Video Age International March-April 2009

In This Issue: E1 Profile Bright Spots Africa Calling MDA Explained THE BUSINESS JOURNAL OF FILM, BROADCASTING, BROADBAND, PRODUCTION, DISTRIBUTION MARCH/APRIL 2009 VOL. 29 NO. 2 $9.75 ® www.videoage.org Lately its presence is felt everywhere—here at MIP, at last year’s MIPCOM and at AFM 2008 — but it is nowhere to be seen. We can view their print advertising, but the ads have no contact info. They’re not listed in market guides. Their company’s acronym is a mystery. In Santa Monica, California, during the AFM, market organizers had to sift through a slew of registrant printouts to track down one of their representatives. The company is called AGICOA and it is appropriately based in Geneva, in the heart of bankingsecretive Switzerland. From what one can get off of its official website, AGICOA is a not-for-profit organization established in the early ’80s to track and distribute (minus 10 percent commission) royalties on retransmission The Mystery of AGICOA. Europe’s Best Open $ecret (Continued on Page 46) (Continued on Page 44) BY ERIN SOMERS According to the old proverb, laughter is the best medicine for all kinds of malaise, including a remedy for television woes. And, in today’s turbulent economic climate, this adage may prove to be truer than ever. Plus, with movie tickets in cities all over the globe hitting all time highs (roughly $20 each in London, $13 in New York, $10.50 in Paris), TV is beginning to look like the best bargain for audiences in need of a little escape. VideoAge spoke to a host of TV professionals who specialize in hilarity to find out how the recession has affected comedy programming, which types of shows are tickling funny bones around the world and whether the comedy drought that North America has experienced in the past decade was due to a drying up of creativity or the fact that then-rich people preferred to shed tears with drama. With popular series like 30 Rock, The Office, and My Name is Earl on its Laughter Is Back Big To Console Audiences L.A. Screenings ’09: Last But Not Least They’re Back U. S.TV network execs have finally gotten the need to try and do away with the pilot process out of their systems and for the 2009-2010 season, are humbly going back to the future. But not without trying some other forms of change, which, this year, are manifested in a late upfront schedule that will result in a later- (Continued on Page 32) (Continued on Page 52) BY DOMSERAFINI Pellicioli who? What about Spain’s Antena 3, France’s Marathon, Italy’s Magnolia and the U.K.’s Zodiak TV? That’s who! But let’s make the proper introduction. The 58-year old Lorenzo (Renzo) Pellicioli is CEO of the Novara, Italybased De Agostini Holdings, a 108year old privately held multi-billion dollar financial conglomerate. De Agostini Holdings controls some 40TV and film companies in 14 countries, including India and Russia, through its own subsidiary, the Milan, Italy-based De Agostini Communications, whose CEO is Paolo Ceretti. Today, De Agostini Pellicioli’s Overnight Success Was 25 Years In The Making Lorenzo Pellicioli, CEO, De Agostini Holdings and CEO, Zodiak Entertainment

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V I D E O A G E • N o. 2 • M a r c h / A p r i l 2 0 0 9 Cover stories: At Italy’s De Agostini Group, Lorenzo Pellicioli’s overnight success only took 25 years The mysterious AGICOA is Europe’s best open multimillion euro secret L.A. Screenings ’09 are runnin’ late, though at last (but not least) they’re back Laughter is back big time to console TV audiences and producers 6. World: Canada, Vatican City, U.S., U.K., South Africa, Plus Famous quotes. Letters 12. Book Review. The life of Roman Polanski is even stranger than his films 14. NATPE review. It’s all about gigs baby! Giganomics rules! Major market’s issue surgically avoided 18. Future tense. Assessing the Future can be less traumatic than explaining the past 20. MIP-TV Preview. Spring stimulus package offered to international broadcasters by altruistic distributors 24. The Berlin Story. AFM-inspired EFM proves that February is indeed a resilient month 26. What makes MDA tic in Singapore, tac in Cannes and make dough worldwide 28. Company Profile: E1 Entertainment. A mini-major emerges from Canada out of a pile of small companies with big hearts 34. Analog dollars vs. digital pennies: The TV industry quandary, a.k.a. the million-dollar question or the sudoku of broadcasting 36. Future Markets. International program distributors select Africa as top emerging territory 38. DISCOP Africa shows the bright side of the dark continent 40. Channel hopping. Television in Europe is more than zapping through its 5,068 channels 42. Seminars With Zest. He who smiles in a crisis has found someone to blame. Hear all about it Monday at 4 pm in Auditorium Z 54. Conferences and events news. It’s all about what, when, where and, most importantly, why 56. My2¢: U.S. broadcasters made a big mistake by not embracing the real football. For this, they too, deserve a bonus

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SABC Bill Passes Muster In view of the upcoming football World Cup to be held in South Africa, the country is getting more attention than usual — its television sector in particular — with the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) at the forefront. In the news recently was the appointment of Peter Kwele, who formerly served as SABC’s general manager for Strategic Marketing and Communications, as the broadcaster’s new head of its 2010 project unit. In this new role, Kwele will focus on SABC’s delivery of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Also in the news in late February was South Africa’s National Assembly, which approved a revised version of the Broadcasting Amendment Bill and returned it to President Kgalema Motlanthe for signature. The bill, which called for the sacking of the entire SABC board, had been returned to Parliament earlier this year after President Motlanthe expressed concerns about its constitutionality and refused to sign it. Despite the