INTERNATIONAL www.VideoAge.org FAST channels seem to be taking over the television business — not just in the U.S., but across the world. But how long can this last? FAST feeds on content libraries of old programs, but streamers are taking current content and, on the whole, keeping it for themselves, so where will those channels be able to acquire content from, if at all? Viewers will eventually get tired of seeing the same shows over and over again, so what happens to those channels? Will they just die? Or will they become something new? These are issues that, surprisingly, are seldom addressed at conferences and seminars, so VideoAge decided to look into it by quizzing experts on each aspect of this TV business. Granted, there are lots of content libraries out there (featurProfits from streaming services are starting to rise, but that isn’t a reason for media companies to neglect their traditional linear TV services, better known as “legacy media.” Indeed, My 2¢: A model replicating a losing model for success Soccer is not yet a football game in the U.S., Canada MIP London: A soft calling amid a loud response Miami’s markets offer more than one can chew Page 30 Page 18 Page 14 Page 12 THE BUSINESS JOURNAL OF FILM, BROADCASTING, STREAMING, PRODUCTION, DISTRIBUTION January 2025 - VOL. 45 NO. 1 - $9.75 The Future Reality of FAST Channels Not Yet Explored Development: Greenlight Turns Into Redlight Reinventing Linear TV with Tech’s Help (Continued on Page 20) (Continued on Page 26) (Continued on Page 24) Why is it so difficult to produce a hit these days? It was always hard, of course, but now it seems all but impossible. Years ago, U.S. TV outlets used to look at 80 developments a year. Of those, 80 percent failed, but 20 percent became big hits. With the demise of development, and the “straight-to-series” trend, the big successes are now in the low single-digit percentages. However, Chris Philip, executive producer and co-founder of Star- ©2024 20TH TELEVISION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
MAIN OFFICES 216 EAST 75TH STREET NEW YORK, NY 10021 TEL: (212) 288-3933 WWW.VIDEOAGEINTERNATIONAL.COM WWW.VIDEOAGE.ORG VIALE ABRUZZI 30 20131 MILAN, ITALY EDITOR-in-CHIEF DOM SERAFINI EDITORIAL TEAM SARA ALESSI (NY) BILL BRIOUX (CANADA) ENZO CHIARULLO (ITALY) LEAH HOCHBAUM ROSNER (NY) SUSAN HORNIK (L.A.) CAROLINE INTERTAGLIA (FRANCE) OMAR MENDEZ (ARGENTINA) LUIS POLANCO (NY) MIKE REYNOLDS (L.A.) MARIA ZUPPELLO (BRAZIL) PUBLISHER MONICA GORGHETTO BUSINESS OFFICE LEN FINKEL LEGAL OFFICE STEVE SCHIFFMAN WEB MANAGER BRUNO MARRACINO DESIGN/LAYOUT CLAUDIO MATTIONI, CARMINE RASPAOLO VIDEO AGE INTERNATIONAL (ISSN 0278-5013 USPS 601-230) IS PUBLISHED SEVEN TIMES A YEAR,. PLUS DAILIES, BY TV TRADE MEDIA, INC. © TV TRADE MEDIA INC. 2025. THE ENTIRE CONTENTS OF VIDEO AGE INTERNATIONAL ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT IN THE U.S., U.K., AND ALL COUNTRIES SIGNATORY TO THE BERNE CONVENTIO AND THE PAN-AMERICAN CONVENTION. SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO VIDEO AGE INTERNATIONAL, 216 EAST 75TH STREET, SUITE 1W, NEW YORK, NY 10021, U.S.A. PURSUANT TO THE U.S. COPYRIGHTS ACT OF 1976, THE RIGHTS OF ALL CONTENT DONE ON ASSIGNMENT FOR ALL VIDEOAGE PUBLICATIONS ARE HELD BY THE PUBLISHER OF VIDEOAGE, WHICH COMMISSIONED THEM Streaming is a content-delivery model that is now replicating legacy media’s losing content-delivery model in an effort to finally find success. Page 30 Cover Stories News The future reality of FAST channels not yet explored From the greenlight zone, development turns into redlight Reinventing linear television: leveraging competing tech 6. World: Argentina’s president Javier Milei is America’s man of the year 6. World: Advertising is a $1 trillion global biz 14. TV trade show revival: MIP didn’t move to London, London moved to MIPTV 8. Book Review: Filmmaker Barry Sonnenfeld dishes hilarious tidbits on Hollywood 10. MIP Cancun report: Little room to improve, but RX managed to make it better 12. The Miami markets: Three consecutive TV trade shows hit the Miami heat 16. AI vs. HI-Human Intelligence: Selling access to content libraries to train AI. Is it a new “window” or a legal minefield? 18. FIFA’s U.S. football bet is called Club World Cup 28. Fewer miles needed to fly the friendly non-U.S. airlines. Plus, calendar of events Features
6 (out) all the previous inflation-generating government practices. A few days later, on December 9, the conservative The Wall Street Journal ran “Measuring Milei’s Argentine Progress,” in a laudatory story that pointed out that there were “217 days left,” before Milei loses the special law that granted him sweeping legislative powers to reform the paralyzing bureaucracy. VideoAge reported on Milei’s antics just after his presidential victory in its January 2024 Issue in a front cover story titled “The Weight of The Peso on Argentinian Biz,” where the double entendre referenced the fact that in English, the Spanish word “peso” translates as “weight.” The VideoAge article explained his campaign promise to dollarize Argentina’s economy and explored whether it would help the domestic TV sector. The recent WSJ article, however, reported that he has put his dollarization plan on hold. Ads Are a $1 Trillion Biz According to Group M, a media investment group that is part of advertising behemoth WPP, global advertising spending will reach $1 trillion in 2024. Similarly, another forecast from investment media group Magna (part of Interpublic Group) predicted that global advertising spending would hit the $933 billion mark in 2024. Forecasters will face a quandary in the U.S. in 2025 if the Trump administration imposes tariffs on imports. If companies predict less competition, they could reduce ad spending. On the other hand, if they see an opportunity to grow market share, advertising could increase. Americans of every political persuasion love Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, and not because Argentineans have stashed away a reported U.S. $277 billion in the U.S., or because he might switch the country’s currency to the U.S. dollar, but for his unorthodox way of presenting and solving domestic problems that once seemed unsolvable. On December 2, the liberal The New Yorker ran an extensive feature on the 54-year-old former economics professor turned politician with the headline: “Javier Milei Wages War on Argentina’s Government,” pointing out how he wanted to put afuera Argentina’s President Javier Milei is America’s Man of the Year VIDEOAGE January 2025 World Lise Romanoff: lise@visionfilms.net Andres Santos: asantos@screenbright.com Please Visit Our Website: WWW.VISIONFILMS.NET VISION FILMS LET’S MEET AT NATPE 2025 (BOOTH B13-MIAMI INTERCONTINENTAL)
