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As
General Director of Universal.TV, a pay
channel distribution company that has successfully
introduced Latin channels into the Old Continent, Jerome
Lafont maintains that there have not been many
changes during the last years. He recognizes more
trends, however, which are changing the
distribution business. The businessman has devoted
himself to taking to Europe several Latin channels,
which are at their greatest splendor these days.
Nevertheless, there are some new distribution
platforms changing the whole panorama, such as the
Internet, which generates contents that are
transferred to the TV and vice versa. |
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Jerome
Lafont, General Director at Universal.TV,
a company that offers the services of
consultancy, marketing and distribution of
pay TV channels. They also offer editorial
online facilities and are currently working
on new projects that include the Internet
and mobile phones. The company's
headquarters are in Barcelona |
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"We
have already incorporated the idea of Digital
Terrestrial Television, or DTT, which will turn
into a reality in Europe in 2012 and earlier in
Spain, in 2008. This will bring about numerous
free TV offers due to terrestrial television. In
Spain, we will have around 45 free channels, which
is quite a lot and represents a threat to pay TV
operators," states Lafont.
How is Europe dealing with the incorporation of
Internet TV?
It is
added value content, and it is even exclusive. There are
producers working on high-budget series that will be
transmitted on the net and mobile phones. The European
Internet user has become selective and qualitative. It
is usual to see conventional TV channels from Spain,
France, Portugal and Italy on the net, YouTube and other
Internet facilities.
Facing the emergence of new platforms, how will
producers adapt content distribution on the one hand,
and the series and telenovelas presentlybroadcasted on
the other?
There are two concepts that are veryclear in Europe: one
is the big differencebetween the American and Latin
American markets, since European pay channels live
almost exclusively from monthly fees or subscriptions
(cable andsatellite TV). There is no advertising market
for pay TV in Europe, which constitutes a weakness. The
other issue is thefact that fiction series, including
telenovelas, have a great future ahead becausetheir
contents generate more loyalty among advertisers in some
regions ofWestern and Eastern Europe.
The
series CSI sets a destiny for fiction
Lafont
gives the example of Tele Cinco, the main private
channel in Spain, which has offered three episodes in a
raw of the series CSI
Las Vegas, CSI Miami and CSI New York.
"This proves the audience is willing to stay from
10 pm to 2 am in front of the TV and tolerate commercial
breaks to follow their favorite series. This is visibly
established in the TV business and sets a clear trend
that will continue with the consumption of fiction
series and telenovelas in the years to come." Both
series and telenovelas are already set in today's and
tomorrow's European market. For instance, once more in
Spain, CSI latest episodes and some other well-known
American series have priority availability in cable and
satellite previews, under payment of video on demand.
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