Cannes, France: After a tough 24 months, producers, broadcasters and distributors are coming to terms with the new reality of the international TV market, a development that lent a feeling of renewal to MIPTV, as companies absent since 2001 returned to the floor of the Palais des Festivals.

Driven partly by depleted broadcaster inventories and a growing hunger among buyers for innovative format programming, plus the continued emergence of the Latin American, Asian and Eastern European markets, MIPTV saw even better numbers than last fall’s MIPCOM, generally considered larger.

According to MIP organizers, early attendance numbers indicate nearly 11,000 attendees at MIPTV and its sister trade show MILIA, March 29 to April 2. That’s compared to 10,186 who attended MIPCOM last October. Perhaps more significantly, 3,866 companies were represented this year, compared to 2,741 at MIPCOM.

On the buying front, 2,869 buyers were in Cannes this year, compared to 2,325 in 2003, a 23% rise, says Paul Johnson, director of the television division at MIP organizer Reed MIDEM.

‘If an increase in participation is a measure of a resurgent television business, then signs coming from this MIPTV are positive,’ he says.

On the Canadian front, a record 82 Canadian companies (equal to that of MIPCOM last October), were under the Canada Pavilion at this year’s MIPTV. All together, there were an estimated 160 Canadian companies attending the market, according to Lise Corriveau, manager of festivals and markets for Telefilm Canada, which leads the Canadian delegation.

While the record numbers of Canadians attending is an encouraging sign, there are those who see it as more a reaffirmation that times continue to be tough for producers, who need international distribution but can’t find distributors to bring their shows to the market.

‘You are going to find a lot of producers here because they are – I don’t know if desperate is a fair word – but motivated to sell product,’ says Rob Bromley, president of Vancouver-based Force Four Entertainment. Bromley attended MIPTV with partner Hugh Beard to find international distribution on projects including MOW Gillian Guess Story and factual series Making It Big, which will air on Life Network in Canada and Oxygen in the U.S.

Still, Canadian producers, thanks to a constant flow of traffic through the Canada Pavilion, haven’t been this upbeat for a while.

Toronto-based Breakthrough Films and Television executive producer Ira Levy was in Cannes with Breakthrough’s largest-ever contingent and a range of programming including Paradise Falls and Kenny vs. Spenny. Levy is particularly bullish on some of his animated shows, including Atomic Betty and Miss BG.

‘There’s a real desire to buy up animation here,’ he says. He’s also had positive feedback on factual shows including the Toronto 1 series Exchanging Vows, which has generated interest from Australian and Irish producers eyeing format rights.

Kevin Byles, VP and GM at CHUM Television International, is equally optimistic about this year’s market.

‘I’m seeing a resurgence worldwide. It’s been a tough 18 to 24 months… It started to pick up in the last four to six months,’ he says. CHUM was pushing six new shows at MIPTV, including the 13 x 30 Starville and Ron Mann’s doc feature Go Further.

Despite a recent increase in numbers, gone are the days of the 1990s when buyers would come looking to fill 200 hours of programming on new specialty channels. As a result, instead of sending 20 representatives, broadcasters have scaled back to handfuls of highly focused executives who know exactly what they’re looking for. This, in turn, has put the emphasis on producers to do their homework.

‘Broadcasters here are much more analytical,’ says Greg Phillips, president of Toronto’s Fireworks International, which is pushing several shows, including Secret Agent Men, Black Hole High and Zoe Busiek: Wild Card. This means that distributors such as Fireworks must be prepared to market shows to buyers and provide up-to-date data on series.

Phillips says there has been significant interest in kids live action. He attributes part of the recent pickup in action to the fact that ‘stocks have dropped’ at many broadcasters after several years of putting off new acquisitions. Now they have to replenish.

Stephen Ellis, president of Toronto’s Ellis Entertainment, in town with a handful of programs including lifestyle series Cafe M and Living Yoga with Padma, agrees.

‘When people are economizing, they tend to depend on inventory,’ he says. But now, ‘whether it’s [because of] new activity or the cupboards are empty, the demand is picking up.’

Still, despite an uptick in action, there continues to be a huge gap between licence fees in the international market and the cost of production, says Arnie Zipursky, president and CEO at Toronto-based CCI Entertainment, at Cannes to pitch a range of shows including cartoons Harry and His Bucket Full of Dinosaurs and Foolish Girl.

‘That’s the single biggest problem we’re all facing,’ says Zipursky. ‘But people are buying. We’re actually doing a lot in Asia and Eastern Europe. Those territories are opening up like they haven’t before.’

Such developments present their own problems, however. Where once distributors could depend on markets such as Germany and France to put up large licence fees, now shows need to piece together several smaller markets to make up the difference. That means a lot more walking and talking at markets such as MIP.

‘If I’d known I would have to work this hard, I’d have never gotten into the distribution business,’ says Fireworks’ Phillips with a laugh, as he leaves for yet another meeting.

-www.miptv.com