In the nine months since he took over as president and CEO of NATPE, Rick Feldman has had a lot of work to do. The U.S. association of TV execs has had a rough couple of years and – as markets have fragmented and economies have fizzled – has seen its annual conference shrink from a ‘must-go’ three-ring circus to something approaching a ‘why bother?’ roadside attraction.

Many companies retreated from the NATPE confabs of 2002 and 2003, complaining that buyers had either snubbed the show in favor of MIPTV and MIPCOM, or had done all their business on the side, operating out of nearby hotel suites instead of on the exhibition floor, making it hard for smaller companies to get in on the action.

It has been Feldman’s job to turn things around and, a week before this year’s conference, he was upbeat about the results. NATPE 2004 runs Jan. 18-20 at the Sands Expo Center and Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas.

‘I’m excited and cautiously optimistic,’ he says from his L.A. office. ‘We’re happy about what’s on paper, but we’ve still go to play it out, see how it goes.’

For starters, he’s got a lot of the majors back on the floor – having dragged in heavyweights such as CBS Enterprises, Carsey-Werner-Mandabach, MGM, NBC and Sony.

‘It’s definitely better. We’re hoping [the floor] will be vibrant enough that people will go downstairs,’ says Feldman, a former broadcasting exec who talks faster than most auctioneers. He believes that future NATPEs will run on a combination of floor business and hotel meetings. ‘I think the whole thing is going to be fluid and change from year to year. The domestic syndication market is not what it used to be, so everybody is rethinking what they do and how they do it. So are we.

‘For some strange reason people seem to hold us responsible for changes in the business. We’re just reacting to the changes and trying to help,’ he says. ‘It’s been and will continue to be for the foreseeable future a difficult time, because the business that existed for 35, 40 years isn’t there anymore.’

The conference will also include small ‘chat room’ sessions with industry leaders – Paramount’s Greg Meidel and 7th Heaven’s Brenda Hampton are confirmed – and a special exhibit about TV programming for mobile phones, along with the usual panel discussions. Survivor’s Mark Burnett and Lifetime CEO Carole Black will also appear, along with others including Jerry Springer, Jesse Ventura and CHUM’s Jay Switzer.

NATPE will also hand out the first of its Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Awards, honoring excellence in the creation of TV programming.

Feldman expects to see some 7,000 attendees from 340 companies, up slightly from last year, but well below the 20,000 that used to come.

‘It’s turning out to be much better than I thought, so I’m anxious to see what happens on the floor. That’s going to be the real telltale,’ says Telefilm Canada’s Lise Corriveau. ‘[Feldman] is very dynamic, very aggressive, in a good way. He made promises and he’s delivering.’

Demand for lifestyle and entertainment magazine shows appears to be up, thanks to the continued growth of digichannels, and some think animation could also be a hot item this year, while demand for reality is generally expected to drop.

Telefilm’s pavilion, across the aisle from NBC and King World Productions, will house 39 Canuck companies, down from 52 last year.

Chris Bartleman of Vancouver’s Studio B Productions was going to skip this year, but changed his mind when meetings came up with some key cartoon broadcasters. Even though last year was ‘a waste of time,’ the conference is still useful for selling to the U.S. market, he says.

Mark Shekter of MicroTainment and DocuTainment Plus Productions is likewise going in search of U.S. and international buyers for his Sex in the Suburbs series, a copro with South Africa. He notes that Canadians are well-positioned to tap into the European market, thanks to this country’s many copro treaties.

But international attendance is still weak at NATPE. The headcount of Asians, Europeans and Latin Americans appears to be down, as those regions continue to drift toward the MIPs, and many Canadian companies remain skeptical about NATPE’s worth.

CHUM Television International is staying off the floor this year and will instead do business out of its suite at the Venetian. ‘We’re still concerned. It’s a very expensive proposition to pull that booth out of storage and book floor space,’ says VP and GM Kevin Byles, adding that he can do almost the same business upstairs for less than half the cost, and that NATPE will have to be stronger before CTI will go back on the floor.

‘Rick Feldman has done a fabulous job. There’s no question,’ says Byles. ‘But we’ll return… when we’ve gained confidence that everybody is going to be on that one venue.’

Who’s selling what?

The 39 companies under the Telefilm Canada pavilion are a mix of NATPE vets and a few new faces which, combined, are hawking more than 100 titles at the two-day conference in Las Vegas. Among the hopefuls are:

100 Percent Film & Television

Just a few weeks after going to air on CBC, Ken Finkleman and Jan Peter Meyboom are taking season three (13 x 30) of The Newsroom to market, and are also looking to gin up some U.S. and international copros.

Cambium Catalyst International

CCI honcho Arnie Zipursky is looking to move its kids series Monster by Mistake (52 x 30) and Timeblazers (40 x 30) and lifestyle/info shows including Stylin’ Gypsies and PanAsia.

Joe Media Group

The Calgary prodco is courting copro partners and ‘casters from outside Canada for its many doc and lifestyle projects – and has a full 16 titles in the works and up for grabs, including season one of Who Wants to Marry a Cowboy? and Opera Boot Camp.

Radical Film and Television

Videogame vets Chris Delaney and Danielle Michael hit the strip with three thriller/action titles – including Creepshow and the mini/feature The Devil Imp – looking to score distribution deals.

-www.natpe.org