Reports


Digital giants: the content wars begin

Netflix and Amazon’s content investments have rocked the television business to its foundations, but can the real titans of tech – Facebook, Apple and their kin – usurp them and win the war for audiences of the future? TBI reports Twenty-eighteen will provide the backdrop to an onslaught into the international content business. While Netflix […]

To boldly go… to MIPCOM

Danny Fenton, CEO of Zig Zag Productions, offers his thoughts on the latest MIPCOM. As we strapped ourselves in for another journey into the unknown of Cannes at MIPCOM one thing we knew for sure is that there were new stars in the ascendency such as Amazon and Netflix and as-yet unreached far flung galaxies […]

Fighting the pirates

Illegal downloads and streams are directly impacting the TV business, but how far are they changing the distribution models of tomorrow, and what can be done to stop the flow? Robert Shepherd reports The global TV industry has always faced major challenges. Whether it was uncertainty surrounding digital switchover, the ongoing lack of diversity on […]

Who to meet in Cannes: Katrina Neylon, FremantleMedia

Name: Katrina Neylon; Company: FremantleMedia International Katrina Neylon joined FremantleMedia International (FMI) as global content head in September after two years at Studiocanal, in effect replacing former Shine International colleague Georgia Brown, who left for Amazon Studios over the summer. Neylon joined the company four weeks before MIPCOM, an unenviable task when working for a […]

Who to meet in Cannes: David Mortimer, Tinopolis

Name: David Mortimer; Company: Tinopolis Former NBCUniversal International unscripted chief David Mortimer heads into his first MIPCOM with transatlantic production and distribution company Tinopolis Group with mechanised robots on his mind. Tinopolis’s sales division, Passion Distribution, has significant expectations BBC Two tech combat series Robot Wars is about to go truly international after its return […]

Who to meet in Cannes: Sumi Connock, BBC Worldwide

Name: Sumi Connock; Company: BBC Worldwide Sumi Connock was just days into her new role at BBC Worldwide (BBCWW) when TBI interviewed her at the BBC commercial division’s Liverpool Showcase event in February. Now bedded in with a clear sense of the mammoth BBCWW formats library, the former ITV unscripted creative chief is heading to […]

Who to meet in Cannes: Charlotte Walls, Catalyst

Name: Charlotte Walls; Company: Catalyst Global Media London-based Catalyst Global Media heads to MIPCOM as a shining example of how the film and television financing worlds are merging into one fluid and evolving business. Co-founder and CEO Charlotte Walls had worked to produce and finance movies such as Killing Bono and The Wind That Shakes […]

Trace elements – Sulty-Johnson’s sales strategy

Last week, urban culture-focused channels operator Trace announced a move into distribution, with former Lagardere Studios and France Télévisions sales exec Betty Sulty Johnson at the helm. Here, she outlines plans for the division   TBI: How big is the Trace catalogue? BSJ: Trace Content Distribution (TCD) is currently developing a premium catalogue of afro-urban […]

Staring into the Hard Sun

While investigating what appears to be the routine death of a computer hacker in London, Charlie Hicks (Jim Sturgess) and Elaine Renko (Agyness Deyn) stumble upon proof that the world is facing certain destruction in just five years. They soon find themselves being pursued by ruthless security service operatives who are willing to kill in […]

Heritage hunter

Lisa Perrin oversees the global rollout of the world’s largest formats collection. The CEO of Endemol Shine Creative Networks discusses new digital buyers, IP ownership challenges and why some heritage programmes may never be bettered. Jesse Whittock reports. The formats world is in a constant state of flux, with new market entrants such as Netflix, […]