TV Europe MIPTV 2015

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TVEUROPE

WWW.TVEUROPE.WS

APRIL 2015

MIPTV EDITION

Buyer Profiles / Spanish Content / FremantleMedia’s Cecile Frot-Coutaz / ITV Studios’ Kevin Lygo

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CONTENTS FEATURES

Drama at Its Best Thinking about what’s been happening in Europe in recent months leads me to say…ouch.

Ricardo Seguin Guise Publisher Anna Carugati Editor Mansha Daswani Executive Editor Kristin Brzoznowski Managing Editor Joanna Padovano Associate Editor Joel Marino Assistant Editor Simon Weaver Online Director Victor L. Cuevas Production & Design Director Phyllis Q. Busell Art Director Faustyna Hariasz Sales & Marketing Manager Dana Mattison Sales & Marketing Coordinator Erika Santana Sales & Marketing Assistant Terry Acunzo Business Affairs Manager

Ricardo Seguin Guise President Anna Carugati Executive VP & Group Editorial Director Mansha Daswani Associate Publisher & VP of Strategic Development TV Europe © 2015 WSN INC. 1123 Broadway, #1207 New York, NY 10010 Phone: (212) 924-7620 Fax: (212) 924-6940 Website: www.tveurope.ws

I feel the frustration of the young who can’t find jobs; the pain of people who have lost them; the anguish of Parisians who lived through the terrorist attacks in January, and utter disgust at the rise of anti-Semitism across the continent.

Tough times indeed. Vladimir Putin’s thuggish behavior is cause for considerable concern. The battle between Greece’s new government and the Troika—the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission—ended in an agreement to extend the bailout with no provisions for debt reduction, which just kicks the can down the road for four months. What remains unresolved, not only for Greece but for other European countries facing economic crises as well, is the ongoing debate between imposing austerity measures and stimulating growth. Unemployment has fallen a bit across the continent, but there are still thousands who are struggling.

Even though Europeans have so much drama to deal with in their everyday lives, they certainly aren’t turning away from it in prime time. Drama series, in fact, are extremely popular across Europe. France continues its tradition of cop and crime series, but has also gone into the supernatural with Les Revenants. In Italy, where Pope Francis has rockstar status, it’s not surprising that Che Dio Ci Aiuti, about a group of nuns, is one of the most-watched series. Scandi noir continues to have appeal in the Nordic countries and beyond. One example is the series Dicte, about a crime reporter. And from Germany comes Deutschland 83, a miniseries set during the Cold War. Both of these shows are distributed by FremantleMedia International. In this issue we talk to Cecile Frot-Coutaz, FremantleMedia’s CEO, about the company’s commitment to scripted and unscripted fare. Over at ITV Studios, drama is a big part of its production investment, with Aquarius, Texas Rising and the upcoming reimagining of the classic Beowulf, as managing director Kevin Lygo tells us.

Since the thirst for drama in Europe is so high, broadcasters are always on the lookout for acquisitions that can complement homegrown shows. We survey a number of top European buyers who talk about what they have been buying and what they are still looking for. They want to offer viewers the best of all genres, especially drama. On the small screen, Europe has embraced drama and elevated it to an art form.

—Anna Carugati

6 BUYERS STEP UP

Getting value for money and negotiating for multiple windows are key issues for Europe’s top buyers as they seek out new content.

16 SPANISH STYLE

Spain’s television industry has had to overcome a lengthy economic crisis by reinventing itself and discovering new opportunities.

16 INTERVIEWS

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FremantleMedia’s Cecile Frot-Coutaz

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ITV Studios’ Kevin Lygo

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Audiovisual from Spain Down Below / Our Guys / I Know Who You Are The Audiovisual from Spain umbrella brand was created to promote Spain’s audiovisual production and distribution abroad. There are a total of 16 companies that will be attending MIPTV under the Audiovisual from Spain banner. Among them are ATRESMEDIA, which is promoting the comedy series Down Below; Boomerang TV, showcasing the family drama Acacias 38; Grupo Ganga Producciones, with the drama Remember When; and Onza Distribution, touting the historical family series The Department of Time. There are, indeed, a number of scripted titles being showcased at MIPTV by the companies exhibiting under this banner, including the miniseries Our Guys, from Mediaset España, and the Filmax drama I Know Who You Are.

Our Guys

Imagina International Sales Locked Up / Black Forest / Royal Hospital Imagina International Sales distributes a variety of genres, from series, TV movies and formats to feature films and documentaries. As part of its MIPTV slate, the company is presenting Black Forest, which tells the story of a seemingly quiet village where two families fight for control of the local lumber industry. A specialized homicide sergeant steps into this world, sent in after a young girl is brutally murdered. As the investigation proceeds, secrets are brought to light and conflicts between the inhabitants of the village are revealed. “Black Forest is a fascinating thriller full of intrigue that has already been a success with audiences,” says Géraldine Gonard, Imagina’s COO. Other highlights include the female-skewing Locked Up and the period drama Royal Hospital.

“Black Forest is a fascinating thriller full of intrigue.”

—Géraldine Gonard Black Forest

SPI International FunBox 4K Ultra HD SPI International is currently completing the development of its first 4K linear TV channel, FunBox 4K Ultra HD. “[The channel] will feature general entertainment, including a selection of visually stunning nature documentaries, music videos, eyepopping CG animations and interactive games,” says Berk Uziyel, the director at SPI International. This channel will be available to all platforms that are 4K-compatible. SPI also continues to expand the worldwide distribution of its FilmBoxbranded channels. “During MIPTV, we are going to be very busy talking to various DTH platforms, cable and mobile networks, as well as other potential partners about launching our thematic channels in new markets and expanding our audience,” says Uziyel.

