Video Age International articles from October 2002

Video Age International archives from October 2002

U.S. new season hopes to divide, conquer home, abroad.
October 1, 2002... For the 2002-2003 TV season, the U.S. terrestrial networks are aiming for a consistent but smaller number of viewers across a larger number of series and formats. In other words, '02's m.o. is "divide and conquer." How this strategy will play...

U.S. TV restrictions to revitalize int'l markets.
October 1, 2002... When the U.S. government abolished the Financial Interest and Syndication (Fin-Syn) Rules in 1995, it opened the door to network participation in series ownership. As now disgraced former Salomon Smith Barneys telecommunications stock analyst...

Three Cs in closure for U.K.'s DTT.(Competition, coverage and content)
October 1, 2002... Five years ago, when Granada and Carlton launched the world's first digital terrestrial television (DTT) pay platform, called ITV Digital, it probably seemed like a good idea. By April 2002, having seen $1.25 billion ([pounds sterling]800...

On-demand set to change European TV biz model.
October 1, 2002... Although European rollout of on-demand services (such as VOD and SVOD) has been slowed by the high costs associated with upgrading the infrastructure, it is still widely seen as the next big thing in interactive application. In the U.S.,...

My two cents.(Success stalking executives)
October 1, 2002... I finally realized that I don't have the stamina, energy or willpower necessary to spend the majority of my life chit-chatting on the phone or being a party schmoozer, even though evolutionary biologists would argue that gossip is a survival...

Global piracy now at 40 percent. (World).
October 1, 2002... The Business Software Alliance (BSA) recently announced that global software piracy increased from 37 percent in 2000 to 40 percent in 2001. According to the BSA's seventh annual independent study on the subject, the ten markets with the...

CAMAR for TV in the Middle East. (World).
October 1, 2002... The eighth annual Cairo International Market for Radio and TV Programs (CAMAR 2002), held at the Media Production City outside Cairo from July 6-14, attracted more international participation and top Middle East TV chiefs from the region than...

Rescued miners sell out to Disney. (World).(Brief Article)
October 1, 2002... The nine U.S. coal miners who were trapped underground in Pennsylvania for three days in late July have recently sold the rights to their story to the Walt Disney Company, for $1.35 million ($150,000 each). The result? A TV movie to appear on...

Berlin makes history. (World).( World Congress of History Producers)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2002... Germany's ZDF and ZDF Enterprises, in cooperation with Canada's Banff Television Foundation, are hosting the second annual World Congress of History Producers, October 20-23 at the Hotel Inter-Continental in Berlin. More than 350...

PROMAX and ATVC joined at Jornadas. (World).
October 1, 2002... This year, the PROMAX Latin America conference will take place during ATVC -- Jornadas 2002 at the Hotel InterContinental in Buenos Aires, Argentina on November 12th. The "Jornadas" (market days) for Argentina's Cable TV Association takes place...

The 'Television History' Mystery. (Book Review).(Book Review)
October 1, 2002... While historians and the elderly might be able to state with utter conviction that their knowledge of all things past comes from something other than the big boxes of diodes that fill their living rooms, most folks are left to fend for...

DISCOP makes sellers happy, with few setbacks. (East European TV).(Brief Article)
October 1, 2002... The Hyatt Regency Hotel in Budapest, Hungary, during the annual DISCOP, held June 27-29, was the venue for the launch of an international initiative that will provide up to $10 million in expertise, equipment and programming to Afghan TV in the...

New Monte-Carlo fest defining global trends. (TV Festivals).
October 1, 2002... The 42nd annual Monte-Carlo Television Festival, a three-day cycle of conferences inside a six-day TV festival celebrating the creative arts, took place in Monaco from July 1 to 6 and tried to live up to its hype as a star-studded,...

Quality vs. quantity at MIPCOM 2002. (TV Markets).
October 1, 2002... Even the almighty MIPCOM, in Cannes, France, could not just sit back and count on business to transpire as usual this fall. The 2001 economic downturn only worsened in 2002, meaning that to ensure the continued participation of all major...

MIFED: one threat gone, one more to go. (Film Markets).
October 1, 2002... Now that the threat of the London Screenings overcoming MIFED is gone, a new challenge emerges in the form of the MIP screenings, held in Cannes during MIPCOM. The Annual MIFED event, the 69th in 42 years, is a market focusing on...

Sportel reflects TV sports' dashing biz. (Sports TV Markets).
October 1, 2002... Sports programming has carved out its own unique niche in the broadcasting community, and with more licensing and marketing opportunities than ever before, the 13th annual SportelMonaco, the international sports television program market, could...

Montreal mixes to the max. (Film Festival).(The 26th annual Montreal World Film Festival )
October 1, 2002... The 26th annual Montreal World Film Festival (Aug. 22-Sept. 2) was truly a global event, hosting companies from 75 countries that screened more than 406 films, including 248 world premieres. The international flavor of the Festival was...

Fall schedule reflects U.S. conservatism. Number of new TV series increased. (21 Years Ago in VideoAge).
October 1, 2002... In American television, as in American politics, conservatism has returned with a vengeance. It is said that the new TV series on the primetime schedules on all three U.S. commercial networks, ABC, CBS and NBC this season reflect the view...

U.S. cable nets keep strong overseas grip. (Int'l TV Channels).
October 1, 2002... The digital evolution is proving to be a windfall for U.S. cable companies in the international marketplace. Channels such as Discovery, Nickelodeon, Disney and MTV have become among the world's most recognized brands because of their success...

Slicing up the revenue pie. (Int'l TV Channels).
October 1, 2002... Traditionally, international TV channels have relied primarily on two sources of revenue: subscriptions and advertising. All other possible forms of income, like merchandising; sales of programs, branded program blocks or formats; licensing;...

Three elements make for fertile biz ground. (Int'l TV Channels).
October 1, 2002... International TV channels need to stay ahead of the curve and locate markets that can provide stable ground -- or better yet, offer growth opportunities. VideoAge went on a quest to find out where the most fertile or promising territories are...

High-value brands vs. vanity brands. (Int'l TV Channels).
October 1, 2002... Considering that platforms are at an advantage when they acquire well-known (high-value) brands, why do they choose to jump into the game in the first place with their own (vanity) brands? And how can established international TV channels and...

Entertainment and the environment: how EMA sounds its warning. (TV & Pollutants).
October 1, 2002... Picture this. Every day in California alone, more than 10,000 TV and computer monitors are being discarded, each containing 2 to 4 kg of lead. Last year, 41 million PCs became obsolete in the U.S.Electronic discards make up over 70 percent of...

How long will broadcast remain an over-the-air TV biz?
October 1, 2002... A major issue facing television today is whether broadcasting will continue to be the stalwart enterprise it has always been or be forced by the ever-changing whims of an evolving industry to morph into a different business altogether. ...

Broadcasting today.
October 1, 2002... "We're comfortable being broadcasters. We're good at the business we're in. Others may want to use bandwidth for other things, we want it to deliver the best possible pictures," said a top-level U.S. network TV executive when asked why a...

Rescuing over-the-air TV by the new media.
October 1, 2002... Merrill Lynch's Neil Blackley stated that this is the TMT (telecoms, media and technology) Millennium. But television has greater penetration rates than other media, and therefore has the potential to deliver IP access, and with it,...

Canada's first DTT license.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2002... Chum TV has submitted an application to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) for a digital over-the-air license for its Toronto station Citytv. This license will allow for the first HDTV signal to emanate from...