossible unless you have a massive break-out hit on your hands — and you can’t always be chasing massive hits”.

However, Donati wasn’t convinced by Comish’s assertion that “content is still king — but it won’t be for ever”, given the shift in emphasis from creation to delivery. “It’s wishful thinking to say that content won’t be king — particularly if you’re trying to get audiences to pay for something they haven’t paid for before,” Donati said.

Simon Nelson, controller, portfolio and multi-platform, at BBC Vision, agreed. While admitting that the BBC “has about the best business model going — a compulsory licence fee”, he said powerful content remained an imperative. “If it’s a crap story, people

aren’t going to watch it,” he said succinctly. “Even at the BBC, with the power of our brand and our hugely successful website behind us, we have struggled to generate mass audiences for anything that isn’t a successful existing TV show.”

Nelson added that many of the qualities that hold true for traditional linear entertainment also apply to the online world: compelling content that is easily discoverable and accessible, that is well promoted and branded, and that is delivered with value-added “enhancements” to make it more potent. He also predicted that the arrival of “simple and intuitive” connected TV would be the industry’s next game-changing moment.

The session, which was moderated by media commentator and journalist Kate Bulkley, also featured Larry Tanz, president of Vuguru.

Tanz demonstrated his company’s “broadcast-quality” video content with an extract from the teen drama Pretty/Tough. “We license and sell premium content,” Tanz said. “That’s expensive to produce, so we need a mixed model to make it work.”

BBC Vision’s Simon Nelson: connected TV will be next frontier

Comcast International Media’s Duccio Donati: content is still king

Watch this conference in full video, only on blog.mipworld.com

Experience the MIP Online Screenings demo at MIPCOM.

Stand N° 06.40, level 01

www.onlinescreenings.com The world’s largest online library of new children’s, youth, documentary and factual programmes

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NEWS

DISCOVERY TOUR ROUND EUROPE DISCOVERY Communications has struck programming deals with European third-party broadcasters to air 200 hours of content from the group’s portfolio. “These deals allow us to extend Discovery’s vast programming library and breadth of non-fiction genres to an even wider European audience,” said Janice Strangward, director of programme sales, UK/EMEA, Discovery Enterprises International. Territories involved include France, Italy, Spain and Greece.

Discovery has also been busy at MIPCOM developing its Planet Green and FitTV networks, as Discovery Health prepares to become OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network. The president of Planet Green, Discovery Health and FitTV, Laura Michalchyshyn, said she is eager to expand “the current strategy of seeking out acquisitions of international series franchises”. Planet Green's programming ranges from food to fashion. The goal is to add mental and emotional health shows.

Discovery Channel also reported activity on Reign Of The Dinosaurs, a six-part series that puts a story-telling spin on paleontological research.

Reign Of The Dinosaurs (Discovery Channel)

Sarah Jessica Parker joins FME team for Work Of Art launch

FME’s David Ellender (left), with Sarah Jessica Parker, Pretty Matches’s Alison Benson and FME’s Jeff Tahler at the launch event

SARAH Jessica Parker attended an event at MIPCOM hosted by FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME) to launch Work Of Art: The Next Great Artist to international broadcasters.

The show brings together Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz from the Emmy-nominated production com-

pany Magical Elves, alongside Parker, Alison Benson from Pretty Matches and Eli Holzman as executive producers.

The 10 x 60 mins entertainment series sees 14 aspiring contemporary artists competing for a solo show at the Brooklyn Museum and a generous cash prize.

FME also announced a pre-sale with Turner Broadcasting Systems Latin America, whose footprint covers nearly 50 countries.

Magic Elves and FME have also partnered on Emmy-nominated series Project Runway, the seventh US series of which is now on sale.

Swordsman will battle on in Syria CHINESE title The Legend Of The Swordsman has proved to be compulsive viewing in Syria. Accordingly, at MIPCOM Yin Mingqing, director of the China International Cartoon & Animation Festival, joined China’s Xuanji Science & Technology chairman Chien-Yuan Chen and Syria’s Almadar TV Production owner Kaied Altaleb at the signing of a deal for the Middle East TV and DVD distribution rights of Xuanji’s The Legend Of The Swordsman series.

Licensing of the 34 x 22 mins series is the third deal between the partners, following Almadar’s purchase of the first two series in the saga.

China International Cartoon & Animation Festival’s Yin Mingqing (left), Xuanji Science & Technology’s Chien-Yuan Chen, Almadar TV Production & Distribution’s Nahed Alaia and Kaied Altaleb, and Ida Yang of Hangzhou Xuanji Science & Technology Information

4 --77 April April2011 2011 Fresh content. New deals.

Palais Cannes, France Palais des desFestivals, Festivals, Cannes, France www.miptv.com www.miptv.com

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Jon Feltheimer: MIPCOM Personality Of The Year JON FELTHEIMER is learning to love change. Despite the chaos of the digital revolution — the new platforms, the audience fragmentation, the uncertain revenue models — he said, harnessing change to drive new business is not only possible, it’s essential.

“So we have to take risks, we have to be willing to make mistakes,” he said in his keynote address in Cannes.

Epix, Lionsgate’s new pay-television venture with Viacom, Paramount and MGM, was one such risk. “Epix is working. It gives us control over our own destiny.

It allows us to monetise the value of our content, get closer to our customers, and means we can exchange lower multiple licence-fee revenue for much higher multiple-equity value.”

And, by partnering with Netflix to stream movies 90 days after they debut on premium pay television, Lionsgate has found a profitable new window without jettisoning relationships with its traditional distributors.

New strategic partnerships with companies such as Televisa and Saban Capital Group are taking Lionsgate to new audiences, both among the US’s 26 millionstrong Latino community through Pantelion Films and in Asia with Tiger Gate.

Creative risk-taking is key. Shows with smaller but more loyal audiences — Mad Men, Nurse Jackie and the Tyler Perry franchise — can be profitable. Make them available on iTunes, Amazon, etc, and the revenues stack up.

“Premium content is distinguishable more by its value as a repeatable brand than by the magnitude of its initial impact,” Feltheimer said.

“Change is scary to all of us, and it’s hard. But the staus quo isn’t an option in a world evolving as rapidly and profoundly as ours. And I am confident that we will find the new era of our television business more promising for our companies, more exciting for our consumers and more rewarding for us than anything that has preceded it.”

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Jon and Laurie Feltheimer

Jon Hamm who, as Don Draper, has signi ficantly contributed to Lionsgate’s recent succ esses

MIPCOM Personality Of Reed MIDEM’s Paul Zilk presents the Feltheimer Jon CEO s gate’ The Year Award to Lions

Harry Sloan entertains the MGM Studios’ chairman Feltheimer anecdotes Jon h wit ce ien Carlton aud

Moss Mad Men’s Peggy Olson, AKA Elisabeth

In his acceptance speech , Jon Feltheimer said how moved he was to be honoured, and to receive tributes from his peers

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FIREWORKS AT BAFTAS DEAL FIREWORKS International has signed an agreement with the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to distribute outside the UK all BAFTA programming for the next three years. This includes the Orange British Academy Film Awards and the British Academy TV Awards.

