I N T E R N A T I O N A L www.V i deoAge.org THE BUSINESS JOURNAL OF FILM, BROADCASTING, BROADBAND, PRODUCTION, DISTRIBUTION January 2015 - VOL. 35 NO. 1 - $9.75 (Continued on Page 33) Four years ago, Mexico’s Televisa decided to enter the U.S. Anglo TV business and a year later formed Televisa USA in Santa Monica, California, right in Hollywood — the heart of the world’s film-TV production. To facilitate the new division’s efforts to team up with Hollywood’s leading talent and producers and create scripted and unscripted content for the coveted American audiences, Televisa USA was assembled under three wellconnected executives: Paul Televisa USA Aims To Conquer Anglo TV Screens My 2¢: In the U.S. the metric system is considered subversive LATAM sellers at ATF: Reduced budgets & presence Sección en Español: Deportes, contenido y crisis en Europa NATPE warms up European sellers and buyers Page 34 Page 10 Page 13 Page 8 The U.S. is served by 15 domestic Spanish-language broadcast TV networks and at least 30 TV channels originating from Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina and even Spain. Competing for the approximately 11 million Hispanic household Telemundo’s Plans To Face Its Challenges (Continued on Page 30) Miami: LATAMFilm& TV Capital on theWorld Stage Over the past decade, Miami, Florida, has steadily matured into a world-class production center for film, television, music videos and commercials. And it’s not just thanks to NATPE Miami, SPORTELAmerica and other major film and television trade shows held there. Currently, Miami is home to over 200 production companies, 100 postproduction houses and 50 locally based talent agencies and casting directors that together with the city’s ample facilities (approximately 20 state-of-the-art sound stages and over 2,000 film, video and support services) have helped fuel its unstoppable evolution. Almost 50 international distributors of entertainment programming are based in Miami, and in the past few yearsNetflix, Fox, Starz, FX,Oxygen, Nickelodeon and Showtime have all had ongoing local productions. Moreover, the city’s proximity to Latin America and its large Spanish- (Continued on Page 26)
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January 2015 4 World (MPAA), the number of legitimate U.S. streaming outlets has doubled to 100 since 2009, and Americans legally watched 5.7 billion movies and 56 billion TV shows in 2013, for an estimated $30 billion in expenditures. VideoAge calculated that if the MPAA’s educational and prosecutorial campaign “Operation In Our Site” could cut just 10 percent of online piracy in the U.S. for a year, annual streaming revenues would increase by 4.4 percent to $31.4 billion across the board. But according to Tru Optik, the popularity of piracy has nothing to do with cost, but with access, since more content is available illegally than legally. Indeed, content companies like Netflix and HBO reportedly use piracy to gauge consumer interest. U.S. Studios’ T&E Could Be $1 Billion In a survey of the top 100 corporate travel and related expense (T&E) expenditures around the world, four entertainment groups made the 2014 Business Travel News list. With an annual expenditure of $149.5 million for companywide air volume, Disney took the number 30 spot. In comparison, IBM ranked number one with $590 million. Disney’s total T&E amounted to $227.9 million. Comcast’s total T&E wasn’t recorded, but the survey ranked the group at number 41 with a U.S.-booked air volume of $95 million. TimeWarner took the 43rd slot with $87 million U.S.-booked air volume, even though companywide air volume reached $122 million and the group’s company-wide T&E reached $280.5 million. Finally, 21st Century Fox was number 90 with $57.9 million in company-wide air volume and $69.1 million in U.S. T&E. Another survey, this time conductedbyForresterResearch, revealed that T&E is the most difficult of expense categories to control, according to 24 percent of finance executives surveyed. The fault is found to reside with the way T&E is recorded, making it difficult to identify “opportunities for negotiated discounts with vendors,” according to the survey. More than 2.1 billion movies and close to two billion television shows were downloaded peer-to-peer globally in the first quarter of 2014 alone, according to last year’s report from Tru Optik, a Stamford, CT-based media research firm (“Digital Media Unmonetized Report, First and Second Quarter 2014”). The global unmonetized demand is estimated at $2.5 billion for television and $10.13 billion for movies. Tru Optik also estimated that each month in the U.S. alone there are 400 million illegal downloads. At times, like in the case of the movieThe Expendables 3, movies are downloaded even before their theatrical release. A study by Columbia University found that 70 percent of young adults in the U.S. ages 18 to 29 had copied or downloaded music or videos for free. However, according to the Washington-based Motion Picture Association of America Less Content Legally Available Online Makes For More Illegally Screened Content
6 January 2015 Book Review Bill Cosby has been in the news a lot lately… and not for anything good. A growing number of women have come forward alleging that the comedian either raped or otherwise sexually assaulted them over the years. Why these accusations are only coming to light again now remains unclear, but what is clear is that they paint a different picture of the entertainer, whose avuncular image had remained squeaky clean for decades. What’s also unclear is why Mark Whitaker, author of the otherwise comprehensive biography Cosby: His Life and Times (Simon & Schuster, 532 pages, $29.99) published in September, doesn’t make any mention of these allegations, instead depicting the comic legend as a virtually spotless performer whose wholesome brand of family comedy had a hand in changing many an antiquated racist view in the U.S. and abroad and helped pave the way for America’s first black president. Whitaker has since been criticized widely for his omission and has apologized. While Whitaker writes in the Acknowledgments that he “remained wary of gossip” during the book’s writing, that doesn’t fully explain why he’d leave out so many claims of sexual assault. Perhaps he didn’t want to risk angering the powerful man. Or perhaps he just didn’t think there was enough evidence to back up the claims. Either way, even a brief mention of the accusations against Cosby would have gone a long way to show that Whitaker was committed to a fair and honest portrayal of Bill Cosby the man, and not merely a sycophantic depiction written by a longtime fan who grew up fascinated by Cosby’s fatherly appeal and refreshingly nonracial comedy. Other than those glaring omissions, Whitaker — a television executive who previously served as a managing editor for CNN and as Washington bureau chief for NBC News — takes great pains to detail every aspect of Cosby’s life, from his humble beginnings as a poor youth growing up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to his decision to drop out of college to pursue his dream