discop link 01

ISSN 1452-1016
FREE COPY
ISSUE 01, SEPTEMBER 2005
FROM THE WEST IT COMES
P
orchlight Entertainment is offering
a charming new family film that
seems destined to become a Christmas classic. THE 12 DOGS OF CHRISTMAS has already sold to Spain, Italy,
Latin America, Germany, the UK, and
The Middle East, and, says Porchlight
COO William Baumann, "12 DOGS has
all the right elements. It is a classic in
the making." Adding, "it has a heart
warming storyline that can cross
boundaries and languages, and appeals to the whole family."
T
wo very different new titles are on
offer from RAI Trade. INSPECTOR
COLIANDRO: BLACK MAGIC (L'ispettore Coliandro: Magia Nera) is a new
TV movie featuring RAI's famous
detective. When a Nigerian girl turns
up murdered, it appears to have been
a punishment for attempting to quite
prostitution, but when Coliandro is
accused of racism following a series of
blunders and sent to Nigeria to escort
the victim's sister back to Italy, he
uncovers a very different truth. 2005,
100 minutes.
T
he second new offering from RAI,
could hardly be more different.
BENEDICTUS XVI - Papa Joseph Ratzinger tells the story of Cardinal
Ratzinger's election to the throne of St
Peter on April 19 this year, and contains never before seen footage of the
first Papal blessing. Available at either
46 minutes or thirty minutes.
N
ew from Fremantle Media are
FINGERSMITH, a 2 x 2 hour
drama, and 6 hours of WORLD WAR
1 IN COLOUR. Based on the acclaimed
novel by Sarah Waters and set in
Victorian London, FINGERSMITH tells
the story of two young women, one
passion, mutual betrayal, and final retribution; and has already been
licensed for home video and DVD to
Beliven in Russia. Using rare archive
footage, and narrated by Kenneth
Branagh WORLD WAR 1 IN COLOUR,
brings to life the terrible reality of life in
the trenches and other theatres of
war, nearly ninety years ago. It has
been licensed to Soyuz Video in Russia
for home video and DVD.
O
ne of Germany's newest distributors, Sevenone International is offering a new format, CLEVER, a
groundbreaking edu-tainment format
in which science meets comedy and
learning has never been so much fun.
It also answers questions fundamental
to human existence such as why a
dropped slice of bread always lands
butter side down.
R
CTV is offering a brand new Telenovela, BEAUTY IS NOT ENOUGH,
telling the story of Coral, Topacio and
Esmeralda, three beautiful women
whose lives are tragically unhappy, and
for whom their beauty has become a
curse. They live tormented lives, unaware of the others' existence and
linked only by a crescent moon birthmark. BEAUTY IS NOT ENOUGH is a
RCTV production of 160 x 60 minutes.
T
he UK's Screentime Partners is
currently offering REVIVAL, a
brand new 'living history' format which
has successfully aired on ITV, and
which will shortly be debuting on The
History Channel. Produced by Touch
Productions, and distributed by Screentime Partners, REVIVAL throws the
audience back in time, using re-enactment societies as its means. Each
episode sees the presenter in a new
period of history, with a new set of
challenges, learning how to fight a
duel, flying a World War 1 fighter
plane or sailing a 17th century battleship. REVIVAL is living history, with its
sleeves rolled up!
Continued on page 5
ASK WHAT THE EU CAN
DO FOR YOU
For such a large and powerful organisation, the EU often seems remote,
and the truth is that many people know
very little about what it really does, or
how it works.
SLOVENIA: CONTROL AT
ANY PRICE
RTV Slovenia, which was used as a
role model for many transitional counties, is now facing a new nationalization. Yet, in Slovenia, the attitude to
public TV is ambivalent.
GREECE: 70% OF LOCAL
PRODUCTION ON THE
AIR
The local/foreign ratio of 70:30
speaks for itself. This ratio will somehow slowly change but stations buyers
after 15 years of private television and
full commercialisation have now
grown into sophisticated buyers in
every respect.
BILL PECK: SIGNIFICANT
DEVELOPMENT OF
LOCAL PRODUCTION
Peck is ideally placed to advise
Western companies on their approach to the CEE. "If I were giving
advice to a Western executive, unfamiliar with the area," he muses, "I
would say don't be surprised to find it
is virtually the same as the West!
ELZA STRAPKOVA:
MARKIZA IS FAMILY TV
When it comes to high-quality film programmes, we prefer Slovakian language.
miscellaneous
DISCOP LINK NEWSLETTER
Europe’s Programming News Magazine
EDITORIAL
Publishers: Basic Lead & Media Art
Service International
Publishing Director:
Patrick JUCAUD
Basic Lead
36 Rue Gauthey
75017 Paris, France
T + 33 1 42 29 32 24
F + 33 1 42 29 34 74
[email protected]
Executive Editor In Chief:
Rastislav DURMAN
@elezni~ka 30a (Klaris House),
21000 Novi Sad, Vojvodina,
Serbia & Montenegro
T/F + 381 21 420 900
[email protected]
Contributing Editor:
Bob JENKINS
T +44 12 33 822 371
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,
Verica VUKOVI]
ART & DESIGN
Emil OTRUP^AK & Sr|an GULIN
SALES
Booking Manager: Aurele RIVET
Basic Lead
36 Rue Gauthey
75017 Paris, France
T + 33 1 42 29 32 24
F + 33 1 42 29 34 74
[email protected]
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, Petrovaradin,
Serbia & Montenegro
ISSN 1452-1016
COBISS.SR-ID 204927751
04 discop link 01
www.discop.com
september 2005
news
FROM THE WEST IT COMES
By Bob Jenkins
Continued from page 01
A
ustralian producer distributor,
Beyond International is offering
EYEWITNESS (39 x 30'), the ultimate
natural history experience for children, informing as it entertains.
Whatever the subject, every animal,
location and event is brought close
enough to touch using an amazing
combination of live-action photography, stunning graphics and animation
techniques. From running with the
dinosaurs to flying with the birds, or
hatching from an egg to journeying
through the Arctic or the Solar
System, EYEWITNESS takes a panoramic tour through the natural world.
ll3Media is also in a historical
frame of mind with ELIZABETH I, a
major new drama produced for
Channel 4 in the UK, and HBO in the
US. The drama, currently shooting on
location in Lithuania stars Jeremy
Irons as the Earl of Leicester and
Helen Mirren as England's famous
'Virgin Queen'. Written by Bafta award
winner Nigel Williams, ELIZABETH I is
a portrayal of the queen in her latter
years, and exposes the conflict
between her sense of duty and the
instincts of her heart, her doomed
love affairs and the struggles of a powerful woman battling to survive in a
male dominated world.
igel Entertainment of America is
punching above its weight with
CINDERELLA MAN: THE REAL JIM
BRADDOCK STORY. This sixty-minute
documentary recounts the life of Jim
Braddock, the depression era boxer
whose 'come from behind victories'
and rags to riches to rags again story
inspired the nickname the Cinderella
Man. An ordinary guy from New York's
Hell's Kitchen, this improbable fighter
rose to fame as the Heavyweight
Champion Of The World. In doing so,
he not only rocked the world of boxing,
but also inspired millions of Americans
to rise above the hard years of the
Depression. Not only was the CINDERELLA MAN awarded 4.8 stars out
A
R
discop link 01
of a possible 5 by the New York Times
following its recent transmission in the
US, but it is also nicely timed to coincide with Universal's release of a film
on the same subject starring Russell
Crowe and Rene Zellweger.
