May 2023 4 tent Budapest. Some people will go to both.” Indeed, VideoAge is one of many that will go to both events, but probing the real feelings of both the buyers and sellers of TV content with the goal of presenting a good picture of the situation is not an easy task. NATPE has two legacies left: NATPE Miami and NATPE Budapest. The Miami market in January 2023 was replaced by a successful Content Americas from C21, while Brunico has announced that it will host a NATPE Global in Miami in 2024. The major confrontation, therefore, surrounds Budapest, where both organizations are vying for supremacy. At the moment, Brunico has the upper hand since it reportedly pledged to credit former exhibitors who lost their money due to the cancellation of NATPE Miami 2022 and who will be exhibiting at its Budapest market. It is assumed that those companies that lost money at NATPE Miami 2022 but will not be in Budapest will be credited for NATPE Global 2024, now under Brunico. Since neither organization is apparently willing to concede, planning to combine/ merge the events, or even come up with a mutually beneficial plan, one suggestion that came out from VideoAge’s probing is for each to take a step back and split the events: C21 can keep Miami, and Brunico can take Budapest. The reasoning is straightforward: With Content Americas, C21 has already successfully replaced NATPE Miami, while Brunico still has to prove itself. Brunico could find a better hotel in Miami Beach that would be more attractive than the Hilton Downtown Miami (which Jenkinson said is being refurbished). Budapest is still virgin territory for both organizations, but since Brunico can play the aforementioned “credit card,” it has a better chance of succeeding. The fact that Content Budapest will be competing with Conecta Fiction, set for June 26-29 in Toledo, Spain, must also be taken into consideration. Looking at all options, possibilities, and opportunities, the final verdict is that the best solution would be to clearly divide the NATPE spoils, rather than rummage through them. Pictured above: David Jenkinson (left) and Russell Goldstein During last month’s MIPTV, managing director David Jenkinson of the U.K.’s C21 Media published an online editorial titled “The Fight for Budapest,” about his company’s competition with Canada’s Brunico Communications (owned by president and CEO Russell Goldstein) for the legacy left by the bankrupted NATPE for a TV market in Hungary. Jenkinson explained that, “When Brunico went ahead with its purchase of NATPE [assets] and moved its dates to the week before [C21 Media’s] Content Budapest, this made it less straightforward.” Now, NATPE Budapest is set for June 19-22, 2023 at the traditional InterContinental Hotel, while Content Budapest will take place June 27-29 at the Kempinski Hotel. But, added Jenkinson, “Content Budapest would be different, though. It would host a market but also have an extended focus on developing co-production business across Central and Eastern Europe. The future is about codevelopment, not about acquiring finished shows.” He went on: “Of course, none of us want confusion in the marketplace and both C21 and Brunico would prefer to go it alone with either event having no competition, but this is where we are. Some people will go to NATPE Budapest, some people will go to ConNATPE Budapest vs. Content Budapest World (Continued on Page 6) LA SCREENINGS 2023 Visítanos en el Century Plaza SUITE 1006 131 eps x 45´ Teleserie 104 eps x 45´ Teleserie 130 eps x 45´ Teleserie C M Y CM MY CY CMY K VIDEOAGE 18,5 x 23 cm .pdf 1 3/05/2023 13:56:23
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