“We are honoured to represent BAFTA in the global marketplace,” Greg Phillips, president of Fireworks International, said. “Over the next three years, we will be looking to comprehensively offer this content as a 360degree multimedia experience.”

OCTAPIXX’S LONG REACH

Bommi And Friends (Octapixx)

INTERNATIONAL children’s channel KidsCo has acquired Octapixx’s animated children’s series, Bommi And Friends.

The programme is made by Indian production company Image Venture, and will launch throughout Australia, Asia and Africa with 13 x 30 mins in April 2011.

“KidsCo provides a perfect platform for the series to flourish and we’re really excited about the launch,” said K R Senthil Kumar, executive director of Image Venture.

NHK and France Televisions strengthen ties in new pact

Fruitful collaboration: NHK’s Kazumasa Iida with France Televisions’s Patricia Boutinard-Rouelle

A CO-PRODUCTION/pre-buy agreement signed by NHK and France 5 in 2002 has been renewed in the lead-up to MIPCOM. NHK and France Televisions will extend their collaboration to include France 2, France 3, France 4, France 5, France O. Under the new deal, the two companies will work together on landmark series and one-off documentaries that will either be co-developed and produced, or prebought by one party or the other.

Patricia Boutinard-Rouelle, head of documentaries for France Televisions, said: “We are delighted to enhance further what has been such a strong relationship between NHK and France 5. It is the right time for an even more fruitful collaboration, which will allow all the channels of our group to participate, and enrich the partnership with their specific areas of expertise.”

The two broadcasters have enjoyed a run of shared success with joint

projects, including Mammals Vs Dinosaurs (2006), a two-part series that showed how our ancestors’ struggle to survive shaped the natural world we know today, and Evolution Of The Moon (2009), which used HD images from the lunar probe Kaguya to reveal unknown truths about our moon.

Recent joint projects initiated by France Televisions include Apocalypse (2010), which gives vivid insight into global war.

Toy Story 3 and more to Rai Cinema RAI CINEMA and The Walt Disney Company Italia (WDCI) unveiled a significant multi-year multi-genre content agreement in Cannes this week for Italian free TV channels operated by Rai. The deal will see classics Snow White, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty broadcast for the first time in Italy on

free-to-view TV. Under the terms of the deal, Rai has also acquired a wide variety of feature films, including Disney/Pixar features such as Toy Story 3 and WALL-E, classic animations and ABC Studios network series.

The agreement was negotiated by Paolo Del Brocco, CEO of Rai Cinema, and Francesca Tauriello, WDCI’s gen-

eral manager of media distribution in Italy. Commenting on the deal, Del Brocco said: “We are very satisfied at having reached such a strategic deal.

This stresses the presence of our company in the international marketplace, even in a very difficult landscape, and ensures Rai offers a top-quality and extremely varied product.”

2 3 April 2011 3 -April 2011 Martinez Hotel, Cannes, France Palais des Festivals, Cannes, France www.mipdoc.com

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Bigger is not always better Robert Redford spoke to Julian Newby about sleeping on the beach in front of the Carlton as a teenager, how he didn’t much like Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid when he first saw it, and how he came up with the idea for the Sundance Festival and the Sundance Channel WHEN Robert Redford first came to Cannes life wasn’t quite so good as it is today. “I was an artist, hitch-hiking to Italy when I was about 18, 19 years old, and I didn’t have a dime and so I slept under a pier,” he said, pointing down at the beach from his suite in the Carlton hotel. “I remember looking up at the Carlton and thinking, ‘Wow! I wonder what goes on in there?’ I just imagined people in tuxedos and thought, ‘Jesus, what’s that like?’.”

Redford said he started small and continues to think small. “I made a lot of little movies in the Sixties, a few with Sydney Pollack. And I was doing theatre too. The big stuff — Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid, The Sting, The Great Gatsby — that all came quite a bit later. And there was no plan for that.”

On the subject of Butch Cassidy, the most successful Western ever when it opened back in 1969, Redford said he didn’t particularly like the movie when he first saw the final cut. “I said to them, ‘What’s this music? Why is there a song in there about raindrops when it’s not even raining?’”

Some 44 years later, however, and

the film has served him very well, particularly the name of his character, Sundance, today one of the best-known entertainment brands in the world. “That always sounds weird to me that word ‘brand’. It still makes me think of those hot irons they use to burn marks on cattle.”

But a brand it is, a mark of innovation and independence that spans the Sundance Institute, Sundance Festival and most recently, Sundance Channel, whose international expansion Redford is spearheading at MIPCOM this week.

Sundance was born out of a reaction to the shift in Hollywood towards the youth market. Redford said that his hit movies were funding the smaller movies that he loved to make, but that the money slowly disappeared for those after this switch of emphasis. “Once video and cable came, it all happened quite quickly. And then came computers, and with them came special effects, and Hollywood was following the youth market, which was where the money was. And my concern was that they were going to leave behind the more humanistic films that they used to produce along

with the big ones. So I committed my energies to try and keep that alive because I felt there should always be room for independent work. And if you shut that down and just create a formula then you’d be shutting down fresh new material for artists and audiences.” So Sundance was born, first through the Sundance Labs, which gave opportunities for new film-makers with new ideas. Then those films had to be seen, so the Sundance Festival was born.

“Then at least the film-makers would have somewhere to come and see their own work and that of other people.”

The Festival started small, “and we put it in the middle of the mountains in the middle of winter, but after five years it started to work and it really took off big.”

In 1994 Redford felt that the Festival was becoming “out of control”, and he was concerned that it would drown out what Sundance was supposed to be about. “So what I thought was, how can we take this thing which is working, but which is only for 10 days in the middle of winter, to being something that works all year round? And that’s when the

idea of the Sundance Channel came along, and that’s when I stepped into the corporate world because before that, we were not for profit.”

Originally part-owned by Viacom, the Channel was taken over two years ago by Rainbow media and that is when the global expansion, that Redford is here to continue, began. It was announced yesterday that the channel is launching on France’s SFR, the Netherlands’ Caiway and South Korea’s KT, formerly Korea Telecom. Rainbow Media introduced Sundance Channel in France and Belgium last year, and since then, the channel has also launched in Singapore, South Korea and Poland.

“So each step along the way, if an opportunity came to move the thing along, we would take it,” he said. “But I would never go somewhere just to be bigger. Bigger’s not always better. I think it’s about quality, and whether you have the right thing at the right time.”

So what’s it like sleeping inside the Carlton, instead of outside?

“You can imagine the irony. I’m now standing here and looking down — it’s pretty amazing.”

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MBC ENTERS QUIZ ARENA BANIJAY International has announced an agreement for Ideas TV of Lebanon to produce The People’s Quiz for Middle Eastern broadcaster MBC. “This is a really significant deal for Banijay International,” said managing director Karoline Spodsberg. “We are very keen to capitalise on the opportunities available in the Middle East and this deal proves the adaptability of our formats to cater for this important market.” Ideas TV’s CEO, Abdel Fatah Elmasry, said he was delighted to be associated with Banijay on the project.

Originally produced for the BBC, the show has also aired on TF1 in France, where a second series has been commissioned.

The format has also been optioned in Italy, Portugal and Turkey. Twelve one-hour shows will air on MBC in 2011.

The People’s Quiz is a challenge to find the “brightest brains”, with the whole country getting the chance to audition for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to win $1m.

