12 The official position of RX, the organizer of MIP Cancun — along with other content trade shows, including MIP London and MIPCOM Cannes — is that “MIP Cancun returns for its 12th edition this November at the Moon Palace Cancun. Plans for 2026 will be confirmed and outlined in due course. Suggestions of any changes at this stage are purely speculative.” Nonetheless, talk of the possibility of moving MIP Cancun to April (from its current November dates) is persistent, fueled by the assumption that many LatAm buyers are skipping MIPCOM in October since MIP Cancun is just a few weeks later. With the current arrangement, MIP Cancun seems to be cannibalizing MIPCOM, and since the month of April became void of any major TV trade shows after MIPTV was cancelled and MIP London was set in February, April could serve RX perfectly for its MIP Cancun. If MIP Cancun would indeed move to April, what effect would it have on the independent portion of the L.A. Screenings, held a few weeks later in May in Los Angeles, and which is mainly patronized by LatAm buyers? In order to bring some order to the disjointed talks, VideoAge reached out to some prominent LatAm TV executives directly affected by these potential changes to get some perspective: “MIP Cancun is a very different market compared to the L.A. Screenings,” said Miami, Florida-based Doris Vogelmann, VP of Programming and Operations at V-ME Media. She added: “While the L.A. Screenings offer opportunities to meet with distributors, their main focus is on the screening events hosted by the major studios. In contrast, MIP Cancun is a larger and more diverse market, offering broader opportunities for meetings with Latin American producers and distributors, as well as companies from around the world. They are very different markets that satisfy very specific needs and they do not really cancel each other.” A similar opinion is held by a key LatAm buyer from North America who asked to remain anonymous. He predicted that MIP Cancun in April would not affect the L.A. Screenings because the studios are the main attraction at the latter event. Pedro Lascurain of Mexico’s TV Azteca was even more forceful: “If MIP Cancun changes to April, no matter where in Mexico, we will not be interested in attending because the L.A. Screenings are the most important market we attend. I believe that MIP Cancun will appeal to Central and South American interests because some of them do not attend the L.A. Screenings.” Then there is the discordant opinion of a major content buyer from South America, who also requested anonymity: “With the actual industry restrictions, it would be hard both for buyers and distributors to attend two markets within two months. According to the specific nature of business, executives will be able to choose which one to attend, but at the end, I do not see room for both — not only from the acquisition side’s perspective but on the distribution side as well. The investment is huge for them. Then, if MIP Cancun continues to pay for the acquisition executives’ trips, I think they will have more chances to survive than the L.A. Screenings.” Finally, from the point of view of an international content distributor, Beatriz Cea Okan of Turkey’s Inter Medya, one of L.A. Screenings Independent’s main exhibitors, stated that “the move of MIP Cancun to April will surely negatively affect the L.A. Screenings since many LatAm buyers are already cutting down on L.A. Screenings attendance due to the fact that very little studio product is available to be acquired.” Universal Cinergia’s Liliam Hernandez and Gema Lopez with Canal 10 Uruguay’s Patricia Daujotas Talk of the possibility of moving MIP Cancun to April is persistent, fueled by the assumption that many LatAm buyers are skipping MIPCOM since MIP Cancun is just a few weeks later. The MIP Cancun Question and Its Effect on MIPCOM and L.A. Screenings VIDEOAGE May 2025 Markets at a Crossroad
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