A r g e n t i n a R e p o r t Latin America Focus hand, Claxson’s digital platform ESDC, which handles all things related to broadband and the Internet, created Mixplay (www.mixplay.tv), a video-based entertainment website that targets Spanish-speaking users. Backed by Microsoft and Intel, Mixplay looks to satisfy the demands of users who wish to watch professionally produced content online. The site distributes and sells videos protected by the Digital Rights Management system. Mixplay is one of only a few online video stores approved by Microsoft for Windows Media Player. When launching Windows Vista, Microsoft included Mixplay in its Media Center, enabling users to navigate the portal by means of a remote control. Users benefit from all the operating system has to offer by being able to connect their PCs to TV sets. “This audiovisual content site is having great reception from users in Latin America,” said Patricia Tomasini, Marketing and Production manager at ESDC. “We’ve got more than 500,000 unique users [ed. note: EDSC wouldn’t clarify whether that was per month or total] who have access to a catalogue of more than 1,000 videos. We’re adding more clips, we’re setting new content alliances with other companies and increasing our monthly quota. We look forward to increasing our video distribution, both for free access and content sale through pay-per-view or Internet subscriptions,” she said. But Claxson representatives declined to divulge specifics about their financials, including the money they’re investing in programming, so many details remain up for discussion. MR Claxson’s new channel, Lifestyle, focuses on food, fashion, tourism and more. ESDC’s Patricia Tomasini The New Claxson (Continued from Page 48) V I D E O • A G E OC T O B E R 2 0 0 7 50 VideoAge was recently invited to visit the new São Paulo, Brazil offices of Rede Globo, the largest TV network in Brazil and Latin America, and the fourth largest in the world. This visit overlapped with VideoAge’s participation at the Forum Brasil TV conference (see related story on page 52) and coincided with the PR push to promote Globo’s restructured (and relocated from Rio) international TV department, as well as the company’s striking new building, erected next to the network’s news studio and inaugurated in May 2007 (dedicated to the media group’s late founding father, Roberto Marinho). At the São Paulo studios, Rede Globo produces two of its four national newscasts (Jornal Hoje and Jornal de Globo); all of its weather reports; its local news (three daily editions, including Antena Paulista); its magazine shows and documentaries; popular early-morning farmers’ news, Globo Rural; and special events’ coverage, such as Carnival, or Papal visits. In the larger Rio de Janeiro studios — named Projac and located in Jacarepagua, a community outside Rio — Globo produces its popular telenovelas and two national news programs: morning show Bom Dia Brasil and primetime newscast Jornal Nacional. There are 6,000 employees at this particular studio. Globo takes new pride in its international department, which has been revitalized and expanded under the leadership of Ricardo Scalamandré, who had all 30 of his staff members transferred from their smaller Rio offices in the Jardim Botanico area to the larger quarters on the seventh floor of the new São Paulo building. The Brazil-born Scalamandré (who also has Italian origins), was re-hired at Globo in 1985 — while traveling in Italy — by Globo’s current boss, Roberto Irineu Marinho, then a vice president in charge of Italian TV network TeleMontecarlo (now, under new owners, dubbed La7), which was owned at the time by Rede Globo. It is interesting to note that the international division of Rede Globo started in Rome, Italy in the early ’80s under the guidance of another Paulista of Italian origins, Roberto Filippelli. Scalamandré began his career at TV Globo in 1971. In 1983 he moved to competing television network SBT as an account executive for spot sales in his native São Paulo and, in 1985, he went back to TV Globo. In 1991 he left once again for an executive position at advertising agency BBD&O. He only remained there for a year before starting his own company, called Multmedia Planning. In 1998 Scalamandré returned (Continued on Page 52) Ricardo Scalamandré (right) gives an interview B r a z i l R e p o r t Scalamandré Showcases Globo’s Int’l Division
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