NATPE cancels flagship Bahamas-based event in January 2023

NATPE, the National Association of Television Program Executives, has cancelled its 2023 conference and content market. One of the landmark events in the annual content distribution calendar, the event had been due to take place for the first time in the Bahamas in January. Previously it was located in the Florida city of Miami.

JP Bommel

The decision to cancel the event follows October’s news that NATPE had filed for a Chapter 11 bankruptcy. NATPE president and CEO JP Bommel confirmed that the conference would not go ahead, but did not make any comment on the future of NATPE Budapest, a satellite event which takes place in the Hungary in June.

NATPE has blamed its financial problems on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, which forced it to cancel events in 2021 and 2022. After making a last-minute decision to cancel NATPE 2022, Bommel said: “Although this decision from a financial point of view will cost the organisation a great deal of money, that was secondary to our primary concern, which is to put the welfare of our members first.”

NATPE’s misfortune is in contrast to the story at RX event MIPCOM in Cannes, which returned this month with a better than expected 11,000 delegates.