World Screen

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THE MAGAZINE OF INTERNATIONAL MEDIA • MAY 2010

www.worldscreen.com

L.A. Screenings Edition

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contents

MAY 2010/L.A. SCREENINGS & BANFF EDITION Publisher Ricardo Seguin Guise

departments WORLD VIEW

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Editor Anna Carugati

A note from the editor.

UPFRONT

Executive Editor Mansha Daswani

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New shows on the market.

135 The top 50 shows in the U.S. NETWORK SCORECARD

WORLD’S END

In the stars.

138

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Managing Editor Kristin Brzoznowski

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Editor, Spanish-Language Publications Elizabeth Bowen-Tombari Executive Editor, Spanish-Language Publications Rafael Blanco

special report

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MINORITY REPORT

Production and Design Director Lauren M. Uda

The U.S. Hispanic market holds huge potential for media companies and advertisers.

—Anna Carugati

Art Director Phyllis Q. Busell

one-on-one

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LIONSGATE’S KEVIN BEGGS

Sales and Marketing Manager Kelly Quiroz

As the president of television programming and production, Kevin Beggs is leading the development and production of acclaimed series like Mad Men. —Anna Carugati

Business Affairs Manager Erica Antoine-Cole Sales and Marketing Coordinator Cesar Suero Senior Editors Bill Dunlap Kate Norris Jay Stuart George Winslow

on the record

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Online Director Simon Weaver

COMCAST INTERNATIONAL MEDIA GROUP’S KEVIN MACLELLAN

Overseeing all of Comcast’s international businesses—including channels, program distribution and new media—Kevin MacLellan is now also expanding the company’s U.S. production business.

—Anna Carugati

These targeted magazines appear both inside World Screen and as separate publications.

Contributing Editors Lisa Haviland Grace Hernandez Bin Liu José Miguel López Spencer Sunshine Contributing Writers Dieter Brockmeyer Chris Forrester Bob Jenkins Elena Mora David del Valle David Wood

FULL SPEED AHEAD Advertising trends in the region 64…EYES ON THE SCREEN Selling movies into Latin America 72…INTERVIEWS News Corp.’s Chase Carey 76…

TV Azteca’s Mario San Román 97…Bandeirantes’ João Carlos Saad 102…House’s Hugh Laurie 117…Antena 3’s Carlos Fernández 120…AETN’s Abbe Raven 122…NCIS’s Shane Brennan 126… Endemol’s Tom Toumazis 128…ON TV’s Bernarda Llorente & Claudio Villarruel 130

WORLD SCREEN is a registered trademark of WSN INC. 1123 Broadway, Suite 1207 New York, NY 10010, U.S.A. Phone: (212) 924-7620 Fax: (212) 924-6940 Website: www.worldscreen.com

FOCUS ON FORMATS Finding the key to success in the format business 86…LOOKING FOR LOVE Dating and marriage shows are

©2010 WSN INC. Printed by Fry Communications No part of this publication can be used, reprinted, copied or stored in any medium without the publisher’s authorization.

proving popular 90…INTERVIEW Fernando Gaitán 92

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WORLD SCREEN is published seven times per year: January, April, May, June/July, October, November and December.

Annual subscription price: Inside the U.S.: $70.00 Outside the U.S.: $120.00 Send checks, company information and address corrections to: WSN INC. 1123 Broadway, Suite 1207 New York, NY 10010, U.S.A.

THE THIRD DIMENSION The prospects for 3-D TV in the kids’ space 108…

INTERVIEW Selena Gomez 112

112 6

Ricardo Seguin Guise, President Anna Carugati, Executive VP and Group Editorial Director Mansha Daswani,VP of Strategic Development

World Screen

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world view

A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR ANNA CARUGATI

The Power of Desire My daughter received an iPad as a present and my reaction was one of “shock and awe.” The shock (because on principle I don’t believe an 11-year-old should own a $700 electronic gadget) quickly gave way to awe, as I was given a chance to play with that wondrous device. The iPad is a thing of beauty for many reasons.

Firstly, as you take it into your hands, it elicits an involuntary reflex reaction: It’s so cool! Steve Jobs did it again. Secondly, its ease of use takes the concept of user-friendliness to a new level. I have long been a computer moron, but this baby is a walk in the park—it’s easy to use the keyboard, easy to surf the web, and it’s fast, idiot-proof and extremely convenient. Like many others leaving MIPTV, I found that my flight out of Nice was cancelled. A fellow stranded passenger whipped out her iPad and within seconds we were perusing hotel options, while my BlackBerry was still booting up.

Of course, I don’t really need the iPad, but I can see several uses for it. While I can download all the programming, movies, information and music I want on my laptop, the laptop is heavier and bulkier. Plus, when I travel, I usually lug, along with my laptop and iPod, a slew of THE IPAD...HAS THE magazines—honestly, a minimum of five publications and then printouts of other articles I want to read, in addition to at least two POWER TO START books, more often three or even four. What can I say? I read a lot.

CHANGING THE Holding that delicious, thin, lightweight iPad, I envisioned putting all my music, magazines, articles and books onto it.Yes, I know, PERCEPTION...THAT reading on the iPad is not as good an experience as it is on the Amazon Kindle or Sony but think of the benefits to my EVERYTHING ON Reader, back—I would have fewer pounds to carry.

I know there are kinks that still need to THE WEB IS FREE. be worked out with the iPad, including the whole Flash issue. The iPad won’t run videos created in Adobe’s Flash software, even though half of all videos available on the Internet are done in Flash. By banning Flash, Apple is making iPad owners buy movies and TV shows from iTunes rather than watch them for free on other websites. Apple also operates the App Store, which is the only place consumers can buy apps for their iPads. This whole “walled garden” approach to the iPad is problematic for many in the industry, but making people pay for content could go a long way in changing the pervasive belief that 8

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everything on the Internet is free—because it’s not.

If you are watching a movie or TV show, somebody wrote, produced and directed it and they deserve compensation.

And that, in my opinion, is a major benefit of the iPad—it has the power to start changing the perception (the expectation, actually) that everything on the web is free. And my daughter’s generation, thanks to the iPod touch and the iPad, is completely comfortable with the notion of micro-payments (because Mom is doing the paying). But plenty of adults, too, will pay for an app or a game or a TV series that they really, really want.

This is very good news indeed. The iPad will not single-handedly wipe out piracy, but it will start to change the mentality among young consumers and viewers. And, as I’ve learned as a parent, change in behavior does not come about through rules and restrictions. A change in behavior occurs when there is a change in motivation. What new devices like the iPad, the iPod touch, apps and social-networking sites have helped create are digital communities of fiercely loyal fans who rally around and feel connected to a video game or a TV show or a star. Consumers young and old are motivated to feel part of or know more about a certain game or TV show. They want to extend the experience the game or show provides. In our On the Record interview, Kevin MacLellan, the president of Comcast International Media Group and Comcast Entertainment Studios, talks about the power of social media to create communities around shows, and how these sites have become much more effective than any marketing campaign. In our One-on-One, Kevin Beggs, the president of television programming and production at Lionsgate, mentions Mad Men and Weeds, two series that have extremely loyal fan bases, of the kind that will buy an episode or more on iTunes, because they’ve just got to see it. And that “just got to see it” desire for a show or game or app, combined with the “just got to have it” desire for the iPad, is a powerful force, one I believe can start to change perceptions and motivations. Now if you’ll excuse me, my daughter finally fell asleep, and the iPad is just sitting there, calling my name….

