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The U.K. Market European Buyers Canale 5 at 30
MIPTV EDITION
Antena 3 Turns 20 ZDF’s Markus Schächter Sky’s Jeremy Darroch www.tveurope.ws
THE MAGAZINE OF EUROPEAN TELEVISION
APRIL 2010
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ALL3MEDIA International www.all3mediainternational.com • • • • •
Undercover Boss U.K. & USA Going Postal Escape in Time Children’s Hospital Undercover Princesses
When Undercover Boss premiered in the U.S. after the Super Bowl on CBS, the show drew in more than 38 million viewers. ALL3MEDIA International will be offering the format and finished rights for both the American and British versions at MIPTV. Meanwhile, Undercover Princesses follows three princesses who are on a quest for love. Outside of formats, there’s Going Postal, based on the best seller of the same name by Terry Pratchett; Escape in Time, a family show; and Children’s Hospital, set in one of the largest children’s hospitals in Europe. Maartje Horchner, the head of acquisitions, will be on the lookout for programs to complement this existing slate, including some additional studio game shows.“For factual, we would like a few more blue-chip projects on major themes, as well as long-running daytime factual-entertainment propositions, though ideally those not focused on homes and home makeovers.”
IN THIS ISSUE In Search of a Good Deal Buyers report tight budgets but open checkbooks for the right product 16 Time for Change The latest in the British media market 24 30 Years of Canale 5 Anna Carugati recalls her days at the Italian broadcaster, which turns 30 this year. 36 Antena 3 at 20 Carlos Fernandez discusses the Spanish network’s strengths 42 Interviews ZDF’s Markus Schächter 32 Sky’s Jeremy Darroch 34 FME’s David Ellender 46
“From an acquisitions’ perspective, I am looking to seek out big new studio game shows, to follow on from our success with The Cube.
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Going Postal
—Maartje Horchner
Bavaria Media www.bavaria-media.tv Glamour & Greed
• BlogHouse • Glamour & Greed • 13 Hours: Race Against Time • Voices of the Pamano River • An Eye for an Eye
There’s a number of TV movies and event mini-series in the mix from Bavaria Media.“Our highlights fit the demand and programming needs of broadcasters for high-quality programming with strong stories and production values as well as for series which create loyal [viewers], especially younger audiences,” says Philipp Kreuzer, the VP of international and co-productions.The German outfit is presenting the 2x90minute Glamour & Greed, alongside Voices of the Pamano River.There’s also the 2x100-minute An Eye for an Eye. In the way of series, Bavaria is highlighting 13 Hours: Race Against Time and BlogHouse.“[We] are happy to continue to provide our clients with a strong portfolio,”Kreuzer says.“We expect a good market and also aim for new acquisitions and co-productions [as well as furthering] new business opportunities in emerging markets.”
“With a set of attractive new family and drama TV movies, these highlights complement our wideranging portfolio for MIPTV this year.
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—Philipp Kreuzer
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BBC Worldwide www.bbcworldwide.com • • • • •
Ricardo Seguin Guise
Publisher Anna Carugati
Editor Mansha Daswani
Executive Editor Kristin Brzoznowski
Managing Editor Lauren M. Uda
Production and Design Director Simon Weaver
Online Director Phyllis Q. Busell
Luther Human Planet Married Single Other Misfits ZingZillas
Coming off of a successful BBC Showcase, BBC Worldwide heads in to MIPTV with high hopes.“If Showcase is any indicator then I think we will continue to have a great deal of interest in our new titles,” says Tim Mutimer, the senior VP of sales and distribution for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Luther is a fresh take on the classic maverick detective.“The series promises passion, drama and intrigue with stellar performances from a world-class cast led by Idris Elba of The Wire,” says Mutimer. Human Planet puts a new spin on natural-history programming by turning the camera on human existence to explore our complexities and triumphs. Married Single Other examines modern-day relationships.There are also offerings for the younger set, like ZingZillas, a musical show produced for CBeebies. BBC Worldwide is also bringing the E4 hit Misfits.
Married Single Other
“Each of the titles we are bringing to MIPTV offers foreign broadcasters and audiences something new, exciting and intriguing.
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—Tim Mutimer
Art Director Tatiana Rozza
Sales and Marketing Director Kelly Quiroz
Sales and Marketing Manager
Deutsche Welle/ DW-Transtel www.dw-transtel.de
Rae Matthew
Business Affairs Manager Cesar Suero
Sales and Marketing Coordinator
Ricardo Seguin Guise
President Anna Carugati
Executive VP and Group Editorial Director Mansha Daswani
VP of Strategic Development TV Europe © 2010 WSN INC. 1123 Broadway, #1207 New York, NY 10010 Phone: (212) 924-7620 Fax: (212) 924-6940 Website:
www.tveurope.ws
Science on the Seven Seas
• How Nature Heals • Know It! • Science on the Seven Seas • The Art of Space
The new programs on Deutsche Welle/DW-Transtel’s slate seek to answer some of life’s most interesting questions. “More and more viewers are interested in how and why things around the planet and within their environment happen,” says Petra Schneider, the director of distribution. She adds, “This year we have some great new shows highlighting the brilliance of everyday occurrences and the specifics behind science. With How Nature Heals, we present a series that diagnoses traditional forms of natural medicine from four different continents.” Know It! touches on the latest discoveries in science, technology and everyday phenomena. Science on the Seven Seas delves into the mysteries of the deep. A second season of The Art of Space looks at innovations such as floating cities and underwater settlements.
“Over the past few years, we have also worked to create tailored packages for different regions and we will continue to do so in the future.
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—Petra Schneider
Get daily news on European television by visiting www.tveurope.ws
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Europe Images International www.europeimages.com • The Destiny of Rome • The Odyssey of the Continents • Marion Mazzano • Survival Kit • My Giant Friend
The mini-series The Destiny of Rome has already been presold to National Geographic Channels International as well as to broadcasters in Greece, Denmark, Italy and Canada. “Our buyers are thrilled by The Destiny of Rome,” says Catherine Alvaresse, the senior VP of sales and co-productions. “When science meets history the mix is quite appealing.” Another scientific cutting-edge series from Europe Images is The Odyssey of the Continents.This offering has also notched up a slew of deals in, among other territories, Spain, Slovenia and Mexico. Marion Mazzano is a female-targeted thriller. “Thriller is the most popular genre right now for French drama export, and the mini-series is produced by the famous producer GMT for France 2: a mark of quality!” Alvaresse says.There’s also kids’ fare, with the animated series My Giant Friend, targeting 8- to 12-year-olds. Still in production is Survival Kit.
My Giant Friend
“Besides blue-chip documentaries, Europe Images International is now back into great drama series and top-quality animation shows.
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—Catherine Alvaresse
ITV Studios Global Entertainment www.globalent.itv.com The Door
• Come Dine with Me • Four Weddings • The Door • Popstar to Operastar • Kitchen Burnout
Alongside its lineup of returning international hits, ITV Studios Global Entertainment will be premiering three new ITV1 formats. “This will be one of our best-ever MIPTV format lineups, which will include the 2009 break-out format success Four Weddings and the longrunning Come Dine with Me, which recently celebrated its 1,000th episode in Germany and 20th territory commission in Europe,” says Remy Blumenfeld, the director of formats at ITV Studios. Set to make its MIPTV debut is The Door, a game show featuring celebrities.The allnew entertainment format Popstar to Operastar is a primetime family series. “We’re also incredibly excited to be premiering the upcoming ITV1 prime-time entertainment format Kitchen Burnout,” says Blumenfeld, “in which, for the first time, an all-star cast will enter the kitchen and throw teamwork aside in favor of cutthroat competition, strategy and talent.”
“The Door offers up a chilling cocktail of spectacle and celebrity, and promises a splash of magic and illusion.
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—Remy Blumenfeld
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Mediaset Distribution www.mediasetdistribution.com • Intelligence • Crime Squad • About My Brother • Family Storm • Young Enough
In addition to its catalogue of ready-made programs, Mediaset Distribution has notably increased its scriptedformats business. “After one year of activity we have closed options and adaptations in six different countries,” says Patricio Teubal, the head of sales. From its format slate comes the scripted soft-crime series About My Brother and Family Storm, a comedy. Young Enough is a sitcom of 16 seasons. “Young Enough…has been making Italians laugh since 1988, [and] has been adapted in Portugal, Serbia, Croatia, and an option recently closed in Turkey,” Teubal says.The company will be presenting Intelligence and Crime Squad as well. MIPTV is also an occasion for Mediaset to present and promote the international distribution of Mediaset Italia, a new linear channel offering the best of Mediaset’s programming just a few hours or days after airing on local channels Canale 5, Italia 1 and Retequattro.
“We look to promote and strengthen the market perception of our company as not only a supplier of readymade programs, but also as a provider of successful and profitable stories and ideas for producers.
