NATPE was good ‘till the last drop, or, in our case, busy ‘till the last minute.If in the past NATPE was a one-and-a-half day market, well, no mas. At this year’s NATPE, which ended yesterday, Wednesday, January 25, TV executives were busy with meetings up until 6:30 PM at the end of a very hectic three-day market (which in effect, started on Sunday, making it, albeit unofficially, a four-day market).

At his end-of-market press conference, an exuberant NATPE CEO Rick Feldman gave journalists a free lunch and answered with confidence even the most aggressive questions without being defensive: there were 5,000 estimated attendees, representing an 11 percent growth from last year.

To the local Miami Beach, Florida, economy NATPE represented what Feldman estimated as close to $10 million.

In terms of future growth, Feldman will have to estimate the breakthrough level before the venue becomes unresponsive (7,000 attendees may be the limit that the Fontainebleau locale could house).

The great weather and the healthy business environment contributed to the success of this year’s NATPE, and will surely bring more European buyers next year (the Latins are already maxed out).

Interestingly enough, at the free-lunch (this is a big event) press conference, Feldman stated that NATPE is more of a marketplace than a conference. “Anyone can organize a conference,” he said, “but not all can create a market.”
And for the first time since he took the reins at NATPE, the press congratulated him on a job well done and a succesful event.

Now on to some of the  goings-on straight from the NATPE floor.

First things first, the heavily discussed elevator problem at the Tresor tower wasdefinitely alleviated this year, thanks to the fact that distributor suites were more spread out across the Fontainebleau’s several towers.

Outside of the hotel, attendees enjoyed visiting distributors — like Sony —which chose to rent yachts across the street from the Fontainebleau. The spaces were tidy, modern and offered a nice respite from the busy hotel. To make things easy to navigate, there was even a crossing guard and posters indicating where companies were (like a directory).

And though they can often be a dry, this year, the press conferences held at NATPE were unique.  Telemundo held a press conference and luncheon that felt like a TV show, and an incredible party to follow up at night.

Disney had a lively press conference on Sunday to announce that Colombia’s Vista Production will produce the studio’s Spanish-language version of Brothers & Sisters. For a full report, check out the Day 3 Daily at www.videoagedaily.com.

Another big piece of news that broke at NATPE was Venevision’s agreement to exchange documentaries with China’s

CCTV. CCTV’s Documentary Channel will air a Latin Week and Venevision’s owner, Cisneros Group, will secure a pan-regional channel in Latin America to air CCTV docs.

Starz had a big presence throughout the market, which included a Magic City screening on Sunday night for potential buyers and coffee with many Magic City stars on Monday morning around the Fontainebleau pool.

In terms of territories, we saw a good Turkish presence at NATPE, which bodes well for the upcoming DISCOP Istanbul conference (in which NATPE is a part-owner).

And in addition to all of the business going on at NATPE, there was plenty of opportunity for fun, too, with at least 20 parties going on (that we know of).

Among the stars that could be seen walking around the Fontainebleau were the infamous Charlie Sheen for Debmar-Mercury, Katie Couric, in town to promote her new Disney-ABC talk show and telenovela star Guy Ecker. For a full list of stars, check out the Day 3 Daily.

For full reports on NATPE, check VideoAge’s upcoming Discop Istanbul and MIP-TV editions.

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