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Publisher becomes radio news provider
“good local news”
Cooperation is clearly more desirable than fighting, yes? Independently-owned Malmö, Sweden daily newspaper Skånska Dagbladet will soon provide local news to community radio station Retro FM. The newspaper is looking for a little branding action for its web portal skånskan.se. The radio station, which launched with a volunteer staff in January, is looking to beef-up local content.
“I have high hopes that the newscasts will serve as appetizers to listeners who do not know how much good local news we actually produce every day,” said skånskan.se editorial director Mimmi Karlsson-Bernfalk to radionytt.se (October 11). A team of three journalists will present morning newscasts on Retro FM starting October 14. If all goes well, afternoon newscasts will follow.
The cooperation “fits like a glove with our local vision,” said Retro FM principal Robert Persson. “We can increase the coverage of each other and reach out to people of Skåne (Scania province) with the news.” Scania is Sweden’s southern-most province and home to the country’s third largest city, Malmö. Mr. Persson is also owner of Malmö ad agency Mad Men Media. (See more on media in Sweden here)
Retro FM came to be in January 2013, taking deserted FM frequencies in the aftermath of protracted battling for the Malmö region oldies radio market between major network operators SBS Radio and Modern Times Group (MTG).
More cuts to popular public broadcaster
Ideological opportunity
The budget of another public broadcaster is to face politically popular austerity. Dutch State Secretary for Culture and Media Sander Dekker wants €100 million in cuts to general media budget within which €45 million will come from Netherlands Public Broadcasting (NPO) in the current round of budget negotiations to take effect in 2016. In 2011 the government of center-right Prime Minister Mark Rutte cut €200 million per year from NPO funding taking effect in 2014.
Unique in Europe, Dutch public broadcasting is a remarkable, if complicated, system of a dozen associations representing various aspects of civil society. As a whole the NPO system operates three national free-to-air channels, 8 specialty digital TV channels, 7 national radio channels plus several digital-only radio channels. The Dutch public broadcasting system received €790 million from the State budget for this year augmented by about €175 million from advertising. (See more on media in the Netherlands here)
Secretary Dekker suggested that NPO broadcasting associations learn to “earn more money fast,” quoted by broadcastmagazine.nl (October 10), perhaps through more ad sales and higher carriage fees from cable operators.
NPO critics seized the opportunity to revive well-worn arguments. Far-right MP Martin Bosma said cuts to “the leftist State broadcaster” are “justified.” Newspaper publishers focused on sports rights costs. RTL Netherlands CEO Bert Habets offered to take over one of the NPO TV channels. “The public really won’t miss a thing.”
Staff and supporters rallied in The Hague to hear NPO chairman Henk Hagoort. “We previously cut €200 million,” he said. “That amount was not taken from programs.” With the new round of cuts, he added, “we will soon have no more public broadcasting.” A petition with more than a quarter million signatures supporting the NPO was handed to Secretary Dekker.
“The Dutch government needs to realize that this proposal is excessive and should be dropped,” said European Broadcasting Union (EBU) president Jean-Paul Philippot, in a statement (see here). “While belt tightening is necessary, cutting 300 million from NPO’s budget…is akin to tightening a noose around its ability to serve the public properly.”
Austerity and fealty to right-wing worldview notwithstanding, national public broadcasters have been shown to have substantial popular support. The Greek government’s closure of public broadcaster ERT sparked intense reaction, affecting the entire body politic. It’s a rallying point at a time when the public sees little to lose. (JMH)
US companies pushing hard in Western Europe
Pay-TV and more
Discovery Communications and French TV operator TF1 just might be accelerating negotiations for the sale of all-sports network Eurosport, reports Les Echos (October 8). Discovery Communications acquired 20% of Eurosport last year and speculation is that the US pay and cable provider will own it all by the end of this year. The company bought the ProSiebenSat.1 Media Scandinavian TV and radio operations in 2012. This year the Discovery brand entered Interbrands top 100 list of most valuable global brands.
If true and comes about, Discovery Communications will strengthen its grasp – literally and figuratively – on the awakened pay-TV market in Western Europe, drivers of which have always been sports and movies. Pent-up demand for top-notch video content, including HD, has opened doors for pay-TV operators including Time Warner and Liberty Global. At the same time, Netflix and other OTT providers are whetting consumer’s appetite for internet distribution at low prices.
Pay-TV is “the fastest segment of the German television market,” reported private broadcasters association VPRT earlier this year. With €1.84 billion in German market sales last year, competition will only get tougher. Another US-based company, 21st Century Fox, has ramped up marketing its Sky pay-TV franchises in Germany and Italy and even placed James Murdoch as Sky Deutschland chairman at the end of September. (JMH)
Ad and media people join to promote advertising
Key sector
The advertising industry in Spain – and those who love it – have launched a campaign to promote the virtues of spots, space, banners and billboards. Along with the message - ¡Publicidad, sí! (Advertising, Yes!) – appearing in various media during October the ad and media people want to remind one and all that advertising is a significant part of the Spanish economy.
