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MIPCOM 2008

Oct 15, 2008, 01:00 PM ET

MIPCOM biz shows no sign of downturn
Downturn, what downturn? Not yet anyway. That was the message from media trade show organizers Reed Midem Thursday as they divulged the stats so far at this the 24th annual MIPCOM TV sales bazaar and confab in Cannes, which officially wraps Friday. Full story

Tudou's Gary Wang talks hoop jumping
Gary Wang, the founder and CEO of Tudou, the Chinese answer to YouTube, presented the world's fastest-growing Internet market to the smattering of delegates attending the final MIPCOM keynote Thursday. Full story

Chorion inks slew of deals for 'Olivia'
U.K.-based Chorion has signed a raft of deals for its new children's television series "Olivia." Full story

Oct. 15, 2008

Breakneck pace at MIPCOM on Day 3
Not many of the 13,000-odd attendees at MIPCOM found time to bask in the sunshine Wednesday. "Unlike the old days in television, everyone is in everyone else's business nowadays," said Saul Berman, a global strategist for IBM and guest speaker here, who aptly put his finger on one of the reasons why market events like this have become so frenetic and hard to deconstruct. Full story

MIPCOM sets attendance record
According to a spokesperson from organizers ReedMidem, the annual television rendezvous has already set a new attendance record, with two days still to go. Full story

Chad Hurley preaches YouTube gospel
Localization, enhanced search functions and ways for providers to cash in on their content are the next objectives for YouTube, founder and CEO Chad Hurley said here Wednesday, urging content players to sign up to the platform to maximize the value of their product. Full story

'Merlin' conjures up CTV deal
Canadian broadcaster CTV on Wednesday acquired the BBC drama "Merlin" from FremantleMedia Enterprises for its midseason schedule. Full story

Kloiber takes TMG for spin at MIPCOM
German TV exec Herbert Kloiber is back in the MIPCOM fray with his newly launched sales arm TMG International. Full story

Marathon shopping docu thriller 'Extinctions'
International distributor Marathon is hoping to keep new cross-platform global co-production "Extinctions" alive as this year's MIPCOM market comes to a close, Marathon announced Wednesday. Full story

Endemol France forms TV magazine unit
V production powerhouse Endemol's French arm is launching a department devoted to television magazines, Endemol France's CEO Virginie Calmels said Wednesday. Full story

Deal takes History to Japan, Korea
AETN International is expanding digitally in Asia, leading with VOD and mobile deals set to bring local-language versions of History Channel programming to South Korea and Japan. Full story

Adrian Grenier's 'Alter Eco' headed to TF1
U.S. actor Adrian Grenier is taking his environmentally friendly entourage to French network TF1 which nabbed distribution rights for the actor/executive producer's "Alter Eco," the show's producer GRB TV said Tuesday. Full story

Globo TV Int'l reaps rewards of expansion
Brazil's Globo TV International is reaping the rewards of its recent expansion plan at MIPCOM. Full story

SevenOne Int'l to make magic with Merlini
German sales company SevenOne International has entered into a collaboration with the Hungarian escape artist David Merlini to conceptualize and market new shows. Full story

France's M6 to be free in high definition
French private TV network M6 will be available for free in high definition on the country's Digital Terrestrial Television platform as of Oct. 30, M6 said Wednesday. Full story

Oct. 14, 2008

Lion's on the hunt for meaty TV
MGM is shifting gears in the TV biz, greenlighting a number of fictional series in hopes of jump-starting mainstream small-screen production and feeding its distribution pipeline with fresh content. Full story

ITV looking at a Hollywood model
Injecting a bit of Hollywood DNA into ITV's production processes, the Brit broadcaster plans to import U.S. writing and production techniques in a bid to lower program costs and boost exports, ITV global content head Lee Bartlett said Tuesday. Full story

Wide range of Euro deals in Disney world
Disney unveiled a range of content deals with European outlets Tuesday in Cannes, including a multiyear, multigenre agreement with Spanish broadcaster Antena 3. Full story

Korean channel branching out via Fox Int'l
Fox International has inked its first-ever deal to distribute a Korean channel across Asia. Full story

Canal Plus acquires four new series
Robinson Crusoe, 1960s American advertising execs, Canadian cops and Italian criminals will all be heading to France with Canal Plus buying up Gallic distribution rights for four new series, the French pay TV group said Monday evening. Full story

Eisner merges left and right brain at MIPCOM
An amazingly mellowed and reinvigorated Michael Eisner regaled several hundred MIPCOM-goers Tuesday afternoon with his recipe for creativity in the new digital age. Full story

BBC Worldwide inks ABC TV deal
BBC Worldwide has renewed its first option deal with the Australian Broadcasting Corp., which gives the Aussie broadcaster first-look rights to BBC fare across the region. Full story

