In This Issue: TV in France Berlin Film Mart Life as a TV Indie Sección en Español THE BUSINESS JOURNAL OF FILM, BROADCASTING, BROADBAND, PRODUCTION, DISTRIBUTION JANUARY 2008 VOL. 28 NO. 1 $9.75 ® www.videoage.org BY LEAH HOCHBAUMROSNER In the weeks leading up to the 45th annual National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) event, which will take place January 28-31, 2008 at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada, the major studios have waffled as to whether or not to attend, a large contingent of attendees have abandoned the floor in favor of the suites, and some people feel that making the trip out to Vegas is becoming a waste of time. Others, however, still view NATPE as relevant to their businesses. VideoAgechecked in with a who’s who of international TV executives to find out the real story. “Even though we’re a well-known company, I wouldn’t pretend that the whole world knows about us,” said John NATPE Quo Vadis? Does the TV Industry Still Want You? (Continued on Page 44) (Continued on Page 38) BY MARINA DEL RIVERO Like most other regions, South America is going through a complex period of change. The development of broadband has ushered in a new era and, with it, many questions: What are the main problems facing the entertainment industry in South America today? How will broadcasters overcome obstacles? And what role will Triple Play play? These and other issues are the subjects of this regional review. Argentina: Laws & Strikes Argentina has a law that prevents Telcos from transmitting live television programs. This has delayed the development of broadband television, and slowed the influx of new investments. Despite this, “Cable TV will bring Internet access to a wide group of people,” said Walter Burzaco, president of Argentina’s Asociación de Televisión por Cable (ATVC). Latin America’s New Broadband Challenges Measuring Audience Breaks During Commercial Breaks Despite all the social networks and file-sharing websites out there, people are watching more TV than ever. The average U.S. household, for example, watches eight hours and 14 minutes per day. This takes into account the fact that there are multiple TVs in most homes — 2.8 TVs per household to just 2.5 people per household, on average. But are they watching commercials? (Continued on Page 42) (Continued on Page 40) While Europe recently had to deal with strikes by railroad workers, taxi drivers and even bread makers, this past holiday season, striking workers in the U.S. hit consumers where it hurt most: the entertainment industry. The dearth of holiday cheer was due to a strike by the Writers Guild of America (WGA), the film and television writers’ union responsible for the majority of primetime programming in the U.S., which halted the writing of new episodes on November 5, 2007. Immediately, WGA members in its two key centers — Guild East, based in New York with 3,770 members and Guild West in Los Angeles with 7,627 members — started picketing studios (including FremantleMedia in Burbank). The union initiated a strike after reaching a stalemate in contract negotiations with the representative body Hollywood Writers Want To Strike Digital Riches THEHotel, Suite 60904
V I D E O A G E • N o. 1 • J a n u a r y 2 0 0 8 Cover stories: NATPE Quo Vadis? Answer: This year is goin’ well, but the future is uncharted Measuring TV audiences when they break to take a break during commercial breaks Latin America challenge meter. The bar rises with technology-related challenges Hollywood writers look for life (they’d like to get one), liberty (creative freedom) and the pursuit of happiness (through digital riches) 2. World: Roger King obit, China, Canada, India, Japan, U.S. Plus: Famous Quotes 8. Book Review: Valenti’s Valiant Life is rated PG (for the purely gullible) 12. ATF review is a preview of AMAZIA to come 16. Life as a U.S. TV indie is not lonely 18. Company profile. It’s actually a U.K.-U.S. Power mix 20. Veteran French TV exec Laurence Kaufmann gives free advice to France’s public TV sector 22. Participation TV gives new meaning to disposable income. Let my people spend freely by voting with their telephones 24. German Screenings: A good way to get the world’s attention and make some money, too 26. The AFM created EFM to take over the international film market. Business is expected to warm up in Berlin 27. Sección en Español La Dia de los Independientes en los L.A. Screenings. Los Nuevos Desafíos de los Estudios de Hollywood. Problemas de Ratings. NATPE es Importante para los Latinos e Hispanos. 34. Latin America TV Distribution Directory 46. Conferences & Events News. It’s like the old “Let’s do lunch,” but better, since it’s not just a Calendar 48. It’s My 2¢. This time NATPE is getting a real blueprint to solve its blues
Roger King Dies at 63 Roger King, CEO of CBS Television Distribution and chairman of the King World television dynasty, passed away in early December. King, 63, suffered a stroke at his home in Boca Raton, Florida on Friday morning, December 7, and died on Saturday at Boca Raton Community Hospital. King was one of the most successful executives in the history of U.S. television, transforming his family business, King World, into a production and syndication empire. Under King’s tutelage, King World became the industry’s leading U.S. distributor of first-run syndicated programming, including such shows as The Oprah Winfrey Show, Jeopardy!and Dr. Phil . In addition, King was instrumental in launching the long-running syndicated news magazine Inside Edition. He is survived by his wife, Raemali, and his three daughters, Kellie, Anna Rose and Lucinda. China Bans U.S. Films Recently, China’s government has been blocking U.S. movies from its cinemas. Even though Chinese government officials have not announced a policy change, U.S. studios have stopped receiving approvals to show films in China. Insiders speculate that the move is most likely China’s way of protecting its domestic film industry, but they also cautioned that it might be a retaliatory measure against Washington’s increasingly forceful actions to push Beijing to do more to stop the massive counterfeiting of movies, music and books in China. In 2007, the Bush administration filed two complaints with the World Trade Organization — moves that were denounced by Chinese officials. However, according to other accounts, the country routinely restricts foreign movies during holidays — times when Roger King with Dr. Phil Weather Channel Forecasts its Sale A$5 billion sale is in the forecast for Landmark Communications, after putting its popular U.S. cable channel, The Weather Channel, on the market early this month. Prospective buyers will