| Conflict Zones |
|
followthemedia.com - a knowledge base for media professionals |
|
|
AGENDA
|
||
Fox Television Joins Serb Channels in License AwardThe Serbian Republic Broadcasting Agency (PPA) reshuffled national television and radio allocations, awarding most to existing broadcasters but adding everybody’s favorite media mogul to the scene. Five national TV licenses were granted to six broadcast companies. News Corporation, through its Netherlands subsidiary, will operate Fox Televizija with local Serb partners.
|
| ftm background |
|
Confidence Crumbles in Serb Broadcast Council Public Broadcasters and Balkan Ghosts Sustain – Not Stop – The Press! Modernization in Romania Opens Digital Benefit Ukraine: Return Us Now to Tomorrow |
B92’s media operation has grown from rabble-rouser to highly respected – and profitable – broadcaster. Serb nationalists, resentful of criticism, regularly call for boycotts of B92 radio and TV, the broadcaster that won fame (and fortune) for leading the media charge against the Milosevic regime. B92 won both a national TV and radio channel.
Politics likely got in the way of BK TV’s bid. Its’ owner – also owner of mobile phone operator Mobtel - Bogoljub Karic is a major opposition party supporter. BK TV has, however, been a top ranked channel.
Popular channel Pink TV, owned by Zeljko Mitrovic, has bounced from one political affiliation to another, winning a new national TV license.
Majority foreign ownership reportedly disqualified an application by RTL. The RRA questioned “inadequate ownership structure” pointing to the limit of 49% foreign participation. RTL maintained the shareholding was in order. RTL Group CEO Gerhard Zeiler said in a press statement when the initial applications were filed that television in Serbia would likely be good business for the top three channels. Central European Media Enterprises (CME) also lost out in the bidding.
The fate of dozens of municipal broadcast licenses remains in question. Many are viewed as mouth-pieces of political parties. Belgrade City Hall’s TV Studio B will be shut down by the end of the year.
Five national radio licenses were also awarded, all to Serbian concerns.
Serbia’s media scene has been called chaotic by observers in and out of the country. Writing about the Serb media landscape for the EUMAP project of the Open Society Institute, released at the end of March, political science Professor Snjezana Milivojevic criticized government will power. “The fact that the Broadcast Act was amended three times before its true implementation started, shows that the authorities are not entirely ready for the true reform of the broadcast sphere or to abandon the control over the media, “she wrote. The Open Society Institute was an early supporter of B92.
Applause for Fox Televizija’s award came swiftly from US Ambassador to Serbia and Montenegro Michael Poltz during a week when figures were released showing the US as the top international investor in Serbia. "This decision sends an important signal to foreign investors that Serbia is serious about attracting investment and about moving towards a transparent market system," he said in a press statement.
American sister channel Fox News is widely considered a mouth-piece for the current political administration and its party organization of which it is never critical. It was recently reported that US Vice President Richard Cheney ordered all TV receivers in hotel rooms when he travels tuned to Fox News. The channel’s promotional slogan – “We report and you decide” – has long prompted journalistic criticism as a cynical ploy to out-position competitors while maintaining a non-critical line. The channel in the US is a roaring success.
In a statement released after the PPA announcement, News Corporation European Chairman I. Martin Pompadur echoed what must be the corporate play-book: "We would be mainly focusing on national and local news, by presenting facts to the viewers, taking no sides, while the audience would have to take their own opinion."
Serbia’s Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit by RTL against the media regulator Republic Broadcasting Agency (RBA), according to B92...MORE
Less than a week after the Serbian Broadcasting Authority announced the winners of national TV and radio licenses, BK TV – one of the losers – was shut down by police...MORE
| copyright ©2004-2007 ftm partners, unless otherwise noted | Contact Us • Sponsor ftm |
Licenses were awarded for the Republic of Serbia, the larger part of the lashed together Republic of Serbia and Montenegro. A real attempt seems to have been made to balance but not entirely eliminate applicants with political agenda or history. Most of the successful new license holders have been operating radio or television stations for several years and most are well known.