changes made, the legislation was still opposed by the Democratic Alliance (DA), the Inkatha Freedom Party, the Freedom Front Plus, the African Christian Democratic Party and the Independent Democrats. A DA spokesperson said that the bill had now been amended to make a proper enquiry mandatory before SABC board members could be summarily dismissed. Regardless, DA still opposed the bill because “the proposition that an entire board can be evicted is destructive of the security of tenure without which an independent board cannot protect the journalistic freedom of it editorial staff.” Ismail Vadi, chairman of the Communications Committee (which drafted the bill), defended the revised bill, noting that it was unreasonable to allow the firing of a single member of the board, but not the whole board if it became dysfunctional. PeaceArch To Find its Peace Canadian film and TV company PeaceArch Entertainment is still looking to find its new path. Even though its future has not yet been disclosed, speculation says that it is to be split up –– some assets kept and others either shut down or sold. It is hoped, however, that some entity of PeaceArch will continue to weather the storm and survive. In any case, PeaceArch North American Home Entertainment (a joint venture with ContentFilm) and the Canadian TV divisions are said to be doing well. U.K.’s ITV In Merger Mood The U.K.’s ITV network announced that in the past few months it has considered mergers with other companies, including U.K.’s Channel 4 and RTL’s U.K.-based Five. The confession came in response to the impending release of Lord Carter’s Digital Britain review, an annual government report on the performance of media companies, in which ITV’s figures are expected to be weak. Representatives from ITV said that they contemplated the mergers at the urgings of Digital Britain, which encouraged participating companies to brainstorm radical business ideas. Despite the announcement, ITV executives made it clear that the merger idea had not been discussed by the board, and would likely violate the Communications Act of 2003, which addresses competition and monopoly law. Nevertheless, the firm’s 2008 revenues are expected to be markedly down. ITV has said that for the time being, it plans to tackle its profit margin by cutting costs, beginning with a reduction of mid-level executives. Reps from Five have also made comments favoring a merger. MA R C H/ AP R I L 2 0 0 9 (Continued on Page 10)

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Raider Swoops In on Lionsgate In 2005, Icahn Affiliates investor Carl Icahn, better known as a corporate raider, used his stake in Time Warner to try and force changes at the media company, which owns Warner Brothers, among other media properties. Now, Icahn is turning his attention to Lionsgate, the Santa Monica, California and Vancouver, Canadabased independent film studio. Icahn has nearly doubled his holdings to 14.28 percent since last September, and has expressed interest in adding nominees to the company’s board. This is a typical Icahn move. At Yahoo, he secured board representation and tried to push the company into accepting a takeover bid from Microsoft because he felt the firm wasn’t maximizing shareholder value. Microsoft eventually withdrew its bid, but Icahn has remained on the Yahoo board. But the Lionsgate affair is different. He has been a shareholder in the company for four years and is reported to be on good terms with senior management, including Jon Feltheimer, chief executive, and Michael Burns, vice chairman. Icahn Affiliates has said that it was raising its stake because Lionsgate’s shares were “undervalued.” It also said its plans “may include expanding the size of the board… and/or removing individuals from the board.” This may prove to be tough for Icahn. Although Lionsgate is based in Santa Monica, the company is domiciled in Vancouver, Canada, meaning that at least half of its directors must be Canadian. Additionally, Lionsgate’s shares have halved over the last year due to recessionary fears. But Icahn’s interest in Lionsgate comes as the firm is gearing up for a new phase. It is nearing completion of a large investment in a new TV channel, having agreed to pay U.S.$225 million for the TV Guide Network, and is also launching Epix, a new premium cable channel, with MGM and Paramount Pictures. Israeli TV Show Miffs Vatican The Vatican has come out against what it’s calling a “blasphemous” satire of Christianity on an Israeli TV network. The late-night program, which aired in February, included suggestions that Mary was impregnated by a school friend at age 15 and that Jesus died young because he was fat. The Israeli foreign ministry has said the segment won’t broadcast again, and the show’s host, Lior Shlein, has apologized. In the show, Shlein denied a slew of Christianity’s basic tenets — including that Mary was a virgin and that Jesus walked on water — and said that he was doing so in order to teach a lesson to those Christians that deny the Holocaust. This remark was a reference to the Vatican’s recent decision to lift the excommunication of Richard Williamson, a British-born Argentinean bishop who denied that six million Jews were killed during World War II. According to the Vatican press office, its representative in Israel complained to the government about the program, which aired on private Channel 10. In the show, it was said that Jesus couldn’t have walked on water because “he was so fat he was ashamed to leave the house, let alone go to the Sea of Galilee with a bathing suit.” Letters We just received the latest edition of VideoAge and in an effort to be “green,” we’d like to request to no longer receive the hard copies of VideoAge. Pauline [Bohm] wants to assure you that she reads it online, therefore it’s not necessary to receive a hard copy. In respect to the editions that we advertise in, Pauline will pick up hard copies when she is at the markets. Thank you for your support in our effort to go green. Rafaela Reyna Marketing Coordinator NBC Universal, Universal City, CA Famous Quotes Folks will give up $12 [movie] tickets, cancel [online DVD rental service] Netflix, and cut cable to save their highspeed Internet connection. J. Hoberman, The Village Voice, February 4, 2009 MA R C H/ AP R I L 2 0 0 9 (Continued from Page 6)