get a chance to bid on the channel (valued at $1.5 billion) –– along with its website, weather.com ($3.5 billion) –– due to the break-up of Landmark, a Norfolk, Virginia-based media company. The company’s holdings are expected to be split into three parts: TV (which includes distribution company Dominion Enterprises and two TV stations), print and the Weather Channel. The Batten family, Landmark’s primary owner, declined to comment on the reason behind the break-up. Frank Batten Jr., is chairman and CEO of the group that his father, Frank Sr., founded in 1954 and which today generates $1 billion in annual revenues. The Weather Channel’s 10-figure price tag is dictated by its ability to attract advertisers, and reflects the increasing value of cable assets. Its moment-tomoment coverage is a big draw to advertisers, as viewers have no incentive to record its programs and replay them later while skipping commercials. Heavytraffic weather.com, which grabs more than 34 million unique visitors a month, sweetens the deal with advertising potential of its own. The Weather Channel, which was founded in 1982, has also gained recognition, lately, for its emphasis on controversial environmental and climate issues. Companies like NBC, News Corp and Comcast Corp have already expressed interest. JPMorgan Chase will advise Landmark on the sale. JA N U A R Y 2 0 0 8 (Continued on Page 4)
students flock to movie theaters — in an effort to promote local films. Chinese officials have been quoted as saying they want domestic film companies to make up at least 50 percent of China’s boxoffice receipts. In the first half of 2007, revenue for foreign films was $100 million, with domestic films taking in just $40 million. Media analysts predict that this impromptu ban won’t really boost domestic box office since U.S. blockbusters bring in audiences, ultimately helping Chinese filmmakers. The U.S. studios’ organization and lobby, the Motion Picture Association of America, has vowed to combat the situation as best as they can. India Faces TV Regulations India’s Supreme Court ruled in favor of expanding the government’s regulatory power over TV early this month. The decision will allow the governmentestablished Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to monitor broadcasting and cable services, with special emphasis on fees charged for certain channels. The verdict came in spite of a petition by entertainment company Star India –– partly owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp –– which claimed the new stipulation doesn’t fall under TRAI’s jurisdiction. As India’s largest privately owned entertainment company, Star India stands to lose substantial revenue from the initiative. Star India’s senior advocate Fali Nariman asserted to the Court that the new powers granted to TRAI are illegal because they are not outlined in the original act that established TRAI. Founded in 1997, TRAI serves primarily to police service provider licensing and facilitate technological advancement in telecommunications. Although there was much outcry from private companies, led by Star India, the court ordered that TRAI regulate the broadcasting sector until the government passes a Broadcasting Act to specify otherwise. Canada Against Foreign Takeovers In the wake of a number of foreign takeovers of Canadian companies in the broadcasting industry and beyond, Canada has made it known that it plans to investigate foreign stateowned companies looking to take over Canadian firms, and it won’t condone acquisitions that turn companies into marionettes of offshore puppet masters. The Canadian government hopes to send a message that while Canada welcomes outside investment, it won’t accept acquisitions made for anything other than commercial reasons. In the future, government officials say they plan to examine prospective buyers to determine the extent to which foreign governments control them and whether Canadian firms will lose a commercial focus if overtaken by outsiders. Canada is not introducing any official rules as to how it will go about this, and assures that the vast majority of stateowned enterprises don’t raise any red flags. However, the government will examine to what extent bidders adhere to Canadian corporate governance standards. The new measure was triggered by Beijing’s desire for global acquisation. But officials have made it clear that they will pay equal attention to state-owned takeover attempts from Saudi Arabia, Iran, Russia and Venezuela. Internet To Serve U.S. Air Passengers Research In Motion Inc. has joined forces with JetBlue Airways Corp. and Yahoo! Inc. to deliver free inflight Internet services to certain flights. Beginning in early December, a JetBlue A320 plane, dubbed BetaBlue, was equipped with the ability for passengers to connect to Yahoo’s e-mail and Instant Messaging services using WiFi enabled laptops and RIM’s BlackBerries for e-mail and messaging. As of now, RIM’s BlackBerry 8820 and Blackberry Curve 8320 models are the only devices that the airplane will support. The service will be operated using technology from Florida-based Live TV, which installs satellite TV hardware on airlines, including JetBlue. The Wi-Fi will be turned on when the aircraft reaches 3,000 meters in altitude. The inaugural BetaBlue flight, JetBlue Flight 641, flew from New York’s Kennedy Airport bound for San Francisco in early December. The company plans to test BetaBlue’s service for a few months to monitor passenger response. If successful, it plans to include the service on all of its planes. Dubai-based Emirates and Singapore Airlines already equip their fleets with Internet-ready connections, but JetBlue will be the first in North America to provide the service. JA N U A R Y 2 0 0 8 NATPE 2008 A VIOLIN FOR RENAUD (DOCUMENTARY) 55’ SOULS ON THE RUN (TV MOVIE) 2x78’ THE CROSS AND THE MANDALA (DOCUMENTARY) 2 x 55’ GOTCHA (TV MOVIE) 90’ 1429 (Continued from Page 2) (Continued on Page 6)
