Middle-aged market touts MILIA.

It may be hitting middle age, but the 44-year-old MIP-TV shows no signs of getting heftier around the waist. It is still svelte, image-conscious and far from being relegated to the ranks of a past-its-prime conference. MIP is, once again, sporting its Generation X progressive side: MILIA. This year's MIP-TV featuring MILIA conference program is entitled "Capture Innovation," and attendees hope that they can do just that, both on the MIP floor and after the market's close. IPTV will be high on the MILIA agenda, and some could argue that this emerging TV platform should have its own convention space.

This year's keynote speakers personify the connection between the old and new worlds of television that Reed Midem is trying to facilitate. Joseph Jaffe and Philip Rosedale are of the new school of television. Jaffe is president of new-age marketing specialists Crayon L.L.C. and author of bestselling book Life After the 30-Second Spot. Rosedale is founder and CEO of Linden Lab, creator of 3D online phenomenon Second Life. Gerhard Zeiler, a commissioner from the traditional TV world, is CEO of Germany-based European entertainment network RTL.

According to Adam Wakeling, deputy head of Sales at 3DD Entertainment, MIP-TV is the ideal venue to review the progress of new media and see "which platforms and business models have been tried and tested since MIPCOM."

Wakeling pointed specifically to broadband and mobile platforms as showing the most promise. 3DD has been involved with i-Concerts, a broadband and wireless syndication platform designed for the video-on-demand distribution of concerts and live music programming.

According to Claudia Silva, director of Marketing at Televisa Estudios, her company--which is celebrating its 50th year of licensing and producing telenovelas--is firmly committed to new technology. "One of our priorities is to offer to our clients the best content, on all the platforms available," she said. In the area of new media, last November, Televisa launched its newest division, Televisa Digital. The division develops and distributes a series of digital services, including video, movies and music downloads, as well as interactive spaces such as blogs and videoblogs. But Televisa will also showcase its traditional made-for-TV telenovelas, series and formats at this year's MIP. Additionally, Silva said, "Televisa is presenting the worldwide release of a cutting-edge original TV series catalog that marks a new era of Latin American production." Releases include thriller and suspense series 13 Fears (Los Trece Miedos); SOS, a contemporary comedic drama; and a series based on the real life stories of the band members of musical sensation RBD.

"People will always watch their content on a screen," predicted 3DD's Wakeling, "but now we're looking at the development and evolution of delivery systems. These have to represent viable revenue models, and still need to be ironed out." As a distributor of its own programs, as well as third-party programming, 3DD's goal is to grant as many rights as possible, but that's not always easy. "When it comes to [3DD's specialty] music-themed programming, it's important that one is judicious with content," he said. "There must be a suitable digital rights management system in place."

At MIP, the Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA), which aims to facilitate and broker collaborations between Singapore-based media companies and international partners, will focus on the tech-savvy nature of companies that hail from that area. "Singapore has become the first country in Southeast Asia to launch commercial HD cable channels," said Christopher Chia, CEO of the MDA. "More HDTV channels will soon be available on IPTV. With the rising global demand for HD programs, we will highlight Singapore's steady progress in the development of capabilities in HDTV production and comprehensive end-to-end post-production."

He continued, "New media like IPTV provide an avenue to showcase innovative content. MDA recently rolled out a new two-tier license framework to facilitate the growth of IPTV services in Singapore. The on-going IPTV trials, which include HD content, also enable Singaporeans to receive HD content on three platforms."

One company that's not focusing primarily on new platforms at MIP is recently consolidated Starz Media, which handles content previously distributed by IDT Entertainment. "For now, no one's presented a compelling business model to make original programs for mobile or the Internet," said Neil Braun, president, Distribution and Marketing at Starz Media. "New platforms are still extensions and extractions of content from more traditional platforms." But either way, he said, "we don't think of MIP and MIPCOM as having that focus." What Starz will be emphasizing at this year's MIP market (its second international TV market), are co-productions and European broadcast licensing deals. "IDT Entertainment dealt primarily with intermediaries when making deals with broadcasters. But, now, we make deals directly with broadcasters," he said. While Braun was careful to point out that his company doesn't use a sales agent, it has called upon Germany-based Tandem Communications to serve as a specialty sub-distributor. "We think of it as our on-the-ground European connection," he said.

At MIP, Starz will move away from direct-to-DVD content and toward series made for broadcast and cable networks. Series Painkiller Jane originally aired on U.S. cabler sci-fi, and Masters of Sci-Fi will air on U.S. broadcast net ABC sometime around the market. Braun celebrated the fact that since his company owns 16 U.S. channels, they are "more part of the club than most producers and distributors out there."

The fact that Starz is a vertically integrated "mini-major,"--including film distribution arms and U.S. channels--and is owned by Liberty Media, Braun believes, helps pique potential partners' interest. "We have a good combination of scale and flexibility--something we get from being new to the game," he said. "Of course we'll take some risks," he said, "but that's not our primary calling. We're going to be smart about using tax incentives and making the most out of viral marketing."

Braun realizes that in order to make business boom, his company will need to get international broadcast partners consulting on projects upfront. "For us, MIP is about talking to broadcasters about possible co-productions and getting feedback on our shows," he said.

On the major studio side, Marion Edwards, evp, TV Distribution at Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution, said MIP's timing makes it the perfect place to discuss just-launched network (and off-net) shows. "MIP'S April date used to be a problem because it was too late to discuss midseason shows and too early for discussing new series," she said. "But now we have plenty of original programming at MIP, since midseason series seem to have moved from January to March and April."

But MIP talks extend beyond midseasons. "What's interesting about MIP," Edwards said, "is that in addition to talking about our midseason shows [Fox will have four main midseason series available this year--Drive, Wedding Bells, Saving Crate and The Riches], clients definitely want to talk about May so that they can see what's going to be popular and figure out how to plan their strategies."

"In the last three or four years, or as American dramas have begun to play more significant roles in international schedules, people have been asking more about the L.A. Screenings at MIP," Edwards observed. LCB

IRV HOLENDER REMEMBERS MIP-TV 40 YEARS AGO

If anyone's earned the right to call himself an active MIP veteran it's Irv Holender, vice chairman of Liberation, who this year celebrates his 40th consecutive year at MIP. According to Holender, he's one of only about a handful of people left who can make that claim.

Holender first went to MIP as part of the Desilu Productions team. The company, which was jointly owned by I Love Lucy stars Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball, owned international distribution rights to a number of hit U.S. series. Holender handled Sales and Licensing.

At the time there were no videos, and all programs were sold on 16mm cans.

As an American, Holender remembers being in the minority at MIP-TV in 1967.

"Attendees were primarily European; there were a few Asians too. We were the invited guests," he said. In total, he estimated somewhere around 500 attendees.

Four decades ago, founding ruler Bernard Cherry, whom Holender described as a "gentleman" was running MIR By that time the market had moved from Lyon--where it was originally launched in 1963--to Cannes. Back then there was no Palais des Festivals, and Holender remembers how the market took place in a steaming-hot five-story building in the location now home to the Noga Hilton.

While Holender looks back fondly on those days, he celebrates the fact that the international television business has grown immensely since then. "Back then, about 70 percent of our revenue was domestic and 30 was international. Now those numbers have flipped," he said.

Holender equated today's executives' anxieties surrounding new technologies with those brought on by the advent of privatized channels around the globe. "At the time everyone was anchoring for privatization," he said. But then, he added, "everyone wanted American series, and since there were no local quota systems in the world, the business was beginning to explode."

Since then, Holender said, license fees have "come down tremendously" thanks to privatization leading to more channels and fewer eyeballs watching each television station.