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Bandeirantes Group www.band.com.br/international • • • • •

Sex Angels School Has Gone Mad Justice Kick Off Music Concerts

Kick Off

“Brazil is getting more and more popular around the world in politics, business, culture, sports, music and all kinds of entertainment.

Along with a slate of scripted comedies, including the sitcom Sex Angels and School Has Gone Mad, Bandeirantes is highlighting a number of projects that are infused with the flavors of Brazil. From Justice, a docudrama that features real Brazilian cases in a TV court, to Kick Off, which features interviews with many world-renowned soccer players out of the stadium, Band is keen on presenting pieces from its native culture to the world.“People from different nations want to know about our country,” says Elisa Ayub, the director of national and international content. “Television is certainly one of the best ways to discover our colors, our sounds and our way of living. Buyers can have access to these contents through us.” Another way of showcasing the culture of Brazil is through music, and Band is offering up a roster of concerts that cover everything from samba to bossa nova, from the legendary Tom Jobim to the newest Brazilian music stars.

”

—Elisa Ayub

Beyond Distribution www.beyond.com.au • Six Degrees of TV • MythBusters • Let’s Talk About Pep • Wild Animal Baby Explorers • Stop. Rewind

As most of the key titles in Beyond Distribution’s catalogue have found success in the U.S. and Canada, the company sees the L.A. Screenings as an opportunity to increase its exposure in the Latin American market as well. “The L.A. Screenings is a good venue to raise awareness for both Beyond Distribution and our new titles released into the market,” says Sherry Fynbo, the VP of sales for the U.S., Canada, Latin America, South Africa and in-flight. “We can’t compete with the studios, but there are a lot of slots to fill with HD and 24-hour schedules, so it is imperative that we showcase our programming there as well.” Among the titles Beyond will be presenting is MythBusters. There’s also Stop. Rewind; the preschool series Wild Animal Baby Explorers; and Six Degrees of TV. In another dose of celebrity, Let’s Talk About Pep features Sandra “Pepa” Denton from the hit female recording group Salt-nPepa as she looks to get back into the dating game.

Let’s Talk About Pep

“There are so many new channels launching throughout Latin America and I’m confident there will be a home for all of our programming.

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—Sherry Fynbo

THE LEADING ONLINE DAILY NEWS SERVICE FOR THE INTERNATIONAL MEDIA INDUSTRY. For a free subscription, visit: www.worldscreen.com

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CBS Studios International www.CBSCorporation.com • The Borgias • CSI • NCIS • NCIS: Los Angeles • The Good Wife

The Borgias is an epic drama centered on the family that schemed its way through the Italian Renaissance. Jeremy Irons takes the lead role as the family’s patriarch in the series, which has been ordered for a 10-episode first season by Showtime in the U.S. The show adds to the strong drama slate in the stable of CBS Studios International.The CSI and NCIS franchises are recognized brands the world over, and their procedural format has made them all the more appealing for broadcasters, according to Armando Nuñez, Jr., the president of CBS Studios International. He adds,“That is one very good thing about our library, that we have these two very strong franchise shows…. I’m certain they are going to be around the world for a very long time to come.” The spin-off NCIS: Los Angeles and drama The Good Wife have also been top performers in the U.S. “I have to say we are in a very good run and we don’t see anything down the road that is going to change that,” says Nuñez.

“ Our studio produced the number one and number two new dramas in American television with NCIS: Los Angeles and The Good Wife.

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— Armando Nuñez, Jr.

The Good Wife

Claxson Media www.claxsonmedia.com Brotherhood of the Snow

• Volcano Hunter • Brotherhood of the Snow • All That Show: The Trip • In the Deep

Claxson Media is touting its production abilities in a wide range of genres that appeal to a variety of buyers’ needs. “The company is strongest in achieving the highest quality of production whilst being able to produce around the world, and in any language without limitation, and at the same time maintaining competitive production costs,” says Ariel Taboada, the head of programming, production and operations. For the L.A. Screenings, Volcano Hunter gets top billing.

The adventure series features photographer Carsten Peter, who heads to Hawaii and gets involved with the culture, religion and landscape in an effort to get the shots he wants.

Spanish snowboarding brothers Ruben and Isaac Vergés lead the action in Brotherhood of the Snow, which features the pair training to participate in a world championship competition.

Another travel production, All That Show: The Trip, takes a snapshot of musicals from around the world, while In the Deep features a journey from Italy to Egypt from the perspective of world champion deep-sea diver Gianluca Genoni.

“After successfully producing for the U.S. market for over two years now, Claxson is beginning to make a stand as a prominent production company with international appeal.

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—Ariel Taboada

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Globo TV International www.globotvinternational.com Seize the Day

• Profession Reporter • Watercolors of Love • Seize the Day • Internal Affairs • GloboDOC

Globo TV International is taking 13 new releases to the L.A. Screenings this year—telenovelas, dramas, documentaries and more. “We’re very happy with the performance of our products,” says Raphael Corrêa Netto, the head of international sales, “with a highlight on the formats category and products such as Profession Reporter.” Among the telenovelas on offer are Watercolors of Love, written by Walcyr Carrasco, and Seize the Day, which was shot in Rio de Janeiro as well as in international locations such as Jerusalem, Jordan and France. Another popular product is the police series Internal Affairs. “GloboDOC documentaries are winning over viewers,” Netto further points out.

The titles were exclusively produced for the international market, under the supervision of Globo’s award-winning journalism team. “With innovative programs, we have the possibility to reach new horizons,” says Netto. “And this is our expectation for products like GloboDOC.”

“The series, mini-series and telenovelas speak about drama and humor, and the documentaries and specials present Brazilian culture to other countries.

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—Raphael Corrêa Netto

Pol-ka Producciones www.pol-ka.com • • • • •

Killer Women On the Edge Master Thieves Be Kind to Me Breaking Codes

With some 5,000 hours of programming on its slate, Pol-ka Producciones is positioning itself as a leading supplier of fiction in Latin America. The shows are all produced in Argentina and have had successful runs in prime time in their home territory. Many have also traveled well internationally, notes Alex Lagomarsino, the CEO of MediaBiz, Pol-ka’s international agent.

Lagomarsino points out that Killer Women has been a success in many territories, such as Mexico, Colombia and Ecuador, with discussions under way in some European countries as well. The series On the Edge centers on a psychotherapy group that is the meeting point for several patients with different issues. There’s also the action comedy Breaking Codes and the drama Be Kind to Me, which tells the story of an almost-divorced couple that starts family therapy. Further offerings include Master Thieves, which is based on real events.

Be Kind to Me

“ We believe Argentina is a very competitive place and has great opportunities to produce high quality at a good cost.

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—Alex Lagomarsino

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RomaFictionFest www.romafictionfest.it Conciliazione Auditorium

The fourth edition of RomaFictionFest, a festival dedicated to TV programming from around the world, will take place in Rome from July 5 to 10. RomaFiction will premiere three programs at this year’s festival.

Lennon Naked, a bio-pic by Edmund Coulthard produced

by Blast! Films for BBC Four, examines the public and private life of John Lennon from 1967, the year he met Yoko Ono, until 1971, when the Fab Four broke up and Lennon moved to New York.

Stones in Exile is a documentary produced by Passion Pictures for BBC Worldwide and executive produced by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. The doc features rare, never-before-seen archival film, photos and interviews with the Rolling Stones as well as new conversations with the band and the artists they have influenced. The project is a complement to the re-release of Exile on Main Street, which will feature never-before-heard tracks.

Le jeu de la mort (The Game of Death) is a documentary that tells of a shocking experiment conducted during a fake game show, in which contestants were told they must apply electric shocks to fellow contestants whenever they gave a wrong answer, regardless of the pain inflicted or the electrical charge, which in the final round reaches a lethal level.

