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Week ending October 21, 2006

PRIX EUROPA 2006 ends with Awards Gala – October 21, 2006

from Adele Seelmann/Prix Europa

Europe has selected its best Television-, Radio and Internet productions of the year for the 20th time: 13 Taurus trophies went to the winners in Berlin.

Tonight the festive prize-giving to the PRIX EUROPA 2006 winners ended the biggest continental broadcasting festival of its kind. Around 600 guests were there to see the makers of the best European Television-, Radio- and Internet productions each being honoured with 6000 Euros and a coveted Taurus Trophy. Terry Davis, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe and Golden PRIX EUROPA Patron, held the keynote speech; the gala was moderated by Sabrina Staubitz and took place in Berlin-Mitte.

During the ceremony the Austrian broadcaster ORF declared that it will be joining the PRIX EUROPA Alliance in 2007.

All in all, 241 productions from 35 countries had been nominated for nine categories. With 644 entries for 13 prizes PRIX EUROPA 2006 had a record participation.

The winners of the year 2006 come from eight countries: Germany (4), Denmark (2), Netherlands (2), Finland (1), Hungary (1), Norway (1), Spain (1) and the United Kingdom (1). Special Commendations were given to 4 productions from Sweden, 3 productions from France, 2 from the United Kingdom, 1 from Austria , 1 from Greece, 1 from Norway and 1 from Poland.

The winning productions 2006 at a glance:

1. The prizes in the Television Categories

TV Fiction: PRIX EUROPA - Television Programme of the Year 2006

The Chosen One / De Uitverkorene - Netherlands

TV Fiction: SPECIAL PRIX EUROPA – for tv serials and mini-series

Pioneer / Uudisraivaaja - Finland

Donor and patron: YLE Finnish Broadcasting

TV Documentary: PRIX EUROPA Television Programme of the Year 2006

Mañana al mar - Spain and Germany

TV Documentary: SPECIAL PRIX EUROPA

I’m alive because I sing / La vie en chantant - Netherlands

Donor and patron: The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe

TV Current Affairs: PRIX EUROPA Television Programme of the Year 2006

How to plan a Revolution – United Kingdom

Donor and patron: Directorate of Communication of the Council of Europe

TV: PRIX EUROPA IRIS Multicultural Television Programme of the Year 2006

My Father the Turk / Mein Vater der Türke - Germany

Donor and patron: Nederlandse Programma Stichting

PRIX EUROPA SPOT “ Happy Birthday Europe“

50 Years, 50 Colours, 50 Seconds – Hungary

Donor and patron of this prize: Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany

in cooperation with the European Cultural Foundation and the One Minutes Foundation

Fiction-script: PRIX GENÈVE –EUROPE – Best fiction script

Vacation from Life / Urlaub vom Leben - Germany

Donor: European Alliance for Television and Culture (EATC)

2. The prizes in the Radio Categories

Radio Documentary: PRIX EUROPA Best European Radio Documentary 2006

Lifestyle – Why don’t Vietnamese wear Adidas-Shoes? / Lifestyle – Warum tragen Vietnamesen keine Adidas-Schuhe? - Germany

Radio Documentary: PRIX EUROPA RADIO ÖSTERREICH 1

So long, Marianne - Norway

Radio Drama: PRIX EUROPA Best European Radio Drama 2006

The Work of Wonder / Undervaerket - Denmark

Radio Drama: PRIX EUROPA RADIO FRANCE

Running Amok – My Child’s Game / Amoklauf mein Kinderspiel - Germany

3. The prize in the Internet Category

PRIX EUROPA EXPLORATION

Fantastic Stories: http://www.dr.dk/Fantastiske/forside.htm -

Denmark

Cultural diversity and enthusiastic quality debates at PRIX EUROPA 2006

More than a thousand media professionals, among them editors, producers, directors, makers and managers, as well as observers and guests from 35 countries came to the European media festival in Berlin from 14 until 21 October. “The effects of globalisation on everyday life in Europe was reflected in many ways in this year’s competition“, says festival manager Susanne Hoffmann.

The jury members all praised the high level of the debates and the quality of media productions. “We listened to stories from all over Europe – about small villages, life in the big cities, people, fates, music and everyday life. I have learnt so much about our continent“; said Gunilla Bresky, Jury member for Radio Documentaries. “I will miss the productive atmosphere of Berlin“, the documentary-maker and producer added. Special about PRIX EUROPA is that the programme-makers and their colleagues decide who wins the prize rather than a prominent jury.

