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Images, icons and hunger strikes
Appeals continue
The English-language daily Moscow Times has removed from its website an image icon associated with Russian punk collective Pussy Riot. The Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor), which monitors all media for distasteful content, ordered the icon – based on the Russian Orthodox symbol “The Omen” – removed as “a mockery of the sacred and, as a consequence, over the whole of the Orthodox faith and feelings of every Orthodox in particular,” reported Lenta.ru (October 17). The Moscow Times, owned by Finnish publisher Sanoma, fought the decision and lost.
The Central District Court of Novosibirsk in September entered the Pussy Riot image icon into the federal register of content banned from the internet. Artists who designed the image icon for t-shirts received fines. The Moscow Times indicated it would challenge the “illegal, unreasonable and in violation of the freedom of speech and the media” at the European Court of Human Rights. (See more on media in Russia here)
Meanwhile, Russian pop music duo tATu, millennium icons, have emerged from retirement, so to speak, performing in a television ad for candy bar Snickers for the Japanese market. The duo had a huge hit in 2000, followed by an appearance at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2003, followed by cancelled concerts, lawsuits and breakups. They remain popular in Japan.
Jailed Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova resumed her hunger strike (October 18), which was interrupted by hospitalization for a week. Prison officials have dismissed her complaints of abusive treatment. Maria Alyokhina, the other jailed Pussy Riot member, dropped an appeal for early release in support of Ms Tolokonnikova’s request for transfer to another penal colony. (JMH)
Public broadcasting finance plan affirmed, unions plan strike
“We all pay taxes”
The financing plan for French public broadcasting involving contributions from the State budget has been upheld by the European General Court, as expected. Privately owned broadcaster TF1 challenged the 2009 French law reducing advertising on France Télévisions channels and replacing the lost revenue with State subsidy. The Court affirmed the European Commission’s position that Member States can determine financing mechanisms for public broadcasting with “wide margins of discretion” so long as costs are appropriately monitored, said a statement from DG Competition (October 16). In July the European Court of Justice affirmed a French tax on telecoms meant to aid public broadcasting. (See more on media in France here)
The European Commission (DG Competition) concluded in July 2010 that the State subsidy for France Télévisions was appropriate because of the “partial withdrawal from the advertising market” and allowed the public broadcaster to “maintain quality programming” in a market “mainly dominated by private channels.” TF1 appealed that decision and, well, lost. The Court’s decision will likely affect similar hearings, notably against Spain’s finance plan for public broadcaster RTVE.
EC Vice President for the Digital Agenda Neelie Kroes stepped into the mire of a tax on telecom profits to public broadcasting in Spain last week. “I do not think it’s right to put a tax on (telecom) operators,” she offered at telecom forum in Madrid, quoted by vozpopuli.com (October 11). “We all pay taxes so it’s normal to be financed by the State budget.” Earlier last week Spanish telecom regulator CMT dismissed appeal of the tax by Vodafone and Telefonica. (See more on media in Spain here)
Unions representing France Télévisions employees have set November 7th for industrial action, protesting a voluntary redundancy plan to bring the public broadcaster’s headcount below 10,000 by 2015. “It’s the tip of the iceburg,” said union federation Force Ouvrière director Eric Vail, quoted by Le Monde (October 16). “We cannot count all the job cuts but it is a least twice as many.” Live broadcasts and news programming will likely be affected. (JMH)
Mobile phones part of radio listening
No longer secondary
Listening to radio in France via a digital device tripled over the last three years, reports measurement institute Médiamétrie. 11.4% of French people used digital devices to hear their favorite stations during the 2012/2013 survey period, up from 4.7% in the 2009/2010 period. Mobile phones were the most popular, roughly half of listening from digital devices.
“Today, listening to radio on various digital media devices is no longer a secondary phenomenon,” explained radio research director Julie Terrade. “It’s now part of radio listening. With younger people, it’s a real growth driver.”
The researchers also exposed age-based segments; younger people listened on mobile phones, middle aged listen on their PC and the most mature group listen via TV set top boxes. And through the day, French people are checking out their radio stations on mobile phones in the morning, PCs through the day, then back to smartphones.