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U.S. Extends TV’s Analog Transition The U.S. switch from analog to digital television got a little easier for some broadcast stations, when the regulatory agency, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), approved new rules this month. The new regulations were enacted to help ease the transition towards the February 17, 2009 deadline, at which time all broadcasting in the U.S. will be exclusively digital. Under the revised rules, broadcasters will be permitted to make a phased transition into digital (rather than forced to make an abrupt change at the deadline) and phase-out their analog service gradually. The FCC said the aim of the new regulations is to minimize disruptions and “dead air” come 2009. In addition, to lighten the financial burden of purchasing a digital television, the government will provide $40 coupons to those with analog sets. Congress created the deadline in 2005 in order to streamline TV into one transmission medium and to open up public airwaves for the use of firefighters and the police. Despite recent FCC attempts at smoothing the transition, many believe that the change to digital will be a rocky one. The IOC Doesn’t Get An IOU from Japan Tokyo officials received a warning from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), after making inappropriate comments to Brazilian Olympic chief Carlos Arthur Nuzman. Leaders of Tokyo, one of the seven hopefuls for the bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics, questioned the motives behind Rio de Janiero’s decision to compete for the games, in light of the fact that it will host the 2014 World Cup. The comments, issued by a Japanese diplomat, were ruled by the IOC to be in violation of the bidding rules, and Japan was given a slap on the wrist. The IOC is showing its stricter side in an attempt to root out the corruption that has marred the bidding process in years past. They are cracking down on bidder conduct since the controversy surrounding the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games, when a number of IOC officials were forced to resign for accepting bribes. The Tokyo leaders took the reprimand in stride, commenting that they did not consider their remarks socially unacceptable and that their Olympic bid will proceed according to plan. In effect, the Japanese Olympic leaders do not feel that they owe anything to the IOC. Has Sundance Sold Out? Sundance Film Festival has been under the microscope for its commercialization in recent years. London paper The Observerran an article in early January examining the vastly increased studio presence at the traditionally indie event and questioning whether the festival has “lost its soul.” The festival, which was founded in 1978 by a film graduate named Sterling Van Wagenen, has met with criticism for eschewing its earnest routes and becoming instead a playground for the stars. Sundance, held in Park City Utah, this year on Jan.17-27, began as a humble celebration of classic American films and a competition for movies made outside the Hollywood system. Robert Redford, the husband of Van Wagenen’s cousin, signed on early to help the struggling festival find its stride. Over the years Sundance provided unknown filmmakers with funding and helped them gain recognition. But as the festival gained momentum, discovering directors like Quentin Tarantino and Steven Soderbergh, Hollywood began seeping in. Today the festival’s 52,000 attendees make up a who’s who of A-list celebrities, party-hopping and snagging gift-bag give-aways (called swag). Although festival officials insist that the emphasis of Sundance is still on helping the little guy, The Observer and other critics can’t help but be skeptical about the commercial tenor set by the omnipresence of studios and sponsors. Famous Quotes “I think I’d like to leave.” Why? “I’d like to spend a little time being a wife, a mother and a grandmother.” And what will you do the rest of the day? The late Roger King to one of his assistants, as told by Inside Edition’s Deborah Norville at King’s eulogy. JA N U A R Y 2 0 0 8 (Continued from Page 4)
The Motion Picture Association of America’s (MPAA) film ratings system was bitterly opposed by the industry from its conception. Instituted in 1968, the system raised heated controversy concerning censorship and morality. For Jack Valenti, the man behind this initiative and the author of autobiographical This Time, This Place: My Life in War, the White House, and Hollywood (2007, Harmony Books, 468 pages, U.S., $25.95), MPAA battles were the only apparent conflicts in a life otherwise marked by unhindered, banal success. This Time, This Place was completed just a few months before Valenti’s death in April 2007. He did not live to see it published. Valenti, chairman and CEO of the MPAA, describes the ratings system as both his pet project and an albatross around his neck. But the ratings clash, which holds great dramatic potential, falls flat as told by Valenti. In fact, the entire memoir, defined in the preface as “a collection of memories of triumphs and tumult, tragedies and adventures,” seems to be lacking in three out of four of those theatrical modifiers. Triumph abounds, but tragedy, despite a lengthy portion devoted to the author’s service in World War II, is missing in action. Born in 1921 to lower middle class first generation Italian-Americans in Houston, Texas, Valenti’s beginnings were the stuff of American folklore. Though his family was poor, his childhood reads like a scene out of a Mark Twain novel: “We children seldom wore shoes when we played together, so the soles of our feet began to take on the attributes of leather. We walked to Davy Crockett Elementary School about seven blocks away.” A doting mother, a stern but kind father, and a chorus of boisterous relatives raised Valenti. The already povertystricken family was unaffected by the Depression, and though Valenti had to work from a young age, his early years are nevertheless described as bucolic. Valenti’s first job was taking tickets at a movie theater, a detail that nicely foreshadows his future career, and from there he went on to work at Humble Oil Company and attend night school at the University of Houston. When the U.S. entered World War II, Valenti was quick to drop out of school and enlist as a fighter pilot. He emerged miraculously unscathed from his many missions. But while he describes his combat experience as rife with “belly-spilling, throatgrabbing fear,” his incredibly optimistic tone paints the war as less a visceral experience than a minor annoyance. After obtaining a long sought-after MBA at Harvard, Valenti had successful careers in advertising, politics, and the film industry. The book’s strongest anecdote recalls November 22, 1963, the day of John F. Kennedy’s assassination. Valenti was present in Dallas and also witnessed the subsequent swearing in of President liberally spotted with her husband’s blood as well as fragments of his brain matter that had sprayed her when the assassin’s bullet struck, but she had refused to change into another garment.” Unfortunately, in the kind of metaphor that routinely undermines the better passages of the book, Valenti refers to the Dallas event as “The Longest Day,” a moniker usually reserved for the 1944 invasion of Normandy. Valenti was appointed as head of the Valenti had an agenda of his own. Prior to his