BUSINESS JOURNAL OF FILM, BROADCASTING, BROADBAND, PRODUCTION, DISTRIBUTION MAY 2013 VOL. 33 NO. 4 $9.75 STUDIO ISSUE I N T E R N A T I O N A L wwwwwww.Vw.VideV ddeeooAgAAgege.org.orgrg Who’s Screening in Los Angeles and Where Page 8 Indie Distributors New Program Offerings Page 12 Hollywood Studios’ Executive Sales Teams Page 18 Key Acquisition Executives and Organizations Page 22 2013-14 U.S. TV Season New Series Pilots Page 25 FRONT COVER LA SCREENINGS.indd 1 5/15/13 10:38 AM Ads CS5 270x360.indd 2 5/17/13 12:11 PM May 2013 My 2¢ The First Law of Thermodynamics states that matter is not created or destroyed, only transformed. The same law applies to television, where programs are not created from scratch or destroyed, but constantly transformed. bout seven years ago, Norman Horowitz wrote that, Today, film and TV producers and broadcasters when he was at Columbia Pictures in the 1970s, a are more comfortable with tried and true If Afriend asked him what he did for a living. Norman “used” concepts than original untested ones, explained (I’m paraphrasing, in reality, knowing Norman, and the public enjoys watching re-runs of one thinks it is possible that he took half a day to elaborate) that his TV shows as much as multiple incarnations about it, the whole job was to sell stuff to television stations outside the United of Spiderman. television industry States and sell TV re-runs and movies inside of the States. Indeed, the “used” TV business has At this point the friend — rather confused — interjected: created a new sector spearheaded by such revolves around the “Norman, you are in the used film business!” TV channels as TV Land and programming “used” business model If one thinks about it, the whole television industry blocks like Nickelodeon’s Nick at Nite, which revolves around the “used” business model. After all, the re-use classic shows. This is in addition to a U.S. film industry started with some entrepreneurs that plethora of cooking shows that take us back came from the garment business selling “used” clothes. to the used and reused early TV style. Many years ago, in the early days of television, the And what about the complex business of industry’s business model was based on “sponsored content,” residuals, which is based on the simple concept where a company, like Procter & Gamble, would pay to be that talent should be paid on “used” runs? associated with a TV soap opera such as As the World Turns. The “used” business model is also used by the This concept was also “used” fashion industry since it was taken from the old (they call it retro). radio days. And, according to Today, sponsored content an article in New York is called by various names: Magazine last March, we now branded content, sponsored have an increasing number verticals, barker show, profile of feminists who choose to builder, etc. The fact remains, stay home and are called however, that it is still a “used” “retro wives,” who are happy business model. The 60-second to be in the business of their TV spot, too, is a used concept grandmothers. dating from colonial America The irony is that we at when Benjamin Franklin’s VideoAge, studio executives Pennsylvania Gazette used to and 1,500 program buyers place short advertisements “I think it’s time we got some youthful from 340 organizations in 70 next to editorial material. thinkers in this company.” countries around the world And, lingering on the are all here in Hollywood advertising business, TV commercials use songs because welcoming and celebrating the arrival of a brand “new” TV they stay in viewers’ minds. Naturally, with television’s season, when in reality what we see and have seen has been habit of re-naming used concepts, in this case, they’re called “used,” if not re-used. jingles. And even TV ratings use an old model developed by In conclusion, if at first the expression “used film business” test marketing in the 1920s. generates some laughter, or at least a chuckle or two, the Then, there is the business of worldwide content reality is more sober, since there isn’t anything to second- distribution, which, considering the multiple windows now guess about the secondhand business. involved, is not only “used,” but also “re-used.” Dom Serafini 3 aaaMay_2013_Issue2.indd Sec2:3 5/10/13 9:55:14 AM P4 5/17/13 1:36 PM Page 1 May 2013 1 2 3 1. Echo Bridge’s Vivian Reinoso, Metro TV’s Carolina Sefair, Salim Antonio Sefair, Echo Bridge’s Emilia Nuccio, Inti’s Maria Kowalski-Alvarado, Echo