“The priority for SPI this MIPTV is to promote the projects involving our new channels and also the 4K Ultra HD technology.”

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TRT Filinta / Milat / Resurrection A detective story set during the time of the Ottoman Empire, Filinta features themes of justice, friendship and fraternity.

TRT launched the title at DISCOP Istanbul earlier this year, and is making it one of its central highlights for MIPTV. Filinta has been performing well in ratings in Turkey, as has Resurrection, another TRT highlight for MIPTV. The company is also promoting Milat. Mehmet Demirhan, the deputy head of the TV department at TRT, says, “Milat is an action-adventure production with striking action scenes, puzzling mind games, conspiracies and love stories, blended with hard truths.”

Demirhan also expresses excitement about Turkey being the country of honor at MIPCOM 2015, so that delegates can “see the surprises of content from Turkey.”

“Turkish drama is a global brand now.”

—Mehmet Demirhan Resurrection

TVE The Department of Time / Acacias 38 Dramas are front and center for Spain’s Televisión Española (TVE), among them the adventure series The Department of Time. That title features a character from the modern era who travels to a different historical period in each episode, with the mission of ensuring that the past does not change.

He carries out his work through a special ministry created so that history does not suffer temporary digressions that might change the present. “The Department of Time is a drama series full of fantasy and adventures,” says Rafael Bardem, the head of program sales for TVE. Another series being showcased by the company is Acacias 38, set in a stately home at the end of the 19th century where different stories take place.

“Acacias 38 is a familiar, warm, cheerful and romantic fictional series, which has appeal based on the universal feelings of love, jealousy, passion, revenge and hatred.”

—Rafael Bardem Acacias 38

ZDF Enterprises Crime Watch XY / The Invasion: The Outbreak of World War II / Captain Flinn and the Pirate Dinosaurs ZDF Enterprises (ZDFE) has new highlights from all four of its genre divisions. From ZDFE.entertainment comes Crime Watch XY, one of the most successful formats on German TV. ZDFE.factual features The Invasion: The Outbreak of World War II, which tells the inside story of the Third Reich.

ZDFE.junior’s Captain Flinn and the Pirate Dinosaurs follows the adventures of four young pirates fighting dinosaur baddies.

There is also a new season of the screen adaptations of Arne Dahl’s crime novels from ZDFE.drama, which follow an elite force within the Swedish police. “Our slate is comprised of high-end series produced with renowned partners in the industry, many of them through international co-productions,” says Fred Burcksen, the company’s executive VP and COO.

“Our programs are prepared for multiplatform exploitations, and additional digital content is available along with the linear series.”

—Fred Burcksen Crime Watch XY 4/15 World Screen 187

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BUYERS all3media’s Foyle’s War.

Getting value for money and negotiating for multiple windows are key issues for Europe’s top buyers as they seek out new content. By Steve Clarke uropean TV buyers attending MIPTV this spring have plenty to think about. The election of a radical, left-wing government in Greece is threatening to trigger another economic crisis across the Eurozone. The value of the Euro against the dollar has already plunged in recent months. It hit an 11-year low earlier this year. Alongside concerns about the exchange rate and the wider European economy, where in many countries austerity remains a fact of life, broadcasters have their own challenges to face.

Both free-to-air channels—commercial and publicly funded—and pay stations are looking warily at their internet rivals. They need no reminding that the likes of Netflix and Amazon are competing ferociously for content and the talent that drives it. They of course have the financial fire-

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power to tie up deals with in-demand showrunners, writers and A-list actors. In this unpredictable, uncertain world, seeking out shows capable of bringing a new sheen to tired schedules is a lot more complicated than it used to be.

“You are no longer only buying shows for a few runs,” says Katie Keenan, the head of acquisitions at British free-to-air broadcaster Channel 5. “Viewing has changed. In addition to linear services, there is catch-up.”

Cathrine Wiernik, the programming director for general TV at Swedish broadcaster TV4, agrees. “Acquiring rights is a lot more complex these days. Segmentation is everywhere.

We need to be creative about how rights are windowed across linear, pay and SVOD.” “These days more than ever, buyers are looking for a show that can change how audiences perceive a channel,” adds

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STEP UP Jeff Ford, a veteran buyer—having headed up acquisitions at ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 and served as content director at TV3 in Ireland—who just started a new job as managing director of FOX International Channels U.K. “It’s no longer only about how many people watch a show; it has more to do with the show’s appeal to the 16-to-34 demographic that advertisers crave. For a show that reaches younger audiences, buyers will pay over the odds, perhaps as much as four times what they’d normally pay.”

Across Europe, on the main channels and on some of the smaller ones, too, buyers know that prestigious imported drama remains at a premium.

In the über-competitive British market, one of the past year’s more successful acquisitions was the Batman prequel Gotham, secured from Warner Bros. by Channel 5 in the face of keen interest from competitors, believed to be Channel 4 and Sky. Channel 5 needed to pay top dollar for Gotham, but it was an investment that paid off, giving the broadcaster a big hit, especially with young males. “It was our biggest show of 2014, a massive tentpole,” says Keenan.