appointment, the Association endorsed the Hayes Code of the 1930s, which called for the censorship of all films that, in their view, possessed traces of vulgarity, antiAmericanism or immorality. To his credit, Valenti wasted no time abolishing the flagrantly unconstitutional Code. However, critics saw his freshly minted movie ratings system as a lateral move, rather than a solution. Valenti glosses over the dispute, dismissing some of the major studios as “particularly edgy,” summarizing more than a year of negotiations in a single paragraph, and missing an opportunity to offer insight into the political machinations of Hollywood heavyweights. In 2003, towards the end of his 38-year tenure at the MPAA, Valenti again faced industry opposition. When the studios found that they were losing revenue to piracy, the MPAA determined that screener copies (copies of films sent to a variety of people prior to release, including members of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) were at the root of the problem and barred the practice. For major studios with reliable distribution, the proposal, known as the Screener Ban Injunction, posed few problems. But for indie production companies, who sent out screeners to a variety of distributors in the hopes of being picked up, the Screener Ban would be a fatal blow. For once Valenti positions himself and his MPAA colleagues as the bad guys, and admits that the Screener Ban was an imprudent step that in time “would haunt him.” The indie production companies fought the MPAA with chutzpah, in an industry battle that came out in the little guy’s favor. Aside from the screener incident, the better part of Valenti’s account of his time at the MPAA is spent gushing about high-profile friends. The chapter on Hollywood is comprised of sections, each devoted to his relationship with a mythically famous movie star. Marlon Brando and Katherine Hepburn merit their own sections, though he met them once and twice respectively, and Kirk Douglas, a close friend of Valenti’s, is omnipresent. Few and far between are the charming insider anecdotes that one would expect of a man so well acquainted with Hollywood’s power players. The LBJ-era politician seems alive and well in these tales, where tact and diplomacy win out over humor and intrigue. To expect a book about Hollywood not to name drop is to be naïve, but passages that go into baroque detail about the seating arrangements at parties read more like laundry lists than juicy gossip. “Mary Margaret sat between Cary Grant and Gene Kelly, I sat between Angie Dickinson and Dinah Shore. Also at the table were Fred Astaire, Kirk and Anne Douglas, Burt Lancaster, Julie Andrews, and Barbara Stanwyck.” Perhaps the moment of authorship, so late in Valenti’s illustrious life, provides explanation for the book’s shortcomings. Jack Valenti’s accomplishments in politics and Hollywood were vast and he had much for which to be grateful. This Time, This Place is a thank you letter to those who helped and inspired him, with all the hardship omitted. It is an old man’s recollection of life as he wanted to be remembered. ES V I D E O • A G E JA N U A R Y 2 0 0 8 8 B o o k R e v i e w Valenti’s Life Written As a PG Movie Lyndon Johnson on Air Force One. His gritty description of Jacqueline Kennedy is one of the book’s rare powerful moments, if lacking in originality: “I saw her emerge slowly from the rear of the plane, walking as if in a trance. Her pink blouse was MPAA in 1966, after serving for three years as a special assistant to President Johnson. The chairmanship of the MPAA was historically a lobbyist position, created to act out the desires of the studio heads, but it was clear from the beginning that
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Several issues confronted the recently concluded eighth edition of the Asia TV Forum (ATF). The first matter of concern was pure business, since exhibitors were unable to find the notoriously elusive program buyers from Japan and the small TV stations in China. The second issue was economical, since costs were perceived to be too high for such a small trade show. But the third (and most insidious) problem was strategic: what should be done about AMAZIA, a new TV trade show competing for the same audience as ATF, which has been scheduled next year in Hong Kong? With those concerns in mind, exhibitors said goodbye to the lush gardens of the Shangri-La hotel in Singapore at the end of the three-day ATF event in late November. The 2008 edition, scheduled for December 10-12, will be held at the Suntec Convention Centre, centrally located in the downtown area of Singapore, far from the residential and shopping district of the Shangri-La’s upper Orchard Road. Organizers explained that the decision to move to the Suntec Centre was dictated by the need for a larger space, more inhouse dining options and a wider selection of nearby hotels. They assured exhibitors that prices would stay competitive and that they would still offer suite packages similar to those currently offered by the Shangri-La. ATF organizers offered a special tour of the Suntec venue to interested exhibitors on the last day of the market. The move to the Suntec is indicative of adjustments that have become necessary since the announcement of competitor market AMAZIA, which will be organized by a very aggressive Reed Midem in Hong Kong, November 1720. AMAZIA officials were among the exhibitors in Singapore, actively pursuing contacts. A separate division of Reed organizes the ATF. VideoAge asked several distributors which market they would attend next year, and the unanimous consensus was that they weren’t sure, but that attending both was an impossibility. Most companies said they’ll wait and decide where to exhibit later on this year, once it becomes clear which buyers and distributors will participate at which market. RCTV’s Amina Galdo said she assumed that AMAZIA would take over, while Globo TV’s Claudine Bayma wasn’t sure, but said that Globo will only exhibit at one event. CABLEready’s Sabrina Toledo liked the idea of Hong Kong as a base to penetrate the Chinese territory since a slew of emerging channels not found at ATF or MIP will surely come to AMAZIA, and said she felt it would be unthinkable to attend both markets. RTSI’s Beatrice Grossmann, who was conducting her sales in the buyers-sellers lounge, hopes that the move to Hong Kong will mean a larger number of Japanese buyers in attendance, a group notoriously absent from Singapore. Like Grossmann, several other executives opted to do business in the lounge instead of renting suites. Among them was Screen Media Ventures’ Almira Malyshev, who found the lounge much busier than