Market to re-stake claim to its dominance.

Winter is time for Monte Carlo festival and market and the Principality won't let us forget.

The 1995 Monte Carlo year is full of celebrations. The Festival is celebrating its 35th annual event. The Market is celebrating its 16th session, Imagina its 13th cycle and Prince Albert his seventh year at the helm of one of the world's oldest television happenings. Plus, the festival will also celebrate the introduction of a World Forum on February 14 to provide a platform to world leaders. To inaugurate this new element in the busy Festival calendar is Raymond W. Smith, CEO of Bell Atlantic Corp., America's frontrunner on the information superhighway track.

Finally, the Festival will celebrate the largest ever number of official affairs. With 14 events scattered over a 16-day period, the program for this year's Monte Carlo Festival could easily fill a directory. On the Market side, which will open February 13, exactly 10 days after Imagina (the three-day conference focusing on computer images) over 2,000 delegates representing 600 companies from 80 countries have confirmed attendance.

In all, some 120 program distributors will take position on the third floor of the Loews Hotel, adjacent to the Congress

Schedule of Events

The 35th Monte Carlo Television Festival 1-16 February 1995

1-3 February (Wednesday-Friday) IMAGINA 14th International Forum of New Images Congress Center (CCAM)

3 February (9:30 p.m.) Pixel-INA Awards Congress Center (CCAM) Reception following

10-12 February (Friday-Sunday) Competition for Creative Documentaries Organized by IRTU Congress Center (CCAM)

10-15 February (Friday-Wednesday, 9:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.) Competition for Fiction Programmes TV Films & Mini-series Congress Center (CCAM)

11 February (Saturday, 8:30 p.m.) 35th Festival Opening Ceremonies (by invitation) Auditorium Rainier III Pre-Screening "Catherine the Great" (10:30 p.m.) Supper, Loews Hotel (by invitation)

11-15 February (Saturday-Wednesday, 9:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.) Competition for News Programmes Congress Center (CCAM)

12 February (Sunday, 7 p.m.) IRTU Cultural Event Salle Empire-Hotel de Paris

13 February (Monday, 12 noon) IRTU Awards Congress Center (CCAM)

13-16 February (Monday-Thursday) 17th Monte Carlo Television Market Hotel Loews (3rd Floor)

14 February (Tuesday, 5 p.m.) THE WORLD FORUM Address by Raymond W. Smith Chairman and CEO, Bell Atlantic Corp., USA Auditorium Rainier III (Press Conference follows)

14 February (Tuesday, 8:30 p.m.) Dinner for Market participants Grand Salon-Hotel Loews

15 February (Wednesday, 5 p.m.) Announcement of Competition Prize Winners Congress Center Troparium (CCAM)

15 February (Wednesday evening) Special Jury Members party (by Invitation)

16 February (Thursday, 8:30 p.m.) Closing Gala 35th Monte Carlo Festival Award Presentation Monte Carlo Sporting Club, Salle des Etoiles (by invitation-black tie)

Market To Re-stake Claim To Its Dominance

Hall where the conferences, awards ceremony and competition will take place. Also registered are representatives of 55 production and broadcast organizations who will not be renting exhibition space.

Market organizers noted that hotel rates were cut for all participants and that Eastern European buyers are expected to take center stage. But, with 400 program buyers confirmed at press time, the market will have a European-wide outlook. On February 11 Michael J. Solomon's SIE will premiere Catherine The Great at the Conference Hall, with a dinner to follow at Loews Hotel.

On the program supply side, the Market will also introduce the American mid-season network schedule which, this year, seems to include fewer replacements (see related story). The proximity to the recently concluded NATPE (see related story) seems to have polarized the industry with some companies by passing the U.S. show to focus on Monte Carlo, while others have simply opted for NATPE. Those companies that attend both events view the Monte Carlo Market as a way to continue negotiations that began in Las Vegas.

For Bruce Gordon, president of Paramount TV International: "the Monte Carlo Market probably has the best timing for the buyers to visit. In February, enough time has passed since the new season product launch in October, and by then distributors have a good feeling as to what product will survive the ratings race and the midseason replacements."