f daytime is your concern, maybe
instead of persevering with your current schedule, you should take a look
at London based Target Entertainment's new daytime format, PERSEVERANCE. Twenty-five half hours
have already successfully aired on ITV,
and is a game of skill, strategy and
memory. Six contestants are asked
the same multiple choice questions
three times in a series of gruelling
quick-fire qualifying rounds. The winner then has the chance to build a
cash prize by answering a sequence of
questions, with ever building tension,
as one wrong answer will destroy all
their previous good work.
anish state broadcaster DRK
courts controversy with its VICTIM NUMBER 72, which recreates
the events of that fateful night in June
2002 when a Russian passenger
plane collided with a freight plane 11
kilometres above the lake Constance
killing seventy-one people. The sole airtraffic controller on duty that night
was condemned by the world's press
as culpable. Eighteen months later he
was murdered outside his Swiss
home. A man who lost his wife and
both daughters in the tragedy is now
on trial for his murder. VICTIM NUM-
I
D
BER 72 meticulously recreates the
events of that June night and concludes that the air-traffic controller
was completely blameless.
erman United Distributors have a
short, but very powerful film, RIO
RAP, which recounts the birth of a
musical movement that is making
waves, as well as powerful enemies, in
Brazil. Forty percent of Rio De
Janeiro's population of ten million live
in the ghettos at the edge of the city
known as the Favelas. Here, drug
barons rule, they fight amongst themselves in turf wars killing innocent people in the process and recruiting new
blood to continue the mayhem. The
police have either given up the unequal
struggle or joined the barons. This is
the location and background to the
birth of Rio Rap, a musical phenomenon telling young Brazilians that there
can be a life without drugs or violence.
Full of great music RIO RAP is thirty
minutes.
anada's Oasis International brings
to market EXONERATED. This
moving film tells the true stories of six
people convicted of crimes they did not
commit and sentenced to death by the
American courts that convicted them.
EXONERATED exposes an American
justice system that has gone terribly
wrong. This compelling TV movie
drawn from interviews, letters, court
transcriptions and public records,
tells the story of lives destroyed
despite the presence of evidence that
should have freed them, and stars
Susan Sarandon, Danny Glover and
Brian Dennehy.
inally, if it's zest and glamour with a
splash of humour and a pinch of
suspense that you're looking for, then
you could do worse than to visit
France's Tele Images and take a look
at LEA PARKER. To her family, she's
just a filing clerk for the National Police
Department. But her colleagues know
her as an undercover cop and martial
arts expert for the French secret service - in fact, the perfect girl to infiltrate
every crime scene.
}
G
C
F
www.mediart.org
september 2005 05
opportunities
ASK WHAT THE EU CAN DO F
By Bob Jenkins
or such a large and powerful organisation, the EU often
seems remote, and the truth is that many people know
very little about what it really does, or how it works. This is
also true of the EU's Media Plus Programme, which offers
grants for vocational training, and repayable grants and cofinancing for development, cinematographic distribution,
promotional activities, and entries to, and attendance at,
film festivals. The current Media Plus Programme runs
until 31 December 2006, and has a total budget of
€453.6 million.
Full details, in English, of advances for development can
be found at http://europa.eu.int/comm./avpolicy/media/calls/ntguide_eng.pdf or go to http://europa.eu.int/ and select the language of your choice from the list
on the right-hand side and follow the links from there. But,
in brief, the key points are these.
Applications must be made between November
2005 and February 2006.
Advances can only be made to companies registered
within the EU or Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein or Bulgaria.
Additionally, these companies must be owned, or majority
owned, by citizens of the eligible countries.
The applicant company must have produced one
work, or two short dramas or pieces of animation within
the previous twenty-four months.
The applicant must hold the copyright to the work
being developed, and the project must have previously had
Media Training support.
While there is no minimum requirement for turnover
or profit, the applicant company must provide evidence that
it is financially sound.
Normally, the amount of the advance will be 50% of
the total cost of development. However, in the case of eligible countries with very low levels of production, it is possible
that this could rise to 60% of the total development cost.
Genres for which development advances are currently being offered are drama, animation, creative documentaries and multimedia concepts.
Support is available for theatrical distribution.
Advances will only be made to companies which meet the
same residential and financial criteria as apply to development advances. Any recent work of fiction, animation, or
creative documentary with a minimum running time of sixty
minutes will be eligible, although material considered to be
advertising pornographic, racist or advocating violence will
not be considered. Support can run up to a maximum of
60% of the total cost of distribution.
Support for promotional activities is available,
(http://europa.eu.int/comm/avpolicy/media/calls/promoguides_en.pdf) but applications must be received no
later than 9 December 2005, and must be for activities
taking place between 1 January and 31 December 2006.
Applications may be made for a wide variety of activities
but, as previously, monies will only be paid to companies
meeting the nationality requirements previously stated, but
F
06 discop link 01
these may include 'not for profit' organisations. Normally,
the advance will be for 50% of the cost of the activity concerned, but applicants from qualifying countries with low
level of production, can exceptionally be granted 60%. The
total budget available for these advances is €8.5 million.
Support is also available for attendance at film festivals, (http://europa.eu.int/comm/avpolicy/media/calls/guidefest_en.pdf). Applications for this support must
be made no later than 1 December 2005, and must be for
festivals taking place between 1 September 2006 and 31
May 2007.
The usual criteria apply regarding a company's eligibility. The total budget available is €2.2 million, and grants will
normally be for 50% of the cost, although this can go to
60% for applicants from countries with a low audio-visual
sector. Although not a hard and fast rule, it is envisaged
that usually the minimum grant will be €10,000, and the
maximum €35,000, irrespective of percentages.
Only festivals whose screenings are at least 70%
European films qualify for consideration, and priority will be
given to festivals meeting the following criteria.
A strong emphasis placed on European works, especially from European countries with low audio-visual activity.
The demonstration of progress in the proportion of
non-factual programming, and also in the diversity of nonnational programming.
The implementation of actions to secure the attendance of non-national European audio-visual professionals.
The development of actions to secure the attendance of young audiences.
Demonstration of progress in overall audience
impact.
Demonstration of concrete, realistic and strategic
development in artistic, organisational and financial terms.
In the case of applications for training, full details can
be found at http://europa.eu.int/comm/avpolicy/media/guidelines/fguide_en.pdf
But the key points are:
Applicants must be EU nationals, or from a country
in EFTA-EEA or PECO, which includes Bulgaria.
Movies will only be paid into dedicated bank accounts
which must only be used for the purpose of handling the
grant and paying relevant fees and other expenses.
Training must be undertaken at one of the following:
a recognised film and television school, universities, specialised professional training institutions, private companies operating in the audiovisual sector, specialised professional organisations. Broadcasters may be partners, but
may not be applicants. The areas eligible for applications
are:
TRAINING IN NEW TECHNOLOGIES
This includes:
Production (e.g. 3D animation and Hi Def)
www.discop.com
september 2005
opportunities
FOR YOU
Post-Production, especially special effects.
Marketing: using new media, e.g. Internet and
mobile, to promote cinema, DVD and TV.
New markets for film and TV such as the Internet
and 3G.