the corridors of the exhibition floors To reach operators in Asia, TV France International (TVFI) — the umbrella organization that groups dozens of French distributors together — organizes annual showcases in both Japan and Korea. TVFI’s presence in Singapore was once again strong this year, with an entire floor occupied by French companies. The traditional buyers luncheon was held at the Shangri-La’s Waterfall Terrace. In total, 4,700 participants from 50 countries and over 100 new companies were on hand at the ATF, with contingents coming from South Korea, Taiwan, China and Thailand. Speaking at the Opening Ceremony, which was one of the most well-attended events of the ATF, Dr. Lee Boon Young of Singapore’s Ministry of Information underlined the strategic importance of Singapore within the global media sector, which is seeing major growth in the Asia Pacific region. The Opening Night party was held at The Arena, a trendy club in the Clarke’s Quay area, a hub of Singapore nightlife. The celebration went well into the night and featured live music performances and dancing. One of the most prominent initiatives of the Forum was the creation of the first Center for Content Protection (CCP) in Asia, a clearinghouse of information regarding digital distribution and content protection, with the aim of establishing clear legal frameworks on the issues. In its first year, the CCP will offer its services online to all members. Furthermore, it will produce electronic materials and V I D E O • A G E JA N U A R Y 2 0 0 8 12 A s i a T V F o r u m R e v i e w Too Early to Call it Dead: ATF Faces AMAZIA’s Fire Globo TV International’s Karina Batista, Hugo Aloy, Claudine Bayma Screen Media Ventures’ Almira Malyshev Caracol’s Alexander Kochen and Pedro Davila Telefe’s Gonzalo Cilley and Michelle Wasserman RCTV’s Amina Galdo and Marc Paneque with Solimac’s Jaslinda Ahmad papers, and hold events and conferences. The cost for membership is U.S.$2,500. The announcement was made during the Digital Future Symposium, an anchor event of the ATF, which is part of the Asia Media Festival, taking place in Singapore from November 14 to December 4. The Media Development Authority of Singapore, one of the key players in the region, hosts the festival. When all was said and done, the ATF drew to a close with a record U.S.$62.7 million in business deals, surpassing last year’s total by 33 percent. Agreements included Singapore’s Character Farm and distributor Six-Six-Eight licensing Katharineto Japan’s Hi Corporation; and Korea’s Iconix selling Pororo the Little Penguinto networks in Italy, Spain, the Middle East and Mexico.
BY DOUGLAS FRIEDMAN In the 32 years since I started my career at KTLA, then an independent local TV station in Los Angeles, television has changed a great deal. But television stations haven’t. Sure, technology has advanced in ways we never dreamed of — the first promos I ever cut were on two-inch quad videotape reels the size of trashcan lids — but the basic way we operate is still the same. Good programming and promotion still draw big audiences. Solid news reporting still wins awards (and hopefully viewers). Capable sales staffs still bring in ad dollars, and the overnight ratings still serve as the daily report card. Today, our little TV powerhouse, KUSI in San Diego, is the closest station I know of to what KTLA was in Los Angeles from the late 1940s until the early 1980s…the local independent where viewers turn first when local breaking news happens. They turned to KTLA first because they knew KTLA would cover the story longer and better than anyone in that coverage area. They could stay with a story for days without having to worry about pre-empting network programming. When the wildfires broke out in San Diego this past October, KUSI Newswas able to stay on the air live without commercial interruption for 100 straight hours. It was exhilarating to be in a newsroom during that week. I had heard many stories from my coworkers about the station’s coverage of the 2003 wildfires — reporters facing walls of flames to get the tragedy on tape, anchors sitting at the news desk for 14 hours straight. But it wasn’t until I lived through it myself that I understood what drove these dedicated news professionals. It was a commitment to bring the news to our viewers; news that could save lives. They recognize that the work they do is important, and they care about the public they serve. Sure, there are challenges. In my area, Creative Services, I have a smaller staff than the network affiliates. Yet we turn out just as many promos (more in fact, since with eight hours a day of local news, we do nearly twice the number of topical spots as our nearest competitor). Artists fresh out of school create news graphics the quality of seasoned veterans, reflecting the same dedication as our news team. It all happens because this team cares about its work, and while that may sound cliché, it’s a quality that I hear over and over again about our station from the public. Working at a family-owned indie like ours in a mid-size market such as San Diego also allows us to try things that our competitors can’t. We can turn on a dime, experiment and try things that would be shot down before seeing the light of day in the hierarchy of the corporation-run affiliates. Whether it’s producing a news special on a few hours’ notice, or creating unique contests and promotions, decisions can be made quickly and the product created more efficiently. And it can be great fun too. The environment at a smaller station breeds a competitiveness in the vein of David vs. Goliath. Technically we may be using our slingshot against the arsenal of bigger network guns, but we enjoy the flexibility that allows us to taunt the big guys and pull off some pretty amazing success stories. Station size and affiliation aside, one other element of the television business hasn’t changed. The movement of the typical television executive, whether it’s in news, promotion, sales or other departments, is to move from small market to medium market to large market over the course of their 20s and 30s. Many of us who grew up in large markets sometimes also need to move in order to get that first management experience (I moved from Los Angeles to Philadelphia to grab my first director’s title). During my final year at Genesis/New World Distribution, in 1996, I oversaw $20 million in spending on advertising and promotion for 10 syndicated shows, launching Access Hollywood and continuing hit programs such as Real Stories of the Highway Patrol and Tales from the Crypt . But the satisfaction of helping one station, here in San Diego, to number one in an important time period is just