Video Age International - History

History

Early History

VideoAge was launched in 1981 by Dom (Domenico) Serafini, when the international television industry was still in its infancy. The magazine made its first appearance at VIDCOM, television trade market in Cannes that was a precursor of MIPCOM. The name VideoAge was chosen because the time of its launch, 1981, was the age of video. Indeed the “video age” soon after became The New York Times’ favorite expression to describe the foreseen 500-channel universe (of the “push” type). When VideoAge was introduced the television sector already had five publications: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Broadcasting, TV/Radio Age and, in the U.K., TV World. Both "TV/Radio Age and TV World went out of business in the late '80s. Dom Serafini, a former international editor of TV/Radio Age, created VideoAge with a unique formula: The key companies in the TV business upfronted the money in exchange for ad pages. Among the first 20 supporting companies were: MGM, MIFED, Rusconi Editori, CBN (Pat Robertson), Canale 5 (Silvio Berlusconi), ABC TV stations, Eastman Kodak and Brazil’s Globo TV. In early 1983 VideoAge introduced, at NATPE in Las Vegas, the industry’s first trade show daily (subsequently branded as The TV Executive) by using Polaroid pictures for the photo-page. This was an era without one-hour photo developing, without easily available fax machines and, in lieu of yet unfamiliar cell phones, bulky walkie-talkies and pagers were used. The yellow VideoAge T-shirts were then worn as a way to identify reporters on the trade floor. Among the first companies to support VideoAge’s dailies were: Enter-Tel, France’s TF1 and Telepictures. Today, the concept of dailies has been rendered more valuable by online services, which, in the hectic market schedules, are limited to e-mail checking, while trade news is more convenient in the printed format. The Magazine initially served an audience that tended to know more than the journalists did. They reported on events that most readers were aware of beforehand, and they could only cover the tip of the "iceberg." Additionally, they had to walk a fine line and report on people and companies that were also their advertisers. The magazine began making use of self-titled "dailies" or daily issues only introduced during selected Television trade markets, in 1984. VideoAge opened with an office in New York, and soon expended to Los Angeles, London, and Milan. There is also a branch office in Osaka, Japan.

Later History

VideoAge eventually defined its topics of study along the following lines, regulations, sociology, psychographics, finances, production, distribution, ratings, broadcasting, cablecasting, satellite, IPTV, piracy, as well as introductions to new technology, and attempts to make complex new technological topics digestible to non-geeks and rich technophobes. The vast majority of it' current business model deals with competing with the television trade's 10 other publications that cover all aspects of television, especially international TV In addition, to the many more which cover specialized TV fields such as mobile video, Internet-TV, cable and/or satellite TV. VideoAge was one of the first trades to enter online services in 1997, first with its English site (www.VideoAge.org), followed by the Spanish-language site (www.VideoAgeLatin.com) and its Italian-language version (www.VideoAgeItalia.com). The website contains archival issues and can be found, here. Archive material can also be found at: http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.videoageinternational.com