IT may not steamroll traditional platforms overnight as many predicted, but new media is certainly digging its heels into the international market.

Traditional platforms will still be the real deal in Cannes April 16-20 at MIPTV 2007 from a revenue perspective, but market attendees – from major players to niche distributors – agree that emerging platforms are the most significant trend at work in the international marketplace right now.

‘There is nothing comparable to the power of television to bring new ideas, new brands and new content to people,’ says CHUM Television’s SVP of content Roma Khanna. ‘That being said, times are changing and especially among younger audiences there is an opportunity to build brands and awareness on these multiple platforms. A year ago this time we were talking to a lot of people, but now we’re actually doing deals.’

Mobile devices are a natural fit for CHUM’s MuchMusic or FashionTelevision content, which can be digested in smaller segments, says Khanna.

But CHUM is not just looking for deals that take traditional properties into the new media arena. The company recently acquired multiplatform rights to Happy Tree Friends – short Flash animations from California-based Mondo Media, which started on the web, and moved to TV.

At this year’s market, Khanna says she’s as likely to meet with new media companies as traditional broadcasters.

Another company looking to make new media deals at MIPTV is London-based distributor Fireworks International. While the company focuses primarily on one-hour drama and half-hour kids live action, it is actively staking its new media territory.

This year, Fireworks is looking to sell Heavy Worldwide. The U.S. broadband site includes user-generated content and clips produced in-house. Discussions with international buyers will include rolling out Heavy sites in new territories or selling its programming on a linear basis, says Kathryn Rice, VP European sales and acquisitions.

‘New media is an active market. It may not be growing as fast as people thought, but it definitely is an expanding area,’ she says.

For the most part, however, fears that new media will threaten the viability of traditional platforms have been allayed.

‘At some point in time, [emerging platforms] will be monetized and they will make you money, but it’s a long, slow process,’ says Ted Riley, executive managing director of international content distribution for Alliance Atlantis. ‘New media is not going to dislodge any of the mainstream media outlets, it will just embellish them. But it’s going to be a subordinate revenue source for the next 10 years.’

Drama

At MIP, AAC will continue to focus on its CSI brand, despite the sale of the company to CanWest Global and Goldman Sachs, pending regulatory approval.

‘We’re basically in a holding pattern, waiting to see what goes down,’ says Riley, adding that in terms of deal-making, the company ‘hasn’t slowed down at all.’

According to Riley, the lucrative CSI franchise might go to CBS if the CanWest sale goes through, but he stresses that is by no means a done deal.

Riley says he sees a growing demand for drama, but adds that the shows doing well in the international market tend to be high-end network series from the U.S. Nonetheless, Riley says AAC could be looking to buy more drama.

‘We’ve always wanted to be involved in more drama to complement CSI, and we’re not in the production business anymore,’ he says. ‘I think we would like to embellish that area.’

Another big Canadian title at MIP is Little Mosque on the Prairie. One of the biggest success stories of the year in Canadian television, it also stands to be one of the biggest sellers at MIPTV. With so much media attention on Muslim themes, the production drew coverage around the world from the get-go.

Executive producer Mary Darling of WestWind Pictures says she has been contacted by major broadcasters from territories including Australia, France, the U.K. and Spain, as well as broadcasters from the Middle East – all of whom she will try to meet with over five days in Cannes.

‘We haven’t had to seek out anyone this year and we have meetings set up every half-hour from morning to evening,’ she says. ‘This is the first time I’ve felt [MIP] isn’t long enough.’

Three weeks before MIP, Darling had already received offers from 15 broadcasters, but was waiting for CBC to announce how many episodes the series will be renewed for, meaning deals are not likely to be finalized before the market.

Being contacted by so many major broadcasters has also helped spark interest in some of the other shows WestWind is looking to sell in Cannes, such as lifestyle series Designer Guys, or performing arts documentary The Velvet Devil. And excitement over Little Mosque could be an advantage for other homegrown productions looking for international sales.

‘One of the reasons we decided to set up in the Canada Pavilion was to draw people in,’ says Darling. ‘If people come in for [Little Mosque], maybe they’ll linger and find something else that interests them.’

Fireworks, meanwhile, is looking to sell a number of Canadian dramas at MIP this year, such as CHUM’s supernatural thriller Blood Ties and CTV’s drama Whistler.

‘Whistler has done very well for us because it is the teen market. Most broadcasters are looking to catch that age group and there are plenty of places in the schedule where you can air that type of show,’ says Rice.

Rice also expects Blood Ties, which Fireworks recently sold to Living in the U.K., to do well.

‘It’s a mix between crime and supernatural, which is something that seems to be very popular at the moment,’ she says.

Kids

In addition to preschool titles such as Bruno and the Banana Bunch, which have been the animation company’s mainstay, Toronto-based Cuppa Coffee Studios will be at MIP with two new series targeted at teens. Nerdland focuses on a group of pop-culture obsessed geeks trying to make it in the world of cool, and Life’s a Zoo is a mock reality show in which animals backstab their way to the top of the food chain.

Lifestyle/Factual

A growing demand for lifestyle content has meant considerable growth for niche distributors such as Toronto-based Canamedia, which focuses on lifestyle, factual series and one-off docs.

‘On the international front, more and more niche satellite channels are starting up,’ says international sales and acquisitions manager Andrea Stokes, citing a home and garden outlet in South Africa and a how-to channel in Singapore.

This year, the company is bringing more new programming to a greater number of clients at MIPTV than ever before. New titles include OLN’s Angry Planet, an example of the extreme nature shows for which Stokes says there is a strong appetite internationally.

The 13 x 30 follows a storm chaser into extreme weather situations. Canamedia has made pre-market sales to territories including Finland, Sweden and France.

Formats

CBC and CHUM will both be looking to make format deals at MIPTV, with CHUM looking to continue selling its channel formats and CBC looking to pick up some ratings boosters.

‘Over the last two markets we’ve been spending a lot more time looking at formats we think could be successful in the Canadian market that have not already sold in the U.S.,’ says Jennifer Stewart, CBC’s director of acquisitions, network programming, English TV.

And the strategy seems to be working. Test the Nation, a Dutch format, attracted 1.5 million viewers when it aired March 18.