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Prix Europa Opens
and there are prizes
The annual Prix Europa radio and television (and now new media) festival kicks off in Berlin Saturday (October 17). The event has grown so much there is not simply one main event. (See Prix Europa opening presser here)
Saturday is the Radio Day of European Cultures, now in its 4th year. (See article on one of its features here) There are workshops, presentations and many discussions among media professionals. Not to be forgotten is the annual entertainment show, a circus this year. And, winding it up next week are the awards for the good, better and best. (JMH)
Changes in radio law ‘imminent’
On the table
Radio licensing rules have incensed Norway’s private sector broadcasters. The licensing round in March last year was so contentious a repeat was ordered in July. Several broadcasters with long tenure found themselves off the air or relegated to smaller markets. Some were awarded only part-time authorization.
Norway’s Culture Minister Trond Giske has promised to straighten out the mess. “It is on my table now. We are ready to talk with all concerned stakeholders, and a decision is very imminent,” he told Kampanje (October 14). (See background here)
The Norwegian Media Authority, responsible for broadcast licensing, told Minister Giske to simply reject complaints from broadcasters. (JMH)
Another call for digital radio funding
More State aid
Digital radio simply gobbles money. Another German regulator has appealed to politicians for more. German private sector broadcasters concluded that digital radio is a turkey (gobble gobble) supporters want State aid. (More on digital radio here)
Landesmedienanstalt Saarland (LMS) director Gert Bauer said (October 14) that “digital dividend” cash should fund DAB+ multiplexes. Start-up funding must be guaranteed “even for small private radio stations and in rural, sparsely populated areas for the digitization of radio,” quoted Horizont. Bauer made his appeal in letters to politicians. (JMH)
Where Was Telecom?
Every four years Geneva hosts Telecom World, a trade show sponsored by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) that usually attracts some 1,000 exhibitors who takes massive floor space in the exhibition halls showing that money is of no object, the global business TV channels fill the airwaves with constant live reports interviewing the CEOs of the world’s biggest telecoms, heads of ancillary companies such as mobile phone makers, and top regulators from around the world. Usually hotel rooms in Geneva and the surrounding area can’t be found for love or money. But this year was different. How many of you have noticed that Telecom has come and gone?
This year’s event held last week drew just 442 exhibitors taking much less exhibit space and it was tough to find much TV coverage. But one could get a restaurant reservation and find a taxi pretty easily which tells how light total attendance was.
The message seems to be that major exhibitions for exhibitors and attendees in the current economic climate are still “nice to be there” rather than “must attend”.
EU Slams Turkey’s Pressure On The Media
The European Union’s annual report about countries wanting to join the EU has slammed Turkey for “political pressure” against media companies.
The report took issue took issue with Turkey’s €1.75 billion ($2.6 billion) fine for alleged tax offenses by the Dogan media conglomerate that is often critical of government policy. “The high fines imposed by the revenue authority potentially undermine the economic viability of the group and therefore affect freedom of the press in practice,” the report said. “There is a need to uphold the principles of proportionality and of fairness in these tax-related procedures.”
“If a tax fine is worth the annual turnover of a company, it is quite a strong sanction,” Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn told reporters. “It may not only be a fiscal sanction, it feels also like a political sanction. We have serious concerns.” The Turkish tax office, meanwhile, is actively enforcing the fine, ordering the seizure of stakes in three of Dogan’s companies.
Last week Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan compared Dogan to Chicago gangster Al Capone in the 1930s who committed just about every crime known to man but the federal government could only nail him for income tax evasion.
Ad agencies making less
New space?
Oh, no! Not only do ad agencies have less to spend on media, new media being the cheap alternative, they’re making less. Here’s the real crisis.
A survey of members of the German Association of Communications Agencies (GWA), reported in kress.de, showed increased pessimism among the advertising and PR firms. The consensus expects 8% lower revenues and 23.8% lower profits. Nearly six in ten of the firms (57%) have “responded” by cutting staff. Just under half (47%) of the ad and PR firms believe next year will be better for sales.
The vast majority – 84% - of the GWA members say “digital communications” are now important. Least important are traditional media, event marketing and sponsorship.
Polish ad agencies see an even worse year, reports Dziennik (October 12). Ad agency revenues could be down 10% to 20% with media buyers down 40% or more.
“Customers are increasingly began to use the word ‘crisis’ and demand lower prices,” said Publicis managing director Marek Garga.
Several Warsaw ad agencies are fighting the recession by relocating to less expensive office space. (JMH)
American Consolidated Media May Breach Loan Agreements
A couple of years back the Australian Macquarie Media Group was on a roll buying more than 100 community newspapers in Ohio, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware , Texas and Oklahoma making it the fifth largest owner of small US community newspapers. The business plan was simple – buy newspapers that were primary news providers in their community with a large base of local advertisers and that had little dependence on national advertising. But now it seems even at the community level, too much debt can scupper the best laid plans.
Macquarie has told the Australian Stock Exchange that preliminary estimates for the quarter ended September 30 indicates its American Consolidated Media (ACM) will be in violation of covenants for loans maturing in June next year. It said it is negotiating for waivers but if they are not granted then repayments could be forced ahead of schedule and the company lost to the creditors.
Macquarie entered the US market in 2006, paying $80 million for the 40 newspapers of American Consolidated Media in Texas and Oklahoma. A few months later it swooped on Superior Publishing Corporation that published 19 newspapers in the Midwest and Grove Sun Newspaper Company that publishes four newspapers in Oklahoma, paying a total price around $67 million.
Later it bought five daily newspapers in Ohio and Maryland and 28 other publications in two separate deals, valued at $159.5 million, so in all that’s an investment of more than $300 million, mostly via debt. Macquarie says it currently values its ACM investment at just $81 million.
