16-05-2011

FNE at DISCOP Budapest 2011: Recycling TV Content Produced in CEE

By Cathy Meils

    When DISCOP East (www.discop.com) launched in Budapest twenty years ago under the direction of DISCOP founder Patrick Jucaud, TV in Central and Eastern Europe was still in the process of adapting to its new-found freedom from centralized Soviet style management and censorship. A few years later, commercial TV entered the scene, bringing all things Western - first U.S. TV exports and then popular West European programmes. By the end of the decade, commercial TV stations had begun launching the occasional original show, and throughout the first decade of the new century, Central and East Europeans stations took the lessons learned by their Western counterparts and began developing programming that could compete on its own. Over the next two weeks, as TV buyers and sellers from around the world prepare to convene at DISCOP Budapest (21-23 June 2011), FNE looks at the newest development emerging in the region: adapting content locally, and selling local content internationally. Call it TV's answer to recycling.

    We begin our survey on 18 May with a look at one of the surprising successes of the region, Romania, where locally produced programmes are racking up international sales. Neighbors to the north are having their own successes, with the Czechs just completing the first format sale to North America, and Poland producing local adaptations of shows ranging from egdy MTV fare to a popular US sitcom. To the south, Slovenia and Croatia are teaming up on TV coproductions, taking advantage of a shared heritage, much as Slovakia partners with former state-mate Czech Republic. And Bulgarian audiences are rediscovering their taste for local productions, with new formats and series even drawing interest from abroad.

    Major regional players have ad advantage in the sharing and adapting of locally produced content. Central European Media Enterprises (CME, www.cetv-net.com) shares ideas among its seven territories in the CEE region, with production and sales handled through a regional headquarters. As part of an international family, HBO Central Europe (www.hbo-centraleurope.com) can adapt parent company product. And Swedish-based Modern Times Group (www.mtg.se) fosters cooperation between its channels in Slovenia and the Baltics.

    It makes for a dynamic decade ahead. Watch for our daily reports as FNE partners with DISCOP Budapest in covering the newest developments and trends in the territories of Central Europe.

    Published in Region
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