Videoage International December 2017

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 December 2017 - VOL. 37 NO. 7 - $9.75 T his year, the 10 countries of the ASEAN community are celebrating their 50th anniversary. Member state Singapore staged several celebratory events during the months of July, August and October, and the Asia TV Forum (ATF) market is expected to benefit from an influx of participants from other members, including Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. But while the added excitement sounds great, it might also have negative implications if, in the words of one distribution sales executive who wished to remain anonymous, management gets set for higher expectations. In Southeast Asia, the primary region for ATF participants, license fees can go as high as U.S.$8,000 per hour for larger territories or as low as U.S.$300 per hour in Cambodia. Rather than lose out on a sale due to management requesting a higher, more unrealistic price, sales executives in the trenches often report lower offering fees than the ones actually offered. For example, Singapore:ASEANMediaHub StagesFourEventsAroundATF (Continued on Page 22) My 2¢: Market sales data is more important than attendance figures DISCOP Review: Conflicting dates strain market strength MIPCOM Review: A strong “Meepweek” for all participants David Letterman’s fall and rise to late night television Page 26 Page 24 Page 12 Page 8 B rian McGrath entered the TV business in 1970, before the company he joined became Viacom as a spinoff of CBS Syndication. After that, McGrath’s career was always ahead of the curve. In retrospect, itwas a rollercoaster of a curve, but he always seemed to come out on top despite tumultuous circumstances. BrianMcGrath:The Int’lTVDistribution HallofFameHonoree (Continued on Page 16) (Continued on Page 20) T he theme of this upcoming NATPE Miami market, the 38th in the association’s 54- year history, is “A Changing Industry in a Changing World,” and even though it is appropriate, it doesn’t go far enough. The world, and the U.S. in particular, is indeed changing rapidly, and the television industry is right in the middle, enmeshed in various “fake news” and “alternative facts” controversies. Years ago, Americans to the right of the political spectrum were fearful, distrustful and plain incensed by the Russians, while the left saw Russia NATPEMiami To Tackle a Rapidly ChangingWorld