Video Age International January 2016

10 January 2016 V I D E O A G E Distribution and Claudia Scott-Hansen, VP of Distribution will both be in attendance. For 9Story, NATPEprovides a great opportunity to increase its presence with Latin American clients and hold some key one-on-one meetings. The significant attendance of digital players is also growing. And NATPE’s timing helps kick- start initiatives for the year. Les Tomlin, president of Toronto-based Peace Point Entertainment, will head a big team again this year, which includes Eric Muller, svp of Sales and Acquisitions, and Julie Chang, SVP of Acquisitions and Business Affairs. “NATPE has always been a key market, particularly as our Latin American business continues to grow in importance, and this market is critical for us in meeting with our Latin American partners,” he said. “And any time we can bring all of our buyers and our sales team together in one place at one time, I find that is cost effective. It is also a great launch venue for global releases.” Andrea Gorfolova, president, and Karthiga Ratnasabapathy, vp Worldwide Sales and Acquisitions, Tricon Films and Television, will also travel from Canada to attend. Like the other companies, Ratnasabapathy finds NATPE a great market for seeing Latin American clients who don’t always attend MIPCOM, as well as useful for meeting U.S. and Canadian partners, specifically in the digital space. “We have also noticed a greater influx of European buyers which is making NATPE quite lucrative for our international business.” And she finds it cost- effective, especially with a suite where meetings are easily accessible. Solange Attwood, svp, Blue Ant Media, will represent that Canadian company, a privately held, fast-growing international media enterprise that owns and operates ten media brands. The above is a sampling of the many Canadian distributors at NATPE, some of whom have stands or suites, others who have meeting tables or exhibit at group pavilions while others, such as Breakthrough, work the floor alongside many For buyers who pay in local currencies, the depreciation doesn’t make any difference except, perhaps, the poor economic climates require reducing content imports. Conversely, for Latin American sellers, the depreciation represents a windfall. In addition, the major distributors (like the U.S. studios) tend to insure sales against currency fluctuation by investing in hedge funds, which could reduce the losses from, say a 20 percent currency devaluation (29 percent over the last 12 months in the case of Colombia) to as low as five percent. Just to see how severe other currency depreciation against the U.S. dollar have been in Latin America since 2014: Argentina’s peso is down 23 percent, Brazil’s real 47 percent, Mexico’s peso 13 percent, Chile’s peso 15 percent, while Venezuela has imposed a dual exchange rate, one with a 17 percent devaluation for the public sector imports and another at 100 percent devaluation for the commercial sector. Despite the economic problems in Latin America, attendance at the premier LATAM market, according to NATPE’s CEO Rod Perth, “is pacing well ahead of previous years, both internationally and domestically.” He also explained that the market floor will triple in size by taking the space at the Fontainebleau Hotel previously used for the conferences, which, in turn, will be moved to the adjacent Eden Roc Hotel. All in all, “well over 5,000 total attendees are expected,” said Perth. On the recreational front, expect a major party from Viacom to launch its Miami sound stage studios. There will also be parties from NBCUniversal and three from NATPE itself, including the Tartikoff Awards, which Perth called “our jewel.” Some 15 parties are expected to take place in all. A complete, up-to-date list of parties will be listed in VideoAge ’s Tuesday, January 19 Daily. buyers. For themajor buyers fromCanada, such as Bell Media, Shaw, and Rogers, whose purchasing is affected by U.S. network schedules and the financial benefits of simulcasting, the timing of NATPE Miami allows them to see what’s in the pipeline and to solidify relationships with the major studios and other important suppliers. For most cable-only groups — like Jay Switzer’s Hollywood Suite, represented at NATPE by its president David Kines, or those owned by Zoomer Media — shopping for genre-specific programming is what it’s all about. When VideoAge asked to amajor LatinAmerican distributor how many buyers he expects at NATPE, he answered simply, “all of them,” but he added “each of us [of the sales force] only see a handful of them, so the market is relatively easy for us. NATPE gives us more an opportunity to meet among ourselves than with Latin buyers who we see regularly.” In Latin America, the currency devaluation against the U.S. dollar is also an important issue that is viewed with different perspectives. NATPE Revamped (Continued from Page 8) Red Arrow’s Henrik Pabst The Fontainebleau Miami Beach Hotel will be NATPE 2016 headquarters from January 19-21 Peace Point Entertainment’s Les Tomlin