TV Europe October 2009 by World Screen

European Drama Sports Rights

MIPCOM & SPORTEL EDITION

The Dutch Media Market ProSieben at 20 Five’s Dawn Airey ITV Studios’ Lee Bartlett www.tveurope.ws

THE MAGAZINE OF EUROPEAN TELEVISION

OCTOBER 2009

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TV EUROPE

ALL3MEDIA International www.all3mediainternational.com

Highlights • Undercover Boss • The Cube • Chopper Squad • Raw • Rachel Allen: Home Cooking

According to managing director Louise Pedersen, ALL3MEDIA International has been faring well with its drama slate as of late thanks to the hits Midsomer Murders, Wild at Heart, Skins and Raw. “We are in a good position to offer long-running quality drama series across a broad spectrum of taste and demographic appeal,” says Pedersen. But reality and factual entertainment also take top billing on the slate. From Stephen Lambert comes Undercover Boss, a reality series that is being produced for Channel 4 in the U.K. and CBS in the U.S. The Cube is a new game-show format. Chopper Squad is an observational documentary series produced for TV2 in New Zealand. Also on offer is Rachel Allen: Home Cooking. “Our factual-entertainment slate is going from strength to strength, and we can offer [everything from] highaction to cookery programming,” Pedersen says.

“Our factual-entertainment slate is going from strength to strength, and we can offer [everything from] high-action to cookery programming.

”

—Louise Pedersen

Raw

IN THIS ISSUE

Bavaria Media Television www.bavaria-media.tv Johan Falk

Highlights • • • • •

Johan Falk Lilly and the Girls Connection St. Petersburg Romance Lilly Schönauer 8: Confection of Love

Bavaria Media Television has more than 390 hours of new programming, headlined by Johan Falk, a Swedish-German TV movie collection.“A nicely balanced mix of investigative work with a solid dash of action, plus some insights into the background of the characters, the collection is offering a mix that should sit very well with international buyers,” says Oliver Kreuter, the head of the company. Kreuter is also showcasing the telenovela Lilly and the Girls; the TV movies St. Petersburg Romance and Lilly Schönauer 8: Confection of Love; plus the Spanish-language mini-series Connection. “Bavaria Media is lucky to have a strong parent in Bavaria Film,” Kreuter says. “In addition, [we have] forged strong relationships with various partners in all aspects of production, both domestically and internationally—and continue to do so.”

High Drama The demand for European drama, from event movies to daily soaps, remains strong 20 Eye on the Ball Prices for top sporting events have been relatively immune to the downturn 30 Going Dutch The Netherlands’ competitive market

“[Bavaria Media has] forged strong relationships with various partners in all aspects of production, both domestically and internationally—and continue to do so.

”

—Oliver Kreuter

ProSieben at 20 Andreas Bartl and Thilo Proff on the broadcaster’s milestone anniversary 40 Interviews Five’s Dawn Airey ITV Studios’ Lee Bartlett

50 54

TV EUROPE

ALL3MEDIA International www.all3mediainternational.com

Highlights • Undercover Boss • The Cube • Chopper Squad • Raw • Rachel Allen: Home Cooking

“Our factual-entertainment slate is going from strength to strength, and we can offer [everything from] high-action to cookery programming.

”

—Louise Pedersen

Raw

IN THIS ISSUE

Bavaria Media Television www.bavaria-media.tv Johan Falk

Highlights • • • • •

Johan Falk Lilly and the Girls Connection St. Petersburg Romance Lilly Schönauer 8: Confection of Love

“[Bavaria Media has] forged strong relationships with various partners in all aspects of production, both domestically and internationally—and continue to do so.

”

—Oliver Kreuter

ProSieben at 20 Andreas Bartl and Thilo Proff on the broadcaster’s milestone anniversary 40 Interviews Five’s Dawn Airey ITV Studios’ Lee Bartlett

50 54

TV EUROPE

BBC Worldwide www.bbcworldwide.com

Highlights • Doctor Who • Torchwood • Married, Single, Other • Taking the Flak • Tronji

Ricardo Seguin Guise

Publisher Anna Carugati

Editor Mansha Daswani

Executive Editor Kristin Brzoznowski

Managing Editor Lauren M. Uda

Production and Design Director Simon Weaver

Returning dramas factor heavily in BBC Worldwide’s plans for MIPCOM, with new seasons of Doctor Who and Torchwood available.“We will be very focused on leveraging value from our key brands,”says Tim Mutimer,the seniorVP of sales and distribution for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.“We will achieve this by working hard to maximize the windows that we license across both linear and ondemand platforms.” Other scripted titles include Married, Single, Other and Taking the Flak.“These programs have high production values, excellent casts and quality writing.” In kids, the lead new series is Tronji. Mutimer says it is “a unique and innovative interactive children’s property for 6- to 8-year-olds and is available across multiple platforms: a TV program, a website, as well as an online game.”

Doctor Who

“We will be very focused on leveraging value from our key brands.” —Tim Mutimer

Online Director Phyllis Q. Busell

Art Director Tatiana Rozza

Sales and Marketing Director Kelly Quiroz

Sales and Marketing Manager Rae Matthew

Business Affairs Manager Cesar Suero

Sales and Marketing Assistant

Ricardo Seguin Guise

President Anna Carugati

Executive VP and Group Editorial Director Mansha Daswani

www.tveurope.ws

DW-Transtel www.dw-transtel.de Profit at All Cost

Highlights • • • •

Profit at All Cost Foresight GLOBAL.ized Morning OLI!

The distribution arm of Germany’s international broadcaster is promoting new series “that offer a little something for everyone,” according to Petra Schneider, Deutsche Welle’s director of distribution. There are three factual series—Profit at All Cost, Foresight and GLOBAL.ized—as well as a kids’ show, Morning OLI! Schneider also highlights a series of programs addressing this year’s 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. “We have developed a range of programs that focus on what life was like in this era,” Schneider says. “Deutsche Welle has been known for its quality news and infotainment for years.We have had a range of successful coproductions in the past and are looking to reach out to even more partners in the future.This includes not only Europe, but also regions like Asia where we would like to expand our palette to include programming with a focus on local issues.”

“We have had a range of successful co-productions in the past and are looking to reach out to even more partners in the future.

”

—Petra Schneider

Get daily news on European television by visiting www.tveurope.ws

TV EUROPE

FremantleMedia Enterprises www.fremantlemedia.com

Highlights • • • • •

Is She Really Going Out with Him? Project Runway and Models of the Runway Jesse James Is a Dead Man Jamie Oliver Portfolio BermanBraun Portfolio

David Ellender, the CEO of FremantleMedia Enterprises, refers to the company’s offerings for MIPCOM as one of the “savviest slates we’ve ever delivered. Obviously, we’re not out of these tough times, but we’ve designed our offering to cope with these challenges and we’re optimistic.” A highlight of the catalogue is the Jamie Oliver portfolio with Jamie’s American Road Trip, Jamie Does… and Jamie’s Xmas. “All three are exciting new takes on what Jamie Oliver programs have always done—inspire, entertain and educate.”Also new are the series Shark U and Swords: Life on the Line from BermanBraun, as well as season six of Project Runway and the companion series Models of the Runway. Ellender also highlights Jesse James Is a Dead Man.“Not only are we introducing exciting new programming, but we also have a fantastic slate of returning series and franchises with proven appeal to lessen the risk for our clients.”

“Not only are we introducing exciting new programming, but we also have a fantastic slate of returning series and franchises with proven appeal to lessen the risk for our clients.

”

Jesse James Is a Dead Man

—David Ellender

Imagina International Sales www.imaginasales.tv

Highlights • The Red Eagle • Checkpoint Rock • The Boarding School • Face to Face by Quintero • Son and Moon

For MIPCOM, Imagina International Sales is placing an emphasis on drama and factual fare, highlighted from the company’s broad and diverse slate from Spanish producers. “We have reality shows, game shows, entertainment programs, documentaries, mini-series, feature films—we have quite a huge catalogue and a [varied] catalogue,” says the company’s sales director, Géraldine Gonard. Top offerings include new seasons of the period drama The Red Eagle (Águila roja) and of the mystery series The Boarding School (El Internado)—“that’s one of the main stars of the catalogue,” Gonard says. In unscripted fare, meanwhile, Checkpoint Rock is a new 70-minute musical doc; Face to Face by Quintero (Entrevistas con Jesús Quintero) is an interview series; and Son and Moon (Diario de un astronauta) sees an astronaut attempting to maintain a relationship with his son over seven months in space.