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—Patricio Teubal
Crime Squad
SevenOne International www.sevenoneinternational.com • The Frontier • Fugitives • The Secret of Loch Ness II • Crazy Competition • Funny Farm
Fiction and formats are the two main product groups SevenOne International is presenting for the market.“On the scripted side, we have a couple of quite impressive events coming up. Most are movies,” says Jens Richter, the managing director. One of them is The Frontier, a twohour movie with a story inspired by the global financial crisis. Another SevenOne offering in the action-thriller genre is Fugitives. Following the success of The Secret of Loch Ness, the family-entertainment movie is back with a sequel.“Part one sold everywhere,” says Richter, citing sales to the U.S., all over Europe and Asia. On the format side, SevenOne is bringing Crazy Competition, a reality show that pits two villages against each other in a battle for honor, putting the teams through a series of “crazy, outrageous tasks,” as Richter describes it. And from the codevelopment deal between Phil Gurin’s The Gurin Company and RedSeven Entertainment comes Funny Farm.
The Frontier
“In general, the market cleared up. The fog went away. It’s a lot clearer now what channels are looking for.
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—Jens Richter
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Tandem Communications www.tandemcom.de • The Pillars of the Earth • Action Pack(ed):Volume One • Patricia Cornwell franchise: The Front and At Risk • Impact • Lost City Raiders
Starz Entertainment recently snapped up the U.S. rights for Tandem Communications’ eight-hour TV adaptation of Ken Follett’s novel The Pillars of the Earth.“The world premiere of The Pillars of the Earth on Starz is very exciting for us and our international partners, and we look forward to a successful rollout worldwide,” says Bernhard Schwab,Tandem’s sales director.“With this sale to Starz, Tandem has achieved another big U.S. sale, after Impact was sold to ABC.”The company has launched its new genre label Action Pack(ed).The first title for release is The Lost Future, to be followed by Treasure Guards and a third in the collection will be announced soon.“Given the great interest we have received in the label worldwide, we want to continue to provide our partners with volume two of Action Pack(ed),” says Schwab.Tandem also touts the Patricia Cornwell franchise; the first two titles, At Risk and The Front, have received strong feedback from the market.
The Pillars of the Earth
“Our recent experience is that fiction TV events can capture the advertising dollars out there.
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—Bernhard Schwab
Telewizja Polska www.international.tvp.pl The Blonde
• The Blonde • Frederic Chopin and His Music: 200th Anniversary • Decalogue After the Decalogue • John Paul II
The 200th anniversary of the birth of the Polish composer and virtuoso pianist Frederic Chopin took place in March. Commemorating this event, Telewizja Polska (TVP) is offering a range of documentaries and concerts related to his piano compositions with Frederic Chopin and His Music: 200th Anniversary.“This year at MIPTV we are planning to present a new approach to the archival materials, offered to the buyers as a package of footage,” explains Maria Nadolna, the managing director of the broadcaster’s international affairs department.The Polish outfit has done the same bundling with various documentaries related to John Paul II. And Decalogue After the Decalogue is a cycle of docs in tribute to the Polish director Krzysztof Kie´slowski and The Decalogue, which premiered 20 years ago. In the way of new series,TVP is presenting The Blonde.The show centers on a young veterinarian who believes that people are inherently good. She cannot tolerate that life in Warsaw is full of evil and schemes, so she moves to the countryside.
“We would like to extend our business with the developing countries of Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa and South America.
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—Maria Nadolna
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TV5MONDE www.tv5monde.com • TV5MONDE Asia • TV5MONDE Pacific • TV5MONDE Latin America • TV5MONDE Europe
TV5MONDE reaches 207 million households in 200 countries, making it one of the largest TV networks in the world.The channel is also already available on new distribution platforms, such as the Internet, mobile and VOD. And, as Marie-Christine Saragosse, the managing director, explains, the network is continuing to grow. “2009 ended with more than 10-percent growth in our distribution and nearly 3-percent growth in our viewing figures.We are consolidating what we have achieved, while continuing to help our distribution network expand.” Saragosse says that in addition to consolidating and increasing its viewership and branching out into other broadcasting media, she has further aspirations for TV5MONDE over the next 12 to 18 months. “It is of primary importance that we make the diverse nature and sources of our programs a factor that creates unity and brings together viewers in every country and in an increasing number of languages thanks to subtitling.”
“ After launching our mobile site and our first WebTV for children last year, we are going to launch WebTV Africa and a videoon-demand platform dedicated to French-language cinema.
”
—Marie-Christine Saragosse
ZDF Enterprises www.zdf-enterprises.de • Dance Academy • Whiteout • Secret of the Whales • South Africa:The Land of Hope • The Biblical Plagues
The 2010 World Cup has been drumming up increased interest about South Africa. In satisfying this heightened curiosity, ZDF Enterprises will be on hand at MIPTV offering up the documentary South Africa:The Land of Hope, which looks at how the country came to be the beacon of hope that it is today.Also in the way of nonfiction, The Biblical Plagues reconstructs plagues cited in the scriptures of the Bible, with the help of scientists and historians and supported by CGI and dramatic reenactments. ZDF will also be spotlighting Dance Academy, a drama for kids and tweens, as well as Whiteout, the first in a series of screen adaptations of novels by Ken Follett. For Fred Burcksen, the VP of sales, merchandising and coproductions, the market is really about connecting with clients and existing partners as well as finding new ones. “Serving and helping them do a successful job for their organization is what motivates all of us,” he says.
“Dance Academy [is] an exhilarating, uplifting new drama series for kids and tweens, as well as for anyone who’s ever had a dream!
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—Fred Burcksen Dance Academy 188
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FME’s Merlin, airing on Antena 3.
T i
European buyers report tight budgets but open checkbooks for the right product.
In Search of
A Good Deal
By George Winslow After a disastrous year when double-digit declines in TVadvertising revenues were as ubiquitous in Europe as doubledigit unemployment rates, European buyers are hoping for a better year as they head to MIPTV. Some admit that the economic woes have hurt their acquisitions budgets and shortened their shopping lists, while others contend that their budgets have remained stable. BRITISH BUYS
In the U.K., Jeff Ford, the managing director of digital channels and acquisitions at Five, admits that the economic problems facing British broadcasters have “absolutely knocked us for six.The way we buy and build schedules has been totally hit by the recession. We don’t have the same amount of money we had six months ago, a year ago or two years ago across all the channels.” Still, acquired programming remains important at Five, as well as the digital channels,Fiver and Five USA.American shows have always played an important role in Five’s schedule, which has been revamped over the last year to target a younger demo.“We have had the top American shows, crime shows in particular, for a while, but in the last year we have been trying to extend that by acquiring programs that are very 16-to-34-friendly,”Ford says. To attract those younger audiences, Five has acquired a number of movies and the U.S. series FlashForward. For the digital channels, Five USA’s programming-and-acquisitions strategy con190
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tinues to target an up-market, male-skewing audience with such programming as CSI, Sons of Anarchy and Justified that is intended to be “a celebration of everything that is brilliant about American TV,” according to Ford. More noticeable changes can be found at Fiver, which is a younger-female-skewing channel that reruns a number of shows that air on Five, including the Australian soap Home and Away.To give the channel more of a distinct personality, Ford explains that in the last six months “we’ve been looking for shows that have a much more positive, fun spin” and have acquired such shows as Melrose Place, Burn Notice and Archer. With the market’s economic problems, Ford notes, prices for top films and series have dropped.“They’ve been brought down to a more realistic number where hopefully we can make some money,” he says. VIEW FROM GERMANY
Last year was also a dismal one for advertising in Germany, with the total TV ad spend dropping by 10.8 percent to €3.6 billion ($4.9 billion) in 2009, according to ad agency Magna Global. Yet the ProSiebenSat.1 Group reported recently that it had managed to increase its operating profits for 2009, exceeding analysts’ expectations, and Rüdiger Böss, the senior VP of group programming acquisitions, reports that the company’s buying budgets have remained stable.“For the right product we will 4/10
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he says. Recently these acquisitions have included “the entire Jamie Oliver franchise, a further season of Secret Diary of a Call Girl, as well as ZOS: Zone of Separation and Lost in Austen,” he adds. Currently, acquisitions make up about 30 percent of the schedule.The best performing acquisitions for the main broadcast channel are “fiction series but also the big Hollywood blockbusters such as Die Hard 4.0, The Devil Wears Prada or Night at the Museum,” Schweitzer says. “In the case of free TV we mostly buy U.S. programs, [but] for the digital specialinterest channels our sourcing is much more broad-based,” he says.“For these we buy U.S. series and documentaries but also British and French programs, [as well as] lifestyle programs for [the digital channel] RTL Living or Bollywood films for [the digital channel] Passion.” Summer fun: Endemol Worldwide Distribution’s Home and Away has been a consistent ratings winner for Five in the U.K.