IN THE PORTFOLIO Since Viacom announced it was buying Channel 5 last May, new synergies have emerged between the main broadcaster and Viacom-owned international channels like Comedy Central and now Spike, which was slated to launch in the U.K. this spring. While Keenan’s main focus is Channel 5, her buying brief also includes 5’s two sister stations, 5Star and 5USA, plus Viacom’s U.K. entertainment brands.

Scripted programming remains a priority for Channel 5.

The final season of the staple police procedural The Mentalist is currently airing, so there are clearly gaps in the schedule.

“Lately we’ve taken a few more risks with some of our drama purchases,” says Keenan. “We still love crime shows, but Under the Dome [a sci-fi series from CBS Studios International] represented quite a departure for us. I’m looking for bigbudget drama like Gotham that can really cut through.”

In Europe’s biggest TV market, Germany, acquired drama continues to be highly sought after.

At ProSiebenSat.1 Media, Rüdiger Böss, the executive VP of group programming acquisitions, says his focus remains on American drama sourced from the main studios. He buys for numerous platforms, including free-to-air channels, three pay channels, a

VOD platform, and a YouTube channel. The past year has seen success with Warner Bros.’ Gotham, The Flash and The Mysteries of Laura, and CBS Studios’ Scorpion.

“Fiction is still very successful on free TV in Germany,” says Böss. “If you can build a successful series, it is a cash machine. Newer players like Netflix are coming into the market, so we need more exclusivity and longer windows.”

Business models and rights issues for high-end drama are on a lot of buyers’ minds. Jakob Mejlhede Andersen, the executive VP of programming and content development at Modern Times Group (MTG), is among them.

“A priority is to work out how to marry international scripted co-production with Nordic co-production,” he says. “Are there other ways of doing scripted drama? And is it possible to control rights across different windows? The traditional studio model where you buy in only one window is no longer sustainable.”

BUY IT OR MAKE IT? Add to this the economic woes in some parts of Europe, and the question of whether to invest in acquired or locally made shows is not quite as straightforward as it seems.

“In certain territories, incumbent broadcasters facing increasing financial pressure to sustain long-term output deals—which continually deliver high volumes of returning series—turn instead to locally acquired content,” says Jason Simms, the senior VP of global acquisitions at FOX International Channels. “It is far too simple to say this is the case everywhere, but it is something we have observed in some territories. This can create opportunities for new windows to open in places that may previously have seemed locked up under long-term deals.”

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CBS Studios’ Scorpion has landed on ITV2 in the U.K., among other broadcasters.

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So, is there a further trend away from spending big bucks in Hollywood and instead a trend toward putting the money behind local shows? If only it were that simple.

At TV 2 DANMARK, Anette Romer, the head of acquisitions and formats, explains, “Our budget remains the same as [it was] last year. However, funds are being redirected from output deals to local production, where we see increased investment in Danish drama as well as other genres.”

She adds, “Imported programming is important in the sense that it delivers perspective, a ‘window on the world,’ and we love to find strong, engaging documentaries and drama—and yes, it’s always much more cost-efficient than local productions.”

Romer buys for the main channel TV 2; niche channels TV 2 Zulu, aimed at young males, TV 2 Charlie, aimed at mature audiences and TV 2 Fri, aimed at middle-aged audiences; as well as the digital platform TV 2 Play.

IN THEIR PRIME

MTG buys across many genres for its wide portfolio, including factual with properties like ZDF Enterprises’ Women Who Made History.

Acquired shows have a few prime-time slots on the flagship TV 2, especially in the summer months when audiences are at their lowest, but primarily play during daytime or late night.

Zulu airs comedy and young-male-skewing entertainment, while Charlie shows plenty of drama and entertainment. Fri focuses on lifestyle and factual entertainment. The latter is being tweaked in order to broaden the genre mix.

Romer singles out imported documentaries such as Tsunami: Survivors’ Stories as doing well in recent months. An innovation was buying a James Bond movie package from MGM. Another successful acquisition was Broadchurch. Romer has high hopes for the second season of the ITV commission and for the Sky drama Fortitude, starring Sofie Gråbøl of The Killing fame. Romer is also excited by the Norwegian acquisition The Heavy Water War, a World War II drama.

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At Sweden’s TV4, most of the investment in acquired shows is for SVOD services. “Audiences no longer have the patience to wait a week to watch the next episode of a series,” says Wiernik. “When pirated sites are as sophisticated as they are, viewers want to watch on demand. The second season of Gotham flopped in peak time for us. Broadchurch stripped across two weeks did well, but the second season of MGM’s Vikings was far less successful.

“The days of being able to build a linear schedule around a big U.S. show are long gone,” Wiernik continues.

“Ninety-five percent of TV4’s peak-time schedule is now locally produced.”

BALANCING THE BUDGET Overall, acquisitions budgets appear to be static and, in some cases, on the rise.

“What we spend is certainly not decreasing,” says ProSiebenSat.1’s Böss. “Overall, the amount is stable and in some cases is going up a bit.”

At the U.K.’s most-watched commercial broadcaster, ITV, budget stability is the watchword, too. “I’d say our acquisitions budgets are consistent,” notes Sasha Breslau, the head of acquired series. “The money we spend varies quite a lot across the channels. Rather than having a pot of money, we work out what we need in terms of slots and genres.”