“We have reality shows, game shows, entertainment programs, documentaries, mini-series, feature films—we have quite a huge and [varied] catalogue.

”

—Géraldine Gonard

Face to Face by Quintero

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Produced by DQ Entertainment International Mob: +33 0618 895 613 & +33 0618 895 517 | sales@dqentertainment.com | www.dqentertainment.com Copyright ÂŠ & 2009 DQ Entertainment

TV EUROPE

Leopard International www.leopardinternational.com

Highlights • • • •

Missing Hidden Potential Missing Live Cash in the Attic

Following the strong debut of the drama Missing on the BBC earlier this year, Leopard International is excited to be offering up the series to international buyers.“A great cast is complemented by iconic locations,making this a compelling drama,” says Sarah Diggins, the company’s head of sales. Leading off the factual-entertainment mix is Hidden Potential, a lifestyle show produced for HGTV. It has “been sold to around ten key territories across Asia, Europe, North America and Africa, and we will be taking new episodes to the market,” Diggins notes. She also spotlights Cash in the Attic, which, she says, “continues to prove a global seller and a very relevant show during these financially straitened times”; and the BBC One series Missing Live. “We have a raft of different shows and formats which have already proved successful in their domestic markets but have a broader appeal to cross over into the international marketplace.”

“We have a raft of different shows and formats which have already proved successful in their domestic markets but have a broader appeal to cross over into the international marketplace.

”

—Sarah Diggins

Missing Live

MediaPro Distribution www.mediaprodistribution.com

Highlights • Aniela • State of Romania, Student at Sorbonne • Ho Ho Ho • Regina • Gypsy Heart

On the heels of the successful rollout of its long-running series Regina and Gypsy Heart, MediaPro Distribution is excited to be bringing the Romanian costume drama Aniela, produced for Acasa, to MIPCOM.“Aniela will show a world forgotten long ago, an elegant, educated, rich and romantic era in Romania’s history,” says Ruxandra Ion, the VP of MediaPro Pictures and managing director and general producer of Promance.“Elements that help to show a more faithful image of Bucharest in 1900 [have been constructed]:over 1,000 costumes of the period,96 interior settings, makeup and hair specialists, a cast made up of great and important Romanian actors.” Ion says that the show is Promance’s most expensive title thus far. The company is throwing its promotional weight behind the launch, with a theatrical airing on the same night as the television premiere, plus an event featuring the cast.

“Aniela will show a world forgotten long ago, an elegant, educated, rich and romantic era in Romania’s history.

”

—Ruxandra Ion

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Aniela

TV EUROPE

Mediaset Distribution www.mediasetdistribution.com

Highlights • Antimafia Squad • Join the Family • About My Brother • My Daughters • Family Storm

Patricio Teubal, Mediaset Distribution’s head of sales, is optimistic about the slate of titles the company has chosen to highlight at this market.“Mediaset’s production quality has undoubtedly increased in the past years, and some of our [programs] are now [created] with an international flavor that allows us to travel with them among various broadcasters in the most diverse markets.” Top product include the crime series Antimafia Squad and the family drama Join the Family. Mediaset is also offering the format rights to scripted series like About My Brother and My Daughters. “We’re glad to have maintained the same ready-madeprogram rhythm that we had last year, and have increased notably our new scripted-formats business. Three of our series have been adapted in European countries, and we have lately closed options in six different countries (including France and the U.S.) for five of our recent productions.”

Antimafia Squad

“We’re glad to have maintained the same ready-made-program rhythm that we had last year, and have increased notably our new scripted-formats business.

”

—Patricio Teubal

NordicWorld www.nordicworld.tv Alexander Rybak: Fairytale at the Opera

Highlights • Bernadotte: A Royal Family • Alexander Rybak: Fairytale at the Opera • Sweet Swan of Avon • Dirty Cargo • Sarajevo Ricochet

NordicWorld is bringing 15 to 20 new productions to MIPCOM, according to CEO Espen Huseby, spanning the documentary, drama, kids’ and sports genres.A top priority on the slate is the documentary Bernadotte: A Royal Family, a two-parter directed by Gregor Nowinski.There’s also a concert special, Alexander Rybak: Fairytale at the Opera; the William Shakespeare doc Sweet Swan of Avon; the one-hour special Dirty Cargo, about low-quality gasoline being shipped to Africa; and Sarajevo Ricochet, which consist of two parts:“The U.S. Green Light” and “A Town Betrayed.” These productions, Huseby says, “represent a broad spectrum of documentaries and music.They represent...the best from the Nordic region.” He adds,“NordicWorld is expanding and we are getting more aggressive in acquiring new products and we have established our own investment fund to make this happen.”

“[Our programs] represent a broad spectrum of documentaries and music. They represent... the best from the Nordic region.

”

—Espen Huseby

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Power www.powcorp.com

Highlights • The Day of the Triffids • Ice • Alistair MacLean’s Puppet on a Chain • Acceptance • The Storm

The mini-series The Day of the Triffids, based on the John Wyndham novel, is one of the most highly anticipated productions for BBC One this fall. It’s also Power’s lead title at MIPCOM. “This is one of our biggest-ever productions,” says Justin Bodle, Power’s CEO. Another major-scale production from the company is Ice, which Bodle describes as a “massive, multimillion-dollar project.” Currently in preproduction is a mini-series adaptation of Alistair MacLean’s Puppet on a Chain, set for delivery next year alongside another MacLean-based title, The Dark Crusader. The slate is rounded out by the Lifetime TV movie Acceptance and the disaster mini-series The Storm. “Power is renowned for big-budget drama, one of our specialties being disaster movies with big budgets and even bigger special effects,” says Bodle. “These titles are always in demand.”

“ Power is renowned for big-budget drama, one of our specialties being disaster movies with big budgets and even bigger special effects. These titles are always in demand. The Day of the Triffids

”

—Justin Bodle

SevenOne International www.71int.com

Highlights • • • • •

S1NGLE Sea of Death Factor 8 Gonger II Cover Story

The German broadcaster ProSieben has carved a niche for itself in the broadcast of CGI-laden catastrophe mini-series and movies,many of which SevenOne International has been busily selling around the world.The newest is Sea of Death, a 90-minute production that Jens Richter,the managing director of SevenOne, refers to as “the most brilliant, specialeffects-loaded TV movie we have ever done for ProSieben.” Also joining the company’s extensive TV-movie lineup is another catastrophe feature, Factor 8; a host of romantic comedies; and the mystery thriller Gonger II. The first Gonger, Richter says, sold into markets like Spain, Central and Eastern Europe, and Latin America, so he has high hopes for the sequel. Rounding out SevenOne’s highlights are the second season of the female-skewing dramedy S1NGLE and the reality series Cover Story, which is also available as a format.

“[Sea of Death is going to be] the most brilliant, special-effects-loaded TV movie we have ever done for ProSieben.

”

—Jens Richter S1NGLE 132

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Tandem Communications www.tandemcom.de

Highlights • The Pillars of the Earth • Action Pack(ed)—Volume One • Patricia Cornwell Event Movie Franchise • The Nora Roberts Collection II • Impact

For Bernhard Schwab, the sales director at Tandem, a key strategy for riding through these challenging times has been to “put a lot of effort into not only producing high quality, but also listening to the trends and the needs of our international broadcasters.” Hearing a need for event programming that will guarantee audiences, Schwab is excited to be showing buyers footage from the $40-million miniseries The Pillars of the Earth, based on the Ken Follett novel. “Sometimes you have the chance to come to a project that delivers on all aspects, and that’s Pillars of the Earth.” Tandem is also bringing the Patricia Cornwell movie franchise to the market. “Even before going into production, we were able to presell it into 40 territories,” says Schwab. Other highlights include the Nora Roberts TV movies, the mini-series Impact and three new actionadventure movies under the Action Pack(ed) banner.

