Video Age International December 2016

6 World December 2016 V I D E O A G E Record TV’s Delmar Andrade (pictured at left with Edson Pfutzenreiter Mendes) said, “The market is still small but growing and you have to look at the long run.” Some distributors who have attended the event for years, like Discovery Learning’s Bruce Rabinowitz, felt that it was a bit “crowded” due to the presence of larger distribution companies, such as CBSSI, NBCUni, Viacom, Paramount, Turner, and also large Asian operators, such as China’s Star Times. The seminars, workshops and pitching sessions — all held on the third floor of the convention center — were also busy and varied. As for exhibitors’ comments, VideoAge recorded these on the floor: Cristobal Ponte of Cisneros was offering 5,500 hours of series dubbed in various official languages. Mario Castro of Televisa specified that their novelas are dubbed in English, French and Portuguese, and this market is particularly important for them because of the increasing competition among telenovela distributors. Kanal D’s Kerim Emrah Turna (pictured below with Selim Türkmen), who had been coming to Discop Africa for the past four years, was offering his long-running Turkish series completely dubbed in English and French. In Africa, where free TV is the main market (while in Southeast Asia, digital rights prevail), countries are transitioning to digital and the complete switchover will happen in a couple of years, in the meanwhile digital channels are proliferating, as Cisneros’ Ponte commented, “since the deadline for switching to digital was in June 2015, distributors are now selling pay-TV rights and then free TV.” However, they have to sell all different rights to compensate for the low license fees that Africa can pay, as stated by Kanal D’s Turna, who feels that “the proliferation of platforms in this area has somewhat counterbalanced these reduced prices.” N ext year’s Discop Africa will take place fromOctober 25-27 to avoid conflict with the American FilmMarket. Recently, the Johannesburg trade show took place simultaneously with the Hollywood event, starting on November 2 at the Sandton Convention Center, registering over 2,000 participants and 140 exhibiting companies, a 15 percent increase from last year. Notable companies such as Mexico’s Televisa, the U.S.’s NBCUniversal (which also housed Telemundo), and India’s Zee Entertainment, in addition to Africa’s SABC, Kenya Film Commission, RTI, Cote d’Ivoire Audiovisual and Digital Lab Africa, set up large stands. Pavilions that grouped together distributors from the same country were: TVFI, the South African Pavilion, the American Umbrella, as well as a large China Pavilion. The exhibition area also accommodated meeting tables and a matchmaking lounge. Exhibitors contacted by VideoAge were satisfied with the growth of Discop Africa, which allowed them to stay in touch with buyers that are traditionally difficult to reach, even just for follow-ups. Discop Africa NowAttracts The Big Guns, To The Dismay Of Indies, But Biz Is Done Regardless (Continued from Page 4)