Water Cooler

By Leah Hochbaum Rosner

Sports are a big business these days and the upcoming18th annual SPORTELMonaco, the international sports convention for television and new media executives, proved this by having sold out its exhibition space well in advance of the market. Organized by the Monaco principality, the event will be held October 15-18 at the Grimaldi Forum.

“We had to put stands in the lobby area for the first time,” said Bill Vitale, chairman of Vital Communications, the exclusive worldwide Sales and Marketing representative for SPORTEL.

The market will once again feature the biggest names in sports programming distributors, including the National Football League, NASCAR, the National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, the International Tennis Federation, ESPN, Eurosport, the International Softball Federation, RAI Trade, the PGA Tour and more.

“It’s a very focused market, much like a MIPCOM Jr. or a MipDoc,” said Matthew Ody, whose Matthew Ody & Associates handles the international distribution for Chuck Norris’ World Combat League, a series that showcases mixed martial arts (MMA) combat. “You can achieve a lot in a short period of time and be effective without having to walk around searching for people like you do at bigger markets. You can just do your job better.”

Alfred Haber Distribution will be on hand touting its own MMA series, International Fight League (IFL). Haber’s Bob Kennedy noted that IFL’s team-based match-ups present MMA at its best. “You get all the action of the Brazilian jujitsu, but it’s more advertiser-friendly and more palatable to the viewer in this form,” said Kennedy.

Just before the market Alfred Haber struck a deal with Asia’s Star TV for IFL Battleground, a two-hour series that airs on Fox-owned MyNetworkTV in the U.S., and IFL Fight Night, a one-hour fight show that airs on the Fox Sports Network in the U.S. Star, IFL’s first television partner in Asia, will carry both series on its Star Sports platform, which is available in over 50 countries to a viewership of over 300 million.

“We have more Asian deals in the works,” said Kennedy, citing negotiations with broadcasters in Scandinavia, Israel, Central Europe and Romania. He hopes to sign contracts with another 20 territories in the near future and feels SPORTEL is the place to do it.

“The market is so concentrated on male-oriented action programming that it’s been very useful for us,” said Kennedy. “SPORTEL has become a major annual appointment for us.”

The market has also become a critical one for World Wrestling Entertainment. “SPORTEL’s been an integral part of our growth,” said WWE’s Andrew Whitaker.

While Whitaker has noticed the proliferation of MMA programming, he isn’t at all worried about the impact it might have on the wrestling shows WWE produces. “My view is it’s the ultimate compliment to us as pioneers in the category of action entertainment.”

While it’ll play a big part, SPORTEL won’t be all about martial arts. Monaco has also become an important yearly destination for Brazil’s Globo TV, which will be touting programming devoted to Brazilian football, as well as indoor volleyball and stock car racing.

“For those of us in sports media, SPORTEL is far better than MIPCOM,” said Globo’s Vinicius Pagin. “It’s just so much more focused and allows us to deliver our product to our clients much more easily.”

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By Leah Hochbaum Rosner

It isn’t time for the Oscars just yet, but that’s just a trifling detail. September triggers the award blitz, with recent film fests wrapping in Montreal, Venice and Toronto (in that order) — all three of which are hoping its top winner will emerge victorious come Oscar night.

At the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), which was held September 6-15, Juno, a quirky comedy about a pregnant teen, and Lars and the Real Girl, an unlikely love story about a man and his life-sized sex doll, emerged as audience favorites, effectively stealing the spotlight from prestige pictures such as Elizabeth: The Golden Age, which were expected to shine.

The event, which is a presentation of the Toronto International Film Festival Group (TIFFG), a charitable, non-profit, cultural organization whose mission is to transform the way people see the world through the moving image, screened a total 349 films from 55 countries. Other critics’ picks included the Sean Penn-directed Into the Wild and the Brad Pitt-starring The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.

Big winners at the fest’s awards reception included David Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises, which won the FIPRESCI International Critics Prize for a story about a Russian mobster who falls in love with a midwife, and Encarnacion, the story of an aging B-list actress who returns home to the life she once fled, which won the Artistic Innovation Award.