A separate Médiamétrie study showed 90% of tablet owners using the device to listen to music, about half accessing radio station apps. (JMH)
Radio ad revenues picking up
Forecasting really difficult
Ad revenues for Finland’s radio broadcasters trickled up in September, says the broadcasters association. Local radio ad sales were up 10%, national sales up 7.6% on the month for about €4.3 million. Year on year radio ad revenues were down 6%.
“It's nice to see that both local and national radio stations on the rise,” said RadioMedia CEO Stefan Möller, quoted by Markkinonti&Mainonta (October 17). “For a few radio companies growth rates are just fine, up in double digits. Forecasting today is really difficult, but the signs show that radio can have a strong end to the year.” (JMH)
Hunting for a TV trend
“harmonious for the most part”
TV trends evolve over time. The biggest trends, certainly, reflect the spirit of the times and reality is still very much with us. But the “slow television” trend is reality taking a deep breath.
TV4 in Sweden is broadcasting 24 hours a day for three days (October 14 through 16) the seasonal moose hunt, available on the web and VOD service TV4 Play. Camera crews are following hunters, who mostly sit around or stand around, whispering and waiting for, well, a moose. Viewers can take it all in – autumn colors as background. When the sun fades and hunters burrow into their cabins, night vision equipped cameras show the occasional beast walking by.
“It's pretty calm and harmonious for the most part,” said TV4 producer Martin Svenningsen, quoted by metro.se (October 14). “It’s fun, beautiful and there’s tension in it as well.” An on-screen counter displays results. Inspiration came from Norway and public broadcaster NRK’s 12-hour fireplace show that became a YouTube hit last February.
The moose hunt broadcast has its critics. “I find this distasteful, “said animal rights activist Camilla Björkbom. “A program like this legitimizes the view that killing animals is acceptable. Death can be painful and protracted.”
“There is nothing that is done primarily for fun,” defends Mr. Svenningsen. “We need to shoot 80,000 moose a year in Sweden to maintain ecological balance and keep down the number of road accidents.” (JMH)
There’s nothing like football rights and pay-TV
All over the world...mostly
German Football League (DFL) and 21st Century Fox have announced a multi-country deal for German Bundesliga football rights. Neither side talked about the money, which could be considerable but far below the worldwide rights haul of the English Premiere League, about €2.16 billion a year. Fox International Channels, Sky Italia and Fox Sports will hold TV, internet and mobile rights in North America, South America, parts of Europe (Belgium, Netherlands and Italy) and parts of Asia. The arrangement is effective, generally, for five years beginning in 2015. (See more on Rupert Murdoch and News Corporation here)
In all 80 countries are included in the deal, which some sources said could be as much as €70 million. Right in Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy will be for two years. India is not included and Chinese rights will only cover English-language broadcasts. (See more on sports rights here)
Not included, obviously, are German rights. Publisher Axel Springer acquired some digital rights to Bundesliga highlights earlier this year but Sky Deutschland, owned by 21st Century Fox, bought the lions share through the 2017 season for €468 million. James Murdoch, recently named Sky Deutschland chairman, made the announcement of the new Bundesliga rights deal. (JMH)
Consumers to pay more for TV and video
“positive developments”
Revenues will be up slightly this year, say German broadcasting executives surveyed by industry association VPRT. All around, 2013 will see “positive developments in all segments,” though some more than others. Broadcast radio and TV revenues are expected to be up 2.2% and 1.1%, respectively. The bigger fun will be from digital offerings and pay-TV.
Online advertising revenue should increase 8% over last year with mobile ad jumping 60%. (See VPRT presser here – in German) German consumers will invest more directly in broadcast revenue streams. Tele-shopping revenues should be up 3.9% while pay-TV and pay-VOD revenues could rise 11.5%. Earlier VPRT released data showing pay-TV and pay-VOD revenues for 2012 at €1.84 billion, up from €1.46 billion. At the end of 2012 there were 6.1 million pay-TV subscribers in Germany, up fro 5,4 million at the end of 2011.