Abdel Fatah Elmasry (left), and Banijay International’s Jonathan Tuovinen: “A really significant deal”

BBC Worldwide is involved in spy exchange with Russian contacts

Spooks (BBC Worldwide)

SELLING secrets to Russia is generally frowned upon in the UK, but BBC Worldwide is making a business out of it. The distributor this week signed a deal with Fox Television that will see the award-winning spy drama Spooks broadcast across the CIS and Baltic states.

“We are very excited to be bringing Spooks to Russia and the other CIS and

Baltic nations,” said Olga Zhurova, channel editor for Fox International Channels. “The Cold War may long be over but we think our channel’s viewers are going to be fascinated by such a high-quality drama about Western spies and the inner workings of the British Security Service.”

Zhurova also acquired ITV’s romantic comedy Married, Single Other and

the thriller Silent Witness, starring Amanda Burton.

In a separate deal, BBC Worldwide made its largest-ever Russian sale when Channel Five acquired 225 hours of mixed-genre programming across factual areas including history, science and natural history, as well as the drama Sherlock.

Russia’s Kultura channel picked up 84 hours, including History Of Science, Wonders Of The Solar System, Lennon Naked and Muddle Earth. Slovak TV (Slovakia) bought a 52-hour package, including natural-history blockbusters Life and The Human Planet.

Motoring series Top Gear sold to Russia’s RTR2, Ukraine’s First Automotive and Kazakhstan’s Astana channels. Mistresses sold to ETV and RTV Slovenia, Sherlock went to ETV, RTV and Channel Five Russia. Three seasons of sci-fi series Primeval were picked up by NBC Universal for its Russian/CIS/Baltic feed.

In total, BBC Worldwide sold 800 hours of entertainment programming across East and Central Europe.

Nickelodeon joins new Peter Rabbit gang NICKELODEON has formed a partnership with media content company Chorion and publisher Frederick Warne, owner of the Beatrix Potter property, to develop and produce a new animated pre-school series based on The Tales Of Peter Rabbit.

Slated to air in 2012 on Nickelodeon and Nick Jr, the series will feature many of the iconic Beatrix Potter characters, including Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny.

“The World Of Beatrix Potter is a celebrated brand with treasured characters that we’re introducing to a new generation of kids,” said Cyma Zarghami, president, Nickelodeon/

MTVN Kids and Family Group. “Beatrix Potter’s timeless books have been cherished by millions of children, and Nickelodeon is thrilled to be involved in developing these classic characters into new television adventures the whole family can enjoy.”

The Potter series will have a contemporary appeal, with updated language and the use of CGI. Zhargami said: “Nickelodeon is 30 years old, so we are now seeing the children of the first generation of viewers watching the channel. And this is exactly the sort of property that will allow us to connect with anything up to four or five generations of viewers.”

Nickelodeon’s Cyma Zarghami: “Adventures the whole family can enjoy”

2 2 --33 April April2011 2011 Where the story begins.

Martinez Hotel, Cannes, France Martinez Hotel, Cannes, France www.mipdoc.com

www.mipdoc.com

Save the date!

The international showcase for documentary and factual programme screenings

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NEWS

BEYOND POSTS BIG PACKAGE BEYOND Distribution had a storming start to MIPCOM, securing a 260-hour sale to Discovery Networks Latin America, which has picked up 12 factual entertainment series and several documentaries for a channel portfolio that includes TLC, Home and Heath and Discovery Familia.

Key titles include Lonely Planet travel series, What’s Good For You, Maxed Out, Chef Worthy, The Holiday Show, Out In The Cold, Spoiled Rotten, Masters Apprentice and Medical Incredible.

Bilai Joa Silar, vice-president and channel director, Discovery US Hispanic Networks, said: “We are constantly looking for strong additions to our line-up that will excite, enlighten, entertain and create a following.

These shows were selected with that in mind.”

Lion Television project sets out to re-orient birthplace of civilisation LION Television, a member of the All3Media group, has announced the launch of a major new project that shifts the traditional Greco-Roman view of where civilisation was born to an area between two rivers in the Middle East. The 13-part TV series The River Flowing Westward will assemble a team of film-makers and academics to revise the Eurocentric version of world history.

“It’s a huge story and it connects civilisations and cultures from Asia to Africa to the Middle East,” said Bill Locke, Lion Television’s head of history and special projects.

Professor Bekir Karliga, president of the Civilization Studies Center at Bahcesehir University in Turkey,

Lion’s Bill Locke (left), with Bekir Karliga and Savas Arslan of Bahcesehir University

which is consulting on the project, said: “We have a collective heritage as human beings and we are trying to show how civilisations affected each

SHOOTING is under way in Prague on the Renaissance-era drama Borgia, telling of one of Italy’s most infamous families.

The English-language series stars John Doman (ER, The Wire) as Rodrigo Borgia, who fought ruthlessly for his family to gain control over Italy during the late 15th century. “Borgia has the feel of a civilisation in transition, from the Dark Ages to the Renaissance, meaning from dark to light, sensuality mixed with high art,” said author and producer, Tom Fontana (Oz, Homicide).

Atlantique Production/EOS and Canal+ are producing the 12-part series with a budget of €25m. Beta Film is handling international distribution.

FRONT DOOR OPENING SBS Australia has commissioned 10 episodes of the format Behind The Front Door from Dutch distributor Absolutely Independent. The format is owned by Dutch public broadcaster NCRV, and the deal was brokered by Absolutely with FremantleMedia Australia.

"Behind The Front Door will delight audiences by revealing the stories of the very people we live next door to," said SBS network programmer Jane Roscoe. The series will go into production at the end of the year for broadcast in 2011.

other, from China to India to Mesopotamia and Egypt.”

The project is in Cannes looking for additional co-production funding.

Surgeon’s altruistic voyage captured

Ryley Grunenwald: “universal but very personal story”

MIPCOM first timer Marie-Verite Films is in Cannes looking for international sales for its new HD documentary, The Dawn Of A New Day. The documentary follows the life of a South African plastic surgeon who gives up his private practice to provide free surgery on a hospital ship to West Africans who have no health care.

Marie-Verite Films director and

producer Ryley Grunenwald said: “It’s a universal but at the same time a very personal story.”

The Dawn Of A New Day is available as a 60-minute film or 52-minute TV version. It comes in English, West African languages Fon and Hausa, and French with English subtitles.

Shooting took place in South Africa, Benin and Ireland.

NEWS

Tale re-told: Jordan flies down to Cannes to announce The Nativity UNDERLINING how much the TV business has changed, writer-producer Tony Jordan is at MIPCOM for the first time. Known for hit dramas such as Hustle, Life On Mars and EastEnders, he said: “The business is more about co-production and partnerships than it used to be.”

His new project is a case in point. “My company, Red Planet, has just produced a two-hour piece about the Nativity for the BBC and CBC in Canada. I’ve come down here to help BBC Worldwide promote the show and explain the creative approach to buyers.”Anyone familiar with Jordan’s work might expect a

Red Planet’s Tony Jordan: “It might make people revisit questions of faith”

plot twist or unconventional angle — but he has stayed close to the original.