as fulfilling. Big things can come in small packages. The opportunities for personal growth abound when working for an independent in a mid-size market. Unlike large market stations with very regimented structures that see very little inter-departmental movement, here we are encouraged to expand our knowledge, to try new things and learn as much about the entire broadcasting business as possible. We’re all part of the same team here. There’s no ‘us vs. them’ and everyone contributes ideas on how to make things work even more smoothly. Developing camaraderie with co-workers, whether department heads or interns, is easy. Whether a pat on the back comes via the company picnic or recognition in the company newsletter, employees are told they’re important, and are driven to contribute even more. In conclusion, TV has changed a great deal. But at local television stations like independent KUSI, where the business of running a TV station depends on dedicated employees who are driven to excellence, things haven’t changed at all. V I D E O • A G E JA N U A R Y 2 0 0 8 16 U . S . T V B r o a d c a s t Local Independents Still Count Douglas Friedman is director of Creative Services for KUSI Television, San Diego
BY BOB JENKINS Britain’s Power Corp. is a unique and dynamic company that has grown exponentially in the 12 years since Justin Bodle founded it. Now, after nine months getting his feet under the table, head of Worldwide Sales, Chris Philip, spoke to VideoAge about the company’s plans for a very exciting future. When Bodle founded London-based Power in 1995, it was the only company outside the U.S. actively developing barter, especially in Eastern Europe and Latin America. Now, it is the only European independent able to secure a commitment for a minimum run of 13 episodes for its new adaptation of Robinson Crusoe for U.S. TV network NBC, while simultaneously distributing two soaps, As the World Turns and Guiding Light , both currently airing on another U.S. TV network, CBS. The journey from a small single office selling other people’s content to a major supplier of primetime drama such as Flood, Ice , The Day of the Triffids and, of course, Robinson Crusoe , has been an exciting one, and, following the appointment of Philip as president of Worldwide Sales, the future looks every bit as exciting. Philip joined Power in April from NBC Universal, where he was vicepresident, Latin America, responsible for the distribution of NBC Universal’s TV and film library across all platforms in Latin American markets. At the time of his appointment, Bodle described Philip as “an entrepreneurial leader,” adding, “his appointment is central to Power’s commercial aspirations and current expansion strategy.” While at Universal, Philip teamed up with Ben Silverman, now co-chairman, NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios, to launch Reveille, a Los Angeles-based production and distribution company, which was founded by Silverman with backing from Universal. “Entrepreneurial” is the word that Silverman used to categorize both Philip and Power. “Power,” commented Silverman, “is a very entrepreneurial company and Chris, being both quick and nimble, fits perfectly into this mold. He is,” added Silverman, “honest, direct, extremely loyal, and cares about his friends, and that separates him from the pack because sales is all about relationships.” In the months since joining Power, Philip has overseen the doubling of the sales force and the opening of a new office in Miami, Florida, under the guidance of Pepe Echegaray (who joined the company from Carsey-Werner). A second office has been opened in Singapore under the stewardship of George Sakkalli, who joined Power recently from Granada International, where he had been responsible for sales to Asia. Mark Dineley has assumed responsibility for Digital Media, in addition to continuing his previous role overseeing Power’s advertiser-funded deals across all international territories. An announcement regarding the appointment of a new vice president of Home Entertainment is due shortly. It has, Philip acknowledged, “been a very busy start to my time at Power.” In addition to the deal with NBC for Robinson Crusoe , for which Power retained international rights, meaning, as Philip pointed out, that “in light of the writers’ strike, we will be one of very few companies at next year’s L.A. Screenings with a brand-new series,” the presence in their catalogue of two U.S. network soaps in addition to the event miniseries, feature films and TV movies makes Power, as Philip observed, “one of the most attractive independents in Europe.” “We are now looking,” revealed Philip, “at an annual production slate of between four and six ‘event’ miniseries, our two on-going series and around 10 TV movies. Additionally,” he continued, “we have entered into a first-look agreement with a major Miami-based producer, who opening to generate local production. And,” he went on to explain, “in the past we have used international pre-sales to fund our productions, and, while we will continue to use this model, we will now be able to integrate U.S. Network funding into the equation, which will give a huge boost to our funding ability, and the products that I have already mentioned will play a significant role as locomotives [titles that drive deals] for future sales.” Of which there should be many. In addition to the developments already listed, Power is, revealed Philip, “developing with Reveille, a new scripted comedy format which we acquired from Latin America, which will be produced for the U.S. market. Details,” he promised, “will be released shortly.” And Philip has been busy lining up an impressive slate of challenges for Dineley, the new vp, Digital, and his yet to be announced colleague heading up Home Entertainment. “We are,” said Philip, “working with independent producers to develop and distribute youth-focused programming for both mobile and the Internet,” adding, “I want to ensure we fully exploit all our rights across all platforms. As part of this ambition, I would expect that, over the coming few months, Power will announce a number of new, genre-specific platforms which it will either own, or in which it will, at the very least, be a major partner.” V I D E O • A G E JA N U A R Y 2 0 0 8 18 C o m p a n y P r o f i l e Power: A Mix of Bodle & Philip Set to Fuel Great Expansion will be delivering a number of Englishlanguage features aimed at the U.S. Hispanic market every year.” Although this deal had not been formally announced at press time, and consequently Philip was not able to name the producer concerned, he was prepared to comment: “The U.S. Hispanic market is a huge market, and one which, in terms of feature films, the Hollywood majors have left largely unaddressed, although they have had some success with series. This cross-over is a very complex market to address, and I believe that after more than a decade in this market, I understand these complexities and I know that the producer with whom we are working understands them perfectly.” “We are determined,” said Philip, “to use the local offices we have been Power thriller Mistaken A shot from Jekyll, a TV movie Power will debut at NATPE Chris Philip, head of Worldwide Sales at Power
