New technologies to take center stage at MIPCOM.

It's that time of year again, time for over 10,000 audiovisual executives to gather in Cannes for MIPCOM. And this year's event, held at the Palais de Festivals as usual, will be sure to cause a buzz, with top international TV executives trying to sell their shows in a constantly expanding and increasingly difficult market.

This MIPCOM can be summarized in three key phrases: New season, Mobile-TV, IPTV. One can also expect a somewhat diminished DVD business (due to the proximity of AFM, to be held in Santa Monica, California, just 11 days after MIPCOM), a revival of HDTV interest and more emphasis on Latin America.

For the U.S. studios, MIPCOM comes at the perfect time. The new season's series have already been introduced to audiences in the States, so international buyers can begin to have a better sense of what new product they do and do not want. "MIPCOM is a better market than MIP," said Ted Riley, executive managing director, Television Distribution at Alliance Atlantis. "We've had four tangible weeks in the U.S. that give us something to sell on."

"We are in quite a unique predicament," said David Ellender, managing director of Fremantle International Distribution. "We straddle the production rhythm of North America, Europe and Australia; so both MIPCOM and MIP-TV are important in terms of launching new product." He explained that whether they introduce more products at MIPCOM or MIP really depends on the year. This year, he mentioned that MIPCOM is going to be heavy with new product (including American Idol5; The Apprentice: Martha Stewart as well as the old-fashioned Donald Trump edition; Martha Stewart's syndicated series, Martha; and for the first time at a market, Project Runway). E! Networks' vp of International Sales, Duccio Donati, said, "for us it's really 50/50. Because we are beginning to launch more shows during the summer, we tend to have more new product at MIPCOM, but on the other hand, the financial year is just ending, so it is also a time to wrap up."

Patrick Elmendorff, managing director of Germany-based EM.Enterntainment, added that MIPCOM Junior (which precedes the market) represents the beginning of the year, while MIP-COM is often an opportunity to finish up: "MIP Junior screenings are a great opportunity for producers and program providers like EM.TV to introduce new shows and generate interest," he said.

Ellender added that because buyers now view screeners on his company's website, some products are actually introduced before MIPCOM. "We don't have to wait for a MIPCOM, a MIP or a NATPE anymore to introduce product," he said. But he maintained that attendance at the market is crucial. "First off, it's important to look at peers' and competitors' product; also, MIPCOM is an enormous launch pad for broad and more general programming," Ellender added.

MIPCOM traditionally is geared toward the Latin American contingent more than MIP-TV, and this year is no exception, with an even greater focus on the Americas' Latin territories. This year's Personality of the Year award will be bestowed upon Venezuela's Gustavo Cisneros, chairman and CEO of the Cisneros Group of companies.

The Latin theme will continue with the first annual Telenovela Screenings, which will take place at the nearby Noga Hilton hotel on October 16 (one day before the market opens, simultaneous to the MIPCOM Junior market). Telenovelas from leading telenoveleros TV Azteca, Televisa, Globo, Venevision, Tepuy, Telefe and RCTV, among others, will be available in a digital format. According to Helena Bernardi, director of marketing and sales at Brazil's Globo TV International, "The major benefit [of being involved in the telenovela screenings] is the strengthening of the telenovela genre as a great programming tool for European and Asian channels," she said. "In addition, [the screenings provide] an excellent opportunity to make Globo novelas stand out." She continued, "We believe those initiatives reinforce the importance of Latin America's television producers," she said. "For the last five years, our presence in the international marketplace has increased by 85 percent, as far as hours of programming are concerned."

As is becoming de rigueur at industry markets, this year's MIPCOM will focus on emerging technologies and what they will mean to the entertainment industry, which is in the difficult predicament of both being threatened by the changes, and needing to embrace them.

Many workshops will focus on the advantages of producing content in high-definition. One company that has seen a lot of progress in HD is 3DD, which focuses on musical live-event programming. "We have been working with high-definition for a long time," said Adam Wakeling, head of International Co-productions at London-based 3DD. "At MIPCOM, we will be looking for co-productions and acquisitions of HD programming." Wakeling compared the move to high-def as comparable to the move from black and white to color TV. "That may be overstating it a bit at the moment, but I do see it as the future," he insisted. Fremantle's David Ellender said that most of his shows (including American Idol) are produced in high-definition, and that the opportunity for growth remains. "We are having discussions with broadcasters about producing more in HD, and we are looking to our back catalog to see what we can sell to the new emerging HD channels." He mentioned that Japan, and even Australia, to some extent, are looking to fill an HD quota. Doug Schwalbe, head of International Sales at Classic Media, said that his company produces all its new shows in HD, and that transferring library product into HD is a smooth transition. "Because we actually own the original elements (the film), it makes that easier," he said.

