TELENOVELA BLOCK.pages 24 - 30:

ISSN 1452-1016
FREE COPY
ISSUE 03, MARCH 2006
USA & CEE .pages 14 - 17:
* UNITED WE STAND
* AMERICANS ON THE AIR
* AMERICAN TV PRODUCTION IN MONTENEGRO
TELENOVELA BLOCK .pages 24 - 30:
* TELENOVELA AND AUDIENCE
* HOW DO THEY CHOOSE?
* DISCOP 06 TELENOVELAS GALA EVENING
DISCOP LINK NEWSLETTER
Contents and Format Business in CEE
EDITORIAL
Publishers: Basic Lead & Media Art
Service International
Publishing Director:
Patrick JUCAUD
Basic Lead
18 Rue Jose Maria de Heredia
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T + 33 1 42 29 32 24
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Executive Editor:
Rastislav DURMAN
Bul. M. Pupina 6/VI,
21000 Novi Sad, Vojvodina,
Serbia & Montenegro
T/F + 381 21 420 900
[email protected]
Contributing Editor:
Bob JENKINS
T + 44 203 22 00 188
M + 44 781 42 42 405
[email protected]
Contributors: Danica A]IMOVI], Ed
BAUMNEISTER, Daniela COMAN, Eva
DEKANOVSKA, Jelena MILOJKOVI],
Anna NJEMOGA KOLAR, Stamos PROTOPSALTIS, Olivera POPOV-OBRENOV,
Spas SPASOV, Dragana STANI],
Verica VUKOVI]
ART & DESIGN
Emil OTRUP^AK & Sr|an GULIN
SALES
Booking Manager: Aurele RIVET
Basic Lead
18 Rue Jose Maria de Heredia
75007 Paris, France
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[email protected]
WHEELER DEALER
By Bob Jenkins
R
ive Gauche reports two new sales
to Russia and the former CIS.
Very different, a hundred and fifteen
hours to Russian-based distributor,
Intra Communications, and four hours
to Via Sat, the territories differ too.
The Intra deal is for Russia and all former CIS territories, whereas the Via
Sat deal is for Russia only. “But,” says
Head of Non-Fiction, Sales and
Acquisitions, Dorothy Crompton,
“what they both have in common is
that they are both the direct result of
attending DISCOP.”
Crompton reveals that Rive Gauche and Intra Communications met for
the first time at DISCOP 05 resulting
in the deal announced this month,
including fifteen one-hour episodes of
THE GREATEST, seasons 1 and 11 of
DID YOU SEE THAT, totalling 20 hours,
and 26 hours of the brand new
SECRETS OF WAR: SWORN TO
SECRECY.
The Via Sat deal was for WHERE
DISASTERS HAPPEN, and WHEN
GOOD TIMES GO BAD, making a total
of 4 hours.
Entertainment Rights has also
been active in Russia where the company has announced the licensing of
SNOW WHITE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL,
HAPPILY EVER AFTER, PINOCCHIO
and HARVEYTOONS to Video Soyuz for
video and DVD in the territory. POST-
Fit for Family (Zodiak)
MAILING LIST ADDITIONS
Elina NESTEROVA
T + 33 1 42 29 62 25
F + 33 1 42 29 34 74
[email protected]
© Basic Lead & Media Art 2005. All
rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic
or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording or any information storage
or retrieval system without the express
prior written consent of the publisher.
Printed by: Maxima Graf,
Petrovaradin, Serbia & Montenegro
ISSN 1452-1016
COBISS.SR-ID 204927751
04 discop link 03
news
www.discop.com
MAN PAT has also been snapped up
for video in Poland by Cassfilm, which
launched the title in November in a bid
to cash in on the Christmas buying
frenzy. PAT is doing his rounds in
Latvia, too, where LTV launched the
classic property in January 06.
Another of the company’s classic
properties, BARBIE, will dance her
way into the Ukraine where New
Channel has licensed five titles, including, BARBIE OF SWAN LAKE, BARBIE
IN THE NUTCRACKER and FAIRYTOPIA.
Danish format house Zodiak has
been busy in the CEE recently racking
up deals for its format SHOPAHOLICS.
Slovak’s Markiza has produced 12
episodes, while Romania’s Antena 4 is
producing 26 episodes. FIT FOR FAMILY, Zodiak’s format in which ‘amateur
parents’ are given ‘instant kids’ to see
how they cope has 26 episodes in production with Ukraine’s ICTV, with
transmission scheduled for Spring
06. Romania’s Prima TV is producing
two Zodiak formats. Prima is in production with 24 episodes of F.C.
NERDS in which 16 self-confessed
nerds undergo three months of rigorous soccer training in an attempt to
impress a former international, and
16 episodes of FRIENDS FOREVER,
which reunites celebrities with former
school friends.
Ukraine has been active recently
in the acquisition of Western programming and formats. AETN International
has just announced the sale of over 50
hours of History Channel and Biography Channel programming, including DIGGING FOR THE TRUTH and
DECISIVE BATTLES to Ukrainian broadcaster STB. Russia’s REN is even
keener on the History Channel programming having just acquired 54
hours. Included in the deal are titles
such as THE MOST, BREAKING
VEGAS, VANISHINGS and SEX IN THE
COLD WAR. The Biography Channel
has its Russian fans two, and Channel
One has acquired several episodes
including ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, CHARLIE CHAPLIN, SYLVESTER
STALLONE and GEORGE LUCAS.
}
march 2006
news
FULL OF WESTERN PROMISE
By Bob Jenkins
W
ho hasn’t been to a wedding at
which at least some of the
guests quietly ask, “what does she
think she’s wearing? Or, “who chose
those flowers?” But Californian distributor Rive Gauche has the series that
goes one stage further! WILD WEDDINGS, 6 x 60 minutes, is the wedding
series that will make everyone question the sanity of one or both of the
happy couples. Rive Gauche says the
material, which is collected from
around the world, details weddings
that are, “bizarre, dangerous, dramatic or funny,” and include a wedding in
which the bride attacks a guest, and
the ceremony is halted when the
police arrive and take her away; a
groom who wants to set his bride’s
heart on fire – but only manages to
torch his tuxedo when he wanders too
close to candle, and couple who really
do ‘take the plunge’ – marrying on the
end of a bungee jump!
ot known as the marrying kind,
Casanova’s life is retold in
CASANOVA’S LOVE LETTERS starring
Patrick Bergen and distributed by
British distributor Centre Film Sales.
Filmed in HD, and shot in Venice, the
Czech Republic, France and England,
CASANOVA’S LOVE LETTERS is available either as 6 x 50 minutes or a 105
minute special. Centre Films also is in
pre-production with THE ADVENTURES OF RAHIB AND MAHMOOD
planned as 26 x 10 minutes, and,
aimed at 7-12 year olds, the series will
tell the story of an old man journeying
to Mecca with his grandson, and is
intended as “a young person’s guide to
Islam.”
alifornian distributor, GRB Entertainment, launched a new series
THE SUMMIT, also available as a format at NATPE. Produced by New
Zealand’s Teleola, and set against that
country’s spectacular scenery, THE
SUMMIT, sets twenty men and women
a series of daunting mental and physical tasks over a period of ten weeks as
they battle, individually, and as teams,
to be the only one to reach THE SUMMIT.
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Macbeth (BBC & Horsebridge Productions)
F
our new offerings from the UK’s
High Point Films could hardly be
more different. Four modern day
adaptations of some of Shakespeare’s
most popular plays, co-productions
between the BBC and Horsebridge
Productions, they include Sally Wainwright’s THE TAMING OF THE SHREW,
David Nicholl’s MUCH ADO ABOUT
NOTHING starring Sara Parish, Peter
Moffat’s MACBETH, starring James
Mc Avoy, and Peter Booker’s A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM.
f High Point are offering food for
thought, fellow British company, Icon
Animation, is offering food for thought
about food! VITAMIX is 104 x 2 min
episodes educating pre-schoolers on
the issues around healthy eating.
f course, NHK, Japan’s state
broadcaster, was the pioneer of
High Definition television, but it is also
true that the US platform Voom has
developed it to a greater degree than
I
O
factors, in particular the falling cost of
plasma and large screen sets have
‘tipped the balance’ in favour of Hi Def,
caution is still necessary. We are,”
states Helmrich, “still at the beginning
of the real Hi Def revolution, and Voom
have not cleared all of their programming for international exploitation.” As
a result, IBC is initially offering a ‘taster
channel’ made up of programming
from the full US offering, but that still
includes over 400 hours of high quality, High Definition.
anada’s state broadcaster CBC
has completely embraced HDTV.
Amongst the new offerings from CBC
in HDTV are: GREAT BEAR, NAKED
JOSH and 72 HOURS. GREAT BEAR
(20 x 60’) is set in a remote, fictional,
mining town of that name, where
ancient beliefs are often in conflict with
modern technology. Jean-Charles
Lapointe, a former star journalist
about to dead-end his career by crawling into a bottle, stumbles into town as
a well-loved spiritual community leader
is mysteriously murdered – he has no
idea what he’s in for. The second season of NAKED JOSH (26 x 30’) tells
the further adventures of Josh Gould,
the world’s youngest professor of sexual anthropology, and his own, less
than brilliant, sex life. Every detective
knows that the first 72 hours after a
crime are crucial to its solution, and
the 33 x 30’ second series of 72
HOURS TRUE CRIME focuses on this
period in true crime mysteries.
emember THE TELETUBBIES?
Well, the creative and business
partnership that delivered the world’s
most successful pre-school brand are
working together again on a new preschool series, IN THE NIGHT GARDEN, which will be 100 x 30 minutes.
Anne Wood and Andrew Davenport
are the creative team, and Ragdoll,
the company Wood founded, has
again chosen to partner with BBC
Worldwide, its partner on the TELETUBBIES phenomenon. Also included
in the agreement is the production of
TRONJI, 30 x 30 minutes, and aimed
at the 6-8 demographic.
}
C
R
Much Ado About Nothing
(BBC & Horsebridge Productions)
anywhere else in the world. Voom
operates 22 Hi Def channels stateside, and they have entrusted
International Broadcast Communications (IBC) with the placement of
these channels in the international
market place. IBC Chairman Jon
Helmrich says, “although a number of
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march 2006 05
BENEATH THE RADAR
news
By Bob Jenkins
A
pace Media has successfully
raised GBP7 million in a London
rights issue to fund corporate acquisitions and development. The company,
which already owns two stations in
Bulgaria, has used some of this money
to acquire a 50% stake in Diema
Vision from the owners Diema Group.
