Videoage International - 2020: A Year in Review

8 January 2021 V I D E O A G E Canceled TV Trade Shows In Europe T he industry’s calendar showed three TV trade shows that were to be held in Europe in the spring: Series Mania in northern France’s Lille, MIP-TV in southern France’s Cannes, and Cartoons on the Bay, set to take place in Pescara, a town in the center of Italy. With north, south, and the center all represented, the geographical balance was to be well respected. But after the completion of NATPE Miami in late January, the TV sector became aware of a threat to more than just the overlapping calendar dates: the coronavirus, which originated in China. Then on March 1, the French government banned indoor gatherings of more than 5,000 people (although football matches were held in French stadiums and weren’t shut down because they were considered outdoors). According to the Wall Street Journal, so far organizers in Asia, Europe, and North America have canceled or postponed some 440 trade shows and exhibitions in response to the coronavirus. Market postponements due to coronavirus concerns started in February, when Hong Kong organizers postponed their FilMart from March 25-28 to August 27-29, and Reed MIDEM rescheduled its MIPIM real estate market in Cannes from March 10-13 to June 2-5. Then on March 4 came the dramatic news that Reed MIDEM had decided to cancel MIP- TV altogether due to “concerns related to co- ronavirus.” However, considering that there were only 526 exhibitors and 683 buyers, the total expected participation would have ultimately reached fewer than the 5,000-person limit for indoor congregations. Many industry insiders believe that MIP-TV’s real reason for cancellation is due to lukewarm industry participation for this year’s market that would have caused Reed MIDEM to lose face if the market attracted fewer than the organizers’ aimed number of 8,000 attendees. “In the current context, many of our clients have expressed concerns about traveling at this time,” said Paul Zilk, Reed MIDEM’s CEO. “Rescheduling MIP-TV in the coming months is not feasible.” The coronavirus would also have caused a dramatic reduction in the Chinese contingent, which traditionally constitutes a big part of MIP- TV attendees. Plus, delegations from other Asian countries would have been affected, especially considering that South Korea was this MIP-TV’s Country of Honor. Rescheduling MIP-TV would have proven a gargantuan task since Reed MIDEM already has two concurrent events — the aforementioned MIPIM and MIDEM, a music conference — set for the most logical month to switch it to, June. The month of May, of course, is out of the picture due to the popular L.A. Screenings event. The Cannes Film Festival takes place in May, as well. The next MIP-TV is now scheduled for April 10-15, 2021. Now we turn our attention to Cartoons on the Bay, a children’s TV festival organized by RAI, the Italian state broadcaster. RAI showed an early alarmist attitude. Its delegation left the Berlin Film Festival before the event was over, but later sent one representative to the awards ceremony on February 29 to accept the two prizes that RAI-produced movies had won. Subsequently, RAI’s management circulated an internal memo instructing its personnel to use caution in traveling domestically and internationally. (News people were exempt from that directive.) Then on March 5, RAI officials decided to postpone Cartoons on the Bay to another yet-to- be-decided date, even though the festival prizes will be awarded remotely before the summer. Also on March 5, the Nigerian International TV Summit, scheduled for April 3-4 in Paris, was rescheduled to another yet-to-be-determined date. Useful Tips For World B’casters from TCA L os Angeles contributor Susan L. Hornik reported from the Television Critics Association (TCA) Press Tour, which held its winter edition January 7-19 at the Langham Huntington hotel in Pasadena, California. All network programming heads discussed their companies’ plans with the many journalists present, ahead of the Upftonts in May. Some 300 participants, including journalists and TV executives, were in attendance. Dominating the event were Disney with its ABC, Hulu, and FX, and ViacomCBS with its All Access, Showtime, and Pop. Both clearly brought streaming into the strategy mix. Developing Content at Series Mania T he Series Mania International Festival will gather more than 70,000 public spectators and 2,500-plus entertainment industry professionals at its annual event, which will be held in Lille, France for the third year in a row. It was previously held in Paris. Created by former Forum des Image general director Laurence Herszberg in 2010, the festival, which highlights content development and production, is expected to have a successful outing this year, March 20-28. The industry arm of the event, Series Mania Forum (March 25-27), will continue to offer a platform for network broadcasters, producers, distributors, and buyers to connect. The Forum will feature co-production pitching sessions and a final showcase from the UGC Writers Campus by Series Mania, which is coordinated with UGC, the European cinema multiplex operator. Moses Znaimer In The Hall of Fame I t’s not known if Moses Znaimer ever colla- borated with Marshall McLuhan, but it seems clear that after the death of the Canadian media philosopher in 1980, Znaimer took his mantle, and in his “Ten Commandments of Television” he stated: “Print created illiteracy, TV is democratic.” But 12 years after that proclamation, in 2003, when he left Citytv, the station he founded in 1971, he reconciled with print and based his new media group on a magazine, Zoomer. For 55 years Znaimer has been, in the words of The Canadian Encyclopedia , “The bad boy of Canadian television,” and now he’s the recipient of VideoAge ’s 31st International TV Distribution Hall of Fame honor. Znaimer — whose exact date of birth is unclear, but who believes he was born sometime in 1941 during a train trip to Kulob, in Tajikistan — has been described as a media entrepreneur, a media executive, a media innovator, a TV host, a producer, an actor, a TV historian, a TV museum curator, a TV philosopher, and a prophet, who has been influencing and polarizing Canadian society since 1965. In Other News March2: Production was shut down inHollywood for fear of COVID contagion. March 9: The Upfronts , set for May 11-14, were canceled. March 11: Series Mania canceled its live event. March 11: NAB announced a postponement of its NAB Las Vegas set for April 18-22. The live event was later replaced with a virtual show. March 12: U.S. studios canceled the L.A. Screen- ings. March 13: Live sports shut down worldwide. March 17: VideoAge published its April Issue (print and digital). It was the only international TV trade publication to do so. March 19: The Cannes Film Festival , scheduled for May 12-23, was postponed to June. On April 24, it was turned into an online event. March 20: Europe limited bandwidth con- sumption. March 24: The Tokyo 2020 Olympics were postponed to 2021. March 27: ProSiebenSat1 CEO Max Conze left the German media company. March 30: DISCOP Joburg , scheduled for July 29-31, was canceled. March 2020 Review