The big-spending British pay giant Sky continues to funnel large amounts of money into acquisitions. Sarah Wright, the platform’s controller of acquisitions, describes her budget as “healthy.” She adds, “It’s full steam ahead for Sky. Our customers love our ‘Best of the U.S.’ policy, and we are not deviating from it. They expect to have the very best shows from the U.S. and around the world. For us, it’s very much business as usual.”

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Wright’s portfolio encompasses Sky 1, Sky Living, Sky Arts, Sky Atlantic and Sky Movies, plus the free channels Challenge and Pick. She lists The Flash, Forever and Hawaii Five-0 among the U.S. shows that have performed well for Sky 1 during the past year.

At the BBC, acquisitions spending looks to be on a tight leash in the runup to tense negotiations with the British government over future funding.

“We all know that most people at BBC TV have less money than they used to,” says Sue Deeks, the public broadcaster’s head of program acquisitions.

FOREIGN EXCHANGE For some continental European buyers, one worry is the high value of the dollar against the Euro.

“The strong dollar is a bit of a headache for us,” admits MTG’s Mejlhede Andersen.

He buys content for around 60 channels in the Nordics, Russia, Central and Eastern Europe and Africa.

His point is echoed by Böss, who says, “U.S. shows have become more expensive due to the Euro losing ground to the dollar.”

The vagaries of the advertising market, especially as online platforms expand, need to be calibrated into the deals that distributors can extract from buyers. “For a lot of people, the challenge is that advertising money is moving online, although that is not an issue for us,” says Mejlhede Andersen.

Nick Lee, the acquired series manager at Channel 4 in the U.K., has a different perspective. “Currently the advertising market is resilient. I would disagree that acquisitions are a more efficient investment. It’s simply a part of our very distinctive proposition to viewers and advertisers here at Channel 4. It’s certainly not the case that acquisitions are increasing.”

The encouraging news for distributors is that for broadcasters, the ability to occupy shelf space on program guides with a significant channel portfolio is arguably more important than ever.

Channel bouquets are fine-tuned constantly. In this respect, what has recently unfolded in the U.K. may be instructive for broadcasters on the other side of the English Channel in continental Europe.

While Channel 5 has been prepping Spike, ITV has been adjusting its own channel lineup. Female-skewing ITVBe debuted in October. “ITVBe and ITV4 will both be priorities at MIPTV,” explains Breslau. She wants “glossy U.S. reality shows, although they could hail from Canada or Australia,” for ITVBe, and factual-entertainment content for ITV4.

Storage Wars, Pawn Stars and Counting Cars have all worked well on ITV4, according to Breslau. She is looking for high-volume series that have a minimum of 20 to 30 hours so they can be stripped for both daytime and peak.

The main channel, ITV, rarely offers viewers acquired series in evening slots. An exception was the Cold War drama The Americans, which was axed by ITV earlier this year from its late-night slot after two seasons. “The Americans

was a clever, well-produced, well-written show. Sadly, the ratings just weren’t good enough,” explains Breslau.

“We are not actively looking for another drama acquisition for ITV,” she says. If the right property emerged, “it would need to be a high-quality show that added a different flavor to the channel.”

The requirements of ITV’s main British rival, the BBC, are more modest. The French drama Spiral has secured a cult following on upscale channel BBC Four on Saturday nights; season five ended earlier this year. Deeks spotted the potential of the Parisian police series around a decade ago.

Spiral was bought by the BBC in 2006, before The Killing ignited the boom in brooding, European detective drama that still resonates today. “In a way, Spiral was the show that kicked the whole thing off,” says Deeks, who is one of Britain’s most experienced buyers. “But initially, Spiral was overshadowed by Wallander and The Killing.”

THE BEEB’S NEEDS Deeks’ buying needs cover all four BBC domestic channels. This is despite the fact that youth-friendly BBC Three is due to switch to an online-only service in the near future.

“I’ve been told that acquired shows will still have a place on BBC Three when the channel moves to online only,” says Deeks. “I am waiting to hear the details.”

Flagship service BBC One is effectively a no-go zone for imports during prime time. Daytime is another story.

BBC One runs The Doctor Blake Mysteries from ABC in Australia; season three is being lined up for later this year.

Another Antipodean drama, A Place to Call Home, has played on the more rarefied BBC Two, also in a daytime slot. New for the channel in 2015 is the NBC conspiracy thriller Odyssey.

“I’m interested in drama and comedy for peak-time slots on Two, Three and Four,” concludes Deeks. “At MIPTV I hope to pick up intelligence about pilots and what the majors plan to unveil at the L.A. Screenings in May.” In this respect she won’t be alone, despite all the uncertainties facing the international TV community as it once again takes center stage in Cannes.

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ProSiebenSat.1 scored BBC Worldwide’s David Beckham: Into the Unknown for its male-skewing digital channel MAXX.

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CECILE FROT-COUTAZ FREMANTLEMEDIA As one of the world’s largest creators, producers and distributors of television brands, FremantleMedia has provided broadcasters with a wide range of formats, from the hits Idols, Got Talent and The X Factor to the classics Family Feud and The Price is Right and numerous genres in between.

In addition, FremantleMedia International (FMI) distributes a varied catalogue of more than 20,000 hours of content to some 200 territories. CEO Cecile Frot-Coutaz talks about the high demand for drama, trends in the formats business and the company’s growing children’s programming slate.

TV EUROPE: With the increase in the popularity of drama, how is FremantleMedia satisfying demand, both with finished product and with scripted formats?

