Rio Content Market 2015, a market with its own rules

RCM has become one of the key audiovisual markets in Latin America, convoking over 3,200 TV and digital media professionals from 30 countries in its last edition. Since the first edition in 2011, the event has grown steadily year by year, surpassing the attendance of other very traditional shows worldwide.

Marco Altberg, president, Associação Brasileira de Produtores Independentes de Televisão (ABPITV): 'The global and in particular, the local context, have made this event grow much'. One of the main engines that the executive highlights is the sanction of the Conditional Services Access Law (SeAC) 12,485, which establishes a minimum of three hours and a half of local content in pay TV channels, of which 50% must be produced by independent companies.

'Surely the law gave a decisive boost to our industry development. In 2013 it was recorded an increase of 385% in the number of hours of local content consumed in Pay TV, which resulted in about 4,000 hours emitted just in the 14 channels monitored by Ancine’.

In addition about internal growth, the law has fostered co-productions with international companies: 'We signed agreements with UK, USA, Canada, Spain and France, among others, and began to focus on South Korea and South Africa, two countries with which we have already made significant approaches', ensured ABPITV’s president.

He concluded: 'Brazil needed its own content event that serves as a meeting point for many small and medium companies and producers that have emerged in recent years and can’t attend to international events as Mipcom or Natpe Miami. That is why we are confident that in this fifth edition we will see even much more key players than before'.

Regarding the market, on the opening day there interesting sessions as "HBO: 10 Years of Original Production in Latin America"; "Format Creation, The FreemantleMedia Model", and "TV Globo Presents ... 50 years of the telenovela".

Top international players? The organizer has confirmed the participation of companies such as CMF (Canada), BBC Worldwide (UK), Keshet, Armoza and Dori Media, all from Israel; Lionsgate (USA), Endemol USA, FremantleMedia, INCAA (Argentina), Deutsche Welle (Germany), France Television, Cisneros (USA), TV Azteca (Mexico), RCN (Colombia), NHK (Japan), Paramount Channel Latin America and TV5Monde (France), among others.

Rodrigo Cantisano