Impact

“[We] put a lot of effort into not only producing high quality, but also listening to the trends and the needs of our international broadcasters.

”

—Bernhard Schwab

Telewizja Polska (TVP) www.international.tvp.pl

Highlights

The Saga of the Ancient Forest

• The Saga of the Ancient Forest • The Last Action • The Scratch • Polish Fairy Tales • The Secrets of the Nile Valley

Telewizja Polska’s catalogue spans the documentary, drama and kids’ genres. Szymon Pawlowski, the deputy director of program acquisitions and sales in the international-affairs department, says of the slate, “We are proud to offer good quality films that have already achieved a spectacular success among Polish and international audiences.We are offering good movies for the most acceptable price.” There is the ten-part wildlife series The Saga of the Ancient Forest; the action comedy The Last Action; the psychological family drama The Scratch; the animated Polish Fairy Tales; and the three-part factual offering The Secrets of the Nile Valley. Discussing his goals for MIPCOM, Pawlowski says,“We have high hopes for VOD distribution.We would also like to extend our business in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Asia,Africa and South America.”

“ We are proud to offer good quality films that have already achieved a spectacular success among Polish and international audiences. We are offering good movies for the most acceptable price.

”

—Szymon Pawlowski

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TMG International www.tmg.de

Highlights • Moby Dick • The Sea Wolf • Flashpoint • Rosamunde Pilcher’s Four Seasons Collection

Big-budget literary adaptations take top billing for TMG International. On offer will be The Sea Wolf, which broadcasts on ZDF this fall, and from the same team, the upcoming Moby Dick. “We are delighted to have signed up two such powerful, charismatic and versatile actors as William Hurt and Ethan Hawke for the lead roles in Moby Dick,” says Herbert Kloiber, TMG’s chairman. “With Mike Barker we have a director who stunningly confirmed his seaworthiness in the production of the The Sea Wolf. Through his directing and Nigel Williams’s script, we are laying a solid foundation for a TV event that will captivate viewers all over the world.” TMG is also continuing to roll out Rosamunde Pilcher’s Four Seasons Collection, a series of romance TV movies. “Those clearly have an enormous amount of repeat value and export value,” Kloiber states.

“ We are delighted to have signed up two such powerful, charismatic and versatile actors as William Hurt and Ethan Hawke for the lead roles in Moby Dick.” —Herbert Kloiber Rosamunde Pilcher’s Four Seasons Collection

ZDF Enterprises www.zdf-enterprises.de

Highlights • Alisa: Follow Your Heart • The Krupps: A Family Between War and Peace • Marie Brand Collection • The Protectors

ZDF Enterprises’ range of programming for MIPCOM includes its key strengths—drama, kids’ content and documentaries.Topping the list of new dramas is the 240-episode series Alisa: Follow Your Heart, a lighthearted romance about a woman who returns to her hometown and adoptive family to find work.“Audiences are looking for something that lets them forget about the current crisis, that gives them a break from the stress outside of the living room,” says Christian Massmann, the head of sales. Also available is the mini-series The Krupps: A Family Between War and Peace. Massmann also highlights the crime series The Protectors.“It’s an action-driven crime series about a team of bodyguards working in a special unit fighting international terrorism.” Massmann is confident that the company’s drama offerings will appeal to a wide cross-section of buyers.“There’s a big demand for feel-good series and movies and for actionpacked cop shows and thrillers,” he says.

“Audiences are looking for something that lets them forget about the current crisis, that gives them a break from the stress outside of the living room.

”

—Christian Massmann

Alisa: Follow Your Heart

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FremantleMedia Enterprises’ Abroad.

market, are turning more to lower-cost reality and entertainment fare. Nonetheless, delivering mass viewership is still a priority, and big-budget event productions are known as a go-to source for luring advertisers. “High-concept big budget is definitely still working and better value than shows that are less interesting to advertisers and audiences alike,” says Justin Bodle, the chairman and CEO of Power. “It’s in times like this that you are even more careful in how you develop your events—you want to hit male and female audiences, you want to hit the commercial audience, you want to get as wide a reach as you can,” notes Jens Richter, the managing director of SevenOne International. “Of course, channels want to save money, but they also want to avoid risk.” GERMAN GIANTS

SevenOne has a steady supply of event mini-series and TV movies to offer up, thanks to ProSieben and Sat.1’s continued investment in the genre. On the slate is ProSieben’s Sea of Death, an action catastrophe film, the upcoming Sat.1 mini-series The Frontier and the recently broadcast Crash Point: Berlin.

High

a m a r D

From big-budget event productions to long-running volume series, broadcasters are continuing to seek out top-quality drama from Europe. By Mansha Daswani On Europe’s television screens, locally produced drama has been taking on imported American network series for decades. This summer, there was an entirely new field on which that battle was fought—the United States. NBC aired the BBC One commission Merlin, acquired from FremantleMedia Enterprises, while ABC scooped up the sci-fi miniseries Impact from Germany’s Tandem Communications.And on the heels of becoming a Twitter sensation after its Comic-Con panel, Torchwood: Children of Earth, from BBC Worldwide, gave BBC America its best-ever ratings. The opening of the U.S. as a new market for European fiction imports is good news for an industry facing heavy pressures on budgets. It has been well documented that several commercial broadcasters, reeling from a depressed ad 138

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ProSieben is also a major client for Tandem Communications, which is co-producing The Pillars of the Earth with the German broadcaster.The mini-series, based on Ken Follett’s best-selling thriller, features an international cast that includes Ian McShane, Donald Sutherland and Rufus Sewell. Tandem is expecting its latest production to fare as well on the international market as its previous big-budget events Impact and Lost City Raiders.“Lost City Raiders has been sold in 160 countries so far, Impact in 170,” says Bernhard Schwab, the director of sales at Tandem.“It’s really important to us that we have a title that travels worldwide.That’s the number one point for us.When we get involved in a project, we always need to make sure that it fits the international market.” It’s not just the commercial broadcasters in Germany that are faring well with one-off fiction. ZDF Enterprises is bringing to MIPCOM The Krupps:A Family Between War and Peace, a three-part historical drama based on the real-life family of a German steel baron.“It’s a glamorous, dramatic mini-series with really good production values, a big-screen look and a fascinating cast,” says Christian Massmann, ZDF Enterprises’ head of sales.“It was a big hit in Germany, so we’re looking 10/09

T i

TV EUROPE

A day at the beach: Bavaria Media is offering a mix of long-running series and event specials, like the hit mini-series Buddenbrooks.

forward to distributing it worldwide. [Broadcasters] need event programs that are image building. In times when TV broadcasters are not only fighting against other television competitors but also against VOD platforms and so on, awareness is a really big issue. If you want to increase your awareness, you need those event programs in order to build up a certain image and position yourself as someone people love to watch.” Another major player in Germany’s busy event-production sector is Tele München Group (TMG), whose The Sea Wolf mini-series is slated to air on ZDF later this year.TMG is following that up with Moby Dick,which began production in September.“The RTL Group and the ProSiebenSat.1 Group are tightening their belts,” concedes Herbert Kloiber,TMG’s chairman.“But they do engage in three or four of these prestige projects,and we like to have our hands in at least one or two of them. Christmas, Easter, or whenever days are dark, it’s always good to have one or two of these bigger productions.” TMG’s slate of what Kloiber refers to as “lavish” events includes its series of TV movies based on Rosumunde Pilcher’s bestselling novels,called the Four Seasons Collection.“We did Coming Home with Vanessa Redgrave.Those clearly have an enormous amount of export value and repeat value—even in their second or third run they will deliver a solid number.”

