Video Age International articles from April 2001

Video Age International archives from April 2001

Round Table: TV and Internet, What's Next?(Interview)
April 1, 2001... Video-on-demand is the only valid Web TV model so far Probed by two Video Age reporters, six Los Angeles-based Internet-TV experts tried to put into perspective where TV via the Internet is heading. Below is the summary of the findings,...

Unifying Africa's TV Viewing.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... New Service Up and Running "People always say, 'I don't know much about Africa,'" observed African Broadcast Network (ABN) head of Programming James Makawa. "The thing is, it would be so nice to put together a channel that we can back-haul...

ABC on the Offense as CBS and NBC Counterattack.
April 1, 2001... Gearing Up for the L.A. Screenings ABC is eyeing a heap of new pilots to make up for this year's meager schedule as CBS and NBC continue to mine TV gold. Although the Peacock and the Eye are topping the charts, they have attained success...

Internet Adds New Meaning to Sportelamerica.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... Sports on the Web. This notion has everyone in the sports world in a frenzy. Everyone who attends the SPORTELamerica market in Miami FL., May 7-10, 2001, wants to entice fans to become athlete couch potatoes all year long. But will they click...

My Two Cents.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... What I'm about to discuss could be construed as self-serving. But it is a true story that illustrates a maxim of our business: Actions speak louder than words. One year ago, a friend from Los Angeles -- a distributor turned consultant --...

Alliance Sweet on Salter Street.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... As film companies continue to consolidate, Alliance Atlantis Communications is offering C$82 million to acquire Salter Street Films. Salter Street also holds a federal license for the Independent Film Channel, a digital channel debuting...

Video Pirates Choke Indian Retailers.(bootleg merchandise)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... South African authorities are losing the battle to prevent the sale of pirated Indian audiocassettes, compact discs and videos. Vendors, who sell illegally imported items at a fraction of the cost at which legal versions are acquired, pose...

Freedomland Back on Track.(management shuffle)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... In an effort to bolster its image, the troubled Web-TV venture Freedomland recruited members of Italy's business establishment to its management. To improve the company's stock market value, Freedomland shareholders appointed Marco Vitale,...

Japan Digitizes TV Law.(forced conversion to digital from analog)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... The digital age is here to stay, and Japan is taking advantage of it by attempting to legislate a transition to digital TV and oust ground-based analog television broadcasting. The proposed law mandates that by 2011 everyone will be using...

Studios Enter the Net Fray.(downloadable movies)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... Movie bigwigs have been clamoring to prevent online pirates from stealing their feature-length films. However, Miramax Films execs decided to toss a morsel to the wolves to test security -- in January, the 1999 flick Guinevere starring indie...

Star TV Shoot to the U.K.(Indian programming available in United Kingdom)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... Rupert Murdoch and Indian media mogul Subash Chandra's intense rivalry has now reached English waters as Murdoch launched Indian pay-TV channels in the U.K. to compete with Chandra's Zee TV. Murdoch decided to offer Star News, a 24-hour news...

Polish TV Breaks Political Ties.(non-partisan directors of public broadcasters)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... After Czech journalists called for the removal of the politically-connected head of Czech public broadcaster CT, Polish politicians were inspired. To protect Poland's media from political influence, Sejm Speaker Maciej Plazynski proposed a...

TV3 Latvia's Coverage Widens.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... TV3 Latvia will operate on the country's fourth national television network, which will be developed with owner MTG Broadcasting AB's investments and loan. US$2.3 million will be invested in the first year of operation. A rep of Swedish...

Bon Voyage to TV5.(relocating operations from Montreal to Paris)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... TV5, the largest broadcaster of French-Canadian programs, may be moving to Paris after acquiring C$12 million from the Canadian federal government. If this transition was known beforehand, many investors would not have given money. Viewers fear...

Prix Italia, NATPE Bridge the Gap.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... The new partnership between Prix Italia and NATPE will mix American and European producers and programmers at the September 2001 Prix Italia event. The joining of these forces will strengthen the festivals by providing more information about...

Telco Plugs into TV in the Philippines.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT), one of the country's major carriers, paid $177 million for a two-thirds stake in GMA, the second largest television network in the Philippines, in an effort to transform into a multimedia-based...

Colombia Forms TV Alliance.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... Programmers, cable operators and DTH service providers met in Cartagena, Colombia to address critical problems that continue to plague the development and growth of the legitimate subscription television industry in Colombia. The meeting,...