always have money,” he says, adding that acquisitions continue to play a “very important” role in the company’s overall pro- SPANISH FLAIR gramming strategy. Germany remains a strong market for fea- As for RTL in Germany, formatted programming has worked ture films, he notes.“They perform really well compared to tremendously well for Spain’s Antena 3. “We’ve had great most of the other international markets, and U.S. series are results with the recently launched Curso del 63, a European forhuge.” Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy, NCIS and the mat,” says Carlos Fernández, the director of content, who adds recently launched The Vampire Diaries all do very well. that the network will soon debut its own version of Undercover While the U.S.market remains the “most important”source for Boss.“We’re always open to formats but under one condition: the company’s acquisitions, Böss expresses concerns about rising They must be innovative. And [as] they’re very important, we prices and the growing popularity of online video.The U.S.series work a lot with them and we’ll continue to do so.” “are telling great stories,”with great casts,he says.“The problem is On the scripted side, Fernández says that Antena 3 has that the studios want to squeeze out every penny from us [while always found room for U.S. imports.“We’re the only private at the] same time they are selling these rights to iTunes, Hulu, network that has a regular slot for film. Glee and Modern Fam[and other online video sites].We will not be able to spend as ily are two significant productions we’ll have on our slate. Lie much money for fewer rights in the future.” to Me is another series that’s part of our programming.We’re At ProSiebenSat.1’s German rival, RTL Television, Dirk currently promoting Glee and we hope it will strike a chord Schweitzer, the executive VP of program licensing, says that with viewers, as well as Modern Family.” he recently acquired “a few interesting U.S. series,” which he Fernández explains that against the backdrop of the fall in didn’t want to name for competitive reasons. He also stresses Spanish ad revenues,“We’re doing a bit better than last year that “we are still open for series which fit in with RTL’s profile” and that MIPTV will be an important market for talking to distributors about upcoming programs. RTL Television had a strong 2009 in terms of ratings, reports Schweitzer. In its 14-to-49 target demographic,“RTL Television was the clear market leader in 2009 with a 16.9-percent share.” While his acquisition budget “has remained constant,” Schweitzer adds that the company continues to watch its spending and that it doen’t have “any major slots to fill” because its long-running series continue to perform well. These include big entertainment formats like Deutschland Sucht den Superstar (Idols) and Das Supertalent (Got Talent), prime-time reality formats and locally produced fiction series such as Doctor’s Diary and Lasko. At MIPTV, Schweitzer will also be shopping for RTL’s three digital channels, for which “we Vamping it up: Fox International Channels Italy scooped up HBO’s True Blood regularly purchase a large volume of programs,” for its FOX channel. 192
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Seeing clearly: The Mentalist, the hit series from Warner Bros., airs on Ireland’s RTE.
but we are unsure about the future.As of this year, we’ve seen a 1-percent increase over the last period in the ad market. There’ve been estimates this year that point to declines of up to 7 percent, which is an improvement, but one that also generates plenty of uncertainty.” ITALIAN FRAGMENTATION
Italy also took a beating in 2009,with a drop of some 9 percent in TV ad spend, according to Magna Global.The good news is that this year the decline is forecast at only 3 percent.The advertising downturn, however, is not the only challenge that Mediaset, the leading commercial broadcaster in Italy, is facing. It is also dealing with audience fragmentation and changing viewing habits. The group operates three free-to-air networks, Canale 5, Italia 1 and Retequattro, as well as two digital free-TV channels, with at least two more slated to launch. Mediaset also has a bouquet of pay channels that are divided by target or genre: three that offer movies and series divided by demo, and others that comprise the premium movie package. Consequently,“Mediaset still has a great need for acquired product,” explains Francesco Mozzetti, the head of acquisitions and sales at Mediaset. “In December of last year we renewed two volume deals with Warner Bros. and NBC Universal for both free and pay TV, with important provisions for VOD as well.” Mozzetti continues,“We have good relationships with the other studios with whom we work on packaged deals mainly for free TV—there are some small pay-TV components, but it’s mainly free.We also closed an important deal with MGM for the Rocky franchise plus a series of TV movies and animated series.” The lion’s share of Mediaset’s acquisitions budget goes to the Hollywood studios.“But we also look carefully to European product,” explains Mozzetti.“Retequattro in the last few years has made significant investments in French and German series. There are many on air, such as Navarro and Julie Lescaut from TF1 and Hamburg Dockland from ZDF. We even buy Spanish series; in some genres the Spanish have excellent product.” One of Mediaset’s key rivals is the Fox International Channels group.The global economic crisis has not affected Fox International Channels Italy’s business negatively, according to Fabrizio Salini, the VP and head of entertain194
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ment channels, as the bouquet is part of the SKY Italia pay-TV platform and receives a dual revenue stream of advertising and subscriber fees. “Our channels are performing very well. Both our ratings and income are still growing.We recently launched a new channel on the SKY platform, FoxRetro, [and] our acquisition budget has not been affected negatively by this crisis.” At MIPTV, Salini, who oversees five entertainment channels, says he’ll be looking to acquire product for each of the channels based on their “editorial profile.” FOX is “dedicated to the best television series” while FoxLife offers a variety of “female-oriented entertainment” and FX is programmed with “dramas, comedy, reality series and documentaries” for men, he explains. FoxCrime, he adds, “is the only Italian TV channel dedicated to crime and investigation.” The group’s newest channel, FoxRetro, which launched in 2009, focuses on the “best television series from the 1970s to the 1990s,” he says. The American majors play a crucial role in Fox’s programming acquisitions.“We have several long-term relationships with Disney,Twentieth Century Fox and HBO, and these deals recently brought us series such as Glee, White Collar, Modern Family, Cougar Town, FlashForward, True Blood and Bored to Death,” he states. But the channels also acquire programs from France, the U.K., Germany and Spain, and Salini expects those to become even more important in upcoming years.“We are confident that European productions will continue to improve [and] be able to really compete with the major American productions,” he says. IRISH WOES
Ireland was one of the countries in Europe worst hit by the financial crisis, with TV advertising falling a whopping 21.5 percent in 2009, according to Magna Global.“I think only Spain, Portu-
Lady in waiting: Tandem licensed its new event mini-series The Pillars of the Earth to Pro TV in Romania. 4/10
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agreements. The station also has large deals with Warner Bros., Paramount and Universal,“so in terms of U.S. movies and series we are pretty much full,” he says. Describing his programming strategy, Czaja says that TVN is currently number one in the targeted 16-to-49 demo and that the most popular shows are local productions of big entertainment formats like Got Talent and Strictly Come Dancing. Local scripted dramas and comedies have also been doing well. While it airs some British shows during the day, about 90 percent of TVN’s acquisitions come from the U.S., with movies being the most important category. Local versions of foreign series, such as The Nanny, have, however, done well, as have big entertainment formats, and Czaja is looking for more. CEE CHANGE
Back to the books: ITV Studios’ Lost in Austen is among the acquired programs on Germany’s RTL Television.
gal and Greece have seen the falls in TV advertising of the magnitude we’ve seen in Ireland,”admits Dermot Horan,the director of broadcast and acquisitions at RTE. This has reduced the amount of money RTE is spending on both original productions and acquisitions.“My acquisition budget has been cut quite significantly and I’ve had to make the budget work harder,” he says. RTE1 remains the most popular channel in Ireland, he notes, with about a 31-percent market share, and RTE2, which skews younger, is the third-ranked channel, with about an 11-percent or 12-percent market share. Local productions are the highest-rated fare on RTE1, but the channel also airs movies and has slots for such U.S. dramas as The Mentalist. “Movies don’t generate the audiences they once did, but they generate a younger-skewing audience, which is important,” Horan says. RTE2 captures young viewers and has more acquired programming, including a wide variety of U.S. dramas and “a number of comedies, both indigenous and British and American, as well as some movie slots,” Horan says. As the L.A. Screenings occur soon after MIPTV, Horan notes that he’ll “not really be looking for any new U.S. dramas” in Cannes. He will, however, be scouting for prime-time comedies and dramas from outside the U.S., as well as kids’ and factual. In the kids’ arena, he is particularly interested in tween and teen comedies and will be looking for true-crime documentaries to fill some late-night slots. Horan stresses that RTE’s deals with the Hollywood studios remain very important but that the economy is forcing it to reduce spending as those deals come up for renewal.“We very much want to continue to do business with the studios but we’ve taken the view—and the studios have cooperated with this—that they need to recognize that we are in a different place than we were two years ago,” Horan explains.
Elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe, the Romanian market has been slammed by the global recession. But Sorina Big, the acquisitions director at Pro TV, stresses that the crisis has “not changed our way of looking at acquisitions; we have always carefully evaluated the programming we’ve acquired and we will always do that.” At MIPTV, Big says she’ll be looking for prime-time programming for the channel’s 18-to-49 target audience. Popular programs at Pro TV include Romanian versions of the Televisa format Bailando por un sueño and Extreme Makeover. Acquired movies, particularly action, comedy and thrillers, also garner strong ratings, making “American programming central to our acquisition strategy, as they are the mostwatched [type of programming] by our audience,” she notes. Some American series are also successful, including CSI: Miami, CSI: New York or Ghost Whisperer, and European programming remains important, particularly product from British, French and Italian distributors. Recent acquisitions include the mini-series The Pillars of the Earth and the series Legend of the Seeker and Ghost Whisperer. Deals with the Hollywood studios have also brought Pro TV blockbusters such as Superman Returns and Stealth. While the size of their budgets differ, European broadcasters across the board appear to be ready to scout the market for new programs and remain willing to open their checkbooks for the right concept.
