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Each year about this time radio's faithful form a fan wave. UNESCO began the World Radio Day commemoration several years ago and international luminaries have since given a bit of a shout-out to radio broadcasting on February 13th. Broadcasters, too, take the opportunity remind one and all that radio is still on the air for young and old, everyday folks, in times of sunshine as well as great need.
The official theme this year is "Youth and Innovation," though the thought-leaders added appropriate variations. Radio is "not just as a medium for news and entertainment, but as a vital communications service," said new ITU secretary-general Houlin Zhao in a statement. (See ITU statement here) UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon coupled radio with climate change. We need to hear the voices of young women and men, loudly, strongly and urgently."
Media development agency Internews noted radio's essential service in reaching vulnerable communities in Africa, Asia and more. (See Internews statement here) "Sierra Leoneans tuned into their radios to listen to information about the (Ebola) virus, during a national 3-day lockdown aimed at preventing the spread of Ebola."
European commercial broadcasters noted radio's reach, averaging roughly 80% in European countries. Commercial radio association AER mentioned the obvious: radio is free and simple to use. (See AER statement here) German commercial broadcaster association VPRT stressed radio as an important local medium "threatened existentially" by public broadcasting organizations. (See VPRT statement here - in German)
ITI Group's pursuit of a new major shareholder for broadcaster TVN just got a bit more complicated. Poland's biggest privately held broadcaster was subjected to one of those asset reviews by minority shareholder Vivendi last October, the conclusion being that the French broadcaster will shed its stake. Big investment banks and consultants have been assisting ITI Group and Vivendi in maximizing the investment return on their joint 51% stake, the remainder being publicly traded.
All the biggest broadcasting companies with international footprints have, it seems, been looking opportunistically at the attractive television business in Poland. Several have dropped out, 21st Century Fox and RTL Group, leaving at the very least Discovery Communications, Time Warner and, maybe, Liberty Global. All of these potential buyers have considerable experience with mergers and acquisitions in Europe. (See more about media in Poland here)
Poland's media regulator KRRiT may have just sent any possible deal to a further holding pattern, reported media portal wirtualemedia.pl (February 12). Its lawyers have decided that no purchase and sale agreement can go forward on this and any other broadcasting transaction if "the participation of foreign persons... or a share of foreign capital in a company exceeds 49%," related KRRiT spokesperson Katarzyna Twardowska. This required authorisation would not apply to companies or nationals domiciled in the European Union or Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, EU rules and treaties in force. For big broadcasting companies seeking international expansion one big lesson has been learned, expressed colloquially as "don't take a ride in Evel Knievel's sidecar."
Additionally, the KRRiT will not grant authorisation "if the risk would involve interests of national culture, morality and education, safety and defense of the State and threats to the security of European Union classified information or achieve the applicant's dominant market position."
With all the tension and turmoil in the world a bit of levity is welcome. And to that the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has launched its campaign to remind one and all that the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) is just around the corner. The 60th edition of the ESC will be held in Vienna, Austria in mid-May, hosted by Austrian public broadcaster ORF.
Reaching out to new corners, EBU has invited Australian public broadcaster SBS to send a representative. SBS (Special Broadcasting Service) is an associate EBU Member not being located, obviously, in Europe or nearby. Participation in the ESC is limited, more or less, to active EBU members. And so the EBU grandees tweaked the rules, as they're known to do, so an Australian entry can not only enter but be fast-tracked to the finals.
"It's a daring and at the same time incredibly exciting move," said ESC executive producer Jon Ola Sand in a statement, noting that SBS has a "long history and connection" with the ESC. SBS has broadcast all or part of the ESC for 30 years. Under the Australian rule exception, should their entrant actually win SBS would next year co-host the event with a European active EBU member broadcaster. Also, Australians will be able to vote for semi-final and final ESC favorites. (See EBU presser on SBS participation here)
SBS has not yet chosen a singer to represent Australia. That usually requires a local contest. Australian singer Jessica Mauboy performed during the Copenhagen 2014 ESC semi-final broadcast. In recent years EBU has investigated franchise expansion opportunities for ESC in Asia and Africa.