Under the terms of the deal Apace will
acquire a further 16% over the next
two years. The company already owns
66% of Bulgarian outfit MMTelevizia,
which owns a television production
company and the business and music
channels MMTV and M2. This
GBP450,000 acquisition was completed in September. Apace is chaired
by Didier Stoessel, the former head
banking giant HSBC.
ritish distributor, Centre Film
Sales, has picked up international
distribution to BLIND, a six part detective from Uzbekistan. Available in both
Uzbek and Russian, BLIND tells the
story of a soldier invalided out of the
army when an accident cost him his
sight, and who decides, improbably, to
become a private investigator
ritish mini-major RDF has acquired the largest Scottish producer,
and second largest UK independent,
IWC. Formed in May 2004 with the
merger of Wark Clements and Ideal
World Productions, IWC has been
responsible for a wide range of drama
and factual programming for all the
UK’s leading broadcasters including
such titles as COMMANDO VIP, NO
SEX PLEASE – WE’RE TEENAGERS
and ROSS KEMP ON GANGS. All the
top five IWC executives, including
Managing Director Sue Oriel and
Creative Directors Alan Clements,
Hamish Barbour, Zad Rogers and
Eileen Quinn will remain with the company under the new ownership.
t has been announced by All3Media
that Russia’s TNT has commissioned twenty-three episodes of the entertainment game show shot in a taxi
cab, CASH CAB. Produced by
ALL3Media subsidiary, Lion TV, the
CASH CAB commission was brokered
by Screentime Partners. CASH CAB
B
B
I
06 discop link 03
airs on ITV in the UK, and Discovery in
the US.
ungarian MMDS Antenna has
reached agreement with EuroNews to carry the channel in five different languages, English, French,
German, Russian and Spanish. EuroNews is estimated to already be in
155 million homes in 102 countries,
giving it a larger audience than CNN
and BBC World combined. The deal
with Antenna adds another 1.2 million
homes to those numbers.
uena Vista International Television
(BVITV) has agreed the first ever
reversioning of its hit comedy, HOME
IMPROVEMENT, with Russian broadcaster CTC. The hit comedy, which ran
on ABC in the US from 1991 – 1999,
was a big success both in the US,
where 202 episodes were produced
and also internationally.
nnouncing the deal Philippe
Maigret, Senior Vice-President,
Sales and Portfolio Development,
BVITV, commented, “we’re pleased to
be concluding this agreement to produce HOME IMPROVEMENT locally for
the first time whilst we look to exploit
the great reversioning potential of our
whole library of evergreen series as
local productions in international markets.” CEO of CTC, Alexander Rodnyansky, added, “HOME IMPROVEMENT’s great comedy and characters
will be sure to be a success with viewers in Russia, as the original US series
has been worldwide.”
BC Motion Gallery, the footage
sales business of BBC Worldwide,
has announced the appointment of
Linda Reeve as Sales Director. Reporting to Commercial Director, Mark
Fricker, Reeve will have overall responsibility for the London-based sales
team and for developing the business
within the broadcast market. Reeve
joins the BBC from ITN Archive, which
she joined in 1999, rising to be head
of ITN Archive worldwide sales in
2004.
significant merger is underway in
France, which is set to create the
country’s second largest audio-visual
H
B
A
B
A
www.discop.com
production group. La Financiere Hera
(Finhera) is set to merge with
Marathon, producer and distributor of
hit series such as ST TROPEZ and
TOTALLY SPIES. Finhera is a subsidiary of Bridgepoint Investment
Fund, and is the sole shareholder in
Tele Images, and the majority shareholder in Adventure Line Production
(ALP). Once the normal process of due
diligence has been completed, the status of Finhera will change to that of a
company with a board of management
and a supervisory board, but all existing production and distribution brands
will continue to operate as present,
with their own editorial independence,
but under the new Finhera structure.
ony-owned, pan regional channel
AXN has announced that it is to
produce a Central European version of
the three-time Emmy award winning
reality adventure series, THE AMAZING RACE. AXN will bring the local version of THE AMAZING RACE to its
viewers across Poland, Slovakia, the
Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania
and Bulgaria. Two teams from six
Central European countries will compete for the grand prize of
US$100,000. Each team consists of
two people already in a close relationship, such as spouses, partners or
parents and children. They are filmed
around the clock as they travel, across
many countries and are set mentally
and physically challenging tasks that
will test their abilities, determination,
and the strength of their relationship.
THE AMAZING RACE is available
through Buena Vista International
Television.
iberty-Global owned Extreme
Sports Channel is launching a
Polish feed early in 2006. The new
feed will be supported by locally produced programming, events to be
staged in Poland, local on-air promotion and a Polish version of its web
site. The announcement follows the
recent agreement between Polsat
DTH and Extreme, which now adds the
Polish carrier to its partners in the
country.
}
S
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march 2006
strategy in region
ASIA HAS THE CEE IN ITS SIGHT
By Bob Jenkins
A
s DISCOP continues to cement its
role as the venue for trade with
Central and Eastern Europe, a number
of very interesting developments follow this continuing expansion. One
such, is the increasing presence of
sales companies from South East
Asia, who are starting to see the
region as offering new, and potentially
significant opportunities for growing
their international business.
Amongst these early pioneers of
an audio-visual trade between two
regions on opposite sides of the globe
is Reena de Guzman Garingan, Director International Sales and Distribution
at ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation. Although Garingan draws hope
from the popularity of Indian movies in
some CEE territories, notably Romania, and the recent sales of some
Chinese costume drama to Bulgarian
cable, she recognises that, “after just
three years operating in the region, I
am still a baby.” But she believes that
the Philippino tradition of, “gritty
drama with strong female characters,
will offer a real alternative to ‘the beauty pageant’ of the telenovela,” and, she
vows, “I will return to DISCOP every
year until I find an opening.”
Garingan sees the CEE as the logical extension of the existing markets
for her product of South East Asia,
Latin America and Africa, whereas
Gary Kam, Producer and Marketing
Manager at MBC, Korea’s largest
broadcaster, thinks the CEE might
bring about a change in their international policy. “Traditionally,” says Kam,
“we have only paid to clear rights such
as music, on our drama series, as
these have been hugely successful in
our home market of South East Asia,
and our documentaries, game shows,
and entertainment shows have been
discop link 03
less so.” MBC attended DISCOP for
the first time in 2005, and, reports
Kam, “we noticed a marked preference for our documentary programming,” which he puts down to, “many
of our documentaries are culturally
neutral, unlike all of our drama, which
culturally is very Asian.” Kam believes
it will take, “maybe five years” to get
into real business in the CEE,” but like
Garingan, he is determined to make
that investment.
Another Asian delegate bullish
about the potential of the CEE is Mr
Hiroshi Kumada of Japan’s GDH
group. GDH produces animation for
three different demographics, kids’,
teens’ and theatrical, and, says
Kumada, “we believe the teenage animation market will grow along with the
expansion of DVD, and the development of new TV platforms in the
region, and we also hope to find an
audience for our newly created theatrical business.” Although Kumada
acknowledges that, “at the moment
the CEE is a pretty small market for
our content,” he points to, “recent
success in placing five series on a panregional TV channel,” and notes that,
www.discop.com
“the demand for our content is certainly increasing.”
Mikyeong Jung, Director of Programme Development at Korean animation house Iconix attended DISCOP
for the first time in 2005 under the
Korean umbrella stand, KIPA. Jung
reports that, “although she was very
busy during the market,” she is, “a bit
disappointed,” that there has been little or no feedback from the CEE buyers
she met in Budapest. Despite this,
Jung believes that the region has the
capacity to, “develop into a new market to continue the sales expansion we
have witnessed in Latin America, and
Europe,” although she does admit
that, “I am undecided whether to continue visiting DISCOP, and the CEE territories, learning about their cultural
needs, and building relationships, or
to appoint local agents on a territory
by territory basis.”
Overall, it is probably true to say
that life is not easy for Asian companies in the CEE, but it is also true to say
that opening new markets never is,
and that without both imagination and,
above all, perseverance, it’s probably
impossible.
}
march 2006 07
portrait
A GOOD FRIEND – MICHEL RODRIGUE
By Bob Jenkins
W
hen it comes to doing business
in the CEE, Michel Rodrigue,
CEO and President of Canadian format
distributor, Distraction Formats, is a
man with form as well as formats. The
company was founded in 1989,
launching at MIPCOM in the autumn of
that year. “And,” recalls Rodrigue, “the
very first sale recorded by the then
fledgling outfit, was to a Polish producer of a Canadian format, THE MAD
DASH. The producer sold it on to TVP,
and the show ran in Poland for a total
of 115 episodes.”
This might have been the first
experience Distraction had in the
region, but it was not Rodrigue’s first
exposure to Eastern Europe. In 1989,
just at the very moment communism
was falling, Rodrigue was part of a
Quebecois delegation that visited
Czech Republic and successfully negotiated a co-production agreement
between the republic and Quebec.
Poland was Distraction’s first sale
in the CEE, and despite the company
now doing business, per Rodrigue, “in
virtually every country in the region,
Poland,” he says, “remains the company’s most important market in the
region.” And it might be about to
become more significant.
One of the techniques which has
been very important to Distraction‘s
expansion in the region is one known
as “carousel production.” This is the
process by which one set is built in a
chosen location for a given format,
and one crew becomes versed in the
techniques of the show, and then pre-
08 discop link 03
senters and contestants are brought
in from neighbouring countries and
the same crew and set are used to
produce several different versions,
allowing the cost to be amortised over
a number of different productions.
Poland has run two seasons of
what Rodrigue describes as, “a big,
SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER style format
from Italy called CIAO DARWIN”. As
Poland is preparing to shoot its third
season, there is a lot of interest from
surrounding countries such as
Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania, and
possible interest from Russia as well.
In many ways, this is the logical
continuation of what Rodrigue sees as
an ongoing process that started with
the fall of communism. “Obviously,”
says Rodrigue, “before communism
was overthrown in this part of the
world, there were no commercial stations, and, just as obviously, there
were no independent producers. Once
communism went, many western
companies such as SBS and ViaSat
moved in to open stations. But they
needed a viable independent sector,
and so, they set about helping to create one. And, they succeeded.”
Although Rodrigue celebrates the
successful birth of the independent
sector in the CEE, it was not, he notes,
without its birth pangs. “Initially,”
recalls Rodrigue, “there was a question of technical and creative communication. The people of the region have
always been very creative, but under
communism, this creativity was channelled in a very specific manner. Also,”
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he continues, “this creativity was operating with technology that was
increasingly antiquated, film, and only
the very earliest form of video. This led
to a situation, once free enterprise
was introduced, in which the new independent production sector in the CEE
immediately upgraded the technology
to state of the art, often putting them
ahead of the West where conversion
costs had to be amortised, but in
which they were still imbued with the
old creative styles.” But Rodrigue is
insistent that all of that, “is now in the
past,” and that there is now a vibrant
and successful independent production sector which bodes well for the
future of the region.
In fact, one of the things he celebrates most in the region is that,
“unlike many other parts of the world,
when it comes to formats, they are
not, unlike most other regions of the
world, wedded to formats from the UK
and the US; in fact, reports Rodrigue,
“90% of the formats we sell in the
region are from Germany, Italy,
Canada and France.”
Finally, and possibly most encouragingly, Michel Rodrigue believes that,
in the format business, the CEE is laying the foundations of a solution to its
biggest challenge. “That challenge,”
insists Rodrigue, “is the successful
export of their own formats.” But with
the carousel production method
Distraction has pioneered in the
region, a healthy market in format
sales is developing between various
CEE countries and, believes Rodrigue,
“it will only be a matter of time before
that success begins to be exported to
other countries around the world.” }
march 2006
region
ARMENIAN TV MARKET AS IT IS
By Anna Satyan
F
or the time being there are about 45 private TV stations
(including the regional ones) in Armenia. The broadcaster centres are mainly concentrated in Yerevan, the capital
of the republic, and the audience has the opportunity to
watch at least 21 local channels there. Most of them are
private, except the National Public Television, which
became a satellite channel, broadcasting almost all around
the world. Armenia, Prometheus and ALM (Alternative
Media) have national coverage.
During the last two years, the problem of the broadcasting industry has been actively discussed in different
professional circles. The most often regarded issues have
been the following: problems of the domestic TV production
quality, program formats, lack of ethical norms in journalism, and low standards of programming in general.
Several surveys have revealed that the most popular
media in Armenia is television, which is preferred by 85-90
per cent of the population and is considered to be their primary source of information. International experts discovered that during the recent years the situation in television
market has changed. Three-four years ago, small local
broadcasters were becoming weak due to financial problems. According to the sales managers, the volume of TV
advertising in Armenia in the last few years increased for
about 20 %.
It is noticeable that the two leading national Russian TV
channels (ORT and RTR) are quite popular among the
Armenian population and have full retransmission of their
programs over the most territory of Armenia. This service
is provided by Armenia Public Television. The company providing the service (First Channel) inserts local advertising
blocks and gets the main portion of the ad income of other
TV channels.