NEW INTERACTIVE MEDIA
This includes:
Writing and conception for new media, in particular
interactive narrative techniques.
Pre-Production for new media, especially concept,
technology, interface design and interactivity design.
Production, with emphasis on training in technology
and team management.
Management, including, financing, legal issues and
budgeting.
New technologies - new markets - new audiences:
platform specific, e.g. DVD, Internet, PC, ITV (with or without STBs), multiplatform and crossplatform.
TRAINING IN ECONOMIC, FINANCIAL
AND COMMERCIAL MANAGEMENT.
Applications must be from projects which target the
enhancement of skills for professionals, developing, producing and distributing audiovisual works, notably in the
fields of:
Business skills, including management, accounting,
marketing, pitching and presentation.
Producing.
Distribution / exhibition
The legal and financial aspects of co-production.
Understanding international markets.
Networking and accessing international markets.
TRAINING IN SCRIPWRITING TECHNIQUES
Applications must be from projects which target the
enhancement of development skills of professionals working with fiction, documentary, animation and multimedia
projects for theatrical release, TV or new distribution channels notably in the fields of:
Dramatic and visual writing techniques
Identification of target audiences
International standards of scriptwriting and presentation
Creative collaboration between writers, script editors, producers, directors and DOPs
All initial enquiries about applications for the above
grants and advances should initially be made through the
nearest Media Desk and sub-offices, a full list of which,
along with all relevant contact details, can be found at
http://europa.eu.int/comm/avpolicy/media/desk_en.h
tml
}
discop link 01
EURO 16 MILLION
FOR MEDIA
SUPPORT FOR
SOUTH EASTERN
EUROPE
he Media-Im-Pakt project team, a part of the
Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations (IFA) in
Stuttgart, Germany provides support to media workers in South Eastern Europe in their endeavors to build
up a free and independent media. The project thus
makes a significant contribution toward implementing
the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe into everyday practice. The Stability Pact for South Eastern
Europe was entered into in 1999, between the donor
countries and the countries of the region. More than
50 states and organizations are members of the
Stability Pact. The long-term goal is to familiarize South
Eastern Europe with the perspective of full integration
and with the structures of the EU. Media-Im-Pakt distributes funding made available by the Foreign Office of
the Federal Republic of Germany. Until 2004, the
German Foreign Office has distributed approximately
Euro 16 million within the scope of media support for
South Eastern Europe.
The support provided focuses on strengthening
independent media, improving the legal framework
conditions for free reporting, producing quality programming in radio and TV, and supporting local institutions in training journalists.
Media-Im-Pakt conceives the support program,
defines the annual focuses of support and spots eligible project partners.
The Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations in
Stuttgart acts as an intermediary of German foreign
policy on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The
task of IFA is the fostering of cross-cultural understanding through international co-operation in all
aspects of culture and the furtherance of peace.
NGOs, media institutions and academic institutions are eligible to funding. They should preferably
come from the countries of South Eastern Europe or
have been active there for several years. Countries of
focus are Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia,
Moldova, Serbia-Montenegro with Kosovo.
T
For more information please contact:
Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen e.V.
Media-Im-Pakt, Charlottenplatz 17,
D-70173 Stuttgart,
Phone +49-711 / 2225-134
Fax + 49-711 / 2225-218,
E-Mail: [email protected], www.ifa.de
www.discop.com
}
september 2005
07
region
SLOVENIA: CONTROL AT ANY PRICE
By Gojko Bervar
"This law is a possible prescription for a catastrophe" - Prof. Dr.
Karol Jaubovicz, Presiding Officer,
Media Committee in EC
N
ot taking into consideration numerous professional arguments
against such text, Slovenian Parliament, in July, has passed a new Law
on RTV Slovenia. The new government
has prepared the Law in record time,
and even greater record was the
shortness of the term for public
debate on the document. The Law was
planned to be passed in a month, so
the government could change the
complete leading team of the public
department. However, things took a
different course - today's Opposition,
since the Parliament rejected each of
their amendments without any argumentation, began an uncertain journey of deciding on the Law by referendum, which should take place in the
end of September.
Anyway, ruling coalition, while they
were still sitting on the Opposition
benches, argued that national TV and
radio were biased toward, and too
loyal to local government, though they
should be a natural ally with the
Opposition. Today, being government
themselves, they have changed their
tune, arguing that national TV is too
much on the side of the Opposition;
meaning that RTV Slovenia should not
be ally with the Opposition, but should
express more balanced attitude,
which their Law should make them do.
After the changes in the '90s, the
Slovenian national TV had got enough
time to reorganise itself into an independent public service. And thanks to
political balance of strengths, it succeeded in doing so. In 1990, Janez
Janša, today's Prime Minister - and
former Minister of Defence - spoke in
Parliament about the "swan's song" of
the Slovenian journalists. But, the
strength proportion in the Demos
coalition, and resistance of intellectuals within it, does not permit to lay
claim to national TV. Two years later, a
new Law on RTV was passed, which
strengthened the national TV independence, on formal level. National
RTV is, by the Law (at least till the referendum) led on two levels. On the
08 discop link 01
economic level, it is led by General
Manager (elected by RTV Council and
conformed by Parliament). General
Manager has no direct programme
authority. Programme power is in
hands of editors-in-chief (elected by
Council, with regards to journalists'
opinion, and - what is important - election does not conform to any political
organ). Politics has no influence on
RTV Council (at least on the formal
level), since they nominate just 5 out of
25 councillors, and the rest are
employees (3) and representatives of
civil society (university, farmers' associations, unions, religious organisations, invalids, sportsmen, musicians,
writers, etc.). Informally, it is clear
that political influence does exist,
since civil society representatives are
political beings. The fact which most
irritated the former Opposition (and
today's government) is that for the
president of RTV Council was twice
elected the former president of the
political party that originated from the
Communist party.
Yet, from the perspective of international association of journalists (IFJ)
- RTV Slovenia has, with the old law still
in effect, done its work professionally;
pluralism of opinions is the one expected from public service.
What is so controversial about the
new Law on RTV that waits for the referendum outcome? To say it simply this Law will enable the Prime Minister
to elect not even one TV or radio editor-in-chief, and by that to discipline
every journalist team.
The new Law repeals RTV Council,
and introduces two organs instead:
program and supervisory council. The
former counts 29 members: 19 are
elected by Parliament - the ruling coalition, to be more precise. This new
council has great authorities: election
of general manager, who further
elects director of TV and radio, and
also editors-in-chief. General manager
has programme power, and he/she
decides without editors-in-chief. Prime
Minister Janez Janša graduated from
the Faculty of Social Sciences,
Defence Department, so we should
not be surprised if the Law, in a totally
www.discop.com
military-tactical manner, anticipates a
"B" scenario for neutralizing unreliable
personnel. Program Council is at the
same time a complaint organ, i.e.
members of the party, if there may be
a need to replace some editor-in-chief,
will complain to the Council; the
Council will take it into consideration,
and remove "the personnel obstacle".
If the pressure of Program Council
fails, the new government has also
provided a tactical approach from the
economic side: 9 out of 11 members
of the other body - Supervisory Body,
that also has governing rights, are
elected by Parliament. Military tactical
exercise of the former Minister of
Defence completely surrounds the
national TV.
RTV Slovenia, which was used as
a role model for many transitional
counties, is now facing a new nationalization. Yet, in Slovenia, the attitude to
public TV is ambivalent. The audience
admit that they receive qualitative
information from public TV, better
than from commercial TV stations.