tial channel partners who match that profile. That’s the moment you bring them on board.” Power, similarly, has built a strong production pipeline by securing advance presales of its event productions, among them The Day of the Triffids. Based on John Wyndham’s bestselling apocalyptic novel and commissioned by BBC One, the twopart drama starring Dougray Scott,Vanessa Redgrave, Eddie Izzard and Jason Priestley, among others, presold to 150 territories. Power is also in production on Ice, a disaster feature, and in preproduction on mini-series based on Alistair MacLean’s bestselling novels Puppet on a Chain and The Dark Crusader. “The enormous production values, big-name cast and extensive special effects that are an integral part of Power’s brand mean that budgets are high,” says Bodle.“We handle this by sticking to our ambition, and trying to generate as much upfront support as we can.We have a huge client base—the 200 or so broadcasters are immensely supportive,and that continued help keeps our shows being made at the right level of budget, scale and ambition.Without this, we would definitely find it hard.” THE RIGHT FORMULA

Co-productions with partners from multiple territories, however, can be a challenge to execute. As Richter notes,“What we had years ago, the ‘Euro pudding,’ no one wants that anymore.There needs to be a clear lead in the production and there needs to be close cooperation between the co-financing, co-production partners.” “It’s extremely important when working on a co-production that you pick the right partners for the project,” Bodle asserts. “It must be a shared vision.” In this changing economy, it’s not just the event minis and TV movies that are structured as multipartner co-productions. Producers and broadcasters across the board are seeking out new models for keeping a supply of longer-running series on-screen. “There’s no doubt that the drama budgets have been reduced,” says Emmanuelle Namiech, the director of acqui-

SHOW ME THE MONEY

Financing these titles, however, has never been more challenging than it is today.“Fiction is still under attack because of its high cost,” Kloiber notes, citing Moby Dick’s €16 million budget as an example. Securing cofinancing partners on the two-parter, which stars William Hurt and Ethan Hawke, will be TMG’s priority for MIPCOM. RTL, ORF and RHI Entertainment are already on board. The international market is integral to getting many of these productions off the ground.Therefore, at ProSiebenSat.1 Media, SevenOne is consulted early on in the development process. “When there is the first outline, the first idea of a potential future event movie coming up, that’s when we become involved,” Richter says.“With a very specific project which has a specific genre, addressing a very specific audience profile, you can immediately think of certain poten140

Taking aim: Power’s XIII fared so well as a mini-series, the company is now producing a full 13-part series.

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TV EUROPE

Breaking through: The sci-fi series Primeval has been one of BBC Worldwide’s best-selling dramas this year.

sitions and co-productions at ITV Studios Global Entertainment. Now, she says,“there is more reliance on deficit funding either through co-production or through distribution advance or a combination of both.” ITV Studios is a volume provider of drama, which for years has dominated the British content-export market.The company is heading to MIPCOM with a mixed array, including the ITV1 commission Identity, a contemporary crime drama, as well as new seasons of the Inspector Lewis, A Touch of Frost, Miss Marple and Poirot franchises. “The thing we are really seeing is the demand for high-volume series,” says Namiech. “We are trying to have a complete mix. Channels have very different needs. Action, disasters, event television, are still in demand, as well as long-running series with established characters and strong production values.”

great international appeal as it has been sold to 74 broadcasters in more than 50 territories. Primeval also sells well on the international market with 47 broadcasters in more than 41 territories picking up the hit sci-fi series.” Joining those returning titles on the MIPCOM slate are in-house productions such as the BBC One period drama Emma, as well as independently produced fare: the fivepart crime thriller Paradox for BBC One and Left Bank Pictures’ ITV commission Married Single Other. “BBC Worldwide is not immune from the economic downturn, so we understand the challenges that are facing broadcasters and producers around the world,” Doole notes. “We are always adapting to changing circumstances and are looking into new and more creative deals that will benefit our clients as well as our business.” INDEPENDENTS DAY

Another U.K.-based company, FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME), has been ramping up its drama portfolio, announcing a slew of first-look deals with independent producers at MIPTV this year.“There is no doubt about it that advertising is down and audiences are fragmenting, so there is less money for drama,” says Mark Gray, FME’s VP of programming. “While there are fewer slots and lower budgets, the demand is still there, so opportunities for innovative and flexible producers still very much exist.” One of FME’s biggest drama titles thus far has been The Adventures of Merlin, which has already sold to more than 50 broadcasters in 180-plus countries and has been greenlit

NEW HORIZONS

ITV Studios’ own production output is a primary source for the company’s worldwide distribution slate, but Namiech points to the increasing diversification of its content supply. “We work with ITV Studios, we work with a number of independent producers through first-look deals or exclusive output deals, and we also work with international producers on a project-by-project basis. We are certainly looking [beyond] the traditional set of suppliers in the U.K.” For example, ITV Studios contributed to the funding on the Sky1 commission The Take—based on a Martina Cole novel—which was co-financed with the Irish Development Board. It has also taken on the rights to a Canadian drama, Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures, from Shaftesbury Films. BBC Worldwide has dipped its toes outside of the U.K. pool, as well, representing the rights to the Canadian dramedy Being Erica. Nonetheless, the commercial arm of the British public broadcaster still does its biggest scripted business on prime-time, U.K.-originated dramas. “Our latest top-selling dramas are Doctor Who, Spooks and Primeval,” says Sarah Doole, the director of drama and comedy for content and production at BBC Worldwide.“Doctor Who has been a phenomenal international success that will undoubtedly continue with the new Doctor. Spooks also has 142

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Masked avenger: Imagina is showcasing the second season of its period drama The Red Eagle, which was a hit for Spain’s TVE. 10/09

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Nature calls: ALL3MEDIA International is currently preselling the fifth season of the successful family drama Wild at Heart.

for a second season. New on FME’s MIPCOM drama portfolio is the eight-part Trinity, set against the backdrop of an English university where something seems amiss. “It has dark comedic undertones, and there are a wide range of characters that will appeal to a fairly broad viewing public,” Gray says. Also on offer are talkbackTHAMES’ 7x1-hour Monday Monday and the two-hour British/Canadian co-production Abroad. “It’s based on the true story of writer Leah McLaren, whose chronicles of her dating experiences in London ended up as a controversial and widely read cover story in The Spectator about the failures of the modern English male. It’s definitely a comedic drama but it gets to the core of some universal men/women issues, which will translate in any territory.” Another important distribution partner for the U.K.’s large community of independent producers is ALL3MEDIA International, which represents sister companies under the ALL3MEDIA umbrella as well as third-party entities. The company’s top drama exports include the hit mystery series Midsomer Murders—produced for ITV1, the show has aired in more than 200 markets—and the family drama Wild at Heart. “Producers are coming to distributors at an earlier stage with the requirement to gauge the international marketplace for presales and gain higher development advances,” says Louise Pedersen, ALL3MEDIA International’s managing director, on the impact of the downturn on the British dramaproduction landscape. At MIPCOM, the company will be looking for presales on the second six-part season of Raw, set in the restaurant business, and on the whopping 13th season of Midsomer Murders. “There’s security in proven long-running drama, and still demand for new crime/thriller mini-series,” says Pedersen.

says ZDF Enterprises’ Massmann.“We have a couple of ongoing, traditional crime series with high volumes, more than 350 to 400 episodes.This is a genre of programming that broadcasters are still looking for.” ZDF will have more crime dramas to showcase at the market, Massmann adds. “There are new young, urban crime series such as Leipzig Homicide and Cologne P.D.We distribute a couple of very interesting Scandinavian crime series, such as Verdict Revised and now The Protectors.” There will also be some lighter fare, like the female-skewing romance series Alisa: Follow Your Heart, with some 240 episodes available for broadcasters in need of a volume buy. “Audiences are looking for something that gives them a break from the stress outside of the living room,” Massmann continues.“They are looking for something that lets them relax.There’s a big demand for feel-good series and movies.” This is a sentiment shared by Richter at SevenOne, which is bringing a slate of romanticcomedy TV movies to market, plus family-entertainment features and a range of mystery thrillers. “Romantic comedies, escapism, good feelings—those are the buzz words ringing some bells at the moment,” Richter says. On the series front, meanwhile, SevenOne has the hit telenovela Anna to offer. A ROMANCE A DAY