Several other Russian TV stations like TV Centre, Ren
TV, Muz TV, etc., are also broadcasting in Yerevan but not
all day through. According to the agreement signed
between few Armenian television companies and Moscow
channels, Russian programs are available only during the
certain hours of the day; the rest is covered by the local
production. Some TV managers say that it helps to attract
the audience and to get higher ratings. “From the other
point of view, it is a good way to ‘occupy’ the air and not to
spend much money on producing shows. Retransmitting of
the Russian channels is cheaper, especially when primetime is filled with local advertising,” managers explain.
Another foreign broadcaster is CNN, but it covers only the
capital, as well as Euro-News, which is also partly Armenian
and is called Arm-News, with local headline news and political talk-shows.
TV managers dislike questions about the financial side
of their business due to several reasons, among them
being the transparency of the tax responsibilities, though
some of the “TV chiefs” anonymously agreed to provide
approximate figures.
discop link 03
So, summing up the results, we can make the following
conclusion: The Armenian Public TV, the First Channel with
Russian ORT and RTR, Armenia and Prometheus control
about 70% of the advertising market. More precisely Public TV with First Channel eats 30% of this pie,
Prometheus and Armenia about 20% each. On the whole,
all private channels survive due to rich sponsors - politicians, parliament members, businessmen, etc. They have
great expectations from the upcoming elections, so they
need this, let’s say, megaphone. As in many Western countries, the main principle, actually, is “broadcasting is a business”, in most cases a political one.
Armenian market is characterized by harsh competition and politicisation that increases on the eve of any election (local, presidential, parliamentary). The most remarkable example is the results of the first licensing competition
announced by the National Commission for Television and
Radio in 2002. According to the RA Law on Television and
Radio Broadcasting license holders do not obtain the right
to prolong the license after its expiration: they should take
part in the licensing competition on a common basis once
again, together with the new applicants. As a result, the
A1+ TV Company, well-known for its oppositional attitude
towards the acting authorities, left the market. Noyan
Tapan TV Company did not get a license for the same reason.
Going back to the viewers attraction, it is remarkable
that some Armenian broadcasters, Shant TV, for example,
started the practice of purchasing format licenses from
international leading TV corporations such as Endemol
(POP IDOL), Celador (WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE)
etc. We can add to this list also world-title football matches, NBA basketball league live games, boxing and the like.
According to several public opinion polls, conducted by local
television companies, these shows have doubled the audience.
}
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march 2006 09
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june 2005
region
THE CEE IS OF GROWING IMPORTANCE
TO WESTERN CABSAT OPERATORS
by Bob Jenkins
J
oel Krutz, Head of Finance and
Operations, Emerging Markets at
US giant MTV is categoric. “We will,”
he insists, “over the coming years
make a substantial investment of both
time and money in the region.”
Explaining the thinking behind this
strategy, Krutz continues, “the CEE is
a very important part of our overall
international strategy because it
offers so much potential for growth
when compared to the West.”
The view that the CEE offers great
potential for Western cabsat operators is shared by Katarzyna Kieil, Vice
President, CEE, Discovery Networks
Europe, who describes the region as
being, “extremely important,” to
Discovery’s international strategy.
Kieil is keen to emphasise that
Discovery recently opened a Warsaw
office with a staff of twenty, to service
their operations in the region, and
that, “as our business grows in the
future, we will explore opening new
offices in those markets where we see
the potential for growth, so as to
reach closer to our platform operators and also to create localised services which have a real resonance for
viewers.” Although Kieil insists, “we
never disclose internal forecasts”, she
remains confident that, “there is significant growth potential in the
region.”
Wayne Durford, Director of Channels at BBC Worldwide, is reluctant to
give hard estimates for growth. The
BBC only operates one channel in the
region, its advertising free, general
entertainment channel Prime, and,
says Durford, “the future of Prime in
the region is very difficult to predict,”
but he does suggest that, “Poland
must have plateaued,” although he
does see potential in Hungary and the
Czech Republic, “which,” according to
Durford, “are countries where we still
have a lot more work to do.” But, by
way of underlining the significance of
discop link 03
the CEE to Prime, which Durford
describes as “extremely important to
Prime’s overall business strategy,” he
reveals that, “currently, we have 22
million subscribers throughout EMEA
and of these, 3.5 million are in the
CEE.”
More forthcoming is Zone Vision’s
Commercial Sales Director, CEE, Mark
Young. Young claims that, “we have
teams in each of the territories who
are very close to the action, enabling
us to be accurate in our forecasting,”
and he goes on to reveal that these
forecasts predict annual growth of,
“between 15% - 40% over the coming
twelve months, depending on the territory.”
Another who views the CEE as
primed for growth is Bruce Tuchman,
Executive Vice-President, MGM Networks; although there are some
unusual features of the MGM offering
when compared with operations such
as MTV, Discovery, and BBC Prime. To
begin with, MGM Channels are based
exclusively on the library of 4,000 plus
titles and offer no new production.
Also, as Tuchman explains, in relation
to the CEE specifically, there are a
number of other distinctions. “Firstly,”
he points out, “under communism
Hollywood was very much the enemy,
and therefore very few of our films
have been seen in the CEE. This,” he
continues, “is both a positive and a
negative. On the positive side, it
means that there is a greater demand
for our movies which are new and
exciting to audiences in the area.
However, this also means that frequently we don’t have local language
versions for enough of the movies to
sustain an operation.” Even so, MGM
has taken the first tentative steps in
the region launching a year ago on
MTV+ in Russia, and more recently on
Liberty Global in Warsaw, which
Tuchman describes as, “testing
Poland”.
www.discop.com
For Discovery’s Kieil the process
of identifying a new market, or the
potential to launch a new service in a
market in which the factual behemoth
already has a presence begins with,
“closely following consumer trends, as
well as working with our platform operators to assess which services will
have local appeal.” This process, she
suggests, would run alongside, “a
number of focus groups to gauge viewers’ response to a new product offering.” Additionally, Discovery would,
“assess the potential for delivering ad
sales, and, crucially, the talent to be
found within the independent production community.”
MTV’s Krutz says the process of
establishing a new service in a territory, “usually begins with us receiving a
proposition from a potential partner.”
Once this has happened, Krutz details
a number of assessments that the
Viacom-owned giant would make.
“Firstly,” he reveals, “we would assess
the local economy, and, should this
seem promising, we would look at the
TV market within that economy with a
view to establishing whether it is
mature, or whether it is a market
offering potential for growth.” But
Krutz insists, “the major factor is
always the partner. We need to be
certain that the potential partner has
the right business plan and background, and, most importantly, that
they have the right hopes and ambitions for the MTV brand. After all, we
have spent twenty-five years building
the brand, and we are not about to
carelessly give it away.”
Growth is the key fact BBC
Worldwide’s Durford says that they
are looking at when assessing a potential new market for BBC Prime.
Whatever assessments Western
cabsat companies have to make, two
things can be said with certainty:
they’re in the CEE to stay, and they’re
in the CEE to grow.
}
march 2006 11
region
THE FILM GUIDEBOOK OF VOJVODINA
By Dimitrije Vidanovic
A
lthough after October 5, 2000, film industry funds
were revitalized in Serbia, there is not enough money
for making even one serious film. To improve this obviously
bad situation in film industry, several film and TV professionals have launched the project “The Film Guidebook of
Vojvodina”.
Namely, like in Hungary and Romania, that make large
revenues from foreign productions that use their locations
and capabilities for film making, during the last few years an
idea has been maintained that those things should happen
to us, too. Hungary has achieved €44,000,000 income
from foreign productions, and in Romania, the film THE
COLD MOUNTAIN was made last year by Anthony Miguel,
featuring Nicole Kidman. The film budget was 98 million
dollars, out of which 28 million were spent in Romania, and
$600,000 in the village where the cast was settled. Five
years ago, Romanian government decided to make efforts
in attracting foreign film producers.
The Romanian have tripled their film production. They
have the most up-to-date film studios and laboratories.
They have reached Hollywood superstructure in their film
industry. Author of the project is Sasa Karisik, independent
Producer/Director. Thanks to his personal efforts, the
Executive Council of Vojvodina joined the project, and some
local governments and sponsors also supported it.
“The comparative advantage of Vojvodina is that a relatively small area includes a plain, hills, rivers, pretty and well
preserved environmental entities, and a great number of
experienced and educated professionals,” Karisik says.
Until the 1990s, films were relatively often recorded in
Vojvodina. Anthony Queen and Michel Piccoli have made
films in Novi Sad. In the 1950s-1970s, TOY SOLDIERS,
THE CASTLE GUARDS, and THE VIOLENCE ON THE
SQUARE were also filmed here. The complete plot of the
latter film takes place in the suburb of the Petrovaradin
Fortress and at the Liberty Square in Novi Sad. Also,
Sophia Loren has made a film in the town of Pancevo. The
first Hungarian colour film was made on the Palic Railway
Station. So, tradition exists, and should be continued.
For determining film locations, the team engaged in
the project has included all important areas in Vojvodina. A
lot of aerial filming has already been done, as you can see
on the website: www.filminginvojvodina.org - Deliblato
sands, the Titel Hill, Precursor for Ships projected by
famous Eiffel, 30 castles in different stages of preservation, urban environment of Novi Sad wide boulevards, monumental buildings of modern architecture, sports fields,
schools, hospitals, etc.
According to Karisik, benefits from those projects can
result in concrete financial inflow, creation of jobs for a
great number of film workers, and a favourable market
environment for professional TV and film making. However,
wide community would also benefit – industry and crafts
12 discop link 03
One of locations from www.filminginvojvodina.org
development. Also, this would lead to better preservation
of cultural and historical monuments, and sacral buildings.
Great productions are inconceivable without the military
and police support, meaning new jobs for those structures
as well – leasing of technology, logistics and security.
Benefits for tourism are immeasurable. For example, in her
interview for BBC Nicole Kidman said that Romania was a
great country that everyone should visit. This kind of promotion is not possible to state in money figures. Also, foreign media always cover the stay of a film star in a foreign
country.
“What initially motivated us to launch the project was to
make the market environment where it would be easier to
find assets for domestic production. Secondly, there are
secondary benefits, like leaving the equipment behind by
film crews, since it is not worthwhile taking it back, e.g.,
reflectors and generators. Finally, there is a possibility for
our professionals to compensate technological backwardness”, Karisik concludes.
The presentation will include the TV Pink film studio in
Dobanovci; all other technical facilities will be supplied by
Magic Box in Novi Sad, that has got technology; Berar
Studio will be responsible for audio postproduction in Dolby
sound. All individuals that want to offer their services are
welcome to register.
For every location that will be included in the
Guidebook, there will be available data regarding infrastructure like electricity and water supply, accommodation, etc.
There are 360 photos on the web site, while around 300
locations will be included in the printed book on 200 pages,
that will be distributed in the electronic form on CD-ROM. It
will be possible to see video clips too. After initial contacts,
producers will receive the Guidebook on request, while to
certain American and European producers the book will be
mailed.
}
www.discop.com
march 2006
UNITED WE STAND
usa & cee
By Bob Jenkins
T
he announcement, January 23rd in Las Vegas, that
NATPE was to acquire DISCOP is a major development
for both organisations. But it is not one designed to bring
fast and furious change.
Speaking to DISCOP.Link immediately after the
announcement, NATPE President and CEO, Rick Feldman
was keen to emphasise that, “NATPE is an organisation
that has always tried to grow by meeting the needs of those
attending our conferences, and I think this is an important
philosophy.” Applying this to DISCOP means, says Feldman,
“allowing DISCOP to grow organically,” and also, “taking the
time to learn what the needs of those attending DISCOP
are, and understanding how we can best serve those
needs.”