Bridge’s Camilo Bernal 2. A+E’s Mayra Bracer 3. Lionsgate TV’s Maryann Pasante and Peter Iacono 4. Telefe’s Claudio Ipolitti 5. Azteca/Comarex’s Raul Mendoza, Jesica Stescobich, Carmen Pizano, Marcel Vinay Hill 6. Record TV’s Delmar Andrade 7. Telemundo’s Joysette Rivera, Luis Daniel Capriles 8. Power’s Susan Waddell, Jose “Pepe” Echegaray 9. Estrella TV’s Cynthia Sanchez, Andrew Weir 10. Multicom’s Irv Holender and Gaiam’s Sam Toles 11. WWE’s Emilio Revelo, Christine Pinzon, David M. Añon 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 4 Ads CS5 270x360.indd 5 5/10/13 9:21 AM World May 2013 Amazon In New Israeli TV Station The OTT Biz new Israeli television channel dubbed i24news, will broadcast news 24 hours a day in English, French and Arabic, starting this summer. ollowing Apple TV A i24news will incorporate state-of-the-art technology, applications for and Roku, here comes cell phones, video-on-demand, a website, and offer 24-hour news coverage in FAmazon T V. Reportedly, the company is developing a TV three languages. The channel will be based in Jaffa Port near Tel Aviv. set-top box (STB) to stream TV According to Carlos Burovich, head of production for i24news, the channel content to consumers. will compete with established global news outlets like Al Jazeera and will be funded privately. Partial funding will Currently, Amazon operates come from French-Israeli businessman and telecommunications mogul Patrick Drahi. Frank Melloul, a former five video services for its French government adviser on security and disarmament, will be the chief executive. 150,000 titles both by mail and via the Internet, using several The channel will air live news reports daily from 6 a.m. to midnight and taped programming during the remaining platforms. It is not clear whether time. Plus, i24news will launch a website in English, French and Arabic simultaneously with the channel launch. Amazon Video STB — which Programming will include hard news, interviews and news magazines, and the current staff of 45 is projected to may be called Kindle TV and grow to approximately 150. priced at under $100 — would itself become a platform or limit the offerings to only its titles. Web Pirates Shut Down he Italian Postal Police has closed 27 illegal Tvideo streaming sites throughout Italy that made use of remote servers located in various countries. The police acted after Indian film company Sunshine Pictures filed charges with the assistance of SIAE, the Italian residual and copyrights content organization. Using servers located in 14 countries including Australia, the U.S.A., China, Russia and Romania, the pirates were able to stream over 400,000 movies, some of which are still in theaters, causing losses estimated at $1.5 billion euro (U.S.$1.95 billion). It is considered Europe’s largest crackdown on pirate streaming services. Bell Media Has more space (your ad looks like a poster) Funds Talent Reaches more buyers (in their offices, in their hotels, on their PCs) Growth oronto-based Bell Media Offers more editorial services (pre, during and post market) announced a C$1 million- Ta-year initiative to train More distribution news (specialized in the business of selling content) emerging producers known as the Media Producer Accelerator Lab. The new initiative comes Has more editorial vehicles (Monthlies and Dailies) after launching a $1.8 million- a-year program for TV skills Is more efficient and effective (with its online opportunities) development. Bell Media is part of Bell Covers more markets: Whether you attend NATPE Budapest or NATPE Miami. Canada (with C$20 billion-a-year From Los Angeles to Singapore. At MIP-TV or MIPCOM. revenue) which owns, among other media properties, CTV, In Istanbul or Johannesburg, or Buenos Aires… Canada’s largest TV network. The Accelerator Lab’s funding has no end date. Similarly, the TV Skills Development VideoAge gives you more… much more! Initiative is for varying amounts of time, according to Bell Media spokesperson, Anika Malik. 6 aaaMay_2013_Issue2.indd 6 5/10/13 10:10:14 AM ©2013 A&E Television Networks, LLC. All rights reserved. 0542. All rights reserved. LLC. Networks, ©2013 A&E Television ENVUÉLVETE EN LA PASION Nuestros formatos ofrecen una programación llena de entretenimiento atrevido y cautivador que apasiona nuestra audiencia. Tenemos una química especial con nuestros televidentes y cada día es más apasionante. 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