Tax Free World Association welcomes new CEO and fair

The duty free business has been undergoing major changes since the internal market became a reality within Europe. Neeldess to say, it has not disappeared. It re-branded itself as the Travel Retail and Duty Free industry and has focused its attentions on boosting sales during travel. The annual TFWA World Exhibition takes place in Cannes and provides the venue for the brands, airport authorities and retail sector to meet.

This year's event features speeches from German ex-chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and French minister for foreign trade Christine Lagarde, as well as specific events covering airlines and the Asia-Pacific market. This year's event will also be a baptism of fire for Olivier Charriaud, who took up the position as CEO on October 10. He comes to the company after having held senior marketing positions with major brands, most recently with the Remy Cointreau Group.

TFWA is held Oct 23-27. Details on the TFWA website.

Midem: Early bird deadline approaching

If you're considering attending Midem in Cannes next January, maybe you should make your mind up soon. The Early Bird deadline that offers a reduction of nearly 50% is set for October 31. This means the price is just €550 (+VAT). The rate for Midem + Midemnet is €1130, a reduction of 38%.

For this, you get access to the world's foremost music trade fair and/or the world's foremost mobile music conference. There are other fairs, of course. But none offer the scope of opportunities of Midem. Booking early and booking a flight early can take significant chunks off the price of attending. If you miss this deadline, the next one is December 19 (€780) and January 18(€950). The walk-in price for those that are chronically late is €1050 (+ VAT).

For your info, some 75% of the floorspace is already booked. For details visit Midem.

MIPCOM Mobile TV Awards

Although it's not the only thing to happen at MIPCOM, the Mobile TV Awards generated a lot of buzz. It's certainly true that the media landscape is undergoing massive changes, with TV shows now available as paid downloads. This opens the door in terms of new distribution possibilities and the so-called "long tail" of revenue after intial broadcasting.

The mobile sector is also growing significantly. No one is entirely what it will grow into, of course, but there's a general feeling that more can be done than offering re-runs of material from other media. But as one participant pointed out, although the telcos are very excited about offering exciting new content to their subscribers, few are willing to invest in actual production.

Anyway, here is the drum-roll for this year's awards:

. Best Original Made- for- Mobile Film or Video Content
"Jokes", Green Paddy Animation Studio (Taiwan)
. Best Repurposed Content From Existing Film or TV Property
"On This Day in History (OTDIH)", ITN ON (UK)
. Best Made- for-Mobile TV Channel
NHK Mobile-G Channel, NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) (Japan)
. Best Format for Interactive Mobile TV
"Forget the Rules", Global Dilemma Pty Ltd. (Australia)
. Best Mobile Format for User-Generated Content
3 Mobile's See Me TV service, 3 Mobile (UK)
. The Orange Grand Prize For Innovation
"Soccer Addicts", Buongiorno (Italy).

To check the Best Format for Interactive, visit Australia's Forget the Rules. In their own words, "Why just watch when you can control what happens".

Icelandic celeb protests own show at MIPCOM

What would Cannes be without a good PR stunt? Icelandic celebrity Silvia Night, whose song was almost banned from the last Eurovision song contest for naughty language, is in town to protest against her own show. Night is a character featured in The Silvia Night Show. But she claims she is deliberately being made to look bad. "The series The Silvia Night Show is total junk. I am a little goodhearted girl who only does things which are good, and the people behind the T.V. series are making me look really bad. They were always making me look like a total bitch and only show the worst bits and never show the parts where I'm really good. So if anybody tries to sell you the show in Cannes do not buy it."

You have been warned.

Stars lined up for MIPCOM

There's nothing like a star to add a little buzz to a trade fair. This year's MIPCOM, that kicks off on Oct. 9, will see a few fly in. The stars of "Prison Break" are guests, as is the former James Bond Pierce Brosnan, in Cannes to promote the sequel to 1999's gentleman thief flick "The Thomas Crown Affair". British comedian and author Stephen Fry, who recently hosted a touching documentary series on bi-polarity (aka clinical depression) for the BBC will be the special MIPCOM guest of Portman Entertainment. US comic fraternity the Wayans brothers will be promoting "Thugaboo", their new kids animation series.