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Cinema recession proof? Maybe not.
Depends on the movies?
One of the many recession survival memes holds that cinema holds up well when economic times are tough. Attendance figures from France, released this week by the Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC), suggest folks are staying away from the big screens. Compared with the first quarter last year, cinema attendance in France dropped 15.2% with a whopping 34% drop in March alone.
Pourquoi? Last year "Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis" drew 16 million viewers after a February release. No film this year has come close.
No fear, “X-Men” releases April 29th followed by “Angels and Demons” May 13th. (JMH)
Facebook traffic up 300% in Europe – AARRGGHH!!
We’re doomed!!
comScore reports the latest American scourge to overtake the civilized world; millions are on Facebook (April 15). Total internet minutes logged on to Facebook in Europe increased more than three-fold in a year, from 1.1% to 4.1%. That would be more than 22 million visitors in the UK, 13 million in France, 12 million in Turkey and 10 million in Italy.
The average European Facebook users spends more than three hours a month ‘poking’ and ‘friending’.
“Over the course of the past year, it has climbed the rankings in virtually every market and taken over the top position in several,” said comScore Managing Director Europe Mike Read in a release. “Most recently, Facebook grabbed the top position in Spain after nipping at the heels of a leading local player for the past several months.”
Among the 17 countries surveyed, Facebook is either the number one or two social networking platform in all but three. That would be Russia, Germany and Portugal. In one short year, Facebook traffic has increased more than 2, 700% in Italy and nearly 1000% in Spain. And that’s just the February numbers. (JMH)
Moldova in the spotlight
Be careful with your fifteen minutes
Stunned by protests the Moldovan government continues its crackdown on media workers. European media organizations and the Romanian government are expressing their ire.
Moldovan activist Natalia Morar was ordered to ten days house arrest being charged with “usurping state power, mass disorder and active disobedience,” reported Mediafax (Romania) and Itar Tass (April 16). Morar gained a moment of fame for using social networking platform Twitter to connect friends for a bit of a demonstration. She once worked for the radical Russian newspaper The New Times and authorities there won’t let her back into Russia.
The Moldovan Ministry of Foreign Affairs withdrew press accreditation for Romanian public television reporter Doru Dendiu (April 13) requiring him to leave the country. Last week news crews traveling from Romania to report on the riots following unpopular election results in Moldova were turned away at the border (April 9).
Moldovan and Romanian media workers reported assaults by Moldovan police in the capital Chisinau last week while reporting on demonstrations. European Broadcasting Union (EBU) Director General Jean Réveillon (April 16) urged “authorities in Moldova to afford journalists, of every nationality, the freedom to report from Moldova.” (See EBU statement here)
“What happened to Romanian journalists in Moldova, arrested, detained, searched, some of them refused access on the territory of the Republic of Moldova, as well as to Romanian citizens, are issues that we will submit to the European Court of Human Rights,” announced Romanian President Traian Basescu on Romanian public TV (April 14). (JMH)
Zell Says Buying Tribune Was A ‘Mistake’
When Sam Zell took Tribune private in 2007 in a highly leveraged $8.2 billion deal there was euphoria in the newspaper world because here was a mighty smart man who had made hundreds of millions of dollars over the years by being financially astute, and here he was buying a huge media company. There must be a future in traditional media after all! As everyone knows, Tribune filed for bankruptcy protection last December, and Zell now says he made “a mistake” , which goes to show that even the smartest of them don’t get it right all the time.
"By definition, if you bought something and it's now worth a great deal less, you made a mistake and I'm more than willing to say I made a mistake," Zell told BloombergTV. "I was too optimistic in terms of the newspaper's ability to preserve its position.”.
Zell says he has learned fast about the newspaper industry and he is convinced the current business model is broken. "It's very obvious that the newspaper model in its current form does not work and the sooner we all acknowledge that the better," he said. "Whether it be home delivery, whether it be giving content away for free -- these are critical issues."
And in about as damning a statement one could make about an industry, Zell said he saw no merger in Tribune’s future because “That’s like asking someone in another business if they want to get vaccinated with a live virus. I don’t think there’s a long list of people who want to buy a newspaper company today.”
The Chicago newspaper, meanwhile, says it is going through yet reorganization because revenues have declined by more than 20% this year alone.
If Yahoo Dumps Hotjobs What Happens To The Newspaper Consortium?
