Disney TV exex see 'Signs' of recovery
Upbeat Hulbert notes 'it's not the worst of times'
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"It's not the best of times certainly," admitted Walt Disney TV Intl. topper David Hulbert at a lunch for journalists Tuesday, "but it's not the worst of times either," he quickly added, in pointing to some of the initiatives the Hollywood major has been engaged in over the last year.
Revenues of the seven Hollywood majors were up 7% from deals with terrestrial TV stations around the world in 2001 but revenues were down 8% from deals with pay TV platforms abroad. The total haul from foreign terrestrial and pay TV for the seven MPA companies last year was $5.4 billion, but, because of lingering problems in Germany, Argentina and elsewhere, that number could still slip slightly in 2002.
London-based Hulbert and Burbank-based Laurie Younger, who oversees all Mouse House TV distribution domestic and foreign, said that the company has used the last year to refocus on "making the assets of the company work more effectively."
The company has, for example, digitalized its classic sitcom "Moonlighting" and is finding eager takers abroad for the newly burnished version. The company has also remastered several of its recently acquired Marvel Comics, including 52 episodes of "Spider-Man," and unveiled them at Mipcom.
"We're also trying to get cleverer" at managing the vast programming properties of the company by spending $30 million to upgrade the rights management system of the company, Hulbert added.
Younger told Daily Variety that Disney has actually increased its overall revenues in foreign TV over the last two difficult years, and said that she believed ad revenues would pick up in European countries in the medium term, pointing to the almost surprisingly quick uptick in the scatter market back in the States.
Euro-based senior VP of sales Tom Toumazis put the accent on the top-tier talent in upcoming Disney movies -- from Jerry Bruckheimer to Spike Lee -- as well as the ratings successes so far this fall with sitcoms "8 Simple Rules" and "Life With Bonnie" and the addition of the Fox Family Channel to its 17 Disney Channels around the world as positive proof that at least this part of the Mouse House is a happy place.
"International TV is still viewed as a great story back home," Younger said, indicating that revenues from foreign were, despite a few falloffs in a couple of Euro territories, generally on an upward curve.
Packages of programming may be smaller these days, and there's some cherrypicking of titles by a few station buyers, but new cable, broadband and telco players are moving into the business abroad and opening up new possibilities, Hulbert said.
Other Hollywood companies were also more sanguine than sour about the prospects for the biz once problems on the pay TV front in Germany are sorted out and the general worldwide economy improves.
Universal Pictures prexy-chief operating officer Rick Finkelstein and Universal TV chief operating officer David Goldhill pointed to the long-term trends which they said would overtake the doom and gloom stories which have swamped the press of late.
There are, they said, more TV outlets still coming online, more subscribers, more leisure time and disposal income and essentially a greater demand for programs abroad than ever before. Finkelstein and his team are particularly high on "Monk," a "really different" show which they think will do extremely well revenue-wise abroad.
CBS Intl. prexy Armando Nunez added that it "doesn't matter if Mipcom has five hundred or a thousand fewer participants this time around. The right people are here, and they're getting back into a buying mode," he said.
Similarly, MGM execs were reveling on the Croisette in their latest Bond vehicle "Die Another Day" and the promising TV series which their deal with NBC has added to their portfolio.
"It's a fabulous relationship," MGM TV prexy Jim Griffiths told Daily Variety of the two-year-old alliance between the Peacock and the Lion. "We've got some very playable movies (for TV stations abroad) along with our new Bond -- and we have, from the Peacock, 'Boomtown' 'American Dreams' and the upcoming 'Kingpin' to offer buyers. We couldn't be in a better situation at present," pointing to the dozen-odd huddles of buyers and sellers on his outdoor terrace facing the Mediterranean.
The Lion is close to a key deal in Germany -- a territory in which the studio spent a couple of years to unwind a 25-year-old deal which had stunted the growth of its revenues there and which is just now opening up for Griffiths and his team. If the kinks can be worked out in time, the teutonic deal will be announced before the close of Mipcom on Friday.
Warner Bros. Intl. TV inked at least one deal while at Mipcom, a multi-year terrestrial TV agreement with the Turkish distributor Sar-an for a package of movies, series and animated properties. Among the films are "The Matrix," "Perfect Storm" and "Miss Congeniality," while the cartoon titles include "Baby Looney Toons." Twelve-year-old Sar-an is a leading entertainment and sports programming provider in Turkey.
Meanwhile, Disney supplied journalists with 11 separate press releases detailing recent deals it has concluded abroad.
Among the highlights:
- The Mouse House's international TV arm (BVI-TV) has acquired the international rights to license and distribute the annual Academy Awards telecast. Deal is an extension of an existing arrangement during which time BVI-TV has almost doubled the distribution of the show, which is now sold in 240 territories.
- BVI-TV has inked a pay and PPV deal with French satcaster TPS for a dozen movies including "102 Dalmatians" and "Pearl Harbor."
- BVI-TV has signed separate multi-year agreements with Media Corp. of Singapore and with Thailand's Bangkok Broadcasting for a wide range of product.
- Australia's Network Seven agreed to air Disney's preschool block Playhouse Disney in a locally produced and hosted format beginning in 2003.
