DISCOP FOCUS TEN PEOPLE TO MEET
Helge Köhnen Sales manager, Bavaria Media Television
Bavaria Media Television is one of the largest distributors in Germany and Discop has always been a key market for German- language content. Sales manager Helge Köhnen has been going to the event for 15 years and has
seen it grow from a very small, informal market to a much larg- er networking spot.
He says that the key element of Discop is the fact that broad- casters, producers and distributors don’t have to run around for meetings, as everyone is in the same Budapest-based hotel.
Marina Williams CEO, Central and Eastern European operations, Endemol
Marina Williams is one of the best- known TV executives working in central and eastern Europe. She was behind the launch of numer- ous channels in the CEE region
including CNN and Cartoon Network, Fox Life and local channels TV6 (Russia) and bTV (Bulgaria). Having then served a seven-year stint at CME, where she was executive VP, she joined Endemol in early 2009 to become its first regional CEO for CEE.
“From my perspective joining Endemol was a great oppor-
tunity, it was like a goldmine because of the amount of formats that had not been sold into the region or pitched properly,” she says. “A lot has changed since then and we’ve done a number of deals including launching a production entity in Russia and Ukraine (White Media). For me the focus is building the whole business in the region – including the production business, consumer products and finished programme sales.” Williams is upbeat about this year’s Discop. “I was there when the crisis hit and attendance was very light and it was depressing. But you can see from the participation list that a lot of people are coming back to Discop this year. A lot of peo- ple come there to mix and talk about what’s going on in other countries in the region.”
Unlike MIP and MIPCOM, which are all about the half-hour meeting and a very targeted pitch to buyers in that limited time, a regional market like Discop allows more room to talk about other properties in the catalogue, she adds.
28TBI June/July 2011
“I’ve been attending since 1996 and it’s a really important mar- ket because you can get all of the important buyers in one place. You don’t have time to meet everyone at MIP TV and many of the CEE buyers don’t go to MIP and it saves you trav- elling on too many business trips having them all in one place,” he says.
Köhnen will be selling a number of Bavaria-distributed series, but will also be talking to producers and financiers about coproductions and format sales. Despite the growth in these businesses, he says that the relaxed atmosphere at the market has slightly reduced since its early days as more sellers turn up to talk to the same number of buyers. Bavaria’s new titles for Discop include two projects for German public broadcaster ARD; science fiction drama Alpha07, a 6x30mins series about brain scanners that control people’s minds, and Karl and Berta Benz, a 90min biopic of the automobile baron.
Daniel Reszka Aquisitions,
programming and development direc- tor, MTV Networks Poland / Blink
One of the most significant new channel launches in Central and Eastern Europe of the year is that of Blink, the joint venture between Viacom International Media Networks (formerly known as MTV) and producer and dis- tributor Endemol. The female-skewing channel, which was announced in
May, will initially roll out in Poland later this summer before travelling around the world.
Daniel Reszka is one of the men who will be acquiring con- tent for the new channel.
Reszka, who is also acquisitions director at MTV Networks Poland, will work alongside Bhavneet Singh, managing director and executive VP, emerging markets, VIMN, Miki Chojnacka, VP, entertainment, Endemol CEE CEO Marina Williams and recently-installed Endemol channel manager Mark Lawrence.
The network, which will air Endemol series including Hot in Cleveland and Make Me A Supermodel as well as MTV content, is looking for female-skewing programming at Discop with an entertainment, rather than self-help, content.
For the latest in TV programming news visit
TBIvision.com
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