Russia expands its presence through DISCOP.

The fact that Central and Eastern Europe see DISCOP as their own video market (TV, DVD, pay, cable, satellite, mobile and IPTV), could indicate that the territories are already mature markets. To the contrary, the significant growth of DISCOR which this year marked a 27 percent increase in registrants compared to the 2004 edition, indicates that Eastern and Central European TV is still an evolving and growing market.

During this 13th annual DISCOP, held at the end of June at the Sofitel Atrium Hotel in Budapest, Hungary, the market organizers signed a long-term agreement with the Russian National Association of Television and Radio Broadcasters. The organizations will join forces to help international content and format distributors gain access to Russia's regional marketplaces. As part of this agreement, a DISCOP Pavilion will be set up during NatExpo--an international exhibition of professional equipment and technologies for TV, radio and Internet broadcasting--to be held in Moscow next month.

When it comes to DISCOP itself, this edition's attendance growth was due equally to a larger number of buyers and distributors in attendance. The number of buyers was officially reported at 534, representing a 34 percent increase from least year; 238 distributors attended, representing a 42 percent increase from 2004.

Among the highlights of the market was the fourth annual Campus Conference, which focused on the future of the television business in Central and Eastern Europe.

In terms of the Western European presence, a large contingent came from France and Italy, while Latin America maintained its traditionally high visibility, due to the fact that telenovelas are one of the key programming ingredients for Central and Eastern European television schedules.

At this year's DISCOR a record of over l0 Italian companies were in attendance, including RaiTrade and Sitcom. Among Italy's contingent was Mediaset, which sent two of its top executives to sell and promote its format business--another key programming ingredient at DISCOP. While RaiTrade, Sitcom and the other Italian companies in attendance were grouped together under the banner of ICE (the state organization which handles the promotion of Italian products abroad) and were selling finished products, Mediaset (via its subsidiary MediaTrade) had its own stand and was selling finished product as well as formats. To this end Fabrizio Battocchio, director of the Formats department, and Nella Allegretti, in charge of Format Acquisition at RTI, Mediaset's production arm in Milan, were in attendance.