6 World V I D E O A G E November 2022 hotel and the aforementioned Fontainebleau. As for NATPE, according to U.S. bankruptcy law, through the Chapter 11 provisions, companies can ask the courts to schedule a reorganization of a debtor’s business affairs, debts, and assets, and get breathing room while they develop a plan in order to return to doing business. However, in the case of NATPE, the financial situation is dramatic, and, on October 26, 2022, the association officially announced that its January 2023 event in The Bahamas was canceled. The decision to move the NATPE market to the expensive Baha Mar complex in The Bahamas was controversial, and had NATPEmoved forward with the January event, its income would have been drastically reduced. This is because some companies that paid in advance for exhibition space at NATPE Miami 2022 (canceled due to COVID concerns) were expecting to use their credit for the 2023 event. And it isn’t simply a matter of the NATPE market being taken over by some other organization. It has been widely assumed that NATPE has no assets to be taken over outside its brand, which now could be shattered by the Chapter 11 filing. Also, with the filing of Chapter 11, NATPE’s president JP Bommel became its “interim” president, some of its key executives became “consultants,” and the rest of its reduced staff is now reportedly working on a freelance basis. Basic Lead has informed that, at the Grand Beach hotel, eighty rooms and suites will be converted into basic and premium ‘showrooms’ with rates ranging from US$5,750 to US$7,500. Non-exhibiting distributors and producers will have access to private meeting tables offered at a rate of US$2,000. Incentives to register before November 30 include a 4-night complimentary stay at the Grand Beach for companies booking a showroom or a meeting table, and a complimentary market badge for acquisition and commissioning executives, co-production influencers and marketers. To provide additional value to DISCOP Miami exhibitors, Basic Lead is reportedly inviting a few U.S. organizations, like the Washington, D.C.- based National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), to stage their own domestic-centric TV events at DISCOP Miami, with the intent of attracting executives from local TV stations. The Miami TV market in January is alive and well. But it’s not NATPE Miami — it’s DISCOP Miami — and it comes courtesy of Basic Lead, the folks who’ve already given the international TV industry markets such as DISCOP Budapest and DISCOP Johannesburg. The former was later sold to NATPE and became NATPE Budapest. Now, it seems that DISCOP would like to take back its Budapest dates for June 2023. Meanwhile, DISCOP Miami is set for January 31-February 2, 2023, at the Grand Beach Hotel Miami Beach, a complex that’s close to the Fontainebleau, where the last in-person NATPE Miami market (NATPE 2020) took place. (The 2021 edition was held online, and the 2022 in-person edition was canceled.) After NATPE announced that it had filed for Chapter 11 on October 3, 2022 — and 23 days later canceled its controversial NATPE Global Bahamas 2023 event entirely—Basic Lead’s Patrick Zuchowicki, DISCOP’s founder and general manager, moved quickly to secure hotel space at the Grand Beach (pictured), which offered suitable facilities at very low rates for such a high-season period. Since time was of the essence, Zuchowicki was able to secure a good number of rooms at this four-star luxury hotel. This is especially impressive considering that the event was exactly 100 days away. The overflow could easily be accommodated at hotels that are within walking distance, including the Eden Roc DISCOP Miami Takes NATPE’s January Spot
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