8 Writer and filmmaker Barry Sonnenfeld looks back at his career as a cinematographer and director, and gathers the choicest and funniest morsels about life in Hollywood. Filmmaker Barry Sonnenfeld Dishes Hilarious Tidbits on Hollywood By Luis Polanco To include your resume among the first few pages of your book is certainly a choice. It can mean that a) you take pride in your work, b) you are an egomaniac, c) you are insecure that no one knows who you are, or d) you have been conditioned by years of poor work-life balance. But if you are Barry Sonnenfeld, some or none of these may apply. Although, if you are Barry Sonnenfeld, there’s also option e) you have a sense of humor (and it shows on the book cover). In fact, listing your credentials and inviting respect is a wise move when you’ve worked a varied and wide-ranging career such as Sonnenfeld’s. After a brief stint behind the camera in the pornography industry, he worked throughout the 1980s as a cinematographer on the early Coen brothers’ films, on Danny DeVito’s black comedy Throw Momma from the Train, on the Rob Reiner-directed romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally and on the psychological thriller Misery. Starting in the ’90s and into the new millennium, he achieved box office and critical success as the director of a number of films, including the supernatural and dark The Addams Family, the mob comedy Get Shorty, and the alien-filled Men in Black franchise, among other projects. Then, he entered a stretch of time directing for television on series such as Pushing Daisies and A Series of Unfortunate Events. Sonnenfeld shares reminiscences, tales, and gossipy snippets from across his noteworthy trajectory in his newest book, Best Possible Place, Worst Possible Time: True Stories from a Career in Hollywood (352 pgs., Hachette Books, 2024, $30), a follow-up to his 2020 memoir Barry Sonnenfeld, Call Your Mother. Whether Sonnenfeld is recounting his days as a director of photography with a big personality or his days directing and dealing with big personalities, one thing remains steadfast — his wit is sharp. In organizing the book, Sonnenfeld has taken the proverb “Brevity is the soul of wit” to heart. The book is divided into 80some morsel-like vignettes, usually no more than three to five pages, with each vignette given a title remarkable for its dry, direct, or crass sense of humor. Some standouts include “Never Tell the Studio,” “The Unbearable Slog of Massive Stupidity,” “The Little Shit,” and “The Trouble with Words.” These anecdotal pearls of wisdom add up to a quick 300-plus pages. Sonnenfeld’s wit is at its most catty and playful when he divulges details about the creatives and talent he’s worked or crossed paths with in the industry, for whom he has nothing but flattery and praise. On working with the renowned screenwriter and director Nora Ephron on the set of When Harry Met Sally, he says, “I think she was annoyed I didn’t take myself as seriously as she viewed herself.” On mediating the interpersonal dynamics between celebrities while filming Men in Black, he says, “It was a good thing Tommy [Lee Jones] liked Will [Smith], since Mr. Smith had a tendency to fart.” On almost directing the energetic actor and comedian Jim Carrey in Paramount’s adaptation of A Series of Unfortunate Events, he says, “Jim Carrey’s participation and ‘low budget’ are oxymoronic.” Sonnenfeld is generous in sharing all that he’s learned about his profession, from techniques on set to tricks of the trade. He dispenses knowledge on the two kinds of cinematographers (he’s the kind who lights each shot individually, which is more flattering), as well as the criteria for picking which movie to work on (“money, location, and script”). And readers finally get the elusive answer to the question: What is the single most asked question of a director? No, the question is not about the creative process or how to balance art and budget or which actor is the biggest headache to work with. Unexpectedly, the answer is: “Will you see his shoes?” (Sonnenfeld explains why.) Among all the anecdotes filled with actors and biz executives, the industry gossip and secrets, and the advice on navigating the ups and downs of Hollywood, Sonnenfeld also offers gems on the craft of storytelling. For example, on how the number of people involved on a film or TV show teaches a lesson on narrative perspective: “There are as many different points of view as there are participants — each one with the observer as hero.” Then, in the next sentence, he reminds us what draws in audiences to a story: “There is also a universal disconnect between who we believe we are and what others see us as. It is this disconnect that creates absurdity, comedy, and pain.” In Best Possible Place, Worst Possible Time: True Stories from a Career in Hollywood, Sonnenfeld hands out much to laugh at and much to be amused by. Take what he says as lectures from a master class on showbiz and humor from a life coach who’s seen it all. A master class on showbiz and humor from a life coach who’s seen it all. VIDEOAGE January 2025 Book Review
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10 Little Room to Improve, But RX Managed to Make it Even Better One piece of news that came out on MIP Cancun’s first market day from the large contingent of top-level Turkish TV executives in attendance was that the idea of organizing a TV market in Istanbul in early 2025 had been scrapped. Turkish distributors were in attendance in droves, including ATV’s Muge Akar, Calinos’ Firat Gulgen, Global Agency’s Izzet Pinto and his COO Pamir Guroglu, Inter Medya’s Can Okan and Beatriz Cea Okan, Kanal D’s Elif Tatoglu, and MediaHub’s Kerim Emrah Turna, among others. A large number of top-level LatAm acquisition executives were also in attendance. Among these were Albavision’s Marcel Vinay, TV Azteca’s Pedro Lascurain, Canal 10 Uruguay’s Patricia Daujotas, Ana Cecilia Alvarado of Ecuador’s Ecuavisa, Hemisphere Media Group’s Jimmy Arteaga Grustein, Mexicobased Imagen TV’s Programming director Erick Pulido, and Dustin Guerra, the new general director of SERTV (the state-owned public broadcaster channel in Panama). The talk at this year’s MIP Cancun wasn’t about the upcoming TV markets to be held in January in Miami, but the walk was most certainly about the inaugural MIP London in February. Roaming the MIP Cancun Moon Palace Convention Center’s halls was Manuel De Sousa from the New York office of RX, which organizes both MIP Cancun and MIP London. De Sousa made a MIP London presentation in the afternoon of the conference’s first day and the message was that MIP London is having much success among Latin American distribution entities, and that more than 250 companies from 36 countries have already signed up. This latest 11th annual MIP Cancun registered a record number of 28 first-time exhibiting companies, including Paris-based Animaj and Tokyo’s TBS Television. Other first-timers were Alejandro Veciana, who represented MIP Cancun veteran New York City-based FilmRise (and was licensing FAST