Baptism by fire is one way to describe my entry into the TV ASIA Plus team. Multiple media projects throughout September meant I only had my first day “on the job” at MIPCOM. But it was really no better place to get the ball rolling and from the numerous conversations I had with industry players – both large and small – throughout the week in Cannes, this year’s MIPCOM was indeed a success. Only 12 months ago the industry was in the middle of a global economic downturn; it was bleak and no one really knew how long it would continue. This year has been one of renewed growth but it was still a challenge for television, wrestling with budgets set the previous year. But if MIPCOM was anything to go by, the demand for new, dynamic and engaging television is as ever strong and some great new programmes and co-productions have been green lit in the region and beyond in 2010. Such as ABC Studio’s No Ordinary Family, which began screening in Singapore, mere days after its debut in the US, and KidsCo’s popular Boo & Me, developed with Malaysia’s Inspidea, has already begun work on season two. It’s been a positive year for formats too, with the BBC’s Dancing With The Stars getting local versions in Indonesia and Vietnam, The Amazing Race making its debut in China as China Rush, and the appetites of home cooks (myself included) were whet with the launch of Food Network Asia in Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore and (last month) the Philippines. All these ingredients make for delicious television. As Robert Redford, who was in Cannes celebrating the first birthday of the Sundance Channel in France said, “The creativity of television has grown immensely of late”. These remain challenging but exciting times for the industry.