Lost’s Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof receive the 2009 RomaFictionFest Special Award.

SBT TV Network www.sbt.com.br • A Rose with Love • Bridal Veil for Sale • What’s Your Talent?

• Reporter’s Connection • Wild Adventure

A Rose with Love

One of the lead shows that SBT TV Network is bringing to the L.A. Screenings is Bridal Veil for Sale, a modern remake of one of Brazil’s biggest hits from the 1970s.

Another is A Rose with Love, a romantic comedy that has been a ratings hit in Brazil. Following on the trend toward talent competitions is What’s Your Talent?, which showcases a variety of acts, from singers and dancers to magicians. Carolina Scheinberg, the VP of sales at SBT, says the show has been a strong draw with audiences. On the current-affairs front, there’s Reporter’s Connection with the award-winning reporter Roberto Cabrini.

Scheinberg says of the show: “His journalistic scoops become discussion topics in news panels worldwide.”

Adventure reporter Richard Rasmussen puts his own slant on wildlife in Wild Adventure. He takes himself into the wild and has his own unique connection with the animals, Scheinberg explains.

“ We offer a variety of shows and there has been a demand for all our genres.

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—Carolina Scheinberg

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Minority Report

The U.S. Hispanic market holds huge potential for media companies and advertisers.

Al Extremo on Azteca América.

By Anna Carugati For decades, the Hispanic population in the U.S. has been growing at a fast clip. Going from 22.4 million in 1990 to 46.9 million as of July 2008, the number of Hispanics has surpassed that of African-Americans, making them the largest ethnic minority in America, comprising 15 percent of the total population.

The economic and political prowess of Latinos in the U.S. can no longer be ignored. Mainstream advertisers have started targeting this group, whose purchasing power is on a powerful upward trajectory.

According to HispanTelligence, the market research division of Hispanic Business, the purchasing power of Hispanics amounted to some $870 billion in 2008 and is projected to reach $1.3 trillion by 2015. Incomeproducing Hispanic households are expected to represent 13.8 percent of the U.S. population by 2015.

During the 2009–10 television season, some 114.9 million U.S. homes had a TV set. According to Nielsen, the number of Hispanic TV households is at about 13 million.

Last, but certainly not least, 9.7 million Hispanics reported voting in the 2008 presidential election, helping to place Barack Obama in the White House (that was about 2 million more Latinos than voted in 2004). Although the recession has slowed the migration of Mexicans and other Latinos into the U.S., this year’s census is expected to reveal not only an even greater number of Hispanics, but clearer 20

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details about the demographics of this significant group.

“The census is going to be gamechanging because it is going to manifest a view of this country that no one has ever seen before,” says Don Browne, the president of Telemundo Communications Group, which operates Telemundo, the secondlargest Spanish-language broadcast network in the U.S. “It’s going to change a lot of perceptions and it’s going to really be a wake-up call that this country has changed and will continue to change in a dramatic way. Hispanics will be a force to be reckoned with in terms of their growing influence in government and growing economic power.”

Indeed, in an otherwise bleak economy, Hispanics represent one of the few areas of growth, especially for advertisers.

“We’re at a tipping point, where brands are realizing that it is now a business imperative to market to Hispanics,” says César Conde, the president of Univision Networks, the leading Spanish-language broadcast group in the country. “Everyone is looking for untapped ways to grow their business, and the Hispanic consumer is one of the few bright spots in the marketplace. We also know from research that was conducted by Simmons in early 2007 that viewers of Spanish-language television are four times more likely to make a purchase decision based on advertising in Spanish than non-Hispanic viewers are to English-language television.

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y News you can use: Noticiero Univision is a nightly newscast on Univision that features information on the latest issues most important to Hispanic and Latino Americans.

Hispanics feel that those advertisers who speak to them in Spanish respect and understand them. It is vitally important for any marketer looking for sustainable growth to understand this and act on it.”

As a result of the new numbers that will be unveiled by the census, “there is going to be an enormous shift of meters placed in Hispanic homes, and there is going to be a dramatic growth in Hispanic media,” adds Telemundo’s Browne. “The big companies that are looking for the best and surest way to grow their business in the next two to five years are going to be totally energized and enlightened that this is the fastest, quickest way to grow.”

Nielsen will, in fact, adjust the numbers of homes it uses to measure ratings according to the numbers revealed by the census. “The census will set new benchmarks,” says Doug Darfield, the senior VP of multicultural measurement for the Nielsen Company. “And the census is the best independent source that we can use to say that we are measuring the population on a lot of characteristics accurately and fairly.”

The census will undoubtedly confirm what Hispanic media insiders have known for years—that the Hispanic audience in the U.S. is constantly evolving. As new generations

become acculturated, fully bilingual, and, just like their Anglo contemporaries, media savvy, they demand more than just telenovelas.They want programming on multiple platforms, unlike their parents or grandparents, who were accustomed to a twonetwork television universe.

THE MAJOR PLAYERS

The majority of the Hispanic TV audience automatically tunes in to Univision for novelas, news and football. Its ratings are so high that on any given night in prime time, Univision often comes in as the third or fourth most-watched broadcast network in the U.S., jumping past one of the major networks—CBS, ABC, NBC or FOX. In fact, during the February Sweep period, Univision outperformed at least one of the English-language broadcast networks 21 out of 25 nights, or 84 percent of the time, among adults 18 to 34.

While Univision has been producing its own news, sports and entertainment programming, it has long been relying on Mexico’s Televisa and Venezuela’s Venevision for primetime telenovelas and has deals with both companies till 2017. And while 2017 may still be a long way off, Univision has decided to start producing more of its own content.

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“We announced [in December] the launch of Univision Studios, which marks the next phase in the evolution of Univision Communications,” says Conde. “The creation of an in-house studio builds on Univision’s original production capabilities in multiple genres, which account for over 4,000 hours of original programming annually across the company. Under Univision Studios, we will have enhanced capabilities to produce and co-produce telenovelas, reality shows, dramatic series and other programming formats, not only for our three television networks, but for our interactive platforms Univision.com and Univision Móvil as well.”

Although Univision remains dominant in the ratings, Telemundo has seen constant ratings growth for more than a year, thanks to its production of original novelas. Rather than acquire finished novelas from other countries, Telemundo has opted for producing its own and having the freedom to include product placement as well as topical news and social issues that are relevant to U.S. Hispanic viewers.

When Telemundo decided in 2004 to produce its entire prime-time schedule, it set in motion a strategy that has paid off in several ways.

“Our story is a story of reinvention, of dramatically changing a busi-

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ness model, and the facts speak for themselves,” says Browne. “We are delighted with our performance on all different platforms—broadcast, cable, international and digital—they are all performing extremely well and are being fueled by our original content. [Our novelas] are now in 104 countries and our international business, led by Marcos Santana, is growing by 20 percent a year. The idea of creating and owning your own content is that you have to evolve, you have to be able to grow your business on a multiplatform basis, and international is critical— it is a significant part of our revenue now.”

SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE

Numerous smaller TV services are trying to offer something different from the novela-news-and-sports programming menu available on Univision and Telemundo. Some have attracted attention from major international media companies.

V-me is a 24-hour digital-broadcast service, presented by some 40 affiliate public-TV stations and carried on cable and satellite. Currently available in more than 70 percent of all Hispanic homes, V-me’s household distribution is the third largest in the U.S., following Univision and Telemundo.