“I thought about placing it on the moon or in some post-apocalyptic future — but then it occurred to me that anyone sitting down to watch The Nativity a week before Christmas will expect wise men and donkeys.”

Instead, Jordan’s twist is to refocus the story on Joseph and Mary, exploring how a husband might react if his wife says she is pregnant and carrying the son of God. “Essentially, it’s a love story which starts with Joseph’s courtship of Mary. But I think it might also make people revisit questions of faith.”

Having two broadcaster-paymasters is not a problem for Jordan: “Red Planet is a writer-led company — that’s our culture and people respect it. The crucial thing about having writers as showrunners is that they are in the room when financial decisions are made, so they can assess what can be sacrificed without affecting the creative vision.”

Bondi Rescue on trans-Pacific mission ALL3MEDIA International has sold its lifeguard series, Bondi Rescue, to Fuel TV, sister company to National Geographic, for North America.

Shon Tomlin, senior vice-president, programming and marketing, at Fuel TV, said: “The series fits perfectly with our vision of what makes compelling television and complements our new line-up of programming about the planet’s most bold and fearless personalities.”

National Geographic channels have aired Bondi Rescue on their panAfrican, French and French-speaking feeds, and in Israel. All3Media International also licensed the show to NRK (Norway), VMM (Belgium), SBS (Netherlands), Zone Media (Poland)

and TV4 (Sweden). Bondi Rescue — and sister series Bali Rescue — are

produced by Cordell Jigsaw Productions for Network Ten in Australia.

Sealing the Bondi Rescue deal: All3Media International’s Peter Grant, left, with Nat Geo’s Michelle Bagliebter and Cordell Jigsaw’s Michael Cordell and Nick Murray

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BBC BUYS BIG FROM HBO BBC WORLDWIDE has picked up a slate of HBO’s drama and entertainment programming.

BBC Entertainment will debut Capturing Mary, starring Dame Maggie Smith, wartime drama The Affair, Emmy Award-winning miniseries Rome and comedy show Little Britain USA, among others.

BBC Knowledge in Africa will air historical biopic The Gathering Storm, Conspiracy and BAFTA Award-nominated Tsunami, a two-part series focusing on the aftermath of the 2004 disaster.

Bun Scrase-Dickins, vicepresident, acquisitions, BBC Worldwide, said: “HBO has a terrific reputation for producing cutting-edge television drama, and this is a great set of programmes which we’re delighted to bring to our viewers in Africa.”

FIREWORKS DISPLAY IS AUSTRALIA-BOUND FIREWORKS International has concluded a deal with Australia’s ABC TV, which sees the contemporary detective drama Republic Of Doyle and the multiplatform thriller Girl Number 9 make their debut in the territory.

Saralo MacGregor, executive vice-president, worldwide distribution, Fireworks International, said: “The range of content ABC TV has acquired recently is a great example of the breadth of our programming catalogue, which spans leading drama and documentary titles alongside some of the most innovative multi-platform content available in today’s market.”

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NEWS

TRIPLE TRAP TRANSMEDIA RICCARDO Zara and Massimo Stella of Genoa-based Visionauta are at MIPCOM for the first time as part of the Italian producers’ booth (Associazione Produttori Televisivi).

CEO Zara said the company is in Cannes for two reasons. It is promoting its transmedia project Triple Trap, a comedy thriller available either as a 90minute HD feature or as 24 webisodes — each with a cliffhanger ending. Zara and Stella have also been talking to producers and partners about new approaches to low-cost production.

“Triple Trap is an example of how it is possible to produce quality content at a very low price,” added Stella, the project’s producer: “We want to show potential partners how digital technologies, mixed with the right production know-how, a strong creative team and a skilled organisational staff can make projects viable.”

Zara said Visionauta’s new production and finance model also has implications for the way content is marketed: “It would be possible, for example, to use the webisodes on mobile phones as a way of building up to the launch of the film in its 90-minute format.”

Rainbow builds on Nick deal with strong Cannes screenings RAINBOW has walked away from MIPJunior this year with two of its children’s programmes in the top five most-screened properties at the event.

Combining live-action and Klimt-inspired animation, Mia And Me (co-produced by Lucky Punch, Rainbow and March Entertainment, with German broadcaster ZDF) was the buyers’ most requested show, while Gon was fourth most requested.

“Our shows are successful because we care about our target audience and carefully consider what kids today want to watch,” Rainbow’s CEO, Iginio Straffi said. “Rainbow brings consistently good ratings for broadcasters who now trust that we are going to deliver quality content.”

The largest animation studio in Europe signed a pre-MIPCOM global partnership deal with Nickelodeon to co-develop and co-produce seasons five and six of the Winx Club, an an-

Rainbow’s Iginio Straffi with Bloom, the Winx Club fairy

imated fantasy series featuring fairies.

Nickelodeon also acquired the Winx Club TV rights for the US and the pay-TV rights for Latin America, Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Benelux.

“This is a very significant deal as

Nickelodeon usually produces everything in-house,” Straffi added. “We have yet to break into the US with the Winx Club brand but I feel confident in our partnership with Nickelodeon as they have great penetration in that market.”

Hollywood HD is Prime territory

Prime Entertainment’s David Freydt (right), with Hollywood On Set guest Milos Forman

AS HOLLYWOOD On Set, the weekly entertainment series about new Hollywood movie releases, approaches its 360th episode, it is available at MIPCOM for the first time in HD. Prime Entertainment Group reports recent sales to Russia and Lithuania, and has noted the increased demand for HD content.

"We have more and more clients requesting the show in HD 16:9, and here it is! We are glad to meet the increasing demand of the market," Prime’s managing director, David Freydt, said.

The series is still available in standard definition, but joins the rest of Prime’s HD catalogue, which includes Zoom In, Hollywood's Best Film Directors and Close Up. Prime has also launched a new show, called Movie Star, at MIPCOM.

NEWS

Mexican indies take a stand to show diversity of skills on offer

Compatriots: Al-Invest’s Gilbert Whitehouse Arnal and Solferino Media’s Flor Hurtado

FOR THE first time, Mexico’s independents have their own national stand, branded as the Voice And Sound Mexican Pavilion.

The initiative was organised by Solferino Media’s director general, Flor Hurtado, who felt that her com-

patriots needed a helping hand in Cannes, not only logistically and financially, but also creatively.

“I wanted to show the market that Mexico has a lot more to offer than telenovelas,” she said. “Our producers create a lot of great content, from

documentaries and feature films to entertainment formats.”

Another Mexican speciality is dubbing and subtitling outfits, Hurtado said: “We have some of the best languagereversioning studios in the world, but it’s a been a tough few years for many companies in this sector as a result of the economic crisis. One of our missions at MIPCOM is to give renewed energy to Mexico’s outstanding dubbing and subtitling specialists.”

The Mexican Pavilion is a joint venture between Solferino and the EU’s Al-Invest Programme, which promotes the shared values and strategic interests that exist between the EU and Latin America. The 10-company delegation comprises public broadcasters Oncetv Mexico, TV UNAM and Canal 22; producers Nao Films, Anima Estudios and the National Institute of Anthropology and History; reversioning specialists Dubbing House and Macias Group; and distributors Caaliope and Solferino Media.

