DISCOP and NATPE: when east meets west.

As the international TV industry approaches DISCOP 2007, the 15th annual show for the Eastern and Central European markets in Budapest, we asked what should, will and has changed during DISCOP's "year of living NATPE"?

NATPE's CEO Rick Feldman seems satisfied. "DISCOP 2006," he reported, "exceeded all our expectations on every front. We had significant growth in attendance and the fact that our new clients had a successful market is attested to by the fact that they have booked to come back. As a result we are now entirely sold out of exhibition space."

This is a sentiment echoed by DISCOP general manager Patrick Jucaud: "95 percent of last year's participants are coming back in 2007--this is the first time that has happened in the history of DISCOP," he said. "It is also clear that our clients are now looking at Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) as strategic markets in their international sales forecasts, which is good news." But, both Jucaud and Feldman see one key challenge in this deluge of positive indicators; and that challenge is expansion. "We definitely need to expand our exhibiting facilities if we want to accommodate all of our potential clients," conceded Jucaud. While Feldman acknowledged that, "managing growth is, perhaps, our biggest challenge," he was also keen to underline that, "this is a great challenge to have!"

Great it might be, and real it certainly is, especially if Jucaud's estimates are anywhere near accurate. "We expect about 1,500 participants, which will represent a dramatic 255-person rise on 2006," predicted Jucaud, continuing, "if the content business in the CEE continues to grow as it almost certainly will, then we will almost certainly add a fourth day and a fourth floor of space to the market."

One area of expansion that has already been slated for DISCOP 2007 is the addition of an entire day, immediately preceding the market, dedicated to co-production opportunities in the region. Debuting on Tuesday June 19, DISCOPRO will offer panels and seminars giving an in-depth overview of all EU, government and privately backed incentive packages available to stimulate pan-European co-productions within the CEE. Open to all registered DISCOP delegates, DISCOPRO will also allow regional producers seeking co-production partners a time and place in which to present their projects to interested potential partners.

Of course any business wants to expand and these developments seem, on the surface, to be only good news. However, NATPE CEO Feldman cautioned against reckless expansion, "We have to accept that the Sofitel cannot allow us to get too much bigger, and we are thinking and talking about, and looking at, all our available options. However, we are not yet at the point where we have to abandon what is already working, and has worked so well for us to date. It is important to grow, but not to do it too fast or [become] too big," he stressed.

This is a concern echoed by Silvana D'Angelo, director of International Sales and Marketing at Israeli-Argentina telenovelero Dori Media, which sponsors the DISCOP Gala Dinner. "I hope they don't try to take us to an exhibition space," said D'Angelo, "it is so comfortable and convenient to hold meetings in a single building and in the privacy of a hotel suite," she said. "Anyone who doubts that only has to talk to the buyers!"

Although Hans Spielthenner, CEO and co-founder of ohm:tv, concurred that the present format of the DISCOP market is, "more personal than MIP, and allows you the chance to meet people twice during your stay. He would also like to see, "better meeting facilities at the market site," although he acknowledged that, "in general the event is very well organized and DISCOP has always bee a great place for picking up new trends and formats in mobile content, as the CEE is very innovative when it comes to mobile services."

Although Spielthenner did not see, "any big changes in DISCOP from a buyer's perspective," he noticed that since NATPE's acquisition of the event, "There are more international distributors attending now, especially from the U.S. and Canada, which," he said, "will increase the attractiveness of the market and motivate more people to attend especially from the non-CEE countries."

D'Angelo also observed an increased number of distributors from North America, but she had also noticed something else about their presence. "All the U.S. majors want to be next to producers and distributors of telenovelas," she said. "They all recognize the strength of the genre, which is why most of them have entered the telenovela field by co-producing with companies more experienced in the area such as Doff Media."

Yet, the story of the first year of NATPE's ownership is not all about more Americans, as Rick Feldman is keen to point out. "We are gratified," he insisted, "by how broad our market has become. Last June DISCOP was attended by people from over 60 countries, and that's pretty great."

Even if there is a lot more to the story of DISCOP's first, "year of living NATPE" than an increased American presence in Budapest in late June, Dori Media's D'Angelo still has one more thought on the subject of DISCOP's new American owners. "I would like to see NATPE introduce some sort of package deals for companies that attend both markets," she suggested, adding, "Ideally I would like this to take the form of a large discount on the cost of attending NATPE as a seller, bearing in mind the very high costs of being a distributor in Las Vegas."

But maybe the real story is encapsulated by ohm:tv's Spielthenner, who observed, "We have been to DISCOP three times so far, and will definitely be back again this year."