Our industry insider's final post direct from Cannes focuses on China: the delegation whose stand totalled $6.5m in sales this week at MIPTV, it was revealed today...

In his keynote earlier this week, Martin Sorrell stressed the fact that China is not in recession, it is in slowdown, and with a population of 1.3 billion it still represents an enormous opportunity for Western businesses.

That is an opportunity that is being grasped by the people behind Metan Development Group, which launched in February.

When I met one of the founders, Larry Namer, at the Majestic on Thursday, ...

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Netherlands-based distributor FCCE has concluded an estimated €300,000 in deals this week at MIPTV, says CCO Justus Verkerk (photo). The company’s programmes, which include magazine shows Films & Stars, Hollywood Buzz and Action Zone, as well as children’s light entertainment show Kids’ Flix, have notably been sold to Canal Hollywood (Spain & Portugal) and to Egyptian TV. "The world is in chaos, but all channels still need high-quality, affordable programming," says Verkerk. "Wherever there’s a screen — be it inflight, narrowcasting or terrestrial — it needs moving, colorful content." ...

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In this exclusive interview, Mitch Berman, CEO of ZillionTV, the new-generation video platform launched at MIPTV 2009, explains his presence in Cannes and how he sees the future... ...

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Speakers were asked to discuss next generation gaming trends in today’s panel: The Future Of The Gaming Genre In The Next Interactive Landscape. The unanimous opinion was that the emphasis would now move towards fusing gameplay with storytelling.

The debate was kicked off by moderator Matt Costello (photo) – a scriptwriter and games designer at Polar Productions. He said gaming companies are looking to develop original content which they can exploit across all media platforms. “They’re not just looking at other people’s IP, they’re setting up structures to generate their own ideas.”

Costello asked ...

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Companies may create online games, but the fans ultimately control them, Hilmar Petursson, CEO of CCP Games, told a conference on community entertainment today.

Demonstrating his Eve Online massively multiplayer sci-fi online game, which has 300,000 players – equal to the population of Iceland where his company is based – he said he had to scan the fansites to find out what users were doing in the virtual world CCP had created.

He could also read the Eve magazines, which have 10,000 subscribers at $15 a time. Right from the start, he said, the behaviour of players had ...

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Television is just the tip of the entertainment iceberg for today’s consumers, Cindy Rose, senior vice-president and managing director of Disney Interactive Media Group, EMEA, said in her keynote on cross-platform gaming.

With a sequence of 10 slides and a battery of statistics, she depicted vividly a new world where multi-tasking and interactivity are essential for all ages. A survey of consumers aged 13 to 75 posted the question: Is your computer becoming more of an entertainment device than your TV? Among the millennials (ages 13-24) 80% answered yes; Gen Xers (25-41) 74%; baby boomers (42-60) ...

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Now is the time to start taking the online games industry seriously, according to the high-flying speakers on today's TV Audiences Meet In Online Games And Virtual Worlds panel.

Simon Guild, director of Bass Rock Media and a former MTV Europe president, said: “People look at me now they way they used to look at me when I was involved in the international roll-out of MTV in the early 1990s. They don’t take online gaming seriously - but it’s time that they started.”

Guild’s battle-cry was backed up by realworld figures which demonstrate the online industry’s growth. Michel ...

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ZillionTV announced at MIPTV that MillerCoors, the US’s second-largest beer brand, will be a launch advertiser on the personalised television platform.

“We are thrilled that such a prominent brand has identified ZillionTV’s AVOD [advertising video on demand] platform as a valuable medium to deliver addressable and interactive television advertising,” said Bonnie Stone, ZillionTV’s senior vice-president of advertising.

“ZillionTV’s digital distribution platform and advertising VOD model is truly innovative and provides a unique opportunity to test and learn on a new marketing platform,” said Jackie Woodward, vice-president, marketing services, at MillerCoors.

Zillion has also acquired ...

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It is no secret that the traditional television business models are under attack. So how do we move television on?

This was the question posed by Patrick Barry, Yahoo!’s vice-president of Connected TV at yesterday’s keynote speech, entitled The Internet Revolution Will Be Televised.

In a converging world, Barry's answer is to respect the TV user's preference for a lean-back experience, but incorporate the things they have become accustomed to online: choice, discovery, performance and upgradeability.

Choice, Barry said, is key. "Users will shy away from walled gardens," he said. "If we close the ...

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The impact of digital technologies will be far greater than the introduction of TV, said Jeffrey Cole in yesterday’s Digital Lifestyle keynote.

As director of the USC Annenberg Center for the Digital Future, Cole has supervised a 10-year study into people’s digital behaviour in 30 countries. His conclusion is that TV will be the only traditional media industry to grow in the digital age, with film and music likely to be the highest profile casualties.

Cinema attendance has slumped worldwide from 90 million visits a week in 1946 to 21 million in 2007. Meanwhile, the sales ...

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The Zapping Show, the culmination of the Content 360 pitching competition, took place in the Grand Auditorium last night. The contestants had pitched their ideas to leading broadcasters, agencies and brands. Host Ray Cokes introduced the seven categories. The evening was capped by the announcement of $200,000 funding from the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) to start in 2010. Half of the fund went to Space Creatives’ Hand Drawn Earth; the other half will go towards another project still to be decided. Read on for the winners... Full reports – including pitching session coverage and Zapping ...

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...in which our industry insider talks partnerships with Shaftesbury Films, Discovery Communications, All3Media and ITV...

Earlier this week, there was a cocktail reception at MIPTV to celebrate the global TV premiere of "The Listener", a drama series about a guy who can read minds. The show was a bit of a cocktail itself: a collaboration between Fox International Channels, Shaftesbury Films and ShineReveille International. The initial response suggests audiences like the result of that joint effort.

At a time when programme budgets are being trimmed, and content creators, distributors and platforms want to minimise the risks that ...

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