If rapid change is not part of the new game plan, longer
term change certainly is. Explaining NATPE’s excitement at
the acquisition of DISCOP Feldman reveals that, “we felt it
important for NATPE to develop as a global brand, extending its footprint outside the US. The nascent, but growing,
market of the CEE,” says Feldman, “made DISCOP a perfect
organisation for us to partner with.”
Revealing longer term thinking Feldman continued,
“NATPE has been an established brand for forty-three
years now, during which time we have successfully established and run a number of conferences, and this experience,” believes Feldman, “has allowed us to develop marketing abilities and relationships that are much broader
than those possessed by DISCOP.” The combination of
these marketing abilities and relationships, and of NATPE’s
ability to, as Feldman puts it, “have experienced US conference staff talk to people from Central and Eastern Europe,”
will, he believes, “offer real scope for the expansion of the
14 discop link 03
John Weiser, NATPE Co-Chairman, President, Distribution Sony
Pictures Television; Rick Feldman, NATPE President and CEO;
Patrick Jucaud, General Manager DISCOP; Stephen J. Davis, NATPE
Co-Chairman, President Mobile Media Infospace, Inc.
DISCOP market, and the development of a richer range of
services for DISCOP delegates.”
And there is good reason to feel excited at the
prospects for the future. Not only is the region a nascent
and growing market, but there are plenty of signs that the
CEE is an early adopter of the new digital technologies, with
all the growth potential these offer. While Feldman cautions
that, “it is important to understand that no one really knows
what the impact of these new digital platforms will be,” he
continues, “one of the few things that can be said with certainty is that over the coming two or three years, not only
www.discop.com
march 2006
usa & cee
will content producers enjoy many more ways of getting
their content seen, but over that same time frame we will, I
believe, see an increasing amount of content made specifically for these new platforms driving new revenue streams
for content creators both large and small.”
Nor are these the only grounds Feldman sees for optimism. “The big development in terms of the future of companies from North and South America,” he predicts, “will
be the overseas sales of Telenovelas.” South-American
countries, historically the world’s powerhouse of
Telenovelas, have now started selling these, effectively, as
formats giving the purchasing station the right to adapt the
characters and storylines to their own culture. In the US,
3rd Annual Legacy Award Recipients, Marc Cherry, Pat Mitchell,
Fox is about to start running a Telenovela strand, DESIRE,
which will feature three or four Telenovelas over a thirteen
Steven Bochco
week period, and, says Feldman, “I believe these will be successful. If they are, and, especially if the Anglo audience iting DISCOP,” where in 2006 she plans to, “introduce two
buys into them, then I think this will presage an era of new titles, THE LEGEND OF FROSTY THE SNOWMAN, and
unprecedented opportunity for Latin American companies PETER COTTON TAIL THE MOVIE, while also building on and
developing the relationships I made at DISCOP 2005.”
in the US.”
Also in the early stages of, “making a foot print in the
Of course, Telenovelas are already well established in
the CEE as a hugely popular form of entertainment, and CEE market,” is Sesame Workshop, says Vice-President,
many pounding the floor at NATPE will be in Budapest in International Television Distribution, Rene Mascara.
Although Sesame Workshop already has ULITSA SEZARN
June for DISCOP; and with good reason.
well established in Russia, where seaOne of those is Amanda Cordner,
son 10 is due to launch in September,
Director, International Television
Mascara is looking forward to the
Sales, Lionsgate Entertainment, who
April launch of a SESAME block, on
views Central and Eastern Europe as,
Poland’s Canal+ MiniMini, which will
“probably one of the fastest growing
include PLAY WITH ME SESAME,
international entertainment markets.”
ELMO’S WORLD, GLOBAL GROVER
Cordner attributes this to a number of
and SESAME ENGLISH. This, she
factors. Firstly, “new platforms are
hopes will, “eventually lead to a local
popping up all the time, and panco-production of SESAME STREET fearegional operators are expanding at
turing Polish Muppets and storylines
an incredible rate, also, the population
reflecting the everyday life of a Polish
is consuming more and more enterchild.” If this should happen Mascara
tainment.” And that’s not all. AccordSandrine Pechels de Saint Sardos
reveals, “our goal is to replicate this
ing to Cordner, not only is the population of the CEE consuming more and more entertainment, programming strategy in other Central and Eastern
but also, “its tastes are closer to American tastes, mean- European countries,” adding, “we hope to grow as the CEE
ing that, in this region, the programming needs are a little grows, and to be an integral part of the evolution of children’s programming in the region.”
easier to meet than say some emerging Asian markets.”
This is an aspiration shared by Canadian kids outfit,
These are points echoed by Lise Romanoff, Managing
Director of Vision Films. “DISCOP,” says Romanoff, “is a Cookie Jar. “The CEE,” says Sam Ewing, Senior Vicegreat market to focus on strengthening relationships with President, Sales and Distribution, “is experiencing an
Eastern European buyers.” Romanoff reveals that, “in the incredible rate of growth, and we want to grow with it.” DISpast we used to sell to just one distributor for the whole of COP is an important part of that ambition because, as
the CIS or Yugoslavia, but now,” she enthuses, “we are Ewing puts it, “DISCOP gives us the opportunity to personalmeeting buyers from across the region who want ly meet many of the buyers from the region and to present
them with both our exciting new series such as DOODLEAmerican product from companies like ours.”
Underlining the point NATPE’s Feldman made that the BOPS and GERALD MC BOING BOING, and also many old
audio-visual market in the CEE is nascent, but growing, favourites from our library such as MONA THE VAMPIRE
many of the companies working the floor in both Las Vegas and PADDINGTON BEAR.”
Echoing Rick Feldman’s earlier point that the CEE is
and Budapest are just starting out in Central and Eastern
jumping ahead of the game when it comes to new digital
Europe.
Classic Media attended the market for the first time in platforms, Mainline Releasing’s Senior Vice-President
2005, and, says Vice-President, Programme Distribution, International Sales, Tannaz Anisi, finds the CEE, “a fast
Sandrine Pechels De Sardos, “ we made sales in Hungary, growing market, embracing new technologies and delivery
Poland, Georgia and Ukraine, as well as entering into a systems,” adding, “I find it a pleasure to continue to explore
development deal in Russia.” Consequently, she plans to new relationships with new buyers, while continuing to
develop Classic’s business in the region, “principally be vis- strengthen those with my existing client base.”
}
discop link 03
www.discop.com
march 2006 15
usa & cee
AMERICANS ON THE AIR
By Anna Njemoga Kolar
CZECH REPUBLIC: PRIMA TV, PRAHA
T
V Prima is a full form TV that is seen
in Czech Republic, and partially in
Slovakia. At the moment, it is the second significant TV station on the Czech
media market. On its program are
broadcast purchased programs (films,
serials, documentaries) and programs
of its own production (entertainment,
reality shows, quiz programs, serials).
Its audience can watch informative program, journalism and sports.
PR at Prima TV, Jana Malikova, informed us that purchased programs
are from the Czech Republic, America
and Europe. American films and serials
are significant part of TV program,
since they are very attractive to the
audience. In the program schedule,
they can be found in both daily and
evening hours. During the week serials
for children and the young, sitcoms,
serials for women and criminal movies
are mostly broadcast. In the evening
hours Prima TV offers attractive films.
How does the broadcasting of programs produced in America look like in
this period (January-February 2006)?
BEVERLY HILLS, rating 3, share
19. 55, broadcasting time – afternoon
hours, Mondays to Fridays. Audience:
younger generation, 15 – 34 years old.
MY FRIEND MONK, rating 4, share
15. 86, broadcasting time – Sundays
morning, audience: women aged
between 35 and 54.
PROTECTORS OF AFRICAN WILDERNESS, rating 1.9, share 24.14,
broadcasting time – Saturdays, audience: men over 45.
PASADENA, rating 3.1, share 15.
88, romantic serial that is broadcast on
Saturdays, women over 45 are the
majority audience.
ROSEANNE, rating 1.7, share 16.
95, spectators can see it Mondays to
Fridays in the morning hours, audience:
women 25 to 34 years old.
THE SEDUCTION, rating 0.9, share
19.29, broadcasting time - Mondays
after midnight, audience: men, 25-44
years old.
BELIEVE – DO NOT BELIEVE, rating
13.6, share 30.58, broadcasting time
16 discop link 03
– Thursdays evening, audience: mostly
women 35-44 years old.
WOLF LAKE, rating 1.1, share
25.52, broadcasting time - Fridays
after midnight, audience: men 35-54
years old.
THE LAW AND ORDER, rating 1,
share 24.79, broadcast time - Sundays
after midnight, audience: men 35-44.
Prima TV also broadcasts American films. This year, audience could see
more than 70 American films. Se the
list below for the most successful five:
- AIR AMERICA, rating 10.2, share
20.14
- I DREAMT ABOUT AFRICA, rating
10.1, share 29.03
- THE BATTLE FOR MIDWAY, rating
9.9, share 21.15
- NOT BEFORE THE WEDDING!, rating 9, share 19.82
- INDEPENDENCE DAY, rating 8.8,
share 19.49
In the next period we are planning to
show new films, serials and animations.
At the beginning of this year, Prima TV
informed the public about signing the
contract with Warner Bros. Company.
This contract provides for Prima TV the
licence for broadcasting the most popular films, and premiere showing of high
quality TV serials and cartoons, like
classical - Looney Tunes. This contract
is one of the most significant that Prima
TV has ever signed.
By this contract, Prima TV can
broadcast a great number of unique
and successful films, for example,
MATRIX and HARRY POTTER, and
blockbusters like THE LORD OF THE
RINGS, THE TROY, and many others.
From the attractive production for
2005/2006 season, we will soon start
broadcasting the following: POINT OF
NO RETURN/THE ASSASSIN, LAST
MAN STANDING, GLIMMER MAN, ON
DEADLY GROUND, 15 MINUTES,
ERASER, THE MATRIX RELOADED, THE
MATRIX REVOLUTIONS, etc.
It can be concluded that American
production has, and will have, a significant place in the program of Prima TV.
}
www.discop.com
SLOVAKIA: TV
JOJ, BRATISLAVA
T
V JOJ is the younger one of the
two private Slovakian TVs. It
began broadcasting in 2002, taking licence from TV GLOBAL, the
network of Slovakian local stations
from Kosice.
Acquisition Manager, TV JOJ,
Martin Smatlak told us about the
influence of American programs in
this TV’s program scheme, in the
period 1.9.2005 to 31.12.2005.
In this period, TV JOJ broadcast 835 American production programs of different genres, with
259 premieres. That was 781
hours of program, and 27% of total
TV JOJ program in this period.
285 American films were
broadcast, 72 were premieres.
The length of films was 430 hours,
15% of total program. The average
share of the TV in broadcasting
American movies on the Slovakian
market was 19%.
In this period, 28 different serials were shown, that is 550
episodes. Duration time of these
serials was 12% of total program.
The average share of TV on the
market while broadcasting these
serials was 15.2%.
When speaking about films,
premieres and repetitions had the
same average market share, and
repetitions of serials had higher
share comparing to premieres.
Presence of genres:
- action – 39%
- crime – 13%
- sitcom – 9%
- comedy – 6.5%
- thriller – 5.5%
- cartoons – 5.5%
- romantic – 4%
- horror – 3%
- drama – 2.5%
- adventure – 2.5%
In this period, some of American programs were the most popular ones on TV JOJ.
}
march 2006
usa & cee
AMERICAN TV PRODUCTION
IN MONTENEGRO
NEWS: ATLAS IN
MONTENEGRO
By Marijana Bojanic
F
rom the newest Hollywood hits to
the legendary black and white cowboy movies, serials about the most
romantic American couples, the rich
and losers, scientific programs, cities
of the world… The majority of Montenegro TVs broadcast various TV programs of American production.