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Last fall, PRISA—whose assets include a stake in the merged Telecinco and Cuatro group and Sogecable in Spain, as well as Portugal’s TVI—acquired a 12percent stake in V-me, with a view to taking majority control within 12 months. In addition to its cash investment, PRISA will contribute content and production resources to V-me.

“V-me was born three years ago to bring a very high degree of production values and to explore and grow areas of interest with the Hispanic market that still remain untapped,” says Carmen DiRienzo, the president and CEO of V-me.

“One of the reasons we are so excited to have PRISA as a strategic partner and owner is that they have an enormous amount of content of the highest caliber,” she adds. “We have the opportunity now to acquire, co-produce and produce, and look at their literary properties and integrate our plans for character development with them.”

V-me’s programming strategy, in fact, focuses on genres that are underrepresented on the main Hispanic networks. After a schedule revamp in March, V-me now offers contemporary Latin films and a movie-review show on Wednesdays, and has added a strip of dramatic fiction series at 11 p.m. that include crime, family and even mystery/paranormal dramas.

Children’s, music and lifestyle programming round outV-me’s schedule.

DiRienzo explains that PRISA’s educational content, as well as its slate of movies, music and lifestyle shows, fit in perfectly with V-me’s mission. In addition, PRISA’s Internet and social-networking assets can help to substantially increase V-me’s digital businesses.

MEXICANAL Network, a Mexicobased channel launched in 2005 by Cablecom and Castalia Communications, targets viewers in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Its schedule features a range of Spanish-language content including news, culturally sig-

A feminine touch: Eva sin Adán is a variety show on MEXICANAL geared toward women, discussing fashion, culture, beauty and more.

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Carving a niche: The special Discovery Atlas: México Revealed, which aired on Discovery en Español, takes viewers into the heart of Mexico, looking at areas such as local crafts, cuisine and natural wonders.

nificant programs, sports and popular entertainment from public broadcasters, independent producers and localaccess stations throughout Mexico.

“The tagline for MEXICANAL is, ‘Tu canal regional de México,’ so what viewers get from us is what perhaps they cannot from the other networks,” says Luis Torres-Bohl, the founder and president of Castalia. “[We] satisfy the news, information and entertainment needs of Mexicans living throughout the U.S., of which nine out of ten come from places other than Mexico City.

So they don’t have any way of learning of what happened in Oaxaca or in Tuxtla Gutiérrez. We have that information, every single day, so we help them get in touch with their places of origin.

Likewise, in Mexico we also provide news from Chicago, Los Angeles and New York about Mexicans who live and work in North America, and that is of interest to them.”

A targeted channel like MEXICANAL can provide advertisers special offerings. “Everybody nowadays in a tight economy is looking to optimize the expenditure of dollars to

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reach a certain consumer,” continues Torres-Bohl. “We are offering a very effective alternative in terms of CPM, that is very targeted for a community. For example, [leading up to] Mother’s Day, we can target Mexicans living in the U.S. who want to send money via many of the wire services—and several advertise with us—to their mothers.We have similar programs with the same advertisers for the Christmas holidays, so people can send gifts and money to their families in Mexico.”

Some of the most popular programs on MEXICANAL are the daily show Te levanta, which includes nutrition and lifestyle advice for women, and the boxing shows Cuadrilátero and Fábrica de campeones.

The channel also airs baseball as opposed to football because, as Torres-Bohl explains, baseball brings the family together.

IT’S ALL IN THE FAMILY

Family viewing is still a very important social activity among Hispanics, says Adrian Steckel, the CEO of Azteca América. “People will come together to watch television, it’s not everyone watching their own TV in

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separate rooms. Hispanics have a much more emotional connection with their networks. They are not watching programs, they are watching networks, and they have feelings for the network and it serves a purpose in their lives. When you look at English-language networks, people watch individual programs, such as Lost or 24. Anglos have lost the connection with what CBS or NBC means in their lives—they are hopping around from one network to another.”

Azteca América operates in 69 markets in the U.S. and will soon reach 71, in addition to its carriage on cable, satellite, Internet and mobile platforms. The service has access to the programming from TV Azteca’s three national networks in Mexico, including a library of more than 200,000 hours of original programming and news from local bureaus in 32 Mexican states.

“We have complemented what TV Azteca offers with shows that are geared to the U.S. audience and pro-

duced especially for Azteca América,” says Steckel. These programs include the talk show Laura de todos, sin miedo a la verdad with the popular host Laura Bozzo.

BETTING ON VARIETY

“We do not program novelas against Univision’s novelas,” says Bob Turner, the president of network sales for Azteca América.

“We’ve had success airing variety and news programming to counter the novelas on Univision.” This program strategy, along with the channel’s continuous growth in distribution, has paid off. “Our ad revenues were up 6 percent in 2009 over 2008, despite the worst economy in decades,” says Turner. “And this year is even better; we had the best first quarter in our history.”

Cable channels are also offering Hispanic viewers alternatives to what they can find on the main Spanish-language broadcast networks. If men are well served by ESPN Deportes and Fox Sports en Español, Discovery Familia offers

several alternative genres for female viewers.

“Discovery Familia offers Latina women a high-quality alternative that is different from what they can find on other channels, which is basically telenovelas and talk shows,” explains Luis Silberwasser, the international head of content for Discovery Networks International.

“Discovery Familia’s programming includes a daytime block of programming for children that is completely in Spanish and offers unique learning experiences,” continues Silberwasser. “Mothers can be sure their children are in a safe environment where they can have fun, learn, and maintain their Spanish fluency. During the evening we offer programming dedicated to Hispanic women and families, with shows about travel, lifestyle, beauty, child care, homes and decoration— all shows that are really different from other TV offerings in the U.S. Hispanic market.

Also targeting Hispanic viewers is Discovery en Español, which offers a window on the world through science, technology, history, nature and wildlife programming.

If, as expected, the census offers detailed information about the growing niches within the Hispanic population, cable and digital programmers may have more audiences to target.

“We are having conversations with a lot of cable and satellite channels about the possibility of providing some measurement so they can start presenting themselves to advertisers and open up the ad stream,” says Nielsen’s Darfield.

“Certainly at this point in time, [cable and satellite channels’] collective share of the viewing [audience] is larger by many orders of magnitude than the share of the ad dollars that they are taking in. The question is, Who can find the model that brings content to market in a way that makes sense to advertisers?”

Whatever numbers the census reveals, there is no doubt but that the U.S Hispanic market holds countless opportunities for networks, programmers and advertisers alike.

Being embraced: Más sabe el diablo (The Devil Knows Best) is a Telemundo telenovela that features lovers embroiled in intrigue, betrayal, vengeance and passion.

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one on one he leading independent in Hollywood, Lionsgate, has based its business on targeting niches that have been underserved by the major studios: horror films like the Saw franchise, urban movies like the Tyler Perry franchise, feature documentaries and prestige movies like Crash and Precious. Alongside its film business, Lionsgate has grown its TV business with a less-is-more approach, which has yielded such critically acclaimed series as Mad Men, Weeds and Nurse Jackie.

The company is also in the non-scripted-series business with shows like Paris Hilton’s My New BFF, which it produced for MTV, and Scream Queens for VH1.

Leading the development and production of series at the company is Kevin Beggs, Lionsgate’s president of television programming and production. In addition to driving the studio’s business with third-party networks, he is looking to boost the original programming slate at TV Guide Network, which Lionsgate co-owns. The output that Beggs is handling at Lionsgate is being rolled out around the world by Peter Iacono, the managing director of international television. Having joined the studio earlier this year, Iacono’s remit includes leading the exploitation of brand-defining cable dramas and comedies like M a d M e n and W e e d s , as well as an increasing slate of TV movies and reality shows.