But there is a constant resistance to
obligatory subscription (while commercial TVs are free), and that, in my
opinion, will have crucial influence on
referendum results. Since voters of
political right are much more disciplined when it comes to election - it is
unlikely that the new Law would not be
confirmed on referendum.
For RTV, if Opposition remains
persistent, there is another exit - challenging the constitutional harmony of
Law in front of Constitutional Court. It
may delay the passing of the Law for a
year or even longer. However, the
Court will not be able to annul the Law,
but only some of its articles - which
creates anxiety that concept of political taking of RTV will succeed. And the
worst is still to come: it is very likely
that politicians of today's Opposition,
which, led by their own interests fight
against the Law, in future, when they
become government, will conclude
that their predecessors have done a
dirty work for them, and enjoy the new
powers that the Law will have given
them. It means that we will get a law
that may survive many years.
}
september 2005
region
GREECE: 70% OF LOCAL
PRODUCTION ON THE AIR
By Stamos Protopsaltis
Stamos Protopsaltis is heading
Hellas Television International, family
company that operates as a distribution agent in Greece and Cyprus for
more than 35 years, representing
some of the most prominent companies in the international market.
T
he Greek market could be characterized as mature even though it is
an ever-changing market in many
respects. This is not a paradox if one
considers that private TV appeared in
1989.
Private stations relied heavily on
foreign programming in the beginning.
Then they gradually turned to local
programming and lately, in a small
degree, to foreign programming due
to constantly increasing costs of local
programming. Currently, local programming prevails with a 70:30 ratio
(nationwide stations are counted, both
private and state owned).
The private stations (Mega,
Antenna, Alpha, Star and Alter) compete with each other and with NET,
which is the "commercial" state owned
station. On top, there are ET1, the
other state owned station, and Vouli
TV, the Hellenic Parliament station.
The competition is fierce for ratings
and advertising revenue. Finally, we
have Pay TV with terrestrial pay TV
(Filmnet and Supersport) and digital
pay TV (Nova).
Greece is basically no different
than most other countries in terms of
preferences in programming. When it
comes to foreign programmes, station buyers usually prefer action/adventure as they attract younger
viewers; hence this kind of programmes has a better pedigree for
advertising revenue.
Needless to say that, depending
upon a station's profile, drama could
also be preferred, especially if star
actors are included in the cast. Also,
lately, the telenovels start again
becoming favoured for the main reason of securing a descent market
share in the afternoon slots with a
discop link 01
rather low per hour cost. Of course,
everybody is out for theatrical blockbusters or movies with excellent cast
because of the public awareness factor. Reality formats have had for about
3 years the upper hand, but it was only
the Greek version that was and still is
to a large extent very popular.
Documentaries and art programmes were always very difficult to
sell as ET1 was the only station to find
any use of them. However, since last
year, Vouli TV is absorbing plenty of
hours. Animation is also extremely difficult as stations cannot have advertisement for kids before 22:00 by law.
In general, however, even if a programme could be characterized as
suitable it is still rather difficult to sell
in Greece. The local/foreign ratio of
70:30 speaks for itself. This ratio will
somehow slowly change but stations
buyers after 15 years of private television and full commercialisation have
now grown into sophisticated buyers
in every respect.
A word of consolation for everyone facing difficulties is that every programme finds its way to the television
air one way or another at some point
in time.
It is more difficult to sell a Greek
programme overseas. The main problem is the language barrier (only 10
million Greeks in Greece and another
10 million of Greek descent living all
over the world). Sometimes, production quality is excellent but unfortunately the market is mostly dependent
on other parameters (appeal to as bigger a population as possible, commercial exploitation ability, etc.)
Nonetheless, there are successful cases. Greek flavour documentaries, drama series and historical
series (mostly mini series), and even
theatrical movies are sold in a satisfactory way, especially to territories
with dense Greek population of immigrants or territories that have a traditional interest in the culture and history of Greece.
}
www.discop.com
COUNTRIES OF
EX YUGOSLAVIA
REUNITED IN
SOLIDARITY OF
PIRATES
I
n June this year, one of the Croatian
providers took down, on the rights
holder request, content of the site
www.titlovi.com.
Act, whose purpose was cessation of law violation, has an unexpected effect. Instead of declaring supply
of new films and translations - subtitles in local languages, that had taken
place till that moment, the site has
announced protests of people from
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,
Serbia & Montenegro and Slovenia.
Alternatives were offered, help proposed, new possibilities suggested,
and new locations - all in a friendly tone
of united fellow soldiers.
Anger against right holders, representatives of people who live from
film industry, was the least content of
the most of messages. If Marcial, who
in his Epigrams wrote the message,
"Pay, dear reader, pay," were alive, he
would probably feel the anger of people who are not willing to obey. Who,
to whom, whether, when and how
much one pays to enjoy the work that
someone has created, is not decided
by the creator of the work. Or it is
decided more rarely and more hardly.
Hard time for cultural industries in
these areas.
}
september 2005 11
region
IMPLEMENTATION OF BROADCAST ACT IN SERBIA
S
lobodan Ðoriæ, member of Serbian
Broadcast Council, had started
his career as Production Manager,
Factual Department, TV Beograd in
1968 and ended it as Deputy Editor-inChief in 1992, when he was forced to
resign from political reasons. In
1997, he founded the Association for
Development of Private Broadcast,
"Spektar". He has written several books about TV.
Unlike other countries in the
region, Serbia is the only one in which,
except for RTS, not one out of nearly
800 broadcasters have got broadcasting license. How has that happened?
The number of radio and TV stations is even greater, since not all
broadcasters have responded to
Republic Broadcast Agency's invitation
for listing. For 7.5 million people, even
that number is for a Guinness Book of
Records. More surprising is the fact
that the greatest number of RTV stations emerged during the Miloševiæ's
regime, between 1990 and 2000,
i.e. in the era of war, international isolation, political and media repression,
deterioration of economy, inflation and
poverty. Only electronic media and
criminal recorded 'increase'. Law on
telecommunications that was in force
in the 'big' Yugoslavia was inapplicable
in Serbia after 1991, and new Serbian
authorities have consciously avoided
making law regulations about electronic media founding and activities.
According to 1988 Law, only punitive
measures were applied, yet only selectively. The 'legal emptiness' has enabled a massive emergence of radio
and TV stations, both state on local
area (loyal to the regime) and private,
mostly 'neutral', meaning - music and
entertainment, without the news and
political programmes. Rare private televisions that had given space to opposition leaders had frequent visits from
telecommunication inspectors and financial police. Occasional closing
down of these stations was an 'educational measure' for others. The regime
used to maintain the atmosphere of
insecurity, and fear was the sole 'editor-in-chief', since no one had legal
protection; the 'rules of the game' had
discop link 01
been determined by the regime. Number of 600-700 RTV stations represented no media 'force', but it was an
'argument' against the criticism about
media freedoms in Serbia. On October
5th, 2000, when Serbia finished with
the Miloševiæ's regime, the broadcasting spectre acquired a new 'wave' of
broadcasters, and the air was released. The chaos in broadcasting has
continued, there is no auto-censorship
or repression, and in the middle of
2002, the Broadcasting Law was
passed. In its preparation media professionals and international experts
have participated. Due to obstructions
from some media and political structures in the Law implementation, 3
years have been lost; as a result,
Broadcast Council that should implement this law, could be activated no
sooner than June of this year.
