Vancouver: Overall attendance at NATPE this month in Las Vegas is down about 40% from last year, but Canada’s participation has more than doubled.

According to Beth Braen, senior VP of marketing for the trade show, running Jan. 21-24, exhibiting companies are down to 535 from 800 last year and overall attendance will be about 12,000 compared to 20,000 a year ago.

The effects of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the consolidation of the television industry have contributed to the lower participation, she explains. Braen insists, however, that while NATPE’s long-term viability has been questioned in the media and former exhibitors are organizing a concurrent event at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, the 39-year-old market is not going away.

Next year’s event, scheduled for New Orleans, is on track, she says, but the 2004 show is not yet set.

A new task force comprising industry leaders such as Chum Television president Jay Switzer, and Tony Vinciquerra, executive VP and COO of Hearst-Argyle Television, has been struck to consider ways to keep NATPE relevant for members. Recommendations are due by the second quarter of 2002, says Braen, and they might include suggestions to split up the market into international and domestic shows.

But no renovations to the show have yet been decided, she maintains, explaining that media speculation about NATPE’s fate is premature and, to date, not accurate.

Meanwhile, Canada’s participation at NATPE will grow to 53 exhibitors from 20 last year, according to Lise Corriveau, manager of festivals and markets at Telefilm Canada and the coordinator of the Canadian Pavilion.

The substantial jump in participation reflects Canada’s maturing production industry and the increasingly important role of international coproductions in production financing, says Corriveau.

The Canadian Pavilion, which brings together Canadian exhibitors such as Telefilm Canada, the Ontario Media Development Corporation, the CTF, CFTPA, Department of External Affairs and the coalition of Western provinces called Canada West, was first tried at MIPCOM in October with success, says Corriveau. At last year’s NATPE, there were three separate Canadian booths.

‘Now we have a 6,400-square-foot booth and the impact will be quite something,’ says Corriveau.

The goal of the combined effort, she says, is to raise Canada’s profile in the international scene and provide better and cheaper services for participants. Smaller companies, new to the international scene, are participating in greater numbers because of the level of support and guidance from the Canadian Pavilion organizers like Telefilm, she adds.

Canada’s extensive roster of coproduction treaties is a marketable asset and specialists will be on hand to explain the details and play matchmaker with the Canadian producer delegates.

NATPE, says Corriveau, is a valuable market for Canadian companies interested in developing business with U.S. and Latin American companies that don’t usually attend MIPCOM or MIP-TV. ‘At this stage, NATPE still has a role to play for us,’ she says.

Toronto’s Breakthrough Entertainment will attend again this year, since NATPE is a regular calendar event for the company, says president Ira Levy.

In its catalogue of shows are Kids World Sports, 26 half-hours made with PBS, Global and New York’s Clear Channel, and the kids’ sitcom I Love Mummy, 26 half-hours for YTV and BBC.

Timing is a key factor for Canadians, says Levy, noting that business with U.S. partners and international coproducers can be done before the funding deadlines for the CTF and EIP.

Vancouver’s Force Four Productions will be looking for a U.S. broadcaster for its 26 half-hour information series called The Shopping Bags (made for WTN). NATPE, says director of program development Rob Bromley, has proven to be worth the expense in the past and the show’s proximity means that, for western Canadian producers in particular, the cost of attending can be reasonable.

Says Vancouver distributor Janine McCaw of Dark Horse: ‘NATPE is a good place to see Canadian, American and foreign buyers at considerably less cost [than the European markets]. This NATPE will be interesting, where interesting doesn’t necessarily mean good. It’s a really tough economic time, with ad revenues down and the consumer not spending. There is less syndication buying because of the big station groups.’

As a supplier of cable programming, McCaw will be looking for Canadian presales for lifestyle information series Bloom Television (13 half-hours) and 3D animation series Pete’s Pet Shop, both by Toronto producer Ted Ellis of Media Giants. Other new additions to the Dark Horse catalogue are Point Blank, a Comedy Network series by Linda Cullen and Bob Robertson, and doc series Scarred by History from Regina’s Four Squared Productions.

As a buyer of non-fiction programming, McCaw says she’ll be looking for low-budget productions that serve multiple strands.

NATPE’s Braen says that the increase in participation from countries such as Canada when the overall trends are down suggest that, with larger competing companies choosing another venue, they see a greater opportunity to make a bigger splash and do better business at this year’s event. NATPE 2002 features 40 panels and 200 speakers including FCC chair Michael Powell and producer Dick Wolf.

Braen declines to discuss the rogue exhibitors and says that while the Venetian is not one of NATPE’s hotels, organizers will host a kiosk there and run a shuttle bus to the Las Vegas Convention Center for the convenience of delegates.

-www.natpe.org