If Roman Polanski’s life were a film, it would certainly be a drama, but it’s difficult to determine what kind of drama. Encompassing elements of Holocaust tragedy, macabre horror flick and engrossing courtroom battle, the life story of the Polish director has been, as a recent biography puts it, “even stranger than fiction.” Polanski: A Biographyby Christopher Sanford (2008, Palgrave Macmillan, 387 pages, U.S.$29.95) takes a look at the life and work of one of the world’s most tortured auteurs. Although the biography is unauthorized, Sanford, a British film and music reviewer who has also written biographies of Kurt Cobain, Eric Clapton, David Bowie and many others, brings a thoughtful and well-informed point of view to the career of a man who, at various points over the past 40 years, was a household name around the world. Polanski’s prowess as a director is undeniable. One only has to look at his filmography — Rosemary’s Baby, Chinatown and Oscar-winning The Pianist to name a few — to realize that he is one of Hollywood’s greatest talents. Unfortunately, he has spent his life in the spotlight more for his tabloidworthy personal life than for his achievements in film. However, as it is often impossible to divorce a man’s life from his work, it must be noted that in addition to landing him on the cover of the National Enquirer, Polanski’s encounters with massacre on a grand scale and his struggles with personal demons may have also done much to shape his unique, markedly dark perspective. Three events stand out as turning points in the director’s life: his experience during the German occupation of Poland, the brutal murder of his wife Sharon Tate by the Manson Family and the charges levied against him for the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl. Traces of these incidents have a way of popping up in Polanski’s movies, whether it be in the general mood of a piece, or scenes pulled directly from his memory, which Sanford refers to as “biographical detritus.” Polanksi was born Rajmund Roman Thierry Polañski on August 18, 1933 in Paris. His parents, Polish émigrés to France, made the dire misstep of moving their young family back to Krakow on the verge of Hitler’s ascendance. For the next 12 years, Polanski and his family watched Krakow deteriorate as they were shuffled from one ghetto slum to the next. As Sanford points out, Polanski would mine the visual and emotional landscape of those horrific years for material 63 years later in his Holocaust drama The Pianist. The director’s interest in film dates back to his childhood in the Jewish ghettos of Krakow, where as Sanford puts it, “he would often pass himself off as a German in order to buy a cheap ticket to the cinema.” That young Polanski would risk his life to go to the movies is indicative of the almost obsessive affinity he felt for the medium, even at a young age. In 1943, as 10-year-old Polanski looked on, his mother was rounded up by the SS and shipped off to Auschwitz V I D E O • A G E MA R C H/ AP R I L 2 0 0 9 12 B o o k R e v i e w Even Stranger Than His Films: The Life of Roman Polanski on the outskirts of Krakow. His father met the same fate nine days later. Remarkably, the Polanskis were able to save their son by sending him to board with a family of Catholics in a nearby village and changing his name several times (which is how he ended up with the altered name). Sanford theorizes throughout the book that Polanski’s traumatic upbringing greatly influenced the tone of his later movies. He points to the “sense of exile” cultivated in Polanski’s youth as well as a fixation on death and the view that human beings are essentially cruel as the fallout of his years spent living side by side with atrocity. The most interesting part of the book is the discussion of Sharon Tate’s murder in the summer of 1969. Shortly after Polanski had his first mainstream success with Rosemary’s Baby, a very pregnant Tate was killed in the couple’s secluded home in the Hollywood Hills. While Polanski was in London working on a film, four followers of Charles Manson, known as the Manson Family cult, broke into the house and killed everyone on the premises. The massacre was random, baffling and mind-blowingly gruesome, and the media circus that followed only made things worse for the stricken director. According to Sanford, it prompted reporters to “openly speculate about the Polanskis’ home life, where a wide knowledge of drugs, black magic and unorthodox sexual practices was thought to have somehow contributed to the tragedy.” Where Polanski’s work is concerned, the effect Tate’s murder had on her husband is all too apparent. Polanski himself has described Tate’s death as “his worst and most prolonged blow,” and his resulting anger and despair is apparent in even his most recent work. By 1978, Polanski had retreated from the lurid spotlight of the tabloid media and experienced success with films like ChinatownandThe Tenant. He had also finally begun to shake the erroneous reputation for being involved with Satanists and drug addicts that was one of the after-effects of the Tate massacre. Just when he was beginning to get back in the public’s good graces, the director, who had a life-long appetite for the company of young women, was involved in an ambiguous affair that led to arrest, accusations of rape and a subsequent trial. The circumstances, though a bit unclear to this day, revolved around Polanski’s conduct with a 13-year-old girl. Needless to say, the media went nuts, and put Polanski, who loathed the negative attention, back on the news and in the tabloids. On the eve of the trial, at which Polanski was to plead guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, he fled to France, where he remains. Since the episode, Polanski’s work has slowed down considerably, the notable exception being the aforementioned