MIPTV hosts dedicated panel for the Arab world supported by YahLive

Celebrating 50 years of Television industry, MIPTV has witnessed the rapid growth of TV industry from 7 countries attended MIPTV in 1963 with a limited number of channels to more than 100 countries with more than 5,000 channels today across celestial, terrestrial, digital and mobile platforms where TV channels can be watched today through various devices including tablets, smart phones and computers in addition to the sophisticated hi-resolution TV sets.

Top talents in Television, Film, Digital, Media & Advertising, Production and Distribution industries and creative producers from all over the world are keen to attend this unique platform with more than 12,000 decision makers from over 100 countries are expected to attend the event's 50th edition that will be held in Cannes (South of France) from 8-11 April 2013, according to Ted Baracos, Director Market Development at MIPTV.

Mr. Baracos also added that MIPTV will be hosting for the first time a dedicated panel for the Arabic TV industry supported by YahLive, the advanced satellite broadcast provider with a new era of high-definition (HD) covering the Middle East, Europe, North Africa and South West Asia. The panel will focus on the fast-growing Arab TV market highlighting the new broadcasting trends across the region including the rapid emergence of HDTV and its growing importance for local production and creativity. VIP speakers will share their thoughts on the evolution of pan-regional market over the next few years.

Bassil Hajjar, Middle East Representative, MIPTV said: "The event provides significant opportunities for Arab business executives, TV producers, film makers and advertising brands in the region to discover future trends, take advantage of the latest breakthroughs in creating, producing, licensing, financing, distributing breakthrough content." He added that "More Arabic countries will be participating in MIPTV this year with the UAE among the top Arab participants in terms of number of organizations followed by Lebanon, Qatar and other countries to be confirmed later on. The participating organizations include Abu Dhabi Media, Dubai Media and Twofour54 from the U.A.E., MBC Group and Saudi TV from KSA, Al Jazeera net, Jazeera children channel from Qatar and others."

The MIPTV 2013 programme includes the Media Mastermind Keynote Series, the Producers' Hub, the 2nd Drama Co-production Summit, the Brands and Content Master class, competitions, matchmaking and networking events, and the red-carpet World Premiere TV Screenings.

Darren Throop, EOne President and CEO, will discuss the future of his expanding multi-territory, multi-platform business in a Media Mastermind keynote. Insider look will be provided into the Canada-UK suspense series 'Rogue' through the co-production case study with Thandie Newton, creator/writer Matthew Parkhill and executives from eOne and Greenroom Ent.

The world-renowned Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner and Red Bull Media House's CCO, Alexander Koppel, will give an exclusive Media Mastermind keynote during MIPTV. Baumgartner is the first human who broke the sound barrier without any form of engine power flying 39 km into the stratosphere in a helium balloon, before free falling back to Earth. This was documented by Red Bull Media House in the most watched live stream in history where eight million people watched Baumgartner's feat live on the web and it later entered the 2012 Top Ten of YouTube's most viewed videos.

A special track of discussions focusing on the latest changes in the content experience is included in the MIPCube, the innovation lab for the future of TV that will be conducted this year as part of MIPTV. The event features in-depth discussions with the innovators re-inventing the TV and online content experience including MIPCube Talks, Competitions and MIPCube Square.