Other issues that are sure to be hot topics at this year's market are mobile television and IPTV (see related stories). With an increasing number of Cellcos attending MIPCOM, more companies will be able to find out why and how they can make their short-form content available via mobile phones. In fact, the market's organizers, Reed Midem, are expecting mobile to be such an important topic that they have designated October 19 as Mobile TV Day at MIPCOM. That day will include a breakfast workshop on mobile and cross platform formats, a keynote speech by Peter Bazalgette, chief creative officer of Netherlands-based Endemol; a super panel, and sessions on mobile. Bazalgette's speech will be entitled, "It's Digital Media, Not New Media, stupid!" and will cover his predictions for the future of the medium. He will also unveil Endemol's newest mobile initiatives. Currently, Endemol's mobile offerings include the streaming of reality series Big Brother to mobiles in Italy, Scandinavia, the U.K. and the Philippines. Because of the success of the Made-for-Mobile Screenings at MIP-TV/MILIA last April, MIPCOM will also feature Made-for-Mobile Screenings. But this time around, the screenings will culminate with Orange-sponsored awards (set for October 20).

"We saw a lot of mobile companies coming around at MIP-TV, but they didn't really seem to know what they were doing," said CABLEready CEO Gary Lico. He explained that, though some of the kinks need to be worked out, his company will be looking to get involved with that medium in the future. He did say, though, that before the company moves into the mobile sphere, he wants to focus on interactivity, adding that his company will soon announce plans for a highly customizable program, which uses the technological innovations of interactivity.

Given the fact that MIPCOM is, first and foremost, a European-centric market, the gradual European switch to digital terrestrial television (DTT) is a popular conference topic, and an issue affecting distributors' business. CABLEready's Lico spoke of the positive effect of DTT. "The digital networks definitely help business," he said. "Though the digital networks pay at a lower level, they are great outlets for library product." Fox's executive vice president of Distribution, Marion Edwards explained that Fox still looks to the larger broadcast networks for the "best shot at a broad audience, but we have been looking into the smaller cable and satellite channels as well." She added, "In Europe, we haven't seen the same erosion [of audiences due to an in influx of channels] as in the United States, thank god."

David Ellender added that DTT helps international distributors get onto primetime in other countries, something that never happened before, because the terrestrial networks would concentrate more on indigenous product. He also recognized the downside of making business deals with the digital networks, namely that they have smaller audiences, which lead to lower advertising prices and lower licensing fees. But, Alliance's Ted Riley was adamant: "It behooves all of us in the business to supply these channels; they open up new markets. They also manage to democratize the marketplace and bring fresh blood into the business." Doug Schwalbe of Classic Media mentioned that the influx of classic animation terrestrial channels "presents a lot more opportunities than problems." He added that his company has the additional benefit of owning rights to all its classic characters, so besides licensing programs, they can often sell rights to characters, which can be used as spokespeople for the classic-themed nets.

Inevitably, with the increased number of channels comes an increased amount of competition. According to 3DD's Wakeling, new channels and new platforms are great, but they "provide a lot more competition. There is a lot more product out there and we need to be able to stand out," he said. CABLEready's Gary Lico agreed that new technologies are a bit of a blessing and a curse: "The biggest challenge in the industry at the moment is staying focused. There are so many opportunities available, we have to decide: are we going to go to mobile phones or are we going to launch Inside the Actor's Studio in Hungary where we haven't before? The thing about MIPCOM though," said Lico, "is that [it] forces you to be focused with each meeting you have."

One company that is dealing with the repercussions of doing business with so many different niche channels is E! Networks, which has taken over the catalogs of Style, G4 and OLN, as well as its own E! catalog. "It becomes more difficult to know everything about each product and about each territory," said Donati. But, he added, the major advantage is that his company can now appeal to almost every niche channel in the world, and there is practically no demographic that he can't reach.

Fox's Marion Edwards said, "It has become important to touch on all businesses," she said. Fox's MIPCOM stand houses its formats business, the Fox channels business, News Corp. Europe, Star, BSkyB, Pay-TV and VoD. "It is becoming a challenge to accommodate all the business needs of buyers under one roof, but I'm sure we're not unique in that," she said.

"MIPCOM has done a great job of keeping up with the evolution of this business," Edwards said. "They make sure they have the right representatives and seminars." One thing that could use some improvement: "We need a new hotel! It's becoming nearly impossible for all our executives to stay in Cannes," she lamented.

One company which expects to get the word out even more than usual is U.K.-based Fireworks International, which has recently been bought by London-based ContentFilm. "Clearly, our goal at MIPCOM is to re-establish our connections with our customers," said Greg Phillips, president of Fireworks (which will keep its name). He said that while parent company CanWest was working out its sale of the company, things were slow, but "the customers and clients have been extremely supportive. Everyone was rooting for us to stay in business," he said. "Our priority will be to be there, be trading, and be winding everyone up for what we hope will be a bright new future."

But the main reasons most distributors attend MIPCOM can probably be summed up by 3DD's Wakeling: "First and foremost we want to generate international interest in our programs; secondly, there's the networking--we want to meet new producers and broadcasters--and thirdly, we want to build our profile and make sure that people are kept up-to-date on what we're doing." He said, "We have to remember that we're not selling wallpaper here, this is still a very personal business, and we have to meet with people."