of becoming a comedian to his improbable rise to fame in action series I Spy to the tragic loss of his only son to his controversial late-in-life stance on race relations in this country. Whitaker spent years researching Cosby’s life, interviewing more than 60 of his closest friends, reading articles on and interviews with the comedian and finally, interviewing the man himself. Whitaker was granted unprecedented access to the very private Cosby, and spent roughly 15 hours alone with the stand-up comic, mostly in airports, on planes and in cars while en route to some of Cosby’s many yearly comedy concerts. What he came away with is a portrait of a man driven to perfection who rose from the depths of the Philadelphia projects to the top of the proverbial heap. Growing up with an alcoholic father and a mother who worked herself to the bone cleaning houses to provide for her family, Cosby vowed that he’d be the complete opposite of his deadbeat dad. While he was never a natural student, he was a dedicated son and wanted to make his mother proud. He just didn’t think he could do that when it came to academics. So he dropped out of high school in his late teens and joined the Navy, where he finally found the discipline he needed to buckle down and get serious about his future. When he was discharged, he got a track and field scholarship to Temple University and was on his way to a degree in physical education when he got sidetracked by the life that he would eventually lead— the life of a journeyman comedian. He started performing his act in small clubs, eventually making his way to New York, where he perfected his singular brand of cuss-free, family-friendly observational comedy. He did away with easy punch lines and simply drew stories from his daily life. He was an almost instant hit, and eventually dropped out of college to pursue dreams of stardom that actually appeared to be at his fingertips. In doing so, he horribly disappointed his mother, who had hoped and prayed that Cosby would be the first college graduate in the family. He would eventually go back — even going so far as to earn a doctorate in education from the University of Massachusetts — but not before first finding a fame and fortune that had to have been unimaginable to someone from his modest background. First, in 1965, to the amazement of well, everyone, he was cast in NBC’s I Spy espionage series, becoming the first African American to star in a U.S. drama. It was a gamble, but one that ultimately paid off. Although a few TV stations in the south banned the show, the rest of America, it seemed, was finally ready for a black leading man. The show ran for three seasons and earned Cosby three consecutive Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. After I Spy, Cosby would remain a television mainstay, but he wouldn’t find another hit for quite some time. He returned in 1969 with NBC’s The Bill Cosby Show, a sitcom starring Cosby as a Los Angeles gym teacher. Cosby repeatedly clashed with the network over their insistence and his refusal to use a laugh track, and the show only ran for two seasons. He then launched the PBS children’s showThe Electric Company, teaching kids reading skills. In 1972, he switched to CBS for The New Bill Cosby Show, a variety series that lasted only a season. That same year, he began hosting Saturday morning’s Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids — a cartoon based on Cosby’s comedy act — also for CBS. The show was a success, and ran for more than a decade. Cosby followed those up with a slew of film roles, including Uptown Saturday Night and Let’s Do it Again. But his heart was in television. In 1976, he launched ABC’s Cos, another variety show, but it lasted just nine episodes. Cosby was starting to lose faith in his ability to carry a show, and focused his attention elsewhere — on finishing his schooling, recording comedy albums and performing. But all that would change in 1984 with the debut of NBC’s The Cosby Show, a family comedy that starred Cosby as the happily married father of a brood of five kids. The show was an immediate hit and would go on to air for eight seasons. America, it seemed, was once again ready for a shift in race relations. Cosby’s upscale black family — with its obstetrician father and lawyer mother — was the only black family that many Americans knew. Whitaker notes that this “Cosby effect” was ultimately partially responsible for the “seismic political shift” that would usher Barack Obama into the White House. The comedian followed upwithYouBet Your Life, a short-lived game show, andThe Cosby Mysteries (NBC), an even shorter-livedmystery series. Then, in 1996, he was again ready for the comedy game, and started a new showCosby, for CBS, in which he played an elderly recently downsized man who is now home getting on his wife’s nerves. While not quite the success that his NBC sitcom was, the showwas a modest hit, lasting four seasons. It was while filming this show that Cosby learned that his only son, Ennis, had been murdered during an attempted robbery in Los Angeles. The killer was eventually caught and brought to justice, but Cosby would never be the same. And neither would his comedy. But by then the comedian had already made his mark. Younger comics, including Jerry Seinfeld and Ray Romano, credited Cosby with influencing their acts when they were starting out. And although Cosby’s initial I Spy stint on TV was banned in certain locales because of the color of his skin, nowadays, African American actors are everywhere on television. Is that all thanks to the work of Bill Cosby? No, but he played a major part in helping to change views on race relations in this country. His squeaky-clean comedy and focus on family was popular among almost all viewers — white and black. Whitaker does a remarkable job laying out the many details of Cosby’s life — the comedy and the tragedy — making this a should-read for fans of the older comic. If only he’d bothered to even make mention of the rape allegations against Cosby, this would surely be a must-read for all. LHR The (Nice) Life and (Hard) Times of Bill Cosby
10 x 1 hr 3 x 2 hrs or 6 x 1 hr Starring Ben Barnes and Rafe Spall Rogues become rebels and rebels become heroes in this epic fight against tyranny and oppression. Produced by A+E Studios and Stephen David Entertainment 1 x 2 hrs Starring Yaya DaCosta and Arlen Escarpeta Chronicles the relationship between the iconic singer Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown. Directed by Angela Bassett in her directorial debut. Produced by The Sanitsky Company 10 x 1 hr Starring Shiri Appleby and Constance Zimmer A provocative drama that gives a fictitious behind-the-scenes glimpse into the chaos surrounding the production of a dating competition program. Executive Producer: Marti Noxon Supervising Producer: Sarah Gertrude Shapiro Produced by A+E Studios A new destination for original dramas, TV events and movies commissioned by HISTORY®, A&E® and Lifetime®. At NATPE: Tresor Suite 21809/21811 sales.aenetworks.com WHITNEY ©2015 A&E Television Networks, LLC. All rights reserved. 1556-15-D.