On one hand, we have a 'wild market' in electronic media. On the other
hand, Serbia is considered to be a
good purchaser of programmes. How
do you explain that?
Except for small number of exceptions, programming, technical and all
other professional broadcaster standards are beneath European standards. TV programmes include a lot of
political and entertainment studio
'contact shows', which are cheap and
not demanding in terms of technical
capacities for recording and postproduction. To 'fill up the time', there are
repetitive broadcastings of all sort of
programmes. When the number of
RTV stations is reduced to a reasonable level, those stations that will
remain, will be able to maintain their
economy; broadcasting license will
provide security, and hence investments in their own programmes, staff
and techniques. In the past, TV programme was, and still is, filled with
cheap Latin-American and other foreign serials and low production films.
That 'hunger' for foreign programmes
of this kind is extracted by broadcasters' economic position. Their aim is to
survive in the contest for broadcasting
license obtaining, hoping that they will
'survive' the competition game.
How would you define the television market in Serbia at this moment?
www.discop.com
Formally, Serbia is divided into one
national, several regional, and over
hundred local areas that are simultaneously representing media and advertising markets. Since no one has a
legal license, no one respects advertising rules, especially referring to the
length and way of broadcasting.
Scales for commercials broadcasting
in the same media area are drastically
different, and are often applied selectively or as agreed; there is an unfair
competition, especially among private
broadcasters on a local level. To define
the advertising market situation, one
word is enough - a jungle!
When the implementation of
broadcasting law begins, TV stations
will be obliged to broadcast 50% of
domestic production. Will that influence the scale and structure of programme buying and exchanging?
Broadcasters receiving a broadcasting license will be obliged to produce at least 1 of the broadcast programme with their own programming
capacities; other fourth will be obtained from domestic RTV of independent productions. When we add
advertising time of 20%, there is still
enough space for foreign programmes, although less than before. Smaller media areas should make broadcasters create more diverse and
import higher quality foreign programme. That could be achieved by broadcaster associations from different
areas, and by introducing piracy fines,
the measure for which the Republic
Broadcast Agency is competent.
How long, in your estimation, will it
take for media situation in Serbia to be
put in order?
The steps in eliminating chaos in
Serbian broadcasting are determined
by the Law. So, the legalized RTV stations will enter the contest for national
coverage; there are also five networks
provided for commercial broadcasters. Then follows the TV broadcaster
selection process for nine regional
areas, and after that, for local broadcasters in over one hundred local
areas. Of course, we speak about
broadcasting within the analogue system, and we expect this process to be
over in three or four years.
}
september 2005 13
region
BOSNIA: WE HAVE RAISED FILM
INDUSTRY FROM THE ASHES
By Lejla Redžoviæ Medoševiæ
T
anja Majhrovski, Foreign Programme Editor, Television of BH Federation (FTV), speaks for DISCOP LINK
about public service role in revival of
domestic production in the country in
which, 15 years ago, life almost had
not existed; and about foreign programmes, projects that TV participates in, and domination of public systems over commercial televisions in
the whole region.
Federal TV participates in production of a great number of feature films
and serials that have become popular
in the whole region. What are these
projects?
Public services have to help revival
of domestic production. In Bosnia and
Herzegovina, there was a war, just 15
years ago, and the only thing that people could think of was bare survival. In
short time, we succeeded to change
this horrible condition, and to recover
domestic production. We were co-producers of films that have marked
after-war BH production, like "Gori
vatra" (Fuse) by Pijero Žalica, "Ljeto u
zlatnoj dolini" (Summer in the Golden
Valley) by Srðan Vuletiæ, and serials
"Crna hronika" (Black Chronicals) and
"Viza za buduænost" (Visa for Future).
Serials became great hits in the whole
region.
In August in Sarajevo, there is to
be held the most important film review
in the region. Has FTV participated in
production of some of the films that
Black Chronicals
16 discop link 01
Visa for Future
would have film-premiere at the
Sarajevo Film Festival?
Among others, FTV is co-producer
of films "Dobro uštimani mrtvaci" (The
Dead are Well Tuned) by Benjamin
Filipoviæ and "Go West" by Ahmed
Black Chronicals
Imamoviæ. We think that these films
are very good.
The fact is that BH film industry
has experienced certain boom in the
Summer in the Golden Valley
www.discop.com
Fuse
last three years. It seems that TV programme has also improved, comparing to, for example, 1998 or 1999
when mainly more-than-30-year-old
programmes were broadcast.
We equally work on domestic production and improvement of foreign
programmes. We broadcast new theatrical blockbusters, serials, and BBC
documentary programme.
Who is the leading broadcaster in
the region when speaking of TV programme quality?
I think HRT. They have the greatest
budget for foreign programmes.
However, we are not much behind. In
September, we are going to broadcast
the latest BBC documentary films; we
have bought 50 hours of National
Geographic...
Besides financial, is there any
other limit that hinders programme
improvement?
Budget is the only limiting factor.
We purchase programmes that we
can pay. However, we manage everything. I think that we are the leaders in
Bosnia and Herzegovina, when speaking of quality of domestic and foreign
programmes.
What are the future plans?
Continuation of domestic production development, and helping BH film
industry. Bosnia and Herzegovina has
potentials that should be used. Public
service should help, as much as it can.
}
september 2005
economy
WHO PAYS PUBLIC SERVICE IN EUROPE?
By Slaðana Ðuranoviæ
ecause of social position, organizing and functioning of public RTV
services in Europe (and RTV enterprises that work according to public service principles, though legally they do
not have the status) there are significant differences in financial base of
functioning, but EU members agreed
that prerogatives of every county are
to organize and finance their public
RTV services based on social role and
mission they have.
It is agreed that financing of public
RTV should not influence trade conditions and competition in EU to the
extent that imperils common interest.
Radio and/or TV subscription in
Europe is a traditional form of financing public RTV services, used in majority of European countries, and it is still
evaluated as the most appropriate. No
matter what name it has in laws of different countries, RTV subscription
refers to every obligatory payment by
spectators and listeners of RTV programme, that is, people who have the
equipment for programme reception;
this payment is directly or indirectly,
totally or partially used for financing of
public RTV service.
There are significant differences,
and on the account of that, it is not
easy to compare public RTVs in
Europe by each element of dealing. In
spite of differences, there is consensus that public RTV enterprises need
appropriate and reliable form of
financing, and that financing from public income is an integral part of public
RTV systems. The consensus has had
its confirmation during the 90s, in
political and legal documents of EC and
EU. The consensus is based on acknowledging the crucial importance of
public RTV for informative infrastructure of every democratic society, or
which tends to be democratic.
Not only in professional and political, but also in broad public, is it
emphasized that only public RTV stations (and those which function on the
principles of public service) have the
responsibility to serve different audiences and cultures in their country,
using new electronic media, not less
important than radio and TV. To reach
B
discop link 01
this goal, every society has to provide
a real opportunity to its public RTV
service, and also suitable and predictable economic conditions - to
serve citizens, using a lot of technological "ways".
Dual system (parallel public and
private RTV enterprises) is a special
attribute of European media space.
