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Week ending October 28, 2006

EBU protests against IOC decision – October 27, 2006

from Eric Piraux piraux@ebu.ch

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) officially protested today against the decision by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to hold the finals of the swimming and a number of gymnastics competitions at the 2008 Olympics in the morning in Beijing, corresponding to the middle of the night in Europe. With this decision the IOC ends the tradition of staging these finals in the evening irrespective of the time zone at the venue.

The EBU has already expressed its opposition to the proposed changes and drawn the IOC's attention to the negative consequences of such a decision as viewers in Europe as well as the vast majority of the global TV audience will be disadvantaged.

Commenting on the decision, EBU President Fritz Pleitgen stated: “We are deeply disappointed at the IOC’s disregard for the interests of viewers and broadcasters in Europe as it is the key territory for the free-to-air promotion of the Olympic Games and Olympic sports in general. The EBU is currently working with its Members to examine ways to safeguard the interests of European viewers.”

Médiamétrie - Création d’une Commission d’autorégulation - 24 October 2006

from Charles Juster/Médiamétrie

Le Comité Internet (*) de Médiamétrie a évoqué les questions soulevées, dans la mesure d’audience de l’Internet, par l’utilisation des « sites-under éditoriaux à usage publicitaire » et par les cas de « non adéquation flagrante entre le contenu d’un site et son URL ».

Les sites-under s’ouvrent en arrière plan d’un site, et apparaissent lorsque l’internaute arrive sur un autre site et/ou le quitte. Pour sa part, la « non adéquation flagrante entre le contenu d’un site et son URL » a pour conséquence d’affecter l’audience d’un site à une autre partie du site. L’utilisation de ces deux techniques a un impact, volontaire ou non, sur les niveaux d’audience des sites concernés.

Le Comité Internet de Médiamétrie a décidé d’exclure de la mesure d’audience les « sites-under éditoriaux à usage publicitaire » et demande aux sites qui les utilisent d’identifier clairement leurs URLs en y intégrant une chaîne de caractères spécifique, appelée « adsite-under ». Cette chaîne doit apparaître soit dans la deuxième partie de l’URL, soit après le 1 er slash.

Le Comite Internet a également décidé de traiter de façon similaire les cas de «non adéquation flagrante entre le contenu d’un site et son URL».

Pour contrôler l’application de ces nouvelles règles, le Comité Internet de Médiamétrie, réuni le 26 septembre, a créé à une Commission d’autorégulation.

Cette commission est composée de 14 membres, appartenant tous au Comité Internet de Médiamétrie : Carat, DDB, Les Echos, France Télécom, France Télévisions, le Geste, l’IAB, Publicis, Media Contacts (Groupe MPG), MSN, le SRI, l’UDA, Skyrock, TF1. Les règles de fonctionnement de la Commission d’autorégulation, définies par le Comité Internet de Médiamétrie, ainsi que l’échelle des mesures qui seront prises à l’encontre d’éventuels contrevenants à ces nouvelles règles, sont disponibles en ligne sur les sites suivants : http://www.iabfrance.com http://www.geste.fr http://www.mediametrie.fr http://www.uda.fr

Ces décisions, qui prennent effet aujourd’hui, témoignent de la volonté des acteurs du marché de l’Internet, réunis au sein du Comité Internet de Médiamétrie, de définir et de valider ensemble la mesure de l’audience de l’Internet, de tenir compte de ses évolutions par rapport au marché, et de fixer des règles déontologiques d’utilisation et de communication des résultats.

Eurovision - Best Fiction Script/Prix Genève-Europe - 23 October 2006

from Lynne Polak/Eurovision TV

The Prix Genève-Europe for the Best Fiction Script by a Newcomer is awarded every year to the best TV fiction written by a new talent and produced or commissioned by a national broadcaster. This year, the prize went to Janko Haschemian for his script Vacation from Life and was presented during the Prix Europa Award Ceremony in Berlin on Saturday 21 October by Bjørn Erichsen, Director of the EBU TV Department.

Vacation from Life is the story of a man going through a mid-life crisis, and the jury considered that the scriptwriter had retold this well-known story in a poetic and humorous way, demonstrating a mature and ironic vision of the world.

The TV fiction, directed by Neele Leana Vollmar and produced by the Jochen Laube production company in collaboration with EBU member ZDF, was among the 15 entries submitted to an international jury of five fiction professionals that met in Berlin during the prestigious Prix Europa competition which brings together the best European television, radio and Internet productions.

About the Prix Genève-Europe

The PGE awards were created by the European Alliance for Television and Culture (EATC), an alliance made up of EBU members (ARD, FT2, NPB, SSR-IdéeSuisse, TVE, YLE, ZDF), the EBU and the City and Canton of Geneva. Set up in 1987 under the auspices of the EBU, whose membership includes every national public service broadcaster in Europe, the prizes aim to encourage new authors to work in television. This is the second year that the Prix Genève-Europe is organised in collaboration with the Prix Europa. The €6,000 prize goes to the scriptwriter of a telemovie that has been produced over the last year, and the jury members judge the script by screening the film.

This year, besides entries from most of the EATC members, films were submitted by ARTE (France), BBC (UK), ORF (Austria), SVT (Sweden) and SK/SR (Slovakia).