The Pianist and the media coverage, which he so reviled, has all but disappeared. However, in recent months Polanski has been back in the news, as a result of an HBO documentary. The doc, titled Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, premiered at Sundance in 2008, and hit living rooms later in the year. The focus of the film was the 1978 trial that led to the director’s self-exile. What has forced Polanski back into the spotlight is that the film presents new testimony from witnesses that could potentially clear the director’s name. Just when it seemed that Polanski had disappeared into obscurity, he is back at the center of a scandal. Polanski’s cross to bear, through all his personal misfortune, was the attention he got from the media. His life has been comprised of a string of events so outlandish, that they are at times difficult to believe. On the set of one of his early movies, Polanski was quoted as saying “the more fantastic you are, the more real you become.” As Sanford points out, “it was a quip that seemed to apply as much to Polanski himself as his work.” ES

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)

in the country, it’s no wonder that TV outlets that cater to the nation’s Hispanic demographic continue to expand each day. Such companies were well represented at NATPE. One such firm is Burbank, California-based Liberman Broadcasting Inc. (LBI), which has been growing along with its market. Lenard Liberman, evp of LBI, told VideoAge that his company now reaches about 40 percent of the Hispanic market, and aims to achieve 65 or 70 percent penetration by the end of this year. On the pay-TV side, Alterna’TV is one of many subscriptionbased networks cropping up. Though the company’s headquarters are in Mexico City, it is committed to bringing pan-Hispanic programming to its customers in the U.S. Leonardo Alvarado, the firm’s director, described his company’s goal thus: “The basis of the business is to reach vertical markets, like Mexicans living within the U.S.” In order to do so, he and his team have focused on special interest channels. Latin America may be the bestrepresented region at NATPE, but talk still turned often to Berlin and Africa — sites of two markets held in February. Just one week after the doors of the Mandalay Bay convention center swung shut on NATPE ’09, the 59th annual Berlin International Film Festival (also known as the Berlinale) kicked off. From February 5-15, Berlinale and its affiliate, the European Film Market (EFM), saw a slew of entertainment industry bigwigs looking for the next big movie. Ken Dubow, president of Worldwide Distribution for Santa Monica, California-based PorchLight, explained that PorchLight attends both NATPE and the Berlinale in order to focus on buyers from different regions. “At NATPE, we’re focused on U.S. and Latin V I D E O • A G E MA R C H/ AP R I L 2 0 0 9 16 N A T P E ( C o n t i n u e d ) E1 Entertainment’s Taste Buds with Lisa Wookey RAI Trade’s Paolo Noseda Lightworks’ David Nunez, David Dreilinger, Angelica Celaya, John Cuddihy, Armando Castro and director Agustin promotingGabriel: Amor Inmortal, which was shot in Miami, FL, Bogota, Colombia, and Venice and Rome, Italy. (Continued from Page 14) buyers,” he said. “We don’t see as many Europeans or Asians there anymore, so we focus our product on what’s available in the Western hemisphere.” He remarked that for his company, the EFM has surpassed NATPE in terms of relevance. “NATPE’s relevance has diminished with its inability to attract global buyers to Vegas,” he said. For Racquel Mesina, director of International Sales for Toronto’s Cinemavault, the two markets have very different focal points. “The focus of Berlin is towards the theatrical and home entertainment markets, in contrast to NATPE attendees who are primarily seeking television product.” At VideoAge’s annual NATPE breakfast, the topic du jour was the inaugural DISCOP Africa, which was held February 25-27 in Dakar, Senegal. The big news about Africa was that even before the very first event took place, a second one was already being planned. Tentatively titled DISCOP Africa Part Two, the market will be held September 16-18 at the Nairobi Hilton in Nairobi, which is located in Englishspeaking Kenya. Since the Dakar market sold out so quickly, organizers, including Paris-based Patrick Jucaud, decided that a second event, to be held later this year, would be the best thing for the emerging market. In total, NATPE featured 242 exhibitors, split between the convention floor and THEhotel. There were also some 300 buyers from 35 countries. And though numbers were unavailable, VideoAge estimated that some 3,000 people participated this year. According to Feldman, 7,500 people attended NATPE 2008. The market boasted 57 seminars — 10 of which were actually deemed worthwhile by VideoAge. That’s a scant 18 percent, but it’s much better than the previous year’s NATPE when there were 61 seminars and only nine, or 15 percent, were considered important. Of these significant seminars, three of the best attended were a keynote offered by Lionsgate CEO and co-chairman Jon Feltheimer, and Q & As with Anne Sweeney, co-chair of Disney Media Networks and president of the DisneyABC Television Group, and Ben Silverman, the rookie co-chairman of NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios. All three spoke about why, despite increasingly dire predictions, none believes that television is on its deathbed. Feltheimer called the entertainment industry “vibrant and ripe” for opportunity. “Everywhere you turn people are talking about how bad things are, but our industry has never had greater potential for growth,” he said. Sweeney echoed his thoughts, noting: “The TV biz has never stood still. It’s built to change every single hour every single year. This is a period of great revolution.” Finally, when Silverman took the stage, he said that the “DVR is an unbelievably awesome tool for the consumers” and that “digital distribution was an inevitability” that networks should learn how to adapt to if they hope to survive.

