A Note from the Editors

The raft of media M&A activity we saw last year didn’t come as a surprise given all the consolidation we’d seen the year before. But few could have predicted the megadeal that closed the year: The Walt Disney Company reaching an agreement for 21st Century Fox’s film and television studios, cable and international TV businesses. Meanwhile, digital platforms are continuing to exert their dominance, getting bigger and more ambitious by the day (and poaching a slew of “traditional media” content execs). In this ever-changing environment, with the FAANGs showing no signs of slowing down, scale matters—a lot—and so does access to talent. We tackle the question of whether bigger is actually better in our main feature in the MIPTV edition, exploring the business models of the “federations,” which are snapping up independent producers and content libraries and expanding their significant distribution catalogs. This special report includes interviews with BBC Studios’ Tim Davie, FremantleMedia’s Cecile Frot-Coutaz, Endemol Shine Group’s Sophie Turner Laing, Red Arrow Studios’ Jan Frouman, all3media’s Jane Turton, STUDIOCANAL’s Didier Lupfer, Banijay Group’s Marco Bassetti, Keshet Media Group’s Avi Nir, Kew Media Group’s Steven Silver, Mediapro’s Tatxo Benet, Blue Ant Media’s Michael MacMillan and Sky Vision’s Jane Millichip.

You’ll find a full rundown of what’s in our MIPTV editions below. Follow the links to access our digital editions online, or get the Issuu app for iOS or Android so you can read them on the mobile device of your choice.

World Screen

• Seth MacFarlane talks about his FOX series The Orville, which has been renewed for a second season.
• Freddie Highmore shares how he approached preparing for his role in the ABC hit The Good Doctor.
• We take a look at the FOX brand as it marks 25 years in the global pay-TV landscape.
• NBCUniversal’s Cesar Conde reveals how Telemundo is expanding its market share in the U.S. Hispanic landscape.
• On the heels of the completion of the Scripps Networks Interactive acquisition, Discovery chief David Zaslav talks about the enduring appeal of nonfiction programming and the state of the cable industry.
• Cecile Frot-Coutaz discusses FremantleMedia’s scripted strategy, its partnerships with top-end talent and new opportunities being created by digital platforms.
• Sophie Turner Laing shares Endemol Shine Group’s approach to spotting great ideas and attracting talented writers and producers to the company.
• Serving the diverse needs of the U.S. Hispanic community while also diversifying its digital portfolio are key to the strategy at Univision, according to Randy Falco.
• A special report on Inter Medya explores the Turkish company’s growth story.

Read it here.

TV Europe

• Top buyers from across the region discuss multiplatform rights acquisition and trends in their markets.
• Marco Bassetti shares what’s new at Banijay Group, while Tim Mutimer weighs in on the strengths of the Banijay Rights slate.

Read it here.

 TV Kids

• A look at the do’s and don’ts of co-productions.
• A wave of new shows are placing strong girl characters front and center.
• Series promoting science, technology, engineering, the arts and math are in high demand.
• Stephen Davis talks about Hasbro’s brand blueprints.
• Jeffrey Dunn reveals the transformation strategy he implemented at Sesame Workshop.
• Clément Calvet on what’s new at Superprod.
• Adina Pitt discusses her acquisitions strategy for Cartoon Network and Boomerang.
• Jennifer Pertsch offers an inside look at the latest in the Total Drama franchise, Total Drama Daycare.

Read it here.

TV Drama

• Spotlighting the latest trends in period drama.
• Political- and espionage-themed dramas are all the rage.
• Antonio Banderas discusses what drew him to play Pablo Picasso in the new season of National Geographic’s Genius.
• Ay Yapim’s Kerem Çatay weighs in on the appeal of Turkish drama series.
• Stacy Rukeyser takes us inside the new season of Lifetime’s UnREAL.

Read it here.

TV Formats

• Exploring the tricky business of scripted-format adaptations.
• A look at the slew of dating and relationship shows on the market.
• Avi Nir speaks about the strength of Keshet’s format business.
• Stephen Lambert talks Gogglebox and the raft of new series out of Studio Lambert.

Read it here.

TV Real

• OTT platforms are beginning to have a big impact on the factual business.
• Producers and distributors are finding new spins on the perennially popular true-crime genre.
• David Zaslav discusses Discovery’s direct-to-consumer options and its Project C.A.T. initiative.
• Dan Cesareo provides an insider’s look at the A&E hit Live PD.
• Julian Hector talks about the immersive filmmaking being pioneered at BBC Studios’ Natural History Unit.

Read it here.

TV Asia

• Spotlighting the latest developments for pan-regional pay-TV channels in Asia.
• Asian content is finding new buyers worldwide.
• Ricky Ow discusses what’s new at Turner Asia Pacific.
• Rohana Rozhan shares her strategy at Astro.

Read it here.

TV MEA

• OTT is picking up pace across the region.
• Raffaele Annecchino talks about Viacom International Media Networks’ thriving business in the Middle East and Africa.

Read it here.

TV Latina

• The top distributors of series and novelas from Latin America continue to gain ground in Europe.
• Interviews with RTVE’s María Jesús Pérez, NBCUniversal’s Ana Langenberg and more.

Read it here.

TV Listings

• Program highlights for more than 100 distributors attending MIPTV.

Read it here.

We have also published new editions of the World Screen Guide and the TV Formats Guide. Plus, we had a March/Pre-MIPTV edition, which featured reports on trends in drama and formats, and interviews with Lionsgate’s Sandra Stern, MarVista’s Fernando Szew and Calinos’s Firat Gulgen.

Don’t forget to pick up your copies at the Palais, or in a number of hotels in Cannes.