The Montreal World Film Festival, which ended September 3, had a tie for the top prize. Nic Balthazar’s Dutch-language film Ben X, the story of a mildly autistic boy who plays video games to escape from being bullied at school, and Claude Miller’s A Secret, which follows a Jewish family during the course of World War II and beyond, both won the Grand Prix prize. In addition, Ben X also took home the Audience award and the Ecumenical prize.

The Special Grand Prix of the jury was awarded to Ayelet Menahemi’s Noodle, which tells the tale of a lonely El Al flight attendant, her similarly lonely sister, and a Chinese boy who’s left in their care by his soon-to-be deported mother.

But while the Montreal Film Fest played host to smaller films, this year’s 64th annual Venice Film Festival, which ran from August 29-September 8, was a star-studded affair. Cate Blanchett won the Best Actress award for her turn as Bob Dylan in biopic I’m Not There. Brad Pitt was named Best Actor for the aforementioned Jesse James picture. Brian De Palma won the Silver Lion award for Best Director for Iraq War film Redacted, which tells the fictitious and brutal tale of a group of U.S. soldiers who rape and kill an Iraqi girl.

But the night’s biggest statuette, the Golden Lion, went to Ang Lee’s Lust, Caution, a love story set in Japanese-occupied Shanghai in the 1940s. U.S. director Tim Burton — who’s helmed such macabre movies as Corpse Bride, Edward Scissorhands, Sleepy Hollow and the upcoming film adaptation of Broadway musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street — was also honored with a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement. Interestingly, Italian movies did not do well with the jury and received little attention from the local press. On the other hand, Toronto hosted quite a few Italian stars and featured a few good movies that received a lot of attention from the media.

Reportedly, TIFF is taking the sail off the upcoming Roma Fest next month in Italy by having upstaged all the good Italian films.

While it’s still anybody’s guess who’ll come out on top come Oscar night, these three festivals usually have a knack for predicting which films will go home with statues and which will go home empty-handed. Let the awards season begin!

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By Leah Hochbaum Rosner

Mipcom Jr., the two-day market dedicated to children’s programming and merchandising, to be held October 6-7 at the Carlton Hotel in Cannes prior to MIPCOM, is not for kidding around — but it is about kids and television.

While VideoAge dailies at Mipcom Jr. and MIPCOM will give participants daily, in-depth updates, here is a brief preview of what one can expect at Mipcom Jr.

Pam Slavin, vp of Production for Canada-based Cookie Jar Entertainment, will be attending the market with a number of animated series, including Magi-Nation, Will & Dewitt, World of Quest, Hooray for Huckle! and more. “All of these shows will be really successful,” said Slavin resolutely, before adding that the slate “is diverse enough that each can become a hit with different audiences.” She’s confident that despite the overabundance of cartoons that will be on display at Mipcom Jr., “Cookie Jar’s shows will be able to cut through the clutter” and become audience favorites.

Another Canadian animation production and distribution house that believes its shows will come out on top at Mipcom Jr. is 9 Story Entertainment which will bring action-comedy series Bash Boys for international buyers to view. Aimed at kids 8-12, the animated series features a 13-year-old kid who suddenly finds out he is a father — to a time-displaced 16-year-old from the future. In addition to screening the promo at Mipcom Jr., 9 Story will introduce broadcasters to the show’s newest production elements, including artwork. 9 Story will also bring series Best Ed, a 9 Story original production for Canada’s Teletoon and Cartoon Network U.K. and Futz!, a co-production with Teletoon about an odd-looking protagonist who never walks away from the call of danger.

“Kids today are seeking strong entertainment content from a variety of venues,” said Vince Commisso, CEO and co-partner of 9 Story Entertainment, explaining why he feels Futz! will breathe some fresh air into animated programming. “So we created [the show] with a timeless comedic anti-hero as its star to fit the diverse multi-platform needs of young audiences everywhere.”

