Bronico Communications has closed its US television events business, including NAPTE, Kidscreen and Realscreen Summits.
“This decision has been deeply considered and stems from market consolidation that continues to advance and has structural implications for the content production business,” Russell Goldstein, president and CEO of Toronto-based Bronico, said in a statement Tuesday. The move comes on the heels of NATPE, a single-storey trade show, Realscreen TV conferences and markets being combined into one event in Miami in February 2026 for the final time.
Kidscreen and Realscreen will continue to publish children’s content and non-scripted content, respectively. With the conclusion of the US events, Claire Macdonald, Executive Director of NATPE, and Jocelyn Christie, Publisher of Kidscreen, will leave Brunico.
Napte returned to Miami in 2024 after Brunico acquired the assets of the National Association of Television Program Directors, which also runs the Banff World Media Festival. The acquisition came on the heels of NAPTE filing for bankruptcy protection in October 2022 after hitting a financial wall due to the forced cancellation of its 2021 and 2022 US TV markets amid the pandemic.
The return of NAPTE Global, the leading US TV market, in 2024 also coincided with the TV industry being upended by dual Hollywood strikes in 2023, emerging streaming platforms, and accelerating cord-cutting.
The disruption unleashed another round of industry consolidation as major studios balanced expensive streaming platforms while offsetting linear TV losses. Prior to acquiring the operating rights to the Banff World Media Festival in 2016, Brunico ran Realscreen Summit and Kidscreen Summit where he ran markets and conferences in the US and elsewhere internationally.
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