MIFED Changes Owners ... Almost.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... The 2001 MIFED will take place on October 28-November 1 in its usual Milan Fairgrounds location. The venue caters to companies that buy and sell film, TV and homevideo rights. In its 68th edition, the market will be organized for the first...

Digital Sat TV Axed in Poland.(Wizja 1 channel closed down)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... Wizja 1, the digital flagship station of Poland's Wizja TV, closed its doors last month, having fallen victim to cost-cutting measures at parent company United Pan-Europe Communications (UPC). The channel's lofty operation and production...

MIP-TV Battles Merger Blues With Aggressiveness.(international television programming trade show)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... "Do you know why Warner Bros. pulled out of MIP-TV?" a studio executive asked one of Video Age's reporters. Obviously, the reason given by Warner Bros. TV International's president, Jeff Schlesinger, in an interview with Variety, did not...

Docs Rock the Int'l TV Landscape.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... Once banished to the fringes of the television universe, documentaries are becoming an international phenomenon. The success of A&E's The History Channel has augmented the appeal of documentaries. In just five years, its subscriber base has...

Welcome to the Information Age, Beware the Talking Toaster.(Review)
April 1, 2001... Fiber optics and "smart" appliances in broadband's future No, manufacturers have not yet created a conversational kitchen appliance, but that's just one of the many predictions and business recommendations offered by techie whizzes Jason...

Buying Resurgence Seen in Cannes. Columbia Not Exhibiting. L.A. Screenings Looming Over.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... The new convention center (Palais) in Cannes, France, will open April 22-28 for international TV distributors to present their products to program buyers, who seem to be in a seemingly better buying mood this year. Last year, the Monte-Carlo TV...

In the End, Formats Save the Day.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... Formats are keeping the Monte-Carlo TV Market going. Everything else seems to be gone. This year, top format experts from Canada, the U.K. the U.S., Italy, Holland and Latin America added a spark to a market that is otherwise in a deep crisis....

Another TV Dispute Plagues The Czech Government.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... A brewing debate over control of the Czech Republic's top television channel turned into an arbitration hearing in London, in a case testing the Czech government's readiness to afford equal treatment for foreign and domestic investors. The...

Video-On-Demand is Internet-TV Winning Formula.(Interview)
April 1, 2001... Panelists Debate how to do it Just when one thought the television experience couldn't possibly be enhanced anymore, VOD came on the TV scene. In a discussion with Home Choices vp Lawrence Hess and Terrence Coles, sr. vp of Intertainer...

Milia 2001 Re-Boots for Consolidation.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... The world's new economic outlook looked dire at Milia 2001, the multimedia market that took place in Cannes, France, last February. This could be a danger sign on the road ahead, but some European execs remained optimistic. Large broadcasting...

Internet TV Services Opening Markets.(Interview)
April 1, 2001... Online TV trade facilities expand The Internet is changing the way we watch television. While viewers used to just veg out in front of the tube, now they participate in the programs they watch. Six panelists explain how Internet-TV has...

Digital Watermarking for TV "Coming of Age".(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) reported significant progress towards the development of effective ways to protect the copyright of live broadcasts on digital networks. Philips, Thomson, Lucent Technologies and Tektronix each...

ESPN Scores a Touchdown.(Review)
April 1, 2001... The controversial tell-all ESPN: The Uncensored History (Taylor Publishing, pp. 286) chronicles the transformation of a simple concept into a sports nerve center now saturating TV, radio, magazines and the Web the Entertainment Sports...

Is TV in China Keeping Up With the Rest of the World?(Brief Article)(Industry Overview)
April 1, 2001... Some people may think that television viewing in China is only for the wealthy and privileged. They are wrong. Television viewing in China is catching up to the U.S. in popularity: there are over 1.1 billion viewers in China, which has over...

AFM Gives the Film Biz a Rain Check.(American Film Market)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... It's now official, the American Film Market (AFM) brings rain to Southern California. If memory serves, ever since the AFM moved West from Los Angeles to Santa Monica, it has attracted what TV meteorologists call "light precipitation, heavy at...

The L.A. Screenings Are Coming!(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... The independents are sharpening up their weapons for the Los Angeles Screenings 2001. After declaring war on the studios last year by staging their own pre-screenings, the indies are once again plotting to carve out their own space outside the...