and AVoD rights for LatAm), and Liz Levenson of the Los Angeles-based GRB Media Ranch. There were a total of 115 distributor tables for 108 companies (some had multiple tables), and 750 delegates from 40 countries. The pace was hectic, partially due to the fact that intermittent pouring rain kept most participants inside the convention center. The inclement weather also caused the Internet at the adjacent hotel to go on and off on the first market day. The market welcomed over 200 buyers, all major Hollywood studios, and featured a varied conference line-up, with the focus on how to monetize FAST and AVoD channels. The conference came as research showed Latin America boasting one of the world’s highest shares of premium video advertising across FAST and AVoD, and predicted that Brazil will become the third largest FAST market globally (after only the U.S. and the U.K.) by 2029. Among this year’s delegates was Ana Cecilia Alvarado, who was not in attendance as the CEO of Ecuavisa with the traditional buyer’s laundry list for her TV network — her team was tasked with that mission this time around — but as vice president, International Strategy and Talents for Be Experimental, a group that was promoting a 37 percent return on the expenditures of any production shot in Ecuador. Comments from buyers can be narrowed down to one from a prominent acquisition executive who adored the concept of pre-set meetings with those distributors who paid for tables (and were therefore covered for all hotel expenses), but faulted some of the exhibitors to whom he was assigned who didn’t do their homework. “If I end up with a distributor who licenses documentaries, and I only buy drama series, it’s going to be a halfhour of wasted time for me,” he said. On the other hand, Doris Vogelmann of the Miami-based VME Media said that in this regard “she’s fortunate because she buys all kinds of content, with the exception of movies (for now).” Jimmy Arteaga Grustein, head of Acquisitions at Puerto Rico’s WAPA-TV, as well as CCO of Hemisphere Media Group, considered this latest MIP Cancun “better than the previous one. For the first time,” he explained, “us buyers could reject meetings with distributors who didn’t have the content we wanted.” In order to receive all-expenses-paid invitations (which included accommodations and airfare), buyers had to agree to a set number of pre-scheduled meetings, and, if they failed to show up to those meetings the organizers charged them for the expenses incurred on their behalf. On the distributors’ side, a welcomed element at MIP Cancun was the reduced number of so-called collectors, who were tasked with the job of gathering information about the availability and prices of various programs from content exhibitors, but who were not actually able to make any decisions about acquisitions for their companies. One observation, which was widely shared, was about the poor attendance at the various screenings, which tended to be held in early mornings, at lunch time, and just before dinner — which resulted in low buyer attendance since market participants used those time periods for business meetings. “Perhaps, looking into different time slots and reducing the screenings to half-hours could be a better option,” said one distributor who had scheduled an evening screening. One of MIP Cancun’s components (in addition to the market, conferences, and coproduction hub) was a selection of special screenings. Global Agency, Inter Medya, Calinos Entertainment, and VIP 2000 all held screenings of their newest series. As to recreational activities, the Worldwide Audiovisual Women’s Association (WAWA) hosted a breakfast get-together for 80 of its members. Other parties included a MIP Cancun-organized pre-market drinks celebration, an opening night party, and a closing party that was held in the main hotel of the Moon Palace resort instead of the convention center, where it took place in years past. MIP Cancun 2025 is set for November 1821, however the organizers are considering moving it to the month of April in 2026. Ecuavisa’s Ana Cecilia Alvarado VIDEOAGE January 2025 MIP Cancun Review
VALLEY of HEARTS
12 Three Consecutive TV Trade Shows Hit the Miami Heat Last year, VideoAge Daily published a piece headlined “Two Markets Hit the Finishing Line,” which told the tale of a pair of TV-related business events held in Miami around the same time. This year, the story should be amended to: “Two Markets Back at the Starting Line,” since both events returned in full force. And to make the original headline even more incorrect, one more market has been added to this year’s calendar. Let’s recap the situation: NATPE’s last Miami show as a non-profit association was held in 2019. In 2022, the Miami event was organized by C21 under the banner of Content Americas. In 2023, after buying the NATPE brand, Brunico restarted the NATPE show — first in Budapest, and in 2024 in Miami. While in Budapest, Brunico benefitted from the NATPE brand. In Miami, meanwhile, C21’s head start benefitted Content Americas. For 2025, Brunico has added Realscreen Summit, one of its other TV trade shows, to NATPE Global in the hope of bringing the market back to its former glory. The months of January and February are now getting very busy for the international entertainment industry, with the CES’s consumer show ending in Las Vegas on the 10th, and Content Americas starting on the 20th. January 23 is the start day for both the CCTA (Caribbean Telecommunications Association) convention in Miami, as well as the Sundance Film Festival in Utah. February will also be busy, with NATPE Global/Realscreen Summit (February 3-7), Berlin’s European Film Market (February 15-19), London Screenings (February 24-28), and MIP London (February 24-27). Not having a lot of first-hand reports, and not being able to depend on the foresight of the potential participants at either or both Miami events (who are as anxious as us here at VideoAge), we had to rely on the events’ organizers to get a preview of the markets. Content Americas will open its doors to its third annual event at the Hilton Miami Downtown, scheduled for January 19-23, 2025, with the market portion starting on Tuesday, January 21. David Jenkinson, founder of C21, the London-based publishing group that organizes various Content events, including Content Americas, explained that last year’s elevator problem will be resolved since “many companies have moved down onto the market floor, so this should not be a problem this year. We expect elevator traffic to be 25 percent less.” Jenkinson also announced that he expects 20 or so first-time exhibitors and that “all the major companies are confirmed.” Plus, he envisions 750-plus buyers, “with around 1,750 delegates in total.” In terms of recreational activities, “the big ticket is the Rose d’Or Latinos on Tuesday evening, ” he said. Other related events include a