CALENDER.

• Position: Calendar

*Informal session of the Telecommunications Council.

An informal session of Telecommunications Ministers is due to be held on 3,4 and 5 in Viterbe, Italy.

* The 19th MIPCOM under the High-Definition theme.

The 19th instalment of MIPCOM (Film and Programme Market for Television, Video, Cable and Satellite) is taking place from 10 to 14 October in Cannes. This year it will for the first time have a day (October 11) focused on high-definition TV and DVD, plus a line-up of conferences, debates, screenings and publications for all the participants:

- HD@MIPCOM will convene a panel of experts presenting the main assets and activities of HDTV: image quality, conditions governing joint productions, adaptation to the new formats, new distribution systems, potential sources of income;

- DVD@MIPCOM will assess the outlook for this rapidly developing market. According to the forecasts the DVD equipment rate by late 2003 will be 33.4% for Europe (spearheaded by the United Kingdom, Germany and France) versus 46.7% in the United States, where the marketing of DVD players started earlier on. International experts will discuss the types of programmes best tailored to this media and consider the most suitable marking campaigns, issues bound up with the launch of a title and the sort of incomes distributors can hope to earn on this new market.

Organised by Reed MIDEM, the MIPCOM has now become one of the key events for those involved in this sector. Staged on October 8 and 9, a MIPCOM Junior will home in on programmes for a younger audience.

Information: http://www.salons-online.com/data/event1348.html

* International conference on European software service providers

SFC is organising a major event together with the global Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA). The conference will be entitled "Software Services Europe" and will take place on October 15, 2003 in Brussels, Belgium. The aim of the "Software Services Europe" event is to stimulate an open public discussion on ASPs and software service providers in the...