Lucy Smith, RX France’s entertainment division director and director of Mip TV and Mipcom, bade farewell to Mip TV in Cannes this afternoon, telling a packed room that the distribution business had shifted, and that the new Mip London event was “responding to market needs”.

RX announced the new London event on 26 March, ending months of rumour and speculation about the future of the annual Mip TV market in Cannes.

Looking surprised by the turnout and the applause as she took to the stage today, Smith said Mip London would be “very different” to Mip TV, with a focus on proving meeting spaces, networking opportunities, screenings and curated showcases.     

"Mip London is a content market, but it's not about a big exhibition hall," Smith said.

Mip London takes place on 24-27 February 2025 at the Savoy Hotel and IET London, with a pre-opening on 23 February.

The event will run adjacent to the decades-old BBC Studios Showcase and the relatively recent London Screenings, which this year involved 29 distributors and attracted about 750 buyers from around the world.

“The international distribution calendar has moved forward. Both scripted and unscripted buyers are consolidating their schedules around it,” Smith said.

“I want to be very clear that our plan is not to compete with but to be complimentary” to the London Screenings, she said.

"More international companies are going to London and want to be going to London. And it's clear that we can help to meet that demand," Smith said, offering Mip London as a "one-stop solution that we can provide rather than companies having to organise everything themselves". 

Qualified buyers will be given free access to Mip London.

Programme details are still in development.

"As we evolve our programme, we're very mindful of developing an offer for the Mipdoc and Mipformats communities as well as the kids communities... we also believe there is a real opportunity around unscripted in February and we are working on developing that," she said.

RX said this evening that 3,537 delegates from 84 countries, including about 1,100 buyers, attended this year's Mip TV, which officially closes tomorrow.

France had the most delegates, followed by the U.K., U.S., Germany, Spain, Italy, Turkey, China, Canada and Belgium.

This year’s 135 exhibitors gathered in a radically redefined space on one floor in the Riviera 7, with the Palais basement “bunker” transformed into buyers and participants lounges.

Highlighting RX's long links with Cannes, Smith said Mipcom's 40th edition would take place on 21-24 October this year, with Mipcom 2025 confirmed for 13-16 October.