TELEVISION BUSINESS IlkkilAZ I...1994/07/08 · Eduardo Cintra Torres; South Africa Dezi Rurich; Spain Justin Webster; Sweden Goran Sellgren; Turkey Serhan Yarar; Serbia Branka Otashevich

TELEVISIONBUSINESSIlkkilAZ A I A

JULY/AUGUST 1994

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TBI

TBI CONTENTS16 COVER STORY

Indian FileIndia is a market of 900 million people with a filmand tv industry which is already limbering up toserve a plethora of private stations and a newly-dynamized public broadcaster.

16 The A -Zee of Indian TV20 Serious About Software21 The Elephant Dances

24 MARKETS

Travel BusinessMarkets, large and small, themed and regional, are cropping up all the time: shouldtv marketeers be more selective?

26 ADVERTISING

Appealing MarginsTeleshopping and infomercials are part of a lucrative business which is gradulallymoving into the broadcasting mainstream.

30 SPECIAL REPORT: NEWS

Top Of The HourThe news explosion continues to unfold, witha third major player entering the agency busi-ness and more broadcasters pursuing the all -news option. But in some parts of the world,unfettered access to news is not encouraged.

30 The Information Circus34 Three Is A Crowd38 Making The Wrong Kind Of Headlines

DEPARTMENTS

MonitorSouth African TV To Reform 6

China Impasse Delays Licenses 7

Spanish Cable Law In The Works 7

Canada Unveils New Contenders 8

Advertisers Demand Shake-up 8

Star TV Brushes Up Its Chinese 9

Market Drives Aussie Pay -TV 9

Japanese Debate Ratings Change 10

RTL2 Ups Own Production

Channel 5 Plan Goes Digital

TF1 News Channel On The Air

11

11

12

EDITOR'S NOTEAmerican Football 2

PERSPECTIVEThe Networks Stage A Comeback 4

COMMENTProtecting The Public 14

ADVERTISINGIBM s Predicament Not Unique 40

DATATV Is Dead... Long Live TV 41

PRODUCT NEWSWhat's Wrapped Or Ready t

HARD TECHEurope: A New TV Testbed 48

Television Business International July/August 1494

EDITOR'S NOTE

TBITELEVISIONMBUSINESSINTERNATIONAL

Publisher Paul Nicholson

Editor Rich Zahradnik

Deputy Editor Tim Westcott

Associate Editor Sarah Walker

Contributing EditorsBarry Flynn, Toby Syfret,Jean -Luc Renaud, Chris Dziadul,Barbara Bliss Osborn (U.S.)

Editorial Assistant Marie Beardmore

Director of Sales Sally -Anne Wilse

Sales Executive Caroline Haybyrne

Sales RepresentativeDavid Field (Australasia)

Art Editor/Business PublicationsMatthew liumberstone

Designer Marie Calvert

Production Debbie Williams

Managing Director,21st Century Publishing Nick Snow

Correspondents: Argentina Mike GalettoAustralia Liz Fell; Brazil Mac Margolis;Canada KarenMurray; Denmark ThomasDodd; China Ma Yuanhe; Finland EddieHawkins; France Serge Siritzky; GermanyKlaus Linke, Jack Kindred; GreeceStylianos Papathanassopoulos; HongKong Owen Hughes; Hungary Len Scott;India Indrajit Lahiri, Asoka Raina; IrelandFergal Ringrose; Israel Barry Chamish;Italy Cecilia Zecchinelli; Japan MarkSchilling; Kenya Kazunga Katana: Nether-lands Dick Versteeg; New Zealand VickiHyde; Nigeria Titus Ogunwale; PortugalEduardo Cintra Torres; South Africa DeziRurich; Spain Justin Webster; SwedenGoran Sellgren; Turkey Serhan Yarar;Serbia Branka Otashevich

U.K. (Editorial and Advertising)531-533 King's Road London SW10 OTZTel: (071) 352 3211Fax: (071) 352 4883 or (071) 352 9657Telex: 925030

Australia (Advertising)Tel. (02) 439 1730 Fax: (02) 439 3103TBI is published monthly except January and August, 10 Issues (ISSN 0953-09411by Television Business International. a 21st Century Publishing company. TBI isava,ahle by subscription only at an annual subscription price of L50 United Kingdom. US$102 Europe and US$89 USA US5110 Outside Europe including air speeddelnery. Send address changes to: TBI. 531-532 King's Road. London SWSO0120 All contents copynght 21st Century PublishingPnnted in England by Headley Brothers Ltd Ashford gentReproduction by Grephic Ideas Studios. 1-11 Bathes Sheet, London NI 60LU.S.A. POSTMASTERS; Send address changes to Television Business International.Publications Expediting,. Inc., 200 Meacham Ate.. Elmont. N.Y. 11003. /or freightand mailing In the U.S.A. by Publications Expediting. Inc.. 200 Meacham Ave.,Elmont. N.Y. 11003. Second class postage paid at Jamaica. N.Y. 11431.

Open GoalAbout a year and a half ago I had dinner with the folks from Group WSatellite Communications. Everybody was in a good mood. Country

Music TV, the video music channel Group W and Gaylord Communicationswere bringing to Europe, already looked a success. We celebrated thatnight; champagne followed the meal, and has happens at the best of busi-ness dinners, we stopped talking about business.

I brought up my personal obsession - football - an obsession I'd beenable to indulge since moving from the U.S. to Britain. Lloyd Werner, GroupW Satellite's executive vice-president, offered that he had played soccer as akid, in fact that he'd probably won the national scoring title playing for Col-gate University. He was only pretty sure about the title because no-one kepttrack of statistics then. Amazed, I asked if he'd brought up his footballexploits as he met European tv execs. He hadn't even thought to. It wasthen that I told him about the most important attribute I found I had as anAmerican doing business in Europe: I love to talk about football. Dutch dis-tributors, British broadcasters, Spanish salesmen, they'll all talk with me forhours about football. Over Mip dinners, once we've bored each other todeath with what we know about Lithuanian barter regulations, the real con-versations can begin. We talk football.

So why all this football talk? I've spent the past seven weeks in Dallasworking for the host broadcaster at the World Cup. In that time, I'vewatched as ABC and ESPN missed a colossal marketing opportunity. Mywork -place was the International Broadcast Center, headquarters for compa-nies TBI covers all the time. TV Globo, ITV, France 2 and 3, ARD and ZDFall had studios in the IBC. They and others were interested in Americanreactions to World Cup football. They kept asking to meet with ABC andESPN; some wanted interviews with U.S. tv people. But though ABC andESPN controlled U.S. rights to the tournament, both had stayed home, ABCin New York, ESPN in Connecticut. It got so bad, I called the ABC andESPN press offices to point out they were passing on an international PRevent of some importance and maybe they might want to send down someexecutives and on -air types to do interviews in the 100 or so tv and radiostudios pumping feeds out of Dallas day and night. ESPN listened politelyand said they'd think about it. In the end, they held a conference call aimedmainly at American print journalists. ABC was more blunt: "They know ourphone number." I pointed out you can't do a tv interview over the phone."They know our phone number." Both networks, with all their global aspi-rations, faced an open goal and missed. If they knew what that was, they'dknow how much they screwed up.

4cS The Editor

P.S. My thanks to Paul, Sally, Tim, Sarah, Caroline and everyone else at TBIfor helping a little kid's dream come true.


2

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PERSPECTIVE NEW YORK

Rupert Murdoch's audacious June raidon affiliates of CBS, ABC and NBChad its heartening aspect to the

shaken Big Three. In spending $500 mil-lion to bag 12 affiliates (eight from CBSalone), Murdoch showed the world thathe was betting on the future of old-fash-ioned broadcast tv at a time when otherbig players are putting down chips onalmost anything interactive.

When Murdoch struck, the major net-works had been enjoying heady times.After a decade in a free -fall, duringwhich their ultimate survival was insome doubt, the three had pulled out ofit and became masters of the universeagain.

This spring they had whoppingadvance ad sales for their fall line-up, apositive sign if ever there was one. Withsome $10 billion in advertising for themto share this year, or more than a thirdof the total for all television, all are ontrack to top the record profits their com-panies enjoyed in 1993.

Yet as recently as three years agotheir outlook was grim. Ten of the lead-ing cable channels were each makinglarger profits than any of the three estab-lished networks, at least one of whichwas losing money. And at a time whenprogram costs were continuing to spiralupwards, network audiences were spi-raling downward from the competitionof cable, barter syndication, the Fox net-work, the VCR, video games and every-thing else that was spilling into the mar-ketplace.

So how to account for the miraculousturnaround? I believe it was plain dumbluck. The networks seem to have comeby their new-found success throughsome diametrical swing in public taste,rather than through any calculated strat-egy of their own.

To be sure, the big three helped theirprofit picture by cutting costs on everyfront. This has included pepperingprimetime with in-house programs fromtheir news divisions. But cutting costs isa negative response to the competitivechallenges. You don't regain dominancethrough fiscal austerities. Winningrequires a positive response.

Clearly it wasn't their cost-cutting thatsuddenly caused cable's steady draining

The Networks

Stage A Comeback

BY LES BROWN

of network audiences to level off a yearor so ago. Nor was it the networks' dili-gent belt -tightening that kept theobstreperous Fox network from gainingmore ground in the ratings.

My theory is that the U.S. Congressplayed an unwitting part in the net-works' comeback when it turned up theheat on tv violence three years ago. Thisled the three to grudgingly select pro-grams suitable for family viewing, andthat may well have been the positive actthat made the surprising difference.

The networks thus became differenti-ated from cable in being somehow moregerm -free (one hesitates to say morewholesome), at least in the public'smind. And I think it can be proved thatviolence -for -its -own -sake had alreadybegun to pall on the larger audiencewhen Congress took up the cause. Thetiming was exquisite; the networks had

The U.S. Congress playedan unwitting part in the networks'

comeback when it turned up the heaton tv violence three years ago

to give up what the public had got sickand tired of anyway.

As it turns out, family -centred pro-grams, led by the sitcoms, HomeImprovement and Roseanne, are amongthe most popular in the U.S. today. Get-ting the message, all three networks areadding new family comedies in the fall,with ABC choosing the genre in five ofthe six series it's installing and eager tohe known as the family network.

Already one senses complacency set-ting in. Top network officials talk as ifthey believe the market has posted thefinal score, and this is the way it's goingto be for a long time to come. "Free tele-vision is here to stay," Laurence Tisch,chairman of CBS, crowed on a note offinancial triumph, weeks before Mur-doch underscored the message.

The networks' return to power couldbe momentary, however. The forces ofchange are still at work, and the markethas lost none of its volatility.

DTH is just getting started in the U.S.,and if it should find significant numbersof subscribers in the places cabledoesn't reach, the networks will surelyfeel the bite. Cable, meanwhile, is tool-ing up with digital compression for itsnext big push. According to a recent sur-vey; as many as 125 new cable networksare ready to roll out when channelcapacity warrants.

Video -minded telcos, like BellAtlantic and Pacific Telesis, have target-ed 1995 for the start of their thrust intomega -channel interactive cable. Andthen there are the new terrestrial net-works being assembled by Paramountand Warner, and the growing lure toyoung people of the Internet and theonline computer network.

Can the traditional tv networks with-stand all this? Every new thing will betugging at their life -line. I confess tohoping they make it, because I believein mass -audience tv. But if their respo-nse to the new storm of competition isonly to continue down -sizing, I wouldn'tbet the ranch on their chances. Ell


4

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14m- 14n1 October 1994

Palais des Festivals, Cannes, France

TBI

STAR LINKS UPWITH CABLE TV

Cable TV, Hong Kong'sfirst subscription network,has given the strongestindication so far it is

about to sign an agree-ment to offer Star Moviesas a premium channel onits 20 -channel service.

Cable TV's owners, theHong Kong trading com-pany Wharf, has beennegotiating with Star TVfor several weeks.Although both sides werereluctant to give details,Cable TV managing direc-tor Stephen Ng said:"There is mutual commer-cial interest involvedhere... Star TV is redefin-ing its strategy and withthis new encrypted premi-um movie channel is obvi-ously looking at othersources of income thanadvertising."Cable TV has also secured

a deal to broadcast fourhours a day of BBC WorldService Television newson its International Chan-nel. More than 60,000 ofHong Hong's 1.5 millionhouseholds subscribe toCable TV.

SABC: ad -free future?

IV1 NSOUTH AFRICA

Broadcasting Body To

Free Up The AirwavesIBA hearings will map outnew democracy's tv landscape

As South Africa takes its first steps towarddemocracy, freeing up the airwaves has

become a priority. The eight -member Indepen-dent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), appointedbefore the March elections, started hearings atthe end of June aimed at mapping out the futureof broadcasting in the country.

At the top of the IBA's agenda, apart from theaward of local radio licenses, will be the futurefinancing of public broadcasting services, regula-tions on cross -media ownership, local televisioncontent quotas and independent production.

At the same time as it investigates theseissues, the IBA must prepare a frequency planthat will allow for the maximum number of fre-

quencies to become available forbroadcasting. Any recommendationsby the IBA will be passed on to theNational Assembly via the Ministry ofPost and Telecommunications. TheIBA is expected to grant the firstlicenses in May 1995.

As befits the new atmosphere ofthe country, virtually every organiza-tion involved in film and televisionproduction and in the cultural life ofSouth Africa is expected to have asay. A wide range of bodies includingthe umbrella group the Film and Tele-vision Federation (FIT), human rights,educational and religious groups,combined to make a joint submissionto the IBA

Their submission called for a com-mitment to public service broadcast-ing from the giant South AfricanBroadcasting Corporation (SABC) and

TORfor it to cease operating as a commercial broad-caster. It also outlines a two-tier structure forbroadcasting operating at national and provinciallevels. Given that the constitution gives theprovincial governments legislative competenceover provincial public media, this will provide anopportunity to establish a public broadcastingcorporation in each province, separate from theSABC

Willie Currie, a media consultant who helpeddraw up the FTF submission, said the IBA shouldclearly differentiate between public and commer-cial broadcasting. "One cannot really talk aboutthe SABC as a public broadcaster at the moment.The issue needs to be sorted out before newcommercial players enter the environment. Also,the frequency plan was designed for the SABC -which occupies the vast bulk of available fre-quency in urban centers - and must beredesigned to accommodate the new dispensa-tion."

Currie said the elimination of advertising onSABC - currently the source of 80% of its income- would "remove the commercial influence" fromthe broadcaster and allow for the emergence of ahealthy independent network along the lines ofBritain's ITV. The FTF submission suggests adirect state grant as an alternative means of fund-ing.

The submission also calls for the SABC to beopened up to independent production and forlocal tv content quotas to ensure that "the chang-ing reality of South Africa" gets an airing onSouth African screens. "It is difficult to competewith the U.S. television industry. In South AfricaU.S. television drama programs can be acquiredfor as little as R300 ($75) per minute, while thecheapest local television drama costs upwards ofR4,000 ($1,000) per minute," the submission out-lines.

Although the prospect of new licenses stillappears distant, would-be foreign investors arealready showing a keen interest in South Africa.One, Sweden's Kinnevik group, started negotia-tions with the ANC and local partners evenbefore Nelson Mandela took the presidential oathin May. Representatives from the ANC visited theUK studios of Kinnevik's TV3 channel in thespring.

by Dezi Rorich - SOUTH AFRICA


6

MONITOR

HONG KONG

License Bids Held Up

By Sino-U.K. StandoffBroadcasters are consideringmove to Singapore for uplinking

Star TV is one of only two uplink licensees

Thecontinuing political row between the UK

and China is undermining Hong Kong'sattempts to attract international broadcasterslooking for a regional base in Asia.

Despite a claim from the colony's administra-tion last year that Hong Kong could become "abroadcasting beacon" for south-east Asia, bids byoverseas broadcasters to get uplinking licenseshave been delayed by the Sino-British impasse.

Beijing has to be consulted before any licens-es are awarded because they will straddle thehandover of Hong Kong to China in 1997. Thelicensing process is also bound up in HongKong's planned Broadcasting Bill that shouldhave gone before the Legislative Council beforethe summer recess started in July. The Bill, whichwould have drawn together overlapping legisla-tion, is now unlikely to reach legislators beforelate 1994 because of China's failure to respond toamendments.

Among the issues to be discussed is theremoval of a 49% cap on foreign ownership ofsatellite broadcast licenses. Although RupertMurdoch bought 63.6% of Star TV, he was onlyable to purchase 48% of the license, allowing theoriginal owner, Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing, to retain control of the signal.

Until the Broadcasting Bill becomes law, StarTV and Hong Kong Telecom are the only compa-nies holding uplinking licenses.

Complicating matters is China's crackdown onforeign media, including the removal of private-ly -owned satellite dishes and a ban on joint ven-ture film productions with foreign companies.

Potentially the most high -profile casualty isTurner Broadcasting's TNT/Cartoon Network,due to begin transmissions over Asia via theApStar 2 satellite in the last quarter of 1994.

ESPN, Discovery Communications and Walt Dis-ney are also thought to be looking at Singaporeas an alternative; the republic's broadcastingauthorities have been lobbying hard for the lasttwo years for companies to use Singapore Tele-com's facilities.

In 1993, TV New Zealand opted for Singaporeover Hong Kong to uplink signals to the PalapaB2P satellite for Asia Business News (ABN) inwhich it has a 29.5% share. Paradoxically, ABN,like HBO which is also uplinked from Singapore,cannot be seen by the republic's viewers becauseof strict content policies.

by Owen Hughes - HONG KONG

SPAIN

U.S. Investors Eye

Up Spanish CableCable legislation and investmentwill challenge the DTH market

Spain's long-awaited cable law, due to beunveiled by the minister of public works, Jose

Burrell, at the end of July, is expected to triggerheavy foreign investment in the sector. In May,executives from Time Warner and U.S. West vis-ited Barcelona to publicize the creation of a jointventure, Cable y Television de Europa SA withSpanish partners Multimedia Cable. The object ofthe new company is twofold: first to become anumbrella through which all interested parties canco-operate in the huge initial outlay on infras-tructure, and second to begin cabling Barcelona,which Richard Callahan, president of U.S. WestInternational, said has all the qualities for themaking of a good market.

What form the cable law takes is the onlyremaining uncertainty over whether the U.S.companies will actually make the investment. Asfar as the project in Barcelona is concerned,which alone would involve an $100 millioninvestment on infrastructure, U.S. West and TimeWarner are in a strong position for winning gov-ernment approval. Barcelona City Council is a24% shareholder in Multimedia Cable's parentcompany and it is almost certain it will be thecity halls across Spain who will decide who getsthe franchises for cable networks.