POLISH PURSE
Bogdan Czaja, the deputy programming director at TVN—the leading commercial network in Poland—also indicates that the economy has put pressure on his programming budgets.“Last year, the Polish market was no different than many others.There was a decline of some 15 percent [in TV advertising], and we don’t know what 2010 will look like, so that has an impact on acquisitions and we have less money to spend.” Going into MIPTV, Czaja says he “is open to new and interesting shows and deals” but won’t be rushing to make 196
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Port of call: Mediaset’s channels have found success with European dramas such as Hamburg Dockland from ZDF Enterprises. 4/10
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The British TV market is adapting to new-media platforms that are altering business models as well as consumer viewing habits.
Time for
BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Five—are determined that they aren’t going to let it happen again. Meanwhile, Sky itself faces a challenge from these networks as online digital performance improves and its gatekeeper role is undercut. Broadcast television in the U.K. is alive and generally well, but that does not mean that all of the five main free-to-air competitors—each of which has launched a digital offshoot—are going to survive or, if they do survive, that they will do so in their current forms. There have been new appointments in top management at two of the main free-TV players. At the start of this year, ITV named Adam Crozier as its new chief executive nine months after Michael Grade stepped down. Channel 4 installed David Abraham as its new chief executive, replacing Andy Duncan. Change at the top in television is likely to be followed this May by change at the top of the national government.This may well have an impact on the future TV landscape, where the public broadcaster, BBC, looms larger than ever, thanks to its aggressive diversification and commercial initiatives. Although the BBC still does not take any advertising as a broadcaster, its commercial arm, BBC Worldwide, is as profit-driven as the next company, and there have even been rumors that this successful offshoot could be floated on the stock market, though the BBC’s director-general, Mark Thompson, has denied that the BBC is already preparing for flotation. The biggest headline in the media business hit the front pages of newspapers a few months back: the amount spent on
Change
By Jay Stuart
For all its hidebound ways and conservatism, traditional British broadcasting has been responding with youthful vigor and imagination to the advent of online media and the potential challenge to TV viewing and advertising. It’s almost as if, after being blindsided by satellite television and the rapid rise of the dominant pay-TV company Sky, the free-to-air companies— 198
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Light years ahead: The BBC continues to draw viewers with Doctor Who, which this year sees David Tennant being replaced by Matt Smith.
online advertising in the U.K. has overtaken television advertising—making the U.K. the first major market where that has happened. Online spending grew 4.6 percent to £1.75 billion in the first half of 2009, while TV spending fell 16.1 percent to £1.64 billion, according to a study by the Internet Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Overall advertising fell 16 percent compared with the same period in 2008. For a country that has always prided itself on the quality of its television, it has been a bit of a blow that the most admired shows during the past decade have come from across the Atlantic.Where British critics once saw the BBC as the ne plus ultra of quality, now HBO has taken that spot. Most critics have not even digested the fact that the most lauded show on the air in the U.K. at present, Mad Men, on BBC Two, came from a humble basic cable, the U.S. channel AMC. HOME-GROWN INSPIRATION
This point has not been lost on the powers that be at the Beeb. As part of the new proposed strategy published in March, the BBC plans to slash spending on imported programming by 20 percent, bringing investment down from £100 million today to £80 million in 2013, capping it thereafter the level of 2.5 percent of license income. There will be no acquired series on BBC One during peak time.The public broadcaster also plans “a more consistent approach to piloting new comedies” and intends to foster “the next generation of mainstream sitcoms for BBC One” through focusing on the development of scripted comedy for 200
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BBC Two and BBC Three. The BBC will also increase its investment in children’s programming by £10 million a year starting in 2013. For the main network channels, broadcast audiences remain healthy for the most successful shows. The finale of ITV1’s show Britain’s Got Talent was the most popular show of 2009, with 18.3 million viewers and a 68-percent audience share, as singer Susan Boyle was upset in the last round. ITV1’s The X Factor came second. ITV1 had six out of the top ten programs of the year up to December 2009. Soap operas still top the list of scripted programs. An episode of EastEnders was BBC One’s most popular show in 2009, with 11.457 million viewers and a 49-percent audience share. ITV1’s Coronation Street was just behind, with 11.456 million viewers. But the audiences for the hits are not what they used to be. In 2009, for the first time, channels other than the five main networks accounted for more than 40 percent of Britain’s total television audience share, up from less than 30 percent in 2005 and under 20 percent at the start of the present decade, according to Broadcasters’Audience Research Board (BARB) data. However, ITV, Channel 4, Five and BBC are themselves part of that growth with their own new digital channels, helping to offset erosion of the main network shares. Nowadays, broadcasters no longer see share in terms of a single channel but a portfolio of channels. In 2009, ITV boosted prime-time viewing of its channels—its flagship, ITV1, plus digital ITV2, ITV3 and ITV4—but all-day viewing ebbed from 23.2 percent in 2008 to 23.1 percent in 2009. ITV1’s all-day viewing share slipped to 17.8 percent. However, thanks to The X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent, the network’s prime-time audience share was a market-leading 23.7-percent share in 2009. Five and its digital channels Fiver and Five USA recorded an overall share of 6.12 percent,slightly up from 2008’s 6.09 percent in terms of all-day viewing. But the main channel Five dropped from 5 percent to 4.8 percent, according to BARB data. The all-day share of Channel 4, including its time-shifted version, went from 8.3 percent in 2008 to 7.5 percent last year.The audience share of Channel 4’s portfolio of stations, including digital E4, More4 and Film4, and their time-shifted versions, declined from 11.6 percent to 11.2 percent. The BBC’s channels—BBC One, BBC Two and digital BBC Three and BBC Four—slipped from 33.5 percent to 4/10
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the services, including TV and VOD, to be available through a simple and inexpensive set-top box. There are a number of regulatory changes on the horizon. It appears that there will be an imminent softening of the regime on advertising, in recognition of the increasing competitive pressure on the main commercial channels. LESS RED TAPE
X marks the spot: FremantleMedia’s The X Factor was among ITV1’s highestrated series in 2009.
32.7 percent in all-day share. BBC One’s share slid from 21.8 percent to a 20.9-percent share, and BBC Two dropped from 7.8 percent to 7.5 percent. Both the children’s channels, CBeebies and CBBC, however, increased their share among their target audiences in 2009. SHIFTING TIME
ITV has been lobbying for the end of a regulatory ceiling on ad rate increases, among other constraints. The national regulator Ofcom could drop rules that require ITV, Channel 4 and Five to sell all their advertising inventory.The move would enable them to limit the supply of advertising and thus give them more leverage on prices and could generate tens of millions of pounds of extra ad revenue each year. ITV1, Five and Channel 4—all operating as “public-service licenses”—run an average of seven minutes of spots per hour across the day, while other channels can average nine minutes. Last year, Ofcom rejected a proposal to allow the three channels to shuffle when they used their prime-time advertising minutes and load more ads into big weekend shows. Now that scenario might be permitted too. The bigger financial question marks concern the BBC.The principal means of funding the BBC is through the license fee, for which each TV home currently pays £142.50 per year. In 2008-09, the BBC earned £3.5 billion this way. If David Cameron’s Conservatives win the next election, there is a reasonable possibility that the license fee will come under pressure.The formula for increases of inflation plus growth may be gone forever. A consultation process on the BBC Trust’s proposed new strategy is now under way, due to end in June.The strategy envisions “reprioritizing” nearly £600 million a year to higher quality content by 2013. One aim is to reduce the cost of running the BBC by 25 percent. The BBC is well aware of its privileged position and the unpopularity it has among commercial broadcasters. The BBC Trust’s chairman, Sir Michael Lyons, said, “The
The free-to-air networks have added an important new element to their arsenals—an online market for their content. BBC iPlayer, launched two years ago, has been a stunning success. It is now available on more than 20 different devices, including mobile phones and game consoles,offering BBC programs for free with a seven-day window for viewing. About 1.4 million viewers watched an episode of Doctor Who on BBC iPlayer during the Christmas period. Wherever, whenever watching can add up to 40-percent viewing on some shows. A new time-shift service called SeeSaw has launched, offering more than 3,000 hours of programming from BBC, Channel 4 and Five, plus independent producers. SeeSaw uses technology acquired from Project Kangaroo, a venture partnering BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel 4 that was blocked as anticompetitive. Hulu has been talking to ITV about launching in the U.K., while a service called Fetch TV, launched in 2007, already has a deal with ITV in place. BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Five, BT and TalkTalk are partners in Project Canvas, which aims to create a VOD platform that would be available on broadband and to homes with a Freeview or Freesat set-top box. A potential threat to Sky, Project Canvas brings together a strong consortium of programming suppliers with a unified set of technical standards. Essentially, Project Canvas is about updating Freeview, making it into TV 3.0.The core proposition is to integrate over-the-air and broadband connectivity with a single EPG. Caught in the middle: Channel 4, at the center of talks about consolidation in the U.K., is luring The aim of this is to bring together all audiences with edgier, youth-skewing fare like Skins, from ALL3MEDIA’s Company Pictures. 202
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BBC also has a duty to help other public-service broadcasters whose funding is now coming under strain. Over the past year the BBC has stepped up its efforts to work with other broadcasters to find ways to help them reduce their costs or increase their income through imaginative partnerships.” Most contentious is the future of the BBC’s commercial operations, especially the hugely profitable BBC Worldwide, the largest sales-and-distribution house outside the Hollywood majors, which also broadcasts BBC-branded channels around the world. Its revenue has grown to more than £1 billion a year.The new proposed strategy prescribes that Worldwide will move away from publishing magazines in the U.K. and derive at least two-thirds of its revenue from outside the U.K. by 2015.
