One of the issues bubbling under the surface at MIPTV this year was piracy. Sky's Jeremy Darroch (photo) explicitly called out The Pirate Bay as a threat to his business, and praised the UK government's recent Digital Economy Act legislation which aims to tackle illegal filesharing.

However, the threat of piracy was often in the background too, whenever speakers talked about the need to offer new digital business models, and to reduce the global windows that lead many non-US TV fans to BitTorrent when faced with the prospect of several months' delay before they can watch the ...

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With flights to/from and within Europe cancelled since late last week, some MIPTV participants have found their stay in Cannes unexpectedly extended.

For anyone who might still be on the Côte d'Azur, Reed-MIDEM and the Palais des Festivals have set up a Help Desk and Business Centre for MIPTV clients still in Cannes.

The Centre is located at the Palais' "Organisers' Offices", in the space used for Press Registration/Protocol during MIPTV, and will be open Monday 19 – Wednesday 21 April, from 10.00 – 12.30 and from 14.00 – 18.00. Computer terminals, internet connections, faxes, etc. are at your disposal.

The Help ...

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Trends that shouted the most loudly this market were iPad, 3D television and mobile integration. You could write reams of blogposts about all three, but it may be more useful to wrap up this year's MIPTV with a gentle caution.

The attitude that permeated the atmosphere was a peripheral sense of interest in how digital connectivity, particularly mobile, can contribute to TV formats. A lot of networks are doing interesting things, like BBC and The History Channel. But by and large there remains the desire to find a silver bullet that isn't there: the Winning Idea™ that'll recoup the profits television ...

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It's been a bustling, buzzy MIPTV this year, and this is the last session: the digital wrap-up. Its aim is to bring together the various strands of online, mobile and social media ideas and innovation that have been discussed this week, and get to the bottom of how (and how soon) they'll make a wider impact on the TV industry. Watch out for 'Twitter', 'Engagement' and 'Transmedia' among other buzzwords. Oh, and 'iPad' obviously - with bonus points if we actually see one.

Gavin McGarry from Jumpwire Media mentions iPad within 20 seconds of starting his presentation ...

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If you didn't get to see "Frontiers of Digital Interaction" today, you missed something astounding. Below is a bit of what I managed to catch.

"Maps are very simple," began Orange labs researcher Christophe Aguiton at the start of his presentation on living maps. "They are practical things. But at the same time a map is a dream engine ... people dream on maps."

Once upon a time, an ordinary map of a country was given layers and depth with topographical tricks. Today you can layer maps with data - examples of which we saw in plenty ...

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The next future-facing MIPTV session this morning focuses on mobile, and specifically 'mobile engagement 2.0' - how the new generation of smartphones and apps could drive more community and connectivity around TV shows in the coming news.

The session is moderated by Jason DaPonte, MD of BBC Mobile. The panel features Rudy de Waele, chief networking officer of dotopen.com; Claire Boonstra, co-founder of augmented reality startup Layar; Michael Schneider (photo), CEO of branded apps firm Mobile Roadie; and Kurt Sillen, VP, Head of customer business development at Ericsson.

de Waele starts with a presentation on key mobile trends:

Trend ...

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World-renowned British actor Charles Dance sits down with MIPTV's video team for this exclusive interview. He speaks about his new role as Lord Vetinari in "Going Postal", the latest in Sky1's HD adaptations of Sir Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels.
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Kevin Slavin is co-founder and MD of US cross-media gaming firm Area/Code Entertainment, which earlier this week unveiled its new Starling service. Its aim is to manage and filter the social media chatter around TV shows, and feed it back to broadcasters and producers.

This morning, he's giving a MIPTV keynote about 'next generation audience engagement', to explain some of the ideas behind it, and the opportunities for the industry.

His first point: "Engagement isn't really about engagement with the show..." And he shows a clip from Scooby Doo featuring a laughter track to illustrate this. ...

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Ma Runsheng and Fernando Perez-Gavilan sign the accord, flanked by (left) Cheng Chunli, deputy general manager of CITVC and Arturo Casares Cortina, Televisa’s adviser for Asian countries

This and more in the MIPTV daily News, online now!

Spanish media group Televisa and CITVC of China this week signed a memorandum of understanding to co-produce the world’s first Chinese/Mexican telenovela. The drama has a potential market of more than two billion people.

“This agreement marks a turning point in the successful 20-year relationship between our two companies,” said Ma Runsheng, general ...

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