How and where are they
acquired?
Mostly from distributors, say people from TV houses that we have
talked to. And there are televisions
that can only dream about American
production, because of the prices in
the price list and their own poor financial situation.
One of the most popular TV houses in Montenegro is IN Television. It
shows films from American production every day. General Manager at
this television, Rade Vojvodic, explains
that they broadcast serials and films
of American production following the
quality standards. „We extremly carefully choose what we are going to offer
to our audience, and we do not want to
neglect the quality at the expense of
price, “Vojvodic says for Discop Link.
They do not cooperate directly
with people from America; they purchase American production by means
of agencies that represent American
production houses in the territory of
Montenegro.
”The presence of American production on the TV IN program is
between 20% and 30%, ”explains
Vojvodic.
The youngest TV house in Montenegro, Atlas TV, launched its experimental TV program few days ago.
They broadcast American hit movies,
and legendary Hollywood films that are
almost forgotten. Some of them are
from black & white era. Besides, they
announce a lot of popular serials, of
both new and old production.
discop link 03
US Product: Biography
(AETN International)
One of the people who created this
TV is Stanko Crnobrnja. Crnobrnja
explains that this TV will broadcast
films, serials and different shows of
American production, since audience
wants and loves that. ”We will show
everything that is popular and that our
audience wants, ”says Crnobrnja for
Discop Link.” We have good experiences with Americans and people who
provide all these programs for us.”
One of the owners, General
Manager and Program Editor of independent TV Montena, Djuro Vucinic,
explains for Discop Link that his TV
house does not broadcast American
films or serials. ”We do not have anything from American production.
American production is too expensive
for an independent TV station.” says
Vucinic.
Anyway, Vucinic says that audience will soon be able to watch on this
www.discop.com
Recently, RTV Atlas, the
youngest TV house in Montenegro
started its operation. They still do
not have a 24-hour program. But,
as they say, they are in the second
phase of experimental broadcasting
– every day between 6 p.m. and 2
a.m.
Author show THE BOOK OF THE
DAY just started. It is realized with
the bookstore Karver, with the aim
to present high quality publications
in an original and interesting way.
This show marks the significant segment of Atlas TV program orientation. This TV is planning to place
itself as media that affirms culture
and gives program space to cultural
institutions in Montenegro.
In the second phase of their
experimental broadcasting, Atlas TV
will offer films and serials of high
quality. Films will be broadcast
Monday to Thursday at 10 p.m.,
and mini-serials Friday to Sunday at
7 p.m. and 1 a.m.
TV a scientific serial from the USA.
“The serial is in educational character,” says Vucinic. Thirty hours of documentary program are just in the
process of translation, and will soon
arrive on the TV screens by NTV
Montena.
The serial is about American governmental system, civil society, parliamentarism, and legislation. It is
acquired from the American Consulate.
Montenegro is a small TV market,
and all TV houses here operate
through intermediaries; they do not
have contacts with people that directly
procure American production, and
because of that, they do not have
much experience in this field.
For the time being, Montenegrin
TV sky is occupied by telenovelas from
Latin America, while the youngest are
amused by cartoons with elements of
pornography, imported from Asia. }
march 2006 17
programing tools
PRODUCT PLACEMENT: THE MYTHS AND THE REALITY
P
roduct placement certainly generates strong emotions. It’s “the
plague”, according to one German
public broadcaster. But for some
advertisers, product placement may
become the only way to get their message across in a world of audience
fragmentation, digital video recorders, and content delivered on demand. And in the US, the Screen
Actors Guild is agitating to be consulted (or is it compensated?) on how
products are integrated into shows.
PP is an accepted marketing tool
in the US – take for example the
episode of “24” which ran without ad
breaks, because Ford had covered the
episode’s costs through a combination of sponsorship and integrating
their cars into the storyline. But when
a German public channel tried to do
something similar in the soap opera
MARIENHOF, it caused a scandal
which was front page news in
Germany for weeks. And, yes, that’s
the same pubcaster that thinks PP is
“the plague”.
So, how can a producer or broadcaster, especially in a post-transition
country, understand which deals are
legal? And why is it such a big issue –
commercially, and politically?
Firstly, all commercial broadcasters need to diversify our revenue
sources beyond conventional 30-second spot advertising. PP will make a
modest contribution to the mediumterm sustainability of commercial television. But it’s no magic bullet. For one
thing, it only works in some genres –
great for reality TV or drama, no use
for a package of movies.
How much is a “modest contribution”? The UK regulator OFCOM predicts that PP could contribute between GBP 25m and GBP 50m p.a. in the
UK market by 2010. Variables include
degree of digital penetration, PVR
usage and, of course, advertiser
enthusiasm. But even on an optimistic
forecast, and in a mature market
characterised by a high degree of
investment in original programming,
PP would generate only 1.5% of total
advertising spent.
The interest for European broadcasters and producers is that if there
18 discop link 03
1. No PP deal involving tobacco;
2. No PP in news and current
affairs programmes;
3. No PP in kids’ programmes:
4. And the existence of PP must
always be disclosed to the
viewer.
is significant advertiser demand for
PP, then we need to be in a position to
meet that demand, or the money
would be lost to the broadcasting sector altogether. This is about convincing
our advertisers that television remains the best medium ever invented,
and an attractive destination for their
marketing budgets.
But no innovation in television can
take off without asking, “will the viewers like it?” and, at least in European
television, “will the regulator allow it?”
So, do viewers like PP?
Again, OFCOM can help. Their
recent research on viewer attitudes
concluded that, “PP is generally well
received when it enhances the realism
of a programme, is relevant and not
too prominent… background PP was
the most popular when ranked against
the other means of funding,” and that,
“participants did not like the idea of
being sold to by stealth – they preferred transparent disclosure of commercial arrangements.”
So, the viewers are happy – so
long as they’re informed of the PP deal
(the key difference between “24” and
MARIENHOF?). What about the regulators?
This is where it gets complicated.
There’s a basic rule in all EU countries
that programming and advertising
should be separated. Fine, for a 30second centre break, which was what
“advertising” was when the rule was
invented. But unworkable in a world of
virtual advertising, product placement, interactive ads, scrolling text,
etc.
Help may be on the way. The
European Commission has included in
its proposal for a new Audiovisual
Media Services directive some wording which would clarify when PP is
legitimate.
The Commission puts forward
four clear rules, and one additional
test:
www.discop.com
Beyond that, the Commission has
previously suggested that PP should
not have “undue prominence” in the
programme. This complicated piece of
regulator-speak means that you can
show brands in a programme, but that
they can’t be decisive in the script. So
it might be OK for a policeman to drive
a BMW, or for a character in a soap
opera to drink Stella Artois. But, if the
policeman turns to camera and says,
“without the BMW’s superior acceleration, we could never have caught the
villain”, or if the soap star finally gets to
sleep with the barmaid the night he
starts drinking Stella instead of another brand, then that might fall foul of
the “undue prominence” test.
It’s easy to criticise the European
Commission’s attempts to regulate
the media industry. And there are
many faults with the Audiovisual Media
Services proposal. But in product
placement, the Commission suggestions are eminently sensible, which
doesn’t mean they are guaranteed to
pass into European law. There are
plenty of vested interests opposed to
seeing commercial television become
more effective – regrettably, including
some print media. And it’s easy to
frighten politicians with lurid tales of
“threats to journalistic independence”
or “misleading consumers”. These are
unfair criticisms, as the Commission
has addressed all these points in its
proposal. The ARD/MARIENHOF deal
would remain illegal. Journalistic content is not open to PP.
This debate will run and run. At
the ACT, we’re regularly asked, “what
are the rules” on product placement.
As these vary enormously across
Europe, the simplest advice we can
give is (1) to follow the new rules suggested by the Commission, and (2) to
persuade your national ministries and
regulators to support this proposal
being adopted as EU law.
}
march 2006
programming tools
LOCALIZATION OF FILMS FOR DVDs
By Svetlana Djuricin
T
ranslated and culturally adapted
DVD films content aided by innovations in subtitling technology reaches
world-wide audience, enhancing the
understanding between cultures.
Film subtitling is a cinematographic service reaching audiences
throughout the world via readily available and affordable media such as
DVDs.
Many film localization companies
headquartered in Los Angeles and
London work through a network of linguistic and technical associates.
Under fierce competition, their aim is
to release films on DVDs for the global
market in as short time as possible
and without compromising translation
quality. This is achieved through
upgrades in subtitling technology and
the use of freelance translators’ services in lower cost countries.
The fast cycle of film localization
and marketing requires an increased
effort on the part of the translator and
his mastering the new localization
software without compromising the
quality of the final product. The film
translator’s primary task is to produce
the most concise and correct translation as possible, i.e. cultural adaptation of the original text.
The task is complex and requires
not only mastery of the target language but also skills such as creativity,
the ability to recognize the gist of a dialogue, visualization and cultural adaptation skills.
The procedure for film translation
for DVD release is simple and driven
by technological innovations and market demands. Often, the translator
receives via e-mail, the master file with
the source language dialogue list and
the precisely set titles’ in and out
times. Along with the text file, either a
VHS tape quality film is sent, or the
film is copied by the translator onto his
hard disc from the designated file.
A complete synchronization of the
original text, audio-visual material and
the translation is an innovation
enabling the translator to match his
discop link 03
subtitles with the original text and the
picture. The translator is able to
return to subtitles he wishes to check
as many times as necessary until an
optimal translation solution is found.
With the original dialogue divided
into subtitle boxes with clearly marked
times and potentially unknown concepts thoroughly researched, problems with incomprehensible/barely
audible material are eliminated, especially in bonus materials that are
included with a film on DVD such are
director’s commentaries, trailers, featurettes and making ofs.
The translator of films for DVDs
has to observe some technical
requirements of the work procedure
i.e. to translate everything avoiding literal translation, to translate the
accompanying text - such are road
signs, names of restaurants and
newspapers, enable smooth flow of
the dialogue, use various language
registers – from highly specialized to
slang, maintain consistency and
observe subtitle box line division rules
and time limits.
The process of film translation
also involves observing the grammatical rules with idiomatic and cultural
nuances to produce really high quality
work serving as a model for literacy.
Therefore, to achieve this, it is important to avoid literal translation and to
correctly render all text, finding the
equivalent expressions for puns and
proverbs.
In addition, the translator has to
observe some subtitling industry-specific technical requirements which,
first of all, call for the translation of the
entire text. If this is impossible due to
time limitations (i.e, in- and out- times
of subtitles), film dialogues are to be
truncated in such a way as to preserve
their natural coherency and the
smooth flow.
Text accompanying the dialogues
is also translated, e.g. street signs,
notices and names of restaurants and
newspapers. Names and common
phrases which are repeated in subsewww.discop.com
quent boxes and are obvious to the
reader need not always be subtitled.
When transcribing character
names, addresses, book and film
titles, abbreviations, numbers and
measurements etc. full consistency
has to be retained. Of equal importance is the observance by the translator of the subtitle box line division
rules.”
Generally, technical requirements
involving translation consistency and
quality assurance are more easily
upheld across the translation fields by
an increased deployment of a number
of computer-aided translation tools
(CAT) that have sprung up in recent
years, such as Trados, DejaVu,
MetaTexis, SDLX and Wordfast. The
use of these tools involves saving the
translation units in a database called
“translation memory” (TM) enabling
their later re-usage in the same or any
other text.
Global content is further supported by the wealth of resources for
translators found on the Internet such
are dictionaries and glossaries, of not
only major languages, but also of the
ones of lesser diffusion. We should
say thad the impact of globalization on
the letter could be manifested in their
gaining higher visibility via multilingualism as expressed through DVD technology, among other things.
