The very first television market of 2009 kicked off with an expectedly subdued NATPE in late January in Las Vegas, ushering in what many industry insiders are speculating will be a quieter than usual year in the entertainment biz. “Everyone here seems to be looking for a new gig,” commented one distributor. “We could even call it NATPE ‘giganomics.’” But although the Sin City event was calmer than in years past — what with it coming in the midst of a worldwide economic crisis and under the still looming threat of a Screen Actors Guild strike — that doesn’t mean it didn’t have its bright spots. The three-day NATPE event ended on January 29 and was held at both the Mandalay Bay Resort, for the booth-based exhibitors, and at the adjacent THEhotel, where suite-based distribution companies held court. One of the hot topics at NATPE was the fact that following the market’s 2010 event, its contract will expire with the Mandalay Bay, leaving many to speculate as to where the conference will move. “There are just too many compelling reasons to stay in Las Vegas, even if it’s not at the Mandalay Bay,” said NATPE president and CEO Rick Feldman, speaking to VideoAge just days after the market. Yet despite his desire to remain in Nevada, the decision is still very much up in the air, he said, noting that he expects a final decision to be made after MIP-TV. As such, VideoAge took an informal poll of NATPE attendees to see what new venues they were hoping for. This is keeping in mind that nowadays NATPE is not even a blip in Las Vegas. Indeed, the city’s official visitors’ bureau did not even list NATPE among its January 2009 conventions on its website (www.visitlasvegas.com). “My personal first choice — and the most convenient for Latin buyers — would be Miami, with Los Angeles a close second,” said Pedro Felix Leda of Argentina’s Ledafilms. Leda also stressed that he’d prefer a hotel suite environment to a convention floor booth option. Dorothy Crompton of Los Angelesbased Rive Gauche concurred, saying she’d like to see NATPE move to Miami “for a bigger focus on the participants from Latin America. Plus, this is more convenient for buyers traveling from Europe.” Other execs, including Leyla Formoso of Toronto-based Nelvana and Bruce Rabinowitz, a New York-based Sales executive for RAI Trade, would also like to see the market move to the more Latin-friendly Miami locale. But there were other suggestions. Beatrice Grossmann Conforti of Switzerland’s RTSI said she’d prefer Los Angeles, San Francisco or Miami, while Susan Bender of New York’s Bender Media Services was one of the few who would like to see the market remain in Las Vegas since, as she said, the locale “does generate a feeling of excitement.” It’s not just the venue that’s causing a split between attendees at the moment. Many execs were once again fed up with the divide between hotel suite and convention floor exhibition. NATPE prez Feldman spoke to that issue: “I know not everybody likes having both the suites and the floor, but it just may be the best combination. There are those who like the suites. And there are some who like being on the floor. Plus, if everyone is in suites, the elevator problem could get worse.” On this subject, however, there are compelling reports that next year NATPE will most likely be an all-suite event, even thoughVideoAge couldn’t get Feldman to unbutton on this topic. In order to make the stand concept continue to fly, Feldman needs the commitment of the big distribution companies who were on the floor and who, at press time, were unwilling to commit. In a piece written for VideoAge’s Daily at NATPE, in which Feldman responded to an editorial which stated that the market has become an international affair, he wrote: “I disagree that NATPE is exclusively an international market. It is true that domestic has been slow of late, but there are legislative, contractual, and technological changes on the horizon that could bring it back and we will be there to reflect those opportunities.” While Feldman doesn’t believe that the market is now solely an international event, others see it as mostly a Latin American market. And not one that’s all that easy to break into. Mathieu Bejot of TV France International (TVFI) opted to skip out on NATPE this year since “the Latin American buyers might in fact be at NATPE, but they’re not there to see Europeans.” Carol Sinclair of U.K.-based Eaton Films also opted out of NATPE, noting that the Lat Am region “is pretty impenetrable because they make a lot of their own programs and try to sell them amongst each other.” Although that may in fact be the case, the Latins are still big business in the U.S. since Hispanics now make up over 14 percent of the U.S. population. With such a large number of Spanish speakers V I D E O • A G E MA R C H/ AP R I L 2 0 0 9 14 The Good With Some Bad Made For a Not-Too-Bad TV Market N A T P E ’ s “ G i g a n o m i c s ” RTSI’s Beatrice Grossmann Conforti paid a visit toVideoAge’s stand Disney Media Networks Latin America’s Leonardo Aranguibel, Henri Ringel and Fernando Barbosa Algeria’s Gherbi Hacene of 3DTV Game Show at VideoAge’s NATPE breakfast meeting (Continued on Page 16)
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