Future looks bright for Total Blackout THE WORLD is waking up to the variety, creativity and commercial potential of Japanese formats, according to Akihiro Arai, Fuji Television Network’s executive director of worldwide production and sales, who

Fuji Television Network’s Akihiro Arai: “Making the world a happier place”

has been at MIPCOM for the first time this week to promote the Japanese commercial broadcaster’s latest international content.

Arai reported strong interest in Fuji’s headline formats, particularly Total Blackout, the first fruit of the creative exchange alliance between Fuji and FremantleMedia that was announced at MIPTV in April.

The pilot of the fun, unpredictable game show, in which contestants are thrust into a totally dark room to complete a series of outrageous challenges — from sumo wrestling to plunging their hands into tanks of live animals — has been greeted with enthusiasm by the international market,

Arai said. “It has now been sold to Denmark, Sweden and Norway, and will premiere this month on Fuji in Japan,” he added. “I’m humble enough to say that much of this success is down to the great job done by FremantleMedia.”

With back-to-back meetings throughout the MIPCOM week, Arai said he had “great expectations” that his visit to Cannes would result in more sales for Fuji’s formats.

He added: “The message I’d like to share with the market is that Japanese content is great. It makes people laugh and I’m pleased to be part of an industry that makes the world a happier place.”

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MIPCOM NEWCOMER OLIVER BAUSS, managing partner, RTV – Film & Television, Germany.

“RTV – Film & Television is a production and distribution company, and sports entertainment has been the expertise of RTV for more than 20 years. Numerous TV channels and website providers profit from our range of products. One of our flagships is Inside Grand Prix, the company’s Formula One TV magazine show. It has been on the market for over 10 years now. The proven combination of high-quality production and thrilling journalism of this format has then been transferred to other sports programmes in the field of motor sports and football.

“MIPCOM is an excellent opportunity to meet other people who work in entertaining sports programmes. We hope to expand our international network of partners and to be able to make new, interesting contacts. We are looking forward to meeting other people who share our fascination for motor sports and football, and who want to deliver the passion for sports to their viewers. Our aim is to get to know each other in order to find the best way to work together. Our USP is an indepth knowledge and expertise in producing sports TV programmes and developing new formats.”

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NEWS

LARA’S GLOBAL JOURNEY PRODUCTION has begun on animation series Ask Lara (26 x 11 mins), a 2D comedy-drama following Lara and her four friends as they embark on the rocky road through puberty.

The series is being co-produced

by Submarine (the Netherlands), Tomavistas (Spain) and Red Kite Animations (Scotland) for Televisio de Catalunya (Spain), BBC Learning (UK) and Dutch public broadcaster VPRO. Distribution is by Telescreen.

Ask Lara (Telescreen)

“This is the first web-based animation of its kind commissioned by BBC Learning,” said Nick Simon, BBC Learning’s head of learning and new media, Scotland. “It brings a unqiue, gentle and funny approach to thorny issues that many kids — and adults — find hard to discuss.”

In a separate development, Red Kite — which was recently acquired by Singapore’s August Media — is to work with Classic Media re-inventing up to ten of Classic’s well-loved children’s properties. The $60m deal was announced this week by Classic Media and August Media. The first two properties to go into development are George Of The Jungle and Mr Magoo, and both will be co-produced with Singapore’s Scrawl Studios.

Rastamouse leaps off the page to scurry into multi-platform world RASTAMOUSE, a 52 x 11 mins preschool stop-frame animation property based on picture books by Michael De Souza and Genevieve Webster, makes its international debut at MIPCOM. Due to launch on CBeebies in the UK next year, the series is being offered to the international market by Canada’s DHX Media.

Also in Cannes this week are Eugenio Perez and Greg Boardman, founders of Three Stones Media, the production company which brought together many of the partners on the property.

“We started by introducing Michael and Genevieve to Derek Mogford [an animator on Postman Pat],” Boardman said. “Then, at MIPCOM 2008, we managed to get CBeebies on board as a broadcast partner, when we were here as part of the UK indie pavilion.”

After that, meetings in Cannes did a lot to move the project on. “It was here that we met Dynamo Produc-

Three Stones Media’s Greg Boardman (left) and Eugenio Perez: “really excited”

tions, the company that works with Derek on the production. And it was also here that DHX Media came on board to handle international exploitation.”

Now, the authors, Mogford, Three Stones and DHX Media are all part of The Rastamouse Company — an um-

brella outfit set up to exploit the property’s potential. Also on board is EMI, which has high hopes for the music attached to the series.

“We’re really excited,” Boardman said.

“We’re expecting news of distribution deals to start coming through from DHX in the next few days.”

To get rights solution, turn detective ACQUIRING the relevant rights for multi-platform distribution often requires “detective work” if you are to

prevent your business being swallowed up in a legal quagmire, according to content distributor and legal adviser

Foothill Entertainment’s Gregory Payne: “If you don’t have the rights, you can’t monetise”

Gregory Payne. The chairman of USbased Foothill Entertainment said distributors still underestimate the complexities involved in making content available for TV, online, mobile or any platform still to emerge. Even establishing who owns which rights can be a headache for DVD distribution, let alone the new digital platforms.

“Foothill recently acquired a 1980s children’s animation, and ended up spending almost six months seeing if we had all the rights. We had to do a bit of detective work. Everyone is looking for ways to monetise, but if you don’t have the rights, you can’t monetise.”

Payne is confident the situation will improve: “Now when people do deals, they are already thinking about the legal implications.”

NEWS

Turkey plans to boost Cannes profile after pavilion success TURKEY has been well represented at this market, with a pavilion partnership between the Istanbul Chamber Of Commerce (ICOC) and Turkey’s national public broadcaster, TRT. This is the first time ICOC has participated at MIPCOM, and the success of the collaborative arrangement has ensured that they will return next year: “I think the number of visitors is going to rise in the future,” said Mahmut Ozden, president of ICOC’s information and communication committee.

“Business has been slow because of the recession, but I know this will change.”

ICOC is representing three main Turkish media associations at the market: the Movie Producers Professional Association (SE-YAP); the Television And Movie Producers Professional Association (TESIYAP); and

KIDS STILL WATCH TV, SAYS EURODATA

ICOC’s Tulay Bahcetepe (left), Mahmut Ozden and Idil Aslantas

the Film Producers’ Professional Association (FIYAB).

“We are representing members of all the associations — television and film companies and also individual producers and distributors,” said ICOC’s Tulay Bahcetepe. “We have had lots of interest and we would like to have a country stand in the next few years to give

Turkey an even better profile.”

TRT’s head in international sales, Meltem TumTurk Akyol, was delighted with the number of inquiries about their children’s programming.

“We are both buying and selling this market,” she said. “We have many meetings that we need to follow up when we return to Turkey.”

GREEN success story: Only Lifestyle, Europe’s largest dedicated lifestyle distributor, has sold its environment series Greenest Stories (15 x 20 mins) to Servus TV in Austria. The shows follow inspirational people the world over as they work to combat climate change and safeguard the environment for future generations.

Walter Maria Seitz (left) of Servus and Only Lifestyle’s Clemence Porret agreed the deal at the Only Lifestyle stand.

Total titillates Russia with Tinto RUSSIAN distributor Total Content has acquired the Russian TV distribution rights to a slate of movies by acclaimed Italian director Tinto Brass.

