SE P T E M B E R/ OC T O B E R 2 0 1 2 V I D E O • A G E 34 For sure, NATPE is not napping. The January 2013 TV market will be hitting the Miami Beach coast like a storm, gaining strength in its path. A headline in the January 2012 Issue of VideoAge stated that “U.S. Studios See NATPE As a ‘Definite Maybe.’” Well, in 2013, the U.S. studios will reportedly see NATPE as a “definite yes,” with all of them participating with increased vigor, along with all minimajors such as Starz, FremantleMedia, Entertainment One, Lionsgate and A+E Networks. The Latins, who will control the lion’s share of the market, will not be conceding their supremacy to anyone, and are planning big things. This time, NATPE — which will run from January 28-30 — will share the spotlight with the annual Miami International Boat Show, beginning on February 14, exactly 15 days after the closing of the TV trade show. However, given the size of the boat event (over 100,000 participants), its preparations will impact the availability of some hotel rooms near the canals and definitely the docks across the street from the Fontainebleau Resort, NATPE’s market site and conference venue. For these reasons, boats anchored at the docks of the Marina facing the Resort will not house TV exhibitors. But the verdict doesn’t seem to be definitive yet, with one studio declaring that a final decision has not been made, and another confirming that the docks will be out of the picture since the boat show needs extensive time to prepare. This past January, Sony Pictures and eOne were among those companies exhibiting in yachts at the docks. In addition to the traditional Fontainebleau and the adjacent Eden Roc, NATPE organizers have secured extra rooms in two more hotels: The Palms, 12 blocks south of the exhibition halls, and Grand Beach, a bit north. For the ’13 event, NATPEwas pushed back one week, which doesn’t help the domestic (U.S.) syndication business, but is a godsend for international distributors who have midseason shows. In effect, the closer the market is to the month of February, the more NATPE Miami could resemble the now-discontinued, but once highly successful Monte Carlo TV Market in terms of its warm temperatures and new content availability. Another change is the addition of NATPE Budapest-style “Market Tables,” to the four types of exhibition space: Market Floor (booths), Suites, Meeting Spaces and the poolside Cabanas. The scaled down “Tables” are priced at $2,700 each and will be located in the Shimmer and Flash rooms on the fourth floor of the North Tower past the market floor. In comparison, a booth package will go for $6,000, the cabanas from $3,100 to $5,000, the meeting spaces from $13,000 to $35,000 and a one-bedroom suite from $13,000 to $15,000 (junior suites and three-bedroom suites are also available). The past success of NATPE in Miami can also be measured through numerous recreational events, with some even starting the Saturday before opening day on Monday, and ending on Thursday, the day after closing time. This year, NATPE celebrations will continue past the event for four more days, with another Latin-based TV event, the fourth annual Florida Media Market (FMM) taking place January 30-February 3 at the Shelborne Hotel, 26 blocks south of the Fontainebleau. The FMM, organized by Miami-based Maritza Guimet, teamed with U.S. consultant firm LGMA (which created “Format Days” in China, held in Beijing in 2010 and Sichuan in 2011), to offer a Format Day, in addition to the regular FMM features like the “Ready for Distribution” competition. This time its Gala, featuring top LatinAmericanHosts and Presenters, will bestow a Lifetime Achievement Award upon retired TV distribution executive Armando Nuñez Sr. Naturally, the big hoopla at this year’s NATPE will be the organization’s anniversary celebration: the so-called “Big Five-O.” However, even though the National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) was formed in May 1963, its first conference has held in 1964 in New York and its TV market began in March 1979 in Las Vegas with a suite-based model. It has been reported that the rapid success of the NATPE market was due to a combination of three factors: The Prime-Time Access Rule and the Financial Interest and Syndication rules, both imposed in 1970 by the U.S. communications authority the FCC, which spurred the creation of popular, first-run syndicated series. Plus, a few years later, the Washington, D.C.-based National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention in Las Vegas — which had served as the main venue for the syndication trade —moved content suppliers far from the main convention floor, prompting many of them to abandon NAB for the more syndicator-friendly NATPE convention. NAB also lost out to the Washington, D.C.-based Association of Independent Television Stations (INTV), which began in 1972 but has been disbanded. Five years after it was established, with a strong base of TV member stations (which by 1988 reached 321), INTV started its own TV program trade show. But with the changes in the syndication business, the INTV convention folded into NATPE in 1990. Similarly, NATPE’s rapid downfall came about because of two concurrent factors, and like its success, one was government-spurred, the other manmade. First was the removal of most U.S. broadcasting ownership regulations in the Telecommunications Act of 1996, when group owners bought upmore and more local TV stations, consolidating program buying into a single corporate office. This made NATPE trade shows for a U.S. market-by-market program clearance (both first-run and offnetwork) unnecessary. Second was a poorly run NATPE organization with a management that wasted a lot of its financial resources and was unprepared to face a difficult future, which peaked in 2002, when the NATPE board appointed Rick Feldman as CEO. After 18 years of growth, followed by six years of difficulties and a sevenyear crisis, NATPE is now entering its fourth year of renewed vigor, and for that reason it has much to celebrate. Whether celebrating the 50th anniversary of its association or the 35th annual edition of its TV trade show, Rod Perth, the newly appointed CEO who replaced Feldman, will certainly be counting his blessings. Yet, in terms of historical recollections, 1963 wasn’t a particularly good year. It was when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, French President Charles de Gaulle vetoed the U.K.’s entry into the EEC (now the E.U.) and marked the longest newspaper strike in New York City (114 days). The start of the market fared a bit better, at least for the TV business, since 1979 was when Philips demonstrated the CD, Sony introduced its Walkman (precursor to the iPod), ESPN was born and the Pinwheel Network changed its name to Nickelodeon. Market Gaining Strength on Eve of Its “Big Five-O” Bash N A T P E P r e v i e w eOne’s stars on their boat One of NATPE’s most successful conferences Distributors docking at the docks in 2012
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