Arthur Barron, president of Time WarnerEntertainment, said he expected the Spanishcable market to generate considerable interest."If the legislation is right I think there will bemany others who will come here and want toinvest," he said.

by Justin Webster - BARCELONA

A FIRST FORMALAYSIA

A consortium of Malaysianbusinessmen operatingunder the umbrella nameof Binariang is set tolaunch the country's firstsatellite in 1996. The C -and Ku -Band satellite'slaunch will herald in part alifting of Malaysia's satel-lite dish ban, although intheory only Ku -Band dish-es with Binariangdecoders will be permit-ted. The satellite will alsobe allowed to carry inter-national programming, butnot before it has been vet-ted by the Malaysian gov-ernment which observesstrict rules as to the con-tent of programmingacceptable in the mainlyMuslim nation.


7

MONITOR

OWN GOALFOR IBA?

The privately -owned Chan-

nel Two picked up therights to show Israel Foot-ball League matches for

the next three years afterthe Israel BroadcastingAuthority (IBA) declined tobid for the rights in May.Moti Kirschenbaum, direc-

tor-general of the IBA.which controls the govern-ment -owned Channel One,

said it did not haveenough money in its $15million budget to meet theasking -price of $5 milliona year. The decision wascriticised by the director ofthe IBA's sports depart-ment, Yoash Elroi, whosaid: "Whoever owns therights to local professionalbasketball and football willbe the sole winner in theratings. Other sports haveno meaning for Israelis."The IBA lost the rights tobasketball two years ago.Kirschenbaum, who wasappointed in March 1992,has come under fire fordoubling the duration ofthe evening news bulletinto one hour, eating up40% of the IBA's budget,and introducing politicaltalk -shows which performpoorly with viewers.

CANADA

New Cable Nets Favor

Domestic ContentCanadians form a consortium tocounter the U.S. satellite invasion

Two preoccupations above all loom large inI Canada's burgeoning tv business: resisting theindustrial might of its friendly but giant neigh-bour to the south and, less urgently, the 500 -channel universe.

In June, the two converged when regulatorthe Canadian Radio and Television Commission(CRTC) issued ten cable licenses, to increase theoffer of national channels available to the coun-try's nine million cable households to 21. Shortlybefore, the biggest cable operators announced aplan to meet the challenge of U.S. direct -to -homeservices such as DirecTv with a Canadian satellitepackage.

The ten licenses, issued on June 6, rangedfrom old movies to country music, health andwomen's interests. By the time they run out atthe end of the decade, most Canadian homes willhave access to around 100 channels and, accord-ing to CRTC chairman Keith Spicer, the regulatorwill have no job to do - at least in terms ofawarding licenses.

"In three to seven years, we will see the disap-pearance of channel scarcity," said Spicer. TheCRTC will "intervene" for the last time next yearbefore leaving market forces to go to work.

Eight of the licenses went to English -languageservices, most of which will be basic cable, and

Banff: ten new channels got the green light during the festival

two will be pay-tv services. Two licenses went toFrench -language channels. Spicer invited the 38unsuccessful applicants, which included arts,news, comedy and sports channels, to resubmittheir applications, promising a final round oflicenses by the end of June 1995.

"We don't apologise for loading the dice infavor of Canadian artists, consumers and broad-casters," said Spicer. With all of the new channelspledging a high percentage, of Canadian content,and investment in programming totalingCan$518m ($375 million), regulators believe thecountry's production sector is well -set.

Cable operators Rogers, Shaw, Astral Broad-casting, JLL Broadcast Group and CTV's Quebecaffiliate, CFCF, are all involved in the plan tomarket direct -to -home services. They haveagreed to work with Western International Com-munications (WIC), Canadian Satellite Communi-cations (Cancom) and telco BCE group to marketdirect -to -home services within Canada.

"It is expected the new Canadian DBS servicewill be up and running by mid -1995, when thedigital video compression set -top boxes andreceivers are expected to be available," saidAndre Bureau, Astral Broadcasting's CEO.

Shaw, Astral, JLL and CFCF, also agreed to setup a separate entity to market a complete line-upof programming services to areas not currentlyserved by cable.offer a national pay -per -view programming feed.Programming services will be digitally com-pressed and delivered via the Anik E satellite.

by Karen Murray - TORONTO andTim Westcott - BANFF

ITALY

lime To Change TV,

Says Ad AssociationAd revenue is static and viewersare swamped with too many spots

While Italy's political parties are engaged in awar of words over the amendment of the tv

law, a strictly "business -oriented" warning camefrom the National Association of AdvertisingAgencies (Assap), whose members control over70% of the national market.

"The current structure of the Italian tv industrycannot last much longer. It must be radicallychanged," said Assap president Alberto Contri."Tv advertising revenues decreased in 1993 andwill grow by only 1.5% this year, which is lessthan the rate of inflation. This is not enough tokeep all the broadcasters in a healthy state."

At the same time, he said the number of


8

MONITOR

advertisements aired by the main networks hadbecame "unacceptably large." In 1993, Rai, Finin-vest, Italia? and TeleMontecarlo broadcast nearlyone million ads - 60% more than in 1987.

According to Assap, such an excessive level ofadvertising concentrated in so few hands (4% oftotal airtime for Rai and 14% for Fininvest) isdetrimental to the market: "Not only because it isdamaging for small and potential new broadcast-ers, but also because viewers remember less andless of what they see."

Assap proposed a reshaping of the tv land-scape, with more national thematic channels andmore syndication betweeen local stations.

Perhaps more importantly, Assap said the bigbroadcasters, and Berlusconi's Fininvest in partic-ular, must end their policy of selling advertisingspace at generous discounts of up to 70%. "Wewant a smaller offer of advertising time and 'nor-mal' rates, as in the rest of Europe," said Contri.

However, Assap rejected the suggestion byMarco Taradash, a Forza Italia MP newly -appoint-ed as president of the Parliamentary Commissionfor Rai, that the state broadcaster should be for-bidden from selling advertising.

Such a move would be "crazy," said Contri."The effect of taking away from Rai revenues of1.4 billion lire ($850 million) a year is unimagin-able."

The association, would welcome the entranceof "international broadcasters" on to the scene. "IfItalian investors and entrepreneurs are not able tocreate a third, strong tv group to compete withRai and Fininvest and so better balance thenational market, why not think of foreigners?"

by Cecilia Zecchinelli - MILAN

ASIA

as China's 1.2 billion people.At the launch of Star Movies, the network's

first subscription channel, in the Taiwanese capi-tal Taipei, general manager Tony Watts said 60%of the films broadcast would be in Mandarin,although all offerings would be subtitled. Esti-mates put the number of homes with access tothe service at one million - about 40% of Tai-wanese cabled homes.

Channel V is running 60% Mandarin videosand 40% English -language after reaching dealswith record labels in the region. Both the intersti-tial material and the language used by the bilin-gual VJs have also seen a big increase in the useof Mandarin. "It has had an immediate effect inTaiwan; Channel V has attracted more viewersthan our Chinese Channel at times and that isunprecedented," said a Star TV spokesperson."We are keeping our options open about how tobalance the language content because we haveto see what the effect is on places like the Philip-pines where English is the preferred language."

Mandarin is now Prime Sport's primarysoundtrack on Star TV's northern footprint cover-ing countries such as Hong Kong, Tai-wan, China, Japan, Korea, Vietnamand the Philippines. Programs with aclear niche like Australian rugbyleague are run in English, but largcevents go out in Mandarin, unlesscable operators and satellite dishowners adjust the frequency of theiraudio channel. The southern beam,covering India and the Middle East,has not been affected.

by Owen Hughes - HONG KONG Now playing in Mandarin

Star TV Boosts Big Players Scramble

Mandarin Broadcasts For Pay -TV MarketThe pan -Asian broadcaster isprioritizing Taiwan and China

Star TV, clearly focusing on the Taiwanese andChinese markets, has emphasized Mandarin -

language programming on its two recently -launched channels, Star Movies and the musicservice Channel V TV. Prime Sports has alsoadded a second soundtrack. It now runs high -profile events like Grand Slam tennis, FormulaOne motor racing and gymnastics with Man-darin -speaking commentary.

Although English and Mandarin are the linguafranca of south Asia, Star TV is going after the 20million -strong population of Taiwan, as well

Over 100 channels are planned viasatellite, cable and MDS

Thelatest phase in the market -driven introduc-

tion of pay-tv to Australia is likely to trigger ascramble for cable carriage, with the potential tocreate as much embarrassment as last year's auc-tion of satellite licenses.

Australis Media and Continental Century, thetwo successful bidders for licenses to offer digitalsatellite services via the Domsat satellite, plan tolaunch this year. Both are offering four -channelpackages which will be received direct -to -homein most of the country and, in the major east coastcities, via cable and microwave (MDS). Theremaining two channels are allocated to the Aus-


9

MONITOR

SWEDISH TVTITAN

PLANS NEWCHANNEL

TV4, Sweden's nationalcommercial network, isplanning to launch a sec-ond, satellite -deliveredchannel consisting ofreruns, movies and news,managing director BjornNordstrand told a meeting

of investors in June.Launch is anticipated in1995 or 1996 if the gov-ernment gives itsapproval. Nordstrand saidthe major cost for thechannel would be rental of

a satellite transponder forSkr30 million ($4 million)a year and expectedturnover was Skr300 mil-lion ($40 million).TV4, the only commercialnetwork to be distributedterrestrially, has upgradedits 1994 profit forecast toSkr175 million ($23 mil-lion) after a better thanexpected performance inthe first quarter.

tralian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).Backed by a successful share placement and

major finance from TCl/Liberty Media, Australisplans to offer the subscriber management systemand MDS infrastructure for all satellite licensees.including the ABC.

A partnership between Australis and LibertyMedia will deliver the U.S.-based Prime Sportschannel, while a TCl/Australis joint venture com-pany will offer movies.

Australis and the other four -channel satellitelicensee, Continental Century, have establishedlinks through small cross -shareholdings. Financefor Continental Century has been provided by asmall U.S. cable operator, Century Communica-tions, and a local venture capital company.

Another move that will strengthen the posi-tion of Australis is a possible joint venture withthe ABC to offer its two satellite channels, onecovering news and the other children's/docu-mentary programming.

An auction for the remaining MDS frequenciesis scheduled for July, but gaining access to thefiber-optic cable network, currently under con-struction by telephone company Telstra in thehigh -density eastern cities, is proving more con-troversial.

The first customer to sign up in May wasCable Television Services (CTS), a smallentrepreneurial company headed by Lynton Tay-lor, a former Nine Network director. Armed withlicenses for 20 cable channels, CTS reservedabout one-third of Telstra's cable capacity whichis limited to about 60 channels.

At press time, the broadcasting authority hadlicensed eight companies planning a total of 166cable tv channels. Would-be investors includingU.S. cable companies Cox and Time Warner,who are seeking a slice of the pay-tv marketusing cable, satellite, microwave (MDS) or allthree options. However, the authority has cho-sen not to release details of the coverage areas orforeign control arrangements of some licensees.

Given Australis and the powerful PMT consor-tium (named after its partners Kerry Packer,Rupert Murdoch and Telstra) have also appliedfor Telstra capacity each to offer up to 20 morechannels, demand has clearly overtaken supply.Telstra has now cancelled discussions with cus-tomers other than CTS while it addresses thepotentially explosive issue of channel allocation.

To add to this confusion, Optus Communica-tions, the second telecoms carrier which alreadyowns the Domsat system, has decided to buildanother cable -to -home network in partnershipwith Continental Cablevision. Further, Optus hasrecently acquired Packer's Nine Network as ashareholder. No timetable has been released forthe Optus/Continental network which will pro-vide a range of services, including local phonecalls. Continental Cablevision, meanwhile, hasalready secured licenses for 35 cable channelswith another local partner.

by Liz Fell -- SYDNEY

Odd One Out In The

Ratings GameJapan still measures tv viewing byhouseholds, but changes are afoot

More than four decades after the beginning ofcommercial broadcasting in Japan, broadcast-

ers and ratings services still measure tv viewingby households. This leaves Japan the internation-al odd man out; 37 countries in Europe, NorthAmerica and Southeast Asia have switched toindividual ratings. Under pressure from advertis-ers, who feel they are being charged unfairly forinflated ratings, moves are being made that mayenable Japanese broadcasting to join the majorityby the end of the year.

The leader in the struggle for change is theJapan Advertiser's Association (JAA), which rep-resents 308 companies, including most of themajor tv advertisers. At the end of 1990, theJAAannounced a proposal for the introduction ofindividual ratings. Television networks, however,balked. "The current system results in higher rat-ings," explained JAA director Akihiro Ito. "Also, itmakes it. easier for networks to arrange theirschedules and promote their programs."

But following the bursting of Japan's bubbleeconomy in the early 1990s, sponsors watchedtheir profits plunge - and as such became moreconcerned about the bang they were gettingfrom their pitches.

At the beginning of the year, JAA, the majornetworks and ad agencies began talks on how tomake the changeover. The system ratings compa-nies and networks are now considering, devel-oped by Data Access, requires household mem-bers to push individual buttons when they beginwatching a program. Ultrasonic and infra -redsensors then detect whether the number of view-ers is the same as the number of buttons pushed.If the number is not the same, a warning light isflashed.

"We are still in the process of negotiating, butby mid July we should be ready to announce aclear-cut policy," said Ito. "The ratings companieshave made considerable progress in determininghow they want to measure individual ratings.There are still problems that have to be ironedout, but we are definitely moving forward withthis. By fall we should begin tests and by the endof the year introduce the new system. Japan isclearly behind the rest of the world on this issue.Individual ratings are an irreversible trend; Japancannot continue to cling to its currentsystem."

A spokesman for Video Research, one of

Television Business International luly/August 1994

10

MONITOR

Japan's two major ratings agencies together withAC Nielsen, admitted there is movement in thedirection of individual ratings but was not quiteso emphatic as to when it would be implement-ed. "First, we have to arrive at a consensusbetween the advertising agencies, tv broadcastersand advertisers," he said. "Things may change intwo years or so, but for the time being we intendto stick with our current system. -

by Mark Schilling - TOKYO

GERMANY

RR Youth Channel

Relocates To MunichIn co-operation with Bavaria Film,RTL2 will up original production

Cologne'sloss is Munich's gain. The first

employees of commercial channel RTL2 beganarriving at their new headquarters on the BavariaFilm lot late in June, in what will be the studio'sfirst full-scale co-operation with a privately -rungroup.

Along with private channel Pro 7 and pubcast-er ZDF, youth -oriented RTL2 is the third generalinterest broadcaster to be located on the peri-phery of Bavaria's state capital. Kabelkanal andthe sports niche channel DSF are already basedin the greater Munich area.

Although more of its activities will be atBavaria Film, RTL2 will continue to be aired froma studio in Luxembourg (CLT has a 24% stake).The channel's sport and news divisions are torelocate this summer to the Cologne-Ossendorfbroadcasting center.

RTL2 has agreed to invest some DM20 million($12 million) over the next three years to expandBavaria Film's centers for video and design. Thechannel has earmarked DM80 million ($48 mil-lion) for productions this year, about a quarter ofwhich will go for use of the studio's facilities.

Bavaria vied with rival media states North -Rhine Westphalia, Baden Wurttemberg and Ham-burg for the contract with RTL2. But the otherslost out when, at the urging of the state govern-ment, which has a 20% stake in Bavaria Film, themedia authority BLM granted the channel twocoveted terrestrial frequencies. Release of the fre-quencies expanded RTL2's reach in ten of thestate's cities, upping the potential viewershipanother two million viewers and increasing thechannel's overall penetration to nearly 19 million.

As managing director Gerhard Zeilerexplained: "For us, Munich was a purely eco-nomic decision, since Bavaria's offer was thebest."

Under Zeil-er's manage-ment, RTL2achieved a mar-ket share of3.4% by theend of its firstyear last March,and will report-edly book atotal of DM400million ($245million) ingross ad rev-enues by theend of 1994.Start-up costswere originallyprojected atDM500 million($300 million),but laterreports put thefigure at DM300million ($183million), which could be paid off in three years,putting RTL2 on the threshold of profit. As rev-enues increase, RTL2 intends to up production ofits own product. Said Zeiler: "You can only cre-ate a good image with your own productions."

The Vienna -born Zeiler, now leaving RTL2,has been tipped to succeed Gerd Bacher as headof Austria's ORF public network, a post he willofficially take over in October. Rudi Reischi, whohandled RTL2's account at the IPA advertisingmarketing company in Frankfurt, takes over fromZeiler this summer.

Zeiler: leaving RTL2 for ORF

by Jack Kindred - MUNICH

UK

Channel Five

Back On AgendaITC "concerned" by governmentplan to encourage digital tv

TheUK's fifth terrestrial channel may be avail -

able to only 50% of the population accordingto a frequency plan decided by the UK govern-ment. One of the frequencies originally ear-marked for Channel Five will instead be allocat-ed to digital broadcasts.

The Independent Television Commission, theregulator which will be responsible for licensingthe channel, had asked the government to clarifywhich frequencies will be available. After thegovernment annoucement, it said it was "con-

ANTENA UPFOR GRABS

Six potential buyers haveput offers on the table fora 24.9% stake in Spanishnetwork Antena 3 TV,according to Antonio Asen-

sio, president of the pri-vate broadcaster.

Asensio made the state-ment in answer to share-holder questions at therecent general meeting.Negotiations with thethree U.S. groups interest-ed - Time Warner, Disneyand ABC - are reported tobe at an advanced stage.An unnamed member ofAntena 3 N's board, quot-ed in the Spanish press,named two Europeangroups, media giant Ber-

telsmann and the privateFrench channel TF1, asadditional bidders for thestake. CLT has also beenindentified as a possiblebuyer. Asensio has guar-anteed the sale, provokedby the collapse of share-holder the Banesto bank,will be completed in threemonths. As yet no newshas emerged over whatwill happen to the 29.3%of Antena 3 N controlledby Banesto as securityagainst a loan. BancoCentral Hispano is report-ed to be maintaining its10% holding. The resultsfor 1993, including profitsbefore tax of Ptas1.65 bil-lion ($12.2 million), and anumber of appointmentsto the board, wereapproved at the generalmeeting.


11

MONITOR

Meisel: working on bid

cemed" by the reduced coverage, whichit believes can only make the prospectsof Channel Five more difficult. The suc-cessful bidder will also have to bear thecost of retuning video recorders wherethey conflict with Channel Five broad-casts. The ITC will consider whether toreadvertise the license in September.

The ITC decided to reconsider anadvertisement for Channel Five at theinstigation of a consortium formed byTime Warner, ITV broadcaster Meridianand the publishing group Pearson earlier

this year. Since then two further groups, NBCand Virgin Communications, have declared theirinterest. Virgin owns a small stake in satellite ser-vice NBC Super Channel.

"If they want a genuine national channel, theyare going to have to give it national coverage,"said Patrick Cox, chairman of NBC Europe. "Ifthey reduce the coverage of the channel, it obvi-ously affects the amount of revenue we canexpect and the amount we are able to bid."