BY LAURENCE KAUFMANN Television in France is going through an unusual number of upheavals these days, politically, economically and technologically: • A new government regulation (Television du Futur) regarding the modernization of broadcasting will soon be put in place. • New competitors and free digital channels are cutting away at audiences. • Cable, satellite and broadband TV outlets are continuing to multiply and grow, and soon, so will local TV channels. • The television advertising market is getting more complex with new forms of media consumption by consumers. • Broadcasters will turn to digital this year and are organizing future HD channels while positioning themselves in what is going to be a challenging new market: Personal Mobile Television. • The TV sector must also take into account the still developing VoD market and must make sure to use it as a complementary source of revenue. If the effects of the fast-rising Internet advertising market and globalization are to be considered, one easily understands that the TV sector in France is going through a unique, turbulent period. Particularly challenged is the public TV sector, generally called France Télevisions, which is made up of France 2, France 3, France 4, France 5, and RFO (the overseas French network). All of these have to compete not only with France’s historical heavyweight, national private broadcasters, but also with socalled “other televisions,” which indicate new technology. The birth of new digital channels, combined with the increasing number and growth of cable, satellite and broadband channels, has also had an effect on the audience of French broadcasters. In addition, the public television sector was poorly served in the assignment of free-to-air digital channels: nine new private networks emerged against only one new public channel: France 4. (Arte, France 5 and RFO were also given frequencies, as were two parliamentary channels, which share a frequency.) Moreover, new private digital channels, such as TF1 and M6, which are part of large conglomerates, have access to well-known programs. They also dominate in the field of acquired reality TV shows, which are attracting sought-after young viewers. Competition is therefore becoming fiercer in an environment that is not particularly favorable to the expansion of public television. The raison d’être of public television stations has historically been based on some key notions: pluralism, ethics, quality and difference. However, the media have evolved in a market economy where reference key words are “audience,” “marketing,” “brand” and “profit.” This implies substantial research, development, and program testing, leading to heavy financial investments. The question now is how France Télevisions, as a public service station, can reaffirm its identity, and become a modern, complementary choice for French viewers when it has to meet restrictive broadcasting requirements with limited resources? The president of France Télevisions, Patrick de Carolis, asked for an increase of the TV License Fee (at 116 euros per year, it is the lowest in Europe for the number of channels), which represents 60 percent of its revenues. He will not be able to count on it. In fact, the country’s president, Nicolas Sarkozy, would like to eliminate advertising on public TV and replace it with revenues generated by a levy on the commercial TV sector. I would argue that it would probably be much easier for France Télevisions if it did away with its limited advertising revenues — which account for 40 percent of its resources or $1 billion — and instead, received public donations, like PBS in the U.S. This year, France Télevisions’ budget will be increased by 3.5 percent, but that is not enough to cover the double broadcast in analog and digital in preparation for HD. Therefore, its president, de Carolis, foresees a reform of the public TV sector in 2008. His goal is to modernize and harmonize the budget, enabling him to save a few million euros per year. For this reason, France Télevisions will not replace retiring employees. Viewing state television as if it were public television, but managed like a private company without selling its soul to the commercial devil, is probably the main challenge facing France Télevisions today. It therefore could only reinvent itself by working on the content level. To a large extent, comparisons between commercial content and that of public broadcasters show that the programming is similar, apart from documentaries, news magazines and TV movies. However, finding new artistic talents and allowing innovative concepts to reach the airways, requires that programmers not be obsessed with ratings numbers. The astonishing success of the daily soap, Plus Belle La Vieon France 3, which went from six percent market share at its debut in 2004 to more than 20 percent in 2007 (with a peak of 23 percent) proves that time and risk-taking can be as valuable as money. France 3 had it in mind to create a local version of British soap Coronation Street and spent time and money researching the artistic and economic developments of soaps around the world. Despite disastrous debuts, France 3 management gave Plus a chance and engaged it to run 100 episodes, a risky decision considering the pressure it faced. The creative team went back to work on the series and the audience rose spectacularly. This gave way to other good news: merchandising, DVD sales and Internet revenues. In addition, France Télevisions documentaries and magazines channel, France 5, is being rewarded for its innovative, original programming. It became the fifth most watched national channel in the highly competitive digital market in October 2007, proving that quality does pay. This phenomenon is a reminder of Apostrophes , which ran on Antenne 2 (now France 2), in the ’80s. Some Americans could hardly believe that the TF1 competitor would carry a live program on writers and books in primetime! Who would have thought that Apostropheswould become one of the channel’s most popular programs, drawing substantial viewership numbers? It even became familiar to a good number of U.S. viewers of New York’s CUNY TV, which aired the show, that for five years was named “Best World TV Debate” by the American review Connoisseur . Recently, at the end of an episode of Inside the Actors Studio, James Lipton immortalized it, paying tribute to the “great Bernard Pivot in Apostrophes .” Laurence Kaufmann, a former executive of Antenne 2 (now France 2), is president of IDM, a Paris-based production and distribution company. V I D E O • A G E JA N U A R Y 2 0 0 8 20 T e l e v i s i o n i n F r a n c e Challenged Public Sector Has To Become More Challenging Daily soap Plus Belle La Vie Laurence Kaufmann
