For Broadcast April 02, 2009

Optimistic executives at MipTV were busy chasing a 'rights margin'

The numbers are down, the weather is grey and "credit crunch" has become an adjective (as in -"welcome to our credit crunch breakfast"). But despite the rain and the missing colleagues, executives were putting on a brave face at MipTV in Cannes and underlining the opportunities. "TV viewing is up!" has become a cheery catchphrase even as the world economy staggers and traditional TV advertising limps along.

FremantleMedia chief executive Tony Cohen conceded that "it's tough out there" but says it is "busier than ever", announcing different kinds of first-look deals with Shameless creator Paul Abbott, Oscar-winning film-maker Irwin Winkler (Goodfellas, Raging Bull and Rocky) and Smallville producer Mike Tollin.

The deals are meant to put Fremantle in pole position to tap into talent and "influence the type of things that are made". The holy grail is creating TV that will travel, as formats and DVDs as well as traditional tape sales to foreign broadcasters. The model, according to one Fremantle executive, is less about chasing a production margin and more about creating a "rights margin". It seems a smart move when only the best ideas are going to find the funding and audiences required to be hits.

Late on day one, Mip attendees were blasted out of their credit crunch doldrums by a heavily produced speech/video presentation by Endemol boss Ynon Kreiz. Whizzing globes and spaceships aside, Kreiz announced a €15m (£13.9m) "creative bailout" designed to husband the creative juices in Endemol's 26 creative development teams around the world. The idea is not to buy other producers but to focus Endemol's own "ideas factory" and feed a new emphasis on distribution of both its own and third-party content.

The focus may still be on TV, but Endemol also took a step into what Kreiz dubbed "the largest original production for the web". Section 8 is a thriller backed by Viacom's Paramount Digital and French producer Gaumont and will be available in the US exclusively on MySpace.

Endemol is worldwide distributor and although it is not leading the $5m (£3.5m) project, Kreiz is interested in building its experiences with the likes of The Gap Year into the bigger leagues of web content. Online content may still be at the fringes of the business going on in Cannes but it is an important part of the future for distributing and, increasingly, financing original programming.