TV people in Cannes - Eisner goes metaphysical

Michael Hedges October 16, 2008

Anybody who is anybody in the television business is in Cannes this week. There are people to see. There are deals to be made.

Deals. Deals. Deals. Already there have been so many deals at MIPCOM nobody can keep count. Producers are selling everything in sight. Networks are buying. Cable is buying. Mobile phone companies are buying. The internet people…oh, wait; those parasites don’t buy anything.

Haven’t these people heard of the recession? The depression? Bank crisis? The comet? Attendance at mid-week topped the 2007 record, nearly 15,000 television people on one beach. Last week industry wags noted crashing audience shares, ad spending, share prices and everything else hurling through the ether possibly affecting l'esprit de la Croisette.

Broadcasters would be cautious was the prediction because advertisers “are going for the sure thing,” said ProSiebenSat.1 chief buyer Ruediger Boess to Variety (October 8). “They want to see that the program is delivering and then they will book in.” The writers strike at the US studios delayed productions; so many problems this year.

FremantleMedia CEO Tony Cohen cried (October 13) that big production companies like his wouldn’t be “immune.”

Proper inoculation would be entertainment. “There is a big mood swing toward big feel-good shows,” said ITV buyer Jay Kandola to Variety. “People are gravitating to the telly, collectively, a lot more now than they were before. Perhaps it's because it is a little bit gloomy at the moment.”

“Depression time is a good time for entertainment programming," said FremantleMedia’s Rob Clark to the Guardian (October 13). By the time MIPCOM got into full swing Tuesday (October 14) TV program buyers and sellers were sounding like stock traders of an earlier era. Buyers from Brazil, Russia, China and the Middle East were out in force. BBC Worldwide cut a co-production deal with a Russian production company for the Russian version of the hit automobile fan show ‘Top Gear’ to air on REN TV. Brazil’s Globo TV sold drama ‘Little Missy’ to broadcasters in the Middle East. And the deals just keep on coming.

Even the side-deals are getting, well, real. ITV let it slip that the non-existent beer brand Newton & Ridley, featured in the hit show  ‘Coronation Street’ could become real. Beer goes really well with recessions.

YouTube’s Chad Hurley tried to convince broadcasters that ‘parasite’ is an over-the-top description. Viacom, Mediaset, TF1, Telecinco and a bevy of lesser mortals are suing YouTube for millions and millions, hoping courts can find money they cannot. "We act confident, get up on stage and pretend we have all the answers but we surely don't," he said. Few laughed.

But the TV people gathered close Tuesday (October 14) when former Disney CEO and serial hit maker Michael Eisner spoke. The crowed hushed. A Variety reporter opined that he’d “mellowed.”

“Micromanagement,” said the master micromanager, “is the best path to effective management. Creativity can flourish within sensible financial limitations.” Nobody does it better, to recall an old song.

And the master turned metaphysical, at one point drawing parallels with the pre-historic cave drawing found in the south of France.

“We have shriveled down to one dimension,” he mythed. “The world has become a single dot, as the Internet has made it possible for everyone to metaphysically occupy the same time and space.”

“Time, money and language are no longer barriers. We're all on the same point.”

And Mr. Eisner expressed love. “The media companies that have concentration of content are fantastic companies,” he offered. “If you look at Disney, the multiple of its earnings is historically low. It is a steal.”

For the sales-types not so attached to abstraction he offered a reality check: “The way you dig yourself out of problems in the entertainment business is with hits.”

And, then, the reality of new media: “The one thing that seems to be consistent is that with all these new medias, we are still watching Lucille Ball on some channel somewhere”

Cannes is beautiful this time of year.