About That England-Ukraine Streaming …
We mentioned in the Tickle last week that the England-Ukraine World Cup qualifying football (soccer) match last Saturday would only be shown in the UK on Internet streaming, because the terrestrial and satellite stations refused to pay the asking fee. Perform, the online sports streaming company, said it would limit subscriptions to no more than 1 million streams, and it reported after the match “nearly half a million streams”.
The company had charged from £4.99 to £11.99 depending on how soon one signed up, but it also struck a deal with bet365, the online gambling company, that offered the game free for signing up to its site. Perform says the feed was "Britain's biggest internet pay-to-view sports broadcast." but the British Forces network made the match available to British forces overseas (Afghanistan etc.) and it’s unclear if those streams are included, so it’s difficult to tell at the end of the day just how successful financially it all was, but they probably made some decent money (depending on what they paid for rights).
Perform said its after-match survey showed "…an average of 87% felt the picture quality was satisfactory or better and 93% were satisfied with the customer support, 87% said the match offered value for money and 89% would purchase another live sports event online."
But online comments were not so generous, such as, “TV technology has come so far that we could hook up a laptop to a state-of-the-art 40-inch LCD TV with full 1080p HD via an HDMI cable, yet were limited to a stuttering 1Mbps stream.”
And at the end of the day (literally) the BBC showed highlights on its primary BBC1 network. It was not allowed contractually to announce that deal until after the game had finished, so BBC1 viewers deep into Strictly Come Dancing were treated to host Bruce Forsythe practically unable to contain himself as he announced the big news that at 10:15 local time the BBC would show the highlights. That in turn caused some angry Internet chatter from some of those die-hard football who paid for the Internet streaming not knowing those highlights would be shown on free TV (included in the license fee!). Once bitten, twice shy?
A Great Headline (No, Not This One)
In Journalism 101 they taught that the headline should convey the true meaning of the story so hats off to MarketWatch for this great headline on the Nobel economics Prize awarded Monday: Obama fails to win Nobel prize in economics.
In a great-tongue-in-cheek commentary MarketWatch noted, “ While few observers think Obama has done anything for world peace in the nearly nine months he's been in office, the same clearly can't be said for economics. The president has worked tirelessly since even before his inauguration to wrest control of the U.S. economy from failed free markets, and the evil CEOs who profit from them, and to turn it over to wise, fair and benevolent bureaucrats.
“From his $787 billion stimulus package, to the cap-and-trade bill, to the seizures of General Motors and Chrysler, to the undead health-care "reform" act, Obama has dominated the U.S., and therefore the global, economy as few figures have in recent years. Yet the Nobel panel chose instead to award the prize to two obscure academics -- Elinor Ostrom and Oliver Williamson -- one noted for her work on managing collective resources, and the other for his work on transaction costs….”
Whether you agree or not, you’ve got to admit the headline told the story.
ITV: Just say no
Another candidate takes a pass
Sir Michael Bishop, former Channel 4 chairman and currently owner of airline BMI, has taken a pass on the opportunity to be ITV chairman. Sir Crispin Davis, former Reed Elsevier CEO, also found something better to do. Current chairman and chief executive Michael Grade wants out by the end of the year.
ITV’s shareholders named COO John Cresswell interim CEO. He plans to leave as soon as a CEO and/or chairman can be found. Just a few days ago, former BSkyB head Tony Ball failed to reach agreement with the ITV shareholders on his job description.
Are these just jobs nobody wants? They pay a boat-load of money. ITV is, er, a challenge but there must be a few lion-tamers ready to jump into the cage. Maybe not?
Having sat on more than a few corporate search committees I’ve see how major shareholders tend to grovel in the presence of big names. Perhaps the ITV shareholders need to lower their gaze. The first item negotiated away by big names is actually doing any work. (JMH)
Super FM returns
Rock’n’roll
Super FM returned to the Portuguese capital Lisbon after an 11 year absence. Director Rui Santos wants to attract new listeners, he told Meios & Publicidade (October 9), who “no longer have a reference for radio.” He expects to build from the stations previous listeners now “between 29 and 36 years” who “no longer listen to radio.”
“There are many people who stopped listening to radio because it is identified with songs that are programmed and then… pick up the CD, iPod, MP3 and hear what they like.”
“The trend of the century is that the radio must be formatted and, therefore, make the call out and ask people if they like it or not this music. And where is the instinct?”
Portugal, like all Europe, is wrestling with dismal economics, which Sr, Santos rejects as a hindrance: “The crisis is used for everything, but there is no crisis in creativity.”
Two other radio stations used the Super FM brand name in Portugal since the early 1990’s. (JMH)
TV Retreats To Repeats
The future is so yesterday
As broadcasters’ program budgets are slashed audiences will be treated to schedules filled with repeats and game shows. Broadcasters spent €12 billion on original commission content in 2008, says Content Economics Research Director James Healey in a report - Investment in original TV programming, 2008-12 – released concurrent with the annual MipCom TV fair. Healey notes UK broadcaster ITV slashing its programming budget by nearly €120 million.
“Viewers around Europe have already started to notice that there are an increasing number of repeat programmes on TV,” says the report. “This is likely to be a long-term trend as broadcasters reduce their programming costs. Similarly, viewers should expect to see more quiz shows and documentaries in their programme guides, and fewer dramas.” (See Content Economics presser here)
Cost reductions are the reality of media in the present tense. Much of that will fall on the backs of program budgets and, by consequence, program producers. While howls about saving quality television (meaning, largely, expensive dramas) will continue to rattle the windows, broadcasters are facing both lower revenues and more channels to fill. If repeats and games shows push audience levels lower, budget pressure will only grow. (JMH)
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