Kevin Beggs Lionsgate WS: Has Lionsgate Television pro-

duced mainly for cable television because that’s where the opportunities have been, or has it been by design?

BEGGS: Going back in time to when we began this journey, about 12 years ago, we made a choice to work in cable, as we were averse to the risk of network deficit-financing models. We lacked 24

international, domestic, or homeentertainment distribution.

We were really just a production entity, a Canadian company that could bring some Canadian tax advantages. As we got a little bigger, we had more distribution opportunities, but we were still very risk-averse, so then cable seemed not only the place to be out of necessity but also the right place strategically. Happily, the trajectory of our own business paralleled what was going on in the U.S., which was a proliferation of scripted shows on cable channels. We have been in lockstep with developments in the cable space. We launched the highly successful series The Dead Zone for USA Network, which, paired with their own series Monk, transformed the network.

Right after that we did Weeds, and a couple of years later we did Mad Men. Working in cable has been both a strategic and a creative choice, and it makes sense from a financial perspective, but at the same time we are always developing for broadcast as well. This year we stepped in as the studio on a pilot for FOX called Wilde Kingdom World Screen

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when the financing proved challenging elsewhere. By making the kind of disciplined financial decisions we are known for, we have positioned this to be a strong contender among the comedies in play at the network this year. Our basic-cable shows are doing well, have multiple seasons and tangible value, and in the long term allow us to take a few risks here and there that we might not have before, and Wilde Kingdom is an example of that.

WS: You have a number of partnerships with some key production companies and producers. Why are those relationships important?

BEGGS: We maintain a very low overhead in the television group. We have a small group of multitalented executives that understand creative, production and business aspects of the television business, enabling us to accomplish a great deal with fewer personnel.

We like the notion of making agreements with television producers—some of them are writers, some of them are just interesting creative forces—who are trafficking in worlds that we don’t necessarily get into every day.

For instance, we have a deal with Stanley Tucci and Steve Buscemi, who

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are known as actors but are also producers and best friends and for 20 years have been wanting to work together. They are in New York and have connections to creative talent there. We have another agreement with Allan Loeb, who is a feature and TV writer. Allan has Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps coming out. He did a Jennifer Aniston movie for us with Mandate Pictures called The Switch. Allan can tap into a range of relationships with lots of interesting writers, directors and other collaborators. We have a deal with Brian Robbins, who is a prolific producer and director in film and television. We are writing season two of Blue Mountain State with his company, Varsity Pictures, and Brian is directing a pilot for Lionsgate and Spike TV called Playing with Guns.

Prescribed for success: Lionsgate produces the dark medical comedy Nurse Jackie, now in its second season, for Showtime, the premium cable channel that has become one of the studio’s key clients.

We’ve been very selective about what we do. We just renewed our deal with Jenji Kohan, the creator and executive producer of Weeds, for another two years. And of course, we have Matt Weiner, the creator and executive producer of Mad Men, on an overall deal.

These agreements become really smart ways to maximize development and production opportunities. And because of the way these deals are structured, these producers are also betting on themselves, the more they get made, the better off they are going to be.

Man of the times: The Matthew Weiner–created drama Mad Men, which airs on AMC, has garnered much critical acclaim since its debut, becoming the first basic-cable series to win an Emmy Award for outstanding drama.

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WS: What type of creative envi-

ronment do writers and producers find at Lionsgate?

BEGGS: We are wildly supportive and defenders of great creators, and we are not bureaucratic; we’re a small group. Some of the challenges that creative people face in a large studio environment involve dealing with too many people and having too many conversations, and it’s hard to focus on the creative because it’s just like working at IBM. We are just not like that. There are a couple of us who interface with everybody.

And writers and producers can get to us all the time. And you can go all the way to the top to a guy like Jon Feltheimer, our CEO, who has a long history in TV. He is available, and when we have issues or problems at any level, with a network or maybe with casting, that door is open and he wants us to come in with the writer and the show runner so we can talk about it. There is a lot of access here, and for many producers that’s just really rare.

From a business perspective, we produce great shows in a disciplined fashion with an eye toward bringing them to profitability quickly.

Given the amount of work that goes into making a series, creators and producers want to know if they are working toward a back end or

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one on one simply earning fees. Weeds and Mad Men are on the road toward making the former a reality for the talented producers who make these shows for Lionsgate and our network partners.

WS: What plans do you have for TV Guide Network?

BEGGS: With TV Guide Network

we’re so excited about what is already happening and what the future holds. Our role, aside from being co-owners, is to offer as much creative ammunition and support as we can. I have been working with Diane Robina, who has come in as

head of programming, making sure she is meeting with amazing talent and up to speed with how the original programming business works for cable. Whether we are buying Ugly Betty or Curb Your Enthusiasm or Weeds, we’re sending a message to the creative world that TV Guide

Peter Iacono Managing Director, International Television, Lionsgate

WS: What’s your broad strategy for

boosting Lionsgate’s worldwide TV business?

IACONO: We have a multifaceted approach to expanding Lionsgate’s presence internationally. The core is continuing to produce iconic, highprofile [shows] such as Mad Men and Weeds; broad-based shows such as Blue Mountain State; and expanding upon that with additional shows from our own productions, partnering with third parties, and looking at doing more local productions, such as the Dubai version of Paris Hilton’s My New BFF. WS: What are your plans for local productions?

IACONO: We are looking at doing them all around the world, which is quite fun. There are potentially two more locations where Paris would like to find her BFFs [after series were produced in the U.S., U.K. and Dubai].

We’re also looking at doing adaptations of scripted shows.There’s a great territory that could be a wonderful home for a Mad Men adaptation.

WS: How has Mad Men done internationally?

IACONO: Mad Men has done brilliantly globally.All of our broadcast partners from around the world sent in their trailers and we made a compilation of the different promotions from around the world.You can see what different broadcasters focus on—some focus on the relationships, some on just the smoking and the drinking, some on the drama, and the cheating! The beauty of Mad Men is it’s a really smart, wellproduced show that draws you in slowly and once you’re there you’re hooked, and the audience is amazingly loyal and they find the show on broadcast or on catch-up.

WS: As an independent supplier, what does Lionsgate offer broadcasters over the traditional Hollywood studios?

IACONO: The thing about the big studios, even today, is it is still an approach of, Let me back up the truck and give you an output deal and you’ll take all the television that we produce. That doesn’t work anymore. Broadcasters all have unique personalities. If you back up the truck, it’s not going to work for the show, for the broadcaster, for the distributor. We look to figure out how to get the shows to the right broadcasters and to the viewers who love

26

them.You need to have the right face for each of those shows in order to start that experience with viewers. If you backed up the truck, some of your shows were never even broadcast, which is a problem.

WS: What are your broad goals for the next 12 to 18 months?

IACONO: We have a wonderful lineup for the May Screenings— probably the biggest and broadest lineup that Lionsgate has had in

Network is going to buy great shows off-network. The next phase is original programming. There has never been more talent available in the nonfiction production world, and we are looking forward to finding terrific originals to help with the TV Guide rebrand.

many years. We have one-hours and half-hours with pay-television broadcasters, basic-cable networks and traditional broadcast networks.

We’re continuing to enhance and expand our third-party partnerships. The bigger goal, towards the end of 12 to 18 months, is we’d like to see another original production as brilliant and as wildly entertaining and emotional and campy as Paris in Dubai. Looking at Tiger Gate, which is the joint venture we have in Asia with Saban Capital Group, we’re focused on expanding our network brands,Thrill and KIX, finding new territories for those brands as well as other Lionsgate brands, such as TV Guide.

