Digital Tops Syndication On NATPE Schedule

While the traditional syndication business still has an important role to play in the local TV business, the syndicated programming needs of over-the-air TV are taking a backseat at this year’s NATPE as never before.

A look at this year’s NATPE agenda reveals that, of the dozens of sessions scheduled over the three-day event that kicks off tomorrow in Miami Beach, none is focusing on the syndication business, and only one is dealing directly with local broadcasting.

That would be the half-hour panel discussion titled “Top TV Station Groups: How to Stay Afloat in Turbulent Times” (scheduled for Tomorrow at 11 a.m.). The three panelists: Jack Abernethy, CEO, Fox Television Stations; Perry Sook, chairman, president and CEO, Nexstar Broadcasting Group; and Larry Wert, president, Tribune Broadcasting.

On this year’s agenda, the key word is “digital” as many of the scheduled sessions deal with content development for a variety of platforms — none of which are broadcast television.

For NATPE President-CEO Rod Perth, the explanation is simple: NATPE would not have survived if it continued to dedicate its annual conference solely to television stations and the syndication companies that sell them shows. “We repositioned this four years ago and if we hadn’t and we depended on local television stations, [then] lights out — period,” Perth said Thursday.

In addition, he said, “the syndication business is miniscule compared to what it once was.” As a result, NATPE is “no longer an event just for finished content,” Perth said. “We’re an event that spans the entire continuum from creation of content through production of content through all of the distribution platforms — television stations, broadcast, cable, OTT, Web-based content and, ultimately, mobile.”

Even if the NATPE sessions don’t directly address their business, broadcasters still flock to the annual conference to network, share ideas and yes, to hear pitches for shows they might consider buying.

“I’ve not heard of a single broadcaster that’s not coming,” said Bob Sullivan, Tegna SVP of programming. “[NATPE is] still a place where broadcasters and other potential content buyers are all in one place. And even though you can talk on the phone, it’s always better to get in front of people and meet people [and accomplish] more than in a brief phone conversation.”

At this year’s NATPE, Sullivan is also a seller since Tegna announced last month that it plans to produce as well as distribute the new T.D. Jakes talk show, starting with clearing it on 29 of its own stations.

“In the last couple of years, my more fruitful meetings [at NATPE] have been with fellow broadcasters about projects that either they’re doing or potentially doing, or talking about doing stuff together than in the old days where it was just meeting directly with the studios,” Sullivan told TVNewsCheck.

“I still do that,” he said, “and I’ll still spend my quality time with all the major studios because we still are in the purchasing business with the studios. But 80% of my time this trip — beyond just selling Jakes — will be talking to other broadcasters.”

At this year’s NATPE, typical session titles include “The Producers Speak: Reality Content and the New Digital Frontier” (Tuesday, Jan. 19, at 10:30 a.m.), “Comedy in the Digital Age” (Wednesday, Jan. 20, at 10:15 a.m.) and “Development in the Digital Age: Inside the New Era of Writers’ Rooms” (Wednesday, 11:30 a.m.).

Station and station-group programmers whose companies have been increasing their involvement in the development and production of content for Web and mobile platforms might find value in attending sessions such as “The Numbers Don’t Lie: Content Creation in a Data-Driven World” (Tuesday, 3:45 p.m.) and “Live By the Touch, Die By the Swipe: Creating Compelling Content for Mobile Audiences” (Tuesday, 2 p.m.).

“Television stations are embracing [mobile] like crazy because they want to be able to be in charge of that experience and not behind the curve,” Perth said. “Broadcasters do not live in a broadcasters bubble,” he said.

This year’s NATPE is being held in both the Fontainebleau and Eden Roc hotels in Miami Beach. The expansion to the Eden Roc represents substantial growth for the conference, which had outgrown the Fontainebleau, NATPE officials said last month. Whether registrations for this year’s show are outpacing last year’s at this time could not be learned. A NATPE press rep said attendance figures for this year’s show are not yet available.