Comcast Backs ITVFest
Cable Operator Hunting for User-Generated Independent VOD Fare
By Linda Haugsted -- Multichannel News, 5/24/2007 1:22:00 PM
Comcast is mining a fresh source for video-on-demand content: an independent television festival it sponsors in Los Angeles.
The cable giant is supporting ITVFest, now in its second year, providing the competition with $10,000 prizes for category winners, as well as exposure for work from those producers on its national VOD platform. Categories include best reality show, best variety show, audience favorite and a new one for Web series.
ITVFest 2007 hopefuls can upload their submissions to Vuze until June 4.
Backers of the festival -- which is being held July 27-29 at Raleigh Paramount Studios -- said the event is a way to give content creators who may currently lack representation or a way to step through the door to pitch a series idea a way to access industry movers and shakers.
A.J. Tesler, founder of the festival and himself a producer, noted that the script for last year’s audience favorite winner, This Is My Friend,was purchased by NBC.
Last year, there were 200 submissions overall, 22 of which became official selections. Comcast had two executives on the judging panel from its Comcast Interactive Media division. As the title sponsor, the MSO provided $10,000 in prize money for each of the category winners and placed the winners on VOD for its subscribers to see. Tesler said Comcast covers the majority of the “hard costs” for the festival and uses its connections to organize panels and prompt programmers’ interest.
Following last year’s festival, “a majority of networks requested pilots for review, and that number will just grow,” he added.
Caroline Marks, senior director of content development for Comcast Interactive Media, said participating in the festival is one way to find quality user-generated content. Many of the entries for last year’s festival were very high-quality segments running from 30-60 minutes that were “eminently watchable,” she said, adding that some of the category winners attracted the attention of cable and broadcast networks.
VOD exposure is part of the prize package for the winner, Marks said, adding that Comcast holds no contractual interest to the content rights. The company hopes its involvement will bring more of the independent television community into the festival.
“It’s the independent community that challenges the status quo,” she said.
Tesler noted that Comcast’s backing helped the festival to attract development executives from Oxygen, Playboy TV, CBS, Brillstein-Grey Productions, Fox, HBO, Sony Pictures Television, MTV, Comedy Central and other production companies and networks.
Participation this year figures to get a boost via a strategic alliance with the National Association of Television Programming Executives.
That trade group also promotes independent television, and it is staging a producers’ “boot camp” and a film festival of its own, showcasing six- to 10-minute segments, July 25-27. The two festivals will co-promote each other, according to Tesler.
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