Armed and ready: For Five’s digital channel Fiver, U.S. acquisitions, such as Fox Television Studios’ Burn Notice, are an integral part of the schedule.
In a novel twist, the future of BBC Worldwide has become part of the discussion about future consolidation in the commercial-broadcasting sector. Many in the industry believe Five is too small to survive on its own. SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST
There is also a concern that there are too many stations chasing too little advertising.“Darwinism tells you that there are going to be fewer channels,” says Mark Beilby, who heads the investment company Apollo Media.“Is there a future for both Channel 4 and Five? No.There are two ways it can play out. One is that RTL [Group, Five’s parent company] is given permission to buy Channel 4. RTL has made it clear that it wants to be number one or number two in the markets it operates in, not fourth or fifth.The other alternative is that Channel 4 merges with BBC Worldwide. One of the big obstacles to this is that it would be very unpopular with people on both sides.Will Channel 4 keep minority content? It would be easier to protect if it were owned by BBC Worldwide.” A year ago, the regulator Ofcom recommended that Channel 4 should explore possibilities of joining forces with Five or the BBC to create a second public-service broadcaster able to compete with the BBC. One suggested route was a merger with BBC Worldwide. “This would have two drawbacks,” Mark Thompson has told the press.“The first is the mismatch between Worldwide, which is an engine for exploiting rights and which has an increasingly international focus, and Channel 4, which has almost no exploitable rights and no consumer-brand awareness outside the U.K.The second reason is more fundamental, and is that a Worldwide wholly separated from the BBC makes no strategic or commercial sense. Global audiences flock to BBC programs and to the BBC brand.Take those away and Worldwide becomes an empty vessel.” SKY HIGH
With its huge, stable revenue, and nearly 10 million subscribers, Sky remains in a unique position. It has a history of extraordinary innovation that has changed the structure of competition in the market. It introduced digital TV in the country in the late 1990s, it was the first to offer the personal video recorder, it broke the ice with HDTV and launched TV over broadband. And this year Sky has begun offering programs in 3-D. But looking at the key metrics—subscriber growth, ARPU, churn and marketing costs—things started to flatten out after the launch of Freeview in 2003. Freeview offered a box with very little upfront cost, under £30, and took people from five analogue channels to 20 free digital channels. “Freeview has impacted Sky,” says the analyst Nick Bell, the managing director of Jefferies International. “It is harder to grow the business. Freeview had been a factor in pushing Sky to reconfigure its consumer strategy, offering the personal recorder for free, for example.” Sky is offering a free box for HD, but is charging £10 per month for HD services. It’s not clear how long that can last, especially when Freeview starts HD. “The problem for Sky is that it doesn’t do free,” says Bell. “Digital means more for less.That holds true everywhere. Digital generally has a deflationary effect in pay TV.” And that’s good news for the free-TV companies that have seen their share of revenues eroding over the past decade. 204
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In Pursuit of Excellence
SCHÄCHTER: Information-
centered programs account for around 50 percent of ZDF’s total output. No other broadcaster can claim such a large share.We show roughly 500 documentaries a year, focusing on science, technology, history, politics and society. For the performing arts, we offer something that is unique worldwide: our digital ZDFtheaterkanal, which puts a wealth of stage productions on television and, by recording performances, also saves them for posterity.Together with the other public-service broadcaster in Germany, the ARD network, we run KI.KA, a children’s channel that is kept free of advertising and violence.We also offer an ad-free online service and, of course, the ZDF Mediathek, our platform for delivering high-quality, subscription-free and, again, ad-free VOD. And then there’s heute journal: ZDF’s flagship evening news magazine is the most successful in Germany.These are just a few examples, and I could mention many more.
ZDF’s Markus Schächter ZDF has long established itself as a leading destination for German viewers in search of quality programming. Its commitment to the best in news, documentary, drama and entertainment programming has helped ZDF make a smooth transition to the digital world. Today, its content is enjoyed not only on the linear network, but also online through the very popular ZDF Mediathek. Director-General Markus Schächter talks about the role of a public-service broadcaster in one of the world’s most competitive TV markets.
By Anna Carugati
TV EUROPE: What contribution do public-service broad-
casters make in today’s multichannel, multiplatform world, and why is it important to safeguard their existence? SCHÄCHTER: The deluge of digital information is making it increasingly difficult for an individual to judge the reliability of news on the Internet.As a public-service broadcaster, we’re independent of both political and commercial influence. Our mission is to offer the public a picture of reality that is as objective as possible. In a world of information overload, we offer guidance and stand for credibility.The fact that our core funding comes from the licence fee gives us a large degree of independence from developments in the economy. So in these times of economic and financial crisis, we’re able to maintain a healthy production budget.This also means we’re lending stability to the wider content-production sector and a whole range of cultural activities that would have no chance without the public-service broadcasters.
ing a long-term and carefully designed strategy for the digital future. It embraces every field: technology, organization and content.As part of this process we’ve taken steps in recent years to turn the existing digital documentary channel into a service that can also attract younger viewers. Relaunched as ZDFneo, it’s now enjoying a wide and very positive press response. ZDFneo shows young comedy formats, exciting docu-soaps and, of course, numerous documentaries, not to mention exciting international series, like 30 Rock or Spooks.
TV EUROPE: What services and programming does ZDF
TV EUROPE: How is ZDF using websites and mobile
offer viewers that they can’t get elsewhere?
phones to reach audiences in new ways?
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TV EUROPE: What is ZDF’s strategy for digital channels? SCHÄCHTER: ZDF has, for a number of years, been pursu-
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SCHÄCHTER: By being present with
our content on all the available platforms. On the Internet, we are achieving strong and sustained growth and now reach a large number of younger users who rarely watch the core channel on TV. As for our online video platform, many younger people prefer to access our content—like news, documentaries, series and comedy formats—on the ZDF Mediathek at a time that suits them and using a variety of receiver devices. TV EUROPE: How popular is ZDF’s Mediathek? Do some segments of the audience prefer to watch programming online at their own convenience, as opposed to watching on the linear channel? SCHÄCHTER: The ZDF Mediathek has been a real success story. Since the last relaunch at the end of 2007, the web traffic has soared: the hit numbers for our videos have more than doubled.The current figure stands at around 16 million a month. And we’re still technically upgrading the Mediathek to make it even more user friendly.We are, by the way, finding that viewers don’t simply migrate away from the linear channel to the nonlinear platform. It’s more the case with the Mediathek that we’re reaching viewers who simply haven’t been able to watch the linear broadcast or who’ve come across this service while surfing the web. But in the medium term, as we make more and more content available online, there will be a trend away from linear toward nonlinear use. On the other hand, I’m convinced that television will remain a successful medium in its classic form for a long time to come.Our latest figures confirm that online use has been increasing for years. But TV viewing time has remained constant—at exactly 212 minutes a day in the year 2009. TV EUROPE: As young adults everywhere have more and
more entertainment choices available, how is ZDF attracting the 20-to-30 age group? SCHÄCHTER: The 20- to 30-year-olds have become difficult to reach. It’s a problem shared by all the public-service broadcasters but also by the daily press and weekly journals. For ZDF, it’s partly down to the high proportion of information in our
programming. Although our digital channel ZDFneo aims, above all,at the 30-to-50 age group,we have also been quite successful at reaching younger viewers with certain formats, especially comedy, international series and movies. TV EUROPE: In today’s difficult economic climate, how important are partnerships and co-productions? SCHÄCHTER: Partnerships have,for a long time,been an important pillar of our production philosophy.Together with the ARD network,we run a number of partner channels,like 3sat, ARTE, Phoenix and KI.KA, which we wouldn’t be able to afford individually.The same goes for productions of elaborate high-end documentaries or great event movies—a field where many projects aren’t feasible without national and international partners. TV EUROPE: Has the economic crisis had an impact on viewers’ ability to pay the license fee, and how is this affecting ZDF’s financing? SCHÄCHTER: The situation in Germany is that viewers who are unemployed or destitute do not have to pay the licence fee. So the more people who lose their job as a result of the economic and financial crisis, the greater the revenue losses for ZDF.According to independent estimates, we must expect to lose more than €100 million by the end of 2012. But we’re preparing for this shortfall. On the positive side, our advertising revenues have so far remained stable despite the economic crisis. TV EUROPE: What challenges and opportunities
do you see in the next 12 to 18 months? SCHÄCHTER: ZDF is in good shape to face the
I am (near) the walrus: Documentaries are a key part of the ZDF schedule, which includes the series Steffens entdeckt with Dirk Steffens. 4/10
digital future.We are strategically prepared.Two years ago I launched a major transformation project—a comprehensive change process to adapt our organization to the challenges of a digital media environment. Our strengths lie in our independence, our solid financial base and our many highly motivated and professional journalists, editors and producers. With these strengths, we’re proving—especially in these tough times—to be a factor for stability and a guarantor of quality in Germany’s media landscape. Building on the foundations of the old one-channel station, we are creating the new multiplatform ZDF and will continue to be a key player in the German media system.We owe that to our viewers.