Bavaria Media Television is another major player in the European telenovela market, with a slate that includes the hit Storm of Love. The show, says Oliver Kreuter, the head of Bavaria Media Television, is the company’s top-selling drama.“Solidly established in 20 territories, the telenovela has taken on the role of the ‘must-have’ programming mainstay for many broadcasters and their schedulers.We have received the confirmation to

CONTINENTAL TASTE

While Britain is certainly a dominant force in the export of European dramas, several territories on the Continent are faring just as well. Germany, for example, has for years been churning out hit police series that have made their way across the globe.“The classic ZDF crime shows, such as Derrick, have sold and broadcast in more than 130 territories worldwide,” 144

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Taking a spin: Girlfriends is one of the new Italian series that Mediaset Distribution is bringing to MIPCOM. 10/09

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Ready for battle: Tandem is doing a major push on its big-budget event mini-series The Pillars of the Earth.

produce 200 additional episodes, which will bring the series to an impressive total of 1,270 episodes available by 2010.” Kreuter expects the French novela Second Chance to be similarly successful, and Bavaria is launching the 100x25-minute telenovela Lilly and the Girls at MIPCOM. Also a headline property for Bavaria this year is the Swedish-German crime TV-movie collection Johan Falk.“A nicely balanced mix of investigative work with a solid dash of action, plus some insights into the background of the characters, the collection is offering a mix that should sit very well with international buyers,” Kreuter says.“Solidly produced crime stories are definitely in demand.The upswing of the ‘Scandi-Crime’ genre is a clear indicator that broadcasters are increasingly willing to take a truly international approach when it comes to crime stories.” CRIME PAYS

“We have sold it in several territories.That’s one of the main stars of the catalogue.” Another highlight for Imagina is the period drama The Red Eagle, which scored a 25-percent share when broadcast on the Spanish public broadcaster TVE.“We’ll go to MIPCOM with two seasons, which is great,” Gonard notes.“Most channels want to buy a series when it is at least two seasons in.” Similarly, France’s AB International Distribution is eager to be offering up a third season of Mafiosa. “It’s sold in 61 countries,” says Julien Leroux, international sales manager at the company.“The eight episodes of the second season have attracted nearly 1 million viewers each week on Canal+. The third season will start shooting in October for a November 2010 broadcast and Canal+ has already commissioned the writing of a fourth season for November 2011.” On AB’s slate, Mafiosa joins a crop of other hit series, including the dramedy The Rookies and the eight-part thriller The Avignon Prophecy, as well as a host of TV movies: Hit and Run, Mont Blanc Mystery, Lady in Chief, The Salengro Case and Ella’s Band. Whatever the genre, producers are learning how to do more with less.“Simply put, producers are cutting costs and being a lot more realistic about what they have to work with,” says FME’s Gray.“Whereas producers may have looked for extra budget to achieve something in days past, they’re increasingly looking at original and creative ways to deliver quality on a smaller budget and, of course, at different ways of sharing production costs.” “Budget pressure has been a constant factor for as long as I remember,” says Bavaria’s Kreuter. “However, acquired programming is still a relatively economic way to procure content. And when it comes to production, many European producers have become quite adept at making due with what is available. Although broadcasters should always keep in mind:‘You get what you pay for.’”

Police dramas feature prominently for Mediaset Distribution, but the Italian distributor has shored up slots for a variety of productions this year, according to Patricio Teubal, the head of sales.Top sellers have included Police District, Corleone and Elisa. Properties launching at MIPCOM include the crime series Antimafia Squad, the mini-series The Courage of a Princess and 55 Ways to Death, the TV movie Follow Your Dreams and the comedy Girlfriends. Teubal says that Mediaset will also be pushing its scripted format slate at the market. “We have closed options for some of our scripted formats, such as Maternity Ward in Portugal and Poland; Family Storm in Greece; The Mall in Poland, and we’re negotiating two others in the U.S.” Imagina International Sales is also seeing strong demand for its Spanish fictionformats portfolio, notably The Boarding School, an Antena 3 series that is in its third season. “It’s a mix of mystery and drama,” says Geral- Problem-solvers: Crime dramas remain a key element of ZDF Enterprises’ portfolio, dine Gonard, the company’s sales director. with new series like Stuttgart Homicide available. 146

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Masters Tournament 2008 on Viasat Golf.

Eye on the Ball Top sporting events are proving to be less sensitive to the current economic crunch.

out being paid by TV because their revenue comes from the sponsors and TV gives the exposure the sponsors want. In many cases, the sports even pay the broadcasters to get on the air by buying the time.

By Jay Stuart The sports-programming sector, like any other, is feeling the effects of the economic downturn, but not with equal force. Probably more than any other genre, sports programming has strategic potential.At the top end,the competition for individual properties is not only about ratings but about corporate success, and that makes properties like the American big leagues and top European football leagues relatively immune to the crisis. “Some broadcasters are struggling in terms of advertising and sponsorship,” says Ian Holmes, the head of television distribution for Formula One Management, which is currently in renewal discussions with networks around the world. “Most of our conversations are with commercial free-to-air broadcasters, and they are the ones feeling the pinch.We are fortunate in that Formula 1 is generally perceived as something they must have. We are not necessarily expecting increases.Things have flattened out a little bit.” The sports market basically has three tiers. One of the biggest differences between the distribution of sports and other programming is that a lot of sports programming below the top two tiers does not obtain rights fees from broadcasters. Rights holders are happy to get their events on the air with148

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THE MUST-HAVES

The top tier includes most of the big football leagues, all of which are on pay TV first and foremost and are thus protected from any advertising downturn. Formula 1 and the Champions League also sit in this tier as must-haves.The Olympics and FIFA World Cup are, of course, in this tier but they do not take place every year and they negotiate well in advance, so they are not constrained to make deals in today’s poor climate. “The middle tier is where they are feeling the pressure,” Holmes says. “These are events that broadcasters pay rights fees for.They are things broadcasters would like to have but don’t need to have. Networks need to identify what’s important in terms of audiences and targets and what really works for them, and sometimes these properties struggle.” Then there’s that third tier.These are the sports properties that have not been getting rights fees anyway. Broadcasters still have airtime to fill. If anything, these sports might even be in a better position in today’s climate. “We are especially seeing the impact of the downturn in Eastern Europe, where the demand and price picture has 10/09

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changed,”says Jonas Persson,the chief executive of the Stockholmbased IEC in Sports, the world’s biggest tennis distributor with about 25 men’s ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) and 20 WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) events, as well as Olympic sports such as badminton, table tennis, swimming and gymnastics.“Premium properties are still selling, but even they are seeing some impact in a market like the Ukraine. It’s worst for the next tier down.” Asia is holding up well, with the exception of Japan, according to Persson.“There is generally still a good appetite for sports,” he says.“Sports programming has a big advantage in the current environment because it has the live element. It has something to offer that other programming does not. For the right programming, rights fees can even go up.” PASSING THE PUCK

An example of that occurred recently in Sweden, where the price of the Swedish Ice Hockey Association rose by 20 percent to 25 percent recently when Canal+ Sport renewed the rights with its cousin TV4 taking over the free-to-air rights to the playoffs from TV5. IEC is a subsidiary of Lagardère Sports, as are World Sport Group and Sportfive.The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has chosen Sportfive to handle distribution of the 2014 and 2016 Olympics broadcasting rights for Europe on a countryby-country basis, ending a 50-year partnership with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).The IOC rejected a global bid from the EBU last year.The EBU paid about $740 million for the 2010 and 2012 Games package. For the IOC, the decision to switch partners was not only a matter of price. The IOC view for the Vancouver and London Games was that it had long-term partners and would rely on them to redistribute rights to new-media outlets.That was convenient because it meant one deal per territory. But Timo Lumme, the managing director of IOC Television & Marketing Services,realized that just as it was not always enough to leave all the relationships with one broadcasting union to handle countries X,Y and Z and not worry about it, it did not necessarily make sense to rely on the broadcaster in a country to handle broadband, mobile or pay TV. Sportfive has thus acquired the rights to the Olympics across all media platforms in 40 countries in Europe, excluding the five biggest markets plus Turkey.The rights for Italy (SKY Italia) and Turkey (Fox Turkey) have already been sold, while the IOC will negotiate directly in France, Germany, Spain and the U.K. “For the big sports, life carries on regardless,” says Richard Bunn, the former controller of sports of the European Broadcasting Union, whose consultancy, RBI Network, advises many international governing bodies.“They are essentially safe.We are actually seeing increases in rights fees in some cases.They are not going down.What matters is whether there is competition.Where there is competition, fees continue to rise. For the other sports, things are more difficult, for two reasons. One is that broadcasters sometimes overpaid in the past.Two is the technological change that has taken place with audiences declining and young people watching less television.” Bunn continues,“The same thing is happening in sport as in many other businesses. Companies are using the crisis as an excuse to make up for past mistakes. Sometimes they didn’t think carefully enough before making deals. Now a cleansing is taking place.” But, he adds, “You really cannot com10/09