8 Last month, Rod Perth, president and CEO of NATPE, the Miami Beach TV market held at the Fontainebleau Hotel, announced that the exhibit floor and the Versailles — the biggest of the hotel’s four towers —were both already sold out. Among other news, the U.S. TV station groups will once again attend NATPE this year. According to Perth, “Station groups realize NATPE delivers a broader view of the competitive nature of their business…Local TV stations would say of themselves that they were slow to adapt to digital, and they’re now realizing they can’t be, and they know that NATPE is a place where they can meet people and be exposed to digital. They’re not coming here just to look at first-run syndicated shows,” he said. After last year’s edition of NATPE, some participants complained that prices at the Fontainebleau were becoming prohibitively high. However, Perth reassured participants that “We do everything we can to make sure prices are fair and reflective of the service and the value that [clients] are getting.” He also acknowledged that there are space constraints at the Fontainebleau, and they might eventually begin to use the Eden Roc as well. “We love being in Miami Beach, and no other facilities there have the capacity to fit NATPE better.” As for the logistical challenges of the elevators in the Tresor tower, he explained that the organization will do its best to alleviate the drain of the wait by once again serving drinks to those in line at the elevator banks. The three-day market kicks off on January 20, a week earlier than usual and on a Tuesday, instead of the traditional Monday due to the Martin Luther King holiday. This resulted in extra set-up charges since unions apply overtime-plus charges to work on holidays. A month ahead of the market, Perth reported that registration “pacing overall [was] very strong,” and he was “particularly pleased with buyer counts, which [were] very positive.” Perth noted that despite “some regional economic issues that are slowing everything down, we’re not really feeling it. Germany has been notable in terms of its increase in participation.” By December, buyers had registered from 62 countries, and 22 U.S. TV station groups had also registered, in addition to 230 exhibitors (107 domestic and 123 international) and all of the major U.S. studios. Latin American television executives were looking forward to the gathering in Miami Beach. Marcello Coltro, EVP of Content Distribution at Cisneros Media said, “NATPE is one of the mustattend events in our industry [because] it attracts not only content professionals, but it has expanded to include many more related industries, such as pay-TV distributors…Besides, the studios are back, and that makes it more compelling to a variety of international buyers that don’t attend the L.A. Screenings or MIPCOM.” Coltro added, “Finally, January is considered themidpoint of the broadcast year, when most of the clients focus on the year’s schedule, and their first look at new programming that will air in syndication in 2015 and 2016.” This year at NATPE, A+E Networks is looking to establish itself “as a new port of call in the minds of drama buyers,” according to Mayra Bracer, Latin America Television Distribution consultant. The company looks forward to NATPE because “all of the big players attend, as Miami is a main hub for Latin American business.” She added that “most Latin American countries are represented there, but not necessarily every channel.” Paris-based production company KABO Family recently launched its distribution arm, KABO International, which is attending NATPE for the first time. Managing director Arabelle Pouliot Di Crescenzo reported a month ahead of the event that she had already “scheduled appointments with new buyers, as well as existing clients.” “It can be challenging to squeeze everything in within such a short time,” said Sheila Aguirre, EVP of Content Distribution and Format Sales at FremantleMedia International. “We are taking pre- andpost- NATPEmeetings for thosewhohave an extended stay.” Since participants’ schedules are so packed, Aguirre suggested that the market might benefit from adding an extra day. “I am never able to attend any of the conferences and I would like to have at least half a day to hear some of the panels,” she explained. And, Perth added, “NATPE always has been and always will be a market and conference that is about one thing: content. There are so many sectors in this business, and they don’t exist alone. It’s no longer just linear, just digital, just the studios, just the syndicators, just advertisers. We build a value chain across the entire business and the platforms. We’re the big tent.” Hence this year’s theme: “Content Without Borders.” Last November, Reed MIDEM launched MIP Cancun in Mexico to bring buyers and sellers together for one-on-one meetings. Asked whether he was concerned that MIP Cancun could potentially siphon off participants from NATPE in the future, Perth replied, “I’m concerned about anyone who’s in our space…but we won’t roll over.” This time around, the 12th annual Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Award will recognize six executives — four from the domestic side and two international: Linda Bell Blue (executive producer of Entertainment Tonight for 19 years), Gustavo Cisneros (chairman of The Cisneros Group), Adriana Cisneros (Gustavo’s daughter and CEO and vice chairman of Cisneros), Jay Leno (former host of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno), Jonathan Murray (chairman of Bunim/Murray Productions) and Ted Sarandos (chief content officer at Netflix). Theywill be honored at a reception hosted by Craig Ferguson (host of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson) on January 21. The award recognizes a select group of television professionals who exhibit extraordinary passion, leadership, independence and vision in the process of creating television programming. NATPE is particularly enthusiastic about this year’s opening keynote, given by the iconic TV writer and producer Norman Lear, who will be interviewed by Phil Rosenthal (creator of Everybody Loves Raymond). Plus, actress Eva Longoria will take part in a Global Navigator conference with Adriana Cisneros. This year, the conferences will fall under several categories: the Platforms Accelerated Track, which among other related topics will explore how to monetize the fragmentation of delivery platforms; theAccess to Insight Track, a series ofmaster classes andconversations (attendance is limited); theGame Changers Track, duringwhich topbroadcast, digital platform, advertiser and production companies offer insight into how they grow their businesses; and the NATPE Reality Track. And on January 20, NATPE is launching a separate strand of sessions under the banner NATPE Reality. This group of sessions will give