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World view: heute journal is ZDF’s flagship evening news magazine.
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For more than 20 years, BSkyB has been offering its customers choice and a plethora of new services, starting with a bouquet of channels and an electronic programming guide, moving on to the famous red button that provided interactivity, and following up with the personal video recorder, broadband, mobile and, now, 3-D TV. Chief executive and executive director Jeremy Darroch talks about keeping Sky’s nearly 10 million subscribers satisfied while serving the community at large.
By Anna Carugati
TV EUROPE: Sky is known for its penchant for innovation and for always placing its customers first. What have you learned about what your subscribers expect from Sky? DARROCH: We are and have always been relentless about putting customers at the heart of what we do. Because of that we’ve got a real focus on what our customers want, ensuring we invest where our customers will get most value. First of all, we want to offer the very best content, whether we’re talking sports, movies, new drama, arts or documentaries. Secondly, we want to innovate to enable our customers to really get value out of their subscription package and to let them watch what they want, whenever they want to watch.Thirdly, we look to provide great service, whether that’s from our contact centers to our professional installers. And finally, we want to offer great-value prices and to help our customers save money through our home communication services.These are all ways that we can really add value to our service.
TV EUROPE: What have you learned about your customers’
behavior during the economic downturn? Is pay TV one of the things they have kept in their budgets? DARROCH: About a year ago, many people were wondering how we would perform during a recession, and some were asking whether consumers would continue to pay for entertainment when belts tightened. Since then we’ve seen a continuation of some key trends in our industry. Firstly, people across all demographics are watching more TV today than at any point in the last decade—this is a very broad trend that we are seeing. Secondly, people increasingly value quality entertainment, and a growing number of people are willing to pay for better home entertainment. Just as consumers are very comfortable with paying for a great concert, a play or a match, increasingly they are very comfortable with the idea of paying for better entertainment at home as well. Aside from those two factors, the recession has really created a flight to both quality and value. At Sky, the strength of our subscription model has enabled us to position ourselves as the provider of the best home-entertainment service by continuing to invest in better on-screen content and technology like HD that really lets you get the best for your viewing experience. Equally, as we have diversified our business into home broadband and home talk, millions of customers have switched to Sky, saving money in the process. TV EUROPE: As the role of public-service broadcasting is being debated in the U.K. and throughout Europe, in what ways and with which types of programming is Sky providing public service to its subscribers? A scroll down your EPG shows a significant amount of quality programming that does provide public service, doesn’t it, but that’s not talked about very much? DARROCH: I completely agree.This is an industry that has often relied on public intervention and subsidy.In contrast,I think Sky’s journey has been a story of how risk-taking in commercial businesses and investment by private enterprise can deliver great outcomes for customers and really very high-quality public-value content.We’ve been a constant force for change and progress, whether that was creating choice in television from three channels 20 years ago to the range of channels that are available today, whether that be investing in high-quality content, or whether it be innovating to improve the customer experience and adapting to embrace new opportunities as new platforms develop so our content can be distributed more widely. And at a time when freeto-air broadcasters have been under pressure to cut back their program budgets, thanks to our robust subscription model, we’ve been able to continue to invest in very differentiated content. So, for example, we now have four dedicated arts channels, two in standard definition and two in high definition.We’re doing more and more original drama, like The Take, and high-quality documentaries, like Ross Kemp: Middle East. These are all great ways that we can offer public-service-type content that our customers love and we think really adds to cultural life in the U.K.
Keeping Customers Satisfied
Sky’s Jeremy Darroch
TV EUROPE: In what ways is Sky reaching out to the
communities it serves—trying to make a difference by making connections beyond the TV screen? DARROCH: Well, we’re certainly very clear at Sky that if we want to be successful for the long term and really build 208
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a sustainable and durable business we need to make a wider contribution for two pretty simple reasons. First of all, business needs a stable economic, societal and environmental foundation on which to build its future success. All businesses need to play their part in helping to create that environment and framework that will allow them to be successful. And secondly and as importantly, we know that our customers, our employees and also our shareholders increasingly expect us to play our part in the issues that our society faces today. Businesses that fail to make the grade and step up to play a role will increasingly pay the price in trust and loyalty from a broad range of stakeholders. At Sky, sustainable success is central to how we do business.We’ve always looked to the long term, so looking to wider issues is very natural for us. In addition to looking to do the right thing in the way we do business day to day, we have a commitment to a bigger picture, which is underpinned by three key strands: creating a healthy environment, increasing participation in sport and bringing the arts to more people.We are always looking for ways to go greener and to inspire others to do the same.We’ve already set a very tough set of environmental targets for our own business, but we are also working with [the environmental organization] WWF and our customers to try to save over a billion trees in the Amazon rainforest over the next three years. In sport, we are working with our partner British Cycling to get a million more people in the U.K. cycling regularly for fitness through a range of initiatives, like free mass-cycling events in city centers, to a new professional road-racing team called Team Sky, which [we hope will help] inspire new generations of cyclists by winning the Tour de France. We are also one of Britain’s largest corporate supporters of the arts and we continue to focus on how we can open up the arts and make it more accessible to more people more easily. Last year we co-produced Antony Gormley’s One & Other. That project saw a different individual take to the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square every hour of every day for 100 days.We filmed it via a live 24/7 web broadcast and then we did a lot of highlight programming on our Sky Arts channels. Those are good ways that we can not only make a contribution but we can use our voices as a large media organization to amplify not only what we are doing but the issues that we all face, and encourage our customers and viewers to get involved and take action as well. TV EUROPE: What growth areas do you see in the next 18 to 24 months? DARROCH: First I would say that the economic backdrop in the U.K.is going to remain uncertain.However,pay-TV penetration in the U.K. is still only 50 percent, so around half of the marketplace has not yet chosen to upgrade to some form of paidfor service. I think there is a lot of room for growth there. 4/10
Home entertainment generally will continue to be an area where customers remain willing to pay for high-quality services, particularly as the gap between the free and pay experience widens. And I think that HD will continue to be the leading trend in television, with the number of HD-ready TV sets continuing to grow—we expect them to hit around 14 million homes by the end of this calendar year. We are also going to start to see the emergence of 3-D as a trend not just in television but in other home-entertainment areas as well, particularly in games and, of course, movies.We have to wait and see how big that trend ends up being; it will kick off when 3-D-ready TV sets start hitting the high street from the spring onwards. And then, while the majority of people continue to watch linear channels, new platforms and new solutions across the industry will increase choice and flexibility for viewers. We are well placed as a business to capitalize on all of those trends. It will require us to keep investing, changing and doing new things, but if we can do that then we should be able to attract more customers and to encourage our existing customers to take more services from us. TV EUROPE: There is starting to be talk here in the U.S.
about people saying, I can get so much online for free that I really don’t want to pay my cable subscription anymore. Are you seeing any of that starting to happen in the U.K.? DARROCH: No, we’re not. If we look at the last 12 months, our rate of growth as a business has actually accelerated versus the previous 12 months.And we continue to see consumption of linear TV as being a very, very popular way for families all around the country to entertain themselves. But I think the key reason is that we offer very differentiated content and a much broader range of choice than free content.As an example, in my own family, there are many different views on what to watch—the real advantage of a service like Sky is it can offer great content for the whole household. So we continue to see paid-for content as a very attractive way to do business. Great quality content combined with customer-led innovation, backed up by great service, great value and a brand that they can trust—that’s an important cocktail to keep your customers satisfied. World Screen
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Changing the game: 3-D TV is one of Sky’s key initiatives for 2010, with a dedicated channel that has begun rolling out to pubs across the U.K.
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TV Europe’s editor, Anna Carugati, recalls her days at Canale 5 and explains why the network remains a market-leader in Italian television.
Thirty Years of By Anna Carugati I was hired quite unexpectedly by Silvio Berlusconi back in 1983. During a vacation while visiting my family in Milan, I was sitting in a café overlooking a piazza, sipping a cappuccino—a tranquil moment that was quite a departure from the fast-paced lifestyle I was used to as a news field producer for CBS in Chicago.As I was leafing through Il Giornale, a newspaper owned by Berlusconi, quite a large want ad caught my eye. Fininvest, Berlusconi’s holding company, was looking for producers for its TV network, Canale 5. On a whim I called about the position, and the next day I was being interviewed by Berlusconi himself, who wasted no time telling me,“You have American know-how, and that’s what I want and need to help grow my networks. So far you have been a small fish in a very big pond; now I am giving you the opportunity to be a big fish in a small pond. Can you start in two weeks?”
