Videoage International March-April 2020

16 March/April 2020 V I D E O A G E Not Quite Roaring ‘20s, But Still Jazzy: Lots of Parties and Name Changes “I t’s so cold in Florida that the weather service warns of falling frozen igua- nas,” read a Miami Herald headline on Wednesday, January 22, the second day of the NATPE Miami market. The temperature warmed up the next day in this subtropical city, but it was a rainy last day. Not that the market started on a better note. Indeed, the managers of the Fontainebleau Hotel, NATPE Miami’s headquarters, reportedly received anote fromhackerswhodemandedmoney inorder to unlock their computer system the Thursday prior to the market’s start. A hotel manager did not answer a request for confirmation, but rumors swirled that the FBI was called in and that, ultimately, the hotel paid up. The computer problem caused those NATPE participants who arrived on Saturday to have to wait long hours in order to get into their rooms. In one particularly bad case, an exhibitor from Los Angeles arrived at the hotel at 4:30 p.m. but had to wait until 1:30 a.m. to get a room. The hotel offered him (and other similarly aggrieved guests) a $200 credit for his troubles. Inexplicably, the hotel also locked the outside doors of both the Tresor Tower (where most of the LATAM companies were exhibiting) and the Sorrento Tower (where companies like Lionsgate and all3media had their exhibition suites), forcing participants to walk all the way around the compound in order to enter the hotel. Later on, following many complaints, the doors were reopened from the outside. The other towerswith exhibition suiteswere the Chateau (which hosted companies such as MGM) and the Versailles (with exhibitors that included NBCUniversal). These areas were in addition to the convention floors, which housed stands (such as GRB’s), exhibitor tables (where ACI could be found), and poolside cabanas (where Monarch Films set up shop). Then, on opening day, Tuesday, there was a false fire alarm that caused a short evacuation in some areas of the compound. Additionally, due to poor coordination, there were some delays in delivering the market’s two daily publications to the rooms, and some exhibitors fumed that the market floor doors were still closed at 9 a.m., leaving no pre-arranged places to meet with buyers. This was supposedly done in order to allow participants to attend the opening ceremony, giving credence to the idea that NATPE organizers favor conferences over marketplace activities. The 10th anniversary of NATPE in Miami brought with it lots of parties (a record 20), NATPE’s own Iris Awards (a U.S. domestic awards ceremony that started in 1968 and that returned after a 19-year hiatus), a first-time sit-down dinner for the Tartikoff Awards, the second annual Global TV Demand Awards, and, as explained by NATPE CEO JP Bommel during a closing press conference, a large number of streaming platform buyers. This latest development also brought on a discussion at the press conference of what constitutes a buyer at NATPE (since many participants are both sellers and buyers of TV content), and what constitutes a streaming platform buyer (since many linear channels also demand streaming rights, either for SVoD, AVoD or TVoD). Another notable development was the in- creased presence of U.S. TV station groups, which allowed CBS Television Distribution to announce that its new daytime talk show, The Drew Barrymore Show , had already cleared 85 percent of U.S. homes for fall 2020. Contrary to popular belief, explained Ira Bernstein, co-president of U.S. domestic syndicator Debmar-Mercury (part of Lionsgate), despite the lower number of station groups that own all local TV stations, U.S. syndicators still need to clear NATPE Miami Review (Continued on Page 20) Banijay’s TimMutimer at the company’s stand Mediaset’s Sonia Danieli, Licia Paoli, Serena Petrecca, Manuela Caputi, and Claudia Marra The 10th anniversary of NATPE in Miami brought with it lots of parties, NATPE’s own Iris Awards, a first-time sit- down dinner for the Tartikoff Awards, the second annual Global TV Demand Awards, and a large number of streaming platform buyers. individual markets to launch new TV shows. At NATPE, Debmar-Mercury and FOX TV stations threw a party to celebrate their Nick Cannon Show , which is set to launch in fall 2020 in U.S. syndication. The increased attendance of U.S. domestic TV stations was also documented by the presence of many local FOX TV stations, and by Perry Sook,