Speaking to the MIPCOM News in Cannes, Total Content acquisitions manager Ekaterina Semenova said that the deal for five Brass films was

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done this week with The FilmExport Group of Italy, which has a catalogue of 600 features, series and documentaries. It is the first time the two companies have done business together.

A controversial figure, Tinto Brass is regarded as a leading director in the erotic movie genre, and is probably

best known to the international market for titles such as Cosi Fan Tutte, Paprika, Monella and Trasgredire.

According to Semenova, whose Moscow-based company is run independently of Russian broadcasters, there is already strong interest from buyers, which she expects will convert into a licensing deal very soon.

Jacques Braun

KIDS are still watching plenty of TV, despite the distraction of digital media, according to Jacques Braun, vice-president of Eurodata TV Worldwide, the audience analysis service provided by research group Mediametrie.

In the third of our MIPCOM News mini-bulletins based on a new Eurodata report, Braun set out the stats on the next generation of TV watchers.

Children born at the same time as social networks are watching “more and more TV. In Italy, between the first quarter of 2009 and the first quarter of 2010, children increased their daily time in front of the TV by five minutes, while in Spain children watched an extra 13 minutes. In Germany the total was up five minutes,” he said.

For the children of the technological revolution, “nothing is more natural than to go online to follow their favourite heroes, then to continue the story and play in both the real and virtual world.

TV is developing via the web and vice versa,” he added.

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LITTLE SCREENS TO SEE BIG PICTURE BIG PICTURES has signed an agreement with Kit Digital, a provider of video assetmanagement systems for multiscreen IP-based delivery. It means the celebrity picture agency will begin to use the technology company’s VX-one platform, allowing it to distribute its celebrity multimedia content globally on multiple screens, including browsers, mobile and tablet devices, and IP-enabled TVs. “Kit digital was the obvious choice when selecting a technology partner, as Kit is the only player in the industry capable of truly delivering integrated multi-device video solutions,” Darryn Lyons, chairman of Big Pictures, said.

“This will significantly advance our offering by providing us with the ability to produce, source and deliver our exclusive video and breaking news content to viewers anywhere and anytime, on any IP-enabled device."

DISTRIBUTOR SPREADS ALARM IN PORTUGAL GERMANY-based Telepool has inked a number of deals in recent days, among them two seasons each of action-packed Alarm For Cobra (to Portugal’s RTP) and Lasko (to France Televisions). The third season of Doctor’s Diary has gone to TF1 in France and MTV in Turkey — which territory will now also see the kids-oriented Grimm’s Finest Fairy Tales thanks to a deal with SinemaTV.

With Celestial help, kung fu will hit third dimension, says Fung MIPCOM regular Celestial Pictures has reported brisk trade at this year’s market for its catalogue of 760 kungfu movies, all drawn from the classic Shaw Brothers martial-arts film library.

Daniel Fung, senior vice-president of non-theatrical and channel distribution at Hong Kong-based Celestial, said buyers from around the world have responded positively to the work Celestial has done remastering and digitising the catalogue, with 130 titles now available in HD. “We get interest from everywhere — but Eastern Europe has been particularly strong recently. And we’ve also enjoyed success in taking our titles on to new platforms such as IPTV and video-on-demand.”

A big development at this market is

Celestial’s Daniel Fung: “3D kung fu is turning heads”

Celestial’s investment in 3D: “We are upgrading some our of top titles to 3D — and have a 15-minute demo at our booth. That has drawn a lot of traffic,” Fung said.

Another key development is that Celestial is talking to partners about making new versions of classic titles

such as the 36 Chambers Of Shaolin and The One-Armed Swordsman.

“Earlier this year, we announced that we would be working with director Teddy Chen on a remake of one of the Shaw Brothers titles — and we are looking at other similar partnerships,” he added.

Filmedia takes Germans to Italy GERMAN production company DW-Transtel has announced a distribution deal with Milan-based Filmedia, which means the content and service provider will represent DW-Transtel in Italy.

DW-Transtel, a subsidiary of Germany’s international broadcaster Deutsche Welle, has been producing diverse programming for over 40 years, and has focused this market on

scientific documentaries, children’s programming, sports, music and lifestyle.

"We are delighted to sign this deal, " said Ulrich Wartmann, Deutsche Welle’s head of distribution, Europe.

"Filmedia is a highly professional company with very good connections in the Italian market, and great experience in distributing German programming."

ITALY’s Mediaset Distribution has licensed the scripted format of the 12 x 60 mins drama series Anti-Mafia to US network ABC. The deal was handled by Mediaset’s international sales consultant Gonzalo Cilley (left), and was announced at MIPCOM by Patricio Teubal, Mediaset’s head of sales. The format has been optioned to Miamibased Fluent Media Group, whose president, Raul Mateu, will executiveproduce ABC’s version of the series.

Celebrating the MIPCOM deal: Filmedia’s Monica Rubini (left), and Filippo Mori Ubaldini, with Deutsche Welle’s Ulrich Wartmann and Aleksandra Jovanic

NEWS

TLC will take Kennedy clan biopic back to the family’s home ground TLC, THE Discovery Communications-owned reality-TV and information network, has acquired the rights to The Kennedys: The End Of Innocence, from France Televisions Distribution.

TLC has acquired exclusive rights for the US and Canada — the latter case only English-language rights.

The agreement, announced at MIPCOM, will see the 97-minute biopic about America’s most famous dynasty available for 2011, which marks the 50th anniversary of President John F Kennedy’s inauguration.

The programme covers the lives of several generations of the Kennedy family, starting with President Kennedy’s father, Joe. Other members of the iconic clan profiled include JFK’s brothers Bobby and Ted, his widow, Jackie, and their generation’s children.

TLC’s Rita Mullin (left), with France Televisions’ Eric Verniere and Nathalie Bobineau

The programme’s unique selling points include a history of the family, their lifestyle, joys and tragedies, the

family’s colourised home movies , plus never-disclosed-before information about their private lives.

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SALADIN HEADS FOR TURKEY MALAYSIA’s Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) announced the sale of Saladin, a 13 x 26 mins kids action adventure series, to Turkish broadcaster ATV. MDeC operates as a one-stop agency focusing on helping Malaysian media companies.

The Saladin series is inspired by the 12th century statesman and warrior, but is a fictional version beginning when 18-year-old Saladin leaves Damascus with his lifelong friend, Tarik, in search of adventure.

The co-production, between MDeC and Al Jazeera Children’s Channel, is aimed at 10- to 15year-olds.

Royal rock gala finds fans in Cannes MUSIC is still striking a chord with TV buyers, according to 3DD Entertainment, which reports a flurry of interest in its wide-ranging programme list.

Top of the bill is a 3D TV production based on The Prince’s Trust Rock

Gala, which returns after a 27-year break. The event features rock icons such as Tom Jones, Eric Clapton and Brian May performing with a host of other stars at the Royal Albert Hall in London. It is being produced for TV by 3DD Productions in association

Tom Jones, starring in The Prince’s Trust Rock Gala (3DD Entertainment)

with Nineteen Fifteen for broadcast on Sky 3D, the 3D TV channel which launched in the UK this week.

