RaiTrade’s Sesto Cifola and vp Alba Calia OC T O B E R 2 0 0 8 (Continued on Page 8) (Continued from Page 4) published by Los Angeles entertainment industry blog Deadline Hollywood Dailyin late June, encouraged producers to “carefully scrutinize” whether it is “necessary or appropriate” to license foreign formats. FRAPA, which represents about 100 companies from around the globe, did not directly approach ABC with a formal reprimand. However, the organization issued a press release on August 14 as a slap on the wrist. “In FRAPA’s view,” said agency chairman Ute Biernat in a statement, “Davine’s memo can be seen to be encouraging ABC producers and showrunners not to license formats honestly.” ABC responded to FRAPA’s charges, insisting that the memo had been misconstrued. “ABC Studios has been and continues to be committed to the protection of intellectual property and rights holders,” a rep said. U.S. Cable Co. Wins TV Rights In August, the U.S. Court of Appeals made it possible for cable operators to offer customers the option of recording shows to watch whenever they want — without buying a DVR. The judging panel overturned a district court decision that prohibited Long Island, New York-based Cablevision from debuting what it’s calling a remotestorage DVR (RS-DVR). The panel agreed with Cablevision execs, who maintained that the system, which would store TV programs on a central server instead of the hard drive inside the set-top box, is the same thing as a DVR, and wouldn’t infringe on the copyrights of program producers. The judgment shot down an argument by Time Warner’s Turner Broadcasting, which said that Cablevision would reproduce their copyrighted works because it buffers shows before they are transferred to the server where they are stored. The court disagreed, finding that consumers, not Cablevision, would control the recording process. If this ruling holds up, it could have a huge impact on the U.S. TV industry since cable operators could offer DVRlike services, including rewind and fastforward at a fraction of the cost necessary to buy a conventional DVR with a hard drive. TV Between Biz, Rome Politics Officially, the six days of the Roma Fiction Fest began July 7, but it was the RaiTrade reception on July 9 — which introduced pitching sessions — that in effect kicked off the event. The festival was touted as “The market of ideas for TV dramas,” and was held at the Cinema Adriano’s facilities, with free screenings for the public. With a welcoming cocktail at the Visconti Palace Hotel, RaiTrade, RAI’s Sales division, and the official sponsor of the event, opened the second annual Rome festival for television drama, which, in the words of Italian daily Il Messaggero, was “a creation of Piero Marrazzo, the leftist governor of the Lazio Region.” Indeed, the Rome TV Fest is still a “product” that is more political than industrial. Costing 7.5 Million euro, it was divided between the Lazio Region (four million euro) and Rome County, which are both run by center-left political parties. The municipality of Rome, now with a center-right administration, participated with a symbolic contribution. Even though this year’s “Fest” only became a reality at the last minute, there has already been talk of next year’s edition, with the idea of expanding it with a mini-fair called “Business Street” in the hopes of recreating what Italy lost with the closing of Milan trade show MIFED. The concept of “Business Street” is borrowed from yet another Roman festival with political undertones, Roma Film Fest, which will be held October 22. The connection between the Fiction Fest and the Film Fest of Rome –– which aims to compete with the Venice Film Festival — is Francesco Gesualdi, secretary general of the Lazio Region and former manager of Cinecittá Holding, Italy’s largest film and TV production facility in Rome. Gesualdi also represents the region in
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