Another company that believes it has what it takes to appeal to a broad range of viewers is BabyFirstTV, a U.S.-based cable and satellite channel dedicated to providing innovative programming designed to inspire a baby’s learning in an engaging and fun manner. The channel also features tools to help parents better understand the developmental benefits each program has for their baby. The firm will attend Mipcom Jr. for the second time as both a buyer in search of high-quality content for babies, and a distributor of a 24/7 channel for buyers around the world.

“Babies are like little sponges,” said Sharon Rechter, founder of BabyFirstTV. “So we want to give them the basics in a fun and entertaining way.”

She went on to say that she’s coming to Mipcom Jr. hungry for content to acquire. “Having a diverse slate is important to us,” she said. “And we think Mipcom Jr. is the place to find that varied selection.”

While in Cannes, the company is introducing a number of series, including I Can Sign!, which teaches babies sign language, and Numbers Around the Globe, which helps youngsters learn counting skills.

“What’s great about Mipcom Jr. is that it gets everyone in one place,” said Rechter. “A lot of work gets done. That’s why our booth gets bigger each year.”

Posted by watercooler at 09:14 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

By Leah Hochbaum Rosner

With both a new date and a new location, this year’s 17th annual edition of the Jornadas de Cable convention in Argentina promises to be both new and different, and most importantly, full of activity. Organized by satellite and cable organizing associations Cámara Argentina de Distribuidores de Señales Satelitales (CaDiSSa) and Asociación Argentina Televisión por Cable (ATVC), the market will take place at the Hilton Buenos Aires Hotel, instead of its usual locale of the Sheraton Buenos Aires Hotel & Convention Center: definitely an overdue move, as suggested in last year’s VideoAge reports. And due to the fact that Argentina’s presidential elections will be taking place in October, the event has been moved to September 25-27 from its traditional early November date.

“Jornadas was moved to September with two purposes in mind,” said Walter Burzaco, president of cable organization ATVC, when asked why the convention was undergoing so much change in a single year. “One is to give exhibitors more time for their sales follow-up after the event, and the other is to give the industry the opportunity to make a strong institutional statement before the elections.”

Organizers expect roughly 3,000-3,200 attendees, on par with last year’s affair, which saw upwards of 3,000 television executives convening at the Buenos Aires hotel. Burzaco, for one, isn’t at all surprised by the convention’s continued popularity. “Jornadas is an important event for Argentine and Latin American operators to attend because they can gather in Buenos Aires to exchange information, share experiences, learn from the conferences about technical, educational and regulatory frame topics, and find novelties amongst products and/or services exhibited by programming and technical suppliers,” said Burzaco.

This year, exhibitors include Fox Latin American Channels, Latin Broadband, HBO Ole International Marketing Ltd., Hallmark Channel, Disney & ESPN Media Networks, MTV Networks Argentina, Tecnous, Megaservice-ASDA, EWTN, Aurora Networks and more.

Representatives for Germany’s Deutsche Welle will also be on hand at the Hilton. Silvina Márquez, who serves as the company’s agent for Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, said that Jornadas is “the most important fair in regions like Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay and Peru,” so she attends every year.

She went on to say that she especially likes the intimate nature of the market, which allows her to get to know folks from up-and-coming networks. “It’s important to greet newer broadcasters,” Márquez said. “Some are very small, but they absolutely need to be supported.” Often, she continued, “this part of the world gets hit by economic crisis and smaller broadcasters simply can’t afford to travel to markets like these. I wish something could be done about this.”

Deutsche Welle, which has stations broadcasting in German, English and Spanish-languages in Latin territories, recently introduced a slate of programs in German that air in Latin regions within one or two days of airing in Germany. “The German community in this part of the world is happy,” said Márquez. But she stressed that her company’s focus while in Argentina will be the expansion of new media projects. “We are currently working on a mobile program with a broadcaster in this region,” she said, failing to reveal which broadcaster they’re in talks with since negotiations are ongoing.

But while Deutsche Welle is coming to the market with the specific purpose of growing its mobile marketplace, Burzaco opined that the event is advantageous to all who attend. “The goal of the institutions that organize Jornadas is to show a robust and ever-growing cable TV industry in Argentina and the Southern Cone,” he said.

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