The VPRT survey was released ahead of the annual Medientage München conference and expo.
Newspaper for sale, suitors hungry
“heartfelt desire”
As big Swiss publishers Ringier and Tamedia moved toward exiting joint venture ownership of Swiss-French daily newspaper Le Temps last week the field of potential new owners expanded like clockwork (sorry). First was interest from Agefi, a data-heavy financial daily. Then came watchmaker Hublot CEO Jean-Claude Biver. Others could be circling.
Ringier and Tamedia officially put Le Temps up for sale (October 8) saying if no “qualified buyer” came forward by mid-June next year one partner might consider buying out the other. Each owns 46% of the newspaper, which was formed in 1998 as the Swiss-French answer to the Swiss-German daily NZZ. Employees and Le Monde (France) are small shareholders. After an auspicious launch Le Temps has suffered from downturn in circulation and ad revenue in recent years that has affected many newspaper publishers.
L’Agefi, principally owned by banker Alain Duménil and Antoine Hubert, quickly expressed interest in a deal. Their plan would be to insert Agefi as the finance section for Le Temps. “They know of our interest,” said M. Hubert to public radio RTS (October 9).
Jean-Claude Biver, widely considered the marketing mind behind the turn-around of luxury watch brands Omega and Hublot, told a local channel La Tèlè (October 10) acquiring Le Temps would be his “heartfelt desire” and he “would not lose too much money.” He also said the investment, should it take place, would be personal, “100 percent private.” Biver explained his luxury watch marketing strategy to the Economist (November 12, 2009) simply: “People want exclusivity, so you must always keep the customer hungry and frustrated.” The possibility of M. Biver acquiring Le Temps invited, locally at least, comparisons to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos buying the Washington Post.
“Biver would be the ideal solution,” said former Tamedia board member Peter Rothenbühler to Schweiz am Sonntag (October 12). “It would be a catastrophe if Le Temps went down. Biver wants to have the best journalists in western Switzerland under one roof.” (JMH)
Politicians, newspapers fire shots, march forward
Wait for the curtain
Indignation, righteous and otherwise, at the UK government’s proposal to mandate a self-regulatory body for newspaper publishers reached and repeated Wagnerian crescendo last week. Politicians stamped their feet, threatening errant newspaper editors with the wrath of a Royal Charter. Editors and proprietors barred their teeth, growling about a loss of press freedom and other Marxist plots. In the clamor was distinctly post-Modern political triangulation, missiles (verbal, of course) fired randomly.
Elected representatives of the people, the UK House of Commons select committee on culture, media and sport interviewed Lord Justice Brian Leveson (October 10), who had presided over a months-long inquiry into practices of British newspapers. MPs were looking for some sort of political cover to avoid further infuriating newspaper editors. A day earlier, the unelected representatives, the House of Lords, gave it a go. The politicians failed. (See more on press regulation proposals in the UK here)
UK newspaper publishers and editors have roundly, if not solidly, rejected the idea of a Royal Charter to underpin a self-regulation mechanism fearing, quite logically, the slippery slope of political interference in their daily bread. Fearing late night tweets from Rupert Murdoch or – worse – car park rendezvous’ with Daily Mail editor-in-chief Paul Dacre, MP’s wanted Lord Justice Leveson to confess genesis of a Royal Charter. He did not: “It wasn’t a concept that came to me then or at any stage over the course of my deliberations.” Lord Justice Leveson was forced to repeat himself many times. “I do not believe,” he said, “that the independent self-regulatory regime that I proposed in any sense impacts on the freedom of the press to publish what it wants.”
By weeks end (October 11), political leaders finalized their draft for the Royal Charter, tweaking obligations for local and regional publishers. “This remains a charter written by politicians, imposed by politicians and controlled by politicians,” said a newspaper publisher’s committee who support industry-driven self-regulation in a statement. “It has not been approved by any of the newspapers or magazines it seeks to regulate.”
Unlike Wagner’s “motif of gracefulness,” the debate in the UK over whether or not newspaper publishers – and by proxy all news media – adhere to standards of practice by legal obligation will likely not resolve gently. (JMH)
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