FROT-COUTAZ: Building a strong prime-time scripted business is a key focus for us. We’ve made great strides in this area in the last few years. We have a really strong team in place, including Craig Cegielski and Stefanie Berk, who head up our U.S. drama scripted business; Nico Hofmann at UFA Fiction; Jo Porter at FremantleMedia Australia; Paul Marquess from Newman Street in the U.K.; Willem Zijlstra from FourOne.Media in Holland; and Sarah Doole, our director of global drama. Kate Harwood joined us last year from the BBC to lead the newly revived Euston Films in the U.K. We are investing in acquisitions and partnerships that complement our existing drama portfolio. For example, we acquired Miso Film, a Scandinavian drama production company, which has delivered Dicte and Acquitted into the FMI catalogue. We recently announced that we’ve taken a 25-percent stake in Corona TV, a new indie from filmmakers Richard Johns and Rupert Jermyn who want to create TV drama with a cinematic feel. We also continue to work with leading third-party talent, including Paul Abbott of AbbottVision, producers of No Offence; Roughcut TV, which delivered Cuckoo; and MTV, from which we acquired the rights to Eye Candy. We are making the most out of the FremantleMedia global drama network. A great example of this is our success with Wentworth both as a finished tape, selling to 82 territories, and as a format with versions in Holland, produced by FourOne.Media, and in Germany, produced by UFA Serial Drama.

There is huge buzz around Deutschland 83, from UFA Fiction, following the world premiere at Berlinale. FMI has already secured a deal with SundanceTV in the U.S. and sales to Scandinavia, and there’s more in the pipeline.

Our North American team has co-produced the U.S. version of The Returned with A&E, executive produced by Carlton Cuse, which [premiered] in March. In the U.K., Suspects has done well for Channel 5. The show increased the average audience for the time slot by 23 percent, and achieved critical acclaim. It has also gone on to sell into Australia and will air on Seven Network.

TV EUROPE: What trends are you seeing in the format business?

FROT-COUTAZ: Formats are no longer the exclusive domain of the U.S., the U.K. or even the Netherlands. Increasingly we are seeing formats created all over the globe, including in Turkey, Ireland, Israel and Sweden.

Talent shows such as Got Talent, The X Factor and The Voice continue to remain popular and are increasingly using

apps and interactive technology. We’ve had huge success in the U.K. with the X Factor app, which featured in-app free voting for the first time. It was downloaded more than 2.4 million times during the last series alone, up more than 56 percent from last year. We’ve also recently done a deal with Applicaster for the “companion experience” app for our show Master Athletes, which we will be offering to our clients at this year’s MIPTV. Cooking shows remain very on-trend. Bake Off continues to be popular, and we are seeing a real appetite for our cookery game show My Mom Cooks Better Than Yours with recent sales in Argentina, Turkey, Slovenia, Slovakia and Romania.

Fixed rig is proving popular following the success of shows such as Educating Yorkshire, One Born Every Minute, Gogglebox and 24 Hours in A&E. Audiences are also looking for authenticity in factual programming, with shows such as The Island with Bear Grylls performing well.

TV EUROPE: How do the FremantleMedia production teams spot locally produced shows that have the potential to work in other countries? What do they look for?

FROT-COUTAZ: We have the advantage of combining a small, centralized resource with a global view, together with teams in the local market. This means that teams on the ground can spot opportunities early, as they understand the local market and build local relationships. The central teams then share this information around our global production network to determine possible interest.

TV EUROPE: How is FremantleMedia Kids & Family Entertainment doing?

FROT-COUTAZ: Our kids’ business is still relatively new. It launched in October 2009 but is doing well. Our focus is on building global franchises with strong ratings and great consumer products, particularly in the preschool category.

This year we are focusing on the launch of a new version of the British classic Danger Mouse as part of our BBC coproduction agreement, with a sensational cast of voice talent including Alexander Armstrong and Stephen Fry. Leveraging the huge wave of interest in Danger Mouse, we are also continuing consumer-products exploitation of the classic series.

Tree Fu Tom has now been broadcast in more than 123 territories and, with a recently appointed new toy partner, we will be rolling out product in key markets across the globe. Kate & Mim-Mim has been sold to 11 new markets in 2014 across North America, Europe and Asia. The series has ranked as the number one show in its time slot on every platform it has launched on to date.

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By Anna Carugati

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KEVIN LYGO

ITV STUDIOS TV EUROPE: ITV Studios has been an integral part of ITV’s Transformation Plan to develop more revenue streams. What factors have been driving ITV Studios’ strong performance?

LYGO: We’ve been very vocal about our focus on creative renewal, and an important part of that has been attracting the very best talent to ITV Studios. For example, at the end of last year we announced that we were partnering with Glenn Hugill to set up a brand-new label, Possessed TV. We have also welcomed Tim Haines, co-creator of Primeval, to ITV Studios to set up a new drama division to sit alongside our existing drama teams. He has been commissioned to produce Beowulf, a 13-part epic. This drama has strong international potential; we’re looking at the possibilities for co-production at the moment and will be talking to potential partners at MIPTV. We’re flexible in our approach to working with talent.

Over the next year, hopefully you’ll see more impressive production names coming to work with ITV Studios.