Cox said that there was a possibility of usingfurther frequencies to fill in parts of the countrynot covered, although some urban areas whichwould not be served - such as Manchester, New-castle and Norwich - are cabled to varyingdegrees.

Farrell Meisel, senior vice-president of TimeWarner International Broadcasting, said that itwas still interested in the opportunity despite thelower coverage but that it too was investigatinghow to boost coverage.

The ITC said it wants to discuss the implica-tions of the government's digital plans on thecommercial broadcasters. As well as the analogChannel Five, the government wants to use fre-quencies for up to 12 digital services. Four arelikely to be simulcasts of the four existing terres-trial channels, with eight channels covering 80-95% of the country used for new national orlocal channels, including Channel Five. After atransitional period of "perhaps 15 years", thegovernment wants broadcasts to move to all -digi-tal transmission.

Possibly mindful of the BSB fiasco - the DBSservice was saddled with the obligation to usethe British -developed DMac transmission stan-dard - the ITC is unlikely to make any stipula-tions about Channel Five experimenting withdigital.

Cox said NBC's studies in the U.S. and inEurope indicated that it will in any case be "along way down the road." Robert Devereux,managing director of Virgin, said: "The key ques-tion with digital is not the technology, but howquickly the consumer is going to take up digitaltv sets. There's not much point in transmittingdigital signals to analog sets."

If the ITC decides to go ahead with thelicense advertisement, Channel Five could be onthe air by the end of 1995.

FRANCE

French Cable Says

Oui To TF1 Channel

Private tv giant is investing $46m

in France's first news channel

a Chaine Info (LCI), the first French round-the-clockL tv news channel, launched to 400,000

cable homes in the Paris area on June 24.Promising to offer French news junkies the latestnews every quarter of an hour for 24 hours aday, LCI is 100% owned by TF1, France's leadingprivate broadcaster.

Although Paris Cable was the only network tomake room for LCI at launch, all four of themajor cable operators have agreed to carry thechannel as part of their basic packages, eventhough its fee of FFr6 ($1.09) per subscriber permonth makes it one of the most expensive.Availability is expected to rise to 1.1 millionhomes by the beginning of 1995.

Etienne Mougeotte, second in charge at TF1and president and chief executive officer of LCI,said the annual budget will be about FFr160 mil-lion ($29m), with 160 employees out of which 80are journalists. Although the new channel willoperate independently from TF1 and is based inanother part of Paris, some of the broadcaster'stop stars such as anchorman Patrick Poivred'Arvor will appear on LCI.

Revenue expected for 1995 is FFr15 million($2.7m) from advertising and sponsorship, FFr70million ($12.7m) from cable fees and FFr35 mil-lion ($6.4m) from TF1, for which LCI will pro-duce the weather reports. With these figures, adeficit of around FFr40 million ($7.3) is expectedin the first year and given the slow rate of cablegrowth, LCI is not forecast to break even for fouror five years. Cable subscriptions will probablynot exceed two million before the year 2000.

Keen to see its FFr250 million ($45.5m) invest-ment is money well -spent, TF1 is likely to benefitthe 'channel with promotional support. It hasalready suceeded in rallying national and localpoliticians to overcome the reluctance of somecable systems to pay the high fee to carry thechannel. The channel will, at least in earlystages, be cable -exclusive.

LCI marks TF1's second foray into new media.It already operates and owns a 30% stake in pan-European channel Eurosport, and plans tolaunch a cable shopping channel. However,unlike LCI, this will be forced to compete with atleast two other operations.

by Tim Westcott - LONDON


12

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COMMENT MUNICH

What is more dangerous: commercialtelevision or advertising? To ordi-nary people - that is, to the majori-

ty of those not initiated in the cerebralrites of progressive intellectuals - thatquestion may make no sense. To thespecialists in apocalypse, the question isas elementary as the answer is clear:commercial television and advertising,of course, are equally dangerous, buteven more dangerous in combination.

A representative of the naive majoritymight ask: dangerous? why and towhom? Poor stupid, that's the point, thenoble elite will answer. Advertising isdoubly damnable. For one, it is themeans of financing the electronic cor-rupter, and, secondly, it is an instrumentof manipulation, aiming at transforminginnocent people into consumers.

Exaggerated? Well, look at the catalogof regulations thought up to fetter bothcommercial television and advertising.Many of those regulations are justified asbeing necessary for the protection of thepublic from all kinds of evils.

Underlying those efforts is a strangelysplit perception of humankind. On theone hand, the individual is portrayed asbeing autonomous, responsible, inde-pendent and enlightened. These beauti-ful attributes are freely allotted to ordi-nary people, for example, in their role asvoters or recipients of political propa-ganda. But as soon as those same indi-viduals are confronted with commercialadvertising, they are supposed to under-go a mysterious metamorphosis thatturns them into brainless brats.

Take the case of one of the latestEuropean advertising regulations. It for-bids producers of baby food to advertisetheir product using baby photos andobliges them expressly to stress thesuperiority of mother's milk. It also pro-hibits the direct marketing of baby foodto young mothers still in the hospital inorder not to divert them from breast-feeding their babies.

So, the theory is that women cannotand will not responsibly decide forthemselves what is healthy for theirnew-born baby.

Yet the same school of self-styledprotectors of humankind have no suchdoubt when it comes to abortion. In that

Protecting The

Public From Itself

BY WILFRIED AHRENS

case, the same female who cannot beentrusted with the choice of the rightdiet for her baby, is regarded as respon-sible, intellectually independent andmorally autonomous when it comes tothe choice between life and death.

The European Parliament and Com-mission have been concocting manymore advertising restrictions along thesame lines. It is true, some regulatorypropositions have been blocked by indi-vidual governments or the EuropeanCouncil, like outright censorship of alladvertising by a central Brussels bureau-cracy or the idea that ad messagesshould always carry a general warningagainst the possible risks of the product.The Greens of Belgium even vented theidea of forcing the auto industry to paint- in large letters - across their vehicles:"Driving is dangerous to your health andruins the environment."

A strangely split perception ofhumankind underlies the catalog

of regulations aiming to fetter bothcommercial tv and advertising

Still looming are prohibitive restric-tions on advertising for food, medicine,alcohol and tobacco. Last month, theGerman government decided tobaccoadvertising should not generally be ver-boten. The Italians have been fightingon the other side of the barricade - pro-fessedly in order to protect the Euro-peans' health, in reality because theywant to protect their state tobaccomonopoly.

While intellectual do-gooders may bemotivated in their fight against advertis-ing by ingrained anti -capitalistic reflex-es, the question is what makes the restof European advertising regulators tick?

The aim of the Common Market is tofree commerce from barriers and restric-tions. Competition is at the heart of afree-market economy, and advertising isan indispensable function of competi-tion. Consumer protection and the pro-tection of our economies are equallyimportant. As things stand, those incharge have tended to protect less theeconomy than the consumer - fromhimself.

In Germany and elsewhere, hundredsof politicians and supervisory bureau-crats have been wasting their time andtaxpayers' money pondering whetherthe television viewer should be exposedto two or three spot interruptions of amovie. Nobody seems to trust the testedrules of the market which would auto-matically switch off any program over-loaded with commercials.

The political treatment of advertising,especially that on television, spells a lotof trouble for business in unifiedEurope. It is ironic that after the break-down of the centralised Socialisteconomies their main traits of dirigismeand interventionism should surfaceagain in the traditional free part of thecontinent. The way advertising is han-dled will be symptomatic if not decisiveof the direction the European economyis going to take. Without free advertis-ing, that is, information, there will be nofree flow of goods and services. 151:11


14

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sessions and workshops featuring top -line speakers, culminating in the glittering Radio Times Awards Dinner

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COVER STORY: INDIA

The A -Zee of Indian TV

The Indian tv market isbooming, with privatechannel Zee TV in theforefront and foreignoperators bursting toget in on the act.Chris Dziadul beginsTBI's focus on Indiawith a look at therapidly expandingprivate sector

The revolution currently sweepingthrough the Indian television indus-try is being driven by the success of

one broadcaster: Zee TV.Launched in late 1992, Zee TV quick-

ly found its niche by targeting viewersstarved of entertainment and has sincebecome one of the world's most popularsatellite channels.

The service, which is backed by thechairman of the Essel group of indus-tries Subash Chandra, is owned by HongKong -based Asia Today Limited (51.1%)and, since early this year, News Corpo-ration (49.9%). Its programming is sup-plied by ATL's subsidiary Zee TelefilmsLimited in Bombay and beamed as partof the five -channel Star package toalmost 50 million people in India and afurther 39 countries within Asiasat's mas-sive footprint.

According to Subodh Lal, Zee Tele-film's executive president, the service isabout to enter a period of considerablegrowth which should see its daily air-time increased from 12 to 24 hours andthe introduction of one or two morechannels by the end of the year. While

the proportion of its programmingwhich is produced in-house andacquired will roughly remain 40:60, thevolume required is likely to double atleast. In anticipation of this, Zee TV hasalready set up its own production com-pany which "will generate for Zee 1, 2and 3 and meet other requirements."

Furthermore, although the channelwill continue to cater principally forHindi speakers, it has "recognised agreat demand for south Indian lan-guages." As a result, it expects soon toemploy producers (either in-house or ona commission basis) in Madras andHyderabad to increase its output of pro-grams in Tamil, Telugu, Kanarese and(at a later date) Malayalam.

Zee also acknowledges Calcutta as amajor film production centre and hascome to agreements with two unnamedcompanies which will both produce pro-grams in Bengali and access others insuch north east Indian languages asAssamese and Origo.

Lal added that Zee TV's plans extendbeyond India, where it already has size-able audiences in Pakistan, Bangladesh,Nepal, Burma and the Gulf. In Sharjah,for instance, it recently set up a limitedliability company named Zee Arabiawhich Lal expects will be producing atleast two hours of programming dailyfor the network within the next Si),

months. There is also the possibility ofundertaking joint productions with Pak-istan in both Sharjah and neighbouringDubai, something which he feels wouldbe a major development.

Elsewhere, Zee TV is likely to takeover the new Mauritian terrestrial chan-nel TV5, while in Africa it has alreadyheld talks with South Africa's SABC andM -Net, along with broadcasters in Kenyaand Tanzania. Indeed, while concedingZee TV's success has been sudden andwanting the broadcaster to be seen as "astable, consolidated and reliable soft-ware supplier," Lal feels there is "noway we can confine ourselves to justAsiasat. This is a one-way street andonce we are in this medium we have togo on and on."

This is perhaps one reason why ZeeTV has recently branched out into filmproduction and is currently working on13 titles which will be both shown bythe service and sold to other broadcast-ers. Although it currently has 2,000hours of programming (excluding films)in its library, Lal thinks the volumeneeds to be taken up to at least 6,000hours in the next one and a half years.The cost of producing a half-hour studiobased talk show ranges from less thanRs100,000 ($3,226) to Rs250,000($8,065), with programs shot on locationcosting between Rs300,000 ($9,677) andRs500,000 ($16,129); the price of first -

Box Wallah: The BBC is just one broadcaster biddir


16

COVER STORY: INDIA

run productions made exclusively forZee TV is even slightly higher, so theservice can expect to pay Rs50 crores($16.1 million) plus a similar amount forhardware to meet the target.

Furthermore, there are lingeringdoubts over whether the independentproduction sector can rise up to thechallenge of supplying a large amountof programming to Zee TV and its com-petitors. Kamlesh Pandey, Zee Telefilm'svice-president of programming, said that"the entertainment industry has to gearup to orientate itself to the demands oftelevision and the work culture has tochange. It has to learn how to meetdeadlines and also needs financial disci-pline, something that does not exist inthe country at the moment."

In his view Zee TV is in fact the firstcompany "to introduce this serious com-mitment into the entertainment industry.That is why we are able to produce pro-grams at about a half to a third of theexpense of others and we are proud ofthis."

The service's professionalism is borneout by a number of impressive statistics.

0 million Indian tv consumers

Besides now having an audience shareof over 50% of all television householdsin primetime, it broadcasts seven of thetop 10 (and 12 of the top 20) programson all channels in India. Its gross month-ly advertising revenue of over $2 millionis meanwhile obtained from more than320 companies and accounts for about20% of television ad spend in India.

While unable to provide an exactnational viewing figure for the service (ithas been recently estimated to reach10.84 million households in India),Pandey believes it is growing by theequivalent of the population of Australia(over 17 million) each year. Moreover,this is not at the expense of Doordar-shan and its Metro Channel since thepublic broadcaster "is more like an elderbrother, not a rival." Indeed "they havetheir own standards, we have ours. Theyare very strong and powerful but themarket is big enough for everybody, beit for Zee, Metro or other channels, andespecially for people who can give goodquality."

Whether the latter is true, however,will only become clear over the next

year or two. Subodh Lal, for instance, isconvinced there is a future for pay-tv inthe country and says Zee TV will shortlylaunch such a service for cable sub-scribers since "networks show movieswithout authorisation. They are mostlyfly-by-night operations, have a lot ofadvertising but leave the viewer dissatis-fied."

He also feels the terrestrial and satel-lite channels most likely to survive inthe long term will be dedicated to onlycertain types of programming (such assports, features and entertainment) andtarget regional rather than national audi-ences.

Although he adds that Zee TV is"working in perfect co-ordination" withStar TV, the latter appears to have itsown specific plans for India. Accordingto Robert Bland, Star TV Network'sdirector of advertising sales, the countryis currently (along with the Middle East,Taiwan and China) one of its major mar-kets and will "by this time in 1995 be avery important source of revenue."

Having recently launched a pay ser-vice aimed at Taiwan and the Philip-pines, Star TV is also expected to intro-duce one either targeting India exclu-sively or along with some neighbouringterritories later this year. In Bland'sview, "by introducing pay-tv we hope tointroduce some sensibility to the (Indi-an) market and indeed turn it into amarket."

Other players also believed to beinterested in launching a pay-tv servicein the country include the UK -basedsatellite channel TV Asia. Although nowonly using India as a source of program-ming, its long-term plans envisage serv-ing Asian communities beyond the UKand rest of Europe.

The greatest challenge to Zee TV,however, is likely to come from a newsatellite network operated by BusinessIndia Television (BITV). Due to launchlater this year, the service will be struc-tured along similar lines to the Starchannel with BITV (itself owned by thepowerful Business India Group, whichpublishes a string of successful publica-tions including Business India and pro-duces the weekly India Business Reportprogram for BBC World Service Televi-sion) providing software to InternationalCommunications Network (ICN), a sub-sidiary company (in which theNepalese government will have a 25%stake) based in Nepal to circumvent theIndian government's ban on privatebroadcasters uplinking from the country.

Ashok H. Advani, Business IndiaGroup's publisher, expects BITV to


17

COVER STORY: INDIA

Managing change: Zee N's Saneep Seedi (left) and Jungle Todfar Tyre (right), Plus Channel's Sangeet Sitaare (center)

operate up to five channels and have ageneral 70% Hindi to 30% English -lan-guage content. The first three will offerentertainment, news and current affairsand film and music respectively, whilethe others will transmit programs inregional languages other than Hindi.

He also estimates the cost of settingup the service (which may use a Russiansatellite and be uplinked from Moscow)over a three-year period will be at least$100 million, of which up to 90% is like-ly to be spent on programming. Indeed,BITV's wish to obtain 2,500 hours ofpre-packaged material by launch dayhas already brought in a flood of offersfrom independent producers and thosewho have been commissioned are beingasked to work exclusively for the net-work.

Advani thinks that the industry is bigenough to support Doordarshan andtwo to three satellite networks, "ofwhich we hope to be one." He adds that"our logic is that there is a market whichcan be ad -driven. Let us go out and seeif we can get it."

Whether the service succeeds or not,however, remains to be seen. Advaniconcedes that "if we want to competewe have to make programs people wantto watch. We are therefore talking tovarious foreign companies about collab-oration and looking at all possibilities."

Yet while BITV still remains at theplanning stage, a more immediate threatto Zee TV has for some time been posedby another satellite broadcaster whichhopes shortly to start India's first DBSservice. Asia Television Network (ATN)began life on Russia's Gorizont satelliteand initially offered a Hindi -languagechannel (ATN Gold) in addition to oneshowing programming obtained fromReuters Television, ABC and Thames TV(ATN-One). With cable operators unwill-ing to purchase additional dishes toreceive and distribute it (perhaps at theexpense of the popular Zee TV), howev-er, its future looked uncertain.

The service's fortunes neverthelessimproved earlier this year when its

switch to another Russian satellite (Stat-sionar-3) located nearer to Asiasatenabled operators to offer both ATN andStar without employing any extra equip-ment. Although it has since gone off theair, ATN recently obtained marketingrights to a former Russian military satel-lite (Gals -1) being leased by the Lon-don -based company Unitel and soonhopes to operate a DBS service on itand two further satellites in the series(due to be launched later this year andsometime in 1995).

P.K. Dixit, ATN's chief general man-ager, concedes that one of the broad-caster's major tasks will be to decide onthe bouquet of programming it willoffer. Yet while he is confident about

"For others India is a market...

for us it is a case of

developing Indian tv for

Indian needs"

the prospects of DBS in India, the coun-try has an extremely low level of indi-vidual dish ownership (compared to acable penetration of over 17%) and thisis unlikely to rise much in the future dueto the high cost of satellite receptionequipment.

Elsewhere, competition has beenoffered to Zee TV by the Joint AmericanIndian Network (Jain) TV. India's first24 -hour satellite broadcaster, it waslaunched in January this year and is cur-rently distributed to 56 countries fromthe Gulf to the Pacific by the RussianStatsionar 21 satellite.

Besides already having a wider reachthan all other satellite channels targetingIndia (including Zee TV and Doordar-shan), the service is distributed terrestri-ally in Sri Lanka by Maharaja Television(MTV) and Extra Terrestrial Vision Ltd(ETV) and will soon also be carried bythe new Nepalese microwave serviceShangri

According to Dr Jinendra Kumar Jain,the president of Jain TV and a formerBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) politician,the service is a purely commercial jointventure between Indian and U.S. /Indianinterests and offers viewers a nine -strandpackage of religious, political, children's,sports, entertainment, business, healthand population, current affairs anddevelopment and environmental issuesbased programming. It is carried by upto 65% of India's cable operators andhas a potential audience of up to 21 mil-lion viewers in the country.

Although he considers the service tobe a channel "of Indians, by Indians andfor Indians" and describes multinationalsas a "threat" to cable operators in thecountry, Jain also "welcomes the idea offoreign investors," some of whom arenow talking to Jain TV. However, healso warns that "for others India is amarket... for us it is a case of developingIndian television for Indian needs."

Foreign companies are neverthelesslikely to invest in ever greater numbersin India's booming television industry.Following closely on from News Corpo-ration's acquistion of 49.9% of Zee TV,the U.S. cable operator Falcon Cable TVentered into talks with Asianet, one ofthe country's leading regional languageservices, which are likely to result in ittaking a 40% stake in the venture foraround Rs7 crores ($2.25 million).

