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Variety Magazine Article
World TV Festival aims to aid Foreign Broadcasters
By Elizabeth Guider, November 20, 2005

"A BOMB WENT OFF in Kabul three weeks ago, killing and wounding several dozen Afghanis. The only news crew on the scene, a lone woman wearing a head scarf and hoisting a digital camera, worked for a three-month-old commercial station called Ariana TV. She aimed her camera, then the second bomb exploded and she, from on the ground, continued to record scenes of the carnage and the rescue effort.

Her colleagues at Ariana managed to get the digitized images up and the station was alone in being able to air what actually happened. This was a coup in and of itself, but what Ariana didn't do was think about how to get the precious raw footage out to the rest of the world.

That's one of the many baby steps that emerging broadcasters are in the Big Apple this week to discuss: namely, how to exploit commercial opportunities, access expertise, share resources, buy and sell programming, get training and cooperate with their western counterparts.

They were attending the World TV Festival in midtown Manhattan Saturday and Sunday, part of the activities leading up to the International Emmy Awards, which take place here tonight. Some 1,000 execs from foreign broadcasters and production companies converge on New York every November for this I-Academy gathering, but never before has there been such an emphasis on the experience of emerging players. IN ANY CASE, part of the mission of the International Academy, the global arm of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and dispenser of the I-Emmys, is to reach out to these newcomers. The non-profit recently tapped individuals from both Ariana and the African Broadcast Network as members of the 500-strong I-Academy.

That way at least it's harder for established, well-heeled western members -- from the international arms of America's Big Three nets to Japan's Fuji TV, from Germany's RTL to Britain's BBC -- to say no when these folks ask for assistance.

"These broadcasters are working and struggling with the early stages of television. What we are really about is providing a platform, an opportunity to meet people from established players. The rest is up to them," said Bruce Paisner, the president-CEO of the org, who along with his small staff spent the weekend helping connect people who might find common ground.
Not that it's easy, or the results automatic.

"In fact, it's hard," admits Monty Simus, an American consultant to Ariana, who says accessing U.S. programming is tricky business. So far, most imports are of the instructional variety from PBS-like sources and not pricey entertainment fare from the big Hollywood suppliers. What Ariana is hoping is that with some basic ratings data in hand and some experience of what they've accomplished demonstrable, western colleagues will be less reluctant to lend a hand.

IN AFRICA it's been a similar story, though there the hurdle may be even greater. With Afghanistan there's still the feeling in the U.S., "we bombed it, it's ours"; but the challenge with Africa is overturning the widespread image of the continent as poverty-stricken, disease-ridden and war-torn.

"I'm here in New York to tell you that the next great TV market is Africa. We have 200 million people watching television, including 90% of folks in cities, the growth in viewership is 5% a year, and the ad market is already worth $2 billion a year," said Kahlil Byrd, who is director of U.S. strategy for ABN.

He is right that there is change afoot: In just five years, cell phones have revolutionized communications and lifestyle in Africa, with the poor often trudging 40 miles, not to get water, but to get the batteries of their mobiles recharged. ABN sees itself as potentially connecting people across the continent in a similar way, by coordinating disparate execs, programs, resources and advertisers from around the region.

ABN is accessing some financial support from the Millennium Project for Africa (think George Soros and Bill Gates), but is also, per ABN CEO George Twumasi, aiming to drum up $10 million in private funding by launch date. The ABN tried to get off the ground five years ago, but couldn't. Now reconstituted to potentially include all 37 sub-Saharan countries, the satcaster is skedded for launch in March.

Idea is to reach a target audience of 150 million primetime viewers with what it calls "family entertainment" -- some of it accessed through barter arrangements with its partner stations across the region.

THERE ARE POSITIVE SIGNS: On the news front, a growing quantity of footage is now being made more easily available worldwide, via the Internet, for prices that are hard to beat. Some of it is free, according to a panel of foreign news specialists who spoke during the festival.

Panelist and Ariana TV producer Mohammed Fayaz said his station oft compared the footage and approach to the news of several suppliers (ABC, CNN, Al Jazeera -- or images from unknowns holding up cell phone cameras) before deciding how to play a particular story on air.

What was clear from this panel devoted to the impact of the Internet on news abroad was that the sources for news have proliferated but that determining their credibility was getting more difficult. As for entertainment programming, there is a big unanswered question hanging over emerging broadcast players: What will be the mix of programming that keeps young people in these countries glued to their screens?

Once they've acquired the video-taught language and computer skills and seen the umpteenth folk dance festival, will they switch over to some satellite or cell phone-delivered episode of "Lost," or will there be enough locally originated fiction of quality to keep them enthralled with their own culture?
A growing number of folks in the international TV biz will be trying to influence the answer.