Dante-Gabryell Monson from Belgium also found the open discussion at the competition remarkable. The Internet-activist had come to PRIX EUROPA this year on recommendation of a friend, in order to get an impression of what is going on in the European broadcasters’ and Internet scene . His experience: “It is like a journey through different worlds on the continent in a few days“. And one of the many visitors in the main festival venue at RBB found the public events especially interesting: “After the fascinating Public Viewing Event I came back, in order to watch some nominated films in the PRIX EUROPA programme library.“

Public events offered a variety of insights

For interested media-users the 20th PRIX EUROPA in Berlin offered plenty of opportunites to delve into the diverse European radio- and television landscape - and to get in touch with the programme-makers. During an open day several Berliners looked over the juries’ shoulders, watching them do their job as jurors. The public presentation of the radio drama “The unexpected European“ which the BBC produced in cooperation with five broadcasters from other European countries was another highlight.

For the first time PRIX EUROPA HörKino gave visitors a chance to go on an acoustic journey across Europe with radio dramas and documentaries from Austria, Bulgaria, Germany and Norway. At the PRIX EUROPA Public Viewing three exceptional films were shown from Germany, Poland and Portugal.

The Internet-category, which met in the state-of-the-art RBB-broadcasting centre in Potsdam-Babelsberg, also went public. At a special event in Berlin, Online experts from European broadcasters gathered to discuss new trends like Web 2.0 with participants and guests , asking “What´s on your mind?“. The conclusion reached was that public broadcasters have to provide for more user activity in their Online platforms.

Summit of Cultural Radio: EBU constitutes Radio Culture Group

Another highlight of the 20th PRIX EUROPA was a two-day meeting of experts on cultural radio from nearly 30 countries in Europe at Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (rbb). It dwelt on the transfer of know-how and the future of European cultural radio in view of Internet, digitalisation and alternative forms of audio usage. In a preliminary meeting on Thursday a dozen controllers of major cultural radio stations from several European countries sat down to compare notes. On Friday the new Radio Culture Group, founded by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), gathered for its first plenary meeting.

Technical premiere at opening

The live concert for the opening of the 20th PRIX EUROPA was a technical broadcast premiere: the sounds of the Portuguese band Gaiteiros de Lisboa were transmitted via satellite to 19 radio stations all over the world as well as being broadcast live by the RBB channel radiomultikulti. At the same time the EBU transmitted the concert from Hall 3 in RBB’s historic radio building as an Online stream in 5.1. Surround sound. With an appropriate soundcard in the computer and the free Octoshape programme everybody could listen to the concert all over the world in the best possible quality. It was, according to the EBU, a very successful technological premiere, which should be repeated.

The great media interest in this jubilee edition of PRIX EUROPA was pronounced by the fact that 75 journalists from 12 countries accredited themselves for the whole festival week. At the Awards Gala in Berlin representatives from European embassies as well as culture- and media institutions met, among them the two directors of Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Petra Müller and Kirsten Niehuus, with media managers like UFA-CEO Wolf Bauer and artists like the director Florian Gallenberger. The prizes were handed over by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Terry Davis and Doris Pack, Member of the European Parliament, as well as Raina Konstantinova, Radio Director of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), Dagmar Reim, Director General of Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (rbb), Yasemin Tümer, Director General of the Dutch broadcaster NPS and Antje Karin Pieper from the Medienrat Berlin-Brandenburg.

Patrons & Alliance of 19 Supporting Organisations

The competition 2006 enjoyed the personal patronage of Josep Borrell Fontelles, President of the European Parliament, and in its 20th edition the Golden Patronage of Terry Davis, General Secretary of the Council of Europe. Due to the excellent cooperation with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the competition now has the backing of a growing alliance of supporting and financing organisations.

The members of the Alliance 2006 are:

Council of Europe

European Parliament

European Cultural Foundation

European Broadcasting Union

European Alliance for Television and Culture

Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany

Land Berlin

Land Brandenburg

Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg

Medienanstalt Berlin-Brandenburg

ARTE G.E.I.E.

FranceTélévisions

Nederlandse Programma Stichting - NPS

Österreichischer Rundfunk

Radio France

Telewizja Polska

YLE Finnish Broadcasting

Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen

Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg

Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg is the competition's host. The Festival Director is Susanne Hoffmann. PRIX EUROPA President is Arne Wessberg, International Relations Advisor for YLE.