The organic growth, which has come from investing in talent and development, has contributed significantly to our growth. And, as you know, we have also been busy buying. We acquired Thinkfactory Media in June 2013 and we are now delighted to be introducing buyers to Leslie Greif’s Texas Rising at MIPTV. This is another drama in our portfolio with enormous international potential. Expect to hear lots about this at MIPTV; we’re bringing some fantastic talent and will be hosting the world premiere of the first episode in the Palais.

By Anna Carugati

ITV is the leading commercial broadcaster in the U.K., and ITV Studios is the biggest production-and-distribution company in the country. Home to such long-running favorites as Coronation Street and the Agatha Christie franchises Poirot and Marple, for years ITV Studios has been supplying programming not only to ITV, but also to other British channels. In 2010, ITV’s chief executive, Adam Crozier, announced a Transformation Plan that outlined the group’s strategic priorities. A clear goal was to expand the international content business and that responsibility was assumed by Kevin Lygo, the managing director of ITV Studios.

Lygo has indeed overseen considerable growth. ITV Studios produces and distributes a wide array of content, ranging from drama and entertainment to factual and lifestyle. It has acquired quite a number of companies, and the studio has local production entities in Australia, Germany, France, the Nordics and the U.S. Much attention has been focused on the vast and lucrative American market, where the ITV Studios US Group comprises six companies and is a leading supplier of unscripted programming to American networks, with hits such as Hell’s Kitchen, Duck Dynasty, Cake Boss, Hatfields & McCoys, Teen Wolf, Pawn Stars and The Real Housewives of New Jersey. Additionally, the group has recently stepped up its production of drama. Always on the lookout for talent and boosting production in all of the studio’s units, Lygo is keen on creating more shows that can travel internationally. He talks to TV Europe about ITV Studios’ growth in the U.S. and elsewhere.

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TV EUROPE: The U.S. has been an important market. What has been the strategy for building up ITV’s presence there?

LYGO: We have made a number of acquisitions, the most recent of which was Leftfield Entertainment Group. That acquisition made us the largest non-scripted indie in the U.S. Across the ITV Studios US Group, we are now working with more than 40 networks and produce around 120 shows. Our U.S. business is now about four times bigger than it was at the start of our Transformation Plan in 2010. Along with Leftfield, we also acquired DiGa Vision last year and made investments in the digital-content businesses Zealot Networks, Indigenous Media and Believe Entertainment. And, of course, they join Gurney, Thinkfactory and High Noon.

Our size and breadth in the U.S. is offering opportunities beyond American shores and contributing to our success as a truly international content business. I’ve mentioned that Texas Rising is a big priority for MIPTV; we also launched Aquarius to the international market at MIPCOM. This fantastic drama was born from ITV Studios America’s relationship with Marty Adelstein, Tomorrow Studios.

Our original formats also continue to travel well. ITV Studios America has recently been commissioned by NBC to produce Saturday Night Takeaway (SNT), hosted by Neil Patrick Harris. SNT is a huge hit in the U.K.; it’s hosted by two of our most-loved TV presenters and is regularly one of the highest-rating shows when it’s on air.

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ITV Studios’ prolific scripted output includes the Scottish drama series Shetland, which has been commissioned for a third season to air on BBC One. TV EUROPE: Producing drama is risky, so how have your teams chosen which projects to pursue? The U.S. market typically deficit finances its drama. How has ITV Studios financed its scripted shows?

LYGO: Texas Rising is a fantastic example of everything that we look for in a drama: it’s a big, returnable series with a very strong, internationally recognizable cast led by Bill Paxton, Ray Liotta, Olivier Martinez and Brendan Fraser. The backdrop is a historical event that audiences around the world will have some familiarity with, and the period is brought to life with a fantastic script. I think the word “epic” can be overused, but it definitely applies in this case.

An organization of our scale obviously has the resources to invest in the right projects. And, through our international distribution arm and international production offices, we have the relationships and expertise to establish fruitful co-production arrangements.

TV EUROPE: Has there been any exchange of know-how— for example, regarding writers’ rooms or producing longer or shorter series orders—between your operations in the U.K. and the U.S.? Any lessons learned on one side of the Atlantic that have been passed on to the other?

LYGO: Speaking generally, we are keen to share knowledge across our production businesses. And we try to facilitate this where we can. We hold a regular “creative exchange,” where all our international production teams are represented. The teams share program ideas both new and established. Fairly recently, High Noon produced a new format called The Line for GSN. The idea was conceived by our ITV Studios Nordic team and was commissioned in the U.S. before it was in its own territory.

TV EUROPE: What investments has ITV Studios made in other countries?

LYGO: Over the last few years we have acquired several businesses to expand our presence in the Nordics beyond ITV Studios Sweden, and we now have production businesses in Norway, Finland and Denmark all operating under the ITV Studios Nordic banner.

As you know, we also have production bases in Australia, France and Germany. We’re delighted that I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! is being made for Ten in Australia. The ITV Studios Australia team has done a sterling job. The show premiered on Sunday, February 1, and is Ten’s biggest launch of a new reality series since 2009.

TV EUROPE: Do you foresee making more acquisitions? What type of company would fit the ITV Studios portfolio?

LYGO: Our strategy is to grow our international content business, and we will continue to look at acquisitions that fit within our strategic and financial criteria. Our objective is to find businesses that are the right fit, rather than a target size.

We want organizations with a strong creative track record, who own their IP and, as I said earlier, who have creative talent.