“A genuine expert can always foretell a thing that is 500 years away easier than he can a thing that’s only 500 seconds off.” –– Mark Twain As famed U.S. baseball legend and street-wise philosopher, Yogi Berra once remarked, “The future ain’t what it used to be.” Indeed, ZenithOptimedia, one of the world’s largest advertising services groups with 195 offices in 70 countries, predicted zero ad growth in 2009. Similarly, competing London-based GroupM, part of the giant WPP Advertising Group, predicted that global advertising would fall by 0.2 percent in 2009. What a difference from a few years back when no CEO would be happy with future growth of less than double-digit figures. On the other hand, New York Citybased private equity firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson set the 2007-2010 compound annual growth at a respectable 3.8 percent for U.S. broadcast television and 5.2 percent for entertainment media. Reading headlines like these can make you wish you had chosen an easier path in life — as a Middle East peace envoy, for example. But in our world, results count and right now it can be difficult to know where to look for them. Here are just a few suggestions we at VideoAge hope will prove useful and which might even elicit smiles on the Croisette. For one thing, the ZenithOptimedia report, while predicting that advertising in North America and Western Europe will decline by 5.7 percent and one percent respectively, also sees “Asia Pacific and Central and Eastern Europe growing, albeit at a slower rate than previously predicted, and growth remaining healthy in Latin America and the rest of the world.” The health of the Latin American market is underlined by predictions from GroupM, that the advertising market in Latin America is expected to see growth of 9.9 percent in 2008 (when final figures are in) and 8.1 percent in 2009 compared with 0.6 percent and -3.2 percent respectively for the U.S., -0.7 percent and -1.7 percent for Western Europe and a worldwide average growth in 2008 of 2.6 percent and -0.2 percent in 2009. Encouragingly, the ZenithOptimedia report also predicted that television advertising would hold steady in terms of the U.S. dollar, rising from $184,487 million in 2008 to $207,886 million by 2011. A modest gain for a three-year period perhaps, but still a gain, and a better performance than some doomsayers would have you expect. And the report sees television’s share of global advertising holding steady — 38 percent in 2008 and 38.5 percent in 2011 — which would represent the highest share the medium has ever achieved. ZenithOptimedia said that this would happen in part because “advertisers will continue to shift the expenditure from secondary media to television, being familiar with its power to build brands.” This is a point echoed by Marcel Fenez, partner, Global Entertainment and Media Practice at PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC), although with one important caveat. “ In terms of Internet advertising,” he asserted, “This recession will differ from the last one in one significant way. At the time of the last recession,” continued Fenez, “the Internet was very new, and new marginal outlets are the first and easiest to cut when times get tough. This time however, there are a number of markets with significant broadband penetration and an established Internet advertising business, and here the Internet will hold up and even outperform other media.” That in some areas this might be the case is underlined by a report from Stamford, Connecticut-based research house Gartner which said that “protail” video has grown 600 percent in the past year alone and goes on to predict that advertising around the form will “reach in excess of $1.5 billion by 2012.” By way of explanation, protail is defined by Gartner as, “that segment between professionally produced content and user-generated content,” and the report went on to urge that “experienced video producers should hire, or work with, savvy Web 2.0 marketers to take advantage of complex distribution opportunities.” ZenithOptimedia has also predicted Internet advertising growth in ’09 of 18 percent in the U.S. and 12 percent in Europe. And, as this Gartner report emphasized, since both television and the Internet are essentially audiovisual media, it should be possible for people with skills acquired in television to take advantage of these healthy growth rates. But some have their reservations about this. Greg Phillips, president of U.K.-based Fireworks International, acknowledged that, “one has to recognize that the Internet is a growth area, and that has certainly been true for us since we appointed Jonathan Ford as senior vice president, Digital Acquisitions and Sales, a year ago. But,” he went on, “if I am honest, what concerns me is the extent to which this is really new money. If this is being earned off the back of audiences that have simply migrated from elsewhere, then the audiovisual pot as a whole hasn’t gotten bigger, all that has happened is that it has changed its nature.” Other potential bright spots are companies with libraries. After all, the recession will not eliminate schedules, and the cheapest way to fill them is to purchase programming rather than making it yourself. And this is something Phillips felt bullish about. “I would expect broadcasters to trim budgets,” he predicted, and, as he pointed out, “the cheapest way to do that is to cut back on original production and buy a bit more.” While agreeing both that, “there is no denying that local production is more popular,” and that, “the cost differential has been narrowing of late,” Phillips still believed, “there will be finance departments all over the world asking budgetary questions that are likely to lead to a reduction in local production, and an increase in acquisitions.” PwC’s Fenez, who is based in Hong Kong, also stressed that “we always thought that 2009 would fall off from 2008, recession or no recession, because we have lost the impact of the Beijing Olympics, but 2010 has a number of advertising drivers for the region, including The China Expo in Shanghai, the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou V I D E O • A G E MA R C H/ AP R I L 2 0 0 8 18 F u t u r e T e n s e Assessing the Future Can Be Easier Than Explaining the Past PriceWaterhouseCoopers’ Marcel Fenez and the FIFA World Cup. So, while the first half of 2009 will be horrible, 2010 should be a lot better and we might even start to see the first signs of this towards the end of ’09.” But, the big question of this whole exercise remains the track record, or the accuracy, of those predictions which in the past, in the case of Veronis Suhler Stevenson, tended to be off by only a few decimal percentage points. So, while this is an undeniably tough period, and in reality is likely to remain so for most if not all of this year, and it is definitely too early to break out the champagne, maybe, just maybe, the time is not too far off when it will be okay to put it on ice in readiness. As American writer Dale Carnegie, once said: “Remember, today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.” BJ But, the big question of this whole exercise remains the track record, or the accuracy, of those predictions which in the past tended to be off by only a few decimal percentage points.

