Allen Bohbot

World Screen Weekly, March 8, 2007

Chairman and CEO

BKN New Media

For BKN New Media, MIPTV 2007 comes at a time for consolidation, not new product rollouts.

“This time of year,” chairman and CEO Allen Bohbot says, “people ask, ‘What’s new and different for MIPTV?’ For us it’s the same thing as at MIPCOM, which is an extension of these brands,” Zorro: Generation Z and Dork Hunters From Outer Space, two kids’ shows introduced last year. “They’re more important than the next five shows we have in development.”

BKN comes to MIPTV with some key deals for Zorro and Dork Hunters in place, and with more episodes to screen. “Our view is that these are going to be long-term brands,” Bohbot says. “We sell in 95 or so countries and dub in more than 30 languages, so our view is that brands like these can play in all these markets. At MIPTV and MIPCOM we’re going to expand and build on these brands and make sure that we get them in all 95 countries, that we develop a full DVD program, a full digital rights program so we can put them on iTunes and global video and all that stuff, and a full licensing program in as many countries as we can get it done. Exploiting two major brands is far more valuable than putting five into the market and hoping something works.”

Bohbot’s focus is on what he calls the premium end of the market, a segment that he says has opened up in the last few years as schedule-clogging kids’-block deals with major broadcasters have expired.

Earlier this year, BKN signed deals to place Dork Hunters on GMTV in the U.K. and RTL II in Germany. Last month it sold Dork Hunters and Zorro to CTC in Russia.

“We haven’t sold to RTL II in five years and they came in. We haven’t sold to GMTV in the U.K. in four years and they’ve come in,” Bohbot says. “We haven’t sold to CTC, and what we have sold in Russia has been meaningless in terms of money. This was a very important deal, on a par with major countries. What the market has shown us since MIPCOM ’06 is that if you have some product that is new and fresh and looks good, there is a premium end of the market that has developed that wants to step up—the free-TV channels. These guys are still paying the full fees.”

After the GMTV deal, BKN stretched the Dork Hunters run by 10 episodes to a total of 36 half-hours. It also signed a pan-European toy and game deal with the Character Group.

“Taking Dork Hunters to 36, or hopefully 52, is far more economic and productive than having three or four series,” Bohbot says. “I’d rather have two successful brands that go for several years that make us money in lots of different ways.”

BKN had only a pilot of its two new shows at MIPCOM, but will have more episodes to show at MIP, Bohbot says. “The French especially like to see two episodes before they decide. Once we show the second and third episodes, we think people will step up.”