Asianet currently uses a transponderon the powerful Russian Ekran-M satel-lite to beam programs in Malayalam,Tamil and Telugu to a predominantlysouth Indian audience estimated to bearound 1.5 million.

Although it is already installing thecountry's first ever statewide cable net-work in Kerala and could have up to300,000 connections by the end of theyear, the agreement with Falcon CableTV is likely to lead to the construction ofa fiber-optic system similar to one it hasalready built in the Philippines whichoffers both cable television and telepho-ny services. ED


18

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COVER STORY: INDIA

Producers Are Serious About SoftwareDemand for programs is surging in "the most organised entertainment industry in Asia"

The future of India's burgeoning television industry \\ illlargely be determined by the ability of the country'sindependent production sector to provide it with pro-

gramming. And with demand for software already begin-ning to soar, many producers can look forward to a periodof unprecedented growth.

BR Films, for instance, began life as a film productioncompany in 1954 and branched out into television 30 yearslater. It has since supplied Doordarshan with a wide rangeof programming including the highly successful Mahab-harat, a 94 -part epic which cost around Rs9 crores ($2.9million) to produce and was subsequently sold to Europe,Asia and North America.

According to Ravi Chopra, BR Films' joint owner, thecompany sells its programming to the public broadcaster asonly it can afford to pay the sums of money which shouldbe spent on quality productions. In his view, Zee TV isunwilling to spend heavily andtherefore do not reap the benefitsof such programs as Mababbarat.

While BR Films is currently pro-ducing two further series (the 104 -part Mababbarat 2 and a 132 -partsoap named Bada Aadmil for Rs9lakhs ($29,000) and Rs3.5 lakhs($11,290) an episode respectively)which it also hopes will be highlysuccessful, other shows continueto provide the mainstay of its pro-gramming. These include themusical program Cibaca Geetmalaand courtroom drama Kanoon,both of which are 52 -part series.

Chopra feels BR Films is "now geared up for a certaintype of production" and is likely to increase its output toaround 300 half-hour episodes a year. As the company'sbackground is in film, however, most productions willremain story -based.

United Television (UTV) meanwhile describes itself asone of the few multidivisional companies in India and pro-duces a wide range of sitcoms, children's programs andgame and chat shows in addition to commercials and cor-porate videos. Its television programming, which is expect-ed to rise from 700 half-hour episodes in 1993 to 600 hoursthis year, is bought by almost all broadcasters in India.

Zee TV is nevertheless one of its best customers andcurrently acquires 500 half-hour programs a year. Like allUTV's other television output, however, it is produced at acost of $2,000 to $8,000 per episode which the company'sjoint owner Ronnie Screwvala describes as "conservative."

Yet while conceding soaps alone should ideally cost$15,000 an episode to produce, he adds that UTV supplieseven Doordarshan and its Metro -Entertainment Channelwith a variety of programming. Indeed, in the latter's case(and like other producers) it pays the public broadcaster atelecast charge of Rsl lakh ($3,226) per gameshow (includ-

Plus Channel soap Zameen Aasmaan: Long runner?

movie

ing the popular TV Dbantaka) or Rs3 lakh ($9,678) per filmbased program and then sells its own ad time.

Moreover, UTV has started marketing its programmingto foreign cable channels despite having a library of only60 to 70 hours and also looked into the possibility of co -productions with the BBC and Channel 4.

While Screwvala feels "there will not be an upper limitfor good software" to supply India's television services, hisoptimism is not shared by the production company PlusChannel. Despite overseeing the largest in-house produc-tion facility in the country, its joint owner Amit Khannamaintains lack of money will lead to the closure of mostsatellite services within the next two years.

Plus Channel's own position in the market, however,may by that time have strengthened. Launched in 1989, itcurrently produces 60 hours of mixed programming amonth for Doordarshan's national service, Metro -Entertain-

ment Channel and revamped thirdchannel DD3. It sells to an exportmarket which includes SouthAfrica's SABC, Mauritius Broadcast-

and London -basedTV Asia which accounts for 10% ofall its revenue. Among its betterknown productions are BusinessPlus (a weekly review of Indianbusiness, economy and politics),Business Baatein (a daily econom-ic magazine including latest stockmarket reports) and Bollywood Plus (a weekly report fromBombay on the world's largest

industry which offers exclusive interviews, locationreports and news about premieres).

Foreign services are meanwhile attempting to maketheir own presence felt in the industry by establishing pro-duction bases. BBC World Service Television, for instance,signed an agreement with Asian News International (ANI)in March which should strengthen its news -gatheringcapacity across the region and lead to the production ofseveral new programs. These may in turn build on the suc-cess the service already enjoys with India Business Report,a weekly show compiled in Delhi by the independent pro-duction company Business India Television (BITV).

Although CNN has a lower profile in India than theBBC, it should improve considerably once the channelbecomes widely available through Apstar (and possiblyInsat) later this year. Ashis Ray, CNN's south Asia bureauchief, said: "We are looking at Bombay as a productionbase. It has occured to us that it has quite a reservoir ofskilled technicians available at a reasonable price com-pared to the U.S. If we can utilize this skilled manpowerour production costs will come down."

In his view, India has the most organised entertainmentindustry in Asia and it is already harnessed to great effectby Zee TV.


20

COVER STORY: INDIA

The Elephant DancesIndia's state broadcaster has shaken off itsboring image in response to private competition.Chris Dziadul reports

Doordarshan was until recently con-sidered by many observers to be aninefficient, politically biased and

out -of -touch public broadcaster eschew-ing entertainment and hiding behind afacade of education and culture.

The appearance of Zee TV and othercompetitors has forced it into a series ofremarkable changes which initiallyincluded the introduction of a five -chan-nel satellite -delivered package and nowseem likely to culminate in the privatiza-tion of at least some of its services.

At the heart of these changes hasbeen the creation of the Metro -Entertain-ment Channel, a market -led service sup-plied by independent producers andaimed largely at a young and urbanaudience. Broadcast on Doordarshan'ssecond channel DD2, it is currently dis-tributed by India's Insat satellite systemand also terrestrially in at least 15 mainpopulation centres. Indeed the latter,

which have recently been joined byAhmedabad, Trivandrum, Cuttack,Jalandher and Bhopal, will eventually beextended to include every state capitaland major city in India.

The success of the Metro -Entertain-ment Channel, which is watched in upto 10 million homes and has achievedaudience figures (in the case of featurefilms broadcast at weekends) of almost20 million, can most clearly be seen inits ad revenues. These amounted to Rs54crores ($17.4 million) in 1993, while ZeeTV's, though expected to top Rs100crores ($32.3 million) this year, onlyreached Rs35 crores ($11.3 million).

The public broadcaster has neverthe-less found itself facing competition fromseveral other new satellite channelsincluding Jain TV and the soon to belaunched BITV. As a result, it is revamp-ing some of its other services.

While DD1 (where information and

education account for almost two-thirdsof output) will remain the flagshipnational channel reaching almost all ofIndia's estimated 40.3 million televisionhouseholds, DD3 (which until recentlyshowed mostly music and sport) isexpected to be relaunched later thissummer as a service targeting up to sixmillion upmarket viewers in the four"Metros" (Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta andMadras) and two other cities.

According to Bhaskar Ghose, the sec-retary to the ministry of information andbroadcasting, "it is going to emerge ... asa channel aimed at a more discriminat-ing and articulate viewer, at people whoare decision -makers or in governmentand less forgiving. Its programming offilms, news and discussions will be ofquite a different nature and we want itto be the very best."

He adds that although the broadcast-er's three other services(which are what remain of the five -channel satellite package launched in1993 and currently carry regional pro-grams on a time sharing basis) will con-tinue as they are, longer programs indifferent languages may be brought in

"at a later stage."This will presum-ably happenonce Doordar-shan introducesdigital compres-sion some timethis year (it iscurrentlybelieved to beworking closelywith the U.S.company Scien-tific Atlanta) andcould eventuallyresult in every-one in Indiabeing able towatch a channelin their owntongue.

Ghose never-theless insists thebroadcaster willnot lose sight ofits objectives.Private stationsare "in the busi-

BR Films' 94 -part epic Mahabharat aired on Doordarshan and has attracted worldwide interest


ness to make

COVER STORY: INDIA

money. Our main mandate is informa-tion, education and entertainment as athird dimension and we take it serious-ly.

Indeed, the government treats Door-darshan "like any other ministry" andprovides it with an annual grant ofRs300 crores ($96.8 million) "to keepgoing."

Whether this will continue for muchlonger, however, remains to be seen.The Prasar Bharati bill, which hasalready been passed by India's lowerhouse of parliament (Rajya Sabha), iscurrently being discussed by the upperhouse (Lok Sabha) and will, after somemodifications, transform Doordarshanfrom a government -owned broadcasterinto a state -funded corporation. Thenext step is arguably privatization, andwith it the prospect of opening up theIndian television market to further for-eign investment following initial foraysearlier this year by News Corporationand Falcon Cable TV.

Moreover, Ghose believes the gov-ernment does not have a closed mindabout the introduction of privately -owned terrestrial services, although thiswould require the framing of a broad-casting bill (no such legislation yet existsin India) and would take a long time.

While refusing to discuss the possibil-ity of privatization, Doordarshan'sdeputy director-general R.K.Singh feelsturning the broadcaster into a corpora-tion will make it "less regimented, moreopen and market -perceptive." It mayalso help the service "harness to theutmost" its "limited production capabili-ty," which has hitherto kept co -produc-tions confined to those of an "esoteric"nature.

Although one of the world's largestbroadcasters, it is currently working ononly one joint production (a documen-tary named Bodhi Dharma with China'sCCTV) and has none planned for thefuture.

Doordarshan nevertheless recognizesthe importance of marketing and in1992-3 earned $270,000 in program salesto terrestrial and cable networks aroundthe world. Furthermore it may, inSingh's view, also start targeting servicessuch as the revamped DD3 at audiencesoutside India.

Indeed, the broadcaster has anarrangement with the London -basedtransmission company GSTV whichbegan test broadcasts in early July.Using a Eutelsat satellite, GSTV will ini-tially transmit a daily three-hour packageof Doordarshan's output in English anda range of Indian languages to Europe

71

DOORDA SHAN

Doordarshan will be "more market -perceptive"

and the Middle East, while a Galaxysatellite will offer viewers in the U.S.,Canada and Mexico six hours of its pro-gramming.

The key to Doordarshan's future,however, could ultimately lie in advertis-ing. Although the public broadcaster'sad revenue of Rs400 crores ($129 mil-lion) in 1993 represented an 11.1%increase over the previous year, that ofcable and satellite services, though onlyamounting to Rs60 crores ($19.4 mil-lion), grew by 100% over the corre-sponding period.

Yet while this could serve as a warn-ing of things to come, Doordarshan'sMetro -Entertainment Channel should forsome time still be able to offer advertis-ers the kind of geographical selectivitysatellite -delivered services cannot match.In Madras, for instance, the latter's pene-tration currently stands at around 12%,

but almost all households are able toreceive DD2.

According to Noshir Desai, the seniordirector of regional offices and media atLintas India, the channel is "the bestthing (the broadcaster) has done andvery relevant to the time we are passingthrough." In his view, the service reflectsa change in the broadcaster because "ithas finally realised that television cannotbe anything else than pure entertain-ment."

He adds that there is a universe of250 million people in the country (outof a population of 900 million) who canbe considered to be "core potential tele-vision consumers." Besides being able toafford consumer products and durables,all are "hungry as hell" for the sort ofentertainment Doordarshan has at lastbegun to provide.

Furthermore, while most of the newsatellite services now available in Indiaare tending to segment the market (andin the case of English -language channelsattracting only small audiences), thepublic broadcaster can still reach 220million of these core consumers and willremain the first choice for advertisersselling popular products.

In targeting these consumers, howev-er, they will need to bear in mind that inIndia all viewership is program and nottime -led. Popular films and sportsevents, for instance, attract huge audi-ences from all age groups irrespective ofthe time they are broadcast. fel

Letter from India: Star TV's Channel V is new to the landscape


22

ORD SBC94S BIGGER

THAN EVER...so register NOW!

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Please tick the box closest to your job function01 LI President/Managing Director/Owner02 Li Senior Management - Technical03 1:1 Senior Management - Other04 Li Financial05 Programme Director/Producer06 Li Production07 CI Post Production08 R&D/Manufacturing09 Li Sales/Marketing10 Other

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Nor Iregistration form.Credit card transactions will be -,..<

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exhibition only 01 AMSTERDAM 16-20tickets. 09\ SEPTEMBER 1994

MARKETS

Open All HoursMarketskaya, the Nordic Screenings and Discopmade June a busy month for the conscientious tvbuyer. With more and smaller markets opening upall over the world, is there enough business to goaround? asks Sarah Walker

To the industry outsider, working as atelevision buyer or distributor mustappear one big jaunt around the

globe. However there are far more tax-ing elements involved in the business ofbuying and selling programs than drink-ing champagne and swanning aroundon a company yacht in Cannes.

The market circuit can be tough andexhausting. And everyone agrees: thereare just too many. "Too many, too closetogether and too expensive!" said ScottHanock, managing director of U.S. dis-tributor Unapix International. HerveMichel, commercial director of FranceTelevision Distribution, echoed Hanock:"There are too many markets for theamount of production taking place. Weneed to have shows to sell and we needto have time to visit people in theiroffices."

Such is the volume of markets, festi-vals and screenings, buyers and distribu-tors could find themselves constantly onthe road. The reality is, of course, noteveryone attends everything. The mostpopular markets remain the NationalAssociation Of Television Program Exec-utives (Natpe) which takes place in theU.S. during January, February's MonteCarlo Television Festival, and the grand-daddies of them all for internationalbuyers nd sellers: MipTV and Mipcom inCannes. Reed Midem's first Mip Asia,scheduled to take place in Hong Kongin December, is also expected to bewell -attended.

The BBC's acquisitions department,headed by Alan Howden, regularlyattends Natpe, Monte Carlo, MipTV,Mipcom, the May Screenings, the Ameri-can Film Market and the Cannes FilmFestival, but Howden is loath to singleout the most important. "No one marketwill make or break anyone's way of

work," he said. "Natpe is still aimed atthe U.S. marketplace. We buy a lot fromthe U.S. but most of our acquisitionstake place at the May Screenings. Natpeis more an opportunity to meet peopleand see what is going on."

The increasing presence of Euro-peans at Natpe, however, has begun toundermine the Monte Carlo market.While many executives,media Entertainment's senior vice presi-dent and managing director John Ranck,maintain Monte Carlo is worthwhilebecause it is relatively small and inti-mate, others question the wisdom ofcontinuing to attend. "We are goingthrough some very intense soul-search-ing as to whether we will be attendingnext year," said Ted Riley, president ofCanada's Atlantis Releasing. "Last year it[Monte Carlo] wasn't very good and somany Europeans attend Natpe now."

As the major markets continue togrow and encroach on each other, arecent trend has been the proliferationof smaller events aimed at specificregions. For eastern and central Europethere is Discop (Warsaw) and Market-skaya (St Petersburg). Discop has alsotargeted Asia Pacific, South America andNorth Africa. Mip Asia will cater forsoutheast Asia, while China alreadyhosts its own Beijing TV Festival in May.In addition, some countries hold theirown events such as the Paris Screenings,the German Screenings, the NordicScreenings and The London ProgramMarket. While many are established andsuccessful events, attempts to set upmarkets for the less developed regionshave been met with mixed reactions.

The first Marketskaya, held in June,disappointed some exhibitors by thelack of Russian buyers and, more so, bythe lack of available dollars.

"Although we are not looking forshort-term dollars and merely trying toget acquainted, it is not as active as wethought," said Herve Michel. "I expectedit to be more like the Beijing TV Festivalwhere I met representatives from about20 different tv stations."

As most of the buyers from the majorRussian stations go to MipTV and Mip-com, Marketskaya was mainly attendedby representatives from some of the for-mer Soviet Union's 700 or so local sta-tions, who could only afford to spend atmost $100 an hour for programming.And although the market saw the cre-ation of TVS, a syndication arm for 60local and regional channels, little busi-ness was done. For those exhibitorswishing to offload their catalogues itwas a disappointment. But for thosewho had already forged relationshipswith Russian broadcasters either directlyor via sales agents, it was a chance tobuild on existing contacts.

Ufa, the television distribution arm ofGerman media giant Bertelsmann, hasalready established links throughout the


24

MARKETS

:ussian Roulette: Gambling on new events like Marketskaya in St Petersburg can bring mixed results

region and works closely with its Rus-sian consultant Andrei Orlov. Aside fromhaving strong contacts at the majorbroadcasters, Orlov acts as a syndicatorfor the small channels. "It allows us tocombine $15 buyers to make Russia intoa territory and not just a tribal situation,"he said.

"You should go to markets when youwant to demonstrate something," saidUfa's program manager DeIf Ness. "Ourattendance at Marketskaya shows wehave a dedication to this market. Wewill be following it up by travelling tothe individual regions."

Many Marketskaya attendeesbemoaned the lack of organization andforesight in creating dedicated marketsfor this particular area. Both buyers anddistributors were torn between going toMarketskaya, to Discop, which tookplace in Warsaw directly after the StPetersburg event, or to July's Moscowfilm and tv festival.

Aideen Leonard, head of sales at ACIInternational, reckoned she spent threemonths of last year travelling, of which a

great proportion was market attendance.ACI goes to all the major markets butalso has a presence at the smaller ones."Events like Discop and Marketskaya aregood opportunities to meet people whodon't go to the other markets - youhave time to sit down and discuss thingsproperly with them," she said. "We con-cluded deals after Discop last year infact we sold out in most of easternEurope largely as a result of that trip."Despite this, Leonard is not sure aboutthe practicality of doing the rounds ofthe small markets every year. "Once youhave had the initial meetings you cantravel to the individual territories tokeep the relationships going. If you dothe job right in the first place you don'tneed to keep going back."

If the territory -specific markets arecurrently in vogue, the number of genre -specific festivals and markets such as thedocumentary market Sunny Side Of TheDoc in Marseilles and the veteran enter-tainment festival Golden Rose Of Mon-treux are also on the increase. TheGolden Rose is trying to attract enter-

tainment buyers to the festival via itsvideo kiosks, where this year 3,000 cas-settes were screened. "We provide eachdistributor with the names of all thepeople who screened their show so theycan follow up after the event," saidGolden Rose secretary general PierreGrandjean. Expanding further, nextyear's Golden Rose will be run concur-rently with The Comedy Festival and theInternational Electronic Cinema Festival.

The genre that has attracted thelargest number of specialist markets andfestivals is undoubtedly children's pro-gramming and animation. Children'sbuyers and executives can attend a mul-titude of events, including the CardiffInternational Animation Festival held inthe UK during March, the bi-annual PrixJeunesse in Munich, September's Car-toon Forum and the pre-Mipcom youthscreenings. Such events provide buyersand executives not only with an oppor-tunity to buy, but to discuss the currentstate of the children's market.

