Cannes-based market Mip TV is to officially end as a fixture in the international TV calendar after the 2024 iteration, with organisers RX France confirming plans for a Mip London event in February 2025.
Talks to move its Q1 conference and market to the UK capital emerged last month after years of speculation Mip TV would eventually be wound down.
RX has now finalised an event in London for 2025 to be housed at the Savoy Hotel and the neighbouring 1,300-capacity IET London: Savoy Place. It will take place from February 24-27.
“The creation of MIP London is a direct result of clear and evidenced market factors,” said RX France entertainment division director Lucy Smith. ”There is a continued appetite for a global content market in the first half of the year.”
”MIP London will not only alleviate a busy events calendar but will provide an additional entry point for international companies to gather in London at the same time.”
The venues are located on The Strand, next to Somerset House in central London and within walking distance of major areas including Leicester Square and Piccadilly, Soho and Bloomsbury, and of the numerous hotels and screening facilities frequented by distributors for the London TV Screenings.
Mip London is designed to be complementary to the London TV Screenings, something which was a central part of RX’s discussions with key companies and individuals and will be free to accredited buyers – via an invitation programme.
The event,will feature screenings, networking events, meetings and a conference programme.
It is also understood that it is not being set up as a replacement for Mip TV and is different in set-up and scale, given that the Palais des Festivals in Cannes can house around 14,000 people at capacity.
Though not a like-for-like substitution, Mip London does signal the end for April event Mip TV, which has been going for more than 60 years. The 2024 event, the 61st Spring international market will be the last.
Mip London’s emergence is aimed at consolidating a very busy events calendar in Q1, which has seen the emergence of the London TV Screenings as a fixture in the international market, since it was formalised by All3Media International, Banijay, Fremantle, ITV Studios and then eOne in 2021. The event, which welcomes around 1,000 buyers to the capital in late February and early March, comes hot on the heels of December’s Content London – which has grown in scale to be a mainstay of the global events lineup.
March’s Series Mania has also developed into a pivotal event for the creative community, further eating into Mip TV’s significance among buyers, distributors and producers. Mip TV’s attendances had been decreasing pre-pandemic although it still welcomed some 4,000+ delegates last year.
It is not yet known what Canneseries, the parallel festival event of Mip TV, will do.
October’s Mipcom, the largest international market in the calendar, will continue as is.
This story first appeared on Screen’s sister site Broadcast. Rebecca Leffler contributed to this story.
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