aside from exploring new media trends, technologies, opportunities and challenges, leading industry experts will also be sharing ideas and discussing the most pertinent issues in today’s media landscape. This year’s Media Financing Forum commences 9 December with the theme of ‘Understand, Adapt and Evolve – Towards a Market for Asian Content’. The Media Financing Forum 2008 will present the views and insights of industry leaders with the focus of presenting viable business models employed in the US, Europe and Asia in the areas of content development, financing its production and the subsequent sales and distribution of content. Through the Keynote presentations and the subsequent discussion sessions, the Forum hopes that participants will be able to take away important ideas that will help provide an added impetus to transform the industry. “This is an exciting time for the content business, particularly in Asia where new content formats are being introduced and adopted. It is an honour to be invited to speak at ATF’s Media Financing Forum and to discuss Shine’s rapid growth in becoming one of UK’s super-independents. What participants can expect from Shine are insights into UK and US innovations in content production and in-depth discussions on how viable business models could be adapted in Asia,” says Stephen Kirk, non-executive director at Shine TV Group, United Kingdom. The Digital Future Symposium (DFS) on 10 December focuses on Digital Watermarking and Fingerprinting for Content Recognition. Topics under discussion will include the technologies, applications (current and future), implementations and challenges relating to watermarking and fingerprinting technologies. Back for the eighth consecutive year, this year’s Superpitch goes high-definition and will allow creative content producers around the Asia Pacific the opportunity to transform their ideas into reality and get discovered by commissioning editors and executives from channels, networks and content creation companies in the region. Contestants submitted 28 high quality entries, in any genre suited for production in HD, shortlisted to six finalists present their pitch ‘live’ to the judging panel on 11 December. With TV viewing going mobile, the MobileTV Session on 11 December presents discussions on mobile as the 7th mass media, bringing together telecommunication operators, content owners and broadcasters. The New Media Conference, taking place on 12 December centres around the theme of ‘Widgets and the Future of TV’. It aims to introduce the shift in consumer behavior for content providers and advertisers through the use of Widgets on TV programmes and advertising. “This year’s conference line-up features a good mix of content from Europe, the US and Asia. Asia Television Forum 2008 serves as the TV broadcasting and new media content marketplace of the region, bringing together International programming sellers and Asia Pacific buyers. This yearly installment has always been highly-regarded as a must-attend event in the television industry that rounds off the year with a bang for the industry’s movers and shakers in the business. With rapid technological advancement and media convergences, the television industry is welcoming many new, exciting opportunities and Reed Exhibitions is proud to play a critical role in helping industry professionals adopt and embrace these progressions,” said Michelle Lim, general manager for Reed Exhibitions. The Asia Television Forum is the single, most comprehensive television programming content sourcing platform in Asia and is scheduled to take place from 10-12 December 2008 at SUNTEC Singapore. It also serves as the anchor event for the annual Asia Media Festival (AMF), organized by the Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA), which showcases a wide tableau of Asia’s richest and most exciting media content and creative talents. For more information on Asia Television Forum 2008, visit the official website at www.asiatvforum.com. TVAplus