Video Age International articles from March 2009

Video Age International archives from March 2009

Pellicioli's overnight success was 25 years in the making.(Lorenzo Pellicioli)(Novara)
March 1, 2009... Pellicioli who? What about Spain's Antena 3, France's Marathon, Italy's Magnolia and the U.K.'S Zodiak TV? That's who! But let's make the proper introduction. The 58-year old Lorenzo (Renzo) Pellicioli is CEO of the Novara, Italy-based De...

The mystery of AGICOA. Europe's best open secret.
March 1, 2009... Lately its presence is felt everywhere--here at MIP, at last year's MIPCOM and at AFM 2008--but it is nowhere to be seen. We can view their print advertising, but the ads have no contact info. They're not listed in market guides. Their...

L.A. screenings '09: last but not least they're back.
March 1, 2009... U.S. TV network execs have finally gotten the need to try and do away with the pilot process out of their systems and for the 2009-2010 season, are humbly going back to the future. But not without trying some other forms of change, which, this...

Laughter is back big to console audiences.
March 1, 2009... According to the old proverb, laughter is the best medicine for all kinds of malaise, including a remedy for television woes. And, in today's turbulent economic climate, this adage may prove to be truer than ever. Plus, with movie tickets in...

SABC bill passes muster.(World)
March 1, 2009... In view of the upcoming football World Cup to be held in South Africa, the country is getting more attention than usual--its television sector in particular--with the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) at the forefront. In the news...

PeaceArch to find its peace.(World)
March 1, 2009... Canadian film and TV company PeaceArch Entertainment is still looking to find its new path. Even though its future has not yet been disclosed, speculation says that it is to be split up--some assets kept and others either shut down or sold. ...

U.K.'s ITV in merger mood.(World)
March 1, 2009... The U.K.'s ITV network announced that in the past few months it has considered mergers with other companies, including U.K.'s Channel 4 and RTL's U.K.-based Five. The confession came in response to the impending release of Lord Carter's Digital...

Raider swoops in on Lionsgate.(World)
March 1, 2009... In 2005, Icahn Affiliates investor Carl Icahn, better known as a corporate raider, used his stake in Time Warner to try and force changes at the media company, which owns Warner Brothers, among other media properties. Now, Icahn is turning his...

Israeli TV show miffs Vatican.(World)
March 1, 2009... The Vatican has come out against what it's calling a "blasphemous" satire of Christianity on an Israeli TV network. The late-night program, which aired in February, included suggestions that Mary was impregnated by a school friend at age 15 and...

Letters.(Letter to the editor)
March 1, 2009... We just received the latest edition of VideoAge and in an effort to be "green," we'd like to request to no longer receive the hard copies of VideoAge. Pauline [Bohm] wants to assure you that she reads it online, therefore it's not necessary to...

Famous quotes.
March 1, 2009... Folks will give up $12 [movie] tickets, cancel [online DVD rental service] Netflix, and cut cable to save their high-speed Internet connection. J. Hoberman, The Village Voice, February 4, 2009

Even stranger than his films: the life of Roman Polanski.
March 1, 2009... If Roman Polanski's life were a film, it would certainly be a drama, but it's difficult to determine what kind of drama. Encompassing elements of Holocaust tragedy, macabre horror flick and engrossing courtroom battle, the life story of the...

The good with some bad made for a not-too-bad TV market.(National Association of Television Program Executives)(giganomics)
March 1, 2009... The very first television market of 2009 kicked off with an expectedly subdued NATPE in late January in Las Vegas, ushering in what many industry insiders are speculating will be a quieter than usual year in the entertainment biz. "Everyone...

Assessing the future can be easier than explaining the past.(Future Tense)
March 1, 2009... "A genuine expert can always foretell a thing that is 500 years away easier than he can a thing that's only 500 seconds off." --Mark Twain As famed U.S. baseball legend and street-wise philosopher, Yogi Berra once remarked, "The...

Spring stimulus package for int'l TV companies.(MIP--TV Preview)
March 1, 2009... Any market that happens in the midst of a worldwide economic recession is bound to feel some pain, but organizers of the 46th annual MIP-TV market hope that the event will serve as a stimulus package (a la Barack Obama) for both international...

AFM-inspired EFM proves February a resilient month.(The Berlin Story)(American Film Market)(European Film Market)
March 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Once again the European Film Market (EFM) proved itself to be the key winter market for the movie industry, with or without the worldwide economic downturn. As part of the Berlinale festival, now in its 59th...

Media agency bankrolls Singapore's TV, film biz.(Q & A With MDA)(Interview)
March 1, 2009... Three elements contributed to put tiny city-state Singapore on the map: Former Singapore prime minister and current minister mentor Lee Kuan Yew (he first oversaw the separation of Singapore from Malaysia in 1965), its U.S.$300 billion GIC fund...

E1 Entert.: a mini-major emerging from Canada.(E1 Entertainment)
March 1, 2009... With the demise of AllianceAtlantis, the splintering of PeaceArch (see related story in World, page 6), the disappearance of Chum TV and the "relocation" of Cookie Jar, the international TV industry was on the verge of bidding farewell to...

Analog dollars vs. digital pennies: the TV industry quandary.(Digital Money)(Television program review)
March 1, 2009... If you want to start a "show me the money" discussion in Hollywood, don't mention online video. However, there are eager listeners when the subject is premium TV content. ABC's Last, for example, was viewed by more than 1.4 million unique...

Distributors tap Africa as top emerging territory.(Future Markets)
March 1, 2009... This year marked the inaugural edition of DISCOP Africa, the sprawling continent's first major content market, that took place February 25-27 in Dakar, Senegal (see related story on pg. 38). With the maturing of DISCOP East, which takes place...

Witnessing the birth of many TV nations.(DISCOP Africa)
March 1, 2009... The inaugural DISCOP Africa pulsed with a beat that was both African and optimistic. VideoAge attended all three days of the Dakar, Senegal market to discern why it seems like Africa's day has finally dawned, what the market looked like, what...

Channel hopping in Europe: survey reveals the growth of TV networks on the old continent.(Fast-Forward)
March 1, 2009... After the U.S., the European market is the world's second largest TV market and one of the cornerstones of the international television business, generating billions of dollars in revenue, spending a few billion more for acquisitions and...

He who smiles in a crisis has found someone to blame.(Seminars With Zest)(Interview)
March 1, 2009... Comedy is not just fun on television, it's also becoming an important ingredient on the convention circuit as well. At last year's MIPCOM, market organizers introduced the comic element into one of the seminars by having a creative keynote from...

Conferences & events news.(Calendar)
March 1, 2009... EFFICIENCY MEANS LESS TRAVEL A survey by the Alexandria, Virginia-based National Business Travel Association revealed that 50 percent of respondents would be eliminating all non-essential corporate travel, while 39 percent will be reducing...

My two cents.
March 1, 2009... When the history of the modern U.S. TV broadcast network is written, the extent of the i failure of the American TV networks to find a way to popularize football (soccer for them) in the U.S. will finally be revealed. Like failed Wall...