About DISCOP EAST Market

Established in 1991, the annual DISCOP EAST market brings together SELLERS and BUYERS of finished programs, scripted and unscripted formats, and packaged TV channels.

DISCOP EAST takes place for 3 days in Budapest during the 3rd week of the month of June, on a Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, at the recently renovated 5-Star SOFITEL ATRIUM HOTEL located in the heart of the city, on the banks of the Danube river.

The market is built around the pre-organization of meetings between participants regrouped into two main categories:

THE SELLERS: International sales organisations offering finished programs, feature films, scripted and unscripted formats, packaged TV channels and mobile content attend DISCOP EAST with or without exhibits. Exhibits are set-up in hotel rooms and hospitality suites refurbished as private screening suites and in open communal areas partitioned into individual meeting spaces equipped with screening facilities. All programming genres are represented.

THE BUYERS: Qualified programming, acquisition, production and distribution executives from Central & Eastern Europea and Central Asia representing TV Stations, thematic channels, cable, satellite and telco operators, DVD and theatrical distributors, production companies, territorial agents, web portals and closed-circuit TV networks.

Thanks to the efficiency of our online “meetings-organization” platform and the expertise of our highly-trained staff, most participants average 40 to 50 meetings over the 3-day DISCOP EAST.

The combination of these services have helped our participants make better use of their market time as many of them rely on our ability to identify new BUYING or SELLING opportunities on their behalf.

Furthermore, as the growth of DISCOP EAST is fuelled by the presence of “newcomers” - and by the fact that 99% of these newcomers return the following year! - participants who have never attended DISCOP EAST in the past are provided with personalized assistance in the various processes leading to the organization of these 40 to 50 meetings.

DISCOP EAST 09 will take place from Wednesday 17 to Friday 19 June 2009

Click here for more information on DISCOP EAST 09

DISCOP EAST 08 FINAL PRESS RELEASE © July 2008 / The LIPPIN GROUP

Leading Central and Eastern European content market DISCOP EAST, which took place from 18-20 June at the Sofitel Atrium Hotel in Budapest, today reported a hugely successful event with attendees and exhibiting companies significantly up on previous years, it was announced today by Patrick Jucaud, General Manager, DISCOP and Rick Feldman, President and CEO, NATPE, DISCOP's joint partner.

DISCOP EAST, which is attended by international distributors and buyers across all genres, welcomed 1729 participants (1522 in 2007), including 1003 television content buyers (901 in 2007) representing 804 (678 in 2007) TV Stations, Thematic TV Channels, DVD Distributors, theatrical distributors, territorial agents and production companies, satellite, cable and IPTV operators, from 33 Central and Eastern European countries. 596 sales executives also attended, up from 530 in 2007, of which 108 were from Central and Eastern Europe (68 in 2007) representing 42 television content sales organisations (24 in 2007).

The number of sales organisations exhibiting at the market also increased to 281 from 242 in 2007, with national pavilions including umbrella stands from France, Korea, Italy, Spain, Taiwan and Israel. A special umbrella called "The Bridge" was also set-up and funded by the EU-funded Media Programme to welcome 28 independent Central and Eastern European television content production and distribution companies from member states and candidate countries of the European Union.

The emergence of some 300 digital thematic channels in Central and Eastern Europe has driven the success of this year's market, triggering a demand for specialized programming and powering deal-making during the three day-market.

Patrick Jucaud comments, "Most of the growth in the entertainment industries will occur in emerging markets over the next five years with Central and Eastern Europe expected to show the strongest gains thanks to faster growth in economic output along with the widespread adoption of new technologies and the imminent digital switchover in most countries. This explains why major international television content sales organisations have been increasing their presence at DISCOP EAST."

Founded in 1991, DISCOP is the only television content market strictly targeted at Central and Eastern Europe. After 15 years of operating independently, the DISCOP organisation has partnered since 2005 with the National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE). NATPE is a global non-profit organization dedicated to the creation, development and distribution of televised programming in all forms, across all mature and emerging media platforms.