MIPCOM ushers in a new era in 4k content investment

The 31st annual MIPCOM television and broadcast market in Cannes attracted nearly 14,000 media executives, despite starting during the Riviera’s worst ever natural disaster.

Amid the drama, Streaming TV, over-the-top (OTT) and UltraHD 4K were core conference topics with focus on how OTT, SVOD and streaming services are transforming the industry landscape.

A significant shift to 4K  was made with the global launch of a dedicated ultra HD/4k factual entertainment channel from  Netherlands-based TERN (Television Entertainment Reality Network), branded Insight.

Insight will initially feature 200 commissioned and acquired hours of Ultra HD/4K content across the genres of science, adventure-oriented reality, and sports-centric factual  entertainment.

The new company said that the focus was on content that has “the ‘wow’ factor,” geared to the male, 18-45 demographic. Adding an Australian twist, Australian television hosts Brendan Moar and Kris Smith have been selected as the channels new presenters.

"TV is undergoing enormous change and everybody is always talking about that but this channel is stepping up to that challenge, as immersive, interactive and complete a TV experience as possible," Moar told press in Cannes.

Leading 4k experts told the conference that factual content would be core to the development of the sector, but sport would lead the uptake.

Discovery Networks International president JB Perrette said in his Media Mastermind keynote that the company was focused on becoming “the leader in global entertainment in all screens” with a goal of attracting one million subscribers to DNI’s OTT platform, D-Play, by 2017.

It is also putting a global emphasis on 4K UltraHD and newer technologies, such as virtual reality, while moving from some of the network group’s more constructed reality fare to drive creator-driven non-fiction across Discovery’s expanding portfolio.