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Emmy Award Judge and FanTrust President Catherine Warren to Join a Distinguished List of Luminaries at the International Digital Emmy Awards in Cannes

admin — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 16:50:59 +0000

The world’s most prestigious digital event hosts a red carpet line-up at MIPTV

PARIS/NEW YORK, March 22, 2010 – Jason Priestley, best known for his role as Brandon Walsh on the hit series Beverly Hills 90210, will host The International Digital Emmy Awards on Monday, April 12, at MIPTV in Cannes it was announced by The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

The event will recognize excellence in the areas of Digital Fiction, Non-Fiction, Children’s and other content categories for cross-platform programming.

The International Digital Emmy® Awards 2010 are sponsored by Nokia and Ooyala.

Read the full press release

Creative tension as finalists pitch in for Content 360 awards

admin — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 15:53:59 +0000

Finalists at the Content 360 Interactive Educational Formats for Cross-Media – held at MIPTV in Cannes, France - battled it out in five-minute pitching sessions to jurors Hye Chung Eun, senior researcher at the Korean Broadcast Institute, and Catherine Warren, FanTrust Entertainment Strategies’ founder and president, for the $10,000 development funding prize.

Selected from 56 entries covering 23 countries, the presentations were all cross-media format ideas that combined education and entertainment.

“One thing that works well with all these ideas is that they connect audiences and consumers together,” said Catherine Warren. “They are not directed from high-down to the student, but rather encourage the students to interact. This is very much what cross-media permits.”

Read the full article, including an overview of the finalist projects, in MIPTV News.

Fans control online games, MIP delegates learn

James Martin — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 13:13:36 +0000

Companies may create online games, but the fans ultimately control them, Hilmar Petursson, CEO of CCP Games, told a conference on community entertainment today. Demonstrating his Eve Online massively multiplayer sci-fi online game, which has 300,000 players – equal to the population of Iceland where his company is based – he said he had to scan the fansites to find out what users were doing in the virtual world CCP had created. He could also read the Eve magazines, which have 10,000 subscribers at $15 a time. Right from the start, he said, the behaviour of players had been surprising. They had grouped into nationalities to colonise the lawless outer reaches of Eve’s space galaxies, and 2,000 Russians had attacked 3,000 Scandinavians. “The Russians couldn’t understand why they weren’t winning until they found out that the Americans were secretly funding the Scandinavians. It wasn’t until the Russians got the French to attack the Americans and cut their supply line that they won.” Catherine Warren, founder and president of FanTrust Entertainment Strategies, said Yahoo! had found online creatives were a minority – 89% of its video users were just watchers, 10% reversioned material and only 1% created content. But that content could be potent: Obama Girl drew 200 million views and turned its star into an overnight celebrity. Ericsson’s Volvo Ocean Race had three times as many fans following the virtual version as were tracking the real thing. Frank van Oirschot, CCO of ExMachina, said TV was still the dominant entertainment platform but in decline, so broadvasters need to realise they can create cross-platform content at very little cost and potentially substantial gain.

2009 International Digital Emmy Award recipients feted at MIPTV

admin — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 18:07:30 +0000

MIPTV-Cannes, March 30th, 2009 — The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced tonight the winners for the International Digital Emmy® Awards at a ceremony organized in partnership with Reed Midem, during the MIPTV Opening festivities in Cannes, France.

“This year’s winners have truly embraced the creative and technological opportunities that the digital space presents,” said Bruce L. Paisner, President & CEO of The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. “We congratulate them on their cutting-edge achievements.”

The awards ceremony was attended by over 200 international executives from the television, broadband and mobile industries, including FanTrust President Catherine Warren.

Read full press release

International Digital Emmy® Awards nominees announced

admin — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 17:02:45 +0000

New York – Nominees from 9 countries will compete for this year’s International Digital Emmy® Awards, presented at a special ceremony on Monday, March 30, at MIP-TV in Cannes. There are 12 nominees in 3 categories; Digital Program: Children & Young People; Digital Program: Fiction and Digital Program: Non-Fiction. The full list of Nominees from Argentina, Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, Israel, Qatar, Singapore and the United Kingdom can be viewed on the International Academy of Arts & Sciences website.

As in years past, the awards will gather over 200 professionals across the entertainment, mobile and Internet industries. Catherine Warren, FanTrust President and Academy member, will join other digital luminaries at the invitation-only ceremony.

“We are very pleased to be recognizing these nominees for their outstanding achievements in producing content specifically designed for delivery on a digital platform,” said Bruce L. Paisner, President & CEO of The International Academy. “Digital programming is now a significant option for audiences around the world seeking out content.”

In addition to the presentation of the International Digital Emmy® Awards for Children & Young People, Fiction and Non-Fiction. The International Academy will present a special award – the Pioneer Prize, which is not an Emmy® but rather a special initiative from the Academy which honors an industry personality or organization. “The Pioneer Prize will be presented to Nokia, Inc. for its innovative contributions to the field of digital television and video broadcasting on a mobile device,” added Paisner.

Niklas Savander, Member of the Nokia Group Executive Board and EVP, Nokia Services will accept on behalf of the company.

“We are delighted to accept this prestigious award. As consumers’ digital consumption habits are increasingly going mobile, Nokia and the mobility industry at large is excited by the business opportunity it presents for us together with our content partners,” commented Niklas Savander. “Services like the groundbreaking Comes With Music service and the Ovi Store media distribution network are pushing the boundaries of what is possible in mobile entertainment.”

Read full press release