The Studios Weigh MIP-TV.

When the 36th MIP - TV convenes from April 12 through April 17, it will find itself short one studio booth and beset by rumors that other studios were considering pulling out. Since a company's presence at the venerable Cannes market has at least partly to do with image and the need to keep up appearances, one studio's decision to opt out could make it easier for the others to follow the same course. However, each studio has its own agenda, and cost-cutting measures that make sense for one may not make sense for another.

Buena Vista has decided not to take a booth at this year's MIP-TV, and it will content itself instead with sending staff from its international television and home video divisions as participants. The company declined to go on record about its choice. While Buena Vista still feels that MIP-TV is important, it has concluded that MIPCOM is the more important of the two markets, since the latter falls at a pivotal time of year.

There were some rumors swirling around NATPE that Columbia TriStar was also planning to pull out of MIP-TV. Like so many rumors, these failed to bear fruit. Columbia TriStar will in fact attend and exhibit. A spokesman for the studio said that with every market, Columbia TriStar weighs the value of participation versus the costs of traveling and hosting various events. The spokesman said that the company plans to continue its process of evaluation, measuring expenses against added value in terms of sales that it garners from MIP-TV.

Warner Bros. said that a rumor that it wouldn't be attending was unfounded as well, but it declined to comment further.

Twentieth Century Fox is assessing the importance of its presence at MIP-TV but any final decision will not go into effect this year. The studio will be attending this MIP, showing off the new mini-series Hunt for the Unicorn and a true-crime thriller based on the Ira Einhorn story. "I think we are evaluating in the future whether this is a market we really need to be attending," admitted Mark Rosenbaum, senior vp of International Television at Twentieth Century Fox. "We certainly have no intentions of pulling out this time around, but a year from now, it's a question mark. We're still having those discussions internally to decide what it is we really want to do." MIP-TV isn't the only market the company is evaluating: Rosenbaum noted that Twentieth Century Fox had the same sort of internal discussions just before NATPE. "NATPE and MIP are certainly in question," he said. "We're at a point, trying to decide: Where is the value? What kind of business is really being done at this point? How have the markets ch anged? And is it something where we're already doing enough of the kind of business we need to be doing at the L.A. Screenings and at MIPCOM?" One important factor in these deliberations is the timing of MIP-TV. Rosenbaum pointed out that in April, Twentieth Century Fox has already placed most of the previous year's shows, while new shows have yet to be picked up. A second factor is cost. Rosenbaum commented, "Lachlan Murdoch is coming in, and we have a mandate to cut 3 percent across the board, so now all of a sudden we've got to find 3 percent across all of our expenditures. And the easiest way to find chunks of money is to cut out a market."

Some studios still consider MIP-TV essential. "I can understand Disney's decision," conceded Paramount International Television President Gary Marenzi, "because Disney has a staff that's three or four times the size of ours, and everybody wants to go, and at some point you've got to draw the line or figure out [whether] you really need to go." He added, "I think some places are wondering, with all the stand expenses, whether it's really necessary, especially if they have a lot of offices in territories around the world." However, Paramount's position is different, according to Marenzi, "We're in a situation where we don't have as many people on our staff, we don't have as many offices around the world, and we're also spreading the new word about how we're doing business at Paramount." He explained that last year the studio was in a start-up mode and that this year it's in a building mode, changing the way it does business. According to Marenzi, Paramount is becoming more involved in production and is "window ing our product a little bit more efficiently now." As a result, he said, every opportunity to meet with the customer is important. "That's why we'll be out there in force at MIP," he concluded. At this market, Paramount plans to focus on network series such as Becker, Seven Days and Lateline as well as its self-produced international mini-series Tribe.

MGM also continues to place great importance on MIP-TV. David Armstrong, senior vp of International Television at MGM, commented, "We did look at our overall budget, and we looked at whether we wanted to maintain NATPE or MIP as our beginning-of-the-year trade show. And we maintained MIP and did not have a presence at NATPE." He added that MIP-TV is recognized as one of the foremost markets for international television sales and that it concentrates all the main terrestrial, cable and satellite broadcasters in one place. He allowed that some studios prefer one of the two Cannes markets over the other. However, Armstrong said that at MGM, "we release theatrical films throughout the year and find that it's a good idea to be ... present at both markets so that you have the continuity for product that goes throughout the year." He added, "So from our point of view, I think it makes more sense to make sure that you're at both markets." MGM will use this MIP-TV to sell its feature films and its new daily strip, Th e National Enquirer.

The studios, however, were not the only ones questioning the value of MIP-TV. Reportedly, CBS International couldn't make up its mind about MIP-TV either. (CBS will be at MIP.) In any case, according to a Reed Midem executive, the organizers expect that next year (when the market will be one day shorter) only a few studios will actually be in Cannes in April.

Asked what MIP-TV could do to enhance the market's status with the studios, Armstrong suggested a guarantee of more hotel rooms in the city of Cannes. "It's a fabulous setting, but because of the size of the town, it's very tough to get adequate hotel rooms for both the sellers and the buyers," he noted. Armstrong expressed faith in the efforts of MIP-TV's organizers to attract the studios: "I think they continue to do as much as they can to make sure that the market is as successful as they can get it."