Sky 3D signed up to air the show in August and 3DD is in negotiations with broadcasters in Japan and the US. 3DD Productions CEO Dominic Saville said: “We’ve been involved in large musical events for television for years, but this will be our first shot in 3D. It’s a wonderful opportunity to work with The Prince’s Trust and this remarkable line-up of British entertainers.”

3DD is also presenting a three-part TV series which goes behind the scenes at Elite Model Look Shanghai 2010, one of the fashion industry’s most influential modelling competitions.

Saville said: “It is exciting to build a relationship with Elite Entertainment, which has such an international brand.”

The series expands 3DD’s entertainment portfolio, which also includes Frock Me and Red Carpet Romance.

Saladin (MDeC)

MDeC is looking forward to developing further relationships in the area of children’s action series, said Kamil Othman, vicepresident for the creative multimedia department of MDeC. “There is huge demand internationally for children’s action series, as this sale demonstrates,” he added.

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NEWS

LIFTING THE LID ON FILMBOX PORTUGAL’s New Media Digital Contents has been showcasing its Francisco Salema FilmBox whitelabel on-demand platform to the international market this week.

The VOD service and contentintegrated platform with multiscreens and multi-devices is scheduled for deployment in selected European territories in 2011. “At MIPCOM, we have been presenting FilmBox to some of our partners,” said Francisco Salema, New Media Digital Contents’ senior vicepresident and head of content and business development. “We have been testing the market’s reaction and listening to suggestions from both our content and teleco partners as to how best we can meet the market’s requirements.”

Founded in 2003, New Media Digital Contents is a specialist VOD content aggregator. “We have spent the last nine years forging strategic partnerships with both key rights-owners and technology providers,” Salema added. “We now find ourselves at the centre of the digital revolution that has been gathering momentum over the last few years.”

JODISA IT WAS incorrectly reported in the MIPCOM News that telecoms group Unitel and food/beverage company Refriango are current clients of the Angolan advertising agency Jodisa.

Walter & Tandoori embark on fun green adventure in Latin America CARTOON Network Latin America has acquired seasons one and two of Walter & Tandoori, billed as the first animated action-comedy series focused on the environment.

Also included in the deal are 65 Walter shorts for web and mobile and Walter’s Christmas 2011 in 2D stereo-

scopic feature format.

The series was produced by Montrealbased Image Entertainment Corporation and the deal with Cartoon Network was brokered by Branscome International.

“Our viewers will relate to the subtle environmental messages in the series,

Image Entertainment Corporation’s Sylvain Viau (left), with Cindy Kerr and Joy Ross of Cartoon Network Latin America and Branscome International’s Catherine Branscome

presented through two characters — Tandoori, the talking chicken, and Walter, the amusing pro-environmentalist who saves the day in the end,” said Cindy Kerr, vice-president of acquisitions and content delivery for Turner Broadcasting Systems, Latin America.

Catherine Branscome, president of Branscome International, is also a fan of the series: “The Walter & Tandoori stories are so well crafted,” she said.

“They are intelligent cartoons that cleverly set out to amuse. I’m very happy that this series is attracting forward-thinking partners like Cartoon Network Latin America.”

Branscome added that several more deals are in the final stages and expected to be announced shortly.

Uki marches into multiple territories BBC WORLDWIDE (BBCWW) reports buoyant interest in Universal Music’s pre-school series, Uki (52 x 5 mins).

Salim Mukaddam, head of audio and music programming at BBCWW, said: “We have had significant interest in the broadcast rights from a host of channels, including a number of major players in children’s television.”

The BBC’s pre-school channel, CBeebies, recently began airing Uki as part of its popular Show Me Show Me pro-

gramme. The action centres on Uki, an irresistibly cute yellow creature who is always smiling and exploring, using sounds and laughter rather than words.

Uki also airs in Belgium, where books, DVDs and toys based on the character go on sale this month. Several other territories have also taken the show, including Australia and South Africa.

Mukaddam added: “The market’s initial reception has been phenom-

Uki (BBC Worldwide)

enal. We are expecting big things from the little man.”

Catalonia animation under one banner CATALONIA’s thriving animation industry has gained a global trademark at MIPCOM. Catalan Films & TV, the government consortium promoting the Spanish region’s audiovisual industries internationally, is launching Catalan Cartoons. The brand is intended to become the global insignia of Catalo-

nia’s animation industry, which has amassed many awards and enjoyed strong international sales.

Companies gathered under the brand include Cromosoma, Imira Entertainment, D’Ocon Films, Motion Pictures, Neptuno Films, BRB Internacional, Filmax, Tomavistas and Edebe, along with up-and-coming

players such as Aviatrix, Sol 90, Stor Fisk, Inmagic, Kotoc, Anera, Magoproduction, Pataboom, BNC, Osibis and El Jueves.

Among new titles are Aviatrix’s Baobab Planet, BNC’s The Story Isn’t Over Yet, BRB Internacional’s Zookaboo, Edebe’s Robot Chipa and Snowflake, and Magoproduction’s Dr W.

NEWS

Blink TV consults Little Black Book and sells music titles to Finland BLINK TV, the multi-camera production company, has sold two stand-alone shows from its Best Of The Festivals music series to YLE, the Finnish national public broadcaster.

YLE will transmit Blink TV’s coverage of the international metal-music festival Sonisphere and Ireland’s Oxegen Festival, on the YLE Live slot. The deal was sealed by media consultancy The Little Black Book Company at MIPCOM. The Best Of The Festivals comprises eight 60-minute episodes featuring highlights of Europe’s most popular music festivals, including Hurricane (Germany) and the UK’s Lovebox, High Voltage, V, and 80s Rewind.

Blink TV says the high-quality footage is possible thanks to its experience in multi-camera filming of major events and festivals.

Sonisphere, from Best Of The Festivals (Blink TV)

The Little Black Book also announced the launch of On The Docks, an Italian VOD service. Created by six media companies, including Deriva Film, On The Docks is using the new VOD platform to make factual programming

more accessible to Italian-speaking viewers at home and abroad, and to other broadcasters.

On The Docks will also produce international content with partners. The Little Black Book Company handles international distribution.

MIPCOM producers enjoyed a beachside cocktail at Vegaluna Beach Restaurant for Tuesday’s networking party, hosted in partnership with Screen Australia, Circe Films, Iliad Entertainment and Chefs Ink. Australian wines and culinary demonstrations were part of the event, concluding Spotlight On Australia day

Organa prepares content for the app era ORGANA has bought US DVD rights for Telescreen’s children’s preschool animation Anton, and Delphis Films’ Iris The Happy Professor and Little Star.

“We started out 15 years ago, licensing content for CD-Roms; now we distribute programming on DVD and

in the future it will be all about licensing deals for distribution on apps,” Organa’s Aleen Stein said. “We have a niche market in the US and, although DVD sales are generally going down, our sales are still going up.”

Stein has currently four apps in production. “We are entering a new

market; some of the video content we have works beautifully in apps for the iPad. We believe there is a demand for compelling content that is truly unique in the US and not necessarily broadcast on TV — we always look for content that is cross-cultural and has a flavour of a foreign country.”

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MIPCOM NEWCOMER ROB CONNORS, executive producer, Scratch Productions, South Africa.