participants the opportunity to connect to reality executives and receive insight into reality programming. The Reality and Formats Day was developed in close collaboration with NATPE’s Reality and Formats Advisory Board, headed by Phil Gurin and Hans Schiff. In addition to the conference lineup, a PRO Pitch event will see participants pitching their ideas directly to top reality and formats development executives from broadcast, cable, syndicated TV and domestic and international distributors. NATPE is also launching the NATPE Reality Breakthrough Awards during a networking mixer and luncheon that will honor the most innovative content in five categories — Reality, Reality Competition, Game Shows, Docusoaps and Factual. Confirmed session speakers include Ricardo Ehrsam from Televisa Internacional, Grant Ross from Zodiak Media Group, Michael Schmidt of Red Arrow Entertainment Group, Mark Linsey from BBC and Jennifer Dettman of CBC Television. A second panel focusing on reality shows in syndication will include Stephen Brown of Fox Television Stations, Lonnie Burstein of DebmarMercury, Hilary Estey McLoughlin from CBS Television Distribution and Valerie Schaer of NBCUniversal Domestic Television Distribution. There will also be a case study on ABC’s Shark Tank, featuring executive producer Clay Newbill. “We are never standing still,” added Perth. “We completely understand that the dynamics of the business are moving at such a speed that it’s our obligation to keep apace, and we’re committed to that, and as a result, our promise is that NATPE will continue to be more and more relevant every year.” By Sara Alessi Miami Market Adds Seminars To An Already Busy Conference January 2015 NATPE Preview NATPE Miami is ready to welcome European buyers and sellers.
10 After a trip to Singapore in December for the 15th annual Asia TV Forum and Market (ATF) participants likely returned to their respective countries feeling like they’d overdosed on Christmas carols. So pervasive was the commercial aspect of Christmas in this tropical Asian city-state that no corner was spared; whether it was a Chinese, Indonesian, Thai, Malaysian or Vietnamese store. However, the atmosphere was different inside the large Marina Bay Sands Complex where ATF was held, this year on the fourth and fifth floors, which offered more space than the traditional ground floor. There the mood was somber and not as joyous as on the levels below, which were packed with high-end stores and restaurants (naturally, all playing a continuous loop of Christmas carols and American Christmas songs). As was the case last year, the four-day TV trade show opened with an afternoon welcoming reception at the convention center. The reception on December 10 came a day after a series of conferences that market organizers were keen to promote, perhaps not fully appreciating the fact that most participants don’t travel up to 25 hours to listen to speakers dispensing wisdom that could have just as easily been consumed at home via streaming. As for the new location inside the convention center, comments were largely favorable as a result of the larger sun-lit space, even though the extra space rendered the corridors less busy. The fear of long escalators jammed with people (the elevators are far away and therefore not convenient) did not materialize, which left some exhibitors with mixed feelings because they were hoping for more people. After registering and attending conferences on the fourth floor, participants had the option of several additional escalators to conquer in order to reach the exhibition hall on the fifth floor where 106 stands (including 13 pavilions) were set up to accommodate 338 exhibiting companies from 30 countries. Program buyers attending ATF mostly reflected Singapore’s ethnic composition indicated above, where, out of 28 total participating countries, 17 were from Southeast Asia with 235 buying companies. In total there were about 270 buying companies registered for a ratio of 1.25 sellers per buyer. With 33 buying companies, Hong Kong sent the largest contingent after Singapore (34), followed by Indonesia (26), South Korea (24), Taiwan (22), Thailand (18) and Mainland China (16). The market continued to see a diminished presence of the once abundant Latin companies with only three countries and five companies exhibiting, plus Telemundo from Miami. However, ATF’s importance is increasing for buyers from the pan-regional TV channels, which are mostly based in Singapore. As reported in VideoAge’s preview story from our December 2014 Issue, exhibitors still tend to see ATF as a “small” market and therefore they allocate few marketing resources in terms of stand presence, sales force, advertising visibility and parties. Austria-based Fashion TV hosted one at the Foundry Club, Comarex at Kinki and NBCUniversal at the Mandarin Oriental. After attending a studio party at ATF, one could understand why independents cannot compete with the studios’ sheer presence both in terms of floor flare and recreational activities. These challenges come despite the fact that the trade show is unique in its form and calendar dates (December 9-12), and it has relatively little competition from other regional TV markets. Many sellers at the ATF tend to limit themselves to simply renting tables in the “Participants’” area, while timing their Singapore trip with local visits to content buyers in neighboring countries. In this respect, Starz Media’s Todd Bartoo suggested that perhaps NATPE should organize a U.S. pavilion similar to the one AFM organizes for its members at MIPCOM. Some companies that take large stands at markets such as MIP-TV opt for the bare minimum at ATF, but they still reported brisk pre-market sales and sales during the market, indicating that good content sells regardless of booth size. It has been reported that, technically, Asia is made up of 48 different countries, but less than 50 percent are represented at the ATF. Perhaps opening up the market to the missing countries could reverse the seller-buyer ratio to 1:2 and thus improve the trade show’s effectiveness among small- and medium-sized sellers. In addition, due to the large Asian Muslim population, ATF could expand its reach to the Middle East, a TV region now served by DISCOP Istanbul. A Good Asia TV Market, Still In Search Of An Elusive Success January 2015 ATF Repo r t The entrance to the new, and larger, exhibition area Together with the hard-to-find directory, at the ATF a special report circulated celebrating Robert Chua’s 50 years in the Asian TV business The new registration area The studios had a discreet, yet powerful presence at ATF. Pictured are NBCUniversal, Disney and Sony Pictures lined up on the fifth floor just before the main entrance Perhaps NATPE should organize a U.S. pavilion similar to the one AFM organizes for its members at MIPCOM.