Welcome Party on January 20, TV Azteca cocktails on January 22, and a Closing Party on January 23. NATPE Global/Realscreen Summit will open its doors to participants at the InterContinental Miami. The events are scheduled for February 3-7, 2025. The Summit is an addition to NATPE Global, which will be holding its second annual event. The last Summit, which is described as an unscripted and nonfiction conference, was held in New Orleans, January 28-February 1, 2024. The next Summit is scheduled for February 3-5, 2025, and NATPE for February 5-7, 2025, but some participants are planning to treat it as one five-day market stretching from February 3 to February 7. Claire Macdonald, NATPE Global’s executive director — from the Toronto, Canadabased Brunico publishing group that organizes various international TV conventions, including NATPE Budapest — assured that this year the exhibitors’ list will be released well in advance (so that buyers can schedule their meetings in a convenient way). “We shared the first floorplan and exhibitor list by December 20th. Buyers [were also] able to connect with exhibitors and other attendees via our custom platform, natpeXchange. They [were] also able to book meetings in our buyer’s lounge,” a physical space where one can book a table online. Macdonald also explained: “The decision to move the event to February was based on a number of factors, including requests from both exhibitors and buyers to nudge a bit away from the start of the year and extended holidays. This has been well received by both exhibitors and buyers who are appreciative of the time to prep and schedule meetings with a little less stress.” She added that “as of December 4, we can confirm 10 exhibitors who were not with us last year,” and that “we’re expecting somewhere in the order of 450-550 buyers from all over the world.” In terms of recreational activities, Macdonald said, “We’ll have a huge cocktail party on Wednesday night straddling Realscreen Summit and NATPE. That same evening features NATPE Honors, our new recognition program designed to celebrate the visionary leaders in the industry who are raising the bar and changing the status quo. This is a VIP by-invitation event. The WAWA Woman of the Year Awards presentation and networking cocktail take place on Thursday. We’re also hosting our Streaming+ breakfast, which was a highlight last year, as well as ‘Lunch with a Decisionmaker,’ an incredible networking opportunity.” Mary Maddever, NATPE executive content director and EVP of Realscreen, added, “A lot of the agenda is designed to appeal to both buyers and distributors. The Wednesday line-up is a great example of that, kicking off with ‘The Future of Media’ session. Everyone is impacted by the investment shifts that underpin the industry, so sessions like ‘Welcome to 2030,’ with speakers like Group M CEO Sharb Farjami sharing his insights on how advertisers’ spending strategies will impact the mediascape, will affect us all. Ditto for the keynotes from Roku’s David Eilenberg and YouTube’s Fede Goldenberg. From how Roku is working differently with new collaborators like brands and sports leagues, to how YouTube continues to evolve how content is consumed and created, the focus is on enabling a deeper understanding of the strategies, data, and tech that are fueling change, and how your business priorities also need to change.” David Jenkinson of Content Americas Claire Macdonald of NATPE Global Mary Maddever of Realscreen VIDEOAGE January 2025 The Miami Markets
INITIATIVE NEW MARCH 24, 2025 MARCH 25 > 27, 2025
14 By Mike Reynolds While much has been written elsewhere about MIPTV and the market’s move from Cannes to London, with integration into the London Screenings, nothing has been said about how the “TV trade shows’ marriage” came about. VideoAge called on Lucy Smith, director of MIP London and MIPCOM Cannes, to explain the where, why, and how. As recognized by Smith, “Global market factors shape global markets and continued consolidation, and reduced budgets inevitably affected participation numbers at MIPTV in recent years. Despite those headwinds, MIPTV closed as still the biggest annual international multi-genre market outside of MIPCOM Cannes by some distance, with over 3,500 delegates, clearly demonstrating the demand for an international market in the first half of the year.” Smith had previously admitted that “there was a decline in the number of companies [attending], and we felt the time had come to make a radical change.” However, she also noted, “At the same time, the distribution calendar had moved earlier in the year and to London, and all our feedback was that that the industry event calendar had also become too congested. So MIP London was a response to both of these — meeting the demand for a market in the first half of the year and alleviating pressure on the calendar and [to] create a marketplace beyond just screenings, buyers, and sellers.” Smith wanted to clarify, despite how many people are thinking otherwise, “We didn’t move MIPTV to London. This is a new conference, networking, and screening event, with an international marketplace.” Smith also revealed that “our plans [for the current MIP incarnation] have always been based on being independent of but complementary to the existing successful screening events set-up that is established that week in London by BBC Studios and the London TV Screenings. The organizers of these were the first people that we spoke to, so that we could assure them of this. What is clear was that there’s still a need for a market at the beginning of the year. We don’t see MIP London as an ‘either-or.’ We are setting up to attract additional buyers and lean into areas that are currently underserved, such as unscripted or FAST. Again, it’s about having more people doing more business.” Thus, “the sole aim of MIP London is to be additive and to deliver more business and more international opportunities during that key content week for the international industry. We’ll do that by attracting more people, providing a central meeting hub to connect, and staging a future-facing conference program with workshops and matchmaking,” said Smith. What is known thus far is that MIP London will include such companies as AMC Networks International, Canal+, CBC, France Televisions, ITV, Netflix, National Geographic, Nine Network Australia, Sky, The Walt Disney Company, and ZDF. The MIP Doc Pitch and the MIP Doc coproduction summit are also holdovers, as is the long-running FAST & Global Summit, which will include the usual update talks and roundtables featuring key industry players. James Burstall, Global CEO of Argonon, the U.K.