What would prompt me to leave CBS, the Tiffany network, whose news division—known as the House of Murrow—and its standards I had aspired to for as long as I could remember? Why would I leave a leading U.S. network that offered me a career in TV journalism and jump to Canale 5, an upstart, an experiment in commercial television that was struggling to establish itself in a media environment dominated by state-run RAI and heavily influenced by the government? I jumped at the opportunity because of Berlusconi’s entrepreneurial genius, his desire to take on the broadcasting status quo, and the enthusiasm that permeated the entire environment at Canale 5. As haphazard and trial-and-error as those early days were, everyone knew they were making history.That to me was irresistible. “Only those of us who lived through the early days can understand the enthusiasm that existed back then, the desire to accomplish and create something new—it was a wonderful time,” recalls Fatma Ruffini, who today is in charge of all entertainment programs, sitcoms and all formats at Mediaset, Fininvest’s television division. “Canale 5 changed the television landscape, it was an innovative and creative force,” she explains.“During the early ’80s, RAI began its broadcast day in the afternoon, but we at
Canale 5’s Sarabanda.
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Steaming up the screen: Italian dramas such as I Cesaroni have been central to Canale 5’s success.
Canale 5 produced the first morning program in Italy, Buongiorno Italia.We also introduced game shows.The first program I bought was The Price Is Right—I was the absolute first person to acquire a format in Italy, and the Americans were puzzled. They had problems selling me the rights to a program that wasn’t a finished series.” OK, il prezzo è giusto!, as The Price Is Right was called, went on to become a huge hit, and so did many other American shows, particularly Dallas.There is a curious story about Dallas that exemplifies how Berlusconi permanently changed Italian television with Canale 5. But first a bit of background. THE REVOLUTION BEGINS
Television was deregulated at an interesting point in Italy’s history.The ’70s had been a horrible decade. A recession had brought to an abrupt halt the post–World War II Italian “economic miracle” of the ’60s, when small businesses had flourished, stimulating growth and recovery. During the ’70s, random acts of terrorism—bombs exploding on trains, in tunnels, in banks and on street corners, and the famous “knee-cap” shootings of businessmen and journalists—were nearly everyday occurrences.The mood in the country was one of fear, pessimism and complete distrust of authorities. For a populace in great need of distraction, state-run RAI offered only three TV channels.Viewers at the time had no idea what choice was, and the vast majority of the country’s businesses, who desperately needed a boost in the dismal economy, had no access to TV advertising because commercials on RAI were limited to a 10-minute block called Carosello, which aired between the end of the evening newscast and the beginning of prime time—and, more important, Carosello was reserved for major advertisers. It was against this backdrop that Canale 5 was born,in 1980. At the time, Italian law did not allow for national networks—only stations that broadcast locally.So Berlusconi bought about 20 stations, one for each region of Italy, and provided each station with the same programming, Stacks upon stacks of videotapes 212
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were driven around Italy to ensure that each station broadcast the same show at the same hour, thereby creating a network. The results of Berlusconi’s entrepreneurship—the remarkable relationship his advertising rep firm Publitalia built with advertisers all across the country and the loyalty Canale 5’s programming engendered among viewers—ruffled not a few political feathers. It seemed as if every day some senator or minister was threatening to shut down Canale 5’s transmitters. Now we get back to Dallas, which was extremely popular, especially with the female audience. Some minister decided he was finally going to teach Berlusconi a lesson and shut off one or more transmitters, and Canale 5 went to black on the night Dallas aired.The public outcry was so huge, including from the wives of the very politicians who had decided to have the transmitters shut off, that Canale 5 was quickly back on the air. That is a testament to the popularity of the series and the importance of the channel in the minds and hearts of Italians. A WELL-OILED MACHINE
Today, Canale 5 operates in an entirely different television landscape. Berlusconi has entered the political arena and is prime minister (and many claim he controls not only Mediaset, of which his family is the majority shareholder, but also the state-run RAI’s channels). Nevertheless, the Italian market is mature and viewers have a lot of choice. Besides Canale 5, Mediaset operates two other free-TV terrestrial networks, Italia 1 and Retequattro, as well as a bouquet of advertisersupported digital channels and pay-TV channels. RAI is also in the digital and pay business, but the biggest jolt of competition to the market was provided by the SKY Italia satellite payTV platform, which today has some 4 million subscribers. While in its early days, anything Canale 5 did drew attention; nowadays it endeavors to stand out from the pack.As a result, Fatma Ruffini travels the world “to see the new formats and programs from producers and broadcasters, and I buy the ones I feel are best suited to our networks. I look for what is new, for shows that will be successful. I look for what isn’t already on the air.” That search for programs that the audience hasn’t seen before is a recurrent theme at Canale 5 these days. Giovanni Modina— who joined the network in 1990, was director of programming for the channels and more recently was promoted to deputy director of content for all of Mediaset’s free-TV channels— explains that the “let’s try something new and see if it works” attitude that existed in the early years of Canale 5 is long gone. Today every time slot has to provide a return on investment, every show has to generate a sufficient audience share and advertising revenue to justify its cost—and costconsciousness is the name of the game. Canale 5 is well positioned.As Mediaset’s flagship network, it is always either the top-rated or second-rated network. It delivers advertisers an attractive demo: urban, fairly affluent, young families. And yet, in an environment that is constantly 4/10
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An offer you can’t refuse: The mini-series Il Capo dei Capi tells the story of Totò Riina, the mafia boss of all bosses.
changing, with new channel launches, catch-up TV services and online viewing, “the main goal of Canale 5, like all the other general-entertainment networks in Italy, is to stop the advance of audience fragmentation,” explains Modina. Modina has witnessed firsthand the evolution Canale 5 has undergone, and one main change has been the near disappearance of blockbuster movies from its prime-time schedule. “About 12 years ago, when I started programming Canale 5, the seven prime-time evenings of the week were evenly divided amongst the main programming genres: sport, fiction, entertainment, acquired product, films, variety,” Modina says. “From about 2002, we started to realize that blockbuster movies were no longer performing as well as they had been.It used to be that when we invested large amounts of money in a movie, usually there was a big return on that investment, and obtaining a 30-percent share was not unusual.And there was a very good chance of further exploiting the movie in reruns. If the first run garnered a 30-percent share, a second run would get about a 24, a third run 18, and then there would be a fourth run on another one of our networks.” As Modina explains, movies started delivering lower ratings, as did sports, current-event specials and infotainment. But at the same time, high-quality fiction,TV movies, miniseries and series about everyday life or even historic topics about Italy or Europe started to perform very well. “Seven or eight years ago, we made a considerable investment in fiction, as did RAI, and the quality of our series and TV movies had nothing to envy of imported series,” says Modina, citing crime series like R.I.S.: Delitti Imperfetti, Distretto di Polizia or Elisa di Rivombrosa, an extremely popular love story set in the 1800s.“Now I have a feeling that even this cycle is coming to an end,” continues Modina.“Fiction is starting to feel the competition from channels that are airing imported 214
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series and movies.There is the risk, even with popular series, that by the time they reach general-entertainment free-TV networks, they have already been seen elsewhere.That’s the same thing that happened to blockbuster movies.The next phase in programming, I believe, will be geared toward a return of entertainment.As fiction represented something new during the last eight years, now the one type of show that viewers can only find on Canale 5, among the dozens of channels that offer only movies or only series or only imported product, are entertainment and reality shows,” says Modina. One such standout success is the Italian version of Big Brother: Grande Fratello. Now in its tenth season, its finale scored a 37.5-percent share, and throughout the series, its website got 250 million page views. As Modina points out, Canale 5 feels the competition from the array of digital and pay channels that have popped up in recent years, pulling with them many genres that used to be standard fare on general-entertainment channels.“Certainly sports events have migrated to thematic channels; so have news and current affairs, and almost all series are on thematic channels.We still air some films, but only those that were not successful at the box office and have had less exposure. So what viewers expect from Canale 5, and from free TV in general, is what they haven’t seen before.” Mediaset must evolve to keep pace with new platforms and viewing preferences, and today, as Francesco Mozzetti, the head of acquisitions and sales, explains,“Our digital offerings have become an important business generating a significant amount of revenues. However, to this day, what guarantees our salaries are the free-TV networks: Canale 5, Italia 1 and Retequattro. And our goal is to maintain our market share in free TV— which is our core business.” And in that business, Canale 5 remains the jewel in the crown. 4/10
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TV EUROPE: How did Antena 3 help change the television landscape in Spain? FERNÁNDEZ: We had the privilege of being one of the first private broadcasters to be on the air.We also began airing a few months ahead of Telecinco, and that constituted a true revolution in a market where competition was nonexistent. State-run TVE was the only offering available. Our presence paved the way in a number of areas. First, it offered a plurality of voices from an editorial standpoint. Second, we’ve contributed to creating an audiovisual industry in Spain that up to that point was practically nonexistent.There was only one company that commissioned programs, imagine that! We also helped increase television consumption.They say that all new offerings do is fragment [audiences], which is true, but at the same time, new TV outlets help boost consumption. So the increase in plurality and the beginning of a production industry are the factors that opened doors to new formats that weren’t available in Spain before.
