Radio Teddy: Another Stumble for German PSBs

A group of German investors seized the opportunity with the Berlin-Brandenburg Media Authority (MABB) and launched Radio Teddy, a radio station for children 3 to 12 years “and their families.” It has been on the air since August 6th and broadcasts from 0600, when all good German kids should be essen der Frühstücks, until 2100, when all good German kids should be verstant in ihren Betten. During the darkness hours Motor FM takes over: a related story to follow.

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So, why does mean ol’ Hans Dieter Hillmoth, vice-president and radio chairman of the Association of Private Broadcasters (VPRT -Verband Privater Rundfunk und Telekommunikation), want Radio Teddy stopped? The VPRT has asked the MABB to withdraw Radio Teddy’s license. Is this not like stealing Christmas?

Digging like an archeologist deep into the Radio Teddy license application, transparently posted on the MABB web-site, all can see the name of Odeon Films AG, wholly owned by Bavaria Films AG, itself making recent news for a little television product placement scandal. Bavaria Films is owned by four major German public broadcasters. In the Radio Teddy partnership agreement, according to notes supplied by VPRT, all decisions require agreement of 75% of the voting shareholders. Odeon Films AG holds 25.1%, sufficient to influence decisions. "Schicht für Schicht die Eigentumsverhältnisse aufdecken." ("Layer after layer things are discovered," very roughly translated.)

This indirect participation by public broadcasters in private, commercial channels concerns VRPT’s Mr. Hillmoth. German public broadcasters are forbidden by the Interstate Treaty on Broadcasting (Rundfunkstaatsvertrag – RStV) from owning private stations. However, the MABB says public “participation” in commercial broadcasting is “not illegal.”

Two public broadcasting directors, Peter Voss of SWR and Fritz Pleitgen of WDR, expressed shock. Voss said he wants to take it “to the door” of Odeon Films. Pleitgen wants to take it to the Bavaria Films board meeting where, it seems, he has questions on a number of issues.

“I consider it problematic, at least,” said Voss to the Frankfurter Allgemeinen Zeitung (FAZ), “if not inadmissible that the public broadcasters are involved, if only indirectly, in private stations.”

Odeon Films is also a financial partner in LOFT TV, a proposed private, commercial, national digital TV channel. In July the German Federal Institute for National Media (Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Landesmedienanstalten - ALM) reported that “permission” should not be granted. Working group chairman Dr. Norbert Schneider reported that “due to its partnership allocation LOFT TV appears like public broadcast in private garb.”

The MABB licensed both Radio Teddy and Motor FM last year to broadcast on 106.8 FM, said to be the only free FM frequency for Berlin. There were 25 applicants.

Motor FM, the brain-child of former Universal Music (Germany) Chairman and CEO Tim Renner, filled the entire day from its launch February 1st until Radio Teddy’s debut August 6th. Renner left Universal, owned by Vivendi, reportedly over the treatment of German and new artists by the international music label at about the same time the German music industry and the Parliament debated German language content for radio stations.

Renner, named one of the 100“Global Leaders of Tomorrow” by the World Economic Forum in 2003, had a wholly different concept for radio, not surprising from someone coming from outside that sphere. New music and German artists would be featured in a pre-produced format, saving the expense of DJs. Motor FM, first an internet site, would not be financed by advertising but by music downloading, though some programs are now sponsored. The internet streamed broadcast continues 24 hours a day but FM distribution is relegated to late nights and very early mornings.

VPRT’s Hillmoth said, in a press statement, that limiting Motor FM’s on-air exposure makes its’ financing “practically impossible.”

Motor FM is one of 13 stations broadcasting via DVB-T for the IFA consumer electronics exhibition in Berlin September 2-9.

Radio Teddy: Another Stumble for German PSBs

A radio channel for children seems such a brilliant undertaking. It can be educational, entertaining. Just think of the possibilities!