NATPE 2000: A Turning Point Toward Convergence
(continued from page 2)
HK: You did mention the international market and I wanted
to ask, how important is the Latin American market at NATPE?
BJ: We are the conference of record for Latin America. We
are the major conference for all of Latin America, for buyers and
sellers alike. It is also very important for the European buyers
to come to NATPE because they principally do business with Latin
America. They don't come to America to do business with us. We are
sort of the tent, a global tent, where people come from all over
the world. Latin America is a very, very important part of this
mix. It is the largest meeting of Latin Americans in this industry
anywhere in the world.
HK: MIP TV is the place to go to do business with the Europeans,
but it definitely seems if you want to do business with Latin America
you need to be at NATPE.
BJ: Absolutely. And Asia and Canada as well, by the way.
MIP definitely has an advantage in terms of the European community,
but where we shine against MIP is that we are the only truly international,
global market. They don't get the American buyers. They don't get
the studio or the network buyers at MIP or MIPCOM that we do. We
are truly the international market and I just want to point out
here for the record that we are a nonprofit association. MIP and
MIPCOM are run by a for profit corporation. While, it is apples
and oranges to compare us, the costs for someone attending our show
versus theirs is nothing. We also offer thirty award-winning seminars
to create that forum opportunity that I discussed.
HK: How do you think people will use their television sets
in the future?
BJ: It is going to take a generation or two but the television
set, the appliance itself, will have many other functions than it
does today. Today it is principally a medium for entertainment and
information. That will still be at the core of what television can
provide, but there will be all these other opportunities through
convergence to do all kinds of things. A lot of the stuff you do
on a PC or Palm Pilot will be integrated more and more into a television
appliance, which will be more than just a provider of entertainment
and information. That's going to take a long time because people
from my generation are not going to adapt to that. We are used to
watching what is being programmed for us by some guy in Burbank.
The whole idea of a feed, of programming coming at a specific time,
will become ludicrous. Our grandchildren will laugh at that concept.
They will pick what they want to watch and will watch it when they
want. They will do other things at the same time as well probably.
HK: Do you think fifty years from now or maybe one hundred,
people are going to look at this time that we are living in as an
amazing media revolution or shift?
BJ: This is a good question. In thinking about it, my first
response was, "Oh yeah, this is the paradigm shift, etc."
But you know what? I don't think so. I think this is one of a series
of things that will in the aggravate, in a span of maybe 25-30 years,
be truly impressive, but this is a blip. It is exciting for us because
we are living in it. It is mind boggling. I grew up with the concept
of a Dick Tracy watch in a cartoon. That was incredible, so now
to see it happening! But I think fifty years from now this is going
to be part of a whole series of things that are going to ultimately
completely alter the way people receive content and conduct business.
Heather Kenyon is editor in chief of Animation World Magazine.