“We are here as creators — we have created our own format concepts to launch at MIPCOM and we are here to look for codevelopment partnerships and multi-level sponsorships deals.

“Our new formats include Cover Girl, Living In, Ultimate Game Show and With Kids. Living In and With Kids are both formats for new travel and lifestyle series; Living In demystifies cultural stereotypes by presenting a local perspective on foreign perceptions, and With Kids is an informative series revealing all the facts you need to know if you are travelling to a country with your children.

“We’ve had successful meetings with Sony and Discovery this MIPCOM about these new formats, so we look forward to future possibilities.

“We are not producers of mindless entertainment. All of our television concepts are educative on some level, even if the viewers are not aware they are learning something.

“We are an established production company, based in Cape Town, and we offer a spectrum of services for the film, television and media industry. We have the scalability to meet the demands of a full production shoot in any worldwide location.”

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NEWS

MIPJUNIOR SCREENINGS BEGET BUSY MIPCOM EVERGREEN Entertainment has benefited from its highscoring screenings at MIPJunior, signing several distribution deals at MIPCOM for its two CGI films, The Wheelers and Micropolis.

Companies including Russiabased Starline and Spain’s Luk Internacional have bought the rights to broadcast the animations, which feature a skateboarding group of friends patrolling the streets of their neighbourhood, and the animals living in the kingdom of Micropolis, respectively. The company hopes to announce more deals soon.

Buyers have also showed interest in another Evergreen property, the dialogue-free Crazy Cavemen.

"Thanks to MIPJunior we've hit the ground running, and our stand has never been busier in all the years we’ve been attending this market,” said managing director Steve Walsh.

ON DEMAND VIDEO SERVICES OFFERED ON DEMAND Group is a growing provider of video-ondemand services and consultancy for major network platforms across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Virgin Media, PrimeTel, Videoweb and Vodacom are among the clients currently on board.

“We’re keen to talk to anyone looking for end-to-end, highquality, premium-content services, especially if speed to market and reduced risk are the criteria,” said Tony Kelly, the company’s CEO.

Cannes eyes up Matt Hatter after global rights grab and pre-sales NIGEL Stone, CEO and producer at Pinewood-based Platinum Films, said there has been a big buzz in Cannes around his company’s new animation series, The Matt Hatter Chronicles (26 x 30 mins). “Endemol acquired the global broadcast and ancillary rights to the show on the eve of the market,” Stone explained. “So we’ve had a lot of interest from buyers who are keen to see what the series is about.”

Matt Hatter is a comedy-adventure based around a character who is a cross between a young Indiana Jones and Harry Potter.

Stone added: “He is just an ordinary boy until he learns that his family are defenders of a gateway to a different dimension.”

Already pre-sold to Nickelodeon, Nickelodeon Australia, Teletoon Canada, RTE Ireland, and GMTV and ITV1 in the UK, Stone said buyers are reacting warmly to “a graphic-novel animation style which is more like something you’d see in the movies or video games than on TV. Matt has the ability to see in 3D Multivision. When this happens in the series, viewers experience the animation as if it’s popping out of their TV screen, with-

The Matt Hatter Chronicles: worldwide interest

out the aid of 3D glasses.”

Licensing deals have already been done with Topps Europe and Penguin Books/Dorling Kindersley — and

there are more partnership announcements on the way. Endemol Worldwide Distribution is planning a global push for MIPTV 2011.

ProSeiben purchases happiness in format deal with Outright PROSEIBEN will be unearthing the secrets of happiness after buying the format rights to Outright Distribution’s The Happiness Project.

The show sees five unhappy people filmed over six months, during which time they participate in an experiment to lift them out of their negative state.

The show originally aired on YLE TV1 in Finland in 2009.

“The Happiness Project is a classic,

feel-good format,” said Claudia Danser, Outright Distribution’s executive vice-president of sales and co-productions, Europe. “This latest licence in such a key territory bodes extremely well for the dozen options we have secured in the last few months.”

Florian Falkenstein, vice-president, documentaries and factual events, at ProSieben Sat.1, added: "We're ex-

tremely happy to present The Happiness Project to ProSieben. This unique, cutting-edge format provides a scientific and interactive show which is true to ProSieben’s ‘next level entertainment’ ethos.”

Outright Distribution is the distribution arm of the Shed Media group, comprising producers Wall To Wall, Ricochet, Twenty Twenty and Shed Productions.

NEWS

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It’s show time …

ts were: Peter for its German representatives and clien ATTENDING the BBC Worldwide cocktail any, Andreas Germ wide World BBC of Helle lle Isabe Kerckhoff (left) of Deutsche Telekom, Germany e, and Stefan Oelze, Tower Productions, Briese of YouTube GSA and Northern Europ

g ls includes a hi-tech listenin t to the Palais des Festiva earthand s een scr RED BULL’s presence nex h wit e plet mobile disco, com station and Mad Max-style ce also includes BMX rs. The company’s presen ake spe l erfu pow gly kin sha n Sea ller tba foo k s and tric freestyler Matthias Dandoi

AT THE party for the launch of The Will: Family Secrets Revealed, organised by Beyond Distribution and CMJ Productions II: Nicola Doyle (left), of CMJ Productions II, with Beyond Distribution’s Fiona Crago, and John Kuyk and Judith Beauchemin of CMJ Productions II. The new 10-hour series is produced by CMJ Productions II and distributed internationally by Beyond Distribution

5 OCEANS Media is in Can nes with sailing star Jes sica Watson to launch the documentary of her venture to be the youngest roundthe-world sailor and to see international distribution deals. True Spirit is a two k -hour documentary followi Australian 16-year-old as ng the she sails more than 24,000 nautical miles in seven months. “I’ve been sailing since I was 11 years old and it was my dream to do this,” Watson said. “Now I want to do it again, but next time I’ll do it faster.

Pictured: 5 Oceans Media ” ’s David Blake (left), and Andrew Fraser, Jessica Wa and 5 Oceans Media’s Sco tson tt Young

AT THE SPI International cocktail party were Loni Farhi (left) and Revi Benshoshan of SPI International with Vino Govender and Ian Woodrow of On Digital Media (ODM). The core business activity of SPI International is producing and distributing TV channels such as FilmBox, FilmBox Extra, FilmBox Family and FilmBox HD, which are broadcast across Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia

RUSSIAN beauties Alina Artts and Gala are in Can nes this Media’s erotic channel Rus sian Night. Alina (right), Mis week to promote Red Gala, Miss March 2010, hav s Russian Night 2009, and e been present at the Red Media stand, where examp of Russian Night channe l’s programming can be les viewed

Deals get done.

GOING CLUBBING AT MIPCOM! Find the right place to go

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The Participants’ Club

Designed for participants without a stand. Meeting area. Wi-Fi. Coffee.

Message board.

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Sponsored by American Greetings Properties

Open to VIP pass holder delegates.

Private lounge. Complimentary bar.

Hostess assistance. Wi-Fi.

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The Buyers’ Club

Open to programme buyers. Lounge area.

Complimentary refreshments. Wi-Fi. Hostess assistance. Message board.

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The Media Centre / Press Club

Designed for press participants.

Editorial room. Wi-Fi. Complimentary refreshments. Interview lounge area.

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