A NEW ANIMATED FAMI LY ADVENTURE MOVIE TANDEM COMMUNICATIONS presents A MAHON PICTURES PRODUCTION Written and Produced by DONALD SUTHERLAND and BRAD PEYTON Join TANDEM at NATPE MIAMI Jan. 20-22 Sorrento Tower Suite 30714 sales@tandemcom.de TANDEM COMMUNICATIONS PRESENTS A MAHON PICTURES PRODUCTION IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE CANADIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION AND WITH THE PARTICIPATION OF CANADA MEDIA FUND, COGECO PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT FUND, AND WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF CANADIAN FILM OR VIDEO PRODUCTION TAX CREDIT, AND ONTARIO PRODUCTION SERVICES TAX CREDIT “PIRATE’S PASSAGE” WRITTEN BY DONALD SUTHERLAND & BRAD PEYTON BASED ON THE NOVEL “PIRATE’S PASSAGE” BY WILLIAM GILKERSON STARRING DONALD SUTHERLAND, GAGE MUNROE, CARRIE-ANNE MOSS, MEGAN FOLLOWS, KIM COATES, COLM FEORE, GORDON PINSENT, PAUL GROSS, ROSSIF SUTHERLAND, TERRY HAIG MUSIC BY ANDREW LOCKINGTON ANIMATION BY PIP ANIMATION SERVICES INC. DIRECTED BY MIKE BARTH, JAMIE GALLANT ART DIRECTOR BRADLEY CAYFORD CASTING BY SHERRY DAYTON, MICHAEL WALTERS PRODUCED BY DONALD SUTHERLAND AND BRAD PEYTON EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS ERIC BIRNBERG, THOMAS MARK WALDEN CONSULTING PRODUCER ROSSIF SUTHERLAND © 2015 MARTINS RIVER INK, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
I N T E R N A T I O N A L www.V i deoAge.org Photo Caption Mayo 16 Edición de L.A. Screenings — Estudios Mayo 13 Edición de L.A. Screenings — Latina Abril 10 Edición de MIP-TV y MIP-TV Diaria Febrero 23 Edición de DISCOP West Asia THE BUSINESS JOURNAL OF FILM, BROADCASTING, BROADBAND, PRODUCTION, DISTRIBUTION Enero 2015 - VOL. 35 NO. 1 - $9.75 (Continuación a la página 20) (Continuación a la página 16) (Continuación a la página 14) Es muy simple: los espectadores ven los programas que les gusta. ¿Significa eso que todo lo necesario para hacer un exitoso canal de TV es elegir los programas correctos? Puede que esto fuera posible hace unos años atrás cuando la audiencia tenía pocas opciones de elección acerca de qué y cuándo ver los programas. Ahora, todo esto ha cambiado. Pantallas múltiples, ofertas de programas bajo demanda (on-demand) y la piratería han debilitado los lazos entre los programas y los canales. Las diferencias entre el broadcaster El contenido es el Rey, pero la marca es la Reina Existe la creencia general de que, a medida que el universo de la TV se astilla y las opciones de verla se multiplican, grandes audiencias pueden ser generadas solamente de eventos en vivo tales como deporte, como pueden dar fe los mercados SPORTEL y MIPCOM TV en la Costa La gran pelea por la audiencia de deportes en la TV El impacto en Europa de la reducción de presupuestos El año 2008 no sólo vio la peor crisis financiera de los años 80, sino también el comienzo de una completa revolución tecnológica sin precedentes.Estossucesoshistóricos todavía continúan afectando el balance de adquisiciones versus la producción local en Europa. Como consecuencia de la debacle del 2008, los cinturones se siguen ajustando a lo largo de Europa e impactando en los presupuestos de producción. El Observatorio Europeo Audiovisual informó recientemente que el total de presupuestos de los broadcasters públicos cayeron en Europa en 2012 a 32.6 billones de euros (USA $43 billones) frente a los 33.4 billones de euros (USA $44.5 billones) de 2009. En 2013 el volumen de negocios en los 19 mercados de televisión más grandes de Europa apenas si creció un 1%. A pesar de ello, Ross Biggam, Director General de ACT (Asociación Comercial de Broadcasters) dijo que él, “no ha visto datos sugiriendo que hubo una migración de presupuestos Producción local vs. Adquisiciones SECCIÓN EN ESPAÑOL 150 Central Park South Suite 310 New York, NY 10019 phone 212 707 8244 email susan@bendermediaservices.net DISTRIBUTED BY L AT I N AME R I C A N T E L E V I S I O N R E P R E S E N TAT I O N bender media services
January 2015 16 Azul. Las “ofertas irracionales” por los derechos deportivos, según algunos analistas canadienses, incremetarán los precios y limitarán las posibilidades de elección del consumidor, ya que los costos serán cargados al espectador. Según la CRTC, la Comisión de Radio-Televisión y Comunicaciones de Canadá, el Ente regulador de dicho país, los abonados canadienses han expresado su insatisfacción respecto al precio de los canales de deportes y por tener que pagar por paquetes de canales que incluyen aquellos que no desean. Como resultado, la CRTC actualmente considera imponer un sistema de elige-y-paga-ala-carta. El efecto de la desagreación del mercado es un tema de suma importancia, dice el veterano broadcaster Jay Switzer, Presidente de Hollywood Suite, un grupo de canales de películas. “En general, tanto Bell y Rogers usan la gran demanda de sus canales de deportes para ayudar a garantizar el acarreo a lo largo del país de sus redes de cable con menor demanda y, de manera directa o indirecta, forzar a la mayoría de los abanados en Canadá a pagar por redes de deportes lo quieran o no. La CRTC parece estar presionándolos para armar paquetes disponibles sin deportes y esto, si tiene éxito, causará daño a ambos jugadores”. Permitir a los consumidores comprar de manera individual los canales de televisión que desean ver, sin duda y seguramente impulsará el incremento de los precios por los canales más deseados, tales como los de deportes. Unos meses atrás, cada uno de los dos gigantes de los deportes canadienses realizó el anuncio futuro de una marca ícono. Rogers Media Inc., anunció que el Scotianbank será uno de sus mayores sponsors en la cobertura de la