Joan Lofts acquires about 600 hoursof programming a year as head ofacquisitions and development at thepan-European satellite service the Chil-dren's Channel, and attends as manymarkets and festivals as possible. How-ever, she is concerned about theincreasing number of children's pro-gramming markets. "We don't want chil-dren's programming to become ghet-toized in a marketplace where it is notnecessarily seen as the most importantgenre of programming," she said.

If the Europeans are embracing thesmaller markets, many North Americansare not so enamoured and were con-spicuous by their absence at events likeMarketskaya.

Ted Riley said the setting -up of localAtlantis offices in Sydney, Amsterdamand LA means sales executives can be inconstant contact with buyers. "You haveto question the usefulness of the mar-kets in this situation," he said. "Smallmarkets are good if you don't want tomake the effort to travel to the small ter-ritories, but individual sales trips are bet-ter. Nothing beats eye -to -eye contact ina buyer's office."

Scott Hanock is more enthusiastic,however: "These little markets may wellbecome just as important as the others.All regions have to be focused on and ifthe marketplace changed so we onlysaw little conventions then I would beperfectly happy. Mip and Mipcom are areal scheduling finesse. If I had the abili-ty to focus on each region individuallythen there would be fewer people andbuyers could focus on distributors." ELB


25

ADVERTISING

Appealing MarginsT10710Star Trek'Magic'Mugs

a OR\ TREK

QVC is boldly driving the infomercial culture where no shopping channel has gone before

The infomercial business is coming of age.Production values and the quality of brandson offer is improving and broadcasters areovercoming their qualms as they realizethat there is money to be made,discovers Paul Nicholson

There is more to teleshopping thanthe mop that makes tea and the carwax that keeps animals off the lawn.

Real products with recognisable brandnames are finding their way intoinfomercials. They are proving them-selves as part of the marketing mix. Andas manufacturers learn what infomercialscan do, so advertising agencies arereacting as their fears grow that theycould lose spend to the infomercial sec-tor. Even mainstream broadcasters, tradi-tionally caught with their noses high inthe air, are picking up the scent of theopportunity.

It may not have come of age, but cer-tainly infomercial production is maturing

into an acceptable way of doing busi-ness. Production values are improving,products that are sold over the air aregaining in quality and range, and manyof the world's leading mutinationals areexperimenting with infomercials as partof their overall marketing strategy.

Procter and Gamble recently testedthe infomercial genre in the U.S. with a30 -minute show produced by ad agencyD'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles for itstop -selling denture adhesive Fixodent.Game, set and match to the infomercialsceptics who refuse to take infomercialsseriously, perhaps - if you are preparedto ignore the fact that P&G is theworld's largest advertiser, spending


26

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American Telcast's Peter Rabbit Informercial, hard sold by Angela Lansbury

almost 90% of its annual $3 billion bud-get on tv.

The recent NIMA International con-ference in Amsterdam (NIMA stands forNational Infomercial Marketing Associa-tion) demonstrated a growing interest ininfomercials from European broadcast-ers, as well as being a rallying -point andbonding exercise for Europe's growingband of infomercial and home shoppingproducers with their American col-leagues and mentors. Quite clearly somemajor European terrestrial broadcastersand broadcasting groups were seeinghow far and fast direct response wasdeveloping and what it could mean tothem.

Infomercials are not new to Euro-peans. Indeed, they have proved vitalrevenue streams for many of the newcommercial broadcasters (particularlythe cable and satellite -delivered chan-nels). And as such, inevitably, they haveattracted the attentions of the regulators.The EC broadcasting directive says that achannel can air up to one hour of pro-gramming a day that is making a directoffer to the consumer. For some chan-nels this has created some large revenuegaps - not to mention holes in theschedule to be filled as slots for infomer-cials are axed.

NBC Super -channel usedto air up to 21hours a weekof infomer-cials. This hasbeen reducedto just an houra day. Theloss of up to$6,000 anhour soonbuilds into asignificantsum for achannel strug-gling to findits niche. Thecost of pro-ducing oracquiring pro-gramming tofill this gapcould proveimpossible.

Whereverregulators cre-ate rules toattempt con-

alwaysentrepreneursto interpret

the rules in a way that shows them howmisguided they are in their protection-ism. In France, where television homeshopping rules imposed locally are morerestrictive than any other EC country,TF1 has broadcast a teleshopping pro-gram that has become an institution.

Called Teleshopping and producedby a TF1 subsidiary of the same name,the show airs for 30 minutes, five days aweek at 8.30am and generates $50 mil-lion a year from sales to viewers, and afurther $10 million from sales from cata-logs sent to 300,000 clients. Not badconsidering no brand names may bementioned on air. Fabrice Mollier,Teleshopping's export manager, reckonsthat over a year, more than 1,400 differ-ent items will be offered over the air,and that over seven years more than5,000 products have been screened. Theprice range of the products offered varyfrom $40 right up to diamond rings at$25,000. Middle price for most productsis reckoned to be about $100.

Mollier is expanding the format toother countries, working wih localbroadcasters on program production aswell as product selection and fulfillmentof orders. There is also a home shop-ping channel planned for cable in thewings. A cable license has been granted

but Mollier says his company will not goahead until the rules stipulating thatbrand names cannot be mentioned on -air are lifted.

Elsewhere in Europe, home shoppingprograms and channels are forcing theirway past local preconceptions and regu-lations. Terrestrial broadcasters in Spain,Portugal and Greece have all beenreliant to varying degrees on revenuesgenerated from selling their time toinfomercial producers. Kinnevik-ownedTV -Shop has blazed a trail for theinfomercial/teleshopping culture in theNordic markets and on into Germanyand the Baltic states. Under the directionof managing director Jan Sjowall, thecompany is currently working with morethan 20 tv and radio stations in thesemarkets, offering brand manufacturers aservice that will take them through allthe infomercial stages from the produc-tion of the program through the place-ment on the channels to the fulfillmentof orders when the tv viewers start torespond.

Meanwhile, Regal Shop International,the London -based arm of U.S. parentRegal Communications Corporation, and

have pursued global strategies that haveseen them put products and shows ontelevision networks across the world.These are multi -million dollar companiesthat are prepared to stake millions ontheir ability to get the product and themedia buy right. Last year, Regal wasresponsible for more than 100,000 hoursof broadcasts on more than 1,200 sta-tions in the U.S. alone.

It is reasonable to expect an

influx of big brands and

ad agencies into the business

Other infomercial producers, like BobWoodrooffe's Interwood Marketing, areslowly building networks of partnersacross the world from South Africa toChina. In each market there are theinevitable local difficulties with regula-tion and what is going to work cultural-ly, but Interwood is getting infomercialson -air - often seling very basic products- in what would seem the most unlikelyplaces.

Back in the U.S. the rise of homeshopping channels like HSN and QVC,and their headline -catching management


28

ADVERTISING

- Barry Diller in particular - is familiarthrough all forms of the press.

The infomercial business is less well -documented, particularly internationally.Sam Catanese, publisher of research firmthe Infomercial Monitoring Service(IMS), and an infomercial producer him-self, reckons that more than 25% of allbroadcast airtime in the U.S. is paid.According to IMS more than 270 newhalf-hour infomercials have debutedsince the beginning of the year.

Infomercials are not a marginal activi-ty. Jeff Knowles, NIMA Internationalgeneral counsel and head of the Elec-

Sjowall: blazing the trail in Nordic countries

tronic Marketing Practice Group atWashington -based law firm Venable,Baetjer Howard & Civiletti, says that lastyear direct response television generated$2.2 billion of home shopping sales (viabroadcasters like QVC and the HomeShopping Network), $900 million ofinfomercial sales and $700 million ofcommercial spot sales.

These are figures that are unlikely todecrease depite fears that the homeshopping channels will consume all therevenue available. With many of theFortune 500 companies either on -airwith infomercails or starting to exploretheir marketing possibilities, it is reason-able to expect an influx of big brandmarketers and their advertising agenciesinto the business.

Katie Williams, whose companyWilliams Television Time acts as a man-agement consultant to brand manufac-turers on their infomercial activity, hasworked successfully with Philips, Braun,M&M Mars as well as more recently hav-ing just completed an infomercial forHoover. Williams says an infomercialcan fulfill a number of roles for mar-

keters from product explanation andgenerating awamess to the more tradi-tional hard sell. An infomercial forPhilips CD-i is an example of a showwhich sold nothing directly but whichwas designed to help sales at retail out-lets.

Structuring an infomercial deal is notcheap. While an infomercial marketerneed not make much upfront commit-ment to a brand manufacturer - a usualupfront commitment would be between$25,000 and $50,000 with the deal struc-tured to make further on -target pay-ments or lose the rights to that product

- costs start to escalate rapidlywhen it comes to producingthe show and buying the air-time. A simple 30 -minutedemonstration show mightcost between $100,000 and$175,000 to produce, while ashow with celebrities or spe-cial effects could run as highas $800,000. To buy a compre-hensive national campaign inthe U.S. will cost between $6million and $10 million. Bigcosts, but the win can be big.Infomercial producers typical-ly expect to generate in grosssales two to three times themedia dollars spent.

Williams says it is notunusual for a product to gen-erate $60 million a year andon to $100 million and $150

million over its lifetime.While infomercials may still upset the

television purists, those who have tomake television pay can't fail to be inter-ested in those kinds of returns -whether it is to assess how they pricetheir airtime or to negotiate revenue -sharing relationships with the infomer-cial marketers.

The potential for direct marketing isincreasingly exciting brand manufactur-ers and advertising agencies as technol-ogy drives television into a new transac-tional era. Already direct response tv ishaving a major impact on spot advertis-ing. So much so that recent researchconducted by Channel 4 in the UKfound that 12% of all ads aired onBritish commercial tv carried a tele-phone number.

Small comfort for an infomercial sec-tor all fired up but with limited places togo. However, as QVC continues to driveitself deeper into Europe and its U.S.counterpart the Home Shopping Net-work plots its own European entry, sothe infomercial producers can expectthe opening of a new frontier. BIB


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SPECIAL REPORT: NEWS PROGRAMMING

All the world wants news. The market, in the era of global news networks, stretches fromTucson and Buffalo to Tirana and Beijing and the field of all -news broadcasters and all -news suppliers is growing, even if the financial rewards are limited. But some governmentsstill want to control access to news, and news moghuls appear to be willing to compromisetheir ambitions to build global coverage, reports Tim Westcott, kicking off TBI's focus

rmation

Circus

Reporting restriction: live news from the world's trouble spots


30


The league of truly globalmedia companies is asmall one, and arguably it

includes only two players -Rupert Murdoch and TedTurner. Murdoch has alreadybeaten Turner to one of hisprized goals - owning a Hol-lywood studio - and has allbut secured another - a net-work. The Australian -Ameri-can has also out-mogulledTurner in Asia with last year'stakeover of Star TV.

In one area - news -Turner can claim to have theedge. CNN International,launched nine years ago, hasbuilt up a worldwide audi-ence of nearly 80 millionhouseholds in 200 countries.Murdoch's Sky News,launched in 1988, is still pre-dominantly a UK service,despite continued pledgesthat it would enter the inter-national market.

Given Murdoch's newspa-per background, it is astrange disparity. After all, thepre -CNN Turner used tomake a point that his stationsdid not "do" news. Now, atleast in the internationalarena, Turner is doing thenews while Murdoch doesfilms, sport and entertain-ment.

But Murdoch's speech inLondon last September at thelaunch of Sky Multichannelshighlighted the revolution inglobal information distribu-tion. George Orwell, whodepicted "the possibilities oftotalitarian control" in 1984,had, he said, been "provedwrong" by advances in com-munications technology.

"Fax machines enable dis-sidents to by-pass state-con-trolled print media; direct dialtelephony makes it difficultfor a state to control interper-sonal voice communications.And satellite broadcastingmakes it possible for informa-lion-hungry residents of manyclosed societies to by-passstate-controlled televisionchannels," said Murdoch.

In the same speech, Mur-doch announced that planswere well advanced to launchSky News, or a com-

plementary service, in everycontinent. A few months on,that dog has not been heardto bark, while BBC World Ser-vice TV, beaming news tothe information -hungry resi-dents of Iran, Saudi Arabiaand China, has been axed

Dropping the BBC was notthe hardest decision Murdochhas taken. The BBC alreadyhas a particularly poor rela-tionship with China, whichwas not helped by last year'sTimewatch documentaryabout Chairman Mao's sex

"... talk to the other guy,

he's the one who is

causing all the trouble"

from the northern beam ofthe Asiasat satellite to bereplaced by a film channel.Murdoch, never one to worrymuch about officialdom,noted that "there had beensome sensitivity, particularlyabout beaming foreign newsinto China," and pledged:"We certainly intend to doeverything we can to resolvecertain difficulties with thegovernment of China." OnApril 17, WSTV was droppedfrom the Star TV package.

Commentators were quickto seize on Murdoch's failureto practise what he had beenpreaching. Did the interest inkeeping access to a countrywhich contains a fifth of theworld's population outweighthat of freedom of informa-tion? If so, it seems, Murdochisn't the only one to beaffected.

At the March pan -Asiansatellite conference, Ted Turn-er indirectly blamed theChinese authorities' crack-down on the installation ofsatellite dishes on Murdoch.Noting that CNN had beentransmitting to the region for12 years, enjoying "an excel-lent relationship" with China,Turner suggested that per-haps "the other party hasanother agenda... talk to theother guy, he's the one whois causing all the trouble."

life (not, incidentally, broad-cast on WSTV). But althoughthe WSTV channel hasproved a honey pot foradvertisers lured by itsupmarket audience, even cor-poration executives agree thatthe replacement of WSTVwith a Chinese channel madesense on commercialgrounds.

The launch of an AsianSky News, according to JohnO'Loan, Sky TV's director ofnews development, would bea matter of "what transponderspace was available and whatthe economics of the situa-tion were at the time."Whether there is room in anextended Star TV for a newschannel may well be the realtest of Murdoch's credentialsas a global news mogul.

The dilemma of reportingthe news while remaining ongood terms with the authori-ties is not confined to coun-tries where press freedom isfrowned on. When LarryKing's interview with SinnFein spokesman Gerry Adamswas broadcast on the Euro-pean feed of CNN Interna-tional earlier this year,Adams' voice was dubbed inlip-synch by an actor to com-ply with the British govern-ment ban on interviews withAdams' organization.

CNNI, which is licensed in

the UK, obeyed the ban, nodoubt to the bemusement ofthe more numerous body ofviewers outside the UK. Toflout the ban would have putit in a tricky situation at atime when the UK govern-ment is fighting its corner inthe dispute over EU programquotas.

"Our policy is to respectthe laws and the communica-tions regulations in eachcountry in which we oper-ate," said CNN president TomJohnson. CNN's experience of"complications" is not con-fined to countries with a his-tory of press censorship,Johnson pointed out. Israeliauthorities warned the net-work not to report on thelocation of Scud missileattacks during the Gulf War.More recently, it was obligedto concur with reportingrestrictions on a Canadianmurder trial.

"[CNN] is purely a newsreporting channel and I thinkthat fit is] because we reallyadhere to very solid standardsand try to incorporate bothsides of the issue that we areable to continue to operate insome very complicated envi-ronments around the world."Johnson said no journalist hasever been able to point to anexample of the channelpulling its punches as a result

Johnson: solid standards


31


of official pressure.As a commercial opera-

tion, however, hotel andcable carriage and access tosatellite transponders areCNN's lifeblood. Like inter-national print media such asThe Economist, Time andNewsweek, it must continual-ly run the guantlet of bansand censorship. In additionCNN has reciprocal agree-ments with over 200 broad-casters worldwide - includ-ing Chinese state tv -enabling them to exchangefootage.

Eason Jordan, head ofnewsgathering at CNN,insisted that "journalists arenot in the business of worry-ing about distribution" of thechannel. He added: "Timeand time again our reportingirks officials and governmentleaders, what have you.Sometimes they express theirdispleasure by just telling usthey are unhappy with ourreporting... sometimes theyban us from a particularcountry for a certain amountof time.

"It's especially challengingto us because people arewatching us everywhere. InNorth Korea, we're beingclosely monitored by theleadership there. The leaderof the Korean Workers' Partytold me he's a fanatical CNNviewer."

Jordan: North Koreans tune in

John Ramsland, editor ofBBC World Service Televi-sion News, pointed out thatthe Corporation's radio ser-vice has been dealing withthe problem for 60 years."We are maintaining a coreof correspondents andstringers worldwide who arethere on the ground andthere for the long term.

"Our approach is built onthe expertise of these peopleand the criteria we set our-selves are to report thingsfairly and even-handedly. It'svery hard for people to saywe don't want you around ifyou give them the opportu-nity to express their ownview as well as those whoare expressing a contraryview."

Since forming its global

for using Corporation andWorld Service staff and facili-ties and will now shoulderpart of the cost for develop-ing the BBC's newsgathering.

In Asia, the BBC's mainpriorities are to find a wayback in to northern Asia andto resolve what happenswhen its contract for thesouthern beam expires inMarch 1996.

Geoff Hazell, manager ofsales and distribution forWSTV, said it had "made aawful lot of progress" inlooking for alternative satel-lite delivery vehicles."Although Asiasat hasbecome the hot bird for theregion, there is a wholebunch of satellites going upin the next few months. Ourintention is to get back in

"journalists are not in the

business of worrying

about distribution"

alliance with Pearson, theCorporation is aiming tobuild WSTV's coverage fur-ther than its current claimedlevel of 60 million viewers tosomething approaching theradio service's 130 million.

The funding structure isdesigned to ensure that nei-ther the Corporation's licensefee nor Foreign Officemoney which funds theradio World Service financethe television operation.Ramsland said this systemmeant the commercial sideof WSTV is totally separatefrom the editorial side.

"Commercial considera-tions do not impact on theeditorial decision -making atall." Although he concededthat the tv and radio newsstaff which WSTV can accesswould not have been therehad it not been for Corpora-tion money, WSTV will pay

there and make sure we geta ride on the best satellite."

Hazell added that 70% ofthe WSTV audience in Asiacan still receive the channelon the southern beam, butthat the northern beam gaveaccess to important markets:Taiwan, Hong Kong, thePhilippines, Korea andChina. Hazell even suggeststhat the news channel couldwork together with CNN inthe region. "We would behappy to be on the samesatellite as CNN. Whereverpossible, broadcasters shouldco-operate in the sky even ifthey compete on theground."

John O'Loan said of theglobal news service Murdochtalked about in his Septem-ber speech: "We still havethat hope and desire. It's justthat we haven't worked outhow to do it yet. Sky News

O'Loan: news partnerships

is a worldwide news servicenow. We obviously have agaping hole in that we're notin the United States andwe're not on in Asia yet.Rome wasn't built in a day."

