KIDS TV UNDER DRAMA THE MICROSCOPE HOT PICKS Page 16 Page 38 TBIvision.com August/September 2013 TBI OFC AugSep13.indd 1 23/08/2013 12:27 © 2013 Marathon Media – With the participation of France Télévisions and Disney France. Télévisions With the participation of France © 2013 Marathon Media – MIPCOM stand LR4.02 zodiakkids.com pOFC-01 Zodiak AugSep13.indd 2 27/08/2013 15:27 pOFC-01 Zodiak AugSep13.indd 3 27/08/2013 15:27 The road to success Four days of spectacular events and brushing shoulders with A-listers. Endless opportunities for networking, discovering the best in global programming and sealing big deals. They say success is all about being in the right place at the right time. They’re right. The red carpet’s waiting. The moment is yours. Register today. 7-10 October, 2013, Cannes – France mipcom.com mipcom > mipjunior Register before 4 October and save €200 Take a stand to showcase your product to a worldwide audience. Promote your product by advertising in the Preview or Daily News. Contact Peter Rhodes to fi nd out how to make MIPCOM work for you: 020 7528 0086 / [email protected] p02MIPCOM_EB_TBI_216x275.indd Midem AugSep13.indd 1 1 14/08/201313/08/13 19:4714:05 p03 Contents AugSep13jwFINAL 27/8/13 15:41 Page 7 TBI CONTENTS AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2013 24 6 32 6 THE TBI INTERVIEW Stewart Clarke gets the low down on Modern Times Group Studios from boss Patrick Svensk and Jesse Whittock speaks with the CEO of MTG’s latest acquisition, Jeremy Fox of DRG 16 KIDS TV 2013: BOOM OR BUST? With unprecedented levels of change impacting the children’s content business, Stewart Clarke gauges the opinion of all the major players to assess the state of the kids TV market 24 KIDS HOT PICKS A rundown of the hottest new children’s TV properties set to hit the market at MIPJunior 32 EURO DRAMA IMPORTS New research reveals Europe’s top imported dramas and biggest-spending broadcasters 38 DRAMA HOT PICKS TBI’s guide to the drama hits of tomorrow featuring 10 of the most anticipated scripted shows launching at MIPCOM in October 38 CONTENTS AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2013 REGULARS 4 Editor’s note • 10 People • 12 ProSiebenSat.1 • 14 Reflex • 44 Last word: Miles Bullough, Wildseed Studios For the latest in TV programming news visit TBIVISION.COM TBI Auhust/September 2013 3 p04 Ed Note AugSep13 27/8/13 14:21 Page 10 EDITOR’S NOTE STEWART CLARKE he lessons the kids content business is learning and So, a period of unparalleled opportunity… complete with challenges it’s facing are signposting what is in store for the unparalleled challenges. In our Last Word slot, Miles Bullough, the ex- T ‘grown-up’ TV sector. Of course, the wider TV world is already Aardman television chief, discusses how and why the new business grappling with audience fragmentation, new digital platforms and the he has set up with Jesse Cleverly will embrace the new content world impact of broader economic troubles, but the kids business brings with seed funding for the best start-ups and creatives. each of these issues into far sharper relief. We also speak to one of the new content houses on the block. The Speaking to broadcasters, content sellers and producers about the people running MTG Studios and its new acquisition, DRG, tell us kids sector in 2013 elicits the same response, that the revenue streams about how it will grow in this brave new TV world. And as the golden the business was built on are either disappearing or harder to access; age of TV drama stretches on, we look at the US imports that are and that new money-making avenues are opening up, but accessing making the most money in Europe. them means braving a new digital frontier where each deal will be Meanwhile, one thing relatively unchanged in the TV world is that constructed in a different way to the last. October is the time when all corners of the industry congregate upon The international SVOD services such as Netflix are also moving Cannes. We also look at the very best new kids series and dramas from bulk buying to a policy of making more selective acquisitions launching at MIPJunior and MIPCOM, selecting the shows that are and often now looking for exclusivity. They are also looking for most likely to cut through the white noise of buying and selling in originals, which is great news, but a very small number of content the Palais. companies will get to play in that arena. The kids producers, distributors and broadcasters able to adapt most quickly are clearly at an advantage and our children’s TV state of the industry piece offers insight for people in all sectors of the business. Editor Stewart Clarke • [email protected] Published by Informa Telecoms & Media, Mortimer House, Direct line +44 (0) 20 7017 4244 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH Tel: +44 (0)20 7017 5000 Deputy editor Jesse Whittock • [email protected] e-mail: [email protected] web: www.tbivision.com Direct line +44 (0) 20 7017 5809 Printed in England by Wyndeham Grange Ltd, Southwick, West Sussex BN4 4EJ. Contributing editor Stuart Thomson, Andy McDonald Television Business International (USPS 003-807) is published bi-monthly (Jan, Mar, Apr, Jun, Aug and Oct) by Informa Telecoms Media, Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, Contributors Miles Bullough, Simon Murray London, W1T 3JH, United Kingdom. The 2006 US Institutional subscription price is $255. Airfreight and mailing in the USA by Agent named Air Business, C/O Priority Sales manager Kate Roach • [email protected] Airfreight NY Ltd, 147-29 182nd Street, Jamaica, NY11413. Periodical postage paid at Direct line +44 (0) 20 7017 5295 Jamaica NY 11431. US Postmaster: Send address changes to Television Business International , C/O Air Business Ltd / Priority Airfreight NY Ltd, 147-29 182nd Street, Art director Matthew Humberstone • [email protected] Jamaica, NY11413. Subscription records are maintained at Informa Telecoms Media, Direct line +44 (0) 20 7017 5336 Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London, W1T 3JH, United Kingdom. Air Business Ltd is acting as our mailing agent. Publisher Tim Banham • [email protected] © Informa UK Ltd 2013 All rights reserved Direct line +44 (0) 20 7017 5218 Reproduction without permission is prohibited @tbimagazine 4 TBI August/September 2013 For the latest in TV programming news visit TBIVISION.COM Breathless Perfect lives built on lies. itvstudios.com p05 ITV Studios AugSep13.indd 1 23/08/2013 10:47 p06-08 Interviews AugSep13_jwscFINAL 23/8/13 15:21 Page 6 THE TBI INTERVIEW MTG Studios CEO Patrick Svensk MTG STUDIOS MAKES ITS MOVE MTG rebranded Modern Studios and created MTG Studios two years ago with little fanfare. However, subsequent deals for Paprika Latino and Novemberfilm have helped put it on the map. TBI speaks to its CEO, Patrick Svensk, about creating a Scandinavian-owned Studio and to the people running its latest and most notable acquisition, UK-based distributor DRG hen MTG Studios beat Sky and others to the distribution business. punch with a £15 million (US$22.5 million) deal “The mission was to strengthen MTG’s content division from, for DRG in June, the international TV business sat basically, Strix in Scandinavia to something bigger, stronger and better,” up and took note, moving, as it did, MTG says Patrick Svensk, MTG’s executive VP, content and chairman & CEO W squarely into the international production and MTG Studios. 6 TBI August/September 2013 For the latest in TV programming news visit TBIVISION.COM p06-08 Interviews AugSep13_jwscFINAL 23/8/13 15:21 Page 7 THE TBI INTERVIEW MTG STUDIOS MTG operates 32 free-to-air channels in 10 countries and 73 pay TV creative, producer and rights-holder relationships that DRG has built over networks in 36 countries and Svensk, adds: “Our strength is that we are the years was the number one reason we bought them.” in so many markets. Our weakness has been the language… until we Sceptical market-watchers questioned the quality and relevance of the bought DRG.” DRG catalogue at the price the company fetched. Had the buyer been a In most territories, MTG is MTG Studios’ second or third largest client pure sales and production business that scepticism may have been be and Svensk wants to strike a balance, positioning the firm with both well-founded, not least as DRG shed some rights during the sales in-house and third party broadcast partners. “About 75% of Studio’s process, but the numbers made sense to MTG in the wider context of revenues come from clients outside MTG and we want to be seen as MTG Studios’ development. independent, but our ambition is also to take a large slice of MTG’s Svensk knows the super indie scene well, having been at Zodiak in programme spend,” he says. various roles. After a wave of consolidation led by the likes of RDF (and The deals for 53% of Paprika Latino, the CEE producer that started out then Zodiak), All3Media, Endemol and Eyeworks, the stage is, he says, in Romania, in June 2012 and for Oslo-based Novemberfilm a year later now set for the broadcaster-affiliated production and distribution groups left MTG Studios better positioned when it came to getting more of the to drive the deal flow. programming cash of the channels operated by the wider MTG group. A “The M&A space is much calmer than ten years ago,” he says. “There management shake-up announced in August will mean MTG moving are not as many indie producers to acquire, especially in the UK, and I Kaspars Ozolins, CEO of its Baltic TV operations, to Paprika as head of think as new ones come along they will take longer to be successful.