Any market that happens in the midst of a worldwide economic recession is bound to feel some pain, but organizers of the 46th annual MIP-TV market hope that the event will serve as a stimulus package (á lá Barack Obama) for both international content providers and TV outlets around the world. Reed MIDEM, organizers of the market, which will be held March 30 to April 3, 2009 in Cannes, France, are counting on the fact that MIP-TV can show the entertainment industry’s immunity to hardship with an event that doesn’t seem to be holding back on anything. VideoAge checked in with a who’s who of MIP-TV participants and insiders to find out the how, the what, the if and the but of the market: howthe economy will affect the market; what the market can do to further stimulate the business; if MIP-TV will continue to thrive; and the types of buts to be expected. Commented Jene Elzie, vp, International Sales and Strategic Planning for Los Angeles-based Comcast International Media Group: “With our offices as far away as Los Angeles, London and Hong Kong, it’s important that we are able to gather in one place to tend to our business. In today’s world of Blackberries, laptops and text messaging, the art of human interaction can sometimes get lost, so it helps to have an event like MIP to bring it back into focus.” Nevertheless — and here’s the first but — Elzie is a realist. As such, her company, which will be on hand must make intelligent decisions on programming as budgets across the board have been cut. [But] GRB sits in a good position with quality reality programming that delivers ratings for broadcasters.” In fact, Zuccarelli will be in Cannes with a wide range of non-fiction series, including Danny Dyer’s Deadliest Men. For Lynn Chadwick of Canada-based Nelvana Enterprises, the economic climate is a definite concern. “It’s a challenge for producers and broadcasters alike,” she said. “Budgets are restricted and that often means making tough choices on which markets you can attend.” She noted that because of this, would-be market attendees will have to carefully select which shows are the most productive for them. “And MIPCOM,” she noted, “having a stronger kids’ focus, may well be the more successful of the two for animation-focused companies [like us].” Therefore, she’s somewhat worried that MIP-TV will see reduced attendance. Regardless, she’s hopeful that since MIP-TV is slightly smaller in scope than October’s MIPCOM, she’ll get more time to spend with individual buyers to discuss their programming needs in more detail. Another Canadian rep who’s worried about attendance is Andrea Stokes, International Sales and Acquisitions manager for Toronto-based Canamedia. “The combination of the poor worldwide economy, reduced marketing budgets and heightened registration fees will deter some independents from attending,” she said. “This in turn limits the diversity of new programming and secondary broadcast markets to partner with.” Ann Austen from the Burbank, California offices of Toronto’s Cookie Jar said that although she’s certain that the Palais will be emptier than it’s been in years past, she’s convinced that the shared fiscal storm will force companies to work in tandem in order to find solutions. “In a weird way, we’re all in the same boat so we’ll have to work together,” she said. Austen, who will be in Cannes promoting a diverse slate consisting of a new animatedDoodlebops property and a teen movie of the week, Tales From Cryptville, noted that due to the hardships inherent in financing new productions in this market, she and her colleagues will be on the lookout for coproduction partners to help minimize monetary risks for everyone. Jon Helmrich of Los Angeles-based IBC also had some concerns about V I D E O • A G E MA R C H/ AP R I L 2 0 0 9 20 M I P - T V P r e v i e w Spring Stimulus Package For Int’l TV Companies overall numbers. “The big question is how attendance can be kept up with companies cutting back and cutting costs.” Helmrich, who plans to continue to push the VOOM and Rush channels, specifically in Japan and India, said that he’s lately picked up on a trend in which it seems as though many buyers are choosing to attend either MIP-TV or MIPCOM — but not both. “A lot of us will be going into the market with our fingers crossed,” he said. Unlike most of the executives VideoAge spoke with for this article, Claudia Sahab, director of Europe for Mexico-based Televisa, seemed almost unconcerned about the economy, noting that her company’s vast supply of content, including typical and teenfocused telenovelas as well as entertainment and reality formats, should give it a leg up at MIP. “With the economic crisis in full swing, Televisa can be a very good partner for nearly everyone because we have a lot of finished content,” she said. “If a telenovela works for a given channel, it’s the best thing that could ever happen to that channel since you have three months of continuous programming and can therefore forget about a timeslot for three whole months.” Sahab, who said that she and her colleagues, who will be focused on closing volume deals in all areas of Europe at the market, view the world’s financial meltdown as “an opportunity for us.” Brazil-based TV Globo’s Raphael Ann Austen of Cookie Jar FremantleMedia’s David Ellender (Continued on Page 22) GRB’s Marielle Zuccarelli promoting such shows as Style Network docu-series Running in Heels and Versus