Without confirming thereports that Sky has spokento both CBS and ABC abouta global service, O'Loanagreed that "no-one can pro-duce a news service bythemselves. There are vari-ous forms of partnershipsthat we could use to achievethe same ends." Sky Newsalready has a relationshipwith CBS News in the shapeof the European SatelliteNewsgathering consortiumoperated by the two net-works as well as Germany'sRTL, Belgium's VTM and TBSJapan. Sky also has "quite anextensive agreement" withReuters.

Although it recentlyclosed its Budapest bureau,O'Loan said Sky News had"greatly increased" its infras-tructure for internationalnewsgathering over the pastyear.

Since then the globalnews service appears to havebeen relegated to the back -burner. The appointment ofKelvin McKenzie, doyen ofBritish tabloid journalism, tohead Sky TV, does not seemto fit in with a plan to com-bat Turner and the BBC atglobal level.


32


first quarter, Johnson said itwould have reached its objec-tive of carrying 70% originaloutput, part of it produced bya new Hong Kong productioncenter which will come on-line by then.

The BBC is also looking tolaunch a service for the U.S.and is reportedly negotiatingwith Cox Cable, its partner inEuropean satellite channelUK Gold.

There are also possibilitiesoutside the cable environ-ment. Johnson said that CNNcould, in the long term, pro-vide a news service to one ofthe networks to save costs.

Meanwhile Murdoch'sswoop on the New World sta-tions has revived speculationabout Fox launching its ownnews service, and SundayTimes editor Andrew Neil hasbeen drafted to the U.S. toadd weight to the Fox newsoperation. Significantly,

Murdoch said at an L.A. newsconference earlier in the yearthat the stake held by cableoperator TCI in CNN made itimpossible to launch a rivalnews network in the U.S.

William Shawcross, whosubtitled his biography ofMurdoch "Ringmaster of theInformation Circus," writesthat the "infor-mation area"has nowreplaced agri-culture andindustry as oneof the majorengines ofsocial develop-ment. "Theyare beingreplaced by aforce which isstill undefined.It draws onhumanresource capi-tal to transfer

knowledge into many kindsof physical and social activity,to generate wealth in newways, and in doing so to alterprofoundly goals and values.We are moving towards aworld in which informationproduction and distributionwill overshadow material pro-duction."

Turner's frequentunprompted references to"the other party" in interviewsand speeches suggest that forhim, Murdoch looms large asa competitor. So far, howev-er, the other party has givenno indication of where histrue role in the informationcircus really is.

Ramsland: Commercial considerations do not impact on editorial

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Three Is A Crowd

A Reuters cameraman keeps filming while police fire on ANC demonstrators in South Africa: news agencies ensure no story is left uncovered

The television news agency business is hotting up, with Associated Presslaunching a tv service later this year to compete with Reuters and WTN andchanges in major alliances between agencies and broadcasters. Nick Belllooks at a market where both the suppliers and the buyers are in flux

Until recently the televisionnews agency business hasbeen a quiet backwater of

an industry undergoing revo-lutionary change.

For as long as televisionmemories stretch back therehave always been just twospecialist companies whole-saling international newsfootage to broadcasters and,despite the exploding num-

ber of channels over the pastfew years, they are still theonly players in the game. Butthat is all changing. The busi-ness has entered a period ofupheaval that is shattering astatus quo four decades old.

A third television newsagency will be operationallater this year backed byAssociated Press, the world'soldest and largest news orga-

nization. AP believes televi-son to be a strategic impera-tive for future growth, and itis clearly prepared to makethe necessary investment tobreak into the market. Arecent order it placed withSony for equipment to kit outthe new venture ranks as thebiggest the Japanese electron-ics corporation has everreceived.

Although Reuters TV andWorldwide Television Newsare making up -beat state-ments about welcoming newcompetition, there is plentyof cause for concern, withsome observers doubtingwhether the market has roomenough for three players.

WTN has 38 principalbureaus around the world,while Reuters (which also


34


Claypole: "We're coming in here with the intention of staying"

owns a press agency) has 120bureaus, and both haveaccess to 400 camera crewswho are linked back to head-quarters via global satellitenetworks. They churn out avast amount of news andsports footage - Reuters isadding about 15,000 items toits library every year - toclients who pay a subscrip-tion fee to access them. Sub-scribing channels will usuallyadd their own voice-oversand editorial slant. WTNclaims around 1,000 cus-tomers in 80 countries andReuters 200 broadcasters plustheir affiliates (the figures arenot directly comparable) in84 countries.

AP, which has 229 pressbureaus around the world, isrecruiting 150 people world-wide for tv, with each stafferbacked up by about two part-timers. This quantum jump in

the capacity of the agencybusiness is inevitably going tolead to a fierce battle for mar-ket share even if the numberof tv channels around theworld continues growingrapidly. "We're not expectingto be established in sixmonths; there's a ten-yeardevelopment plan behind this[venture]," said Steven Clay -pole, head of APTV. "We'recoming in here with theintention of staying."

Broadcasters need agen-cies because being complete-ly self-sufficient in interna-tional news gathering wouldbe economic lunacy - evenfor a 24 -hour, global networklike CNN. The costs of run-ning an international networkof journalists and cameramenare very high, and even if anetwork did make a massiveinvestment it still wouldn't beable to cover every good

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Cramer: looking for partnerships

news story breaking aroundthe world. In the main, it isonly the public broadcastersand the U.S. networks whohave sizeable internationalnews operations; for the restit is simply not worth it.

International news doesnot pull in high ratings andso newsroom editors tend toadhere to the principle thatthere is only one kind ofnews - there's domestic newshappening at home andthere's domestic news hap-pening abroad. Viewerswatching CNN or any otherU.S. network last year duringthe policing of Somalia wouldbe ignorant of the fact thatthere were just as many Ital-ian and Pakistani troopsinvolved as Americans.

"The value of internationalnews is low, except in thecase of exclusives of majorevents and they're prettyrare," said Tony Naetes, headof the news division of theEuropean BroadcastingUnion. "Most stories are sowell covered now, nothing inthis world can happen with-out at least one of Reuters,WTN, an EBU member orsomeone else covering it."

Ths implication is that thenews agencies are operatingin a commodity -type businessin which it is difficult to dif-

ferentiate one ser-vice from another,so the competitoroffering the cheap-est service will winmarket share."Clients are tellingus that news distri-bution and syndica-tion is all beginningto look the same,"said APTV's Clay -pole. "Thirty to 40%of one feed willlook pretty muchthe same as thenext. APTV will bevery competitive onthe top stories andactive in certainniches."

Claypole isn'tdisclosing whatniches APTV hasidentified, though

obviously providing a greaternational and regional feel tonews would be attractive tobroadcasters. However, doingso will also add to the costsof the operation, and it issomething that Reuters andWTN are also doing.

Last year WTN reportedlymade profits of $5 million, up36% on the previous year,from revenues up 11% to $63million. Reuters does notbreak out figures for tv, butthe business is profitable andbigger in revenue terms thanWTN's. Although both com-panies are involved in busi-nesses other than the corenews agencies (such as non -news programming, librarysales and satellite services),they probably do not have alarge cushion against lossesin the event of a price war,judging by WTN's modest 8%net profit margin.

The uncertainty created byAPTV's imminent arrival isnot the only change that thetwo agencies are having tograpple with. Internationalnewsgathering operatesthrough a complex web ofalliances and co-operationagreements among broadcast-ers and the agencies, withnew ones forming and oldones breaking up.

The EBU is the premier

example of a newsgatheringco-operative between broad-casters. It played a pioneeringrole in newsgathering whenin 1953 it set up its own ter-restrial communications net-work able to relay pictures ofQueen Elizabeth's Coronationfrom the UK to broadcastersthroughout Europe. Thisbecame a permanent networkpaid for by the EBU mem-bers, and the two agencieswere allowed to use it to dis-tribute coverage to their sub-scribers.

The EBU's Eurovisionnews exchange is the biggestsharing arrangement amongbroadcasters, with its mem-bers distributingnews footage toone another freeof copyright.Every day thereare six fixed timeswhen membersreview footage,each session last-ing for between20 and 45 min-utes, plus anaverage of aboutthree flash items.Reuters and WTNpay a fee toaccess materialwhich they thendistribute on totheir non-EBUsubscribers. "Alto-gether there areabout 20,000items exchangedper year. I can'tthink of anybroadcaster in theworld with anappetite for thatamount of news,"said Naetes.

Although theEBU is a resourcefor the newsagencies it is also a competi-tor, and if more broadcastersclub together it could makefor a tougher marketplace.News -sharing alliances havealways existed outside theEBU, but recently allianceshave started forming betweenthe younger and growingcommercial broadcasters.

Luxembourg media group

CLT recently announced thecreation of a newsgatheringarrangement between thehalf -dozen European chan-nels in which it is a share-holder. In another deal CBS,Sky News in the UK, VTM inBelgium, Germany's RTL andTokyo Broadcasting Systemshave agreed to share satellitetransponders and groundhardware equipment, whichnot only eats into the busi-ness of third party facility ser-vices provided by the agen-cies but could also evolve toinclude news sharing.

In 1992 a major realign-ment between broadcastersand agencies occured, the

Jare: news is seen as an integrated package

knock -on effects from whichhave yet to fully run theircourse. It was triggered whenReuters wholly acquired Vis-news, re -naming it ReutersTV, by buying out the BBCand the U.S. network NBC,who were minority share-holders. "The BBC's andNBC's interest in Visnews wasto underwrite the cost of their


36


international coverage," said EnriqueJare, director of Reuters TV. "Theyweren't really interested in selling itsservices."

A few months later, Reutersbecame an 18% shareholder in Inde-pendent Television News. Traditional-ly ITN only syndicated news pro-grams to the UK's commercial broad-casters, who also owned it. But achange in regulations freed it fromthese constraints and ITN is now oper-ating as a profit -making commercialenterprise selling programming toother broadcasters such as NBC SuperChannel.

As a result of these changes ITN'sclose relationship with WTN, datingfrom 1956 and formalized through a10% shareholding in the agency, lookslike coming to an end. This wouldmean that ITN will no longer useWIN's services and WTN will stopdistributing ITN's material worldwide.

In the meantime the BBCannounced a news -sharing agreementwith NBC's rival ABC, which in turn isan 80% shareholder of WTN.

"The reason that the BBC Newssigned with ABC is that we want toform partnerships around the worldwith like-minded broadcasters whohave the same commitment to, andwillingness to invest in, internationalnews," said Chris Cramer, head ofBBC newsgathering. "We're notdivorcing [our previous partners], it'sjust a cooling of relationships."

All this activity points towards aclose co-operation between Reutersand ITN (who share the same buildingin central London), perhaps recreatingthe sort of relationship that ITN hadwith WTN, while the BBC appears tobe drawing closer to WTN via ABC.

Reuters and WTN are steeringmarkedly different strategic coursesthrough the turbulent waters of thenews agency business. WTN has beendiversifying into other forms of pro-gramming specifically targeted at thenew international television market ofyoung stations. Leveraging off itsexisting relationships with hundred ofchannels, the company is producingprograms like Earthfile, about envi-ronmental topics, the news magazineRoving Reporter, the youth -orientedNews Wrap for MTV and the crimeseries Crime International.

Reuters TV is also moving into pro-gramming but remaining within thefield of news. It is moving down-stream from its agency business bycreating customized programs for

broadcasters such as the daily Break-fast News it produces for GMTV in theUK and a weekly current affairs showfor the Russian broadcaster Ostankino.It also plans to launch a Spanish -lan-guage 24 -hour news network deliv-ered by satellite to Spain and LatinAmerica. Called Telenoticias, the ser-vice is being launched in partnershipwith Telemundo Group. Starting inSeptember, Reuters is acting as a dis-tributor for a weekly 15 -minute newsfeed supplied by a specialist UK -basedagency, World Environment News, toEurope and the Americas.

Television is also central to Reuters.multimedia strategy. The ReutersGroup not only operates one of thelargest press agencies, but it is also aleading supplier of information anddealing products to the financial com-munity. "As a news organization it 1,,

also appropriate to incorporate moxing pictures," said Jara. "Content isconverging into a single stream of bits,and the customer is beginning to lookat news not in its individual format,,but as an integrated package."

Reuters critics say that the companywill alienate its news agency clients bymoving downstream into broadcastingand, in effect, competing with themfor audiences. Not so, said Jam:

"Telenoticias is at an arm's length.It will operate as if it's a company onits own and it will subscribe to WTN."

Reuters recently launched a finan-cial television news service, deliveringlive coverage of key market eventsand commentary from leading finan-cial analysts to information screens indealing rooms. Reuters will eventuallycreate a multimedia database deliv-ered on its telecommunications net-work (which is the largest privately -operated network in the world andalready fully digital) to its clients inthe financial markets. Dealers andanalysts will, for example, call up real-time and historic data on a company'sshare price along with interviews oftop executives.

Like Reuters, APTV is a believer inthe multimedia future and that to con-tinue thriving as a news organizationit has to offer a video stream. Claypoleenvisages that within a few years thecompany will be offering news ondemand and electronic encyclopediasupdated on a daily basis.

But by the time these new productsstart making money it is quite possiblethat all three players will have spilt aconsiderable amount of red ink get-ting there. BM

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37


Making The

Wrong Kind

Of Headlines

Millions ofdollars havebeen poured intoEuropean newsnetworks aimingto steal some ofCNN's thunder,but as yet theTurner channel isthe only onemaking money,reports MarieBeardmore

There is still only onebenchmark for tv newsnetworks: CNN. After

twelve years on the air, TedTurner's channel may nolonger be unchallenged inthe 24 -hour news game but itis almost certainly the onlyone showing a profit.

In Europe, where aware-ness of CNN reached near -saturation point in the wakeof the Gulf War, the networkhas steadily built up availabil-ity and revenue from advert-isers. But competition hassprung up in the form of

Euronews, a co-operativeventure between publicbroadcasters part -funded bythe European Commission,by Germany's n-tv and, fromlast month by La Chaine Info,operated by France's leadingprivate broadcaster, TF1.

By the end of the year,Telemundo and Reuters areplanning a Spanish -languagenews channel which will bedistributed in Spain and theBBC aims to convert WorldService TV into an all -newsformat. NBC, having boughtand rebranded Super Chan-nel, has built up a schedulewhich majors on news andbusiness to pitch for the high -demographic audience reac-hed by CNN. Last, but notleast, Sky News, on the airsince 1988, serves the bur-geoning UK direct -to -homeand cable market.

"We expect intensifiedcompetition in the interna-tional marketplace," said TomJohnson, president of CNN."We will continue to do ourvery best to emphasise ourcompetitive edge, which islive coverage of global newsevents."

CNN has so far exploitedits major competitive edgeover the new pretenders - itspractically unchallengeddominance of the 60 million -home U.S. cable market - toinvest in its overseas distribu-tion and production facilities.According to senior Turner

Broadcasting executives inAtlanta, CNN Internationalposted profits of $45 millionin 1993 on revenue of $110million.

CNN has proved that thereis money to be made fromwhat cable distribution thereis in Europe and from theunderdeveloped pan-Euro-pean advertising market.

News, however, does notcome cheap. LCI, the leastcostly of the four all -newschannels currently offered toEuropean viewers has anannual budget of $28 million,while that of n-tv weighs in at$62 million. Unlike the U.S.,the advertising communityhas still to be fully convincedthat the news channels,which typically register smalldaily viewing figures, areworth their money, andaccess to a second stream ofrevenue from subscriptionand cable fees is problematic.

In Germany n-tv has regis-tered viewing of only 30-40,000 on the Gfk audiencemeasurement system - hardlyenough to inspireconfidence amongadvertisers andoffering nothingto back up theclaim that thechannel is deliver-ing a predomi-nantly upmarketaudience.

HenningOppermann, headof research atHamburg mediabuyer debisG.F.M.O., said thatadvertisers areusing the channelmore or less ontrust that theviewing will havea greater repre-sentation of the"higher targetgroup" than otherchannels.

Dr Karl -UlrichKuhlo, founderand managingdirector of n-tv,has unsurprisinglytaken issue withthe Gfk system,

arguing that much of n-tv'sviewing takes place in busi-nesses and hotels which arenot measured. Kuhlo main-tains that in reality four mil-lion people watch n-tv for atleast 15 minutes per day.

Nevertheless n-tv, which isnow being marketed by theHoltzbrinck publishing group,has seen fit to slash advertis-ing rates to a guaranteed costper thousand of DM16 ($10).Oppermann said that the ratenow compared favorablywith the main networks andthat his agency, which buysfor Mercedes Benz, Beiers-dorf and Henkel, would nowconsider using the channel.

The bargain -basementapproach contrasts with theupmarket pitch of the chan-nel, which devotes around aquarter of its schedule tofinance and business and islinked by satellite to theFrankfurt money markets.

A similar pitch has under-pinned the overhaul of NBCSuper Channel, which hasentirely scrapped music

Kuhlo: Claims four million viewers for n-tv


38


videos from its schedule andbolstered its business pro-gramming supplied by CNBCand Financial Times TV.

NBC Super Channel chair-man Patrick Cox believes thatthe market of light viewingexecutives is largelyuntapped in Europe, and thatthe cost of using generalentertainment channels toreach them is prohibitive. Thechannel is preparing to spend$4 million in a consumeradvertising campaign this fallaimed at hoovering up anyadvertising dollars that areavailable.

The decision aboutwhether the best market fornews channels is pan-Euro-pean or national is a crucialone. NBC Super Channel i,available in 30 million homes,while CNNI currently reaches25 million and Euronews 13million. Greater distribution,it is argued, compensates forthe low ratings and offersaccess to the kind of advertis-ers - finance, travel, comput-ers and luxury goods - whichAlready use the internationalprint media.

However, with the size ofthe pan-European marketgenerally estimated at nomore than $100 million, thereis not much to go around.Sky News, which is generallysold as part of a packagewith the other BSkyB chan-nels, seems to sell out mostof its slots while CNN breaksare full of endless channelpromos and direct responseads. Even so, few observersbelieve that Sky News is mak-ing enough money fromadvertising to cover its annualbudget of £25 million ($36million).

Euronews, which alreadybroadcasts in five languages,is looking to increase theamount of "local" program-ming in France and Germanyby establishing national win-dows. So far it has not metwith a great deal of success.A rift between the Frenchgovernment and TF1,Euronews' would-be partnerin the venture, and theadvent of TF1's own news

service LCI has effectivelysounded the death knell ofEuronews Francais. AndEuronews Deutschland is indisarray because, although ithas a partner in ARD sub -

"It would be a

miracle if n-tv

went into the

black this year or

even next year"

sidiary launus Film, underGerman law public broad-casters cannot receive statehandouts, putting the futureof the venture into doubt.

