THE KEY TO NATPE IS LOOKING AHEAD, NOT BACK

CBS Television Distribution confirmed two weeks ago it will not be participating in NATPE 2008 next January—no booth, no suite.

It was the news that NATPE President Rick Feldman did not want to hear. CBS is the largest of the TV program syndicators and its CEO, Roger King, had for years injected much of the after-hours excitement into the annual trade show.

CBS’s decision (along with Fox’s earlier one to move its annual affiliates meeting elsewhere) compounded Feldman’s problem of maintaining NATPE as a thriving marketplace of syndication programming for TV stations—the purpose for which the convention was created 45 years ago.

But although Feldman is concerned with NATPE as it was, he seems more focused on NATPE as it could be. He recognizes that NATPE’s survival will depend on its ability to evolve to meet the needs of the changing and expanding video marketplace.

In this interview with TVNEWSDAY Editor Harry A. Jessell, Feldman says the conference has moved way beyond syndicators pitching shows to broadcasters. It’s a place for programmers of all stripes to find outlets of all sorts.

“We really are the only marketplace where the platform is agnostic,” he says. “It’s just all about the content, how to create for the various forms of distribution and how to monetize it.”

An edited transcript follows:

What are the chances that Roger King won’t be somewhere in Las Vegas in the last week of January?

I would say it’s up in the air. It will depend on how Roger feels getting close to that time and what’s happening with the shows and whether there are people there that he wants to see. I think he’s going to decide that late in the game and I hope he does come and I look forward to seeing him if he does.

So you think there’s a chance that he might come in with a suite at least?

CBS International has 3,000 square feet on the floor so CBS is there. There’s nothing to say that some of the domestic people won’t come and work out of that, have meetings there or whatever.

How has the news that CBS domestic will not have its own presence affected the show?

They’re a very big company and the domestic part of that business should be represented. I don’t think that it’s forever, but, for this year, they’re not going to be there and how it affects what happens remains to be seen.

I guess I should give you a chance to comment on the good news: Warner Bros. [WBDTD] is coming back to the floor.

Yep and I’m very happy to have them. They’ve supported the organization forever. I know that [former WBDTD President] Dick Robertson and [former NATPE President] Bruce Johansen had their moments, but Bruce Rosenblum has been good to us and Kenny Werner is terrific and we love those guys and we’re very happy to have them on the floor and that’s a good thing.

In the video that you have playing on your Web site, you make the comment that as the business changes, NATPE has to reinvent itself to reflect the changes. How has the business changed lately and how will that be reflected in NATPE ’08?

Companies are all trying to generate revenue from other forms of distribution, whether it’s on the mobile phone or whether it’s over the Internet. Everybody’s looking at video over the Internet, which even three years ago was not a conversation.

There are people now who are creating directly for Internet and broadband. There are advertisers who are spending money on broadband. You have a NATPE where people from Joost and people from Microsoft and people from Veoh and people from other companies that didn’t even exist three or four years ago are speaking or they’re on the floor.

Our conference program reflects discussions about all of these new forms of product integration, distribution and product creation. We’re reflecting that and we’re reflecting the dialogue that people want to have.

The truth of the matter is that it used to be a dialogue between TV stations and the major syndicators. That’s still part of the dialogue, but it’s a less significant part than it used to be because the stations are all guided by centralcasting. They don’t have the kind of one-on-one conversation that they used to have when I ran stations. But we’re getting more producers and more advertisers and more online distribution companies coming to NATPE and speaking and spending money.

So do you expect NATPE to continue to be a place for TV stations and syndicators to do business going foward?

I expect it to be basically a global digital distribution show. It’s a video marketplace and that is video distributed on a 2-inch screen or a 20-inch screen or a 50-inch screen.

I assume that all the other major syndicators will be there either on the floor or in suites. Other than shopping for programming, why should TV station folks come on out?

TV station folks should come on out because they don’t live in a vacuum. While they may be focused every day on their own markets, there’s a whole host of things that are happening in the business not only in America, but in the world.

The only way that you’re going to get a snapshot of where the business is, what people are doing and how they’re making money is to come to NATPE. It’s really the only video marketplace of its kind. Unlike the ANA or NAB or TVB, it’s not focused on one discipline.

NATPE encompasses the business in its entirety. Cable people come and broadcast people come and network people come and agents come and producers come and advertisers come and a third of the people come from 70 different countries outside the United States.