network’s Sports Soup, won’t be doing anything special such as a cocktail party this year. “We are being mindful of the economic climate like everyone else,” she said. “This year is just not the time for a big, splashy event in our view.” But she’s still hopeful that things will pick up for the industry. “It has been shown that the greatest creative booms in the history of entertainment have come during times of economic hardship,” she said. Like Elzie, Mathieu Bejot of TV France International (TVFI) said that he too believed that MIP-TV would still be large and in charge. “MIP and MIPCOM are simply the only two mainstream markets targeting the whole world,” he said. As usual, TVFI will be at the Palais des Festivals with an umbrella stand housing over 50 French member companies. When asked how the downturn in the economy would affect the market, he said: “People might be staying home and watching more TV during hard economic times, but it’s more important to know whether advertisers still have money to spend. On the other hand, in a financial pinch, acquisition is certain to be more attractive than original production. It’s hard to see at this stage to what extent sales will be affected by the current state of the economy.” Marielle Zuccarelli, svp of International Distribution for Sherman Oaks, Californiabased GRB Entertainment, which focuses on reality programming, said that despite concerns over cost this year, she still feels confident that GRB will flourish at the market. “I fully expect that MIP-TV will be a market of caution,” she said. “Broadcasters Distraction’s Michel Rodrigue

Correa Netto, head of International Sales, was also optimistic about the market, noting that the company plans to use MIP-TV to “reinforce our participation in Asia, highlighting Malaysia and Korea, as well as European regions such as Germany, Spain and Italy, Nordic regions and Scandinavia.” Globo also hopes to see more growth on the African continent, particularly in Mozambique. Karina Etchison of Miami, Florida’s Telemundo said that she too is looking forward to finalizing sales galore at MIP-TV. “[The market] might be a bit quieter this year, but it’ll give us an opportunity to be more creative in our approach with clients,” she said. “People still need content and novelas work across the board,” she added, mentioning that her biggest pushes of the market will be for the mistaken identity love story, Analia, and The Storm, a soap that she is now trying to bring to sub-Saharan Africa. For David Ellender, CEO of U.K.- based FremantleMedia Enterprises, the state of the economy doesn’t worry him. “It’s extremely likely that the economic climate will make buyers more selective,” he said. “But we’re confident that our existing hit brands and franchises — American Idol, Celebrity Apprentice, America’s Got Talent, Project Runway, The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency, international drama sensation Merlin, as well as series by Jamie Oliver, Martha Stewart and Emeril Lagasse — will carry us through.” Patrick Elmendorff, managing director of Munich’s Studio100 Media, concurred, noting that “buyers and sellers will be cautious,” but that the financial situation won’t slow his company down. “We are focusing on shows for preschoolers and character-driven stories with strong storylines for both girls and boys,” he said. Regardless of the many misgivings about his year’s MIP-TV, the market’s organizers have arranged for a wide range of seminars and conferences, including a keynote from Ynon Kreiz, CEO of Netherlands-based Endemol Group, who will deliver a speech detailing how content creators need to be bold and innovative in order to achieve growth. Additionally, Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of U.K. advertising and marketing communications giant WPP Group, will speak to the theme: “What screens will they watch — and what will be on them?” The market will also offer a “Focus on China,” and will feature a number of events and private receptions dedicated to the region. China’s State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) Vice Minister Tian Jin will lead a Chinese industry delegation at the market. In recent years, the Chinese government has significantly developed the TV drama, documentary and animation sectors. SARFT plans to use MIP to encourage international players to embark on more factual coproductions with Chinese organizations with a seminar entitled: “Cooperation Between China and Other Countries in Television Programs.” One TV executive happy to be at MIP for the Focus on China festivities is Michel Rodrigue of Montreal’s Distraction Formats. Rodrigue is hoping to use his time in Cannes wisely, meeting with potential partners from territories where he doesn’t normally spend a lot of time, such as Australia, South Africa, and of course, Asia. “China is always very interesting,” said Rodrigue. “We always want to know what they’re buying and why.” Rodrigue also stressed that he expects to see diminished attendance at MIP-TV. “In an economic crisis, you have to cut costs. And where do you cut costs? In traveling. In being at markets.” Preceding the market, on March 2829, will be MIP-TV’s annual MIPDOC, which will showcase some of the best documentary and factual programs that the world has to offer. Last year’s event boasted 776 participants from 60 countries, as well as 433 buyers. MIP-TV 2008 drew 13,360 participants, up from 13,311 in 2007. Some 4,551 companies from 111 countries took part in the market. Many expect that the economic crisis will lead to decreased numbers for this year’s edition. LHR V I D E O • A G E MA R C H/ AP R I L 2 0 0 9 22 M I P - T V ( C o n t i n u e d ) Comcast’s Jene Elzie (Continued from Page 20)