-based multi award-winning production entity (130 to date, including Emmys, BAFTAs, and RTS Awards), revealed: “International markets are becoming more important than ever. We live in a truly globalized market for content now and with budget pressures impacting everywhere, it behooves us [as] producers to create co-productions. This means partnering with buyers from all over the world around a project and aligning them creatively. “We do not all go to all of them — that would be too costly and time-consuming — but we go to great lengths to cover the gamut as a team. We must sustain deep and regular contact with our international partners, and we welcome the range of markets.” Some regular MIP attendees will not be in London, including Lise Romanoff , CEO of Los Angeles-based Vision Films, who felt that “the buyers at London Screenings are not focused on independents,” and that there’s an uncertainty about whether the regular buyers will be in attendance for MIP London, but all say they will be watching for the success of this inaugural event. However, they may well be missing out, as Lucy Smith reminded, “More people coming to London means more business done in what has become the must-attend content week in February. MIP London is about more content, more deals, more networking. Let’s face it, London in February has become the biggest week in content in the first quarter. We believe that beyond the existing screenings, there’s so much more potential business that can be done during that week to help get a head start on 2025.” Plus, said Smith, “with this new MIP market, our aim is to be complementary to existing events by providing additional opportunities to meet, showcase, or discover content across the week.” While so many are putting faith in a revitalized MIP market, Sarah Tong, director of Sales at the London-based Hat Trick International, revealed, “We’re not attending [MIP London], as we will be holding our own private event at the London Screenings. We’re spending our money on our own event. It’s an extremely busy week and I can’t imagine buyers have time to go to all the different showcase/screenings events, as well as to whatever MIP is doing.” As of December 9, 2024, the sign-up numbers were, according to Smith, “over 650 delegates from over 50 countries, including over 350 buyers… and that number is rising daily. This includes companies taking meeting spaces, showcasing content or partnering on the program, as well as individuals registered for the market.” Curiously, an informal VideoAge survey among some potential MIP London participants revealed concerns more with the finicky London winter weather — compared to the balmy Riviera climate — than the market outcome. But as it is said, a “spot of hot tea” will surely get rid of the chills. MIPTV Didn’t Move to London, London Moved to MIP Lucy Smith, MIP London director James Burstall, CEO of Argonon VIDEOAGE January 2025 Trade Show Revival
INTERCONTINENTAL MIAMI SUITE 3308 @filmrisetv @wearefilmrise CONTACT THESALESTEAM@FILMRISE.COM
16 Selling Access to Content Libraries to Train AI: A New “Window” or a Legal Minefield? By Anna Beke-Martos* By now it is common knowledge that genAI systems are capable of creating new content, including text, images, and yes, audiovisual content, too. However, genAI systems are only as good as the data they are trained on. In order for a genAI system to produce high-quality content, it needs to absorb huge amounts of training data. Consequently, most tech companies striving to develop genAI solutions capable of producing audiovisual content may well be interested in striking deals with production/distribution companies. For such enterprises, the libraries of larger production companies are a proverbial gold mine. While many in the motion picture industry remain critical of such agreements, citing fears of mid-to-long-term job losses, potentially diminishing content quality, and a general decline in the entire sector’s value, some producers may be tempted to regard these deals as a new window of opportunity, a new potential revenue stream. Considering the insatiable hunger of AI developers for training data, it may indeed seem like an unmissable opportunity for any producer to once again rekindle long-forgotten catalogs and make a little (or not so little) extra profit. The vast amount of material that has remained on the cutting room floor may appear particularly enticing to exploit in this manner. After all, is it not a sound financial decision to create value by selling access to otherwise arguably worthless content to tech companies that are willing to pay for it? The ethical, social, and long-term financial repercussions of such deals have all been addressed on various platforms. However, the biggest question mark must be next to the most fundamental legal question: Do producers truly hold the rights which are necessary to allow them to exploit their libraries in this manner? Is it legally possible that such a new revenue stream can be opened up with practically no additional cost? And, are production companies really protected by the contracts they entered into five, 10, sometimes 40 years ago? Opinions vary — depending on the language of each contract and the question of which country’s laws would be applicable to any potential dispute. In the U.S., there have already been several lawsuits in which authors of texts or images claimed that the training of AI systems on their writings or pictures constituted copyright infringement. Yet in those cases the defendants were tech companies, which had no contractual relationships with the authors who had sued them. Consequently, their defense relied on the “fair use” doctrine rather than on contractually acquired rights. Furthermore, the question of just how much these rights might be worth remained unanswered, not least because the tech companies’ direct commercial advantage from the (alleged) infringing use remained nebulous at best and completely speculative at worst. If, however, a production company were to license its library for the purpose of training an AI system, the legal situation would be rather different. First, the direct commercial value would be much easier to calculate. Second, the tech company acquiring this access would most likely demand a contractual warranty that the production company has cleared the rights to the content. Consequently, it will be up to the production company to defend any claims brought by screenwriters, directors, actors, composers, designers, etc. who may argue that since AIrelated rights did not exist at the time they made their contracts with the production companies, the production companies could not have and indeed did not acquire the right to exploit their contributions for the purpose of training AI systems. And, the creatives’ line of argumentation would continue, if the production companies have not acquired these rights, they cannot exploit the content by granting access to it to tech companies. Despite this risk, it appears that most U.S. production companies seem satisfied that if their contracts granted them all rights to exploit the content in “current and future windows,” then this can be interpreted to include the right to allow access for the purpose of training AIs. Whether this assumption is correct is debatable. First, a “window” in the film and TV industry refers to a time period. However, the use of content for the purpose of AI-training is not an issue of time of use, but rather a new method of use. The copyright laws of many countries (especially in Europe) require contracts between authors and users to specify the territory, time, method, and quantity of the use authorized by the author. For the event that the contract does not specify one or more of these factors, these should be interpreted narrowly, so that the author retains the broadest scope of rights. It is therefore questionable whether a contract granting a production company the right to use the content “for current and future windows” can indeed be interpreted to include the right to license the content for the purpose of training an AI system. Second, many countries’ laws protect authors by prohibiting any contractual provisions whereby authors license their works for such future methods of use which are unknown at the time the contract is made. However, if the novelty of a method of use lies merely in its enhanced efficiency, then such uses may nonetheless be licensed. Third, in most countries, the general principle is that contracts must be interpreted in accordance with the ordinary meaning given to the terms in light of how the contracting parties most likely understood them at the time they made the contract. Therefore, in case of a dispute, a lot would depend on the language of each individual contract and the circumstances in which they were made. Although all of the above factors indicate that production companies should act with extreme caution in examining historic contracts to see whether they may be interpreted to include these new rights, it is worth adding that lawmakers in Europe have a strong desire to support the proliferation of AI tools. As a part of this policy decision, they have required all E.U. member states to allow a fair use exception in their copyright legislation for text- and data-mining. However, there are several restrictions — one of them that the content should be “lawfully accessible.” So while the policy in Europe may support, in principle, the data-hunger of AI-developers, if production companies wish to strike deals, they may need to return to the negotiating table with the creatives, or in the very least, establish a scheme of remuneration for all of those people whose creative ideas and expressions will be sold to tech machines... the same ones who may one day replace them. *Anna Beke-Martos is a Hungarian attorney. The thoughts expressed in the above article are the author’s personal views and do not constitute legal advice. Any parallels between any actual cases and the hypotheticals discussed above are incidental. VIDEOAGE January 2025 AI Vs. HI-Human Intelligence
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18 In October, The New York Times reported that FIFA, the global world governing body for football (or “soccer,” as it’s called in the U.S. and Canada) had held an “emergency” meeting with unspecified broadcasters to drum up interest in the newly reformed Club World Cup. FIFA has worked hard in recent years to increase the number of football matches played by national teams and club organizations, and the expanded Club World Cup represented one of these efforts. In an effort to make football tournaments more appetizing to viewers, FIFA announced that Argentinian global superstar Lionel Messi will be participating with his club, Inter Miami FC, as a decision had been reached to allocate a berth to the winner of the United States’ Major League Soccer (MLS) Supporters’ Shield, the trophy given to the MLS franchise with the best regular season record. The current titleholder is Inter Miami. The announcement to allocate a Club World Cup spot to the Supporters’ Shield winner was made soon after Inter Miami FC were knocked out of the MLS playoffs. Some fans and pundits accused FIFA of choosing to reward the Supporters’ Shield winner with a berth in the Club World Cup in a panicked move to ensure Messi’s involvement in the competition. Some speculated that if Messi and his teammates had won the MLS playoffs to claim the MLS Cup (North American Soccer’s equivalent of the Super Bowl in the American football final), FIFA would have instead chosen victory in the playoffs to be the qualifying criteria. Many American fans felt bitter about the decision, as in American sports leagues winners of championships are universally proclaimed via the playoff system, a fact that fans felt FIFA was ignoring. Fans and pundits who are critical of the decision interpreted it as an attempt to showcase a media-friendly face with the game’s competitive nature coming as a secondary concern. Do viewers want their football competitions filled with household names, or do they want to watch the best athletic contest available? Or is the formula to drum up interest from viewers something else entirely? As of right now, the jury is out. The fruits of the current strategy will only be assessed once a slate of broadcasters for the Club World Cup is announced. It is worth that noting FIFA’s decision did not materialize in a vacuum: qualifying for international football competitions is notoriously inconsistent, and this inconsistency is encouraged by the intricate ecosystem consisting of clubs, leagues, and federations with long precedents of autonomy. This ecosystem had to be confronted when FIFA announced the expansion of the Club World Cup in a bid to restructure the event and extract it from the shadow of the much better-known FIFA World Cup (the universally watched competition where the world’s qualifying national teams confront each other every four years. FIFA claims the final of the competition is viewed by a billion people worldwide, although some analysts dispute that number). Most clubs were invited to the Club World Cup by way of an elaborate points system based on their results in “Continental Competitions” (typically the most prestigious competitions clubs can qualify for). However, an additional berth was left open for the host country (the United States) and the criteria with which it would be assigned was left pending when the reformatted competition was first announced in March of 2023. The fact that the Club World Cup will take place in the United States (June 15-July 13, 2025), and that Inter Miami (and Messi) are perceived as non-negotiable participants, is a testament to the increasingly central role the United States is playing in the world football ecosystem. While the MLS has worked to attract global superstars in the past, Messi’s signing for Inter Miami stands apart with regards to a football star’s media impact and interest from