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Publishers can’t get to the piggy bank
Test or no test
The latest – and likely final – offer from Google negotiators to the European Commission over abuse of dominant position issues regarding display of search results was – more or less – accepted this week. Within the European Union more little boxes and links to competitor’s websites will be displayed. Google accountants will not be sending money.
“The concessions are far-reaching and have the clear potential of restoring a level playing field with competitors,” said EC Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia to the Brussels media scrum. “No antitrust authority in the world has obtained such concessions.” And that’s true; most have taken a little cash and conceded defeat when faced with Google lawyers bearing the grim possibility of search removal. Some EC watchers suggest Commissioner Almunia just wants the Google file closed before he retires later this year. (See more about Google here)
Not pleased were Google’s main competitors in the web search and search advertising business. The Microsoft-funded complainant FairSearch called the action “worse than doing nothing.” DG Competition will not market-test the latest proposal. Bidding for Google real estate, the accepted mechanism for bringing rivals to search results, could be expensive.
“The Commission is side-stepping our concerns about the way an abusive monopolist is dictating licensing terms” said European Publishers Council chairman Francisco Pinto Balsemão in a statement. “A take it or leave it opt-out rather than the means to agree terms of access to our content is the ultimate predatory practice.” (See EPC statement here) Publishers have fought a valiant fight in national courts as well as the EC to break into the Google piggy bank only to be faced with banishment from Google search results.
While it’s possible the entire EC might order a different result, Google adversaries, largely, see the handwriting on the wall. French public TV, certain to irritate publishers, is using the Google Hangout tool ahead of municipal elections for live debates among candidates and fifty have signed up. “We think that elections are an excellent test for this type of product,” said Google France marketing manager Jean-Philippe Bécane. (JMH)
Bad fan behavior to be punished
Curiouser and curiouser
Broadcasters participating the in Eurovision Song Contest will be punished, as much as a three-year suspension, if anybody from their country tries to buy votes, or so says the statement from the European Broadcasting Union’s Eurovision Song Contest Reference Group on its official website. Last year a Lithuanian news outlet captured a couple of guys “speaking Russian” offering €20 to the undercover reporters if they voted by SMS for the Azerbaijan contestant. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), public broadcaster trade association and owner of the Eurovision Song Contest brand, investigated and found no link to Azeri broadcaster Ictimai TV, host of the 2013 event. (See more on the Eurovision Song Contest here)
“Just as football clubs are in principle accountable for the behavior of their fans, we will hold – on a case-by-case basis – participating broadcasters accountable and make them responsible to prevent voting irregularities in favor of their entry,” said the statement attributed to Reference Group chairman Frank Dieter Freiling, who is also international affairs director at German public TV network ZDF. The annual Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) telecasts attract more than 100 million viewers with national contestant selection contests rivaling the biggest TV talent shows. And, just like football, the ESC is popular at betting parlors.
Regulators invited to new group
Refreshments on the agenda
The European Commission (EC) has now officially anointed the European Regulators Group for Audiovisual Media Services suggested last year by the High Level Group on Media Freedom and Pluralism. The Group – top folks with Member States media regulators – will first meet March 4th , according to the EC announcement (February 3). Aiding the EC in implementing the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMS) “in a converged media age” is the stated objective.
The AVMS Directive became EU law in 2010 after five years of debate and negotiation and the main accomplishment was converging some rules for linear TV with on-demand services, easing restrictions on product placement and encouraging self-regulation. The independence of national regulators from evil outsiders and politicians was also encouraged. Reinforced was the country-of-origin principle, rules applying to broadcasters domiciled in Member State regardless of intended audience. It’s up for revision in 2015, likely after a new EC takes shape.
The EC, in general, and Digital Agenda Vice President Neelie Kroes, specifically, has taken a dim view of Member States embrace of single market rules. The EC has far more authority over telecom regulators. Audiovisual regulators in Member States, nearly all political appointees, may face a test. The European Council late last year “invited” Members States to insure regulator’s independence, make media ownership transparent, monitor media concentration and safeguard rights of journalists.
On the other side of the table, country-of-origin isn’t as important as “country-of-consumption,” as expressed recently by French Culture Minister Aurélie Filippetti. Netflix, obviously, didn’t exist when the AVMS Directive was drawn up.
The independent European Platform of Regulators Authorities (EPRA), hosted by the European Audiovisual Observatory in Strasburg, has provided a forum for nitty-gritty regulator issues since 1995. It’s membership more or less coincides with Council of Europe Member States and meet twice a year. (JMH)
Radio to make heads spin
Inventing a world
Radio drama is not, necessarily, a dark art. But with spring many weeks away and nights in the Northern Hemisphere cold and, well, dark, there are great stories to tell. Public broadcasters in Spain and the UK have recently adapted scary stories from the big screen for the biggest canvas.
Spanish public broadcaster RNE adapted for radio Ridley Scott’s dystopian thriller “Blade Runner”, itself an adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”. It’s a tough story to adapt for radio, largely because the well-known film version used little dialogue.
“You have to invent a world that does not exist from the point of view of sound,” said producer Benigno Moreno to El Mundo (January 28). “We chose Blade Runner because it’s about a world virtually destroyed and lonely, where replicants are almost more human than human.” RNE Radio 3 broadcast the production live with encores on Radio Nacional planned.
“Only using sound may seem like a disadvantage but actually it’s an advantage because the listener imagines a series of universes,” said Mayca Aguilera, director of the production. Previously RNE has adapted for radio Psycho, The Life of Brian and Dracula. The next project for RNE is adapting Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing.”
At the end of February BBC Radio 4 will broadcast on two consecutive nights one of the scariest stories ever, a radio adaptation of The Exorcist. The 1973 film by William Friedkin, adapted from William Peter Blatty’s novel, was once banned in parts of the UK.
“In the book there is some doubt about whether Regan's head turns around or not,” said producer/director Gaynor Macfarlane to The Observer (February 2), referring to Linda Blair’s scariest scene in the film. “Our version may not have these filmic tricks, but it has a gradual, creeping, perhaps more toxic horror. You feel tainted by hearing it.” (JMH)
Major newspaper editor relieved, jabs prime minister
“journalism is a way of life”
El Mundo editor-in-chief Pedro J. Ramírez did not go quietly into the night after being dismissed by publisher Unidad Editorial. Sr. Ramírez penned a final “carta del director” Sunday (February 2) in which he noted the publisher’s “legitimate power” to make a change, pressure from the Spanish government and “journalism is a way of life that has value in itself.” Sr. Ramírez was a co-founder of El Mundo in 1989.
Unidad Editorial principal shareholder RCS MediaGroup said Deputy Editor Casimiro García-Abadillo has been moved into the top spot “with the objective of relaunching its hard copy circulation and further strengthening its digital leadership.” (See RCS MediaGroup statement here) El Mundo is second to El Pais in daily circulation in Spain and leads ABC. The major Spanish newspapers have seen precipitous drops in circulation in recent years. RCS MediaGroup has restructured Italian publishing assets in the past year to reflect softer revenues and a shift to digital media. (See more on media in Spain here)
“Rajoy (Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy) is committed to the myth of government without newspapers,” wrote Sr. Ramírez in his final word in El Mundo, “but actually dreams of government without a country and has chosen… to make reporting increasingly expensive for publishers.” El Mundo led reporting last year of scandals involving Sr. Rajoy’s People’s Party.
“Our most bitter enemies recognize that Spain in this last quarter century would have been different, and probably worse, without a newspaper like El Mundo,” he ended.
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