Rut Hieronimi, representative of Germany in European Parliament, in her
speech stressed that, "We do not
want media system that USA has",
and added that Parliament members
would fight for dual RTV system survival. However, to be successful in this
fight, it is necessary that government
of every country clearly determines
and specifies the social function (purpose) of its public RTV station.
The necessity to provide reliable
and predictable financing of public RTV
is argument based on the following
facts:
Only public service has the obligation toward society, and it is responsible to authorized political bodies
(that represent public interest) for its
work.
Public RTV provides universal
availability of information, and this supports the idea of active citizens in democratic society - without election
body that is well informed, there is no
democracy.
Public RTVs mostly contribute
to high-quality media contents - informative, educational, and cultural - and
by that they oppose to modern logic of
"bread and circuses", which is present
in media supply.
Public RTV services may be
financed from public and commercial
sources.
Financing National RTVs
www.mediart.org
Public sources are state budget
and other public funds, and subscriptions. Commercial sources - resources obtained from market transactions (advertising, sponsorship, programme selling...
For evaluation of public RTV
financing system, the most important
should be:
(1) public funds finance exclusively
basic business of public service, and
not, for example, private RTVs to be
"damaged" by "dumping" prices of
advertising minutes on public TVs; for
commercial activities, public RTVs are
obliged to have separate accounts.
(2) Public should clearly define the
social function and purpose of public
RTV service; financial openness of
activities should also be provided.
The most common financing system in Europe is combined financing combining of public and commercial
resources for public RTV financing.
Not considering specifics that exist
among different countries, it is important that public service activities may
be financed from public and from commercial sources, and "public income"
can not be used for any activity that is
not legally defined as obligation, function of public RTV service. For other
activities of public RTV, separate account is required (European Directive
of Financial Transparency gives us
details about that).
The reason for combined financing domination in European countries
is the following: in a lot of counties,
one finance source would not be sufficient to enable public function fulfilling
of RTV:
Combination of different sources may enable fulfilling of more
dimensions of RTV public function;
Combined financing is more
suitable for the situation of sudden
changes in economic environment avoiding "drying up" of financing
source of RTV public function.
In some countries, amount of subscription is estimated as a percent of
electricity bill amount; in others,
amount for the current year is set by
Parliament or Government.
}
september 2005 17
people
BILL PECK: SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENT
OF LOCAL PRODUCTION
By Bob Jenkins
B
ill Peck is a man with vast experience of Central and Eastern
Europe, having made his first sales
trip to the region in March 1970.
Things were a bit different thirty-five
years ago; on the four-week journey,
taking in all the countries of the region
with the exception of the then Soviet
Union and Albania, Peck was accompanied by an old Sony top-loader VCR,
a monitor, and two suitcases of cassettes and publicity! But perhaps the
biggest indicator of change is that in
1970, none of the Eastern European
languages had a word for 'ratings'!
Peck believes that, over the intervening years the, "arrival of commercial television has undoubtedly been
the biggest single change to broadcasting in the region," and that, "initially these changes represented great
opportunities for Western programming - especially from the US. Almost
overnight there was a huge hunger for
US feature films, cop shows and glamorous soaps like DALLAS and BEVERLY HILLS 90210." Although the
changes to broadcasting in the CEE
have been dramatic, "nothing very
much," has surprised Peck in the way
the region's audio-visual sector has
developed, except possibly, "the slow
growth of Pay-TV in Russia."
With such experience, and now a
London based consultant for the Rus-
sian production powerhouse AmediA,
Peck is ideally placed to advise Western companies on their approach to
the CEE. "If I were giving advice to a
Western executive, unfamiliar with the
area," he muses, "I would say don't be
surprised to find it is virtually the same
as the West! Anyone," he adds, "coming to the region thinking it'll be a
pushover will be in for a surprise.
Since the fall of communism the
region has embraced the free market
economy with a breathtaking dynamism and energy that has produced a
group of entrepreneurs every bit as
smart, intelligent and capable as their
Western counterparts."
"In fact," continues Peck, "Western programming has become harder
to sell in Eastern Europe and Russia especially series, due mainly to the significant development of local production. Today, the top 20 shows in every
country are locally produced. However," he continues, "I do believe that
Western programming will make a
come back, if not to previous levels,
certainly on the increasing number of
cable and satellite channels." By way
of example, Peck cites, "Buena Vista's
new hit series LOST which debuted in
prime-time on Channel 1 in Russia last
month with a 13.1 rating, and this is
the first time Channel 1 have run a US
series in prime-time for several years."
JOSE ESCALANTE: RCTV TAKES THE PARTY LINE
D
ISCOP 04 saw the launch of a
number of new initiatives amongst
which were, THE DISCOP CAMPUS
CONFERENCE PROGRAMS, and the
inaugurial RCTV party. Both were
repeated with even greater impact at
DISCOP 05. Jose Escalante, vice-president and general manager at RCTV,
party host, and supplier of the ever
popular Telenovela form, was happy
with the presence of 250 from more
than 1000 people who attended DISCOP. Escalante said, "what makes a
great market event is attendance. You
need lots of people, who can take the
opportunity to meet and talk, hopefully
discop link 01
about our great product - which is why
we never host a dance!" The RCTV
party is held on a boat restaurant on
the Danube and, as Escalante
observes, "here in Budapest, you don't
need dancing to distract you when you
have such a great view!"
Escalante explains RCTV's rationale for hosting the party, as being,
"power point marketing. It helps with
our branding and, of course, it very
much helps to promote our product. In
fact," he continues, "hosting such
events must be seen as part of the
cost of being in business," adding,
"we've been attending DISCOP now for
www.discop.com
And, as Peck is quick to point out,
"Acquiring script and format rights is a
huge business right now. Local versions of hit US shows such as THE
NANNY are very popular. In Russia
THE NANNY was made by AmediA as
a co-production with SPI, and its ratings in Russia and Ukraine were phenomenal."
AmediA is the biggest productionhouse in Russia making over six hundred hours of programming a year,
and Peck believes that, "its cooperation with Sony Pictures International
was a smart move giving AmediA visibility and credibility from the very
beginning. That relationship has
already spawned a number of very
high quality series such as POOR
ANASTASIA, TALISMAN OF LOVE and,
of course, THE NANNY.
As he contemplates his recent
move from selling Western shows
eastwards to his new role selling
Russian shows to the West, Peck
doesn't think the experiences will be so
very different. "If the product is good,
then so are your chances of selling it,"
is his sanguine observation, adding,
"and the fact that the shows are in
Russian is not a problem in continental
Europe - they even regard English as a
foreign language!" While a lot may
have changed in the past 35 years,
some things, it seems, never do!
}
around eight years, and it has certainly proved to be an important element
in building our brand in the region, DISCOP is now definitely part of our strategy. No one event on its own can create a market opening, they are all
tools that help you work towards creating that opening. They all help." His
belief in this theory is born out by the
revelation that RCTV, "also hosts a
breakfast at NATPE for our LatinAmerican clients, and at the L.A.
Screenings, in association with other
Telenovela companies, we host an
opening night party for the Asian,
Latin-American and European buyers,
and at the last ATP in Singapore, we
hosted the opening ceremony.