WAN, WEF Protest Against Arrest of Board Member in Gabon – October 20, 2006

from Larry Kilman/WAN

The World Association of Newspapers and the World Editors Forum have protested to Gabon President Omar Bongo against the arrest of Norbert Ngoua Mezui, the founder and editor of Libreville-based "Nku'u Le Messager" and a Board member of WAN.

Mr Mezui, who represents the Gabon Association of Free and Independent Newspaper Publishers on the WAN Board, was arrested and jailed on 17 October while awaiting appeal in a 2003 defamation case.

In a letter to President Bongo, WAN and WEF called for the immediate release of Mr Mezui and the abolishment of Gabon's criminal defamation law. "We urge you to take all necessary steps to ensure that defamation is decriminalised in your country as soon as possible and that your country respect international standards of freedom of expression," the letter said.

Mr Mezui was sentenced to 21 days in prison in 2003 following a defamation action filed against him by the Gabon general paymaster, Mr Blaise Louendé.

Until his arrest this week, Mr Mezui was free awaiting his appeal. The implementation of the prison sentence should occur only after the outcome ofthe appeals process.

Médiamétrie - Sports on TV: New Heights Reached - October 16, 2006

from Sophie Rodriguez - Mediamétrie

On the occasion of the Sportel Monaco, Jacques Braun, Mediametrie’s International Director notes that "sport has never been followed more on TV and derives great benefit from the interest aroused by the new media to reach new audience records. TV will remain the n°1 medium to follow sport so long as main competitions are broadcast on free to air channels. This phenomenon intensifies when the national team qualifies. For example, this year in France, 75% of the population has been exposed at least once to a soccer World Cup match on television."

During major International sports events like Olympics, Soccer World Cup or Basketball World Championships, the sports programmes offer always expands on TV.

For example, in Italy it jumped from 3.6% of the total programming offer for the first 6 months of 2005 to 5.5% during the same period in 2006 thanks to the Olympics in Torino and also the soccer World Cup in Germany. As a consequence, during the period April to June 2006, 21.4% of the Italian TV consumption was dedicated to sport programmes.

A survey conducted by Mediametrie shows that even if in France 9 out of 10 of the population aged 13 + uses at least 2 media in the same day, TV often appears as the exclusive media between 9pm and 11pm (generally the time for football matches).

Sports Internet websites also benefit from the soccer World Cup’s positive effects on consumption. Indeed, 62 million US net surfers have been in contact with a sports website during the month of June. In Europe, they were more than 13 million in Germany and more than 10 million in the United Kingdom.

Goldmedia: IPTV kommt in Deutschland nun aus den Startlöchern - October 15, 2006

from Katrin Penzel - Goldmedia

IPTV - Fernsehen über das Internet-Protokoll verbindet die Vorzüge der zentralen Medien Fernsehen und Internet und gilt dadurch zu Recht als TV der neuen Generation. In Deutschland steht die Entwicklung von IPTV aber noch am Anfang. Trotz langfristiger Erfolgsaussichten prognostiziert Goldmedia bis 2010 zunächst ein Umsatzwachstum in kleinen Schritten. Das Potenzial für die durch IPTV erzielbaren Direkterlöse im Jahre 2010 schätzt das Berliner Beratungsunternehmen Goldmedia in der aktuellen Studie IPTV 2010 auf 261 Millionen Euro, gerechnet ohne die damit zusammenhängenden Werbe-, T-Commerce- und Infrastruktur-Umsätze.

Einführung von IPTV in Deutschland mit Verzögerungen

Spätestens der Start der Bundesliga-Saison 2006 hätte für IPTV in Deutschland die Initialzündung bringen sollen. Bislang gibt es aber mit HanseNet und der Deutschen Telekom AG erst zwei IPTV-Anbieter im deutschen Markt. HanseNet bietet seit Mai 2006 IPTV in Hamburg und Lübeck an, weitere Ballungsräume sollen folgen. Der kommerzielle IPTV-Start der Deutschen Telekom AG mit dem Bundesliga-Angebot in Kooperation mit Premiere wurde auf Oktober 2006 verschoben. Weitere Unternehmen haben IPTV-Angebote angekündigt, darunter Arcor und O2.