Years of By Elizabeth Bowen-Tombari
As the Spanish commercial broadcaster Antena 3 de Televisión celebrates its 20th anniversary, it faces the best of times and the worst of times. Of all the major European TV markets, Spain was hit the hardest by the economic downturn, and advertising revenue last year fell by some 20 percent. Despite this dismal climate, Antena 3 managed to position itself as the highest-rated Spanish network among the coveted 16-to-54 demographic. Trailblazing is nothing new to Antena 3. As the first commercial network to air in Spain, it brought choice and innovation to Spanish viewers. Two decades later, it continues to build on its programming strengths: popular homegrown series, news and hit American shows. Carlos Fernández, the director of content at Antena 3, recalls the network’s first accomplishments and looks forward to more success as the Spanish market improves and digital switchover provides new opportunities for growth.
TV EUROPE: What have been Antena 3’s most important
contributions to television in Spain? FERNÁNDEZ: Well, it’s difficult to boast—I think it would
be too pretentious to say that Antena 3 has made any contributions.What I can say is that we’ve probably been pioneers in introducing television genres. If I had to choose, I’d pick the Spanish series. Recently, we aired a movie as a tribute to Farmacia de guardia, one of our signature productions of the ’90s. It was practically the first series of its kind to air in Spain [breaking audience records at the time].There had been some big productions on TVE, but not along the same lines. I believe we did contribute to Spanish TV a genre that was quite unfamiliar here and since then has garnered strong attention. TV EUROPE: Twenty years later, what are the strengths in Antena 3’s slate today? FERNÁNDEZ: From everything we’ve worked on since then, not only with Farmacia de guardia, we’ve offered a programming slate that is primarily American, with a series on the air almost every day. That’s one of our strengths now. We have a dominant position with Spanish series.We’re the only channel right now that airs three series in prime time that are ratings leaders.That’s the real strength. On top of that, of all the broadcast networks, we have the leading news programming.These are the two most important factors, in my opinion. TV EUROPE: What role do imported series play in the channel’s programming? FERNÁNDEZ: As you know, formats generally travel best. We’ve had great results with the recently launched Curso del 63, a European format. And a huge success in the U.S. is Undercover Boss, which we’ll launch in Spain soon.We’re always open to formats but under one condition: they must be innovative.They’re very important; we work a lot with them and we’ll continue to do so. As far as foreign fiction goes, we’ve always had a space for series from the U.S. We’re the only private network in Spain that has a regular slot for film, which is important. Glee and Modern Family are two important productions we’ll have on our slate. Lie to Me is another series that’s
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Happy 20th Anniversary To Mercedes, Javier and the great team at Antena 3 Congratulations and best wishes for continued success in the future
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On the run: El Internado, a thriller set in a boarding school, has been one of Antena 3’s biggest successes.
part of our programming. We’re currently promoting Glee and we hope it will strike a chord with viewers, as well as Modern Family. TV EUROPE: Tell us about the importance of news and
information on Antena 3. FERNÁNDEZ: It’s very important.We have a three-and-a-
half-hour current-events program every morning.There are two daily one-hour newscasts, which keep viewers abreast of everything that goes on in Spain. This constitutes a broad offering and we’re about to debut thematic channels on Antena 3’s website as well. News is really important and we’re the point of reference in the private sector. TV EUROPE: What is the advertising forecast this year for the
Spanish market? FERNÁNDEZ: The forecast isn’t different from the general
economic forecast in Spain. It’s not clear when the crisis will be over and under what circumstances. As you might already know, there have been important legislative changes affecting advertising on public broadcasters. State-run TVE stopped airing ads on January 1.This goes to show the dramatic situation the market is going through with declines of up to 30 percent.We can’t quite fathom just how much of a structural problem this really is. We’re at a juncture now because, as I said before, we can’t isolate the industry’s problem from the general financial climate. There are a series of stimulus plans in place and we understand they could influence ad spend, but we don’t know how long those plans will be in effect, and how the market is going to react.We’re doing a bit better than last year but we are unsure about the future. TV EUROPE: How have you been working with advertisers
during these difficult financial times? FERNÁNDEZ: Our commercial division has done a magnif-
icent job.We have the advantage that we were the top-rated 218
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network among private broadcasters last year.That gives us a very solid position, and as you know, the transition to digital television is under way.We’re leaders in DTT, which allows us to be well positioned with advertisers despite the declines in ad spend.We also introduced an important innovation from a commercial standpoint, where we sold advertising on all channels simultaneously. The end result was encouraging despite the environment. TV EUROPE: How are you using online and mobile to enhance the connection with your audience? FERNÁNDEZ: We have an initiative called 3.0, which refers to the versatility of our content for television, mobile or online.We try to adapt our content to mobile or online, offering programs that viewers can watch while chatting and commenting at the same time.We soon hope to be pioneers with the launch of webisodes.There are more projects along these lines that help us stand out from the pack. TV EUROPE: What can you tell us about your possible
merger with laSexta? FERNÁNDEZ: It’s a bit premature for me to mention any-
thing at this time.Talks are under way, and we’ll take as much time as necessary. It’s too early to think about what effects it might cause.What is clear, however, is that there has to be a different approach from the one we have now. TV EUROPE: What opportunities and challenges do you see
in the next 12 to 24 months? FERNÁNDEZ: I believe opportunity and challenge go hand
in hand. Our first priority in Spain is the switch to digital. We’ll see how the economy progresses and if we’ll need to carry out measures that will maintain profitability, but that’s another story. I believe that new platforms, and everything that has to do with new technological applications, and the added value this brings to content, are going to be the great challenges in the coming years. 4/10
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With some 20,000 hours of programming in its catalogue, encompassing entertainment, factual, drama, comedy and lifestyle, FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME) has something for just about any channel and any time slot. As viewers increasingly choose to watch shows on demand, FME is also finding opportunities in new media. But CEO David Ellender believes in the strength of broadcast TV.
TV EUROPE: How important have social-networking sites been as promotional tools? ELLENDER: Social-networking sites have really been a fantastic promotional vehicle for our shows. Susan Boyle in Britain’s Got Talent didn’t become a phenomenon just on YouTube, she really became a phenomenon through a combination of YouTube, MySpace, Twitter and Facebook. Through social networks we have started to dialogue with that fan base in a way that we weren’t able to before. And that gives us the ability to cross-promote our shows.We’ve done this recently with a dating show in the U.K. on ITV1 called Take Me Out and also with The X Factor last year, which is also on ITV.These efforts have helped reach excellent numbers for the show in our demographic targets. The audience can watch the show but then immerse themselves in it online and with their friends. So we’ve seen a great opportunity to widen the experience beyond just the television broadcast. As much as we deplore and combat piracy on the Internet, the fan activity online around our programs has really worked well. I mentioned the Susan Boyle clip, which, interestingly, was started by a fan uploading the clip on YouTube, and that took the program and the format worldwide instantly. It wasn’t us that did it; this was a fan that did it. And we’ve got other examples—for instance, in Australia, Neighbours is our daily soap on Network Ten. Fans uploaded a video of the characters Declan and Bridget’s wedding, and they become popular in online forum chats. It is amazing that there is a community chatting up two characters in Australia getting married. People from different parts of the world were participating, and the only way they could see and know about the show was through friends sharing content online. We’ve also done online forum chats for the American Idol auditions, and once again that has provided a fantastic platform for the visibility of our programs. And we have also found this is the case for some of the smaller niche programs as well.We own 75 percent of Original Productions, and they make Ice Road Truckers and Deadliest Catch and Ax Men. They’ve got fiercely loyal online fan bases. And this just helped to make the brands stronger on a global basis—and not just for big entertainment shows, even niche shows with more targeted audiences.
Mining New Opportunities
FME’s David Ellender By Anna Carugati
TV EUROPE: Are certain types of programming experienced
better by watching them live on broadcast TV than watching on-demand? ELLENDER: Yes, live sporting events, big news and currentaffairs events, but also entertainment shows like Idols and The X Factor. Clearly it’s not feasible to make these shows available in the on-demand world, because of the huge audiences that are being generated. Here in the U.K., the finale of The X Factor was seen by about 19.1 million people—that’s 62 percent of the viewing audience. Now, there isn’t a bandwidth on another medium able to get that much viewership. It would bring the system crashing down. So I think technology has got some way to go before you could even contemplate putting some of these big shows [on demand], even if it were feasible to cover the cost, and that model would look very different. The cost of broadcast distribution is going to remain flat almost regardless of the number of viewers that an event attracts, but the cost on broadband actually increases per viewer. Even if the technology improves, the financial model at the moment doesn’t allow for these other platforms to supersede broadcast TV.
TV EUROPE: Are the opportunities presented by the online
world something to be feared or embraced? ELLENDER: We took a look at the horizon about three
years ago.We saw what happened to the music business and we were looking at the ubiquity of content.The many platforms that make content available led to fragmentation in the linear world, and we asked ourselves, How do we prepare for this evolutionary change to the TV business? To some degree the recession has deflected people a little bit.The challenges we face are not about the recession, they are about this evolution, and it’s driven by digital ubiquity.We are seeing polarization already—big brand, big franchise, big event, live TV on one end or niche programming on the other. And everything else in between is struggling for a model. So for us it’s a case of embracing the change, and we’ve got some strategies in place that we think will put us in a better position than other people. 220
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