Attendees at CinemaCon’s international day heard Universal Pictures’ president of international David Kosse sound a warning to exhibitors.

In his keynote address, Kosse told attendees that in the so-called golden age of television, one way to handle potential theatrical defections was to acquire a stake in ancillary platforms.

“The DVD business is in decline, and the home-viewing experience is being replaced by long-form serialised drama,” said Kosse. “It’s a concern for all of us.”

While steering clear of explicitly calling for the collapse of windows – a hot-button issue at previous conventions that needs little excuse to rear its head again – Kosse urged theatre owners to consider making content available on non-theatrical platforms.

Who better than theatre owners, the executive said, to understand which demographics and time slots were underserved or disengaged.

The opportunity in those cases would be to cater to those audiences by reaching them in the most effective ways – in their living rooms.

Kosse is one of the industry’s foremost authorities on the international arena and a potent keynote speaker.

At Cine Expo 2010 he told gathered executives that international box office was set to rise over the coming decade and could claim as much as 75-80% of global box office, reducing North America’s share to 20-25%.

Photo of David Kosse by Ryan Miller/Capture Imaging for CinemaCon.