}
september 2005 19
people
ELZA STRAPKOVA: MARKIZA IS
FAMILY TV
By Anna Njemoga Kolar
E
lza Strapkova is Editor-Manager in
The Program Centre, Acquisition
Department at Markiza TV. She acquired her first professional experience
in Slovakia TV (STV), and in 1995, she
was offered a job in Markiza TV - a new
player in media space of Slovakia. At
the time, no one could know that this
TV would become the most successful
in the country, even one of the most
successful in Europe, and that, because of its professional work in information programme, Markiza TV would
become popular worldwide. Elza
Strapkova has accepted this new professional challenge. She left security of
a long-tradition institution, and joined a
team that set basis to a new television. A dynamic job was waiting for
her, a new way of thinking, and a modern approach to television matters.
That also concerned Acquisition
Department.
“Markiza is a family TV that prepares its program primarily for this
target group,” said for DISCOP LINK
Ms. Elza Strapkova. “Family programmes include films, contests, sitcoms,
serials, telenovels... This basic program streamline combines different
age groups, genres, and fulfils expectations of several generations. We buy
and choose programmes based on
the structure and broadcasting terms
of certain program types. In Saturday
and Sunday afternoons, for example,
we broadcast programme for children
and the young.”
What criteria do the films that you
choose have to meet?
First of all, we are interested in
new films, and also in rewarded ones.
Not every rewarded film may attract a
great number of spectators. Sometimes, a simple drama in which a spectator recognizes oneself proves to be
more successful then a film with brilliant actors and great many rewards.
What guides you when you buy
serials?
discop link 01
We are most interested in shorter, yet high-quality European serials from France, Germany, and Czech
Republic. We are also interested in
undiscovered producers. We are looking for serials for children, the young,
but also for a universal spectator. The
most successful with our spectators
were sitcoms such as “Friends”,
“Murphy Braun”, “Alf”, “The Bill Cosby
Show” or different serials - “Beverly
Hills 90210”, “Melrose Place”. Very
specific was the great success of
“Commissar Rex”, a criminal serial
without the explicit violence. If by the
term "serial" we also assume telenovels, the genre has multiplied in Slovakia. It may look like it is the genre of
the most priority. But it is not! It is only
an addition, and it should stay this way.
What programmes for children
and the young are you looking for?
Speaking of animated cartoons,
we prefer the classical animation.
Although we are a commercial TV, in
children's programme we are guided
by ethic principles. In the story, good
has to overcome evil, evil never remains unpunished, little ones should be
protected, the little one outwits the big
one... Feature films represent a classical family that look and find their way
out of dramatic situations. We do not
offer non-standard models; we are
looking for things that are close to our
mentality.
By which attributes does a Slovakian spectator differ from a spectator
from Czech Republic, Poland or
Hungary?
Spectators in each country react
differently. There is one specific example: Slovakia is talked about as a
"catholic" country. The serial "The
Thorn Birds" has offended the Slovakian spectators; it was convicted after
the very first episode, because, in
their opinion, it insulted the church
representatives. The Czechs applauded to the serial.
www.discop.com
What is the difference between
the USA and the European production?
As a result of variety of unpredicted circumstances, we first became
acquainted with the American production. Europe has become closer now,
10 years after the beginning of our
broadcasting. The European production is not commercial; it speaks about
problems that have their origins in the
past. The German programmes speak
about the Jews; the French programmes speak about collaboration, or different races that live there; the
Turkish ones speak about emigrants
looking for a job; in some countries
they deal with lesbians and homosexuals. The European programmes speak
primarily about people who live there.
They are authentic, original. Yet,
because of such strong connection
with the environment and its characteristic themes, they are not always
interesting to purchase.
For the end, one more question
characteristic for Slovakia. It is about
the programmes that have already
been dabbed in Czech language. Is it
financially more beneficial for you to
buy and use them with the Czech dabbing, or to invest into the Slovakian
one?
It is cheaper to buy the Czech version; we use this possibility as well, but
the editor-in-chief in the Dabbing
Programme Department decides
about every such purchase. When it
comes to high-quality film programmes, we prefer Slovakian language. In
fact - we do it most frequently. After
all, it is our language.
}
september 2005 21
events - discop 05
HBO's MINDA TALKS ABOUT A
MARKET THAT IS A VERY FIRM
FIXTURE IN HER DIARY
By Bob Jenkins
J
udit Minda, Vice-President, Programming, HBO Central Europe,
has noticed an evolution taking place
in DISCOP," which she believes, "has
undergone a process of evolution that
has redefined DISCOP, and, I believe,
reinforced its place in the calendar of
TV markets. In particular Minda sees
the addition of events such as THE
DISCOP CAMPUS CONFERENCE PROGRAM, as playing a crucial role in this
development. "The DISCOP management," comments Minda, "have added
a number of attractions, especially
with emphasis on multi-media such as
the Internet and 3G content, which
has made the event more than just a
meeting place for people who buy and
sell audio-visual rights." Clearly, Minda
has put her finger on something in
choosing to emphasise these multimedia events, as DISCOP 2005 saw
lot of people attending TV LOVES
MOBILE, in only its second edition.
The real value of these additions to
DISCOP is underlined by Minda, "originally," she explains, "DISCOP was good
for developing countries to make
acquisitions, because Budapest is not
as costly as Cannes, and therefore
much more affordable for smaller
companies from the CEE. Today, however," she continues, "a lot of the CEE
countries are showing steadily improving economies, and much more stable
political situations, and are therefore
able to attend many more events." By
way of example, Minda cites this year's
L.A. Screenings at which she reports
Los Angeles to have been, "loaded
with buyers from the CEE," so she concludes that, "simply being an inexpensive event to visit is no longer enough
to keep DISCOP's place in the calendar, and so the addition of these new
attractions is a very good move on the
part of the DISCOP management."
discop link 01
Of course, HBO Central Europe is
based in Budapest, and so this means
DISCOP is a very convenient market
for them, a point accepted by Minda
who reveals that, "we had five full time
staff in attendance for the Thursday
and Friday of DISCOP 05, and that,
"between them, over the two day period, we have over 100 meetings!"
But it's not just the convenience of
the location that makes DISCOP a
'must attend' event for HBO Central
Europe. "For us," says Minda, "DISCOP works on many different levels.
It's a good venue to maintain relationships with the US majors, it is a good
place to hunt down new independent
programming that we might have
missed at the larger markets such as
MIP and MIPCOM, and being 'mid-season', it's a great place to have those
meetings that were just not possible
to schedule at the larger markets due
to crowded diaries. Also, "reveals
Minda, "a lot of sellers arrive in Budapest a few days before the market
starts and come an visit us in our
offices before hand," which she thinks
is, "great, because we have more
time, and everything is much more
relaxed."
Which is probably as well because
Minda reports that, "DISCOP 05 was
more vibrant than DISCOP 04,"
adding, "DISCOP 04 was very good
with a lot of good meetings and presentations, but there was definitely
more activity at this year's event."
Although as she readily accepts, "the
level of activity you experience at a
market can sometimes be a reflection
of your goals and needs at that market."
When pressed as to what, exactly
caused all this activity for HBO at DISCOP 05, Minda is coy, "I can't talk
specifics about deals," she demurs,
www.discop.com
Judit Minda, Vice - President Programming
HBO Central Europe
"but I can say that we had a number of
very important meetings and were
able to finalise the deal points with one
of the US majors on a very big deal
indeed. And," she adds, "as usual, DISCOP 05 was very good for acquiring
documentaries for our documentary
channel, Spektrum."
