International Insider: Mip TV Concludes; Channel 4 Sold; WarnerBros Discovery Global; The Big Gaumont Interview

deadline.com:

Happy Friday readers. Tom Grater here looking back on the week’s top international headlines.We got there eventually: The first Cannes-based Mip TV for three years took place earlier this week and, after some initial travel chaos that had the entire UK contingent scrabbling to reach Nice airport by Sunday night, things settled into a familiar pattern.

In a sense, Mip TV felt like an extension of the previous fortnight’s Series Mania in that streamers and European talent were top of everyone’s talking-point lists.

Delivering a keynote, HBO Max Global Boss Johannes Larcher talked up his streamer’s position in Europe, declaring “it’s not always best to be first.” Meanwhile, Candle Media Co-Founder Kevin Mayer, one of the founding fathers of Disney+, gave attendees a window into his strategy and Sony International Production Boss Wayne Garvie detailed grand ambitions to be “Britain’s biggest drama studio.”Thin footfall: While positive vibes were always present on the Croisette, most sources agreed footfall felt a little thin on the ground.

Mip TV came so soon after Series Mania and the ever-growing London Screenings, and the feeling was that many of the larger companies had slimmed down their usual delegation size. “This is a relationships market and a reset market, not a sales market,” said one senior distribution boss.