Picking up from the front cover story in VideoAge‘s November/December Issue, and commenting outside of the objective reporting expressed in that cover article, I wanted to share a few observations I had about how Mediaset’s MediaForEurope (MFE) project might have a successful outcome. (Pictured above is Pier Silvio Berlusconi, who envisioned and created MFE.)
Considering that Italy’s Mediaset mentality is ingrained in domestic broadcast television — and not production, IP rights, or international sales (as, in order to save money on exploitation rights, it even gives up distribution rights for content that it commissions) –– an envisioned MFE Studios should be built around what is now Seven.One Studios and structured similar to the Beta Film companies, meaning, in this case, that individual MFE production units (including those owned in Italy, Germany, Spain, and Portugal) pitch local TV outlets, with MFE Global Sales providing the deficit financing in exchange for the distribution rights.
MFE Studios should produce and co-produce for all of the MFE TV outlets (Canale 5, Telecinco, SIC, ProSieben, and all their other TV networks), in competition with independent production companies. However, all of MFE Studios’ productions (for the MFE outlets and those that MFE Studios produce for independent TV outlets) should go to MFE Global Sales for various international rights licensing. Similarly, all the MFE TV outlets’ independently commissioned productions should include licensing rights for MFE Global Sales.
An envisioned MFE Internationals (the TV satellite-cable channels division) should also be able to produce their own customized programs (for individual services in Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and German), while library material selected from each domestic TV outlet’s catalog should be free of restrictions for international transmissions, and rights with talent should be negotiated to include international transmissions.
Most importantly, MFE TV stations in each country should be managed like a U.S. TV network manages each of its affiliates — with local administrators deciding on local programming, while the network provides the network feeds (and not necessarily in simulcast).
Finally, the MFE streaming service should resemble NBC’s Peacock, wherein original series mingle with broadcast series, plus live transmissions from MFE’s broadcast TV stations. (By Dom Serafini)
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