Video Age International articles from September 2008

Video Age International archives from September 2008

L.A. Screenings extended int'lly into fall harvest.
September 1, 2008... It has been five long months since L.A. Screenings '08 took place and yet the industry is still ranting about it as if it happened yesterday. But it's not that farfetched since, if not exactly yesterday, it resumed last month and will continue...

New U.S. season, int'l biz still reeling from strike.
September 1, 2008... In July, Fox international distribution announced that it had officially split its 2008 development season into three parts--the first part being the L.A. Screenings in May, the second being another set of screenings that took place in London...

New TV directives are all about what, when & where.(Audiovisual Media Services Directive)
September 1, 2008... Last December, the European Parliament approved the new Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD), a set of rules and regulations for the electronic media that replaces the previous Television Without Frontiers. The new legislation differs...

Ex execs find reel work as consultants.
September 1, 2008... In the film and television business, life doesn't end at retirement or when "looking for new opportunities." In fact, in many cases, it starts at those stages--most often, in consulting. And that's when the real work begins. But what exactly...

China's CCTV weds Cisneros.(China Central Television)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Venezuela and Florida-based media and entertainment company The Cisneros Group of Companies and China Central Television (CCTV) inked an agreement to distribute content across their respective regions. The deal was finalized in August during...

Murdoch grows India's media.(World)
September 1, 2008... Rupert Murdoch has announced plans to expand his News Corp empire in India. The Australian-American mogul revealed that his media company will invest $100 million in six new regional TV channels in India. The new channels will join Star TV, New...

U.S. TV net vs. FRAPA.(World)
September 1, 2008... A leaked memo to employees of New York-based TV network ABC has caused a stir with the Format Recognition and Protection Agency (FRAPA), a Cologne, Germany-based international organization that safeguards formats. On June 14, 2008, ABC Studios...

U.S. cable co. wins TV rights.(World)
September 1, 2008... n August, the U.S. Court of Appeals made it possible for cable operators to offer customers the option of recording shows to watch whenever they want--without buying a DVR. The judging panel overturned a district court decision that...

TV between biz, Rome politics.(World)(RaiTrade)(Roma Fiction Fest)
September 1, 2008... Officially, the six days of the Roma Fiction Fest began July 7, but it was the RaiTrade reception on July 9--which introduced pitching sessions--that in effect kicked oft the event. The festival was touted as "The market of ideas for TV...

YouTube faces Italy, Turkey.(World)
September 1, 2008... Italy's commercial broadcaster, Mediaset, sued YouTube for copyright infringement in civil courts in Rome, London and Los Angeles. As YouTube's main shareholder, Google was also sued. In the suits, Mediaset, which owns three over-the-air...

Digital TV big in Europe.(World)
September 1, 2008... New statistics show that digital TV service (which includes digital cable, digital satellite and digital terrestrial television) in Western Europe has reached over half of the population. London-based research firm Informa Telecoms and Media...

Famous quotes.(World)
September 1, 2008... Is it possible that, within the center-left cultural area, there cannot be found a manager, an intellectual, a journalist, capable and competent, without a political party membership card or party affiliation, and worthy of being considered for...

Brazilian Hollywood: the past & future of telenovelas.
September 1, 2008... After years of being the premier TV genre in Latin America, the popularity of telenovelas has spread around the globe. Latin telenovelas are selling like hotcakes, especially to Eastern European broadcasters, while local productions are popping...

Portuguese-language nations meet to seek TV understanding.(Brazil TV Forum)
September 1, 2008... The highlight of the ninth annual Brasil TV Forum, which ended June 5 in Silo Paulo's Frei Caneca Convention Center, was the first ever "Portuguese-Speaking Broadcasters' Meeting," which was held at the nearby Novotel Jaragua hotel. ...

Market's growing pains leave attendees glowing.(DISCOP East Review)
September 1, 2008... The NATPE-ization of DISCOP, which was held in Budapest, Hungary, June 18-20, has started showing its effects, now that U.S.-based market, NATPE, has finally taken over, bringing its supervisory expertise to the conference. The growth of this...

TV takes a backseat at troubled trade show.(The Promax Story)
September 1, 2008... McMahon, Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane and political activist Jesse Jackson delivered keynotes at this year's 53rd annual Promax BDA conference, which ended June 19 at the New York Hilton, in Manhattan. Promax is a Los Angeles-based...

Filmed ent. is more than just big biz for Europe.(Europe's Film Commissions)
September 1, 2008... Film commissions are government organizations (national, regional and local) set up to attract the production of movies, TV programs and commercials to their respective locations. They offer services such as scouting locations and assistance...

Nickeled and dimed by hotels, airlines.(Un-glamorous Traveling)
September 1, 2008... Most people in the film and TV business would gladly do away with the "glamour" of traveling. Just imagining a stopover at Heathrow or Dallas-Fort Worth airport is enough to make an executive shiver. It seems that today's airports are set up to...