advertisers, perhaps comparable only to the signing of Brazilian legend Pelé by the New York Cosmos in 1975. While Messi’s participation in the league has certainly raised its profile, years of work have gone into constructing a robust football environment in the United States. The year before Messi signed with Inter Miami, the continental governing body of football in South America (known by the acronym CONMEBOL) responded positively to interest by the United States Soccer Federation (“US Soccer”) to host the Copa America, South America’s quadrennial national team competition, in the United States. The decision is notable in that the United States is not a member of the South American federation. It’s instead, appropriately, a member of the federation for North, Central America, and Caribbean Association Football, which organizes its own continental competition, called the Gold Cup. The Copa America was held on American soil in 2024, and featured Mexico and Canada as invitees alongside the United States, in addition to the usual South American participants. While the United States had already hosted an edition of the competition in 2016, it had received special billing as “Copa America Centenario,” which was marketed as a one-off event. This time around, some media commentators (and even some national federation executives) expressed misgivings over the decision, pointing out that the expense of travel and lodgings (as well as the higher ticket prices) would mean that many South American fans would be priced out of seeing their national team. The most cynical opinions held that the governing body was distancing the game from ordinary fans, choosing instead to cater to those who could afford the journey, as well as to American fans and diaspora communities. Regardless of interpretations of the event, it was a financial success. However, some pundits, players, and coaches were less enthusiastic. While the MLS has made enormous strides in constructing football-specific stadiums in the U.S. to accommodate the competition’s larger crowds, American football stadiums were employed in the competition. An American football field is narrower than a regulation football field (commonly called a “pitch”), and for this reason American football stadiums can only accommodate the minimum field size permitted by football regulations. This led to the tournament’s matches being combated in tight quarters, favoring a physical and direct style of play that did not lend itself to spectacle. The use of football stadiums also had consequences for the broadcasting experience. Notably, when the U.S. was eliminated from the tournament at the hands of Uruguay, the high camera angle optimized for football was described as “Brutal” by Sports Illustrated. The New York Times was more nettlesome, dubbing the angle, “A stadium for ants.” In spite of this mixed reception, it is undeniable that U.S. football has demonstrated that there exists an ecosystem that can be appealing to other football governing bodies, and FIFA has taken notice. *Yuri Serafini is an economist specializing in sports By Yuri Serafini* FIFA’s Bet on U.S. Football is Called Club World Cup VIDEOAGE January 2025 Kicking Matches in America
(Continued From Cover) 20 ing all kind of programs: movies, animation, documentaries, old TV series, etc.), which, instead of collecting dust on shelves, will be used for FAST channels and be monetized (and, perhaps, some of those shows will be “discovered” as gems by content buyers who will then acquire them as stand-alones for their TV outlets). Once the libraries are depleted (after all the shows end up on FAST channels), the IP owners will start trading among themselves for their own FAST channels, which will increase the way libraries can be monetized. Since most FAST channels depend on a revenue-sharing financial model, the only problem for old libraries is the cost of digitalization, which could be done on a barter basis — non-exclusive FAST distribution rights in exchange for digitalization. Christian Morsanutto, chief revenue officer for the Canadian FAST technology service company Nextologies, commented from his Dubai base: “There will be some sort of content swap among channels. You can already see this happening among platforms where you see cross-pollination of content with Hulu, Paramount+, Disney, and so on. Only a few well-funded channels will be able to afford costly new productions and therefore remain relevant with the audience and possibly grow at a faster pace compared to the competition. The next question is how long will this plethora of FAST channels survive? Even the bottomless advertising money cauldron will reach a point where there will be no more money available for the FAST channels at the bottom of the ratings. Although the cost of launching FAST channels is now a fraction of what it used to be, the time when you will see channels shutting down is near.” Jonathon Barbato, co-founder and co-CEO of Los Angeles-based FAST service provider Best Ever Channel, has a more positive vision: “What we’re doing to prevent that problem [of library depletion] is producing new, lowcost content to supplement what we acquire in the libraries. This gives us greater longevity, makes the content more current, relevant, and sets us up as a brand to produce more expensive content when the eco-system can support it later.” He continued: “For example, WITZ, our comedy channel, shoots live stand-up and comedy format shows at The Stand in New York City (our partner in the channel). SPIN, our music magazine partner, produces original video with their cover story subjects every month. The FAST wellness channel COMMUNE takes masterclasses and programming produced to sell online and repurposes it for television audiences. What will the I Love Lucy channel do? No idea, but then, who knew that audiences would still be watching the show’s reruns for the 100th time decades later.” Barbato added, “I also think someone (sooner than later) will come up with an A.I. version of the Electronic Programming Guide that will search the hundreds of thousands of titles out there and where they are available to uber-customize a personalized viewing experience for consumers in streaming and otherwise. So the libraries are the way to find what sticks with audiences and build a brand. Then, it’s the new content that will be the solution, and more affordable new content (via format or A.I.), and then, eventually with bigger budgets as the ecosystem can afford it. And, if you look at TV history, there’s precedent. Look at Turner. It started with buying and exploiting the MGM Library and then eventually evolved into off-network and original content (as the ecosystem expanded to support it). Most of my ‘vision’ comes from looking backwards and watching history repeat itself,” Barbato concluded. From the point of view of content providers and channel owners, Daniel