MUMBAI: The television marketplace Mipcom kicks off on Monday 17 October 2005 in Cannes France. Around 100 delegates from India representing 38 companies will take part.
The number of companies participating though could reach 45 by the time the event starts.
Two Indian firms will have stalls there - Sony and Weg India. Star India, which used to have a stall, will now be a part of Fortune Star's exhibition space.
Speaking to Indiantelevision.com on what Sony expects from the event, Kaushal Modi, AVP licensing & telephony, says, "We are taking two shows Kaisa Yeh Pyaar Hai and Yeh Meri Life Hai to Mipcom for the purpose of syndication and formatting." Sony will be offering customised solutions for the two shows which will tweaked to suit different regions. This is what telenovela companies from South America like RCTV successfully do each year.
On the film front Sony will be taking pushing two key properties that it has the rights to - Mughal E-Azham and Mangal Pandey - The Rising. Among the 1,000 or so movies in its library, Sony also has films from the Yash Raj catalogue, a notable recent offering being Hum Tum.
Zee will have a seven member team present. A company spokesperson says, "We will be looking to explore every aspect of the group's media business at Mipcom. It will include content creation, publishing, syndication, distribution, satellite, cable and multiplexes. Speaking about convergence, we want to explore the event to get the best out of the latest developments in areas such as digitalisation, triple play, the advent of 3g and IPTV.
"Regarding format acquisition, we have meetings lined up with all prominent format owners. We are looking to grab some formats this time. Then we have other usual suspects including syndication. We are looking ahead to use this platform to market our formats, shows and all kinds of other content. Zee's good form abroad as a broadcaster has also boosted our morale."
For Zee, business development manager Gagan Goel will be looking at strategic business opportunities. One area he will look at is VOD solutions for Zee's Dish TV DTH platform. Deblina Chakrabarty, acquisitions - English channels, will be looking to purchase content for Zee Studio and Zee Cafe.
T-Series will be sending a four-member team not just to sell its home videos to the international community but also to buy home videos that it feels will fare well in the Indian market.
Animation will be pushed: The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) will also be visible. It will host a Ficci Networking Luncheon Session on Tuesday 18 October 2005 at Hotel Carlton.
It will be an informal session for business networking. The lunch will be attended by representatives from international studios that have partnered/outsourced or are potential partners to the Indian animation industry .
Ficci's Sumeet Gupta says that the aim is to project and promote the Indian animation industry. "Depending upon response and industry feedback, we might scale it up and explore other possibilities as well."
Offering his view on Mipcom, Gupta points out that the event is one of the biggest animation and TV markets globally. One can meet almost each and every one from the industry. A presence at Mipcom affords Ficci the chance to make the overseas studios interested in working with their Indian counterparts. In addition Ficci is also looking to use Mipcom as a platform to promote the Frames convention that it organises every year in Mumbai.
Meanwhile, the Mumbai-based Graphiti Multimedia is looking to take Mipcom by storm with its original liveaction cum animation series J Bole to Jadoo which is co-produced by Nickelodeon Asia.
Graphiti director and COO Munjal Shroff is excited as this is the first time he will be attending Mipcom. Speaking to our sister concern Animation Xpress, Shroff said, "This year in addition to our other IPs we also have J Bole to Jadoo, which was one of the first 3D live action animation shows to be made in India, and is also amongst the top rated shows on Nickelodeon."
This year at Mipcom, Graphiti will be looking for syndication (with broadcasters) and distribution (home video) for J Bole Toh Jadoo. Besides, the studio also has three other IPs which it shall pitch at the market, including Tree House Set, Action Hero BC and Krish, Trish and Balti Boy. It will also market its animation skills to studios looking to outsource work.
"Outsourcing is now a big part of our business with clients such as Disney. We've just completed a series of idents and bumpers for Disney's Peek character. 3D & Flash are our core skills," remarked Munjal.