Further developments in the localization industry-specific CAT and quality control tools, and their integration
into the specific work flow processes,
as well as automatic voice and cut
recognition are set to further streamline the localization process, reduce
international marketing cost and
enable simultaneous shipment to multiple markets.
Likewise, the continuous improvement of localization practices for films
on DVDs, standardization of language
and translation rules and the content
that is adapted locally can lead to an
increase in the consistency and accuracy in this form of global communication.
}
march 2006 19
telenovela block
TELENOVELA AND AUDIENCE
By Dejan Pralica
T
he phenomenon of popularity of
telenovelas, which are better
known as “Spanish serials” in the countries generated from former Yugoslavia, is not typical only for this
region. However, since in the CEE there was an expansion of Latin-American
serials in a relatively short time, media
theoreticians, sociologists and media
owners have got opposed opinions
about the influence this kind of TV
entertainment has on public.
Because of their easy content, full
of stereotypes about love, jealousy,
infidelity, man-woman relationships,
and family relationships, and cheap
placement of tens, even hundreds of
short episodes, this kind of TV serials,
i.e. telenovelas, is accepted by large
audience. Media say that usually
housewives and retired women are
those who are fond of “Spanish serials”, but these serials are regularly or
occasionally also watched by pupils,
teenagers, and even students and
educated people. Of course, if you ask
them whether they watch any of these
serials, they will smile vaguely depriving you of the confirmative answer.
The higher their education, the less
honesty showed. Why are educated
people so ashamed of telenovelas?
DOES NOT BURDEN THE
BRAIN
Cultural sociologists may agree on
one thing: the “soaps” are a typical
massive culture representative. They
have all features of massive culture.
They are (Dragan Kokovic, 2004)
“equalizing different cultural levels,
searching and attracting great number of people, increasing cosmopolitan characteristics of cultural values,
commercialization...” The fact is that
telenovelas are intended for a relative-
22 discop link 03
ly wide and heterogeneous audience,
and since the target group is so dispersive, hitting the target was easy.
The British culturologist and psychologist Rob Vederil (Vederil, 2005)
classifies “soaps” into pop culture. He
explains pop culture as wide span of
cultural forms that are easily available
and accessible to everyone. Pop culture overcomes all class and ethnic
differences. In addition to “soaps”,
there are also commercials. And by
combining these two things, media
owners have reasons to be very satisfied. The audience will complain about
commercials, but will patiently wait for
the end of the episode.
LET’S WATCH DOMESTIC
Since we live in the era of globalization, with strong media influence,
“family intrigues” from distant South
America had moved in the Balkans
region, and a great number of commercial TV stations in Serbia and
Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, as well as Hungary,
Romania, Bulgaria and even Greece
have bought original scripts for
“Spanish serials”, engaged domestic
actors, and the effort was worth their
while. Yet, it looks paradox that a typical Serbian family, for example, lives in
a big house, has three kids, father,
mother (with unavoidable lovers), and,
of course, a nanny and servants, by
South-American model.
Majority of globalization theoreticians, according to Italian anthropologist Christiano Giordano (Giordano,
2001), would like to convince us that
the world is in the middle of the turn in
which all societies, step by step,
become closer to one another, and
become more alike. Famous culturolo-
www.discop.com
gist Marshal McLown, could not even
dream about telenovelas when, in the
middle of the 20th century, predicted
that the world will become “a global village”. Telenovelas have brought the
expansion of South-American cultural
values on our market. Connection of
domestic and foreign, by commercial
TVs, is an interesting undertaking
that, as it has been proved, guarantees financial success.
THE MORAL CULTURE
When speaking about correct
media usage, with the accent on moderate consumption of TV contents, TV
broadcasters and individuals from
audience share equal responsibility.
User – spectator has the task to
choose time and topics that are interesting for him. French culturologist,
Louis Dolo (Dolo, 2000), emphasizes
the man and his mission to be trained
and capable not to bear things that
others have imposed, but to choose
things that are appropriate for his personal development and to throw away
what is not needed.
Next time when we ask people if
they watch telenovelas or “soaps”, will
we receive the same answer, or the
situation will drastically change, depending on the quantity and, of
course, the quality of other content
that is placed on TV. Until on the
majority of the CEE TV channels different telenovelas are broadcast at the
same time, our audience will be moved
into the fiction of beautiful SouthAmerican landscapes, actors and actresses, and live in a different world,
with a smile on their face, running
away from everyday problems. Is it OK
to deprive them of such satisfaction?
}
march 2006
programming / formats
discop link 02
www.discop.com
november 2005 23
telenovela block
TELENOVELA IN THE CEE
- PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE
A
re TV broadcasters and audience
in the CEE familiar with telenovelas? DISCOP LINK’s network of journalists had researched the position of
genre in some countries of the region.
BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
“TV BIH FEDERALNA broadcasts
only on one channel and due to that,
only one term is provided for telenovalas. We broadcast telenovelas THE
PEPPER AND THE CHOCOLATE every
working day at 5:30 pm. That part of
the program is well covered in the
marketing sense and is very attractive. Second showing is at 9 am the following day. When this serial is finished, we will start broadcasting MEN
OF HONOUR,” says Tatjana Majhrovski, Chief of Foreign Program.
In Banja Luka TV ATV, the number
of telenovelas is going to be reduced in
the next period. “We gladly broadcast
teenage telenovelas, such as STEP
FORWARD, “says Branko Lazic, one of
the owners. “On ATV, there are three
serials: THE COLOUR OF SIN broadcast by GLOBO TV at 8 pm; THE
WOMAN IN FRONT OF MIRROR at 6
pm; and THE BRIDE’S VEIL broadcast
by TELEVIS at 4 pm. Researches show
that ratings and popularity are
decreasing; there are around 16
telenovelas that BIH audience can
watch. Telenovelas from domestic
productions have growing popularity, ”
added Lazic .
BULGARIA
Olga Lozanova, TV Programming
Expert, says for Discop LINK that
Bulgarian televisions have great interest for soaps for three main reasons:
first, very low price; second, great
number of episodes that guarantee
the formation of a stable slot during
the broadcasting and, third, rating
maintenance that facilitates the sale
of advertising time.
The soaps almost always return
investments and bring the profit, since
the ratio price/popularity is very
favourable.
24 discop link 03
They are ideal “addition” to “out of
prime time zone” and generally, every
television is interested in them. Soaps
are something like “the blue litmus” in
complete program of media that
broadcast them – the greater the ratings of TV, the better the soaps. They
can not be “rocket booster” that would
pull the media forward, but surely they
are “Oscar” winners for a supporting
role. There are, of course, “veterans”
that play the leading role in ratings of
some TVs, as is the case with the serial THE ARROGANCE AND THE BEAUTY on Bulgarian National TV (BNT),
but this is an exception.
The interest for soap serials in
Bulgaria is stable and permanent, with
a mild increase being the result of
complete market development and
not the genre boom.
CROATIA
There are two telenovalas on the
Croatian national TV: LOVE HAS NO
PRICE and WORLD OF THE FAMOUS.
“As a public service, HRT has no much
space for telenovelas. There are two
telenovelas broadcast by TV: a
Mexican telenovela LOVE HAS NO
PRICE that is broadcast on HRT1 at
12:25 pm, and the serial THE WORLD
OF FAMOUS that is broadcast on
HRT1 at 9 am, and on HRT2 at 4:25
pm,” says for DISCOP LINK Ranka
Horvat, Foreign Programme Editor at
TV HRT, Zagreb. “We co-operate
exclusively with TV GLOBO, whose serials are from the Mexican Spanish language area, and TELEVIS from the
Portugal language area,” says Horvat.
CZECH REPUBLIC
“TV NOVA started broadcasting
telenovelas in the year 1999, to be
more precise, on February 1, 1999,”
says Veronika Smitkova, TV Nova PR.
“The first telenovela was such a success that we removed it from early
afternoon hours to prime time. After
the ‘boom’ in the beginning, interest of
audience started falling and the telenovela lost its prime time in 2000.
www.discop.com
Now we are fond of broadcasting
European telenovelas (of Russian and
German production), but, honestly,
telenovelas are not our priority. We
have maximum two telenovelas on our
program, and we broadcast them in
the early afternoon.”
GREECE
Telenovelas in Greece are in a
kind of a static situation. Currently,
only one station is broadcasting two
first run telenovelas in the late afternoon slots, and another station is
broadcasting two rerun telenovelas,
also in the early afternoon slots.
The competition that telenovelas
face is intense as they run against
Greek reality and gossip shows, Greek
soaps and Greek rerun sitcoms.
Depending on their ratings and
other variables, we may see more
telenovelas in the near future as they
could be regarded as a low-cost programming alternative appealing to
heavy TV viewers and could possibly
create viewers’ loyalty!
MACEDONIA
TV A1 continues the practice of
having at least three telenovelas during a day. For some of the serials it is
very obvious that they are compensations (provider leaves the broadcasting to a TV station and receives advertising time for their clients, in return),
which resemble a classic barter.
POLAND
Recently, national TVP achieved
the highest rating with 27%; TVN was
on the second place with 18.4%; and
POLSAT took the third place, with the
rating that was little lower.
“TVP presently shows just one
telenovela of foreign production, BOLD
AND BEAUTIFUL,” says Malgor Zapa
Cup, Acquisition Department at Polish
National TV. TVP prefers serials of
domestic production, such as ‘L’ FOR
LOVE that is broadcast twice a week at
8:05 pm, and has 10 million spectators.
march 2006
telenovela block
HOW DO THEY CHOOSE?
Telenovelas are still one of the most popular TV formats in South-Eastern Europe. In spite of the attack by the
great number of producers that produce and sell this kind
of programming, only top quality and confirmed ones are
being bought. But, how do buyers recognize top quality?
One of the most frequent statements, which we have
found in our research, was: “We do not have enough
money to buy cheap!”
Of course, we’ve also got more specific answers:
“When I decide about the serial that we may broadcast on HRT, I choose them subjectively. I choose serials
for the wide audience and older population. Classical love
stories have priority. Some of the criteria are that telanovela is from the best production, with carefully selected
cast, and rich exterior. We try to broadcast telenovelas
with theatre actors, and we are constantly informing ourselves about them from the magazines covering this kind
of production,” says for DISCOP LINK Ranka Horvat. “We
cooperate exclusively with TV GLOBO, whose serials are
from the Mexican Spanish language area, and with TELEVIS from the Portugal language area. I observe the work of
these two production houses, and consider them to be the
best.
Tatjana Majhrovski said that for selection quality of
production is crucial.
“We had found the quality with the productions of
GLOBO TV and TELEFE International from Argentina.”
“Criteria that I use to choose telenovelas are, in the
first place, successful production house, telenovela’s suc-
TVN has been on the Polish media
sky since 1997 (its roots are in regional TV WISLA) and its target group is
urban audience aged between 16 and
49. “During the past year, three telenovelas of foreign production were
broadcast”, says Radoslaw Ziolek.
“They were Columbian THE BITTER
REVENGE, which attracted 900,000
spectators per episode, and two
Mexican serials, THE SINNER and THE
HEART OF STONE with 1.2 million and
500,000 spectators, respectively.
This year, THE COLOUR OF SINN and
new episodes of THE BITTER REVENGE will be broadcast.
TVN is producing three new telenovelas at the moment. Investments
are much higher compared with the
amounts needed for the purchase of
foreign production, but ratings show
that our audience prefers domestic
telenovelas.”
ROMANIA
In 1994 and 1995, when the first
private televisions in Romania started
discop link 03
cess and popularity on other markets, and the quality of
the story,” says Branko Lazic. “I choose love stories like
CINDERELLA BECOMES PRINCESS and similar stories.”