Power 34 Gresse Street London W1T 1QX Tel: +44 20 7323 0070 Fax: +44 20 7323 0060 Email: info@powcorp.com website: www.powcorp.com The power in television
BY LEVI SHAPIRO Meet rockstar wannabe Betsy Gallagher. The 42-year-old mother of two and school board member has another title: American Idol voter. “I let the kids send in one text… then I vote twice,” she said. Participation TV (P-TV), in the form of voting and sweepstakes, has now reached the mainstream. The challenge is to maintain the trust of people like Gallagher in a changing business environment. According to Nielsen, 180 million Americans send SMS text messages, an increase of 41 percent this year. And text voters are more like Gallagher than her 12-year-old son. Although teenagers may be pounding “OMG” and “TTYL” to one another on Instant Messenger, it is females aged 25-44 who are most likely to vote via text. “Idol changed everything,” said Jason George, chairman of Telescope, which handles all the back-end text voting for Idol . Added Alecia Bridgewater of AT&T, American Idol was a “turning point for getting people who fall outside the youth segment into text messaging.” In the U.K., where Participation TV has a longer history, the industry is embroiled in controversy. In November 2006, a child at the children’s show Blue Peterwas told to pose as a caller and won a prize. Similarly, U.K. breakfast broadcaster GMTV was fined £2 million for inconsistencies with its phone-in quizzes. This led to the June 2007 Ayre Report from U.K. regulator Ofcom, which recommended that broadcasters be held directly responsible, under threat of their broadcasting licenses, for all PTV compliance. As a result, text voting in the U.K. is now either free or nonpremium (i.e., standard text rates). Suhail Bhat, Policy Initiatives director at the London-based Mobile Entertainment Forum, a global industry association for companies putting content on mobile, is leading efforts to create a framework, both in the U.S. and U.K., for best practices. Said Bhat: “Interactive services have a great future. The framework will ensure that consumers can use their mobile phones to vote or enter competitions with complete confidence.” Advertisers will have to play a more significant role. U.S. carriers (such as AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile) are reluctant to jeopardize the $50 or so they extract each month per subscriber (Average Revenue Per User or ARPU is the measurement for how much each subscriber spends on all mobile services, both voice and data. In the U.S., mobile ARPU is around $55 per month) or to take unnecessary customer service calls, which typically cost $8.50 per interaction. Philippe Poutonnet, director of Marketing at Singlepoint (the company handling about 60 percent of premium texts for broadcasters), cites innovative advertisers such as L’Oreal, Pepsi and Ford as companies who recognize the value of interacting with their consumers at the bottom of a confirmation text. Done well, Participation TV augments the “stickiness” that connects a viewer to a show. Paul Martin, executive director of Participation TV at the Santa Monica, California-based Game Show Network (GSN), wants to expand quiz shows like GSN’s Play Mania to develop indigenous P-TV concepts. “It can’t feel bolted-on. Any form of P-TV has to enhance the program. It would be quite cynical to just focus on revenue,” he said. Kai Buhler, general manager of MindMatics (one of the aggregators ensuring all the votes are tallied and the back-end functions properly) agreed. “It is really important for producers to incorporate interactivity at the earliest stages of development”. However, there is still plenty of revenue in Participation TV. In the U.S., the December 5, 2007 return of Deal or No Deal’s Wednesday version achieved a response rate of over one million votes. That is almost 10 percent of viewers. Another show with an impressive response rate is cable TV network BET’s Take the Cake , which earned more Q3 U.S. PSMS (Participant SMS) revenue than any other show ( Deal or No Dealwas on hiatus). In a segment of $50 million revenue, Take the Caketook 10 percent of revenues and nearly twice as much as its closest competitor, Hell’s Kitchen. Martez Moore, general manager of BET Mobile, considers PSMS “ancillary to our model. There is a natural platform convergence for our [18-34, urban] demographic. Our programs include multiple mobile executions,” he said. While Betsy Gallagher in Atglen, Pennsylvania may send an occasional text for American Idol , a majority of BET’s 18-34-year-old viewers of 106 & Park(BET’s most popular music video show) watch television with their laptops open and cell phones on. These numbers are still miniscule compared to the 50 million “free” texts sent last year to American Idol . Telescope’s George believes the industry is overlooking long-term consumer value. “The major mistake has been to focus on revenue rather than Customer Relationship Management (CRM). TV is great at acquiring people, but we don’t do anything with that response. This is about building a behavioral-based relationship over time.” The challenge for all broadcasters is how to turn passive viewers into active customers. BET’s Moore also advocates the long-term role of CRM in Participation TV. “Once a deep body of data has been gathered it will help us understand lifetime viewer value. Today, we have a core group of roughly 20 percent hard-core users that drive a disproportionate amount of volume and traffic. Future efforts will address the other 80 percent.” Participation TV is at a crossroads. Producers, broadcasters, advertisers and network operators have an opportunity to increase engagement with their consumers. The challenge is to maintain a credible environment that appeals to people like Betsy Gallagher. V I D E O • A G E JA N U A R Y 2 0 0 8 22 P a r t i c i p a t i o n T V U.K. Scandal Raises the Phone Bar in the U.S. American Idol received 50 million “free” texts last year Jason George, chairman of Telescope
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