Gagliardi, VP of Digital Distribution and Business Development at the New York City-based FilmRise, which streams over 500 FAST channel endpoints on third-party platforms, said: “We’re confident there’s still a large quantity of content yet to be surfaced. We’ve found success with titles dating back as far as the 1950s — many have become top titles in the market. There’s been a massive amount of content produced over the decades, and FilmRise has consistently been able to identify which of those titles will resonate with today’s viewers. In addition, we’ve had success bolstering our FAST channels with select new releases (both finished product and co-pros). This has infused new, never-before-seen content into our FAST channels, helping with refresh.” Mark Ashbridge, managing director at the Melbourne, Australia-based VAMedia, which this year is set to launch Movie Central FAST channel, commented: “It’s possibly too early to tell whether the growth of FAST will place pressure on global library/content supplies. While the U.S. is in full swing with FAST, the insights are that with the explosion of chan- “We will see much greater integration of linear and on-demand so that viewers can move seamlessly from one way of watching to the other.” — Alan Wolk, TVREV Christian Morsanutto, chief revenue officer, Nextologies Jonathon Barbato, co-founder and co-CEO, Best Ever Channel Daniel Gagliardi, VP of Digital Distribution and Business Development, FilmRise (Continued on Page 22) VIDEOAGE January 2025 FAST Future
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(Continued From Page 20) 22 nels over the last few years there are signs that U.S. platforms are rationalizing their FAST channel offerings by off-boarding the underperforming channels. This ‘shakeout’ could become more widespread. “Although the market growth of FAST channels outside of the U.S. is encouraging, it is still a long way behind, so in the short term, it is unlikely there will be supply issues.” As to the question of how FAST channels replenish their schedules, Alan Wolk, analyst for the U.S.-based TVREV, specializing in the intersection of streaming and advertising, commented: “This is a problem because streaming services are no longer making the sort of eight season, 25-episodes-per-season series the networks did — an output level that allowed for these sorts of massive libraries. One solution will likely be curated playlists from YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok that recreate the scrolling experience without actually having to scroll — the videos will appear one after another and be grouped by genre.” Wolk, who created the acronym FAST (see sidebar) then continued: “We will see more standardization among FAST channels as advertisers want to know that [for example] a horror channel they buy on The Roku Channel is identical to the one they buy on Pluto TV. That is how they will be able to reach larger audiences in a manner that makes it easy for them to compare results.” He continued: “We will [also] see much greater integration of linear and on-demand so that viewers can move seamlessly from one way of watching to the other. The art of programming — deciding the order and timing of shows — is something it seems AI will excel at. If not to actually undertake the entire process, then at least to make it easier for the humans doing it.” Ultimately, technology induces media outlets to “pivot,” explained Gary Shapiro in his book Pivot or Die. Shapiro is the CEO of the Consumer Technology Association, which organizes the annual Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show. In his book, Shapiro uses the example of Odeo, a search engine startup that, facing its demise, pivoted into Twitter. Another example given is Netflix, which was once a DVD rental business, but eventually pivoted into streaming. The book demonstrates that technology can lead to the demise of some media outlets, but stresses that it also offers a way for them to evolve into something else. Other examples could be printed books, radio, and even linear television, with FAST as the new pivot between broadcast television and streaming services. And, as Twitter and Netflix did, FAST will also go through some growing pains before finding its mojo, and the conferences about FAST at TV trade shows will also finally find some interesting and useful topics to present. (By Dom Serafini) Mark Ashbridge, managing director, VAMedia Alan Wolk, TVREV “Although the market growth of FAST channels outside of the U.S. is encouraging, it is still a long way behind, so in the short term, it is unlikely there will be supply issues.” — Mark Ashbridge, VA Media From Flixes to FAST: Alan Wolk Recalls Tom Ryan (pictured on the cover), CEO of Paramount Streaming, is the acknowledged creator of the first FAST channel in 2014, originally defined as a free TV linear video service. The service eventually became Pluto TV, a digital platform Ryan co-founded that was sold to Paramount in 2019. A year earlier, the service that Ryan pioneered became known as FAST, a term coined by TV analyst Alan Wolk. Here’s how Wolk described the acronym: “I came up with the [FAST] term in December 2018. At the time, I was trying to find a way to differentiate between Pluto (which was free) and Hulu (which was not), given that both were streaming services and that too many people were lumping them together as ‘AVoD’ even though they were two separate business models. So I wrote out ‘Free Ad-Supported Streaming TV’ to describe Pluto and realized that you could make an acronym out of it — FAST.” He continued: “At the time, we often referred to ‘the FASTs and the Flixes’ — none of the proposed subscription media services had names yet, so everyone would refer to them as ‘Disney-Flix’ or ‘AppleFlix.’ But FAST took off.” In his mind, “it has always referred to the aggregator services — Pluto, Tubi, The Roku Channel, Samsung TV Plus, et al. — and not just the linear channels. Though many people do use it to refer to linear channels,” he said. “That usage is problematic, though, in that it is only in the licensing world where the rights to linear channels and on-demand are sold separately. For advertising, a Pluto or VIZIO WatchFree does not distinguish between an on-demand and a linear show. Similarly, the SVoD (subscription) services are all launching/have launched their own linear channels as a way to surface their library content. It also makes sense for their ad-supported tiers, in that people watch much longer when they are watching a linear feed.” Finally, he said, “In terms of aggregators, there are two types of FAST aggregators: services attached to media companies (e.g. Pluto and Tubi) and services attached to OEMs (e.g. Samsung TV Plus, The Roku Channel), each with its own set of challenges and opportunities.” VIDEOAGE January 2025 FAST Future
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