The new TV buzz word: buzz marketing.(Who'da Thunk It?)
September 1, 2008... My digital video recorder (DVR) is chock full of programs and only the "buzz" from my friends and family seems to be able to convince me to start watching new broadcast shows. I zip through television commercials because I am older and just...

Novelas conquer hearts, wallets of TV subscribers.(Argentine TV)
September 1, 2008... For many years in Argentina, subscription or basic cable-satellite TV service, was considered "alternative television": TV that viewers paid for if they wanted to see something different from broadcast television. More than 10 years ago, at the...

Economy cools expo. will Vegas move heat it up?(Licensing Biz Buzz)
September 1, 2008... Despite the sorry state of the economy, business was booming at the 28th annual Licensing International Expo, a three-day conference for merchandising rights holders that was held in early June at New York's hard-to-get-to Jacob Javits...

Broadcast TV to broadband TV: the trend continues.(WiMax Reaches the U.S.)
September 1, 2008... The conversion from TV broadcast to TV broadband is getting closer with the advent of WiMax--the next generation of mobile broadband--which is coming to the U.S. this fall. Increasingly, electromagnetic frequencies are being used not to...

YouTube: a shaper of professional TV?(Social Networks)
September 1, 2008... According to newspaper reports, YouTube--the world's largest online video community with content made by professionals and amateurs alike from every corner of the planet--has reached up to 350 million members. The user-generated content site...

IPTV gets four U.S. players and much hope.(From Broadcast to Broadband)
September 1, 2008... When Echostar, operator of the U.S.-based satellite TV service Dish Network, announced last October that it would be launching ViP-TV, its own version of an IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) platform, the company was entering a nascent, yet...

P2P no longer means piracy 2 everyone.(Technology & Television)
September 1, 2008... Some electronic media industry experts predict the ultimate vehicle for all communications will be advanced peer-to-peer (P2P) technology. P2P is a simple and efficient way to share files directly between people on the same computer network,...

America's TV reaches outside its borders, fuels growth.(U.S. International Channels)
September 1, 2008... As any traveler who's spent time flipping channels in a foreign hotel knows, U.S. TV brands are everywhere and come in many different languages. Thanks to a plethora of well-known series, movies, and brands originating from the U.S., there...

Despite all, still the best place for global business.(MIPCOM Preview)
September 1, 2008... It falls in the fall, right at the end of most buyers' fiscal year, yet MIPCOM it still the industry's most important market. So important that, like a hurricane, it is knocking out all the other markets in its path, like MIFED yesterday and...

Whose rights are they anyway?(production and finance)(Mammoth Productions)
September 1, 2008... As the business of financing content becomes ever more expensive and complicated, it becomes necessary to involve ever more partners. But the more partners a producer involves, the more rights they each have to give away. Holding on to enough...

Beijing reignited sports on TV. biz will benefit.(SPORTELMonaco)
September 1, 2008... In the wake of the recent, and by all accounts successful, summer Olympic games in Beijing (despite early talks of various boycotts), gyms and sport centers worldwide have reported record attendance. TV viewers were apparently inspired by...

Latin film execs sought after by trade shows.(Florida Media Market)
September 1, 2008... The month of October is becoming a bazaar of markets. It could even be called a market extravaganza, if one considers MIPCOM Jr. and MIPCOM (October 11-17) as the opening salvo in France, followed by the Antalya Film Fest in Turkey (October...

List of new shows shown and not shown in L.A.(U.S. TV SEASON)(Los Angeles)(List)
September 1, 2008... List as of September 19. Shows in blue were announced after the L.A. Screenings. CBS PARAMOUNT INT'L TV 90210 (CW) Format: One-hour drama Contemporary spin-off of the iconic drama. The Cleaner (A&E) Format: One-hour drama...

Assn. fights outboarding.(Conferences & Events News)
September 1, 2008... Recently, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based International Association for Exhibition Management (IAEM) released a statement condemning "outboarding." The practice is defined as the "creation of a concurrent event that is related to an existing...

Conferences & events news.(Calendar)
September 1, 2008... ANTALYA GOLDEN ORANGE FILM FESTIVAL OCTOBER 10-19 Antalya, Turkey TEL: (90 212) 244 5251 FAX: (90 212) 292 0337 www.eurasiafilmfestival.com MIPCOM JUNIOR OCTOBER 11-12 Cannes, France TEL: (212) 370-7470...

My two cents.
September 1, 2008... Recently, on a plane from Los Angeles to New York City I sat next to a graphic designer who proudly vented that, in the past few years, she had done away with her TV set, preferring instead to watch streaming videos on her computer. However, in...