“Advertising deserves the support of everybody because it stimulates growth, accelerates investment in innovation, promotes competition and ensures the existence and pluralism of the media and allows their independence from the State,” said Ministry of Industry spokesperson Carlos Romero, quoted by El Mundo. “It’s a key sector, even more in times of recession.” (October 6). (See more on media in Spain here)
Ad spending in Spain has followed the general economic current, falling nearly 15% between the first half 2012 and first half this year. The advertising and ad-supported media sectors in Spain contribute about 2% of GDP and employ 150,000 people. Ad agencies contributed creative content with TV, radio, newspapers, magazines and outdoor companies providing about €2 million in time and space.
Public broadcasting tax raises a lot more money
Exempt dementia
Not all public broadcasters a suffering financially these days. In Germany the large and diverse system of public radio and television channels and networks will share about €80 million more this year from the public broadcasting support tax than last year, reported the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) (October 4). German Federal States agreed changes to the public broadcasting license fee tax in 2011 making more households and businesses chargeable.
Tax contributions to German public broadcasting are expected to rise, according to FAZ, to €7.69 billion by 2016. The total in 2003 was €6.79 billion. Advertising revenues also augment the coffers of some German public radio and TV channels. So much for austerity. (See more on media in Germany here)
Unhappy with the revelation, predictably, is private broadcasters association VPRT, which placed blame for the “confusing situation” on the Federal States. “The €600 million (increase from 2003) is a high price paid by people for the mistake of the Länder,” said VPRT CEO Tobias Schmid in a statement (October 8).
The new device-neutral public broadcasting tax is “constitutionally unproblematic,” offered University of Mainz tax law expert Hanno Kube in an opinion penned for German public broadcasters. It’s much better, he said, than allocating resources directly from State (Länder) budgets, which would create a “maelstrom of cyclically recurring budgetary discussions.”
One sticking point in the current Broadcasting Treaty makes owners of second homes in Germany liable for a second public broadcasting support tax. It is “difficult to distinguish between genuine first and second homes,” said Professor Kube. He also suggested that people with dementia and unable to discern whether or not they are using public broadcasting should be exempt from the tax. (JMH)
Ad time cut at public broadcaster
a “brutal attack,” says journalists
Public broadcasters in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) will have one-third less commercial airtime to sell ordered media regulator Communications Regulatory Agency (RAK), a decision that displeased several stakeholders. An amendment to the commercial communications code effective in the new year will limit advertising to four minutes per hour from the current six. The RAK Council said the public broadcasters lack transparency, particularly in spending.
“The conclusion is that in the broadcasting market in BiH the public broadcasters have emerged as a leading commercial media, which is, for the balanced functioning of the entire market, unacceptable,” said the RAK Council in a statement, reported media.ba (September 27). ”Public media,which often lacks transparency and spends funds of BiH citizens extravagantly, should be a shining example of transparency and rational allocation of public funds. Otherwise, the media loses credibility to alert others to the same when they themselves do not comply with the legislation.”
“The adoption of this decision is a step toward the destruction of public broadcasting in our country,” offered the Union of Public Employees, quoted by fereralna.ba (September 26), suggesting the RAK decision was “instigated” by commercial broadcasters. The Association of BiH Journalists called the decision “a brutal attack on one of the remaining pillars of the State.”
Public broadcasting in BiH is organized into three entities divided by language and geography. It has been funded by advertising and subsidies from the government, aided by support from the European Commission and aid agencies.
“When we refer to European practice, you have to take into account that there is normally one public broadcaster,” explained RAK director Kemal Huseinovic. ”Here we have three. That means three times six minutes for public broadcasters. That’s an invasion on the cake of commercial broadcasters.”
Radio still makes pop stars, quotas needed
“requires hours of listening”
Switzerland is blessed with many internationally known bankers, watchmakers, nuclear physicists and, yes, chocolatiers. But pop music stars, not so many. There would be more, said a Swiss politician, if only radio stations played their tunes.
“We do not hear enough of Swiss musicians on the radio,” said Federal Council member Luc Barthassat, quoted by 20minutes (October 3). He’s introduced an amendment to the Swiss Law on Radio and Television (LRTV), currently being debated by the Swiss Parliament, to require 25% Swiss music on licensed radio stations. “I am convinced that there are plenty of Bastian Baker’s in Switzerland.” Pop singer Bastian Baker, from Lausanne, currently enjoys music chart and airplay recognition internationally.
Response to the music quota suggestion from Swiss broadcasters and the music industry was swift and, somewhat, predictable. “Yes, there are good groups and good Swiss French-speaking groups,” said Rouge FM program director Philippe Martin. “But our station plays fifteen songs per hour and we cannot provide 25% Swiss productions.” Rouge FM is licensed to Lausanne, in the French-speaking part of Switzerland.
Radio Energy (Zürich) general manager Danny Büchi didn’t mince nuance. Music quotas “would be a further constraint on the private (radio) market,” he said, adding that not enough Swiss music is “playable.”
“Swiss musicians have no chance without being known,” said Swiss music and media association director Manu Gehriger. “We must change that. And being on the radio can be invaluable.” Warner Music Switzerland director Ralf Brachat wasn’t so adamant: “We can not impose on listeners songs they do not want to hear.”
Radio channels of Swiss public broadcaster SSR-SRG allocate about 20% of music programming to Swiss artists. “There are a lot of Swiss artists who can be played on radio,” said Swiss-French regional public broadcaster RTS deputy director Laurent Pavia. “This requires hours of listening to music. To do this six passionate (music) programmers work with (pop music channel) Couleur 3.” (JMH)
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