Riding a high: Weeds, a dramedy produced for Showtime, continues its strong performance in the U.S. and abroad as it heads into its sixth season.

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on the record s president of Comcast International Media Group (CIMG) and Comcast Entertainment Studios (CES), Kevin MacLellan is able to satisfy an important professional need of his: to learn something new every day about the television business he enjoys so much. He is in the enviable position of overseeing the international expansion of a portfolio of channels that includes E! Entertainment Television, The Style Network, Versus, Golf Channel and G4, as well as international new media and distribution, but he also manages a studio that produces more than 1,100 hours of programming a year. Working alongside MacLellan is Duccio Donati, who is in charge of the day-to-day international distribution and channel businesses at CIMG. MacLellan and Donati talk to World Screen about the on going appeal of celebrity and lifestyle programming.

is focus on creating new formats and programs that can monetize that library more significantly.

We also have a very large amount of physical assets in Los Angeles. We are actually the second-largest postproduction facility in Los Angeles, after CBS. We have more than 100 edit suites, 45 cameras, five studios, more than 350 production personnel—and not freelance production personnel.

Part of the reason for that is that E! Entertainment Television, The Style Network and G4 are actually producing the majority of their content, whereas most channels have moved to acquiring. So in terms of our physical assets, our library content, our production personnel and our talent in the building, I think there are some real ways of creating new revenue streams for the company.

Kevin MacLellan

Comcast International Media Group WS: What are the priorities for Comcast

Entertainment Studios?

MACLELLAN: There are two hugely

WS: So you will be opening up the stu-

important parts to this studio: we have a library of 700,000 hours of content, going back to the mid-’80s, when E! Entertainment Television launched, which was the first of the channels that are part of this group. That library is extremely valuable, and it includes interviews with every celebrity you can possibly imagine, as well as coverage of every fashion show and every red-carpet event—the Academy Awards, the Golden Globes, you name it, we’ve been there.

That content should be monetized more than it is, so one thing the studio will do

dio for third parties as well?

MACLELLAN: A large part of my ambition for Comcast Entertainment Studios is to continue to create a number of series with more successful episodes than almost any network I have ever come across. A show like The E! True Hollywood Story has more than 500 episodes that still continue to rate so well that we make more than 30 of them a year. We have a show like The Soup, which has been franchised into six different channels around the world and makes 52 episodes a year on each of those channels. We’ve got shows for The Style

28

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Network—like How Do I Look? or Clean House, which have some 150 to 200 episodes apiece.

CES has been able to create a formula by using those assets that I just discussed, which provides long-running series that are cost-effective, create profits and continue to be the backbone of most of the channels they are supplied to. So we will continue to acquire content from third parties for our networks, but the backbone is what we produce. And as any programmer knows, you need a constantly refreshed amount of content in order to program in today’s environment.

What I think is really promising is that I can open up these production facilities and this library to third parties around the world. At the end of last year, we began pitching programs to U.S. networks, and I’m really happy to say that already we’ve had three successes. We produced a series of specials for the ABC network called Now and Then, which is about where particular celebrities are now. When you stop and think about it, who would be better to do that than E!, because we own the entire library. We have set visits [to shows] going back to 1987, and there is nobody else who has that kind of content. They would have to come to us to buy it anyway.

We have also produced some other types of content. One show is called Baggage. It’s a game show for the Game Show Network. Jerry Springer is hosting and I’m really excited about it. It had a

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fantastic response at MIPTV, so I can now take that format, which we created, along with our production facilities and our ability to produce the show, and sell that to third parties. There is no reason, particularly with a studio-based show, that I couldn’t produce it for the Australian market or the U.K. market—all I need to do is fly in the contestants.

And if I’m producing [the international versions] at the same time as I’m producing the U.S. show, similar to what Endemol has done with Wipeout, I can amortize the cost across multiple shows. And there is no reason that you have to do that only with extremely high-end expensive content.Why wouldn’t you do it with game shows? It makes perfect sense. And we have all the facilities to be able to do that. So I’m pretty excited about the opportunities that presents.

WS: How are new-media plat-

forms like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter helping to support your programming?

MACLELLAN: This is one of my favorite topics right now because it’s changing all the time. It’s one of those things about our industry that I love so much: there’s never a moment that I don’t have an opportunity to learn something new, and every day I learn something new about social networking and new media.

A couple of years ago I probably would have said that socialnetworking sites would help build communities that were dedicated to the channels. But what I’ve begun to realize is that social-networking sites do not build fantastic communities for channels per se, but they do for individual programs. People are following personalities on socialnetworking sites. Chelsea Handler from Chelsea Lately in the U.S. has a massive following on Twitter and Facebook, and we can access that at any given point and advertise a particular guest or a particular

Cutting through the clutter: The Style Network, aimed at women 18 to 49, has an abundance of makeover shows, including Clean House, one of the channel’s top-rated series.

stunt that Chelsea is doing and we see real tangible results. The same goes for a show like The Soup.

Because so much of our content is so current and social-networking sites are very much about what is happening in the here and now, we have had a lot of success with our daily and weekly shows, in particular those that have large personalities in front of them—hosts who have a point of view as opposed to just somebody reading from a teleprompter. So people with attitude and a point of view like Chelsea Handler and Joel McHale 5/10

and Ryan Seacrest have a massive following as well. That is how social-networking sites are helping the shows—and the shows then help our networks.

WS: In today’s very crowded markets, what does a channel need to launch successfully and connect with viewers?

MACLELLAN: A strong, definable brand that needs to stand out in the marketplace, and it’s really helpful when that brand is unique. I like to say, “A brand that says what it does on the tin”—it’s a British expression

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for, “A brand that says what it does on the box.” It’s really important because a brand like Golf Channel is a beautiful brand—you can’t get confused about what it is. E! Entertainment Television falls into that category as well—a really strong, definable and unique brand. As the marketplace gets more crowded, how many movie channels or documentary channels or children’s channels or music channels can one platform actually support? It’s important to be unique, not only in your brand, but also in your content. But it’s also important to stand

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on the record out, and a constant supply of fresh content is really helpful. Not having to acquire all your content from third parties and constantly being at the mercy of the studios is also really important. I also think that finding that right balance between local and international content is really

important. We launched E! as a Hollywood channel, which was acceptable to everybody, but over time the way that we have been increasing our ratings is by adding just the right amount of local content as well. And when I say right amount I mean every channel is a

profit-making venture and so the difficulty is finding [how much local content can be profitable]. I could continue to produce 50 percent of my content in the U.K., but frankly the U.K. pay-TV ad-sales market can’t support that. So is it ten percent? Fifteen percent? Thirty

to increase The Style Network’s relevance to local audiences through acquired product that will resonate with viewers.

Duccio Donati Executive VP, CIMG

WS: How are you approaching the distribution of CIMG’s content portfolio to platforms worldwide?

DONATI: Our mandate is monetize our wholly owned content across the entire value chain: channels, program sales, new media. We adopt a different approach for the programming from our international channels, E! and The Style Network, than we do for the rest of our catalogue. In territories where E! and/or The Style Network already exist, we either license content that no longer airs on the channel, or we premiere the content on the channel and then license the second window to other platforms. As for territories where we do not have a channel but are planning to launch one, we are careful to ensure that our licensing efforts still guarantee that the brands are properly represented.With the other

catalogues, such as G4, where we don’t have an immediate plan to launch a channel, we can license more aggressively.