In Bulgaria, besides obvious criterion being the production quality, another important criterion in the selection of a serial is how it fits into the complete program
scheme of the media.
Ratings of the serial in countries with similar audience
are also important (the Balkans, Russian republics, East
European countries). Also, there is always a matter of
price of certain serial.
Completely “unprofessional” yet applicable is the
selector’s intuition criterion that plays a decisive role in
soap serials selection.
In Romania, among the criteria for the acquisition and
broadcasting soap appears are: the topic (the favourite
being the classical ones which give off the subjects of the
childhood’s fairy tale; Cinderella, Snow-White and the like);
the script (the most favourite were those of Delia Fiallo);
the actors (famous, beautiful, suitable for a specific part);
quality of production (favourites are the Mexican ones and
those from Peru).
“Telenovelas as a genre are very popular in Slovenia
and their rating constantly increases. One of the principal
selection criteria for this kind of programming is, primarily, their success on the foreign markets, followed by the
quality of production and the cast, because the Slovenian
audience has criteria different from the audience in the
region. Therefore, we are strict in our intention to satisfy
the taste of the choosiest spectators,” says Petra
Uranjek.
attracting viewers and taking important place on the mass-media market,
South-American telenovelas also
appeared. Subsequently, these series
won more and more viewers, so that
the commercial generalist televisions
entered a real fight over broadcasting
as many soap operas as possible. In
1998, Media Pro Corporation (which
held PRO TV television, broadcasting,
newspapers and the like) created a
special television, ACASA TV, which
continually broadcasts soap operas,
but also some programming for
women. At present, ACASA is broadcasting fifteen South-American series.
Moreover, Media Pro Corporation registered its first performing two years
ago, when the first Romanian soap
opera appeared. Now it is broadcasting the second one, which scored with
the viewers of this kind of programming. On the other hand, PRO TV
doesn’t broadcast any kind of soap
opera.
Antena 1, another generalist television, which is a part of a great media
www.discop.com
corporation, was the first to launch a
soap opera in Romania. Gradually, due
to increased demand, the quality of
the release deteriorated. There were
not original scripts, there were more
repicturisations, and the topics were
alike. Now, Antena 1 doesn’t broadcast South-American soap operas
either, as the audience gradually
decreased. Those being fond of such
programs know that they have a specialised channel for them, ACASA TV.
Antena 1 also made Romanian soap
operas, together with LA DOLCE VITA,
which is being broadcast since last
autumn, in the evening at 10 o’clock,
and which was a success (audience
share is 7-8%). Recently, Antena 1
broadcast a Russian soap, first season, in the afternoon at 5 o’clock, also
with great success.
Other commercial generalist televisions either do not broadcast soap
operas at all, or they have two or three
serials. It must be noticed that simulContinued on page 30
march 2006 25
telenovela block
DAILY INSTANT ROMANCE TELENOVELAS IN
HUNGARY
By Erika Kocsor
H
ungarian television channels have
been broadcasting a plenty of
telenovelas for years. Romantica is,
however, “the only channel dedicated
to love” which appeared in Hungary. If
you look at the programme schedule
of the bigger or smaller channels,
whether commercial or public service
ones, everyone broadcasts a couple of
daily romantic soap operas. Most of
them are produced by Latin-American
production companies.
The Hungarian television market
is based on the competition among
the two national commercial channels
(RTL Klub, TV2), the terrestrial channel of MTV, and the Hungarian public
service television (m1), although there
are numerous cable TV companies in
the country as well. If you compare the
figures of RTL Klub and TV2, they are
now running almost side by side having
an average 30-32% share among the
viewers aged 18-49, compared with
m1, which owns only 10%.
TV2 has been reaching the viewing rates of its main competitors in the
last few years, and recently, at weekends, even it has beaten RTL Klub. In
order to be able to strengthen its market position during the weekdays as
well, TV2 decided to produce its own
daily telenovela, being envious of the
success of the BARATOK KOZT
(AMONG FRIENDS), RTL Klub’s soap
opera, which has been running on the
channel from 1999 on weekdays in
prime time, showing a standard 3740% share among the most demanding viewers from the commercial
aspect.
Gabor Kereszty, Director-General
at TV2, and Andras Svaby, Managing
Director of Interaktiv-Fiction department, which produces JOBAN ROSSZBAN (FOR BETTER, FOR WORSE)
emphasise that the brand-new soap
opera is not a licence programme, but
genuine Hungarian one, from conceiving the idea till its realization. The
26 discop link 03
Hungarian viewers can easily become
one with its situations and characters;
for better, for worse, as in real life. The
producers chose a subject which has
already made a conquest of the audience’s heart many times. The handsome chief surgeon, coming home
from the States wants to set an example for the Hungarian public health, by
establishing an ideal hospital. The
story is full of intriguing doctors, good
and ill tempered patients, faithful and
fickle women, danger, and, of course,
love. The series began on January 23,
2005. It is on TV2 at 7 pm from
Mondays to Fridays.
Tamas Kalamar, the producer of
AMONG FRIENDS (BARATOK KOZT),
an 8-year old telenovela run on RTL
Klub, can be really proud of his child.
He says, “The main reason of its success is that AMONG FRIENDS stands
close to ordinary people, and it represents different minorities of the society as well.
The Hungarian soap opera is
about a group of friends who spent
their childhood together in a big house
25 years ago. One day one of their fellows, the founder and leader of
Berenyi Building and Construction Ltd.
dies in a car accident, but nobody
knows exactly how. The tragedy
changes the lives of everyone. The
friends took over the enterprise,
changing the old building, where they
were once children, into a modern
apartment house. They live their
everyday lives in friendship, intrigue
and love like all the other characters in
all the other telenovelas in the world.
As for MTV, the Hungarian public
service television is concerned about
the fact that they have not produced
their own soap opera yet, and that
they do not expect to do so in the near
future either. In 2004, MTV launched
a new series titled ELETKEPEK
(GENRE PICTURES), which is on m1 on
every second Tuesday in prime time,
www.discop.com
with a psychiatrists’ talk show coming
right after it.
It resembles the SZOMSZEDOK
(NEIGHBOURS), the popular telenovela of the late eighties and nineties,
but it is no wonder, because its writerdirector is the same, Adam Horvath.
In 1987, when NEIGHBOURS began,
the genre was considered absolutely
new. With its mild social criticism,
many commonplaces, charming ordinary-looking characters living in blocks
of flats in a socialistic housing estate,
it was one of the most watched telly
programmes on MTV, every two
weeks up until 1999. Partly because
of a kind of its retro feeling and partly
to have its “daily MTV telenovela”, m1
started broadcasting it again at 6:50
pm, Mondays to Fridays.
The new GENRE PICTURES is taking place in a contemporary garden
quarter and it is about a drama of two
families, whose fates intermingle
when a widow journalist’s son falls in
love with a wealthy dentist’s daughter…
There is, however, a brand-new
weekly youth telenovela on m1, which
started at the end of 2005. The director of the series, Vera Takacs says
that the point of interest of the KLIPPEREK (CLIPPERS) is how the story of
the film is happening in the 25 minutes
of the programme itself. It is on at
10.40 am on Saturdays; the story
covers 2 sisters (aged 23 and 13) and
a brother (aged 17) living without
parental control, because their mom
had to leave to England because of her
job. According to the surveys and the
messages of the young viewers on the
website and blogs, there is finally a
fashionable and popular youth series
on MTV; the audience of the public
service television, however, still has to
wait for a daily telenovela with flesh
and blood characters and a real
human story, or at least a cup of daily
instant romance.
}
march 2006
telenovela block
MORE THAN 200 HOURS PRODUCED
BY AVA PRODUCTION
By Dragana Stanic
A
VA TV PRODUCTION was founded
in March 2003, since its founders have concluded that Croatian market lacks high quality TV programmes.
“By many variables, AVA - with the
number of produced hours and high
ratings, is the most successful TV production in the region,” says Roman
Majetic, Producer and joint owner of
this house. The first Croatian telenovela VILLA MARIA was a great hit –
during this year AVA will produce more
than 200 hours of featured programme, arranged in 4 projects:
telenovela LOVE IN OFFSIDE; political
thriller (20 episodes) CONSPIRACY;
multi-seasonal mini soap (60 episodes) MARINA; and a telenovela for
the season 2006/2007, ORDINARY
PEOPLE. We have asked Majetic how
AVA recognized telenovela as a profitable form of production.
Market research has shown that
it is one of the forms that is most
demanded by the audience. Our estimation is that imported forms,
besides universal values (relations
between people, emotions, etc.) have
no close social context to the region in
which they are broadcast. Therefore,
we decided to make one bastard: to
write a script for a great drama serial
and produce it in the form of telenovela. It was a success.
Tell us something about the development of telenovelas in your house.
As in every TV product, pre-production is the essential part. The
preparation process of our first telenovela (VILLA MARIA) lasted about a
year, and included intensive work on
the script and parallel collecting of production knowledge, to produce such a
serial in this area. We had support
from numerous productions (primarily
in “know-how”), before all by the
Mexican TV AZTECA, that was very
inclined towards our pioneer project.
Did AVA enter into production of
VILLA MARIA alone, or it had codiscop link 03
investors, or, at least, the firm broadcasting agreement?
AVA financed the whole project by
its own assets, more precisely, by the
assets of its owners, and partially by
the assets collected on the financial
market, with the help of Hypo AlpeAdria Bank. The project certainly was
a high risk project, since we got the
agreement with the broadcaster at
the moment of product presentation,
and until that time we had already
spent more than 70% of the budget.
What are the difficulties that AVA
was faced with during the production
of VILLA MARIA, and how did it manage to overcome them?
The VILLA MARIA project was a
great school for us. And like every
school, it has its price. I will tell you one
thing that I am really proud of. When
we attended the telenovela summit, in
Barcelona (September 2004), we
were given special awards for production and direction (in the strongest
productions competition – HBO, Televise, Telemundo, TV AZTECA, etc.).
People from these high developed production houses with 40 years of experience said that a production of high
quality telenovela requires a 5-year
period, and that VILLA MARIA looks
like a 4-season project.
Are you satisfied with audience’s
reactions to VILLA MARIA in Croatia
and outside Croatia?
The audience is the reason for our
work and we are more than satisfied
with their reactions to VILLA MARIA,
and also to LOVE IN OFFSIDE. Serials
have the greatest ratings in Croatia
(average rating of total broadcasting is
27%, share of 58%), but we are especially proud of the results achieved on
more competitive markets, like Serbia
and Montenegro, where we have
unexpectedly great results, in severe
competition with domestic serials.
Was VILLA MARIA a successful
project?
www.discop.com
Love in Offside: Nada Gacesic Livakovic
& Filip Juricic
If we observe only financial
results, I would have to say “no”. But, if
we observe our business strategy, the
answer is positive. We did not place
VILLA MARIA on the market as a high
risk project (which would mean high
profits), but we decided for minimal
commercial price instead, with an estimation that in future, as a high-developed production, we will make
greater profits.
Are you satisfied with the results
of LOVE IN OFFSIDE? Where can the
serial be seen?
The same as above. The serial is
broadcast in the territory of former
Yugoslavia, except for Slovenia, where
only VILLA MARIA is broadcast. At the
moment, we plan to broaden the market for all our serials.
There is an open contest on your
website for TV serial scripts. What is
the response like?
The response is great. We receive
all sorts of proposals, of course, and
sometimes they are very good. For
example, the script for LOVE IN OFFSIDE is the result of this contest.