'Business as usual' for Beta Film at MIPCOM
Beta Film CEO Jan Mojto made light of the financial crisis at MIPCOM's annual Beta Brunch on Tuesday, telling guests that the German behemoth is now accepting bars of gold in payment. Full story

Orange colors slate with BBC's 'Party Animals'
France Telecom subsidiary Orange is continuing its global cinema celebration with an exclusive distribution deal for the BBC series "Party Animals," Orange said Tuesday. Full story

Voom in Infinite venture in Singapore
U.S. high-definition programmer Voom HD Holdings has teamed with Singapore's Infinite Frameworks in a $20 million venture to co-produce and distribute at least 200 hours of high-definition content over the next five years. Full story

Endemol has answers for '20Q'
Endemol on Tuesday unveiled its international game show "20Q," which it hopes will follow in the footsteps of the global hit "Deal or No Deal." Full story

RTVE takes walk down 'Sesame Street'
Bert and Ernie are headed to Spain in the wake of RTVE's distribution deal for "Sesame Street," the company said Tuesday. Full story

Granada Int'l reups with N.Z. pubcaster
Granada International has renewed its output deal with New Zealand public broadcaster TVNZ, giving viewers on TVNZ's flagship net TV One continued rights to such fare as popular ITV soap "Coronation Street." Full story

Ukraine the new kid on block at MIPCOM
A special kind of press conference took place Tuesday as the first Ukrainian soiree at MIPCOM was unveiled. Attended by the creme de la creme of the Ukrainian industry, the event to promote the party introduced attendees to what Ukraine's Media Resources Management CEO Iryna Kostyuk described as "the fastest-growing territory in Eastern Europe." Full story

Telemundo Int'l president touts success
Bolivian telenovela pioneer Marcos Santana kicked off MIPCOM's Focus on Spain day Tuesday with a salute to his adopted country. Full story

'The Little Prince' goes large
"The Little Prince" will travel across the globe thanks to a joint venture agreement between India's DQ Entertainment and French production shingles LPPTV and Method Animations, both groups said Tuesday. Full story

France 24 launching mobile service
France 24 will launch "France 24 mobile," offering content in French, English and Arabic live and on-demand, the French international news channel said Tuesday. Full story

Marathon off to quick start with 'Gormiti'
French production and distribution powerhouse Marathon has been sprinting through the MIPCOM market with sales of popular animated series "Gormiti," Marathon said Tuesday. Full story

Oct. 13, 2008

Dauman urges industry to look beyond crises
In his MIPCOM keynote Monday, Viacom president and CEO Philippe Dauman remained confident about the outlook for media performers Monday, despite the shock selloff of $233 million in CBS and Viacom stock by Sumner Redstone's National Amusement company. Full story

Economy front and center at MIPCOM
TV screens in the main entrance of the Palais des Festivals on Monday were tuned to minute-by-minute updates on rising international market indices, reflecting TV execs' need to keep on top of the economic story that everyone here is talking about. Full story

RDF has 'Dance' fever at MIPCOM
Those dancing feet are promising to tap out dollar signs for RDF Rights at MIPCOM. Included in the RDF Media Group arm's diverse slate of 250 new hours of U.K. and international programming is the hit dance format "So You Think You Can Dance," which RDF expects will help it capitalize on the worldwide ballroom dancing phenom. Full story

World record holds MIPCOM breathless
Hungarian escape artist David Merlini had MIPCOM delegates spellbound as he set a new underwater world record at Monday's opening-night cocktail party. Full story

YR Asia heading to Hong Kong, Macau
New Singapore-based "no news, no politics" entertainment channel YR Asia Satellite TV will launch in Hong Kong and Macau this weekend, media management company and channel operator Net Leader Holdings said. Full story

Germany's 'Rex' is king for France 2
Germany's Beta Film has sold the latest season of the hit series "Rex -- A Cop's Best Friend" to French broadcaster France 2 -- just one of the many deals being done here by newly aggressive Teutonic program sellers. Full story

Arte, MySpace team for 'Twenty Show'
Franco-German TV network Arte has partnered with MySpace to launch the Web series "Twenty Show" geared towards twentysomethings, Arte said. Full story

MIPCOM awaits David Merlini stunt
MIPCOM organizers were holding their breath Monday in anticipation of a stunt planned for the opening cocktail reception in which escape artist David Merlini will attempt to break the world underwater record. Full story

Gallic T M6 preselling 'Little Nick' to global TV
V network M6's animation production subsidiary M6 Studio is sending popular animated schoolboy "Little Nick" across the globe at this year's MIPCOM, M6 said Monday. Full story

Dailymotion to launch online kids channel
French video-sharing Web site Dailymotion is planning a new kid's channel set to launch at the end of the year in Gaul. Full story

French Effervescence for online game show
French TV viewers have been bubbling with excitement over Gallic production company Effervescence's interactive quiz show "Hold Onto Your Seat" with the program's online gaming format attracting more than 200,000 unique visitors per day and heading for an international makeover. Full story

