2006: the year that was and the year it'll bring.

When asked what major event of 2006 would shape his approach to 2007, David Ellender, chief executive officer of FremantleMedia Enterprises, was adamant: "There is little doubt that the arrival of new digital media, especially VoD over broadband, was the big event of 2006." He continued, "Twelve months ago people were just talking about the possibilities these technologies would bring. Now, in the U.K., we have already progressed to a stage where we are differentiating between the right to download, burn and keep, and offer mere 24-hour viewing."

Fremantle already has a deal in place in the U.K. with Arts Alliance Media, and is constructing a Thames Classic Comedy website, which, according to Ellender, "will go live during the first quarter of 2007." But these opportunities are not only confined to the U.K. Ellender revealed that his company "is looking to work with a number of niche operators in the U.S.," where he described the broadband VoD opportunities as "significant." He expects these to be up and running around the same time as the Thames site in the U.K.--sometime during the first quarter of 2007. Ellender identified Australia as another territory with valuable opportunities in this area, and one in which, "we will definitely be launching initiatives during the course of 2007, probably in the field of comedy."

For Rod Caird, U.K.-based consultant, International Programming for A&E Television Networks, "The story of 2006 is the arrival of short-form content. Such is the impact of this that by the end of 2007, we will be looking at a totally different business.

"When I started this job six years ago," he recalled, "it was all about finding long-form programming that complemented the programming supplied by the mothership in the U.S. However, all that has changed, with an explosion of short-form content for use on websites, mobile and broadband of all descriptions." Caird noted, "People have been talking about the impact these technologies would have when they arrived. Well, guess what? They have arrived, and there isn't any hyperbole in saying that we are witnessing a sea-change that will utterly alter the nature of our business."

For A&E this has meant a shift in focus to a search for material that will, per Caird, "complement linear long-form, so that, if someone's interest is piqued by something they see on one of our linear channels, they can go to the appropriate website and find out more. In fact," predicted Caird, "people are going to start to use digital to obtain both information and entertainment in a way they never did with linear."

A&E is just one of many companies keen on exploiting new media. In fact, Fireworks (recently bought by Content Films), has already moved into this space with representation of leading U.S. comedy website, Heavy.com. This, Fireworks president Greg Phillips sees as, "heralding our entry into the new age of digital distribution, and is certainly the biggest single event of 2006."

Music-centric U.K. company 3DD Group recently added an arm called 3DD Productions, and sees the new addition as its key to opening many digital doors. Adam Wakeling, deputy head of Sales at distribution arm 3DD Entertainment, said, "The formation of 3DD Productions is vital to the Group's future. Owning our own content has many crucial advantages--allowing us to reformat programs so as to be able to exploit them over as many platforms as necessary. Also," he continued, "it is a perfect fit with the existing distribution operation because we can provide co-production partners, and make the sales, thereby generating revenue that can be ploughed back into more productions. This," said Wakeling, is the virtuous circle we hope to create for 2007 and beyond."

Nick Thorogood, controller of two linear channels, Five Life and Five U.S. (which both launched in the U.K. in October 2006), saw the year somewhat differently. "There hasn't been one single event over the past 12 months that has influenced the way I see the coming year, rather, there have been several." Even so, there is, for Thorogood, one that stands out in importance, and that is, "the seriousness with which international programming is now being taken compared even with five years ago."

In support of this assertion, Thorogood pointed to the most recent L.A. Screenings, "You only have to look at the number of people each broadcaster took to L.A. last May to appreciate that," he insisted. "That the Americans appreciate this change is also evidenced by the large amounts of money they have begun to invest once more in their programming. Of course," acknowledged Thorogood, "not all of it works. But, there was, however, a definite feeling at this year's event that these were much more high profile than many that had immediately preceded them.

For Chris Bonney, chief executive at Screentime Partners, however, the current U.K. story is one of consolidation, "I believe that, over the next few years, the U.K. market will witness the emergence of somewhere between six and eight key production groups, controlling as much as 80 percent of the market between them," he predicted. This, he revealed, was the thinking behind the recent acquisition of Screentime Partners by the London Stock Exchange-listed Shed Productions. "If we were to avoid becoming marginalized," Bonney explained, "we needed to align ourselves with one of these groups to guarantee a growing supply of top quality content."

Top quality content has been an important factor in 2006 for Rose Marie Vega, vice president, Sales, U.S. and Latin America, International Content Distribution at the New York office of Alliance Atlantis, with what she described as "the phenomenal success of Lunar Jim in the Latin territories." Much of this success, Vega hopes will, "seal the perception of Alliance Atlantis as a distributor of high quality children's properties," which she ascribed to "the support of a strong merchandising and licensing campaign, and, in particular, a series of live events and interactive experiences featuring the Lunar Jim mascot in Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and Colombia." But Canada-based Alliance Atlantis is not the only company taking advantage of a very old entertainment medium to promote brands in this digital age. Canadian neighbor Cookie Jar Entertainment has seen great success throughout North America with live concerts performed by The Doodlebops, the stars of one of its kids' shows.

FremantleMedia Enterprises has also been scoring big in the theater with stage versions of The Price is Right in Las Vegas, which the company produced itself, following licensing third-party productions of Family Feud and The Price is Right. As CEO David Ellender observed, "For a while now, ours has been a business of brand management and extension, and the truth is, that's not always about technology."