More Than A Hundred Companies On Board For DISCOP ISTANBUL

Organisers of the inaugural edition of DISCOP ISTANBUL has announced that more than 160 companies have already confirmed their attendance at the event, which takes place from March 14 to 16, 2011.
Centered on the television content business in the broader Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa, this new DISCOP market has been established to become the cost effective annual business hub for content explorers, broadcasters and pay-TV platforms targeting a world region seen by many analysts as being among the fastest growing markets in the industry.
Aurele Rivet, Planning Manager for BASIC LEAD the organisers of the DISCOP markets, said: "Turkey's current and historic relations with the Arab world and Central Asia and its 'no-visa' policy towards business travellers from these regions will clearly facilitate the organisation of our market and the fact that all major Turkish production, distribution and programming players are signed up to take part will clearly boost the power of attraction of our market in the region."
With five months still to go, 160 companies, buyers and sellers of television content are already on board for DISCOP ISTANBUL, 65% of the 250 expected to attend the three-day market set to take place five months from now.
Sellers already include Al Jazeera, Alfred Haber, ATV, Banjjay, Bavaria Media Television, Calinos, Caracol, Deutsche Welle, Discovery Networks, Global agency, FremantleMedia, Kanal D, ITV Studios Global Entertainment, Mediaset, MGM, Mondo TV, ORF, Telemundo, Turkish Radio and Television, Televisa and Venevision, alongside a contingent of Russian, French, Spanish and Italian companies which will be grouped under national umbrellas.
DISCOP ISTANBUL's Opening Cocktail Party will be hosted in honour of Iraq's vibrant television sector. Patrick Jucaud, General Manager of BASIC LEAD, said: "Television has become essential to reaching Iraqi audiences. More than half the Iraqi population, nearly 16 million viewers, turn to TV for information, more than any other medium, including newspapers, radio or the Internet."
To take place after the three-day market on March 17, the DISCOPRO informative and networking programme will focus on formats coproduction and distribution in the greater Middle East and will include speakers from outside and inside the region.
DISCOP ISTANBUL will take place from March 14 to 16, 2011, at the Intercontinental Ceylan Hotel in Istanbul. In 2010, 1050 companies, buyers and sellers of television content attended DISCOP events.
After 15 years of operating independently, DISCOP events have now partnered with NATPE since 2005. NATPE is a global, nonprofit organisation committed to being a catalyst for the content revolution. Evolving to meet the needs of a changing media landscape, NATPE through its many activities including exclusive videos, live streaming events and vibrant annual market is at the nexus of the multiplatform content world. Moving to Miami, a major international destination, NATPE 2011, January 24 - 26 is where creativity meets connectivity and commerce.
BASIC LEAD is a full service event production and management firm with two decades of experience planning public exhibitions, industry trade shows, conference programmes and corporate functions in more than 25 countries.
(KMcA)