In general Minda believes that,
"DISCOP is very well run," although she
thinks the valet meeting service is,
"very useful," she still prefers to
arrange her meetings, "the old fashioned way," but agrees that, "for new,
or newer sellers who don't have my email address it useful because at least
it allows me to see what they have on
offer and decide whether it might be
useful to schedule a meeting."
"I think," Minda concludes in the
end, "that the DISCOP guys are doing a
very good job, it is extremely well
organised, they have a clear idea of
the concept, what they stand for and
how they want to grow the business,
and are making some excellent choices in 'add ons'. And I think DISCOP Link
is a great way of making sure the
brand stays in people's minds, so that
they know that DISCOP must be a part
of their annual diary - as it certainly is
with us!"
}
september 2005 23
events - festival in slovakia
THE 11 GOLDEN BEGGAR
TH
By E.J. Baumeister Jr.
B
y its nature, local television is an
enterprise not naturally connected to other local stations. Regional
stations that are part of national
broadcasters have such connections.
But the true local station, one that
serves viewers in a relatively small
geographic area, works alone.
This has its good sides. The truly
local station draws its programming
material from the locality it serves. As
a result, the programmes local stations produce have a competitive
advantage in their communities - no
one else produces material that focuses so closely on concerns that are
close to home. And no other kind of
television can offer such a unique public service.
But local stations tend to work in a
kind of professional isolation, unaware
of broad developments that affect
them. A local station in one place may
have experienced a technological or
economic phenomenon that a station
only a few hundred kilometres away
could benefit from. Because of this
lack of natural connection, the experience of one station, which could be
useful to one or more other local stations, is not shared.
For more than a decade, solving
this problem has been the mission of a
private, non-profit foundation based in
Košice, a city in eastern Slovakia. The
City TV Foundation each year stages
the International Festival of Local
Television Broadcasters. Every year in
June, local stations from France and
Golden Beggar Winner 2005 - "Muharem
Music - The Eyes of Life," produced
by TV Krug, Serbia and Montenegro
discop link 01
Workshops focus on common problems and common opportunities
Spain on the west, Belarus and Poland
on the east, Sweden and Britain in the
north and Serbia and Macedonia in
the south gather in the Slovak city for
four days of programme screenings
and educational workshops. The 11th
Festival was held during the second
week of June.
The programme screenings are
part of an awards competition. The
top prize is called the Golden Beggar,
based on a local Slovak legend about a
beggar who saved what he was given
and built one of the grandest houses in
the city. The name is also a reference
to the common financial situation of
many stations.
Workshops, lectures and discussion sessions focus on common problems and common opportunities. The
Festival also fosters an exchange of
those local programmes which could
profitably be seen more broadly. The
City TV Foundation maintains the
largest database in Europe of available
local programmes, and keeps the
exchange going throughout the year.
The Festival was started in the
early 1990s by a group near TV Naša
(Our TV in Slovak) broadcaster from
Košice, which got a local license soon
after the fall of the communist regime.
They reasoned that truly local television could provide a service to viewers
www.discop.com
that even post-communist TV service
could not. TV Naša became the
strongest local station in Slovakia and
for a while was able to lead a programme exchange among other local
Slovak stations on a daily basis.
During its time, the Festival has
brought together nearly 2,000 local
television representatives and screened many thousands of hours of programmes produced by local television
stations across Europe.
The most of the production made
by local TV stations had not been
made with more ambitions than to satisfy local audience as target group.
Sometimes strength of story and
enthusiasm of the crew result in a programme, which not only overgrows
needs of local audience, but is also
suitable for global TV market. Not only
"The Golden Beggar" winners as
"Mountain Boy" (ATV, Bosnia and
Herzegovina) or "The Crime that
Changed Serbia" (TV B92, from times
when the company was the only production group in Serbia), but a great
deal of screened programmes were
broadcast worldwide on national and
international channels. For local TV
stations, which principally have problems with financing, production of
such pieces could be additional source
of income.
}
september 2005 25
technology
EVERYDAY-GROWING
DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY
By Ilija Raduloviæ
D
igital technology is an everyday growing area worldwide. It is becoming inseparable part of human life.
Every day, a large number of "digital technology consumers"
is using its advantages to make their own life easer and
more simple. In recent years, a new branch of this "digital
tree" appeared on the market. The name of the branch is
Digital TV. Like every new thing in the digital world, this thing
also has its incubation and experimental period in life. The
results of this experimental period are very encouraging so
nowadays we are bringing digital TV into our homes to people who are enjoying high quality TV picture. Soon after digital TV had found its place in many homes, a new need was
on the way, the need for interaction. Allowing consumers to
communicate with their TVs we are giving them freedom to
request and receive useful information on TV screens. In
order to achieve this, digital receiver, called set-top box, is
something that must be placed in between broadcasters
and TV. Digital signal with interactive application is transmitted into the set-top box. Transmitted signal may be a
satellite, cable or terrestrial one, and those three types
determine the main category of the set-top box. The figure
below describes the complete interactive system.
The interactive system consists of three main parts.
The first part is at the broadcaster's, and it represents a
carousel server that combines video, audio and data packages into one digital signal ready for transmission. The second part has been mentioned above - a set-top box device
that receives the signal. Inside the set-top box there is mid-
dleware that runs MHP applications and electronics that
decode the digital signal. Finally, the third part of the system is responsible for user communication with the system. This part is known as "backend". Backend gathers
information sent by user, performs data analysis and communicates with the first part of the system. MHP applications visually interact with users and help them to send
their requests to the system.
As a result of many years of experience in this field
working with Italian Mediaset on their DTT project, Icon
Medialab (www.iconmedialab.tv) developed a complete
solution suite for developing, managing, deploying and analyzing MHP content. First publicly presented at the
IBC2004, Icon Medialab's solution called Icon InteracTV
26 discop link 01
Suite is today being further customized by Arhel from
Serbia for East European broadcasters. This suite has four
products that are combined together in one entity:
ICON TVEDITOR
This is editing solution for MHP applications. With this
product it is possible to create, publish and manage content, statically or dynamically in all interactive applications.
ICON SCHEDULER
Scheduler is an application developed to manage application guides and to plan the use of bandwidth.
ICON PRIMETIME
Basically, primetime are MHP applications. MHP applications can be television content, advertising campaigns,
public service, T-commerce, T-learning, messaging (e-mail,
SMS, chat, messenger), games…
ICON INTELLIGENCE
Intelligence is the back-end platform that manages
return channel and provides all data and statistics on its
use in real time.
The figure below shows those four products combined
together.
With TvEditor, editors can easily manage the content of
applications and they can also view the actual appearance
of contents at any time. TvEditor contains emulator that
reproduces graphical appearance. Scheduler is used for
scheduling the MHP applications broadcasting, statistical
information about bandwidth and to load and broadcast
interactive applications. Applications are able to: manage
TV channel audio-video streams or added video, synchronize applications with TV stream, support dynamic content
updating, and use various types of return channels.
Intelligence part allows MHP applications to communicate,
and send to and request information directly from the
broadcaster.
With this system many applications have been developed and are on the air ("Big Brother", "Who Wants to be a
Millionaire", "Champions' League"…). Every day, people
who are responsible for those applications monitor them
with this system and successfully adapt them based on
their needs.
Finally, we can say that good knowledge of client needs,
best process of developing idTV solutions, and reliable technical environment for support are the main prerequisites
for a good interactive system.
}
www.discop.com
september 2005