DISCOP West Asia Closes on a Strong Note

ISTANBUL: DISCOP West Asia closed today on a wave of upbeat sentiment, particularly in regard to the presence of Pakistan.

DISCOP General Manager Patrick Zuchowicki confirmed that three of the country’s four main broadcasters were at the market for the first time, and several distributors reported sales to the country as a result. Martha Contreras of Azteca said that the company did not attend DISCOP West Asia in 2012, having been at the inaugural event in 2011, citing the presence of Pakistan along with Kazakhstan as the reason for Azteca’s return. Although the Middle East continues to be important, as Azteca launched a dedicated telenovela channel there in January.

Berta Orozco, sales executive for EMEA at Caracol, and Frederick af Malmborg, the managing director at Eccho Rights, also lauded the Pakistani presence, with Malmborg reporting sales of four series to the territory. Dangerous Beauty and The End were both sold to Express Entertainment, while Geo snapped up Ezel and Urdu 1 grabbed Karadayi, both from major Turkish producer Ay Yapim. Malmborg also revealed that Eccho had found it possible to sell territory by territory in the Middle East rather than making the traditional pan-regional sales, wıth initial contemporaneous transmission followed by subsequent secondary sales.

This is a development also noted by Alan Green, sales director for FCCE, who reported sales of Travel Snacks to TRT’s kids channel Okul, as well as Films and Stars to Saudi’s Rotana and several Hollywood documentaries to Dubai’s Farsi-language Gem TV.

Damian Keogh, the managing director of the U.K.’s Skyworks, revealed that he was at the market despite having an agent for the Middle East precisely because he felt the need to, "fill in the gaps with local broadcasters that agents don’t always cover."

Nitin Michael, assistant VP of content sales for the Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan at India’s Zee TV, said that his company was reversioning Indian programming for territory by territory sales in the Middle East, principally by speeding up the storytelling of traditionally slow Indian dramas, despite having opened their own pan-regional channel, Alwan 1, last year. He also reported a sale of their drama series Malaket Jhansi (Queen of Jhansi) to Kazakhstan’s Astana TV.

Several companies, such as Carsey-Werner, were back this year after having missed the 2012 edition, reflecting an overall positive view of both the market and the region. Nabil Kazan, the managing director of Lebanon’s K & Partners, summed up the overall mood of the last day, commenting, "more and more people are coming and the result is that the market just gets stronger and stronger—there are some very good vibes this year in Istanbul."