NHL, la liga de hockey. TSN (The Sports Network), perteneciente a Bell Media, de manera similar anunció una asociación de contenidos digitales a largo plazo con la Canadian Tire Corp. Esta competencia, destinada a atraer y mantener la atención de los fanáticos del deporte, también creó tensiones entre la dos empresas canadienses verticalmente integradas. The Store, el único pero más pequeño broadcaster independiente, fue recientemente adquirido por Rogers Media y renombrada como Sportsnet family. Pero Sportsnet y TSN no son los únicos servicios de deportes disponibles en Candá. Leonard Asper posee –tipo boutique- cinco canales relacionados con la temática, y beIN SPORTS fue lanzado hace poco. De propiedad de The Ehnic Channel Group, y acarreado por Bell y por Rogers, presenta eventos deportivos internacionales, incluyendo el popular campeonato de fútbol español La Liga. Mientras tanto, CBC, el broadcaster público, posee derechos de eventos como los Juegos Panamericanos y los Juegos del Commonwealth, ISU skating (patinaje sobre hielo) y la Olimpíadas. Perdió los derechos de la Copa del Mundo FIFA de 2018 y de 2022 a Bell Media. Esta locura deportiva fue impulsada por Roger con la compra preventiva de los derechos por 14 años de la National Hockey League (NHLLiga Nacional de Hockey) por valor C$5.2 billones de dólares canadienses. Rogers, con constante crecimiento de los puntos de difusión de Sportsnet, le arrebató la NHL a CBC en una movida que le da la joya de la corono televisiva, durante los últimos 30 años y nuestro compromiso para atender a los fanáticos del deporte nunca antes ha sido más fuerte”, dijo Phill King, Presidente de Bell Media CTV Programming and Sports, remarcando la diversidad de la línea de productos ofrecidos por TSN. “Hemos intensificado de manera inteligente la oferta de juegos digitales, y en mayo anunciamos que nos estamos expandiendo con más contenido y más plataformas que nunca para darle a los amantes de los deportes de Canadá, más deportes y mas opciones de elección”. TSN planea lanzar otras tres líneas de TSN, para aprovechar contenido valioso que tiene una salida de mercado limitada, incluyendo más de 1000 horas anuales de programación del canal de deportes americano ESPN, con el que tiene un acuerdo primario de derechos. (Rogers SportsNet tiene un acuerdo primario de derechos con la red de deportes FOX USA). En junio último TSN reveló sus anunciantes para la temporada 2014 de la CFL (Canadian [American] Football League-Liga canadiense [americana] de fútbol). Estos incluyen grandes marcas como General Motors, Nissan y Purolator. TSN es el broadcaster oficial de la CFL y ha anunciado el compromiso de una nueva plataforma digital para 2018. Ya se ha anunciado que está ofreciendo a sus fans nuevos contenidos digitales para redondear la cobertura que hacen de la CFL. A inicios del mismo mes Rogers anunció que siete de su canales especializados en deportes estaban siendo emitidos en streaming a los celulares y a las computadoras de sus abonados, dando acceso online a los de Toronto Blue Jays (béisbol), NBA (básquetbol), MLB (béisbol), Curling, el Tour de France, y la NFL (fútbol americano). Canadá no está sola en la lucha por los deportes. Visto que el verano pasado 21st Century Fox’s abandonó la oferta de adquirir Time Warner Inc., loque lehubieradadounportafoliodedeportes en vivo que podría competir con la ESPN de Disney. Los deportes en vivo se mantienen como uno de los cinturones de seguridad de la industria. IB la emisión nocturna de hockey en Canadá, dejando al canal público en grandes dificultades financieras. El acuerdo entre Roger y la NHL se hizo efectivo en julio último, Roges se encuentra embarcada en una enorme plan de marketing basado en una extensa investigación que demuestra que los espectadores quieren historias detrás del juego. De acuerdo a la experiencia tenida en la CBC, la productora Julie Bristow arribó a la misma conclusión e inició Bristow Global Media Inc., haciendo foco en la creación de contenido premium para complementar grandes eventos deportivos de reconocida marca emitidos en vivo. El lanzamiento por parte de TSN de canales adicionales creará la necesidad de mas contenido canadiense. “Hay otras oportunidades para los productores independientes en deportes de segunda línea como el Curlin, de alta calificación tanto en TSN como en Sportsnet, y la pesca, el deporte número uno de participantes en USA”. Fue el comentario de Matt Kelley de MyMediaMaker. “Se debe agregar contenido digital suplementario, particularmente perfiles de los atletas y mini documentales”. Roges también se aseguró un acuerdo por 10 años para la distribución exclusiva de la programación en Canadá de los programas deportivos de WWE, hasta 2024. Keith Pelly, Presidente de Rogers Media, dijo que él cree que Rogers se convertirá en el jugador más dominante en el espacio de los medios y contenidos en los próximos cinco años. TSN es el canal especializado más lucrativo de Canadá, pero su capacidad de mantenerse como el número uno en abonados e ingresos por publicidad ha sido sujeto de muchas especulaciones desde el acuerdo entre Rogers y la NHL. Los ingresos primarios de TSN provienen del pago de los abonados, y el costo del abono dio un salto de un 90% en dos años desde 2011 a 2013, si bien su base de abonados se ha mantenido estable. “Hemos sido los líderes del deporte en Canadá Programación (Continuación de la página 13) Jay Switzer de Hollywood Suite Permitir a los consumidores comprar de manera individual los canales de televisión que desean ver, sin duda y seguramente impulsará el incremento de los precios por los canales más deseados, tales como los de deportes.
