This year’s SPORTELMonaco, the annual International Sports Convention for Television and New Media, will take place in Monte Carlo from October 14-17 — as usual, the week immediately following MIPCOM in nearby Cannes.
However, exhibitors at both markets emphasize that buyers tend to be different and, often, the type of product available for international distribution is also different.
As usual, the event will have three parts — a market attended by top decision makers across the sports content industry; a series of international conferences and expert panels; and the Golden Podium Awards Ceremony, which recognizes the best sports TV images of the year and will take place on Tuesday, October 15.
The majority of attendees of Sportel Monaco are representatives from broadcast, television network and cable companies. About 70 percent are from Europe; North America has the second-largest contingent. According to organizers, the United Kingdom will also be well represented and Asia is one territory that’s growing. Confirmed exhibitors include Globo TV Sports, NBA, ESPN, BBC and Eurosport.
“I am happy to say that, at this time and compared to last year’s registration at the same time, we are 10 percent above 2012. We expect to welcome at least 2,600 participants from all over the world,” said Amparo Di Fede, general manager of SPORTELMonaco.
This year, a special conference on Monday, October 14 entitled “Second Screen — the Big Game” will explore how the second screen has affected the way viewers interact with sports programming. The panel is collaboration with the Associated Press.
Also on Monday, October 14, a panel entitled “UHDTV/4K: Are There More Questions Than Answers?” will be presented in collaboration with Eurovision. On Tuesday, October 15 there will be two SPORTEL and Sports Video Group expert panels: “Federation & Agency Perspectives on Rights in the Digital Age” and “Understanding the TV Anywhere Market.”
Also, The International Symposium on the morning of the 15th “will examine the evolving and dynamic relationship between major sporting event broadcasters and the new technologies that are providing viewers with more value than ever before,” Di Fede said.
From this year on, an official Conference Room in the Diaghilev Exhibition Hall will play host to all official conference events, expert panels and meetings.
“Due to the tremendous interest from the industry and early registrations, we have taken the time to reorganize our venues,” said Di Fede. “We were able to create a nice flow in both venues with more visibility for exhibitors. We specifically have improved the layout of the Diaghilev venue with more and new exhibitors and have moved the conference room into that venue, concentrating all interaction on two floors only. Every day we will offer free coffee breaks and a lunch buffet in the Diaghilev venue. In the evenings we invite all participants to a get together at out daily happy hour from 6-7 p.m,” she said.