Rumors abound in Silicon Valley that Yahoo is looking to get rid of Hotjobs which if true is of major concern to more than 800 US newspapers that have partnered with Yahoo in The Newspaper Consortium for co-branded Yahoo HotJobs. By most accounts the sites have been decent revenue producers with some newspapers reporting six figure returns.
The issue facing Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz, however, is that because of the recession online recruitment ad sales fell 5% last year. On the other hand access to the various Hotjob sites increased by 146% because the consortium was adding new members. Bartz is a bottom line manager, the Newspaper Consortium is legacy as far as she is concerned, and if ad revenue is down that’s not good news for the consortium.
If Hotjobs was to go that could be good news for Gannett, owner of careerbuilder.com.
Commissioners rested after long weekend
Italy and UK smacked
European Commission Info Society and Media Commissioner Viviane Reding and Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes returned from the long Easter holiday weekend delivering stern warnings to both the UK and Italian governments on media issues.
From the UK government, Commissioner Reding wants action in the Phorm phenomenon. After several informal requests and a formal investigation the EC still sees “structural problems” with the UK’s approach to internet privacy. Phorm is a US company that provided systems to BT (formerly known as British Telecom) for tracking internet users Web activities, digesting all that data and using it for advertising. BT tested Phorm in 2006 without letting customers know it was collecting every click. (More on Phorm here)
Commissioner Reding cites EU law requiring consent before personal information can be collected. The UK government has 60 days to answer, without which – or if the wrong answer - or it’s off to the European Court of Justice. That answer needs to say something about strengthening UK internet privacy laws.
"Technologies such as internet behavioral advertising can be useful for businesses and consumers but they must be used in a way that complies with EU rules,” said Commissioner Reding in a statement (April 14). “I call on the UK authorities to change their national laws and ensure that national authorities are duly empowered and have proper sanctions at their disposal to enforce EU legislation on the confidentiality of communications.”
The Italian government – specifically telecom regulator AGCOM – was “invited” to share with the EC details of structural changes to Telecom Italia agreed after Commissioner Reding “warned” of the inevitable trip to the ECJ if T.Italia wasn’t split into two units. “I welcome the fact that, despite some initial difficulties, there is now a good cooperation between the Commission and AGCOM on this important issue,” said Commissioner Reding in a statement.
"We need to make sure that Telecom Italia's undertakings, once applied, will indeed improve the competitive situation in the Italian access markets, for the benefit of all market players involved, in particular alternative operators and end-users,” offered Commissioner Kroes. “Therefore I regret that AGCOM's notification did not include regulatory measures but welcome the clarification that Telecom Italia's undertakings will be notified as part of remedies in the near future.”
Shortly thereafter AGCOM issued a statement “welcoming” the Commission’s interest. (JMH)
Even Jay Leno Takes Aim
You know it’s bad when Jay Leno targets you, and his joke this week about newspapers and the new Obama puppy had a sharp bite to it.
His bottom line – the Obamas are going to have a tough time house-training their new puppy because these days it’s tough to find a newspaper! Ouch.
Marriott Says It Can’t Even Give Away Newspapers
J.W. Marriott, Jr, the CEO of the Marriott Hotel chain, says he visits 250 hotels a year and if they all have one thing in common it is the number of newspapers untouched by room occupants that remain on the floors of hallways outside each guest room after the guest has left. In other words the hotel can’t even give newspapers away.
So now the hotel says it is going to do the correct environment thing come June 1 and not automatically leave a newspaper outside each guest room. Instead, at check-in the guest can say whether a newspaper is wanted and those who want one will get one, and those who don’t, won’t.
Going From Bad To Worse, The Media Gets Tossed Out Of The NYPD
Remember all those old Ben Hecht black and white movies with reporters playing cards in the press room at police headquarters waiting for the big story and then ganging up on a police officer to get quotes on the spot?. Well, in New York those days are about done!
The New York police commissioner has told the media that the space now occupied by the press room is needed for a new operations center to be constructed and there’s no room elsewhere in the building to house the journalists. But not to worry, building of a new police academy is set to start soon so by 2013 there will be room there for the press – will all the newspapers in New York still be around? Until then, the media must operate from their own newsrooms – yet another tradition blown away.
Creditors seize Russian publishers assets
White knights waiting
The Nicosia (Cyprus) District court granted the Bank of Moscow seizure of Russian media firm RBC’s assets, reported Vedomosti (April 13). The bank had filed suit in March in the London (UK) Court of International Arbitration. RBC’s Cyprus assets were seized as security in the arbitration action, reported finan.ru (April 13).