22 Several Canadian media enterprises have promoted women to high-powered positions, generally believing they bring to the management table a range of opinions, views and experiences, as well as a more collaborative and inclusive leadership style. For seven years, Kirstine Stewart held major management roles at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), her last as the head of its English Services Programming. She is the only woman to have held that position, arguably one of the most scrutinized and politically-charged in Canadian broadcasting. Her departure set the stage for another woman to fill this important role. In April 2013 Stewart’s surprise announcement came: she was leaving for the U.S.-based social media giant Twitter. Stewart started as Twitter’s Canadian managing director. Barely a year later, she was promoted into a bigger pond — one that includes Canada — as VP, North American Media, overseeing Twitter’s partnerships in sports, television and music. Stewart’s resignation from the CBC triggered an extensive search for her replacement, and in September 2013 Heather Conway was formally appointed as the CBC’s next EVP of Englishlanguage Services, a position that puts her in charge of media products in what she has called “the most important cultural institution in the country.” She joined the public broadcaster’s senior executive team as a non-traditional programmer, coming from the Art Gallery of Ontario, where she was chief business officer overseeing human resources, digital services,marketing and corporate and public affairs, among other operations. Like Stewart, Conway spent time as an executive at Alliance Atlantis, responsible for strategic marketing, publicity and on-air creative plans for its Canadian cable specialty channels. And she and Stewart share the honor of having been named to Canada’s Top 40 Under 40. In appointing Conway, CBC’s president and CEO Hubert Lacroix, pointed to her leadership attributes: “a person with a business focus to decision-making,andareputationofnurturingand developing teams, a person who is as comfortable in a corporate boardroom as she is on the newsroom floor. And a person who has delivered results in a wide variety of circumstances.” Her arrival at the CBC comes amid budget cuts and — most importantly — the loss of hockey rights and Canada’s TV jewel, Hockey Night in Canada. Doing more with less while protecting Canadian programs is the most challenging job in Canadian television. During her brief tenure to date, the cashstrapped public broadcaster announced a huge shift in direction to a “mobile-first” initiative, taking into account that Canadians increasingly receive their news on laptops, tablets, smartphones and through social media. At Shaw Media, a diversified communications and media company that operates one of the largest conventional TV networks in Canada, Global Television, Barbara Williams’s recent promotion came as the result of the tragic death of Paul Robertson. But it was no surprise to the industry, where Williams is a highly respected executive with extensive accomplishments both as a television executive and as a passionate advocate and mentor for women and diversity. Last September she was appointed to EVP, Broadcasting, and president of Shaw Media. Like Stewart and Conway, her career includes time at Alliance Atlantis. In her new role, her key focus will be to continue to strengthen the company’s core business while moving it strategically into the ever-changing media environment. These changes have created other opportunities for women. Just as Williams has moved up, development executive Christine Shipton has moved up to SVP, Content at Shaw. Conway has appointed Sally Cato as general manager of Programming, CBC Television. Elsewhere, Tracy Pierce is now SVP, Specialty and Pay at Bell Media, and Bell and Rogers Media have both recently appointed women as senior media sales executives. Like Stewart, other Canadian women are making their mark outside of the country: Canadian Roma Khanna is president of Television Group and Digital at MGM Inc., and Laura Michalchyshyn, (also an Alliance Atlantis alumnus) is partner/producer at Robert Redford’s Sundance Productions, to name two. But Canadian women are not new to leadership roles. Well-established female Canadian executives include Lisa DeWilde, CEO at TV Ontario; Helga Stevenson, CEO, Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television; and Valerie Creighton, president and CEO of the Canadian Media Fund. In November, Canada’s Women in Communications and Technology announced a new initiative designed to catapult more women into the C-Suite, i.e., CEO-type positions. The program, “The Protégé Project,” will match fast-tracking senior women executives with powerful sponsors to give them the leg-up into the industry’s top decision-making positions. Sponsors include CTV News, Blue Ant Media, and Shaw Communications, also a partner in the venture. Noting that the percentage of women in senior television roles is well under 30 percent, Shaw’s Williams said, “Our hope is that as these sponsored women start to advance, we see a ripple effect, a groundswell of women helping the next round of up-and-coming female leaders to move up.” New non-traditional media companies “without norms and legacy, may herald a new meritocracy,” said Twitter’s Stewart. But the question still remains: Despite the change in the wind and all the good intentions, will women ever make it to the very, very top of traditional media enterprises, in Canada and abroad? By Isme Bennie From Starring RolesOnTV, Women Move to Top Roles InTelevision January 2015 Filling the Gender Gap in Canada Shaw Media’s Barbara Williams Twitter’s Kirstine Stewart MGM’s Roma Khanna