pare the current crisis with the last one at the time of the Internet bubble. Broadband has grown enormously.” “There is much more drive for value for money,” says Murray Barnett, the VP of sports channels and syndication for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Disney-ABC-ESPN Television.“In late 2008 and early 2009 there was a very nervous mentality in the market, and operators just did not want to incur any costs.They were not signing deals at all. Now people have accepted that they need content,and channels are acquiring programming without being as free-spending. So we are engaging with our partners but there is some hard bargaining.” FIRST FOOT FORWARD

Barnett has been in the middle of probably the biggest story in the sports market lately—the startup of ESPN’s new British service on August 3 in the wake of the collapse of Setanta Sports.This is ESPN’s first fully localized service in Europe, with a full lineup of specific British content— meaning loads of football—and just a nod to American sports. The schedule will include England’s Barclays Premier League, Scottish Premier League (SPL), Germany’s Bundesliga and the Dutch, Portuguese and Russian leagues. The new service will be a premium pay channel on Sky, Virgin Media and Top Up TV and in a package on BT’s digital platform. ESPN previously had two channels in the U.K.: ESPN America covering American sports (originally North American Sports Network) and ESPN Classic showing archived action.

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Fancy footwork: ESPN has ramped up its profile in the U.K. with its acquisition of lucrative Barclays Premier League matches, which air on its new premium channel.

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Revving up: Viasat’s portfolio of acquired sports rights includes the MotoGP World Championship Grand Prix on Viasat Motor Channel.

Setanta was paying. However, the SPL has lost out on a new £125-million package agreed to by Setanta until 2014. Being both a channel operator and a programming provider, ESPN needs a balance in its distribution approach. “The National Hockey League (NHL) is a good example of the situation,” says Barnett.“It’s shown on ESPN America in Scandinavia, where ice hockey is very popular. But we also sublicense to local terrestrial channels for additional revenue and exposure. So there is a trade-off to analyze between program sales and channel distribution. In many cases, discussions straddle both areas. It depends on the operator. If you take Viasat in Scandinavia, they are a platform operator with channels and they have their own sports channels, so it’s easy to have a joined-up discussion. In these cases, if you talk to a senior-enough person, it’s a single discussion.” He adds,“At the end of the day we are working together. So often the program and channel providers are seen as being on the opposite side of the table from the platform operators. I don’t see it that way.We need to achieve a better level of cooperation to maximize value. It’s all very well to put a big number on the table and see if somebody will swallow it, but if it’s not a win-win situation it probably won’t help build a good long-term partnership.” The need for more cooperation also extends to the relationship between media companies and the sports themselves, according to Bunn.“There will always be an audience for sport,” he says. “The question is, how much will media companies pay? There needs to be more intelligent cooperation between rights owners and television partners.To a large extent, that means sports need to adapt their mindset. I have been in negotiations where a sport requests a rights fee and I’ve asked where they came up with the number and the answer has been that the amount is what it takes for them to run their sport.And I’ve had to point out that the issue under discussion is putting a value on television rights; the broadcaster is only interested in what your television rights are worth, not the funding of your organization.” Cooperation is not just a matter of prices for rights, but also competition rules and scheduling.“Sky Germany has a much

PREMIER TIES

Having a powerful single property can get a new channel, even a new platform, off the ground, as the Premier League proved for Sky in the U.K. in the 1990s. Setanta was hoping to repeat that success story. But of course one marquee property is no guarantee of success unless other pieces are in place. Before going bust in the U.K., Setanta was losing an estimated £100 million a year. The service reached only 1.2 million subscribers, well short of a 1.9 million breakeven target. “Setanta’s business model could never work,” Bunn says.“You cannot get people to pay for an offer that includes only one quarter of the product. A pay-TV sports product has to cover everything.” ESPN will show 46 live Premier League football games that were to have been shown by Setanta and will pay £159 million per season until 2013—the same terms as Setanta had. Entry into the British market has been on the drawing board for ESPN for some time. The U.S.-based company was a partner in the original Screensport, which was taken over by Eurosport in the early 1990s. ESPN had bid for a piece of the new Premier League deal, which will run from 2010 to 2013, but lost out when Sky won five of the packages and Setanta got the other one. ESPN and Sky also picked up the rights to Scotland’s SPL for five years for an esti- Full speed ahead: Formula 1 remains a must-have sporting event for many mated £13 million a season, a bit less than commercial broadcasters. 150

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Race to the finish: Ratings for this year’s Tour de France were up in a number of territories.

better shot at succeeding now that the Bundesliga has agreed to change kickoff times to accommodate television,” Bunn says.“That factor has been absolutely fundamental to the success of Sky in the U.K., where Sky now has football on four days a week on multiple pay channels.” It is no coincidence that the new German approach has come now that News Corporation has made Premiere (in Austria as well as Germany) part of the Sky-branded European pay-TV empire.The new Sky Fußball Bundesliga will feature six different kickoff times, all five kickoffs from the first Bundesliga and a Monday game from the second division, 2.Bundesliga.That means more than 20 hours of live action every weekend. GLOBAL REACH

Reaching an international audience is the goal for any sports property. The media planning group Initiative, part of the Interpublic Group, has pointed out that when numbers of viewers are measured, the top 10 percent of television markets in terms of audience typically deliver 90 percent of the total audience. Indeed, for most events, if they were broadcast in only 30 countries instead of 200, it would make almost no difference to the total audience. Only for events of true global appeal does this 90/10 rule not apply.They are the ones for which the difference between the potential global audience and the actual audience is not so great. These events are the Olympic Games, the FIFA World Cup, the UEFA European Football Championships, the UEFA Champions League and Formula 1. The National Football League’s Super Bowl is one of the biggest events in global viewing without being a global event.This is because the Super Bowl generates a huge audience in one very large market, its home market of the U.S. While broadcast television remains at the heart of the media strategy for all sports, the new-media environment offers an unprecedented opportunity to reach a global audience.YouTube has particular importance. Last year, the IOC started using YouTube during the Beijing Summer Olympic Games in territories where broadcast rights were not sold, and in Korea.After the Games, that content became available almost everywhere outside the U.S. 152

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Even though the barriers to entry may be lower than in the broadcast sector, having a broadband-video presence costs money, and can still be out of reach for smaller rights owners. But imaginations are working overtime. An unlikely pair of allies has emerged in the online betting industry.The International Hockey Federation (FIH), the world governing body of the Olympic sport of field hockey, has pioneered the use of a betting partner in order to underpin new-media distribution.The FIH sold Internet rights to the Vienna-based Bwin via the company’s media-distribution partner Sportsman Media Group. The deal for live streaming of matches on Bwin’s website runs until the end of 2010 and the bookmaker is already asking to renew.The arrangement is effectively just like any other media deal, but it does contain specific clauses to protect integrity, including blocking the IP addresses at the venues where events are held and within the world of hockey more generally. Bwin is also contracted to inform the FIH of any integrity issues that arise.The International Volleyball Federation has a similar deal with Bwin. BETTING BIG

