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Have the early adopters been tapped out?
Another UK radio gap
Consumer uptake of digital radio in the UK has slowed to a crawl, reported media and telecom regulator Ofcom (September 25). Those interested in the new platforms, it seems, have already purchased a new device and the rest are not swayed by the highly promoted “main benefits.” By the end of this year the government will make a pronouncement regarding analogue radio shut-off.
For purpose of simplification – some say obfuscation – all non-analogue radio broadcasting platforms are considered part of the digital plan; set-top boxes, web radio all lumped together with the digital audio broadcasting (DAB) platform. Just under half the UK population (46%) have access to a DAB receiver, according to the Ofcom study. But a mere third (33.9%) of all radio listening hours in the 12 months ending this past June were broadly digital. One of the UK government’s decision points on analogue shut-off is passage beyond the 50% listening threshold. Among folks without a DAB receiver at home 14% said they are inclined to get one while 58% are not so inclined. (See more on digital radio here)
Most worrying for UK broadcasters is the dramatic decline of all receiver sales to 3.7 million units from 8.2 million five years ago. Indeed, DAB receiver sales have a growing share of that market, now 33% up from 20% back in 2008. DAB coverage is hardly an issue: the BBC’s national coverage of UK homes is 94.4%, national commercial channels 89.5% and local DAB multiplexes cover 71.9%. The terminally hip BBC 6Music is the most listened to DAB-only channel in the UK. (JMH)
Lower revenue leads to more concentration followed by sensationalism
Research shows big bad picture
The quality of Switzerland’s news media is sinking, said an academic study released this week (September 25). Lower ad revenues are the overriding problem, concentration of ownership another. Every news sector is affected.
“Inadequate resources compromise the quality of journalism,” observed researchers from University of Zürich’s Research Institute for the Public Sphere and Society (Forschungsinstitut Öffentlichkeit und Gesellschaft), referred to more simply and without irony as FOG. News media has “become more episodic” and provides less context. The institute has been evaluating Swiss news media annually since 2009.
Particular attention was given to online news, or lack thereof. “The quality of online media is generally lower than that of print media,” said the report, which complained that the most frequented Swiss online news portals are produced by the three biggest newspaper owners plus public broadcaster SSR-SRG. Pressure of the news cycle has a “negative impact” on “perspective.”
“The main online competition for publishers comes not from the SSR-SRG but from foreign suppliers,” said the report.
This sad state is not unique to Switzerland “with regard to the concentration and commercialization of the media,” noted the researchers who also examined news media in Germany, Austria, the UK and France. “In all the countries examined, there is rapidly growing attention to sensationalist journalism.”
The Swiss publishers association (Verband Schweizer Medien) said the report lacked objectivity, in a statement (September 26), and questioned the author’s “values” and whether or not quality can be quantified. “Concentration is not too bad for readers, not including fat competitors.” (JMH)
Content quotas for radio affect music sales differently
Local language CD sales rises, downloads fall
An audit of Hungarian language music offered on radio channels shows a gradual yearly increase since the government legislated a 35% Hungarian content quota effective at the first of 2011. The Artisjus artist’s rights protection bureau estimates 32.37% Hungarian language content on Hungarian radio channels in 2012, up from 29.7% in 2011. In 2009, well before the quota law came into effect, the percentage of Hungarian language music on radio was 21.39%. Exempt from the law are certain local radio stations. (See more on media in Hungary here)
National radio channels, public and private, slightly exceed the quota on aggregate but Artisjus complained that some push Hungarian language music into non-prime hours. Television broadcasters use considerably more Hungarian language music by percentage, 51% of all music and 77% of live music. While overall CD sales has declined in concert with other countries the percentage of Hungarian language music sold in the physical format has risen to 70%, up from 47% in 2009.
Consumption of music online – considered a “very immature” market by Artisjus – is increasingly weak for Hungarian language music with just 15% of all downloads, falling from 47% in 2009. The agency blames a “very open minded, well-earning, young adult” audience as well as the difficulty of Hungarian language artists, producers and managers to break into the online platforms. (JMH)
A broadcaster’s simple approach to media and politics
Off the leash
The relationship between media and political forces has rarely been more contentious. And that’s exactly the way it’s supposed to be. Neither should be “on the leash” of the other, says eminent broadcaster.
Speaking ahead of his presentation at the annual Austrian Medientage in Vienna, Turner Broadcasting International president Gerhard Zeiler articulated a framework for the main theme of the conference: “Media, politics and democracy – a contradiction?”
“Both policy makers and media have their functions to fulfill,” he said in an interview with kurier.at (September 24). “Of course, they are strongly dependent. But if the media believes it can make policy, it will be unsuccessful. And, vice versa, if politicians believe they know what’s good for the media, they will be similarly unsuccessful. What I wish for (are) strong and independent politicians, on the one hand, and strong and independent media on the other.”
“When it comes to the relationship between the media and politics, I have a relatively simple approach. I would like strong media that is independent and does not hang on the leash of the State or government. And I would like strong politicians, no matter which party, who are independent and not on the leash of media. The confrontation between these constitutes an essential part of democracy.”
Herr Zeiler left RTL Group as CEO last year to join the Time Warner subsidiary. Prior to his RTL experience, he led Austrian public broadcaster ORF. Not a few Austrian media watchers had hoped he might return to ORF, currently in its own battle with politicians. “People will still be asking me this question in 2025,” he mused. (JMH)
Firebombing TV reporter’s car “frighteningly serious”
That queasy feeling
When bTV morning news co-anchor Genka Shikerova’s car was torched last week (September 16) in front of her house media watchers in Bulgaria saw it as a further assault on media freedom in a country with an already dismal record of corruption. Ms Shikerova joined the Tazi Sutrin (This Morning) program in early September with Constantine Karadjov after their predecessors - Anni Tzolova and Victor Nikolaev – were dismissed in August, reportedly for dogged pursuit of Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski. Ms Tzolova and Mr. Nikolaev were immediately hired to host a morning news show on rival Nova TV.
“We do not know why for sure, but suspicions it was related to her work are frighteningly serious,” wrote Capital media analyst Vesislava Antonova (September 20) after leaflets began appearing in Ms Shikerova’s neighborhood – on trashcans – suggested a connection between the firebombing and former National Security Agency chairman Delyan Peevski, whose appointment by PM Oresharski raised eyebrows in June and lasted just five days. Mr. Peevski in the son of Irena Krasteva, a principal in New Bulgarian Media Group, publisher of several newspapers and operator of three television channels. Ms Shikerova is known for pressing the powerful with difficult questions.
The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee asked authorities to investigate “this obvious attempt to intimidate a journalist, aiming to restrict her freedom of speech by self-censorship.” The rights watcher also noted several attacks on Bulgarian media workers, including the murder of controversial radio and TV show host Bobi Tsankov in 2010, have gone unsolved.
bTV is part of Central European Media Enterprises, principally owned by Time Warner Communications. Nova TV is owned by Modern Times Group (MTG). Big media companies, usually not easily intimidated, get absolutely queasy about their terrestrial television licenses. (JMH)
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