RBC, RosBusinessConsulting, publishes several business and interior design magazines in Russia, operates a business news television channel as well as an ad network. The company is registered in Cyprus. It has been a high flyer in Russian media, recently cut low by the economic downturn and high debt from previous acquisitions. (More on media in Russia here)
The company has been undergoing debt restructuring and had scheduled a shareholders meeting for April 15th to approve the measures. Last week Interros Chairman Vladimir Potanin emerged as a possible white knight. (JMH)
It’s Still Deadly Out There For Journalists
The International News Safety Institute (INSI) says at least 24 journalists died in the first three months of this year, adding to the 109 killed in 2008, so this doesn’t seem like the time that news organizations should be cutting back on their safety training, but there is a fear that they are for financial reasons.
"The figures clearly demonstrate that the dangers faced by many of our colleagues have not lessened despite the hard economic times -- indeed they may have increased," said INSI Director Rodney Pinder. "The news still happens, often in circumstances of great hazard to reporters and support staff. Yet we fear that newspapers and broadcasters struggling with tough budgets may be tempted to cut back on safety training and resources. We appeal to them to ring fence spending on the safety of their staff and stringers."
INSI now counts 1,397 news media dead since 1996 in 105 countries.
That so many journalists are still in harm’s way is a good reason for The World Association of Newspapers (WAN) urging publications world-wide to show their support on World Press Freedom Day, May 3.
WAN, which represents 18,000 newspapers world-wide, is dedicating its 2009 World Press Freedom Day campaign to "Journalists in the Firing Line", and is producing editorials, advertisements, political cartoons, interviews and other materials for publication in newspapers and other media.
Maybe Not As Many People Read Newspapers Online After All
The Nieman Journalism Lab has printed the results of an exercise that claims in the US “the online share of the newspaper audience attention is only a bit more than 3%”.
You need to read the article to understand all of the various assumptions, but it concludes, “Is it any wonder then, that online revenue is stuck at less than 10% of print revenue? Given the online share of audience attention, 10% looks high, actually.”
If you buy into this then newspapers are in even worse shape than we thought for while we all know print readership and revenue are declining, the thought was online would eventually make up the difference. But if the Nieman article is right, then back to the drawing boards – its solution is “an online-print hybrid in which print is consolidated to one, two, or three editions per week, not seven.”
Broadcasting Communication – round three begins
Modernizing takes time
The European Commission’s Competition Directorate released (April 9) a second draft of proposed revisions to the Broadcasting Communication and with it a new round of public consultation. Member States and other interested parties will have until May 9 to share their thoughts with Commissioner Neelie Kroes’ office.
The Broadcasting Communication is meant to set out rules governing State aid to public broadcasters. The EC believes these rules, in place since 2001, need modernizing for the digital century. The new draft presents, if anything, a certain hardening of the EC positions around considerable pressure from Member States to stay out of their broadcasting systems. (See more on the Broadcasting Communication here)
Commissioner Kroes’ office has sought rules that clarify the mandates of public broadcasting. To this end, private sector broadcasters and publishers have been supportive. Language in the new draft stresses editorial independence and platform neutrality while maintaining Member States prerogative in funding and use of capital reserves.
The new draft pleased private sector broadcasters. The German Association of Private Broadcasters (VPRT) president Jürgen Doetz said, in a press statement (April 9), the draft gives “an important signal to the Member States” to create “fair conditions in the dual broadcasting system.” (Read presser here – in German)
Herr Doetz, however, observed that “procedural safeguards” have been weakened in the draft. German private sector broadcasters fear the new rules may allow public broadcasters to enter the pay TV business.
A final version of the Broadcasting Communication is expected by the end of 2009. (JMH)
No problem cutting off Russian channels
No space in Russia
Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko, characteristically grumpy speaking on media subjects, said cutting off several Russian television channels has been “no problem,” quotes BAZH (April 10). On April 1st Russian channels NTV, REN TV, Channel One, RTR-Planata, NTV-Mir and TVCi were cut from the Belarusian media space. Russian authorities are continually challenged by grumpy and sometimes loony former Soviet orbit leaders. (See more here)
And in characteristic contradiction Mr. Lukashenko added that Russian channels would not disappear altogether as several are working with Belarusian State TV. But he’s still grumpy.
“Belarus is not represented in the Russian media space,” observed the Belarusian president. “Name at least one of our channels broadcasting in Russia? We created Belarus TV. I remember when we talked to (Russian prime minister Vladimir) Putin about economic interests. The Moscow cable company invited us to pay 45 million.” (JMH)
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