MIPTV gets into new zones

The organisers of MIPTV will have a new Latin American showcase as well as kids, virtual reality and Africa-themed areas at the market.

Reed Midem said this week it is working with the City of Cannes on a new TV drama festival that will run in parallel with MIPTV from next year, and the organisation’s director of television, Laurine Garaude, has told TBI about a range of other new offerings for this year’s market.

The Lat Am Showcase will be run by Virginia Mouseler from research business TV trends firm The Wit, who will highlight new content from the region in the new event.

Argentina’s Telefe, Mexico’s TV Azteca and Colombia’s RCN are confirmed, and the showcase will be held on the Monday of the market (April 3).

Another regional focus will home in on Africa. A new ‘Creative Africa’ cluster will allow local producers and distributors to showcase their wares to buyers.

A new UK village, in the basement of the Palais, had already been confirmed and will take the place of the UK Indies Pavilion after PACT said it was no longer running its stand, citing mounting costs.

With MIPJunior running ahead of MIPCOM later in the year and many kids buyers making the trip to Miami for Kidscreen, there will also be a new MIPJunior Kids Zone at MIPTV.

A VR Zone, meanwhile, will showcase the latest virtual reality content and tech with former HTC’s virtual reality senior VP, Rikard Steiber, and Google Daydream boss Greg Ivanov among the speakers at the associated conference sessions.

Garaude said Reed expects 11,000 attendees in Cannes this year, the same number cited as attending for the past few editions.