In addition, we want to continue expanding our program sales and formats business. We just started distributing some product from El Garage in Latin America. We did that because we felt that the quality of the programming was excellent and that there were some niche buyers in the market that wanted this type of programming.

With formats, we have closed several deals for Reality Hell in major territories, and Baggage, which Comcast Entertainment Studios is producing for GSN (Game Show Network in the U.S.), has been extremely well received.

WS: So you’ve expanded your slate

with third-party titles and the output for other networks from Comcast Entertainment Studios?

DONATI: That’s our objective.

However, the key for us is not to build a massive catalogue. With over 1,200 hours a year coming from our own networks and a library of over 5,000 hours, we already have plenty of product to represent. The key is to diversify our catalogue so we can open up additional revenue streams in gen-

30

percent? Each market has proven to be different. It’s really about finding that balance between local and international content. So launching a successful channel today depends on a strong brand, fresh content and a balance between locally produced and international content.

res that we are not currently ser ving. I want to ensure that if we choose to represent a show we do so because we believe we can do a great job in selling it and we are the best sales force to do so.

WS: How is your new-media busi-

ness faring?

DONATI: It is growing extremely

quickly. In the beginning of 2008 we launched the E! Online site in the U.K., Australia, France, Italy and Germany. Traffic has doubled every year since launch, and we are currently delivering 1.5 million unique users and 24 million page views a month, which has allowed us to start monetizing them through ad sales. In 2010 we will be expanding the brand into the mobile space as well with local-language WAP sites, iPhone apps. This will move us closer to replicating the E! Everywhere concept that has been extremely successful for us in the United States.

WS: What are your plans for CIMG’s channels?

DONATI: E! Entertainment Television is already very broadly distributed, so our main focus is on continuing to build the ratings on the channel. We’ve had a great first quarter driven by an extremely successful red-carpet season. We’ve seen solid ratings increases across the board on all the rated channels—U.K., France, Italy, Australia. The objective for us is to continue that growth throughout the years, and with new seasons of very successful shows like Keeping Up with the Kardashians and Kendra and promising newcomers like Pretty Wild, I am confident that [we] will achieve that objective.

As for The Style Network, our main objective is to increase distribution of the channel, which launched less than two years ago.

We’re also going to be doing some targeted acquisitions for the channel. The Style Network doesn’t have the production-output volume E! has, and we are Blonde ambition: Chelsea Handler is the host using that as an opportunity of E!’s late-night series Chelsea Lately.

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american network scorecard Source: The Nielsen Company, September 21, 2009, to April 25, 2010.

A rating point represents 1,149,000 TV households; shares are the percentage of sets tuned to a particular program or station.

Courtesy of ABC.

Rank Program

Network

Distributor

Average Share

Kids

Teens

M18–49

F18–49

M25–54

F25–54

M50+

F50+

1

American Idol: Tuesday

FOX

FremantleMedia Enterprises

14.2/21

5.1

6.7

7.3

11.7

8.7

12.9

8.0

11.5

2

American Idol: Wednesday

FOX

FremantleMedia Enterprises

13.4/21

4.6

6.0

6.6

10.6

8.0

11.9

7.7

11.4

3

Dancing with the Stars

ABC

BBC Worldwide

12.5/19

2.0

1.8

2.5

6.4

3.4

8.2

7.9

17.8

4

NCIS

CBS

CBS Studios

11.5/18

1.1

1.7

3.6

4.6

5.0

6.3

12.5

14.2

5

The Mentalist

CBS

Warner Bros.

10.4/17

0.8

1.4

3.2

4.7

4.3

6.3

9.8

13.0

6

Dancing with the Stars: Results

ABC

BBC Worldwide

10.0/15

1.4

1.5

2.1

4.5

2.8

6.0

6.8

14.3

7

Undercover Boss

CBS

ALL3MEDIA International

9.8/15

1.8

2.8

5.8

6.6

6.9

7.7

8.0

9.2

8

CSI

CBS

CBS Studios

9.7/15

1.2

1.5

3.2

4.6

4.2

6.2

8.9

11.7

8

NCIS: Los Angeles

CBS

CBS Studios

9.7/15

0.8

1.4

3.1

3.9

4.2

5.4

10.2

11.6

10

Two and a Half Men

CBS

Warner Bros.

8.9/13

1.0

1.7

4.6

5.1

5.8

6.4

7.6

8.3

11

Desperate Housewives

ABC

Disney Media Distribution

8.8/13

1.3

2.0

3.0

6.6

3.8

7.7

4.9

8.9

11

Grey's Anatomy

ABC

Disney Media Distribution

8.8/13

1.0

1.6

2.7

7.6

3.3

8.1

3.7

8.4

13

60 Minutes

CBS

CBS Studios

8.6/14

0.7

0.8

2.7

2.5

3.7

3.4

10.2

10.1

14

Criminal Minds

CBS

Disney Media Distribution

8.5/13

0.9

1.2

2.9

4.5

3.8

5.9

7.1

9.9

15

The Big Bang Theory

CBS

Warner Bros.

8.4/13

1.1

2.0

5.1

5.6

6.1

6.7

6.3

6.9

16

The Good Wife

CBS

CBS Studios

8.4/14

0.5

0.7

1.8

3.5

2.6

5.0

6.9

11.4

17

CSI: Miami

CBS

CBS Studios

8.2/13

0.8

1.4

3.0

4.4

3.8

5.6

6.4

9.0

18

CSI: NY

CBS

CBS Studios

8.0/13

0.7

1.0

2.4

3.8

3.2

5.0

6.9

9.6

19

The Bachelor

ABC

Warner Bros.

7.8/11

1.4

1.9

2.2

6.5

2.7

6.9

3.0

8.1

20

Survivor: Samoa

CBS

CBS Studios

7.8/12

2.0

2.2

3.7

5.0

4.6

6.2

5.6

7.7

21

Survivor: Heroes vs Villains

CBS

CBS Studios

7.7/12

1.9

2.3

3.7

5.0

4.7

6.2

5.8

7.6

22

House

FOX

NBC Universal

7.4/11

1.3

2.1

4.4

5.4

4.8

5.9

5.0

5.9

23

Brothers & Sisters

ABC

Disney Media Distribution

7.0/11

0.7

1.0

1.9

4.8

2.5

5.9

3.2

7.7

23

Lost

ABC

Disney Media Distribution

7.0/11

0.9

2.0

5.3

5.4

5.7

6.0

3.8

4.8

23

Romantically Challenged

ABC

Warner Bros.

7.0/11

0.7

1.1

1.8

3.9

2.5

5.2

4.0

8.9

26

Amazing Race 15

CBS

Disney Media Distribution

6.8/10

1.8

2.1

3.1

4.4

3.8

5.4

4.8

7.1

27

Castle

ABC

Disney Media Distribution

6.7/11

0.5

1.0

1.9

3.6

2.4

4.5

4.9

8.3

28

24

FOX

Twentieth Century Fox

6.4/10

0.6

1.5

3.9

3.3

4.8

4.0

6.8

5.2

28

Bones

FOX

Twentieth Century Fox

6.4/10

0.9

1.5

2.5

3.6

3.0

4.3

5.3

6.5

30

The Amazing Race 16

CBS

Disney Media Distribution

6.3/10

1.4

2.1

2.9

4.1

3.8

5.2

4.9

6.4

30

Biggest Loser 8

NBC

Shine International

6.3/10

1.9

1.7

2.9

5.4

3.3

6.2

2.5

5.2

32

Private Practice

ABC

Disney Media Distribution

6.2/10

0.7

0.9

1.6

5.3

2.0

5.7

2.3

6.1

32

Cold Case

CBS

Warner Bros.

