Media Giants Expected To Attend Entertainment Forum In Miami

By Claudio Mendonca
Media conglomerates such as AOL-Time Warner, Disney-ABC and RCA Records will meet this month in Miami to discuss implications of the convergence of film, TV, music and the Internet.

Miami will host Entertainment & Media Forum 2004 Oct. 20-21 at Mandarin Oriental Miami. Admission is by invitation only, and 150 participants are expected.

Organizers say their objective is to show how different sectors are finding and creating new methods of generating revenue. Some of the hot issues planned for discussion are related to interactive services, digital production, product placement and a new concept called advertainment, through which advertisers try to sell a product by entertaining the audience.

Other topics planned for discussion are digital music subscription services and the digital production of old TV shows. Additionally, speakers will be talking about online services in which TV shows can be recorded digitally.

"The idea is to create new revenue streams and improve traditional methods by using digital media and digital delivery," said Juan Ochoa, director of program development for MFM Group Inc., the company hosting the event.

Also covered in the program will be licensing and piracy issues, broadband, product placement and merchandising, impact of video games and an overview of what an ad agency will be expected to provide in the future.

"Media and entertainment is a non-pollutant industry that injects a lot of cash on the local level," said Bruce Orocz, president of Miami-based ACT Productions and a member of the Greater Miami Visitors & Convention Bureau’s entertainment task force. "Events like these keep the community at large focused on a valuable asset for our city."

He said the entertainment industry serves as a global "public-relations machine" for Miami.

"Symposiums and seminars really serve to view together all different factions of the industry," he said. "We try to get all different walks of the industry to communicate with each other."

Mr. Orocz said Florida and other states are trying to lure business by financing movie productions to entice the rest of the entertainment industry.

"Incentives like these create a stimulus," he said, "and attract more business to our state." Details: (305) 667-4705.