You can dig yourself a little hole and sit in your office and not find out what else is going on out there or you can come out and learn something.

But don’t you think that the scope might be a problem, that the thing is too broad and that it might be a good idea to have a more focused, smaller show just for broadcasters?

No, because I think that NAB is broadcasters and the NCTA show is for cable people. Those things already exist. Certainly our show, relative to NAB, is small, and TVB’s got its day for sales on TV stations. So no, I think there needs to be an actual marketplace.

We really are the only marketplace where the platform is agnostic. It’s just all about the content, how to create for the various forms of distribution and how to monetize it. That’s what we are. Last year, we had close to 8,000 people there and, this year, I expect to again have close to 8,000 people.

What about the loss of the Fox affiliates? That takes a lot of broadcasters off the floor.

Not necessarily. It doesn’t mean that a lot of them are not going to come anyway.

I think that many of them are going to come. Trust me, there are a lot of people I speak to with stations who want to come to NATPE, who understand the value of NATPE and then say, well, if I can work it into my budget, if I can work it into my schedule or whatever...

Once it gets closer to that time, if there’s business to be done, they’ll come. If they don’t have a reason to and they don’t want to go for the program, they won’t.

Well, don’t take it personally. TV station general managers aren’t going to NAB in the numbers they used to anymore either.

I do take it personally because it’s just my nature. As an ex-station guy it really upsets me that the business has become so narrow and consolidated and that it’s not as healthy or as much fun as it used to be. A lot of people that I talk to find themselves almost under siege. It’s a shame. It’s a wonderful business. What we try to do at NATPE is celebrate it.

You mentioned that you see NATPE evolving into a new media venue for programmers. But CES is looking to be that, too. As a matter of fact, Sony Television is planning a big presence there. Do you see CES as a threat to you?

Honestly I don’t see CES as a substitute for NATPE. CES draws more than 100,000 people. We’re a real B-to-B show. I’m not saying that CES doesn’t do a real good job. They’ve got all those wonderful gadgets and gizmos and [CES President] Gary Shapiro is a smart guy. But, frankly, I don’t think it’s the place to really make deals. I don’t think that it’s really a place where you can really sit down and buy content and programming.

They have the hardware and we have the software. We obviously do some stuff featuring some of the hardware. They’re obviously trying to get some of the content people. Sony’s obviously a hardware company first and foremost. NBC, even though it's doing CES, still has a major presence at NATPE. Hopefully, there’s a place for all of us.

Is there anything about this year’s show that you want to highlight?

We’re very excited about this year. We have four incredibly talented Tartikoff Legacy winners—Nancy Tellem [president, CBS Paramount Television Network], Bob Wright [vice chairman, General Electric], Peter Roth [president, Warner Bros. Television] and Mark Itkin [EVP, William Morris Agency].

We have Cecile Frot-Coutaz from Fremantle speaking one morning and Jeff Berman from MySpace the next. Those are coffees sponsored by the Hollywood Reporter.

We also have a whole branded day on content and advertising in partnership with the guys from Ad Age. That includes the highest ranking woman in advertising, Shelly Lazarus [chairman, Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide]; Renatta McCann, the CEO of Starcom [MediaVest Group]; and Rishad Tobaccowala of Denuo.

You do have some other talent that should have a great appeal to the rank-and-file broadcasters—NBCU’s Jeff Zucker, Barrington Broadcasting backer Bob Pittman, Univision’s Joe Uva and Telemundo’s Donald Browne.

I agree. We market to broadcasters. We call them. We talk to them, but, look, we all have our shpilkes; we all have to get through the day; we all have to talk to our bosses; we all have to rationalize this and rationalize that. NATPE used to just be this thing where, no matter what, you went. Well, there isn’t anything like that anymore. You don’t just do it.

We’re a nonprofit membership organization that started organically 45 years ago because people who created content and people who bought it wanted to get together. What’s happening now is that people who want to get together are not necessarily the same people.

The world doesn’t stand still. It changes. If we don’t adapt to the change and if we don’t create an environment in January that seems like a fertile place for people to meet and do business and talk, then 10 years from now there may not be a NATPE anymore.

Next Tuesday in EXECUTIVE SESSION: Doug Kiel, president, Journal Communications, and CEO, Journal Broadcast Group Inc.