Content Europe, a new TV market set for April 21-23, 2026 in Lisbon, Portugal, was announced on August 22, 2025 by British trade publisher and TV market organizer C21. Eleven days later, on September 2, 2025, Brunico, the Canadian publishing group that also organizes NATPE Budapest, announced that its Hungarian TV market would move from the month of June to April. But on December 18, 2025, Brunico announced the “pausing” of NATPE Budapest due to a poor response to its April move.
At the end of last month, Brunico also announced the closing of its U.S. TV markets, like NATPE Global, Realscreen Summit, and Kidscreen Summit.
Then, on November 5, 2025, New York City market organizer Questex announced its first Stream TV Europe, to take place April 13-15, 2026 at the Epic Sana Hotel in the Amoreiras district of Lisbon, Portugal. By mid-March 2026, it had already secured 43 exhibition companies, including the Los Angeles-based ACI and Vision Films, as well as Turkey’s Inter Medya.
The month of April has obviously become a hotly contested period for TV markets, and Lisbon is now a hot destination after the closing of MIPTV in Cannes, France. Reps for Brunico began considering the April 2026 move after its late June 2025 Budapest market was overshadowed by the successful New Europe Market in Dubrovnik, Croatia, held in early June.
Questex’s move to Europe in April followed last year’s Stream TV event in Denver, Colorado, which will be held for the fifth time in Denver, June 16-19, 2026.
In Assisi, Italy, RAI Com will stage a screening of its own program offerings April 14-17, while Canneseries, in Cannes, France, will take place April 23-28, and Hot Docs in Toronto on April 23-May 3. Then there is that juggernaut NAB Show, set for April 18-22, 2026, at the Las Vegas Convention Center in the U.S.
The various April TV markets and events are not expected to affect the anticipated success of this year’s L.A. Screenings, which will be held May 14-20 in Los Angeles, with an extended schedule at all the U.S. studios, and confirmed participation of many independent exhibitors at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills (see separate front cover story).
C21’s managing director David Jenkinson said: “Scores of companies have told us there is a need for a traditional sales and acquisitions market in April following the closure of MIPTV. Content Europe will be a cost-effective response to that demand, providing affordable exhibition and screenings facilities for distributors who would like to connect with buyers from all over the world.”
Content Europe will be held at the Marriott Hotel in Lisbon, some 5.4 kilometers from the Baixa city center. The three-day event will consist of a Marketplace, Screenings, and a Format Pitch, plus a three-track conference program: The Future Formats Forum, The Content Acquisitions Summit, and The Kids Content Summit. In total, there will be 53 speakers for 25 conference sessions.
The whole event will take place across two floors of the Marriot Hotel, and the marketplace will be offering booths and meeting tables to content distribution companies. The event is expected to house 200 international content acquisition executives who will be visiting 50 exhibiting companies. In total, the event is expected to house over 1,000 participants, and C21 explained in a press release that “buyers from platforms and channels can register for free.”
Jenkinson has been quoted as saying that “the organizers will host key international buyers free of charge, and will also engage them through a series of Buyer Briefings, offering insights into their acquisitions and co-production needs.”
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