In spite of battles in the Persian Gulf and concerns over a new Asian virus, most of the animation producers, distributors and broadcasters AWN polled are traveling over the next few days to attend the MIP-TV market in Cannes, France, which gets underway Monday, March 24. Iain Pelling, managing director of Cosgrove Hall Films, said, "It's a difficult time for everybody, but we have to carry on in as normal a way as possible. We will be going to MIP as usual. Although we're getting on with work I doubt that any of us aren't thinking about our troops and what might happen after the end of the war." While many assumed there would be less people coming from the U.S., Canada and the Pacific Rim, AWN had confirmations from the following companies from those regions: CINAR Films, Corus, Nelvana, DECODE Entertainment, 4Kids, Archie Entertainment, Studio B, Atomic Cartoons, Bandai, Central Park Media, Colorland, Comarex, FX Digital/Digital Id Farm, Globo, Gutsoon, Lacey, Tremendous, Sesame Workshop, Sony Pictures Television International, Myriad Pictures, Whamo Entertainment, Peach Blossom Media, Southern Star Sales, LevyMann Entertainment, Sandy Frank/Battle of the Planets, Curious Pictures, Bardel Entertainment, Toon Boom Technologies, Spectra Animation, KOCCA, World Events, Top Drawn Animation, Comet Entertainment and Cartoon Network. Europeans include: France Animation, RTV, TV-Loonland, EBU, Super RTL, EM.TV, Greenlight Media/Peppermint Int'l, Abbey Home Video, Varga, Create TV & Film, Spellbound Entertainment, Zinkia Entertainment, BRB, Cartoon Network Europe, Fox Kids Europe, Cromosoma, Salsa Entertainment, Chatsworth Television Distributors, KULTURA, Icon Productions, Millimages, Les Films des la Perrine, Monster! and Canal J. BBC Worldwide is sending fewer than last year partly due to the earlier date for MIP-TV and its closeness to the BBC Showcase, which was February 24-27. Reps from marketing/public relations firms will also be in the MIP trenches, including Premier MaxWorks, SSA Public Relations, Media Communications, Denmead Marketing, Mediavision and Pryor & Associates. At DIC Entertainment, Andy Heyward, Brad Brooks and Pat Ryan opted not to go however Dan Waite, from the Los Angeles DIC office, plus Leslie Nelson and Nadia Chevallard (both live in Europe), are attending the trade show. Animation World Magazine's editor-in-chief Heather Kenyon boarded a plane on Friday, March 21, bound for London and then Cannes where she will be dispatching news from that front daily for the AWN Headline News.