Every year, EATC members can also choose a promising new scriptwriter who has written a fiction synopsis of any genre to receive a Writing Bursary consisting of CHF 10,000 and two scriptwriting workshops. Three additional bursaries are also available for candidates proposed by other national broadcasters from Europe.

This year nine new scriptwriters from France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Rumania, Spain and Switzerland, met in Berlin for their first session, led by Guy Meredith and Roger Gregory, experienced script editors and scriptwriting tutors. They were joined by the winner of last year’s PGE prize, Robert Thalheim, who is currently finishing his second film. The second workshop will take place in Geneva in December.

VPRT - Empfehlungen für Anforderungen an Navigatoren/EPGs - 23 October 2006

from Gese Klebe/VPRT

Im Zuge der Digitalisierung der Übertragungswege wird eine für die Verbraucher kaum noch zu überblickende Zahl an Angeboten (=Rundfunkprogramme und Mediendienste) verfügbar sein. Deren Auffindbarkeit ist künftig sowohl für die Verbraucher als auch für die Anbieter (=Rundfunkveranstalter und Mediendiensteanbieter) von zentraler Bedeutung. Mit fortschreitender Digitalisierung etablieren Hersteller von Endgeräten sowie Netz- und Plattformbetreiber eine Vielzahl von Navigatoren und Elektronischen Programmführern (EPG) im Markt, die dem Nutzer zur Orientierung und Steuerung in der digitalen Programmwelt dienen sollen.

Vor diesem Hintergrund haben die öffentlich-rechtlichen und privaten Anbieter gemeinsame Grundanforderungen an die Ausgestaltung von Navigatoren/EPGs hinsichtlich Funktionalitäten, Angebotsdarstellung und Benutzerfreundlichkeit erarbeitet. Dabei wurden sowohl die Marktgegebenheiten, die technische Umsetzbarkeit und die bestehenden Nutzungsgewohnheiten der Zuschauer, als auch die rundfunkrechtlichen Anforderungen hinsichtlich Chancengleichheit und Diskriminierungsfreiheit berücksichtigt.

So sollen Navigatoren/EPGs grundsätzlich werbefrei und neutral gestaltet werden. Herausstellungen einzelner Angebote oder Anbieter sollen nicht erfolgen. Die Listung/Sortierung der Programme und Angebote, deren Darstellung sowie die Vergabe von Programmplatznummern sollen diskriminierungsfrei erfolgen. Die Listung soll bei Bedarf, mindestens aber einmal jährlich durch die Anbieter überprüft und gegebenenfalls an veränderte Bedingungen angepasst werden.

Die vorliegenden Empfehlungen für "Anforderungen an Navigatoren/EPGs" richten sich an die Hersteller und Betreiber von Navigatoren/EPGs über alle Verbreitungswege (z. B. Kabel einschließlich IP-TV, Satellit und Terrestrik) und Endgeräte (z.B. Fernseher, Set-Top-Boxen, PCs, Mobiltelefone oder MDA/PDA), über die Rundfunkinhalte und Mediendienste übertragen und empfangen werden. Sie sind Gegenstand der Gespräche mit den Landesmedienanstalten und sollen mit den Marktpartnern diskutiert und hinsichtlich weiterer Umsetzungsdetails konkretisiert werden.

Ukrainian band presents BBC English-teaching course - 23 October 2006

from Lala Najafova/BBC World Service

BBC Ukrainian has teamed up with the National Radio Company of Ukraine and the British Council in Ukraine to launch a radio course which will be presented by the popular Ukrainian band, Tanok Na Maidani Kongo (TNMK).

To be broadcast on Ukrainian National Radio from November, the English language course, Rock English with Tanok Na Maidani Kongo,has been put together by the BBC script-writers and producers. It will be presented by the TNMK musicians, Oleg “Fahot” Mykhailuta and Oleksandr “Fozzey” Sydorenko, as well as the English teachers with the British Council in Ukraine, Linda MacLachlan and Fiona Hamilton.

Rock English with Tanok Na Maidani Kongoconsists of 24 lessons, each 7-8 minutes long, and is tailored for teenage and youth audience who have some familiarity with English and are keen to broaden their vocabulary - especially where modern music is concerned.

Head of the BBC Ukrainian service, Maciek Bernatt says: “The National Radio Company of Ukraine and BBC Ukrainian service have collaborated effectively for many years, and we are very proud to present this new project which was produced entirely in Ukraine, using the expertise and experience of the BBC and the British Council. I hope Rock English with Tanok Na Maidani Kongoengages a lot of young Ukrainians keen to master the English language – and that this model will be used again and again to create more exciting joint educational projects in Ukraine.”

TNMK’s Oleg Mykhailuta adds: "We believe it's important to hear good things when you are young. Everyone remembers what they were told and what they were taught when they were teenagers. If we can contribute to something schoolchildren or students will remember, something that will be a part of their overall education - we want to be in it. Music is education, and modern music is also education for the modern world."

The BBC Ukrainian service is committed to creating more youth programmes and is open to working with sponsors who are interested in assisting in production of similar learning English programmes for Ukrainian teenagers and youth.