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For years various constituencies have argued for removing advertising from public broadcasting. The intent, similar to removing license fee revenues, has been to limit capacities through smaller budgets and transfer audiences and, therefore, revenue streams to private sector media operators. Sometimes these competitive strategies work and sometime not.
Latvia’s Ministry of Culture recommended pulling advertising from public broadcasters Latvian TV (LTV) and Latvian Radio and the parliament made the appropriate amendments to the Electronic Media Law. This will come into effect in 2021. To offset the revenue loss and additional costs for filling those minutes now lost to ads the state budget will provide “adequate” funding of about €14 million. “We have made an important step in strengthening the information space, which will enable public media to focus on creating high-quality content,” said a Culture Ministry spokesperson, quoted by diena.lv (June 19). To be sure, Latvia’s privately-owned media houses welcome the possibility of increased ad revenues.
Lest one see this simply as politicians serving up a favor to private sector media houses, a different need has arisen. "Guaranteed, independent funding for public media strengthens editorial independence," said Human Rights Commission president Inese Laizane. "Limiting hostile and well-prepared information that appears within electronic media is a matter of national security.”
RTCG Director General Andrijana Kadija was dismissed earlier this month for making “illegal contacts” with an NGO, the Center for Civic Education (CGO). Ms Kadija had held the position for 14 months. The dismissal was widely seen as a further effort to bring RTCG in step with the ruling political establishment. Several dozen media workers staged a demonstration at the RTCG building in Podgorica. “Highly concerned” was the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), in a statement (June 8).
The CGO supports several programs in Montenegro mostly concerning education and providing text books. It is also involved in media monitoring and advocating freedom of information. Support for the NGO comes from the Council of Europe, the European Commission, OSCE, the German Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs and several others. The specific CGO project cited by the RTCG supervisory council “aims to stimulate objectivity and innovation in the world of journalism,” reported OBC (Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa) (June 15). (See more about media in the Western Balkans here)
Participating in the CGO project “compromised the integrity of RTCG,” said council member Mimo Draskovic, who pushed Ms Kadija’s ouster. Mr. Draskovic is a university professor (maritime studies) and aligned with the ruling Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS). He was named to the RTCG council in April. Montenegrin media freedom advocacy Media Centar opposed Mr. Draskovic’s nomination.
Named as acting director general at RTCG was Bozidar Sundic, a former RTCG television and radio director. Two weeks later he sacked RTCG television director Vladan Micunovic citing the CGO contract and “fake news,” noted daily newspaper Vijesti (June 20). Mr. Micunovic had been short-listed for the permanent director general position.
President Milo Djukanovic has been bluntly critical of the European Union, which has slow-walked accession for Montenegro on concerns over systemic corruption. He was inaugurated in May for a second term. In the recent Reporters sans Frontieres (RSF) Press Freedom Index Montenegro ranks 108th in the world.
More broadcasters are taking the Netflix Challenge. The charge into streaming video on demand (SVoD) continued this week with German pay-TV company ProSiebenSat1.Media and Discovery making another announcement about the 7TV project. “We are putting very significant resources and investment with urgency into this effort,” said ProSiebenSat1.Media chief executive Max Conze, quoted by Reuters (June 25).
The companies formed the 7TV joint venture last October and recruited YouTube executive Alexander Vassilev to run it in February. The new announcement indicated the companies are adding the ProSiebenSat Maxdome service and Discovery’s Eurosport Player to the project. It will launch in the first half of next year. Urgency. ProSiebenSat1.Media launched Maxdome in 2006. Discovery Communications took full control of Eurosport in 2015. (See more about media in Germany here)
Invited to the challenge are private broadcaster RTL and public broadcasting network ARD, both quite committed to streaming video and not without resources. And both, separately, nodded to the idea of an all-German assault on Netflix, Amazon Prime and YouTube while pursuing their own streaming services. "In principle, we are open to cooperation and alliances,” said an RTL Group spokesperson, quoted by Reuters, “if they fit our business model and if they are legally representable.” (See more about streaming media here)
"There will be different platforms in which we are involved with very different partners," said ARD chairman Ulrich Wilhelm, quoted by Der Spiegel (June 26), at the conclusion of a big ARD meeting in Berlin where the major topics of conversation were forthcoming changes to the household license fee calculation and fighting google and Facebook.
A bit over one-third of German internet users (37%) access SVoD channels, reported industry lobby Bitcom.
Dutch daily newspaper De Telegraaf’s building was vandalized in the early hours of Tuesday morning (June 26). Surveillance video, widely released, shows a white van slowly negotiating barricades before crashing into the main entrance, backing up and ramming the building again. A person could be seen tossing something into the van, which exploded, then fleeing to a waiting automobile and leaving the scene. There were no injuries.
"This is not something that makes you happy,” said De Telegraaf chief editor Paul Jansen, quoted by public broadcaster NOS (June 26). “But at the same time we do not let ourselves be intimidated. We rolled up our sleeves and are back to work.” (See more about media in the Netherlands here)
As with many media companies in Europe, De Telegraaf implemented stronger security procedures after the murderous 2015 attack on the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris. De Telegraaf crime reporter John van den Heuvel has round the clock minders from government security agency DKDB after death threats from his chief subject: mobsters. Last week offices of weekly magazine Panorama were hit by an anti-tank missile (yes, anti-tank missile). Subsequently, a biker gang member was arrested. “I do not want to speculate,” said Mr. Jansen. (See more about investigative reporting here)
Well-known Dutch TV crime reporter and author Peter R. de Vries cautioned on speculation. "It can be an individual who thinks he has been treated unfairly,” he told Algemeen Dagblad (AD) (June 26), “But it can also be a group that wants to give a signal. You have to look more broadly than just the mafia or the biker clubs. It is about driving fear.’'
Media buyers in Poland will see rate increases next year for spots on state broadcaster TVP, said TVP president Jacek Kurski. "This is because of the actual audience of Telewizji Polskiej (TVP), he said, quoted by press.pl (June 22). TVP commissioned telecom Netia to provide TV audience estimates in competition with the Nielsen service.
“I can not tolerate any longer a situation where Telewizji Polskiej loses hundreds of millions of zloty per year as a result of the existing system by the monopolistic company Nielsen,” he explained at a press conference. Mr. Kurski has complained about the Nielsen audience estimates since certain programming changes at TVP channels reflecting the cultural mandate of the ruling Law and Justice party resulted in noticable drops in viewing. The Netia service uses the set-top box of its own subscribers to measure viewing from a limited sample weighted toward non-urban households and not all TV channels are included.
“We know too little about President Kurski's announcement to be able to refer to it in detail,” said a statement from Nielsen, quoted by media news portal wirtualnemedia.pl (June 22). “However, let us remember that very precise rules and standards related to auditing apply in the research industry. Once again, I repeat that the auditor must always be independent and must have experience in audience research.” Nielsen has provided television audience estimates in Poland for 20 years. (See more about media in Poland here)
“I don’t think the market will accept this,” said MullenLowe MediaHub buying director Maciej Niepsuj.
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