Hollywood has become just another territory.' United Artists CEO Paula Wagner's bold statement to this year's Mipcom in Cannes needs to be taken with a pinch or two of seasoning.

It was, after all, delivered in Europe - and her UA partner Tom Cruise is shooting Valkyrie in Germany. Hollywood talks a lot these days about partnership but in terms of finance, distribution and sheer business muscle, it's not an equal one.

The cynic might see Wagner's statement as rather like a lion pointing out to the wildebeest that it's just another member of the animal kingdom. But her point, fleshed out in a wide-ranging keynote speech, deserves a more considered hearing.

The concept of Hollywood as a territory is a shifting one, especially as the boundaries of what she means by Hollywood are far from clear - studios now exist in a fast-changing global economy with new ways to reach markets.

Wagner's audience was not just predominantly European - the cultural influence of international markets on studio content has been a regular theme in recent years. But Mipcom is also the place where the future of television and the wider media takes centre stage - a reminder that Hollywood is also having to bend its business models to suit international audience demands and the rise of new media.

The keynote speakers from India - Mipcom's focus country this year - made the point well. UTV founder and CEO Ronnie Screwvala reminded delegates that dealing with India was not one-way traffic. The massive potential of its vast population gives Indians power they will fully exploit, he suggested.

As far as film is concerned, that means co-operation, sharing know-how and pooling strengths to broaden the reach of Indian film as well as opening up the growing number of multiplexes to US blockbusters.

Equally, Screwvala says, Hollywood must adapt to the way Indian audiences want to be entertained. 'New media is about to explode in this territory and young India doesn't want to consume content in the same way we have in the past,' he said.

In other words, where big new markets are opening up - as China also shows - they do not want to play by the existing rules. Hollywood may pay the piper but it's not necessarily going to be able to call the tunes. But that's Wagner's point - Hollywood doesn't really want to.

For most of the studios, distribution rather than film-making is what they do best. If the rest of the world makes great movies that their markets want, and Hollywood is a partner in ensuring they are seen, so much the better.

What was striking about the keynote speeches at Mipcom was the degree of confidence. Even given that the main speakers never see the glass as less than half full, it is possible to detect a change of tone from a couple of years ago, when box-office figures were in free fall and the internet looked like a big scary threat.

Ben Silverman, the recently installed co-chairman of NBC Entertainment and NBC Universal Television Studio, is now comfortable in being dismissive of YouTube: 'I don't know what the second episode of Cat Pissing In Toilet is,' he said.

There's now a recognition of a truth that was always there: new media does not supplant the old but can complement and even enrich it.

Leslie Moonves, president and CEO of CBS, put it nicely at Mipcom in suggesting that if the studios were dinosaurs, they are the kind that survive by evolving to meet the prevailing climate. What such evolution means to the rest of the world, with which they are ever more closely entwined, is another matter.

Hollywood may be just another territory but when it coughs, the rest of the planet ought to have the doctor's number handy.

Do you agree' email: michael.gubbins@emap.com