It is no secret that both sides have been struggling to stay afloat in the last couple of years as the falling away of the equity boom coincided with a steep decline in DVD sales and continued sluggishness from TV stations worldwide. Buyers had no fallback position to make up for their loss-leading theatrical releases and cut back on acquisitions and acquisitions budgets when the sellers needed them most to step up.Meanwhile distributors started going out of business and some key territories – Japan and the US notably – stopped pre-buying altogether.While it is still a bruised market compared to rosier times, the EFM at Berlin this year offered glimpses of recovery and optimism. The much-ballyhooed collapse of DVD was not a collapse at all in many territories, and was declining at a slower rate than originally anticipated. New platforms such as VoD and download-to-own were generating revenues.And, best of all, theatrical was hitting a new boom period driven by elements such as the recession, the positive impact of 3D and the box-office behemoth, Avatar.Get a buyer and a seller in a room together and the conversation invariably turns to value and pricing. The buyer will tell you his or…