TV EUROPE: What shows has ITV Studios been producing in the U.K.? Are you continuing to produce for other channels beyond ITV? LYGO: The depth and breadth of our production in the U.K. continues to grow. Our international hit drama Mr Selfridge is in its third season. We are in production with a brand-new drama, Jekyll & Hyde, for ITV. The team has returned from filming on location in Sri Lanka. And, of course, I mentioned Beowulf, which is another significant scripted commission.

We are very proud of Thunderbirds Are Go, our reimagining of the original series, which will launch in the U.K. in the first half of this year.

These are all ITV shows, but we have been producing for external networks for a very long time. It’s part of our heritage. For example, University Challenge, which we produce for the BBC, is [more than] 50 years old. And Countdown for Channel 4, which we make, was actually the first program to air on the channel and is still a key part of its daytime schedule.

Newer shows include the drama Shetland for the BBC and quiz shows such as Eggheads, Perfection and Pressure Pad for the BBC. Come Dine with Me, which we make for Channel 4, has been a phenomenal success both [in the U.K.] and around the world. It’s now produced in 36 countries worldwide.

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TVE’s Victor Ros.

TV EUROPE

SPANISH

S T Y L E Spain’s television industry has had to overcome a lengthy economic crisis by reinventing itself and discovering new opportunities.

By Elizabeth Bowen-Tombari

or decades, Spain has been considered one of Europe’s hothouses of television creativity, producing high-quality series that have garnered top ratings at home and have also sold around the world.

Among the nation’s small-screen milestones are Farmacia de Guardia on Antena 3, Médico de Familia and Los Serrano on Telecinco, and Tell Me How It Happened (Cuéntame Cómo Pasó), Red Eagle (Águila Roja) and Love in Difficult Times (Amar en Tiempos Revueltos) on Televisión Española (TVE).

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Then came the economic crisis of 2008, which seriously impacted most of Europe, but dealt an almost lethal blow to Spain. As unemployment soared, consumer spending dropped and advertising investments plummeted. As a domino effect, broadcasters and production companies, which had been developing vast numbers of original hours per year, were forced to cut from their budgets sums that had been earmarked for brand-new series, new seasons of existing shows and co-productions of animated titles for children.

Major private broadcasters in Spain such as Antena 3 and Telecinco, not to mention the already cash-strapped

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The distribution arm of Spanish broadcasting group ATRESMEDIA has a wealth of drama in its portfolio, including No Identity (Sin Identidad).

pubcaster TVE and the regional networks, were forced to implement emergency plans in the face of one of the worst financial disasters in recent history. This led to serious consequences for the Spanish TV industry.

But just as the famous saying goes, “every cloud has a silver lining,” the economic super storm that hit Spain has yielded some long-term benefits. It forced broadcasters and producers to become more cost-conscious and creative, and to look beyond the country’s borders for partners and sales opportunities. As a result, in the past few months, signs of recovery have been noticeable.

UNEXPECTED IMPACT “ATRESMEDIA’s main source of income in Spain is advertising,” says José Antonio Salso, the head of acquisitions and international sales at ATRESMEDIA, the parent company of Antena 3 and la Sexta. “Between 2007 and 2013, we suffered a decline of 50 percent in the TV advertising market.”

But Salso believes that 2014 marked the beginning of the turnaround: the TV-advertising market increased by 11 percent compared to 2013, a growth trend that has “been confirmed in 2015, so it seems that the worst of the crisis has passed,” he says.

Rafael Bardem, the head of program sales for TVE, agrees, stating that the crisis affected his company mainly in regard to the domestic market. “International sales, especially those to Latin America, helped offset declining sales in Spain,” he says.

According to Sergi Reitg, the CEO of Imira Entertainment, the crisis had a strong impact on the company, with local broadcasters drastically reducing their program-acquisition budgets almost to zero, while halting most co-production projects and both medium- and long-term investments.

“At that time, business within Spain made up 30 percent of the company’s total turnover,” Reitg says. “From one day to another, that 30 percent became zero. [As a result,] the company completely focused on its international business.

Now we can say that international represents 90 percent of Imira’s business and Spain represents 10 percent.”

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Secuoya Group has the distinction of having established its operations in 2008, right at the onset of the economic crisis. “[Our launch] coincided with a paradigm shift in the Spanish audiovisual industry... which is why our focus and growth [strategy] had to consider this reality,” says Raúl Berdonés, the chairman of Secuoya. “Our approaches and offerings tried to meet the new needs of television channels, the content consumers and the audiovisual services.

This does not mean that we have been immune, but rather that we are managing the situation from a more flexible position that allows us to more easily adapt to changes in the industry.”

According to María García-Castrillón, an international sales executive at Boomerang TV International, as a result of budget cuts by Spain’s broadcasters, the company also reduced the number of shows it was developing. “This involved restructuring the number of productions and made it so that, even though we were well positioned before and after the crisis, we relied more on ingenuity and we sought out [opportunities] where we could get more resources,” she says. “[This meant that] in Spain, we went from working with five networks to two because TVE stopped producing, so we really just had Antena 3 and Telecinco. We had to make cuts.”

GLOBAL VIEW Barbora Susterova, the sales manager at Imagina International Sales, explains that by reducing original productions in Spain, the company was forced to seek content from outside of the country. “Not only do we incorporate into our catalogue series from different regions within Spain, such as the Galician thriller Black Forest (Serramoura), we’ve also added The Manor House, a family saga of Czech origin,” she states.