24 There is a saying in Hollywood that goes something like this: “If they want me to watch the programs that I have to sell, they’ve got to pay me extra.” But the problem isn’t that sales people have to endure watching the shows per se, it’s that sometimes they don’t like the programs they’re selling. Actually, according to one executive, it’s less of a problem and more of a mere “issue.” Herb Lazarus, a former studio executive and current president of Carsey-Werner International said, “the question is not whether you like [the shows] or not, it’s what works for your clients.” So, is it better to like a show that is hard to sell or to sell a show that you don’t like? After all the job of a sales person is to sell a show, not to like it. According to a retired U.S. studio distribution president, “It is worthwhile to be honest with buyers in order to have credibility, especiallywhen the sellers sense that the buyer doesn’t like it or has no place in the schedule for that kind of a program. When buyers asked my opinion on a particularly bad show, I openly said that I didn’t like it.” This “issue” is not just confined to distribution executives. Buyers face it as well, and it is never more evident than at the L.A. Screenings where, during breaks, buyers talk freely amongst themselves about shows that they personally like but will not work for their audiences. There is a famous quote from Ralph Baruch, the founder of Viacom, who used to say that every show that he liked failed, while the ones he didn’t like succeeded. Selling and buying content is not an easy way to earn a living, (even though it’s not as hard as working in the mines). One of the many difficulties for distributors is that those charged with selling content rarely have any say in what their company produces or acquires. Almost every sales person has been in a difficult situation like this at some point, and their reaction to it and strategies for dealing with it vary. But there’s one constant: No one will admit it ever happens. And, be honest, if you were still in the employ of the genius who commissioned Last Tango In Trenton— you too would be reluctant to discuss what exactly happened when you tried to sell it to the BBC. Not all tough sales are due to dud content. Sometimes perfectly good programming just doesn’t fit the needs of a schedule. One executiveVideoAge contacted recalled his then-boss making what seemed like a modest bid for a series in which genuine A-listers, such as Roger Moore and Joan Collins, took viewers on a tour of their favorite parts of the world. The guarantee, he recalled, “seemed very reasonable for what was great prime access content.” But there was a problem. That problem, in a word, was “monopoly.” In every non-English speaking market there was one voice who always dubbed the star in question, and audiences would not accept any other voice — thus creating a monopoly, which, in turn, increased dubbing costs, putting the series outside many budgets. As our anonymous interlocutor recalled, “My boss simply hadn’t considered this and, from the second pitch on, it was like Chinese water torture — you knew what was coming and you also knew there was absolutely nothing you could do about it.” Some wise sage once defined the attributes of a perfect salesperson as someone who “knows their product and understands their market.” In the case of the content business, that “market” is almost always just the one person in the screening room with you, and an ability to read them is a vital attribute. Another sales executive recalled having a drama series set during the Vietnam War. “It was so stilted that, even though it was in color, every time I watched it, I saw it in black and white and heard the voice of Robert Mitchum!” Despite these obvious shortcomings for a series debuting in the 1990s our source recalled, “I was determined to use this series as an exercise in ‘perfect pitching’ and had really worked hard on my pitch ahead of the Cannes market, at which it was to bow. I went into my first screening with a buyer from a territory that, in those days, still only had two broadcasters; sailed word perfect through my pitch, and then began the screening. As the turgid tragedy unfolded I was watching the buyer, mostly because that is what you’re supposed to do, but also because I had already seen what was on the screen, and couldn’t bear to watch it again. The weird thing was, as I watched his face, I found myself thinking, my baby brother looks like this at Christmas — he was loving it,” she said. “When the screening ended I had a sale. He informed me, ‘I am not leaving this room until I have bought this series.’ The temptation to just grab a sale — surely, I thought, one of the few — was almost too much to resist. But his rival was coming to screen the following day and so, instead, I said how pleased I was that he liked it, but suggested that, as his competitor was due the following day, maybe we should wait and see what he said. But no, he insisted that he was going to do a deal there and then and that I should tell him how much I wanted. So, I thought, what the hell, and threw him a number about three times the growing rate. He signed the deal memo before leaving the stand.” And then there is creativity. The titleLast Tango in Trenton is, as far as we know, an invention. They Saved Hitler’s Brain isn’t. It came, along with an array of similarly improbable titles, as part of a large acquisition made by a company VideoAge contacted. Following a fine lunch with a buyer and accompanied by a small libation in a Palais screening room, the seller screened this and a few other choice turkeys, and pitched the blitzed buyer on the idea of running a Friday late-night season of such movies under the generic heading “Golden Turkeys.” A sale of 13 such titles ensued. You might hate it, the market might hate it — but it still has to be sold. That’s the beauty, art, and torture of selling content. Selling (or Buying) TV Programs That Even The Sellers (or Buyers) Don’t Like January 2015 Distribut ion Issues “Whatever you do, don’t ask Howard about the new TV season!”
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