NATPE re-arranges Budapest & LA events for late summer

The National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) has rearranged two of its key events in a bid to avoid the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

NATPE Budapest International, which had been due to take place 30 June to 3 July, will now run later between 25 and 27 August, while organisers have shuffled the NATPE Streaming Plus event, planned for 28 July, to 15 September.

The Budapest-based event will still take place at the city’s InterContinental Hotel in Hungary, where the annual marketplace, screenings and conference strands included attendees from over 70 countries, including more than 470 buyers.

The day-long Streaming Plus event, which ran for the first time in LA last year, will again be held at the W Hollywood on the newly rescheduled date. Last year, it attracted speakers from companies including CBS All Access, Hulu, Netflix, Pluto and YouTube.

Organisers also confirmed that the dates for its flagship Miami conference would remain unchanged, with the event still set for 19-21 at the Fontainebleau Resort in Florida.

“Our first thoughts and prayers go to the NATPE community of those affected by this devastating crisis” said JP Bommel, president and CEO of NATPE.

“From a business perspective, NATPE recognises that the industry faces unprecedented marketplace challenges; we want to be part of the solution and bring to bear experiences that will help our constituency continue to do business to their fullest potential.”

Edinburgh & Annecy join scrapped events list

NATPE’s decision to rearrange the events – rather than cancel them entirely – comes against a backdrop that has seen almost the entirety of the TV conference and market calendar over the next three months scrapped by organisers in recent weeks.

Today, organisers of the Edinburgh TV Festival (ETF) – which had been due to take place 26-28 August – said it was moving to become a digital-only event as a result of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, while the kids-skewing Annecy International Animated Film Festival, set for 15-20 June in France, has also been scrapped.

Numerous other events have also been cancelled until next year, including the Banff World Media Festival, due to take place 14-17 June, fellow Canadian event Hot Docs – due to run 30 April-10 May in Toronto – and the LA Screenings.

MIPTV in Cannes, the 2020 edition of Series Mania in Lille, Austin-based SXSW, Cabsat in Dubai, and kids event Cartoons on the Bay were among a slew of other events to have been hit by the Coronavirus outbreak.