MIPTV Video: View From the Top—What Do Buyers Want?

NEW YORK: Smithsonian’s David Royle, Discovery’s Nesta Owens, RMC Découverte’s Corentin Glutron and ZDF/ZDF Enterprises’s Kristina Hollstein offered up insight into their programming and acquisition strategies at a MIPDoc panel moderated by World Screen’s Anna Carugati before receiving the inaugural World Screen Factual Trendsetter Awards.

Hollstein is the director of acquisitions and co-productions for documentaries at ZDF and ZDF Enterprises in Germany. Her team handles the business negotiation side of programming choices, while the editorial decisions are made by the 15 departments buying, producing and co-producing documentaries at ZDF. Royle serves as executive VP of programming and production at Smithsonian Networks, a joint venture between Showtime Networks and the Smithsonian Institution. Glutron heads up acquisitions at RMC Découverte in France, which has only been in operation for about three years. It is a free-TV channel in France specialized in factual. Owens, as director of programs for Discovery Networks in CEEMEA, buys for at least 15 channel brands, among them the flagship Discovery, TLC, ID and Animal Planet.