Televisa’s Mario Castro, Silvia Garcia, Hugo Treviño Caracol’s Berta Orozco 38 The new Egyptian government was formed. Turkey put restrictions on the Web. Arabs boycotted Turkish series. The Syrian civil war intensified. DISCOP Istanbul 2014 could not have taken place amid a worse period of regional social unrest. But, as the saying goes: “The show must go on,” and indeed it did, with stellar results. The Turkish government passed a law during DISCOP giving the government greater control over the judiciary in order to thwart a corruption scandal involving Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In addition, to further control the scandal, the government passed a new law that assaults free speech by tightening government control of the Internet. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain decided to recall their ambassadors from Qatar to protest Doha’s involvement in the domestic affairs in Egypt. The crisis in the Ukraine with the Russian invasion of Crimea, which is within firing range of Turkey, further contributed to the tension, which was visible in Istanbul, with key sites in the city guarded by armed police. Nonetheless, the fourth edition of DISCOP Istanbul’s three day-market closed its doors March 6 on a high note, registering nearly 1,100 participants and over 100 companies exhibiting. The ample space offered by the new venue at the International Convention and Exhibition Center (ICEC) allowed some exhibitors to flaunt their biggest stands ever. The largest stands were those of six Turkish companies, ITV, Kanal D, ATV, Calinos, TRT and Global Agency. Pavilions from France, China, the U.K., Malaysia, South Africa, Iraq and the Ukraine occupied the brighter wing of the exhibiting floor, an area where smaller Meeting Tables were also located. Among the newcomers exhibiting at the show was the Iraqi contingent, with six companies in their own pavilion; Japan’s NHK, which also hosted a cocktail; as well as Italy’s RAI Trade and Swiss Italian RSI. All participants interviewed by VideoAge approvedof thenew,more spacious ICEC location, which accommodated all distributors under one roof, as opposed to the fragmented hotel setting of previous years. At the market’s opening cocktail party, organizer Patrick Zuchowicki and Globus Fairs president Hakan Adiguzel announced a 50/50 partnership for future joint editions of DISCOP and the (now former) market competitor ITVF (to be held June 12-14) in Istanbul. Questioned about the joint operation, Zuchowicki explained that having a local partner allows for better synergies and faster growth. Reportedly, the ambitious goal of the Turkish TV industry is to reach $1 billion in content sales within the next five years, partly by leveraging TV trade shows held in Istanbul. With the newpartnership, DISCOPwill focus on content, while ITVFwill concentrate on hardware and technology. Zuchowicki hopes to add one more floor to the DISCOP exhibition space next year for licensing and merchandising companies, and to reserve a brand new, nearby hotel (currently under construction) for participants, making the ICEC easier to reach. The overall consensus among international distributors was that the trade show is a good venue to meet buyers from the MENA, exYugoslavia and Eastern Europe regions as long as costs remain low. Indeed, there is some concern that costs could increase as a consequence of the new partnership with ITVF. According to Turkish distributors, a decrease in participation from international distributors as a result of spiking costs would likely force them to become a general Turkish content screening event, in the style of the BBC Screenings. Latin American companies that have been attending DISCOP are now seeing rekindled interest in their telenovelas from the same buyers that come to the market primarily to purchase Turkish series, of which there is a limited number. DISCOP organizers tried to alleviate the “noshow” problemwithhostesses thatwalkedaround the floor carrying message boards to locate attendees that didn’t show up at appointments. As for political concerns and their impact on the Turkish TV industry, especially with the elections last month, Turkish companies didn’t seem too worried.KanalD’sKerimEmrahTurnacommented that overcoming potential problems due to the government’s instability “fuels creativity.” On the issue of the boycott of Turkish series in certain Arab territories, Ahmet Ziyalar of ITV Inter Medya — which built an impressive duplex stand at the entrance of the exhibition floor — explained that they are now selling directly to the Arabnetworks, bypassing central agents, and that the issue is only temporary. Ziyalar also pointed out that their key sales effort is in exporting to territories outside the MENA region. MG DISCOP, In The Midst of a MENA Mess, Does Business As Usual April 2014 Market Report The new venue, the ICEC ITV Inter Medya’s impressive stand Despite tensions in the Crimea region, the Ukrainian Pavilion was busy
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