V I D E O • A G E MA R C H/ AP R I L 2 0 1 2 26 ThisisatributetoRickFeldman, the departing president and CEO of NATPE. The incipit is to reassure our friend Rick that it’s going to be a good story, so he can relax. We don’t remember him before he joined NATPE; perhaps he was calm as a toad in the sun, but when kissed by NATPE’s Hollywood princes he turned into a nervous Nellie, worried about everything, including the weather. At the outset, it must be said that Feldman did save NATPE from financial ruin. He joined the nonprofit organization after disastrous management, and he’s credited as a good administrator, but not so much as a “visionary,” as VideoAge pointed out in a January 2009 article. Perhaps NATPE couldn’t afford any vision at the time. NATPE’s turn for the worse came with the 2002 stand-hotel suites controversy and the major U.S. studios pulling out of the market. The crisis, which nearly caused the end of the annual event, found the previous NATPE management not only unprepared, but in the midst of a spending spree. When Feldman arrived in 2003 he had to first focus on finances and, later, on the TV trade show itself. He scaled down a costly and useless sprawling office space, he scrapped the Hawaiian vacation for staff members and close friends after each NATPE event, he reduced the overpaid NATPE personnel, and cut down on the frills (like food in the press room). From day one when Feldman took the NATPE reins, he walked into a thankless job. No wonder he became very defensive at every slight suggestion or comment, which he inevitably viewed as criticism. He was placed in the middle of a demanding board and an even tougher industry that was constantly in the midst of one of the world’s recurrent economic or financial crises. It’s ironic that his last three-year contract wasn’t renewed once he could finally bask in praise and compliments for a job well done at NATPE 2012. Also welcome was the change in calendar dates for NATPE 2013, pushed back one week to January 28-30. On the other hand, as they say, television has to be appreciated as a “medium,” because it can never be rare or well done. One of the criticisms directed toward Rick was that he didn’t ask for advice, especially from his board, and that he didn’t listen to that same unsolicited advice. In our experience, though, he tended to listen to our unsolicited advice, even if it was only implemented after a three-year assimilation process. Take the Tartikoff Awards, for example. Only this year, after at least four years of VideoAge commenting that they no longer reflected NATPE’s 98 percent international constituency, did he select international honorees. The Awards also caused a rift between Feldman and some NATPE board members, especially in 2007 when Feldman was adamant about officially saluting Dick Robertson, (who was not fond of NATPE), as a TV distribution leader. In 2002, during a NATPE press conference, the then-president ofWarner Bros. Domestic TV Distribution said, “The need for NATPE is over,” adding, “I can’t imagine why anyone would go to NATPE in New Orleans in 2003.” Then, what about the conferences? For years VideoAge reported that they were interfering with the business of buying and selling: NATPE’s main purpose. At one point, when we began previewing what we expected to be the most useful ones, Feldman so vehemently objected to the point that in future issues we scrapped the feature altogether. Finally, this year, during the endof-market press conference, he startled most reporters by stating that NATPE is more of amarketplace than a conference. “Anyone can organize a conference,” he said, “but not all can create a market.” This is despite the fact that, at the event there were a record number of 82 seminars for a total of 44 hours in a three-day, 30-hour working period. Before he took over in 2003, NATPE featured just 20 seminars. However, at NATPE 2011, Rick did credit VideoAge with instigating the fortuitous move to Miami (with one of his PR staff adding that since NATPE was finally where we wanted it, VideoAge should stop whining). It only took four years of editorials, even though we first suggested a Miami move in a January 2002 article. But it only took him one day to acknowledge that our early warning about the elevator problems was correct. Now, in the midst of another, small but significant issue raised by VideoAge, we find ourselves deprived by another challenging, untimely outcome. At last year’s DISCOP market in Hungary (now NATPE Budapest), we asked Feldman why NATPE’s slogan is “Content First” and not “Content Sales First” since it is a TV market. His answer was that the tag was created without consulting VideoAge. However, years ago, NATPE did consult with VideoAge. It asked us to bid for their official Daily, but we lost out, supposedly to a lower bidder, but possibly because Rick did not want to have an overly independent publication in his midst. Earlier, NATPE considered buying into a publication in order to have some yearly visibility, but discarded the idea. Unfortunately, at DISCOP the challenge for NATPE was not just its slogan, but the market itself. The previous owner, the Paris-based Basic Lead, is said to have been wise in unloading its remaining portion of the market to NATPE, its partner, since the trade show has reached its maturity and faces an uphill future. The territories DISCOP covers — Central and Eastern Europe — are themselves maturing and are becoming rich enough to afford markets such as the L.A. Screenings and MIPCOM. As a consequence, Latin distributors, one of DISCOP’s largest constituencies, are finding the market less appealing and thus are reducing their participation. On top of that there are problems such as Hungary’s inflationary economics due to the euro, the country’s political upheaval, disputes with other European Union members and the Sofitel Hotel, DISCOP’s headquarters, looking to increase rates. DISCOP will surely be a challenge for NATPE’s new CEO. Then there is the quagmire of growth. With the current Miami structure and venue, NATPE can only grow to a maximum of 7,000 cumulative participants, from the current record of 5,000. At the same time, it cannot move to the Miami Beach Convention Center due to the studios’ opposition to the booth arrangement. And not only does NATPE — which will turn 50 next year — have to face competition fromexistingprogramming markets, but it also has to fend off entrenchment from big TV trade shows in the U.S. such as NAB and CES, both looking to enter the content business. Because today’s challenges are different, the NATPE board may be of the opinion that the new CEO has to be different: Someone with a clear vision of how to face the multiple challenges; someone well known and respected by the international TV industry. On the other hand, perhaps the market has changed so much that not even two Rick Feldmans could deal with all of NATPE’s new challenges, and therefore a trade show specialist a lá Paul Zilk of MIP and MIPCOM’s fame (and not a TV executive), would be a more suitable CEO. NATPE Ends Rick Feldman Era At The Dawn Of Its 50th M i a m i H e a t A pensive Rick Feldman, who will remain with NATPE as a consultant A joyous Rick Feldman “ It’s ironic that his last three-year contract wasn’t renewed once he could finally bask in praise and compliments for a job well done at NATPE 2012.
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