}
march 2006 27
telenovela block
SHINE ON TV SCREENS IN
FYR MACEDONIA
By Zivko Andrevski
M
acedonian TV program is full of
telenovelas that people usually
call “Spanish serials”. When we look at
the program scheme of TV stations
(with national and local concessions),
we may conclude that every spectator
is every minute supplied with such a
content (literally, since 00:00 to
24:00). We have looked at program
structure of TV A1 (that distributes
the signal all over the country and
that, according to the research
results, has the widest audience) for
the February 2nd, 2006. The following telenovelas were broadcast on
that day: TEACH ME LOVE (three
times); UNTAMABLE HEARTS (three
times); GYPSY WOMEN (two times),
total of 450 minutes. Having in mind
their announcements, we have time of
500 minutes in 24 hours.
The whole story started in 1997,
when national Macedonian TV broadcast the famous CASSANDRA.
Female audience simply went mad:
they cried, grieved, loved, suffered
and enjoyed. And men were not indifferent either. Some facts connected to
CASSANDRA certainly deserve communicational, social, psychological,
and, I would say, medical analysis.
There are some examples: one
woman read the translation aloud to
her old husband, and immediately
after broadcasting they repeated it,
and they again repeated it (two times)
the following day, before the new
episode. Daily newspapers “Vecer” on
the whole page used to tell the content
of the episode. That text became a
part of the program of a local radio
station in Prilep. In Skopje, one man
THE WRONG TIME
In Macedonia one project was
realized by a telenovela model. It was
THE WRONG TIME, produced and
broadcast by the Macedonian stateowned television during 1999 and
2000. Story about Zivko Martinovski, economist, his wife, who is
working in hospital, their two daughters who were growing up and falling
in love, his mother who is representing wisdom of traditional Macedonian
village, his impression that he is living
in the wrong place and time, and his
surrounding full of various characters, should have lasted 50 episodes, but, for financial reasons, the
serial was put to an end after 37th
episode.
Writer of THE WRONG TIME,
Vlado Dimovski, remembers how the
serial was popular with audience, and
he told us that the actor, playing the
main character in the serial, had
problems to appear in public, because everybody had to give him an
advice on how to arrange his own vir-
28 discop link 03
tual life and solve the problems in his
virtual family.
Vlado Dimovski is a writer and
journalist who is not writing only for
TV, and one of the most impressive
lines is his CV is a scenario for 120
episodes of children serial THE WISE
HEAD, which achieved not only excellent rating, but it was also sold very
well on VHS tapes.
www.discop.com
has imagined that Cassandra was his
own daughter, and upon his neighbor’s
remark that she was immoral (since
she had love affairs with several men –
Ignacio, Luis David, Manrike...) he
grabbed the knife to slaughter the
neighbor.
After CASSANDRA had been on,
Macedonian public received the theoretical elaboration of the telenovela
phenomenon by the leading media
theoretician, Dona Kolar-Panova,
PhD. “Enormous popularity of the serial can be easily understood when we
identify the dual origin of this genre
from both romantic and realistic literary tradition,” said Dr Kolar-Panova.
Recently, on the TV Sitel (national
concessionaire) a show from the
ZEBRA LIFE cycle (by Eli Peseva) was
dedicated to telenovelas. Among the
guests that were “pro” was Cvetanka
Laskova (the owner of the KAN House
that imports telenovelas) and the
actress Sofija Kunovska; “contra” was
Zoran Bojarovski, a journalist and
author of this text. Telenovela “defenders” have argued that, “people love
that”, and that we need, “few happy
moments”, in gloomy reality. Telenovela “opponents” mentioned low (or
non-existing) cultural and artistic level,
the lack of creativity, and meaningful
message (they last long and say nothing, contrary to a general communication process that is brief and says a
lot).
In Macedonia, one project was
realized according to the telenovela
model. It is called THE WRONG TIME.
The project has been produced and
broadcast by the Macedonian TV during 1999 and 2000.
The facts at the beginning of this
text are true, and it is also true that on
the variety of TV channels telenovelas
simply rage. Rating is not small. In
their time, CASSANDRA, ESMERALDA and THE CLONE had the highest
ratings, compared with all other program contents.
}
march 2006
telenovela block
BOY MEETS GIRL, ROMANTICA FALLS
IN LOVE WITH TELENOVELAS, AND
EVERYONE LIVES HAPPILY EVERAFTER
By Bob Jenkins
K
athy Fairbairn, Head of Programme Acquisition for Romantica and
Club, is, “thrilled to be sponsoring the
second DISCOP Gala dinner celebrating the hugely popular genre of the
Telenovela,” adding, “and where better
to celebrate the telenovela than the
romantic city of Budapest.”
The telenovela form is very important to Romantica, which Fairbairn
describes as a “drama and entertainment channel for women, in which
telenovelas make up a very significant
part of our schedule.” And DISCOP is,
“a very important market for us
because all the telenovela sellers are
her,” explains Fairbairn. She goes on,
“the other important aspect of DISCOP is that it is a market at which you
get time to talk to sellers, which is very
important when buying telenovelas. It
is very important to be able to form a
clear idea of what the highlights of the
story are, where else it has worked
and why it might work for Romantica.
And to do that, you simply have to have
the time to sit and chat with the seller.”
Although Romantica originally only
took their telenovelas from Venezuela,
they now also buy them from Mexico,
Argentina and Columbia, the rest of
their schedule comprising series form
the US, Canada and Australia as well
as movies from Europe and Latin
America in order, as Fairbairn puts it,
“to offer a window on the world.”
She believes that the telenovela
popularity in the CEE is something on
an historical accident. “I think,” she
insists, “that twenty to thirty years
ago, when they were first bought by
stations in the region, they were
bought because they were cheap and
there was a lot of them. They were
used as daytime fillers, but gradually
grew in popularity. Now, of course, “
she adds, “there’s an entire generation for whom the telenovela has
discop link 03
always been an important part of their
television landscape.”
Aside from their undoubted popularity with audiences in the region, the
telenovela form offers many attractions for broadcasters as well. “The
biggest attraction,” admits Fairbairn,
“is that once an audience has hooked
into a telenovela, as a broadcaster you
have created an appointment to view
that will run five days a week for a minimum of six months, and possibly as
long as twelve or fourteen, depending
on the length of the telenovela.
Whereas in the case of a standard
series of twenty-two episodes, you
essentially have to go out and sell each
episode to your audience all over again
every week.” Although she does admit
that this can also be a disadvantage,
“if your audience just does not buy into
a telenovela, then you are stuck with
poor ratings in that slot for as long as
From ROMANTICA’s offer
- Girls Behaving Badly
www.discop.com
it runs.” This is because having a story
with a beginning, middle and end, is, in
Fairbairn’s view, “one of the three key
elements of a telenovela.” The other
two being, “in addition to having a
beginning, middle and end, a true
telenovela also has a finite number of
episodes and a love story as its central
storyline.”
Another of Fairbairn’s theories
concerning telenovelas is that, “there
are essentially three storylines, the
classic Cinderella story, the more
modern story, often involving a career
woman experiencing difficulties at
work, and one with a teenage protagonist, aimed at a younger audience.”
Scheduling telenovelas is, reveals
Fairbairn, “mostly about getting the
mix right. While it is true that there is
essentially only one telenovela plot,
boy meets girl, they fall in love, have all
sorts of problems, and end up walking
off into the sunset, this story is set
against a number of different back
drops,” she explains, “and so,” she
continues, “it is important to get a balance between the settings. Also,
there is a core group of actors who
appear in almost all the telenovelas
and so, when scheduling, it is important to pay attention to the casting of
the telenovelas. If, for example, the
same actor is playing the father of two
different characters in to different
telenovelas, you would not want to play
them one after the other. Finally,” she
concludes, “different countries have
very different looks, different colour
palettes, directorial techniques and
different styles.”
}
march 2006 29
telenovela block
DISCOP 06 CELEBRATES 15 YEARS OF SUCCESSFUL
TELENOVELAS PROGRAMMING IN THE CEE
By Patrick Jucaud
N
ext June, the annual DISCOP television content & formats market will celebrate 15 years of successful
Telenovelas programming in the Central & Eastern Europe
during its 14th edition to be held from 22 to 24 June in
Budapest at the Sofitel Atrium Hotel.
Telenovelas have been a successful fiction genre
across all CEE television marketplaces since the first DISCOP market in the early nineties - which already regrouped
the most important Latin-American Telenovela producers!
15 years later, Telenovelas are still drawing vast audiences throughout the CEE with original series produced not
only in Latin America but also in Russia, Serbia-Montenegro, the United Kingdom, Israel and Germany.
To mark this phenomenal success, the DISCOP Organization will organize a ‘Gala Evening’ to which all CEE Telenovela programmers attending DISCOP 06 will be invited.
The ‘Gala Evening’ will take place on Friday 23 June,
the 2nd day of DISCOP 06, which will include a cocktail
party sponsored by DORI MEDIA GROUP’s VIVA channel
and a dinner party sponsored by ZONE VISION’s ROMANTICA channel.
“The Telenovela genre has become hugely popular in
the CEE,” says Nadav PALTI, President and CEO of DORI
MEDIA GROUP. “It is a very promising market for us and we
are delighted to sponsor the DISCOP 06 ‘Telenovelas Gala
Evening’ cocktail party in Budapest. This event is an excellent opportunity for all Telenovela professionals in the
region and for DORI MEDIA GROUP, to exchange ideas and
present their high quality TV content and channels.”
“Programming television for women has never been
more exciting or challenging,” says Kathy FAIRBAIRN,
Channel Manager at ROMANTICA, “and ZONE VISION has
DISCOP 06 Telenovelas Gala Evening will take place at the
Gerbeaud Cafe in Budapest
two of the most interesting and successful pan-territory
channels within its bouquet: ROMANTICA and CLUB. We
are delighted, therefore, that ROMANTICA will once again
sponsor the ‘Telenovelas Gala Evening’ dinner party during
DISCOP 06. This unique event, set in the romantic city of
Budapest, is an opportunity for programming professionals
to celebrate their passion for quality television designed
especially for modern woman.”
Companies which have agreed to book a table at the
‘Telenovelas Gala Evening’ already include the following DISCOP 06 participants: A MEDIA, EUROPRODUCCIONES TV,
FREMANTLEMEDIA, GLOBO TV, PREMIUM MEDIA, RCTV
INTERNATIONAL, SEVEN ONE INTERNATIONAL, TELEVISA
ESTUDIOS, TEPUY INTERNATIONAL, TV AZTECA, and
VENEVISION.
}
DISCOP LINK RESEARCH
SLOVENIA
Continued from pages 24-25
taneously with the decrease of
Romanian public interest for soap
operas, the increase in both number
and popularity of televisions which continually broadcast news, political, economical talk-shows, financial and
informative programs is observed.
SLOVAKIA
According to Barbara Stubanova,
audience of the Slovakian Public
Service is not too fond of telenovelas
nowadays. Before, STV broadcast on
30 discop link 03
its channel 1 as much as five serials,
but today they have only one serial. In
the future, STV will search for telenovelas from the European production.
According to Elza Strapkova at TV
Markiza, this television could, after 10
years of broadcasting, only confirm
that their family-oriented programming was a right choice. Afternoon
hours, when the majority of household
members have a short rest, are the
best time for this kind of programming.
www.discop.com
“TV Slovenia does not broadcast
telenovelas, and there are no prospects for their inclusion into our programme scheme,” says for DISCOP
LINK Vladimir Frantar, Assistant
Editor, Foreign Programming.
In Slovenia, telenovela fans may
watch telenovelas on POP TV, where
currently four telenovelas are being
broadcast in the afternoon hours,
said Petra Uranjek, PR at POP TV.
“Everyday POP TV program could not
bear one more term for a telenovela,
so we are not going to increase their
number. Four serials are quite enough, and we will replace each of the
completed serials with a new one”. }
march 2006