"Kids don't care where it comes from as long as it is good," AOL Kids and Teens senior executive Malcolm Bird told participants at a MIPCOM Junior conference, on the eve of the prestigious MIPCOM international TV trade show, which opened its doors here Monday.
His comments, combined with the news that a staggering three and a half million children watch AOL's two children's channels every month, triggered a stampede amongst the audience eager to get a slice of the AOL action. AOL's monthly audience rate is well above the one million viewing figures notched up by kids' cable channels, Bird noted. The viewing statistics also highlighted why some of the top brains in the TV business are gathering in this glamorous Riviera resort here this week to discuss how to deal with the threats - and opportunities - posed by the plethora of such new distribution channels as video-on-demand, cellphones and, of course, the Internet.
Satellite and cable broadcasters, as well as terrestrial ones, have been getting increasingly edgy over the past few years about the future of TV.
But as cellphone operators and Internet service providers start to muscle into the television arena, there is a sense of urgency in the air at this year's MIPCOM.
News over the weekend that satellite broadcaster heavyweight BskyB is eying broadband Internet provider Easynet added to the buzz on the busy trading floor and crowded conference halls here. Internet companies have started to try and transform themselves into media entities. Yahoo has been hiring executives and journalists from the TV world to report from some of the top news' hotspots whilst AOL has started to become a content provider by producing its own children's cartoons. Unlike its fellow Internet competitors, AOL makes its own cartoons for both the KOL, kids-on-line, channel for the six-to-eight year old age group and the older teen service, RED and these are proving to be smash hits. "Princess Natasha", AOL's first home-produced show, whose star is a princess and secret agent rolled into on, has just been snapped up by premier cable/satellite Cartoon Networks. Due to be aired on Cartoon Networks world-wide in early 2006, "Princess Natasha" could set the global TV ball rolling for AOL, whose subscribers are mostly based in the United States.