Once again the European Film Market (EFM) proved itself to be the key winter market for the movie industry, with or without the worldwide economic downturn. As part of the Berlinale festival, now in its 59th year, and which took place in Berlin, Germany, February 5-15, the EFM started out a bit low key but picked up the pace over the weekend. The weather was also good, except for a few snowflakes during the latter part of the event. Under the direction of industry veteran Beki Probst, the market has been thriving, especially after the Santa Monica, California-based American Film Market (AFM) unwisely switched its dates to the fall. As a matter of fact, it was Probst’s idea to rename the event EFM (it was previously called Film Fair), in order to equate itself with the U.S. film market at a time when the two trade shows were in direct competition. The name “Berlinale,” on the other hand, was inspired by an art show in Venice, Italy, called Biennale. For the past four years, the EFM has been headquartered in the MartinGropius-Bau (MGB) building, a museum a couple of blocks south of Potsdamer Platz, the popular center of the German capital. However, the impressive MGB building has proven that it is not large enough to accommodate the increasing number of exhibitors. This is the reason for a second official location, which is traditionally added to the main EFM venue. This year the spillover of exhibitors that could not find space in the MGB found a new home at the Marriott Hotel, just a block away from the Berlinale Palast (also called Filmpalast), Berlinale’s main screenings and ceremony site. Three floors of the Marriott were dedicated to EFM suites, with a lot of business activity spilling down to the ground floor lobby area and bar — the venue of choice for those who opted for an informal presence. Shuttles moved attendees quickly from the Marriott hotel to the MGB whenever they needed a lift. As usual though, it was the MartinGropius-Bau venue that continued to generate the heavy traffic, with three major territory-based umbrella organizations: the Italian, German and Canadian pavilions. Several exhibitors managed to expand their stands by taking advantage of the space vacated by distributors who opted not to exhibit this year, such as Los Angeles-based Lakeshore Entertainment, which opted to attend without a stand. One of the companies that expanded its presence was Canada’s CinemaVault, whose Ruby Rondina expressed great satisfaction for the more central, larger stand she and her colleagues occupied this year. Bavaria Film, also in full force at EFM, reported brisk biz with the sales, among others, of Krabat and Let The Right One Into Japan and double Golden Bear awards to drama Everyone Else. Even small companies, such as Culver City, California-based OddLot, managed to boast healthy sales for its movies. Most exhibitors renting offices at the Marriott were pleased with the hotel suite setting, among them New Yorkbased distributor Screen Media Ventures and Italy’s RAI Trade, whose CEO, Carlo Nardello, announced sales for features Ex, Il Papá di Giovanna and L’ultimo Pulcinella, to Spain and Latin America. A total of 407 companies from 55 countries exhibited. Of these, 315 were at the MGB and 92 were at the Marriott. More than 1,400 buyers from 59 countries were registered. Last year’s event saw 430 exhibitors, but had fewer buyers (1,073). The economic crisis obviously took its toll on business, especially as far as sales to the U.S. were concerned, and mid-budget projects with no major stars attached found increasing difficulties with raising financing. On the Festival front, the 59th Berlin International Film Festival came to a close with the Awards Ceremony held in the Berlinale Palast and attended by some 1,600 guests. The main prize, the Golden Bear, was awarded to Peruvian movie La Teta Asustada, directed by Claudia Llosa. Movies that get top prizes at the Berlinale tend to be favorites among movie critics, but they are often ignored by the trade press and, more importantly, by moviegoers at large. This trend has spilled over to such commercial awards as the Oscars, where the combined U.S. box office of the five nominated best movies was less than what The Dark Knight grossed on its own. In total, 383 films were shown in Berlin at 1,238 screenings held at different movie theaters throughout town, including two new venues, the Friedrichstadtpalast and the Cinema Palast in the Institut Français. A new challenge next year could be presented by the conflicting dates of the Rotterdam Film Fest (IFFR), which is scheduled January 27-February 7. These dates could overlap with Berlinale if the festival opens its doors during its traditional first week of February. V I D E O • A G E MA R C H/ AP R I L 2 0 0 9 24 T h e B e r l i n S t o r y AFM-Inspired EFM Proves February a Resilient Month Eagle Films’ Jamal Sannan, l., with Screen Media Ventures’ Almira Malyshev and Michael Dwyer Mondo TV’s Roberto Farina Imagination’s Pierre David CinemaVault’s Ruby Rondina Streets in Berlin brighten up for Berlinale

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