Brunico Communications has acquired the assets of the National Association of Television Programming Executives (NATPE) after the Los Angeles-based organization declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October. The sale was by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California after a hearing on December 29 and is expected to close by the end of this month.
“The international content community has been waiting patiently for the return of NATPE, and we are very excited to welcome back our new clients and delegates. Brunico will be reaching out to all NATPE partners in short order to discuss the transition and our plans for the future,” Brunico Communications president and CEO Russell Goldstein said in a statement.
Assets included in the deal are NATPE Global, NATPE Budapest, NATPE Streaming Plus and the Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Awards. The first NATPE event under the Brunico umbrella will be NATPE Budapest June 26-28 at the Intercontinental Hotel.
NATPE Global, which had been held at the Fontainebleau and Eden Roc Resort (which claims it is owed $3.4 million by NATPE) in Miami Beach for a decade, will return early in 2024, according to Brunico, though the producer did not say where the conference would be held. Brunico said it plans to “invest significant resources in building the NATPE brand, in particular NATPE Global,” it said in a press release.
“With a distinguished track record building must-attend content markets like Realscreen Summit and Kidscreen Summit, and then reinvigorating the widely-acclaimed Banff World Media Festival, we could not be more pleased with this outcome,” said Andy Kaplan, chair of NATPE’s Board of Directors, also in a statement. “With the Board’s full support, Brunico is ideally positioned to elevate NATPE to new heights.”
Toronto-based Brunico produces other content-focused conferences, including Realscreen Summit, Kidscreen Summit and Banff World Media Festival. It also publishes entertainment trade publications Realscreen, Kidscreen and Playback. Brunico offered $150,000 for NATPE’s assets and agreed to assume an estimated $1.05 million in outstanding liabilities, according to court papers.
Other conference producers, including U.K.-based C21 International, had been kicking the tires on NATPE. C21 did not win the auction but has scheduled a similar sounding event, Content Americas, at the Hilton Miami Downtown January 24-26. Others listed in the court filing as interested bidders were the National Association of Broadcasters, DISCOP, RX France, PMC, Questex and Lakewood Advisors.
In its bankruptcy filing, NAPTE said it has total assets of $949,000 as of September 30, 2022, which marked the end of the first half of its fiscal 2023. At the end of fiscal 2022, the organization had assets of $2.6 million. The NATPE filing said that it ran at a $1.33 million deficit in the first six months of its fiscal year. ▪️
