Montreal: The 1999 edition of the Monte Carlo Television Festival in Monaco, in progress through to Feb. 24, features its first-ever program format sales market.

An industry panel session on formatting will feature speakers from Kingsworld, Columbia TriStar, Pearson International and Montreal’s Distraction Formats.

Distraction president Michel Rodrique is one of the event’s major sponsors.

Distraction, a coventure with The Multimedia Group of Canada, represents 25 Canadian and European producers and specializes in light-entertainment programs including comedy, sitcoms and gameshows.

Two Distraction properties, Lingo, a 10-year-old ‘word-fun game’ from the Netherlands, premiered on Radio-Canada last month, while the Avanti Cine-Video game show Piment Fort, which regularly draws audiences of one million and more on Reseau tva, has been acquired by the u.k.’s London Weekend Television.