In addition, national chan-nels can automatically jumpthe queue for cable carriage.In France, LCI secured com-mitments from all of the bigfour cable operators beforeits launch. Lyonnaise Cableshunted BBC WSTV (at pre-sent an entertainment service)out of its basic service intoextended basic, where view-ers will need a Visiopassdecoder to see it at a cost ofan extra FFr30 ($5.50) permonth. Euronews was movedto squeeze in the newcomer,although it stays in the basictier.

If n-tv has failed to find itsfeet in a market of 17 millioncable homes, what are thechances for LCI in a countrywhere cable reaches only 1.2million households? LCI ismaking up for the problemby charging cable operators afee of FFr6 ($1.50) permonth, and there is also apossibility of carriage in theCanal Satellite DTH package,which reaches 122,000homes.

Sylvain Gouze, deputymanaging director at LCI isconvinced that the relation-ship between LCI and its dis-tributors can only be symbiot-

ic: "Cable needs us as muchas we need cable," he said."We have conducted researchand each time it has shownthat people would subscribeto cable first for movies andsecond for information."

Another advantage thatLCI has is the comfortingpartnership with a very bigbroadcaster. "LCI will have allthe resources of TF1 at itsdisposal," said Gouze. "It willhave its own identity andpresenters but will also beable to call on the technicalservices and pictures of TF1."The channel is expected tocost an estimated FFr120-FFr150 million ($22-28 mil-lion) per year. But analystsreckon TF1, which postedprofits of FFr459 million($83.5 million) in 1993, cansustain a loss of FFr100 mil-lion ($17.9 million) a year onthe project.

Sky News, which did nothave the same advantage, hasa technical reach of 3.6 mil-lion households, all but730,000 via DTH. Its share oftotal viewing in a typicalweek is around the 1% markin satellite homes; an estimat-ed 100,000 watched its mostpopular program in the weekending May 22, rather fewerthan the number of peoplewho read a quality newspa-per. Estimates of Sky News'annual ad revenue rangefrom £11 million ($16.5 mil-lion) a year (media buyer Ini-tiative Media) and, accordingto a more optimistic City ana-lyst, £22.5 million ($33.75 mil-lion) out of total ad revenueof £80 million ($120 million)for the whole BSkyB pack-age.

Like LCI, the profitabilitySky News will be enhancedas the universe expands, butits prime function is not togenerate major profits. Asone of six BSkyB channels,Sky TV director of newsdevelopment John O'Loansaid "Sky News is importantbecause it completes theBSkyB package, enabling usto carry a well-rounded ser-vice." While the film andsports channels rake in sub-

scription revenues and adver-tising, Sky News, which isstill in the clear, acts as aloss -leader which is good forthe credibility of the overallservice.

Likewise the presence ofCNN and Time Warner on itsboard appears to be n-tv'sbest hope of survival. "Theysupport us because we havesomething to offer them, weare a good product with animportant audience," saidKuhlo.

CNN has also talked to LCIand although it is keen to beinvolved with the channel,the dispute over its sisterchannel TNT/Cartoon Net-work has made it a difficulttime for the French companyto make any commitment.

The real tester for CNNwill come in five or six years'time when the up and com-ing channels have built up aloyal following of their own.But the new players knowthat it will be a long andarduous battle. Kuhlo certain-ly knows it. "It can take yearsto get to black figures; itwould be a miracle if weEn-tv1 made black figures

this year or even the nextyear." Fill

Gouze: Cable -friendly


39

ADVERTISING LONDON

Account moves in advertising do notnormally make international head-line news. But they do if the compa-

ny in question is the fifth biggest in theworld, if the budget could be up to $500million, and if the said company isreducing its worldwide roster of adver-tising agencies from more than 40 downto one.

The company in question is IBM. Itawarded its entire business to Ogilvy &Mather at the end of May. Acts of global-ization almost never come as big as that.It instantly prompts the question: are wewitnessing a trend, and if so, what doesit mean for tv companies?

One swallow does not make a sum-mer, and it is surprising how little pub-lished evidence there is testifying to theexistence of globalization. Intuitively,one suspects that internationalization, ifnot globalization, of brand communica-tions is a current trend. Thus, comment-ing on the IBM decision to entrust itsentire advertising account to one agen-cy, Harry Reid, the European chairmanof Ogilvy & Mather, was quoted in TheWall Street Journal as saying that"There's been an explosion in theamount of pan-European advertising."Because of the demands of major multi-national advertisers for wider cam-paigns, O&M has "had to centralizemore to serve their requirements. Andwe've put an enormous emphasis onproductivity."

It is questionable whether globaliza-tion or internationalization per se areimportant. Much more interesting, andpossibly significant, is why IBM and oth-ers are going down this route.

Where IBM is concerned the causesappear specific. It has been a colossus inthe computer world for as long as any-one can remember. In the process ofattaining giant status, the name of thecompany has become a symbol of tech-nical excellence and steadfastness.

But, as everyone knows, IBM's leg-endary stature grew out of its domi-nance of the mainframe business; how-ever, conditions have changed drastical-ly in recent times owing to the phenom-enal growth in computing power.

As a result, the core market for com-puter hardware and software products in

IBM Predicament

Is Not Unique

BY TOBY SYFRET

value terms has become more fragment-ed and more differentiated. It seemsthat, in trying to keep up with the frenet-ic pace of change by scampering downevery business corridor; IBM is in severedanger of losing its "IBM-ness" as itssprouting off -shoots go their own pro-motional ways. Hence, the latest boldand desperate gamble to pull everythingback to the centre by re -asserting theIBM brands.

And yet, there does seem to be a par-allel case for treatment. In T.S. Eliot'splay The Cocktail Party the head of asanatorium says to one of his patients,"All cases are unique, and very similar toothers." Similarly, it could be said thatIBM's predicament is unique and isshared by many other companies inunrelated product sectors. The problem,which the big television advertisers allface one way or another, is the dimin-

Even if they are spared IBM'scommercial traumas, advertisers are

at risk over maintaining theidentities of their brands

ishing effectiveness of spot advertising,caused by the growing cacophony ofmessages. More products and morelabels on the shelves; more televisionchannels and more media generally; andmore advertising clutter.

In short, it seems that advertisershave entered the age of the megaphone,where they have to shout louder inorder to be heard, and the value of theadvertising dollar is shrinking.

This undoubtedly is a global trend. Inthe case of advertising clutter, there canbe very few countries, if any, wheremembers of the public on average donot see more commercials a day nowthan they did ten years ago. Of coursethere is clutter and clutter. At the upperextreme, American and Japanese view-ers are exposed to more than 100 com-mercials per day, which is still severaltimes greater than the daily exposure ofthe Germans, Dutch and British. Howev-er, there seems to be only one directionin which the laggards are heading.

The outcome is that, even if the bigadvertisers are spared the commercialtrauma to which IBM has fallen victim,they too are at risk over maintaining theidentities of their brands. One strategy isto simplify communications by layinggreater stress on the company namebehind the array of product brandnames. Indeed, I suspect that if youwere to compare the sum of promotion-al messages from pack design to tv com-mercial for the big fmcg multinationals,you would find ample evidence of arecent and ongoing shift in emphasisfrom individual products towards thehigher ground of product ranges andcompany brands.

Supposing that this shift in communi-cations really is occurring, the questionfor tv companies to ask is whether theirbiggest clients will continue to rely soheavily on tv generally, or spot commer-cials in particular, as they try to come toterms with the megaphone culture; bethis at the level of the globe, the conti-nents, or the countries of the world. WI


40

DATA

TV Is Dead...Long Live TVAs the discussion about the deploy-ment of advanced video technologyreaches the popular press, the level

of hype increases in proportion. Let'slook at terrestrial digital television. Digi-tal modulation techniques for this modeof transmission are still being tested inlaboratories, but if one were to believethe press, terrestrial digital tv is aroundthe corner, becoming fully operationalin a couple of years, with the switch -offof the existing Pal norm predicted inseven to 10 years.

Whether those who expound thisradical timetable believe in it is open toquestion. Their objective seems to be tofrighten into extinction the conventionalterrestrial generalist advertising orlicense -fee supported broadcasters -these alleged technological dinosaurs -and clear the way for the new digitalinteractive video world.

Should traditional broadcasters beworried that their "sell -by" date is soonapproaching? Surely, no condition ispermanent. The widespread use of theVCR has been challenging for quitesome time broadcasters' ability to con-struct advertiser -friendly, linear tv sched-ules. With the explosion of the rentaland sell -through video markets, timespent watching tapes is time spent awayfrom the broadcasters' fare.

New systems will further challengetraditional broadcasters, fighting for theattention of the viewers. Interactive tv,satellite digital tv, near -video -on -demand, video -on -demand, but also"off-line" systems such as Video CD. CD -

A survey by the IIC mapped out the expectedtime of arrival of an array of new technologies.As Jean -Luc Renaud reveals, broadcasters stillhave some breathing -space

Rom, CD-i, and, why not, virtual reality,are bound to dent the traditional broad-casters' market.

But when will this challenge becomeirresistible? If one goes by the findingsof a recent study carriedout by the InternationalInstitute of Communica-tions (IIC), broadcasterswill still enjoy somebreathing space for agood many years tocome.

An independent,multi -disciplinary organi-sation with a world-widemembership representinga broad variety of interestin the communicationfield, the IIC designed"technology timelines,"locating in time theexpected introduction of various digitaltechnologies and plotting their anticipat-ed market penetration over the next 20years.

The timelines, covering 16 digitalmedia, were based on questionnairescompleted by some 40 internationalexperts from 12 countries. Respondentswere chosen by an IIC panel and includ-

ed heads of laborato-ries, chief engineers,technology strategistsand technology poli-cy planners - allrecognised experts intheir field.

Technologies weredivided into fourbroad categories:Advanced TelevisionServices (interactivetv, VOD, NVOD);Distribution Tech-nologies (digitalcable, digital satellite,digital terrestrial, opti-cal fibers); AdvancedMedia Systems (Video

CD players, CD -Rom, CD-i, virtual reali-ty); Image Display Systems (widescreen,flat panel display, HDTV sets).

It is clear that the size of a country, itslevel of technological sophistication and

Table 2 - Advanced Television Services

Market Penetration (TVHHs)

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

1995 2000

NI Near -Video -On -DemandVideo-On-DemanInteractive TV

2005 2010Year

2015

Table 1- Transmission Media For Digital TV


70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

111. Satellite DTHCable TVTerrestrialOptical fibre

10%

0% 1995 2000 2005

Year

I I2010 2015

the presence (or absence) of an industri-al/communication policy will very muchimpact on the deployment of advancedservices. Because of the small size of thesample of respondents, it would havebeen unwise at this stage to identify dis-tinctive trends in Europe, Asia, Northand South America. In the context of thisexercise, the figures relate to countriescurrently capable of developing anddeploying the various services exam-ined.

"Market penetration" in the tablesmeans the proportion of tv homes whichare equipped to receive particular digitalservices. Table 1 confirms the view thatsatellite will be the first distributionmedium to use digital compression.Interestingly, the experts think that satel-lite -delivered digitally -compressed tvservices will only be overtaken by co-axial cable after the year 2000 - despitecable's clear advantages in deliveringinteractive services. Maybe the expertsthink that compression advances willmean that the telephone system will besufficient to provide all the return band-width anyone will require on satellite in


41

DATA

Table 3 - Image Display Systems


50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

Wide-screen TV setsHDTV setsFlat panel displays

1995 2000 2005 2010Year

2015

the short term.Terrestrial digital broadcasting is a

distant third. The slow penetration ofdigital set -top decoders for reception ofterrestrial digital services - 25% of totaltv homes by the year 2000 - may haveto do with the rich service offeringwhich will already be available on satel-lite and cable at that time.

Table 1 also shows the inexorablerise of optical fiber which slowlyreplaces co -axial cable. No doubt thatby the year 2000 and beyond, set -topdigital decoders will be multi -standard,accommodating reception of signalscoming from cable, satellite and terres-trial transmission networks. Thus, thechoice of signal sources will likely bedetermined by the unique variety of ser-vices which will distinguish satellite,cable and terrestrial program providers.

Table 2 is testimony to the fact thatdigital satellite programmers have beenpositioning themselves as providers ofnear -video -on -demand (NVOD) servicespar excellence. But they are about toface tough competition with the emer-gence of video -on -demand (VOD). Thefact that VOD will beat NVOD in popu-larity some time between 2010 and 2015strongly suggests that VOD services will

he available via co -axcable and optical fiber.After all, the telephonecompanies, who initiallydeveloped VOD, alwayssaid that the provisionof the service via twist-ed copper lines usingthe ADSL technologywas only an interimstage before the deploy-ment of optical fibernetworks. It could alsowell be that cable oper-ators will move into theVOD business on their

co -ax (or hybrid co-ax/fiber) networks.Although the architecture for the supplyof VOD services is undoubtedly morecomplex than that forinteractive television.the latter does notappear to seduce asmany viewers (orexperts) as the for-mer.

Will there be tenmillion (West) Euro-pean homes with awide-screen tv set insix years' time, aspredicted by theexperts (Table 3)?Possibly, especially ifthe European Com-munity Action Plansubsidies for the promotion of advancedtelevision are converted into action."Wide-screen" in the table means a 16:9cathode ray -tube screen with conven-tional 625 -line pictures.

When fully-fledged high definitiontelevision programming will start beingtransmitted, it will ignite a market forHDTV cathode ray -tube sets. More cum-bersome than the emerging flat paneldisplays, HD sets are cheaper, and that

may be the reason why their growth willkeep up with that of high -resolution flatpanel displays until 2004-2005. As theprice of flat panel displays become morecompetitive, they will clearly overtakethe bulky HD sets. Latecomers to HDTVmay go directly for a flat panel HD dis-play, whereas tv homes that adoptedwide-screen tv early may buy an HD setas well. Multi -set tv homes will he thenorm.

What about "off-line" or "in-house"video services, as opposed to "on-line"or "transmitted" services, examined sofar? If the experts are rights, viewer/con-sumers will not rush to acquire the CD -based system - market penetration forVideo CD players and CD -Rom is put ataround 35% by the year 2015 (Table 4).

Table 4 - Advanced Media Systems


40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

Video CD playersEll CD-ROM

CD -I

VR systems

1995 2000 2005 2010 2015Year

Table 5 - Projected 1999 Distribution Of U.S. TV Viewing Shares

With 40 million digital households With 100 million total digital households* Digital services 8% Digital services 20%

Interactive 1% Interactive 2%

Movies -on -demand 4% Movies -on -demand 9%

Other Video -on -demand 4% Other Video -on -demand 9%

Cable TV 26% Cable TV 34%

Pay channels 4% Pay channels 5%

Basic channels 22% Basic channels 29%

Broadcasting 66% Broadcasting 46%

Network affiliates 51% Network affiliates 40%

Other (independents Other (independent& public tv) 15% & public tv) 6%

* excludes shares of viewing of HDTV services Source: Discovery Communications Inc

It would seem strange that CD-i,working in conjunction with a tv setwhose penetration has reached satura-tion, is beaten flat by CD -Rom, whichrequires desk -top machines whose mar-ket penetration is at best a quarter ofthat for a tv set. It is not so if the CD -Rom category includes all the gamingsystems, which are hot items. They arehighly interactive, but currently offerlower picture quality than CD-i does. Itremains that CD -Rom will maintain itspresent market lead over CD-i well intothe next century.

Video CD - which is the "linear"White Book standard - will, however,steadily gain on it. Maybe the expertsbelieve VCR owners will progressivelytrade in their VCRs for Video CD play-ers, and since the installed base of VCRsis so huge, this will give rise to a veryhigh Video CD penetration... and a fur-ther occasion to watch non -broadcasttelevision.

The author, who has been an advisor tothe HC on this study, thanks TomMcQuaide, HC's principal investigator,for his assistance.


42

Calling AllProducers &DistributorsWorldwide

TBI's 1995 Yearbook iscurrently in production

The Producers and Distributors chapteris NOW being compiled

If you want your company listedFREE OF CHARGE

Call +44 71 352 3211 and speak to Jane Birchto request a listings form

Listing to be completed by Friday 19 August

For your essentialfree listing

Act Now

PROGRAMMING

PRODUCT NEWS NBC has joined forces withCanada's WIC Western Interna-

tional Communications and Cata-lyst Entertainment Inc to produce

the Martin Short Show, which will

be aired on the U.S. network and

in Canada this fall. NBC hasordered 13 episodes of thesketch/comedy show starringthe Canadian -born actor, which

will be broadcast on stationsowned by WIC, Canwest Global

and CFCF in Montreal. Shooting

will start at NBC's studios in Bur-bank before moving to Canadafor the 1994/5 season.Catalyst has meanwhile sold anequity stake to the UK -based

independent producer Britt All -

croft. The two companies already

co -produce children's show Shin-

ing Time Station. Charles Falzon

(above}, president of Catalyst,

said the new investment would

go into financing distribution pro-jects through a fund which will

be renewed every five years and

into development.

Dutch Independent productioncompany Blue Horse Productionsis developing an English -lan-

guage feature film called Cross

My Heart and Hope To Die with

German media giant Bertels-

mann and Dutch electronics firm

Philips. The production will also

be available as a three-partseries for television and as afull -motion video CD -I, for which

Philips is providing the expertise

French Indie Looks AbroadFRENCH independent ABProductions has begun devel-opment of four foreign -lan-guage versions of its success-ful youth -oriented shows inFrance.

Four AB series dominatethe 6pm to 8pm slot onFrench private broadcasterTF1. Thirty -minute episodesof Le Miel et les Abeilles, LesFilles d'a cote, Premier Bail-ers and Helene et les Garconsare currently stripped acrossTF1's primetime-accessschedule in a two-hourblock.

According to sales execu-tive Manuel Catteau, thecompany has already com-pleted 26 German -languageepisodes of Helene et lesGarcons for private broad-caster RTL. Additional pilotshave also been completed inEnglish and Spanish. InSpain, where the show is already aired in adubbed form, negotiations are ongoing withtwo Spanish broadcasters for the formatrights. Talks are also being held with undis-closed U.S. cable channels. Aside from theU.S., an English -language pilot also opens upthe possibility of a sale to other English-speaking territories such as Australia, NewZealand, Canada and the UK, said Catteau.

The original French version of Helene et lesGarcons, of which there are currently 300episodes of 30 minutes each (four episodesare produced daily), has been sold as adubbed version into parts of South Americaand Africa, Belgium, Switzerland, Norway andGreece.

However, Catteau said the company isanxious to tap into areas where it is virtuallyimpossible to sell dubbed shows, namely theEnglish-speaking countries.

For this market AB has gone one step fur-ther. It is also developing original English -lan-guage youth programming ideas that may or

Le Miel et les Abeilles: appealing to foreign tastes?

may not be adapted into French -language ver-sions. One of the first, a proposed youthseries called Making Waves, has alreadyreached the pilot stage.