For the first quarter of this year, Susterova notes that the company has three drama series in production, two of which are new titles, in addition to various entertainment programs. “I think we could say that the number of hours produced will increase by 30 percent,” she says.

“Things began to improve in 2014,” says TVE’s Bardem.

This year, he says, “will be a very important year for us in

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Imagina arrives at MIPTV with new highlights that include the period drama Royal Hospital (Hospital Real).

terms of drama production, [since] we’ll surpass 500 annual hours of drama.”

Berdonés of Secuoya emphasizes that during the financial meltdown, the company had to adapt—or as he puts it, the clients were the same, but the needs were different.

“We work to understand the needs of each channel and their budget limitations in order to adapt our offer with the right creative and production design. The start of our production activity outside Spain and the positioning of Secuoya Content Distribution as a distributor of formats in other markets allow us to tailor our offerings by adding the value of international marketing.”

Berdonés states that the company has reached a good place regarding production hours and content quality. “Just in January 2015, the group premiered six programs on four of Spain’s six national channels, and half a dozen titles on five of the networks within the autonomous regions,” he notes. “[On the international front,] the trend is also leading upward.”

CHANGING WITH THE TIMES Imira has always had an international focus, according to Reitg, being that the Spanish market is not big enough to fully fund a production. “We’ve had to adapt because of this, producing original English versions, working with [Englishspeaking] writers, mainly Americans,” he says. “Then we dub [the programs] into the required languages and make a production that can be adapted to the tastes of international broadcasters, at least in the Western world.”

The new circumstances created by the crisis pushed the Spanish companies not only to create new work strategies, adjust their budgets and look for new production partners, but to also focus on exporting their titles beyond Spanish borders.

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“We have entered new territories, especially with The Time in Between (El Tiempo Entre Costuras) and Mom Detective (Los Misterios de Laura),” says García-Castrillón of Boomerang TV International. “We’re taking The Time in Between to many markets, especially in Asia. In the U.S., all our formats have already been optioned.”

Within Spain, as García-Castrillón explains, the company is beginning to return to the production levels it was at before the crisis.

STARTING OVER According to Berdonés of Secuoya, the expansion and incorporation of production outfits into the company has led to an increase in sales, in large part due to the company’s volume of offerings. “Originally, Secuoya Content Distribution only distributed documentaries,” he says. “[We have] added entertainment and scripted formats, along with finished programs encompassing an array of themes.”

Secuoya is currently working very hard to expand its presence in Latin America. “Asia is another region where we generate business and, ultimately, our formats are spawning interest in the U.S., France, Italy, China and Germany,” says Berdonés.

ATRESMEDIA’s series have not only achieved excellent ratings in Spain, they are also finding success in other countries. “Europe is the prime territory for our sales,” says Salso.

“We’ve improved sales in Eastern Europe, selling for the first time to Poland, for example, and the goal for this year is to expand our presence in the Latin American market.”

As an example, Salso points to The Secret of Old Bridge (El Secreto de Puente Viejo), a daily drama that continues to be broadcast on Antena 3, with more than 1,000 episodes produced. That title is achieving the same positive results in Chile, Italy and several countries in Eastern Europe. In

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Secuoya is offering a diverse slate that includes documentaries such as Alert in the Deep. addition, the series Gran Hotel, Velvet and The Time in Between have been sold to more than 30 countries.

Imagina International Sales has successfully expanded its client portfolio, above all adding several VOD platforms and thus reaching windows that had not been exploited previously. “We’ve made sales at the global level, meaning we’re present in all territories,” says Susterova. “Our goal [now] is to nurture and maintain good relations with customers, besides expanding our contacts. In 2015, we would like to debut some of our titles in Africa.”

Of Imagina International Sales’ broad catalogue, the scripted genre has gained the greatest global acceptance, explains Susterova, with the company offering titles such as Red Eagle, The Boarding School (El Internado) and The Boat (El Barco).

Faced with various social, cultural and economic changes, the Spanish television industry has learned how to adapt, devising new strategies and offering innovative alternatives. The combination of these elements resulted in two formats breaking into the Englishspeaking U.S. market.

The Red Band Society (Polseres Vermelles), produced by Filmax for TV3, was adapted under the title Red Band Society. The initial order of 13 episodes aired on FOX. Meanwhile, Warner Bros. Television picked up the format Mom Detective, produced by Boomerang TV for TVE, for broadcast on NBC. That production, titled The Mysteries of Laura, stars Debra Messing of Will & Grace fame.

“The adaptations of [Mom Detective] on NBC and [Red Band Society] on FOX are great news for the Spanish audiovisual industry,” says ATRESMEDIA’s Salso. “They are series based on original ideas or premises that were produced for Spain’s general channels with a very wide target audience in mind, which make them attractive products to an American network.”

“We see the adaptation of a Spanish format such as [Mom Detective] in the U.S. market as an important achievement for Spanish productions in general,” says TVE’s Bardem. “No less important for us is Televisa’s recent adaptation of the scripted series Ana y los 7 into the telenovela format titled My Heart is Yours (Mi Corazón es Tuyo).”

“When I talk with clients at the international level, I get the feeling that [the appeal of Spanish productions] is that they’re family stories,” says García-Castrillón of Boomerang TV International. “Everybody understands a mother, a father and son, and the conflicts between them are totally universal.”

With its ability to deliver universal stories, Spain’s content industry looks set to continue to bolster its reputation around the world.

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