Dass Deutschland hinter der Entwicklung anderer europäischer Länder wie etwa Frankreich oder Italien deutlich zurückbleibt, hat auch mit den besonderen Marktgegebenheiten zu tun. In Deutschland ist neben Satellitenempfang vor allem das Kabel stark verbreitet. Anders in Italien und Frankreich: Will man hier mehr als fünf TV-Programme beziehen, ist man fast ausschließlich auf den Satellitenempfang angewiesen, da die Kabelnetze nur wenig ausgebaut sind. Damit aber sind die Wettbewerbsbedingungen für neue TV-Dienste über Breitbandinternet wesentlich günstiger. Seit 2001 bieten zum Beispiel Fastweb in Italien und seit 2003 Free in Frankreich IPTV als umfassende so genannte Triple-Play-Dienste (TV, Internet und Telefonie) an. Allein in Frankreich nutzten Ende 2005 bereits über 500.000 Haushalte Premium-Angebote, die auf IPTV-Technologie basieren.

Entwicklungsmotoren: Wettbewerb der Anbieter und Breitbandpenetration

Der Wettbewerb zwischen Kabelanbietern und Telekommunikationsunternehmen und deren Ringen um neue Geschäftsmodelle ist einer der wichtigsten Entwicklungsmotoren von IPTV. Für DSL-Anbieter eröffnet IP-basiertes Fernsehen die Möglichkeit, durch attraktive Triple-Play-Pakete neue Erlösquellen zu generieren und so eine Erhöhung der durchschnittlichen Kundenumsätze (ARPUs) zu erreichen. Die Zahl der Breitbandanschlüsse in Deutschland steigt laut Goldmedia-Berechnungen von 10,7 Millionen Ende 2005 auf rund 23 Millionen Ende 2010. Damit werden deutlich mehr als die Hälfte der deutschen Haushalte (58 Prozent) 2010 über einen Breitband-Anschluss verfügen.

Und dennoch wird sich IPTV als Basis-TV-Versorgung hierzulande zunächst nur teilweise durchsetzen können. Ein Grund dafür sind die bestehenden Verträge zwischen Wohnungswirtschaft und Kabelnetzbetreibern: Viele Haushalte haben aufgrund ihrer Mietverträge keine Möglichkeit, ihren Kabelanschluss zu kündigen und müssten bei der Nutzung von IPTV doppelt bezahlen. Der zweite Grund ist das vergleichsweise große Angebot an kostenlos empfangbaren werbefinanzierten TV-Sendern in Deutschland. Die primär auf einem Pay-Ansatz beruhenden Geschäftsmodelle für IPTV haben es dadurch schwerer als in anderen Ländern Europas.

IPTV-Umsatzwachstum in kleinen Schritten

Die von Goldmedia für 2010 prognostizierten Direkterlöse von 261 Millionen Euro repräsentieren die Brutto-Endkundenumsätze und umfassen lediglich IPTV-Erlöse wie Gebühren für Basis-TV-Pakete, Premium-Pay-TV-Abonnements, Umsätze aus Video-on-Demand-Angeboten sowie Erlöse durch interaktive Zusatzdienste. Nicht erfasst sind Werbe- und T-Commerce-Umsätze sowie Erlöse, die allein durch die notwendige Infrastruktur (z.B. den VDSL-Anschluss) generiert werden. Von 2006 bis 2010 ergibt sich damit ein durchschnittliches jährliches Wachstum (CAGR) der Direkterlöse von 75 Prozent.

Durchsetzung von IPTV erfordert klare Marketingstrategien und Tarife

Für die Telekommunikationsunternehmen geht es bei den Angeboten nicht allein um die direkt generierbaren Umsätze. Der stark gewachsene Wettbewerb innerhalb der klassischen Telekommunikationsmärkte Telefonie und Internet zwingt die Anbieter, sich von den Wettbewerbern stärker zu differenzieren. IPTV ist dabei ein hervorragendes Instrument zur Kundengewinnung und -bindung.
Internationale Beispiele in Frankreich zeigen, dass die Akzeptanz von IPTV neben attraktiven Angeboten sehr wesentlich vom Pricing abhängt. Zentral sind dabei einfache und durchsichtige Tarifstrukturen. "Hier geht es aber nicht allein um billig oder teuer, sondern auch um die Unterscheidbarkeit und Durchsichtigkeit von Angeboten", unterstreicht Studienautor und Goldmedia-Analyst Mathias Birkel. "Wie das gehen kann, zeigt der französische Anbieter Free: Der Kunde zahlt hier für einen Telefonanschluss mit kostenloser Telefonie, einen Internetanschluss mit 28 Mbit/s inklusive Flatrate sowie einem TV-Paket mit etwa 100 Kanälen eine monatliche Pauschale von 29,99 Euro. Es ist wichtig, dass der Kunde klar erkennt, welchen Betrag er bezahlt und was er dafür bekommt. Versteckte Kosten und seitenlanges Kleingedrucktes schrecken letztlich nur ab."