The betting area is also emerging as a new way to monetize content for channel operators. Eurosport recently launched the online bookmaker EurosportBET in the U.K. and plans to roll the service out in other countries as regulatory conditions permit. In the U.K., Sky Bet, the betting subsidiary of BSkyB, expects that the connection between sports content and sports betting may develop more strongly in the online market than it has in television, and it expects to follow the lead of other online betting providers in streaming more live sports content on its own website, while continuing to promote its offer linked to live events on Sky Sports on broadband. More futuristically, a whole new potential market dimension is opening in the virtual world. Infront Sports & Media has launched Empire of Sports, an online gaming environment designed to provide an experience as close as possible to real sports. It offers competition in football, tennis, basketball and skiing. Players compete against one another via broadband. Infront, whose portfolio of media rights includes most of the Winter Olympic sports federations (such as the governing bodies of skiing and ice hockey), FIFA World Cup football in Asia and the Superbike World Championship, is the 60-percent owner of the venture, with a French technology and design partner, F4, holding the rest. The Empire of Sports world includes virtual rooms, with partners such as the Spanish soccer giant FC Barcelona and the French sports newspaper L’Équipe.The new platform also potentially offers the opportunity to bet on “real” events.The in-game browser can show new-media coverage of an event as a virtual public viewing. For example, a player could be standing in a virtual square, while up on the big screen a live football match or tennis event is being streamed, so players would be able to talk about the event while their avatars see it. For the sports market of tomorrow, it’s a real case of “watch this space.” 10/09

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Fobiac on Veronica.

Going Dutch New-media platforms are providing players in the already crowded Dutch TV market more ways to reach consumers and generate revenues.

By Jay Stuart The comment one hears again and again from professionals in the Dutch market is that the Netherlands is a small country. Whether it’s added explicitly or not, the second part of the refrain is that there are too many channels to support. Dutch broadcasters are looking to new media to change the picture, not with fewer channels but with more ways to generate revenue from their content. The Dutch television market may be the most competitive in Europe, not only in terms of free-TV channels chasing 15 million potential viewers aged 6-plus, or pay programmers seeking subscribers, but also in terms of competing media platforms. And there is a full raft of those with cable, IPTV, digital terrestrial (DTT), DTH satellite and fiber-to-thehome (FTTH) providers trying to enlist customers for tripleplay packages (including TV, broadband and telephone). The Netherlands became the first nation in the world to switch off free-to-air (FTA) analogue signals, at the end of 2006. But the reality is that even then it was already a digital market. Fewer than 75,000 households depended on FTA antennae in order to watch TV. The fragmentation of the free-TV audience is pronounced, with no fewer than 11 different channels achieving audience shares of 2 percent or more in all homes during July 2009. That far exceeds the fragmentation in neighboring Flanders or any of the five biggest Western European markets. 154

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The public channel Nederland 1 was the comfortable market leader with a 22-percent share, followed by RTL 4 at 12.4 percent and SBS 6 at 10.5 percent, according to the national audience-research group SKO (Stichting Kijk Onederzoek). The others were the public channels Nederland 2 (6.2 percent) and Nederland 3 (5.7 percent), followed by Net 5 (4.8 percent), RTL 7 (4.5 percent), RTL 5 (3.7 percent),Veronica (3.3 percent), Nickelodeon (2.4 percent) and ORN TV (2.1 percent). For the three public channels, the Netherlands continues to operate a unique democratic public-broadcasting system in which air time is allocated to more than a dozen different groups nominally representing segments of society (such as church groups).The future of this setup is always under discussion, but there are no signs that it will fundamentally change. A different allocation of participating organizations is pending with a couple of new ones coming into the picture, and perhaps others dropping out.The government is likely to decide on the new lineup of public-broadcasting organizations by the end of this year. The public broadcaster holding the system together is NOS (Nederlandse Omroep Stichting), which makes news and sports programs for the public channels. THE COMPETITORS

Despite the presence of so many channels, the jumble of contenders for Dutch television advertising is slightly misleading. In fact, competition in the free-TV market is between three big broadcast players—public television; the Luxembourgbased RTL; and Germany’s ProSiebenSat.1, which completed the acquisition of SBS Broadcasting in 2007 along with its three Dutch stations, SBS6, Net 5 and Veronica (they remain under the SBS banner). 10/09

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The upshot of the situation is that competition is between groups of broadcast channels rather than individual channels— Nederland 1/2/3 versus RTL 4/5/7/8 versus SBS6/Veronica/Net 5. “We have four channels that are fully complementary and enable us to reach all the relevant commercial target groups,” says RTL Nederland’s CEO, Bert Habets.“Last year we worked hard at positioning our stations.The profiles are clearer and we have invested in programs that are characteristic for the specific channels. RTL 4, for example, is our flagship and targets consumers aged 20 to 49. It is our family-oriented station and known for the best entertainment and strong thematic evenings on topics such as cooking, lifestyle and spirituality. RTL 5 is our younger and more edgy station targeting the 20-to-34 age group.”

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GOOD SPORTS

In years with major events, sports programming tends to dominate Dutch broadcast ratings.The European Football Championships on Ned 1 accounted for 16 of the top 20 shows in 2008 and more than half of the top 50. Holland’s own special national sport, speed skating, also appeared several times in the top 50, also on Ned 1. Take away sports and Ned 1 still took 14 of the top 20 places and 47 of the top 70.The top program last year was a true-crime special, Peter R. DeVries Crime Reporter, on SBS6, which placed four shows in the top 20. RTL 4 made it once with an episode of the music competition Idols.Those three channels accounted for all the programs in the top 70 with the lone exception of a music show on Ned 3. Television advertising revenue in the Netherlands in 2008 amounted to €856 million, up only 0.7 percent from 2007. That performance was very weak compared with other European markets, including neighboring Belgium, which was up 6.4 percent. In the fourth quarter of last year, ad revenue plummeted by 7.4 percent, again worse than elsewhere. In 2009, TV advertising is expected to be completely flat, according to the World Advertising Research Centre, while ZenithOptimedia has forecast 2.8-percent growth. NEW ATTITUDES

With the advertising market dropping, the broadcast networks have opened their vision up to other platforms. Public television, which considers offering more digital choice as part of its remit, launched HD in 2006 and already has about 20 digital channels. Now for the first time a commercial broadcaster, RTL, has teamed up with a cable company, UPC, to launch new digital channels—an RTL HD channel plus on-demand and thematic channels. SBS has not moved yet, but the smart money says that that will happen too before the end of the year.The commercial broadcasters have waited to make this digital push and it has come in the tough economic climate as ad sales have shrunk. “There has been a shift of attitude,” says Paul van Niekerk, the managing director of the television advertising association 10/09

SPOT (Stichting ter Promotie en Optimalisatie van Televisiereclame), which represents all broadcasters. “Instead of fearing new media, they are seeing it as the area where they are strongest, because of all the content they have.They no longer see a challenge but a big opportunity.” The broadcasters are looking to high-definition television to give a value-adding big push to their move into new platforms. RTL Nederland plans to launch four HD channels (high-def versions of its current portfolio) later this year. Because of the cost of the upgrade, RTL expects competing platforms to pay for the HD signals. SBS has indicated that it will charge as well when it rolls out its HD offer.The three main Dutch public channels became available in HD in July. The new channels are usually part of cable packages that require additional money from the consumer, and so potentially they can generate revenue. In this way, some of the cost burden is being shifted from the advertising market as programmers start to charge distribution partners for their content. The advent of high definition is helping the push in that direction. In terms of how consumers receive their television content, the Dutch market is a platform jungle. Ziggo, the largest Dutch cable provider, was formed by a merger between Multikabel, @Home Network, and Casema that was completed last year. Ziggo has nearly 1.2 million subs, while number two UPC Nederland sits at about 670,000. UPC is part of the U.S. group Liberty Global, which also owns Chellomedia Benelux, the dominant pay-TV company in the market. Canal Digitaal is the national DTH satellite provider.The DTH market is still small, but it has a new vitality. Originally DTH was viewed as a platform for people outside urban areas who could not get cable—a rural option. Now that has begun to change somewhat as more people see it as an alternative to other platforms. But penetration is still only 7 percent to 8 percent. DTH may have reached a plateau and could even recede. World Screen

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A Dutch welcome: John de Mol’s Talpa produces Ik hou van Holland for RTL 4.