While the business of formats has to datebeen most prolific in the areas of gameshows,the universal nature of youth issues make theseries perfect for adaptation... and cheap.

All the formats are made within the con-fines of AB's extensive studio complex inParis and use the same sets and scripts, with afew modifications. "The actors are differentfor each version but they basically look thesame," said Catteau. "We make a few culturaladaptations such as replacing the bottle ofwine in the French version with a glass ofCoca-Cola for the U.S. version, but we try andkeep as close to the original as possible."

AB Productions is also producing a French -language feature film version of Helene et lesGarcons, which should be ready in time forChrist mu- Sarah Walker


44

PROGRAMMING

Fox Takes Risk In Outer SpaceJULIAN Grant, creator of Scavengers, the 20thCentury Fox -financed show which premieresin the UK this month, said he wanted to "dosomething very different" from the tried andtested format of the gameshow.

The result is a sci-fi action -adventure showset on a space station a couple of milenniainto the future which Grant summarizes as "agameshow with elements of drama", filmedon a set reminiscent of Aliens and basedaround frantic activities which echo theFrance 2 show Fort Boyard.

The set, built at the stage in Pinewood Stu-dios, England, which was used for the JamesBond film Dr No, accounted for the lion'sshare of Fox's $3m investment in Scavengers.Four broadcasters have already signed up toproduce local -language versions of the show:

Scavengers: Carlton was first up the scramble -net

Carlton for the ITV network in the UK, Ante-na 3 in Spain, Telemunchen in Germany forRTL2 and Nordisk Film, producing a Scandi-navian version.

According to Doug Schwalbe, vice-presi-dent of marketing and co -production for 20thCentury Fox, further sales have been agreedwith Portugal, Australia and Taiwan and talksare progressing with South Africa and pan -Asian station Star TV. Two sponsors havebeen brought in to sweeten the package forRai, which is interested in making an Italianversion. Grant says that over 80 broadcastersaround the world were pitched.

Despite the back-up of Fox's muscle inmarketing and distribution and the licensingand merchandising deals thrown in with thepackage, Scwalbe says Scavengers is a "risk",

and notes that it is unusualfor an international project tooriginate outside the U.S.

Besides use of the set,broadcasters buying the rightshave use of costumes andspecial effects developed forthe show. Each broadcastermakes their own adjustmentsto the format of the show andalthough Grant expects eachbroadcaster to screen theshow in primetime, its placein the schedule will vary. ITVhas opted for the Saturdayevening slot normally occu-pied by Gladiators and soft-ened some of the darker ele-ments of the show to capturea broader family audience.Antenna 3 is expected toschedule its version later inthe evening.- Tim Westcott

Spanish Channel Tests Series Format

SPANISH regional public broadcaster TV3Catalunya is attempting to spice up its prime -time programming schedule with the develop-ment of a new 45 -minute weekly program-ming format that program director OleguerSarsanedas describes as half way between aseries and a sitcom.

"A few years ago we thought sitcoms weremost adapted to our financial capabilites forprimetime, but increasingly they are being rel-egated to access primetime," he said.

The idea behind the new format is todevelop programming of -a broader appeal;

mixing comedy with an element of drama toprovide characters and situations an audiencecan identify with. Unlike a sitcom, eachepisode will have its own story but there willalso be underlying stories running through.

Using an intensive production schedulecurrently reserved for the production ofTV3's series Proble No, Sarsanedas hopes tokeep costs down. Budgets are projected to bein the region of $65-75,000 an episode. Two26x30 minute series are already in develop-ment, one for this fall and the other for 1995.- Sarah Walker

and some of the budget.

According to managing director

Chiem Van Houweninge, Blue

Horse Productions plans to

develop more CD -I versions of its

productions despite the increasein costs. "The work involved in

making the CD -I version of Cross

My Heart and Hope To Die will

amount to almost three featurefilms," he said.Probably better known as a pro-

ducer of sitcoms and drama,

Blue Horse is also developing a6x1 hour cop show set in theCaribbean, titled Davelaer. UK independent producerHewland International has tied

up format sales of its computergame show Games World toSat1 in Germany and Kanal 6 in

Turkey. The show runs five

nights a week in the UK on Sky

One. Sat1 bought the right to

make 26 half-hour shows aftergiving the show an initial 13 -

week run in the spring. According

to marketing director Craig Gold-man, talks are underway with a

major U.S. studio and broadcast-

ers in Europe and Australia over

further sales. International distri-bution is being handled by ECM.

German pubcaster WRD hascompleted production on Danger-

ous Games, a drama filmed in

English in a variety of European

locations. RTPA, which has theworldwide rights outside the Ger-man-speaking territories, already

has an offer for the UK pay-tvrights from Sky TV and interest

from the BBC and ITV, said man-aging director Simon Willock.

Dangerous Games will be avail-

able at Mipcom in four one -hour

episodes or two of 100 minutes.


45

PROGRAMMING

Bob Hoskins and RobinWilliams have become the latest

film stars to ignore the old show-biz maxim "never work with chil-

dren or animals." Both areappearing in In The Wild, a

wildlife series made by UK inde-

pendent Tigress in which celebri-

ties are filmed in search of theanimal of their dreams. TheHoskins (tigers) and Williams

(dolphins) films, produced for ITVand PBS, will both be unveiled by

distributor RPTA at Mipcom.

Anthony Hopkins and Timothy

Dalton have already appeared inthe series, which will consist ofsix one -hour films.

Central Television Enterprises(CTE), which handles internation-

al sales for British ITV compa-

nies Carlton and Central is to

supply 100 hours of factual pro-gramming to BBC World Service

Television's satellite news andinformation services. The pack-

age of programs includes Carl -

ton's Hollywood Women and

Central's Legacy, Heaven Must

Wait, Naturewatch and Voyager -

the World of NationalGeographic. Territories covered

by the deal are Asia, the Middle

East and Africa and the compa-nies are discussing their use onother channels including WSTV's

Arabic and European channels.

Atlantis Films and ShowtimeNetworks have signed an exclu-

sive two-year deal with Maintitle

Pictures, a company formed by

former Showtime executive Bar-

bara Title, to develop tv projects.

Under the deal, Showtime willhave first refusal over projectsTitle develops for Atlantis. Title,

who will work from the Canadian

company's Los Angeles office,worked with Atlantis on comedy

movies Heads and Sodbusters.Her first project will be a film ofPossessed, the true story which

formed the basis of The Exorcist.

Little Extras Make For Brisk ScreeningsFOR the majors, sales of newshows at the May screeningsin Los Angeles was brisk, butthe market isn't as easy as itused to be.

"There's more pressure onboth sides," said MCA TVinternational president ColinDavis. International broad-casters are producing morehome-grown programmingand face more competition,while U.S. distributors arecompeting against moreavailable product comingfrom cable and first -run syn-dication. There were 22 first -run syndication hours pre-sented at the screenings thisyear.

Of the new series at thescreenings, there were somesurefire bets like SpellingTV's new series Models Incand Madman Of The People,a half-hour comedy. Bothsold in Europe, Latin Ameri-ca, Australia and NewZealand. Rights to theSpelling Premiere Networkseries' Robin's Hoods andHeaven Help Us have alreadybeen picked up in Europe,but Worldvision were able toadd sales in Latin Americaand Canada.

Twentieth TV screenedtheir new series Wild Oats,Chicago Hope and Five MrsBuchanans, in addition to theco -production Scavengers, two miniseries Loy-alty and Betrayal, and the children's showRed Planet. "People think the Europeansdon't buy at the screenings but they do," saidMarion Edwards, senior vice-president atTwentieth TV International, noting Fox closeddeals in Canada, the U.K, Scandinavia, Italy,Spain, Portugal, Israel and Australia.

ABC, which has led the networks in thegrowing trend towards in-house production,screened an unusually large number of showsthis year, including three series destined forthe network Fall schedule: Me And The Boys,McKenna and My So-called Life. ABC alsoscreened The Boys Are Back, a series the net-work is producing for CBS.

CBS Entertainment presented Touched ByAn Angel, a one -hour drama produced byMaysh Ltd and created by John Masius, whosecredits include St Elsewhere.

Warner Brothers, which once again will

Touched By An Angel: CBS's fall contender

international provide more programming for thethan any other studio this season, screened aplethora of programming including four half-hours: Daddy's Girls, Friends, Young At Heartand On Our Own, three one -hours: UnderSuspicion, ER and Pointman, and four mid -season series: The Office, The Ties That Bind,Medicine Ball and The Great Defender.

Like Warner Brothers, Columbia TriStaralso had its hands full with one -hours such asFortune Hunter and Party Of Five, The RickiLake Show, a syndicated half-hour talk stripand The News, a strip comedy series.

Executive vice-president Michael Grindonadmitted that it's hard to present so manynew shows at once. "Our emphasis is onhelping to promote and market our program-ming overseas," he said. "It involves moreresearch and information. We're trying tounderstand the needs of the client and pre-sent programs that fit that need."- Barbara Osborn

networks


46

PROGRAMMING

All American DreamALL American has picked up Fremantle International from the Interpublic group for $63million. The deal gives All American a signifi-cant boost in the international distributionbusiness. As well as adding Fremantle'sgameshow catalog (it has 93 game show pro-ductions in 27 countries) it adds to its owndistribution network with Fremantle's officesin London, Cologne, Istanbul, Madrid, Athens,Lisbon and Sydney.

The acquisition of the gameshow companydoes not include Fremantle Corporation,owned by Paul Talbot, which has internation-al rights to Baywatch, daytime soap Lovingand Grace Under Fire. Ironically, Baywatch issyndicated in the U.S. by All American.

Talbot, who founded Fremantle Interna-tional in the 1950s, sold his remaining 20%stake to ad agency giant The InterpublicGroup in early July. This left Interpublic posi-tioned to sell the whole company to AllAmerican. The two deals were announced onconsecutive days. The sale is part -cash andpart -equity and leaves Interpublic holdingabout 20% of All American stock.

The acquisition puts All American into adifferent league internationally, with the Fre-mantle International product leading its cata-log. It is expected that Larry Lamattina, chair-man of Fremantle International and now pres-ident of All American Television, will lead thecompany internationally.

Baywatch: International stays with Fremantle Corp

But for All American the deal is more thanjust adding new game show product like ThePrice Is Right, The Dating Game and Super-market Sweep. The merger of the two compa-nies, both turning over $60 million -plus ayear, establishes All American as a seriousplayer with the backing of a major media cor-poration in Interpublic. Previously All Ameri-can had limited success internationally andfrequently ended up working through localagents. The relationship with Interpublic(Lamattina is a former chief operating officerof Lintas USA, an Interpublic company) strate-gical I \ gives it the weight in the advertisingworld to open up new broadcast doors.- Paul Nicholson

Pilots Aims To Lift European Writing

THEY are a staple of most schedules, butproduction of long -running tv series inEurope has remained an alien concept formany national broadcasters. The cheaperoption has been to buy U.S. product, in returnfor lower ratings than quality domestic prod-uct usually achieves.

Pilots, a Media program initiative con-cerned with the development of televisionseries before they go into production, is hop-ing to change this. "The idea behind Pilots isto encourage the production of long -runningtv series and to encourage the industry -broadcasters, independent producers, writersand script editors - to understand the value ofthe development process," said head of stud-ies Julien Friedman. According to Friedman, aseries produced in Europe is developed andthe first scripts written by just one writer, asopposed to the U.S. or Australia where theprocess is done in teams. In the U.S. some 7-10% of the entire audiovisual budget is spenton development, compared with 2% in the

UK and as little as 1% in continental Europe."The biggest problem with Europe is that

there are no experienced tv writers. There istalent but not experience," explained U.S.-born producer/director and Pilots tutor StevenBawol. "The idea should be to take what'sgood about the U.S. and not the mistakes."

Ten teams, encompassing a script writer,script editor and producer from either a Euro-pean broadcaster or independent productioncompany take part in Pilots. The initiativeoperates over five months and includes twotwo-week workshops which take place inSpain during July and October.

At the start of the first workshop, the teamspresent their projects to experienced industryexperts who provide critical analysis as tohow it can be improved. Scripts are thenrewritten over the summer. By the end of thesecond two weeks, each team should have acomplete package ready for production toshow bmacicaqers.- Sarah Walker

Grundy Worldwide hassecured a second daily serial

commission from a German

broadcaster and its first Italiandeal. Grundy/Ufa productions

has landed a first order of 250

episodes of Verbotene Liebe

('Forbidden Love') from public

broadcaster ARD. The series will

be broadcast from the beginningof 1995. In Italy, Rai Uno hasordered 11 episodes of BeatoTra Le Donne (Happy Among

Women) - a version of its highly

successful entertainment formatMan 0 Man - at two hours each.

Reg Grundy Productions in the

UK has made entertainmentseries Small Talk, which started

on BBC1 in July.

Pan -Asian satellite broadcast-er Star TV has signed a deal withPolygram Film International

allowing it to screen the studio's1994/5 output on its pay filmservice, Star Movies. The deal is

non-exclusive and will provide

Star with up to 20 films a yearincluding Four Weddings and a

Funeral and The Hudsucker

Proxy. Star said the deal was the

first in a series of output deals. Frontline: Innocence Lost - theVerdict won the Grand Prize at

the Banff Television Festival,

becoming the first all-U.S. pro-

duction to win the accolade. The

four-hour documentary was writ-

ten and produced by Ofra Bikel

for WGBH, and was also named

best social and political docu-mentary. Other awards at the

festival, held on June 6-11, wentto NYPD Blue (best continuing

series), Frasier (best comedy),

The Snapper (best made-for-tv-

movie) Prime Suspect 3 (best

miniseries) and programs fromFrance, Germany, the Nether-

lands, Finland, the U.S. andBritain.


47

HARD TECH BARRY FLYNN

Europe Becomes A New TV

Testbed European cablers launch interactive tests... Japanadopts a pragmatic approach to HDTV...

After a number of fits andstarts, northern Europe is

finally entering the new ageof tv. At the end of May,France's new pay -per -viewservice, Multivision - whichclaims to be the first com-mercial European PPV chan-nel - was launched onFrench cable.

However, Multivision'ssignal was available to only50,000 Parisian homes tobegin with, which makesthe subsequent announce-ment by Swedish cableoperator Svenska Kabel TVthat it, too, was now in thePPV business, rather moresignificant. According toSvenska, over half a millionSwedish households haveaccess to the service, princi-pally in the main populationcentres of Stockholm andMalmo in the north and east,which means it is a substan-tially larger venture than theFrench one.

The service boasts fourfirst -run Swedish movies,which have been purchasedthrough a deal with SwedishFilm Industries, plus a vari-ety of other titles - somealready released on videoand some not. Svenskawouldn't say how manysubscribers had so far usedthe service, but claimed thatthe response was doublewhat had been anticipated.

Meanwhile, Norway'sstate telecommunicationscompany, Norwegian Tele-com, has just announcedthat it plans to trial video -on -demand in or aroundOslo early next year to "sev-eral hundred" domestic cus-tomers. It has already issueda Request for Proposals to a

number of hardware manu-facturers for the equipmentneeded for the trial.

Norwegian Telecom saidthat ADSL (Asymmetric Digi-tal Subscriber Loop) tech-nology would be used ini-tially, although other tech-nologies might be used at alater date in a separate trial.

Apparently, Telecomdoesn't suffer from the sameregulatory barriers that othercountries' telcos do: it isallowed to provide enter-tainment services over itsnetwork.

Intriguingly, Telecom'sinitial focus group testsreacted badly to a proposedmenu of films, music videos,games and home -shopping,feeling that a VOD serviceshould provide somethingthat was "socially redeem-ing." This puritanical reac-tion resulted in Telecom re-formulating the service tooffer a less entertainment -led menu, which includeditems such as languagelessons, DIY and First Aid.This elicited a much morepositive response. (BritishTelecom's early consumerresearch into VOD, inciden-tally, indicated similar resis-tance to an entertainment -only diet.)

Not to be outdone by itsScandinavian neighbours,Deutsche BundespostTelekom, Germany's nation-al telco, announced at theend of May that it would berunning a VOD pilot inBerlin later this year, con-necting up between 50 and100 homes.What is signifi-cant about the trial is that itrepresents the first step intothe interactive tv arena by

Media Service GmbH, thepay-tv services joint venturerun by the telco and pub -caster ARD alongside Ber-telsmann and Kirch.

The Berlin tests, the firstin Germany, will belaunched around the middleof the year. Besides movies -on -demand, home -shoppingand pay -per -view program-ming will also be tested.Films are likely to comefrom Kirch Group's vastarchive of titles.

Until Hollywood block-busters feature in the line-up of titles, the buy -rate islikely to remain pretty tame.To date, the Hollywood stu-dios have still to decide on aVOD window. Kirch couldhelp speed the decision -making process.

Every (Large) Home

Should Have One

Bk at the beginning ofthis year, a statement by a

Japanese government offi-cial that the country's ana-logue HDTV standard (vari-ously known as Muse or Hi -Vision) was to be droppedin favour of a digital systemmet with a storm of protestfrom consumer electronicsmanufacturers and broad-casters, who are believed tohave invested over $9bn inthe system over the last 30years. The Ministry of Postsand Telecommunications(MPT) subsequently issued aswift denial - declaring thatHi -Vision still had a goodmany years of life left yet,and that there was no pro-posal afoot to junk it.

Now it seems that bothstories had an element oftruth in them. First, it hasemerged that an in-housereport prepared by the MPTrecommends that Japanadopt a digital HDTV systemwithin the next two years.Second, a senior director atthe R&D labs of publicbroadcaster NHK has con-firmed that NHK is workingon a digital HDTV system,based around MPEG-2 stan-dards.

However, it seems thatthe approach to the newstandard will be a typicallypragmatic one. The NHKengineer said that until adigital infrastructure wascompletely in place, Hi -Vision and the new digitalsystem would continue inparallel. In fact, NHK evenplans to make decoderswhich will allow Hi -Vision.ets to receive digital HDTVsignals.

Neither NHK nor theMPT, however, hasexplained how it will dealwith the major problem thatconfronts Japan's strugglingHDTV set market: the largesize of the tv receiversrequired. The trouble is thatJapanese homes are smalland compact, and HDTVsets are not. Only upwardsof 20,000 Japanese homeshave therefore been pre-pared to sacrifice preciousspace to purchase an expen-sive, bulky (and possiblyalready obsolete) technolo-gy. Many observers believethat HDTV will only take offwhen flat -screen technologyallows large cinema -typescreens to be hung on thewall like a painting. 1111]


48

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SCREENINGS & CONFERENCES

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Documents

TELEVISION BUSINESS IlkkilAZ I...1994/07/08 · Eduardo Cintra Torres; South Africa Dezi Rurich; Spain Justin Webster; Sweden Goran Sellgren; Turkey Serhan Yarar; Serbia Branka Otashevich