Meanwhile, EBU has organized a London event with the BBC in March followed by a rather serious media conference in April. The BBC party will feature 2014 ESC winner Conchita Wurst, who's become in-demand on the show circuit. A greatest hits show has been produced by Swiss public broadcaster SSR-SRG, available to EBU Members. (See earlier EBU presser here)
"improbable coincidence"
Heads swivelled among US media watchers as NBC Universal executives suspended NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams, the first such action by a major US TV network. NBC Nightly News is the top rated US evening news program with 10.2 million average nightly viewers according to Nielsen (week of February 2). Mr. Williams admitted "misremembering" his oft repeated accounts of coming under hostile fire while reporting from Iraq in 2003 after military newspaper Stars and Stripes published differing accounts of service personnel.
"By his actions, Brian has jeopardized the trust millions of Americans place in NBC News," said a statement from NBC Universal CEO, quoted by Reuters (February 11). "His actions are inexcusable and this suspension is severe and appropriate." NBC Universal, owned by cable TV giant Comcast, has undertaken an internal investigation and placed Mr. Williams on un-paid leave for six months.
The news anchor role is elemental to the evening television news program format, adopted around the world. These positions are highly-coveted and well-compensated. A news anchor's primary skill, not to be diminished, is to engender trustworthiness and evening news audiences tend to be quite loyal. That in mind, television networks evaluate trust much more than content. As former CBS anchor Dan Rather once corrected a junior news manager; "This isn't about news, boy. It's television." (See more about TV news here)
By "improbable coincidence," noted Le Monde (February 11), Jon Stewart, host of The Daily Show on cable network Comedy Central, announced he'd be leaving that program in six months at the end of his current contract. The award winning Daily Show is filled with satire aimed at politicians and, quite often, the right-wing Fox News. Stewart's monologues are among the most shared videos on YouTube. Comedy Central is owned by Viacom.
Brian Williams' forced hiatus is a challenge for NBC Universal as US news media prepares for the next giant event - the presidential election season.
German broadcasters touched a lot of listeners and viewers in 2014, reported private broadcasters association VPRT. More or less unchanged, German audiences are quite linear. Approaching, however, is a new reality.
Grabbing data from many sources, the VPRT report shows daily radio reach at 79.7% of the German population, up from 79.4% year on year, and daily TV reach at 69.6%, up from 69.2%. Germans over 10 years spent 3 hours and 41 minutes per day with TV and 3 hours and 14 minutes with radio. (See VPRT presser here - in German)
Streaming and all that other non-linear stuff - an hour and a quarter per month accessing audio services and a million video downloads per week - show that listeners, viewers and broadcasters "have arrived in the convergent reality," said VPRT CEO Tobias Schmid in the statement. "Whether at home or at work audiovisual media are used in more and more situations." He also took the opportunity to complain about "anachronistic" laws "limiting innovation and growth."
Employment in Russia's media sector is expected to fall by 15% or more in the next year, said an industry report for the Communications Ministry. Many media outlets have announced staff reductions. Demand for media workers is so low one headhunter suggests those looking for work consider sales or factory jobs.
"The situation is most disturbing," said Alexei Levchenko, special assistant to deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets, quoted by lenizdat.ru (February 6). State employment offices have trouble placing laid-off media workers "because there is no demand on the part of the sector." Russia's IT sector, by contrast, is looking for specialists, he said, and sometimes for jobs that don't require re-training. (See more about media in Russia here)
Out of work media folks should think about sales jobs or factory work, said Russian job search portal HeadHunter research director Gleb Lebedev. "The lion's share of a salesperson's wages are percentages of each transaction so these positions require no experience. Laborer jobs can be found at the employment service as employers are ready to hire immediately after training."
The print media sector in Russia has been hard hit by rising paper prices. Media revenues in 2014 were relatively stable in the Russian ruble but exchange rate collapse has caused difficulties importing pulp products. Plus ad bans on tobacco and alcoholic beverages have affected small, local market newspapers. "Russia has long had twice the number of media workers as the market can support," said deputy Minister of Communications and Mass Media Alexei Volin.
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