6.2/10

0.5

0.7

1.7

2.9

2.3

3.8

5.6

7.9

34

Law & Order: SVU

NBC

NBC Universal

6.1/10

0.6

0.8

2.2

3.6

2.6

4.2

4.0

6.3

35

V

ABC

Warner Bros.

6.0/10

0.9

1.2

3.9

3.3

4.6

3.9

4.3

4.5

35

Biggest Loser 9

NBC

Shine International

5.8/9

1.6

1.7

2.6

5.0

2.9

5.7

2.1

4.9

37

FlashForward

ABC

Disney Media Distribution

5.7/9

0.8

1.1

2.6

3.4

3.2

4.1

4.0

5.5

37

Human Target

FOX

Warner Bros.

5.7/9

0.9

1.2

2.9

2.7

3.8

3.5

5.9

5.1

39

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

ABC

Endemol Worldwide Distribution 5.5/8

1.8

1.5

2.0

3.4

2.6

4.2

3.2

6.1

39

Modern Family

ABC

Twentieth Century Fox

1.1

1.5

3.2

4.3

3.7

4.8

2.9

4.0

39

Three Rivers

CBS

CBS Studios

5.5/9

0.5

0.7

1.2

2.7

1.7

3.5

4.3

4.3

42

How I Met Your Mother

CBS

Twentieth Century Fox

5.4/8

0.8

1.0

3.3

3.7

3.9

4.2

3.4

4.0

42

Rules of Engagement

CBS

Sony Pictures Television

5.4/8

0.7

1.0

3.3

3.3

4.1

4.1

3.9

4.1

44

Numb3rs

CBS

CBS Studios

5.3/9

0.5

0.7

1.6

2.3

2.2

3.3

4.9

6.6

45

Ghost Whisperer

CBS

Disney Media Distribution

5.2/9

1.1

1.1

1.3

3.0

1.8

4.2

3.4

6.5

45

Glee

FOX

Twentieth Century Fox

5.2/8

1.2

2.8

2.7

4.9

2.9

4.7

2.1

3.1

45

Parenthood

NBC

NBC Universal

5.2/9

0.7

1.0

2.2

4.3

2.5

4.9

2.4

4.2

48

Medium

CBS

CBS Studios

5.1/9

0.7

1.0

1.3

2.7

1.8

3.8

3.5

6.5

48

The Office

NBC

NBC Universal

5.1/8

0.7

1.9

4.6

4.5

4.5

4.6

2.1

2.3

50

Miami Medical

CBS

Warner Bros.

4.9/9

0.4

0.6

1.0

1.8

1.5

2.8

3.9

6.9

5.5/9

For a complete list of the top 100 shows, visit www.worldscreen.com.

5/10

World Screen

135

Light Years Ahead

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world’s end

IN THE STARS

Almost every national constitution forbids the establishment of an official state religion. But this secular bent doesn’t stop people from looking to the heavens for answers to life’s most troublesome questions: Will I succeed? Will I find love? Will I get seduced by Michael Douglas?

Every day, papers and magazines worldwide print horoscopes—projections for people born in a specific month, based on the positions of the stars and planets. While many people rely on these daily, weekly or monthly messages for guidance in their lives, some readers skip over them entirely.

The editors of WS recognize that

Shaquille O’Neal

Jessica Alba

George Clooney

George Clooney

Rupert Grint

Global distinction: Ageless Hollywood hunk.

Sign: Taurus (b. May 6, 1961) Significant date: April 29, 2010 Noteworthy activity: The star’s Italian home is roped

Global distinction: Harry Potter’s pal.

Sign: Virgo (b. August 24, 1988) Significant date: April 2, 2010 Noteworthy activity: Grint, who has played Ron

off when soldiers are called in to recover an arsenal of World War II-era bombs—nearly 500 pounds of hand grenades, mortars and aircraft bombs—discovered submerged in the depths of Lake Como, just 45 feet from Clooney’s villa.

Horoscope: “Now is an important time to not only focus on yourself, but also your surroundings. Make sure that your environment is full of positive energies. If not, consider relocating.” (taurusfreehoroscope.com)

Weasley in the Harry Potter films for the past nine years, stars as a troubled teen, indulging in drugs and sex, in the new film Cherrybomb. He watches a very intimate scene filmed with the British actress Kimberley Nixon with his parents at his side. “Filming it was a really nerve-wracking experience but the worst bit was watching it with my parents.... It was agonizing,” the English actor tells London’s Mirror.

Horoscope: “The year will be very romantic for you,Virgo.

You must not shy away from intimacy. Be open to love and the rest will fall in place.” (mydearvalentine.com)

these little pearls of random foresight occasionally prove prophetic.

But rather than poring over charts of the zodiac to predict world events, our staff prefers to use past horoscopes in an attempt to legitimate the science.

As you can see here, had some of these media figures remembered to consult their horoscopes on signif-

Jessica Alba Global distinction: Smokin’ hot starlet.

Sign: Taurus (b. April 28, 1981) Significant date: April 29, 2010 Noteworthy activity: In New York to premiere her new

movie at the Tribeca Film Festival, Alba attempts to heat up some fish sticks in her room at the Smyth Hotel.

Unable to figure out how to work the oven, the actress almost causes a fire, filling the room with so much smoke that fire trucks are called to the scene.

Horoscope: “The Taurus is usually an attentive person.

You don’t often get distracted, because you understand that certain relationships and tasks do require your full attention.” (divinologue.com)

icant days, they could have avoided a few surprises.

Michael Douglas

Michael Douglas Global distinction: Hollywood leading man.

Sign: Libra (b. September 25, 1944) Significant date: April 26, 2010 Noteworthy activity: The actor, who has long had a

reputation as a Lothario, reveals that he seduced two of his mother’s friends when he was just 16 years old. He refuses to name names. “I wouldn’t want to get any of them in trouble,” he says. “Though they’re probably dead now.”

Horoscope: “Your sex appeal and confidence may be high.

However, it is always important to exercise restraint.” (astrology.com)

Shaquille O’Neal Global distinction: Basketball giant.

Sign: Pisces (b. March 6, 1972) Significant date: April 18, 2010 Noteworthy activity: The ex-wife of the seven-foot-tall

sports star claims that he is using their 6-year-old son to deliver death threats to her new boyfriend. A document obtained by gossip site TMZ claims the NBA icon told his son to tell Mom’s boyfriend he was going to kill him.The documents also claim that O’Neal “interrogated” the couple’s children about Mom’s new man.

Horoscope: “Pisceans can be unnecessarily suspicious and jealous, and this might cause a lot of heartache. As you long for love, it is essential that you establish a loving relationship with your family.” (bizbrowse.com) 138

World Screen

5/10

Hugh Hefner Global distinction: Legendary ladies’ man.

Sign: Aries (b. April 9, 1926) Significant date: April 27, 2010 Noteworthy activity: The Playboy founder hears that

the campaign to buy the open space west of the iconic Hollywood sign is short on funds. He donates the final $900,000 needed to preserve the famous Los Angeles landmark. In 1978, Hefner played a major role in a campaign to fix up the then-dilapidated sign.

Horoscope: “Emotion plays an important role in your life, and once you feel deeply attached, your heart is in it for the long haul. This makes Aries’s loyalty second to none.” (cafeastrology.com)

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Including: • TV Novelas • TV Kids

Space Reservations . . . . May 28 Ad Materials . . . . . . . . . . June 1 For more information, please contact Ricardo Guise (rguise@worldscreen.com)

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