France Televisions launches kids unit
Gallic public TV group France Televisions is dipping its feet in the fountain of youth with the group's main terrestrial networks banding together to form one main children's programming unit, France Televisions said. Full story

Eastern Europe's AXN finds 'Sanctuary'
Canadian distributor Tricon Films & Television has sold the sci-fi series "Sanctuary" to entertainment channel AXN for Eastern Europe, it was announced Monday. Full story

Oct. 12, 2008

Execs pondering financial fallout
How quickly and how widespread the effects of the global financial meltdown would ricochet onto the French Riviera was the question this weekend as a record number of TV execs and producers poured into this French city for the five-day worldwide sales bazaar known as MIPCOM. Full story

Disney int'l TV to work with Microsoft MSN
Disney-ABC-ESPN Television, the international distribution arm of the Burbank-based Mouse House, will unveil Monday its first European agreement to offer content to Microsoft's MSN video viewers across Europe. Full story

Comcast opens with slew of Asia deals
Comcast International Media Group's Asia Pacific operation opens the MIPCOM programming market Monday with 700 hours of licensing deals signed over the past six months, including a new deal for The Style Network branded block on Foxtel's Arena Channel in Australia. Full story

Int'l kids programming feels financial crunch
Financing issues were top of everyone's agenda at this year's MIPCOM Junior. Sunday buyers and sellers alike acknowledged that the financial crunch would have serious and long-lasting effects on a kids market. Full story

UPDATE: Entertainment Rights denies bankruptcy speculation
Speculation is mounting that U.K.-listed character licensing group Entertainment Rights is struggling to survive after shares collapsed last week. The company strenuously dismissed the speculation, saying that any suggestions it was facing margin calls were "materially misrepresenting the situation." Full story

Nickelodeon looking to expand 'co-viewing'
Nickelodeon's conventional kids TV wisdoms may need to be turned on their heads to meet young audiences' entertainment demands, network president Cyma Zarghami said here Oct. 12 at the closing keynote of the MIPCOM Junior show. Full story

Distributors unveiling eco-friendly projects
Green is decidedly the trendy color at MIPCOM this week, with key producer-distributors expected to unveil loads of eco-friendly projects. Full story

'Camp Rock' seals broadcast deals in Europe
"Camp Rock," the latest Mouse House music extravaganza to ratchet up its tally of foreign TV screens, has just sealed another handful of broadcast deals in France, Switzerland, Australia and Turkey, bringing its licensing total to 78 territories and counting. Full story

Oct. 11, 2008

Fox inks deal with BCE
Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution has just inked with Dutch-based Broadcasting Center Europe to facilitate the digital delivery of file-based broadcast material for the Hollywood studio's key TV station client RTL in Germany and Holland as well as for other BCE station partners throughout Europe. Full story

MTV racks up deals on eve of market
Political pundit Jon Stewart and pre-school phenom "Dora the Explorer" head the list of shows MTV Networks Intl. has racked up deals for on the eve of MIPCOM. Full story

American companies touting deals
American companies are wasting no time trumpeting their recent international deals as Yank execs spilled off planes and trickled in to this French riviera resort Saturday for the annual rendezvous known as MIPCOM, the key global TV programming sales market on the global calendar. Full story

Oct. 8, 2008

Alchemy takes 'Ben-Hur' to market
Alchemy Television Group is bringing a slew of unscripted formats and its upcoming big-budget miniseries "Ben-Hur" to MIPCOM. Full story

Oct. 7, 2008

PorchLight reveals two projects
PorchLight Entertainment is unveiling two new projects just in time for MIPCOM: Front Street Pictures' action-adventure film "Fireball" and the animated holiday telefilm "A Martian Christmas," co-produced by PorchLight and Mexico's Anima Estudios. Full story

MIPCOM 2008 PREVIEW

Market strength defies economic times
As buyers and sellers descend on Cannes for this year's MIPCOM, some wonder if the long-standing strength of the industry has convinced overly optimistic TV execs that money does indeed grow on trees. Full story

Five A-listers
See the five shows that are likely to generate buzz at this year's market. Full story
Click here for complete MIPCOM product listings

Profile: Jan Mojto
The head of German rights/production giant EOS/Beta Film is making his first call of the day -- to a French co-producer of EOS' latest feature, the World War II biopic "John Rabe." Full story

MIPCOM offers up a slate of eco-themed content
If green is on the wish list of content buyers at MIPCOM eager to flash eco credentials, it won't be hard to find. Full story

Chart: Prices paid by foreign terrestrial stations for U.S. shows
Prices paid by foreign broadcasters for American TV shows are still at historic peak levels for top-tier product.
Read story and see chart

MIPCOM 2008

Oct 15, 2008, 01:00 PM ET