 BRAZIL | MERCADOS |
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| Maturity that Follows Prosperity |
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The thriving Brazilian pay TV industry has laid out new rules this week, as it seeks to adapt its structures and strategies to the new scenario; a national scenario.
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Cecilia Mendonça, GM at Disney Channels Latin America, at the Fórum Brasil de Televisão.
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Brazil is the currently the place to be. Everyone wants to be a part of it; and those who are, feel they're a part of something great. The Brazilian TV Forum held earlier this week welcomed an unprecedented amount of guests who stayed in San Pablo until very late hours, seeking to take advantage of every opportunity and experience everything.
The main topics discussed: regulatory frameworks, content and production. On Monday, June 4, the Ancine revealed its stands on the new pay TV law (12.485) -aimed at opening the Brazilian pay TV market to telcos and demand minimum amounts of national content- and despite some players' doubts and discrepancies (such as Turner, Sky and Band), the wheels slowly begin to turn.
It's clear Ancine's goal -according to its director and president, Manoel Rangel, at the event- is for the industry to become a leveled field, with fewer differences between the different players.
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"We'll analyze it to assess the possible consequences," said Roberto Martha, head of programming and production at Viacom Brazil, to ttv. "There are some issues that are still not quite clear to us," said Anthony Doyle, VP at Turner Brazil. Both executives represent programmers with foreign capital that have invested in production and co-production in Brazil for several years, and must now readapt to the new minimums. The issue is the uncertainty towards the means and time Ancine provides to meet them.
MATURE DISCUSSION
Yet, if you consider the law -which has already been discussed in parliament for over two years- is the first step to a true "media law" in Brazil, then it may be proof of the industry's maturity, and the way all its different players have been interacting with the government. The process becomes even more significant if it's compared with Argentina, where the government created a law in all the wrong ways, starting a true war between public and private media companies, which is yet to end.
Yet in Brazil, the industry's prosperity and the users' increased incomes hasn't made pay TV players go up in arms about the new law. People were reluctant at first to having the government meddle in private companies' business. But still one thing's certain; these discussions will not stop the new law from changing the industry.
"I've seen most companies embrace this new structure with a positive attitude," said Rangel. Programmers seem reluctant at times, yet are abiding by the new law. "We've already increased our team significantly, in preparation for this new reality," said Martha. Several other companies have followed in her footsteps, and are already analyzing several independent projects in order to meet the requested minimums.
All in all, Brazil is currently a synonym of dynamism. There are those who are benefited (independent producers) and those who aren't (foreign companies), but in the end, there will be a sea of new opportunities for everyone. Opportunities, along with the possible risks, will continue to be discussed at the upcoming ABTA, from July 31 through August 2. We'll just see how everything unfolds.
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Where Everything Grows