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Cable will no doubt continue to lose share, but it has a long way to go from its current 90 percent of homes.“The reality is that for years people had no practical alternative,” says Jeroen Bergman, the managing director of Chello Benelux and managing director of programming for UPC Broadband across Europe. “Now there is DTT for half the price.There is satellite for people who want loads more channels, including German channels.And there is IPTV for the technologyminded who want more interactivity.” The jury is out as to whether IPTV growth will come via DSL or fiber-to-the-home, the latest contender in the platform market. FTTH is not an adaptation of cable or DSL but a completely different network.The service is presold to consumers in an area or building development. If sales hit a 60percent or 65-percent threshold, then the system is laid in. FTTH was pioneered by the construction entrepreneur Dick Wessels. He sold a minority stake to KPN last year. Since the financial crisis hit, building has slowed.Tele2 started the rollout of FTTH last year. PAID DEVELOPMENTS

The yes men: Public broadcaster Ned 3 recently launched Sorry Minister, its version of the classic BBC satire Yes, Minister.

Chellomedia has both a pan-European and a localized presence. In Holland, pan-European channels are offered in Dutch. Chello Benelux serves the rest of the Netherlands and Flanders. Chello has five channels plus an HD channel. In 2008, it launched a subscription VOD service on the UPC platform. Chello has about 350,000 subs at present.That is double the 175,000 level it had in February 2006, at the time of the

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Canal Plus takeover. But it is still only about 5-percent penetration in a market of 6.5 million to 7 million homes. The biggest development in pay TV and the televisionchannel market in general has come from elsewhere—the launch of a new pay football channel by the Dutch league in partnership with Endemol called Eredivisie Live (the Eredivisie is the national Premier League).This is distributed on a wholesale basis to all platforms. It’s the first time a league has launched its own channel as the exclusive live window, though the same idea has been talked about for several years in various countries. Highlights are still on NOS. The football rights used to belong to Chellomedia, which acquired the Dutch version of Canal Plus in 2005 and after that had a monopoly on the pay scene.The football rights still belonged to Canal Plus when Chello took over.Then they moved to Tele2, which was launching a DSL platform. Originally the football was supposed to be platform-exclusive. First a deal was done with Canal Digitaal for DTH and then cable was added.That changed in August 2008, with the launch of Eredivisie Live. But Chello is still alone in pay movies.“The competition for us is with free-to-air TV,” says Bergman. “In addition to about ten commercial broadcast channels, there are two more from Flanders. On any given night there are four or five films in the Dutch language on at the same time.” CONTENT ONLINE

For the free-to-air broadcasters, the most important development is probably the growth of online video.“Broadcasters are in a very good position to be big players in this area and they are already using online to improve their overall market share,” says SPOT’s van Niekerk.“Online gives broadcasters the potential to sell across platforms, offering advertisers mass reach through their main networks, experiential reach through sponsorship of programs and one-to-one contact through online content.” In the past year, RTL has embraced new media with such enthusiasm that it has also launched three mobile websites and a cooking portal and revamped its catch-up TV website with a doubling of the video streams.The company has even launched an online gaming platform called Spelsalon.nl. “Making programs for conventional television is not the same discipline as making them for new media that offer interactivity,” says Geert Paul Slee, the former managing director of the Hilversum-based production house Presteigne Charter, who is launching his own company, Broadcast Rental.“Of course you can distribute any program on new media, but in order to be a real new-media product you need interactivity.The creation of television programming that is truly digital in the sense of being right for conventional viewing,as well as interactivity, may be an emerging trend.” As to the transition the Dutch market has been undergoing, he adds, “A lot of the time we are first with innovations in Holland, but Dutch people tend not to want to pay for things.” 10/09

TV EUROPE

ProSieben at

20 By Anna Carugati

During the 1980s, the winds of deregulation swept through Europe. Major TV markets like Germany, France, Italy and Spain, which had been dominated by public broadcasters, were seeing the emergence of privately owned commercial channels. While they provided more programming options for viewers and greater inventory for advertisers, these first commercial networks were merely new-and-improved versions of the pubcasters, offering similar general-entertainment schedules that

appealed to the broadest audience possible. That is, until ProSieben launched in Germany in 1989. It was the first station to target its program offering and its audience—feature films for the young demo. Viewers’ positive response was immediate, and ProSieben forged a solid bond with the 14-to-29 set—a relationship that has lasted two decades. This year marks ProSieben’s 20th anniversary, and the channel has much to celebrate. It is the most profitable of the stations in ProSiebenSat.1 Group’s stable of free-to-air channels, which also includes Sat.1, kabel eins and N24. And it continues to attract those otherwise easily distracted young viewers with a mix of movies, the best of U.S. series, and hit entertainment shows, many of which are offered on demand, online, as well as on the linear channel. Andreas Bartl, the managing director for German free TV at ProSiebenSat.1 since 2008, has been with the group since 1991. In 2005 he became the managing director of ProSieben, where he oversaw the launch of some the country’s most successful entertainment shows, including Germany’s Next Topmodel—by Heidi Klum and Beat Your Host! When Bartl was promoted last year, Thilo Proff took his place as managing director. He joined the group in 1998 and had been deputy managing director at the channel since 2006, where his responsibilities included its programming strategy. Together they talk to TV Europe about the reasons for ProSieben’s continued success and discuss what the channel must do to maintain its relevance in the digital age.

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Glückwünsche an ProSieben zu Ihrem zwanzigsten Jubiläum. Congratulations to ProSieben on your Twentieth Anniversary.

From your friends at

www.CBSSI.com

TV EUROPE

“For ProSieben, which became a very strong and popular brand among young people, U.S. licensed product has always been essential. ” — Andreas Bartl, ProSiebenSat.1 Media TV EUROPE: Twenty years ago, when ProSieben launched, what was the TV landscape in Germany, and what did ProSieben want to offer viewers that they couldn’t get from other channels? BARTL: The landscape was much different.There were the pubcasters, ARD and ZDF, and all their regional channels.There were only two commercial channels, RTL and Sat.1 in 1989, but their technical reach could not be compared to the 100-percent coverage of today. But still, it was an evolving market that was very interesting financially. When ProSieben launched, managing director Georg Kofler’s idea—and it was a good one, among others—was to have a channel whose positioning was unique and different from RTL and Sat.1, which started as general-entertainment channels offering all program genres possible, reaching for the broadest audience. RTL and Sat.1 [skewed] younger and were simply more modern versions of the pubcasters. Kofler said,“We need to be different.We need to position

ourselves as a quality channel for young audiences, and the best way to do this is to be a feature-film channel.” So when ProSieben started, it was mainly a feature-film channel, but it was a hit because there were not a lot of feature films that you could watch on TV in Germany at that time. But the market back then was very, very different, compared to the overcrowded and fragmented market we have today. And for the last couple of years, we’ve been heading more and more into being a market that is similar to the U.S.

TV EUROPE: Are there specific competitive challenges that ProSieben is facing today? And how is it maintaining its market share? PROFF: The challenge for ProSieben today is being and remaining competitive among a very young and demanding audience. ProSieben, by far, [skews] the youngest of all the free-TV stations.We have almost a 12-percent market share among the audience [most coveted by advertisers], which is 14 to 49.We are number two within this age group, but we are still number one in the younger demographic of 14 to 29, with an 18-percent share.We are very focused on that target group.And the younger the audience is, the more it demands new programs and highlights every day.That, indeed, is the challenge—to find programs that are long-running enough to be economically reasonable, while at the same time being the talk of the town and reaching your audience. TV EUROPE: ProSieben originally focused on feature films. How

did the strategy for original productions come about? BARTL: It all began in the early ’90s when we launched a talk show

called Arabella.At the time, RTL and Sat.1 dominated the talk-show

20 YEARS OF ENTERTAINING YOU AND LOVING IT To our dear friends and partners at ProSieben You’ve come a long way, evolving and growing and entertaining every step of the way. It’s been great to be a part of it with you. Congratulations from your friends at Tandem Communications

TV EUROPE

ProSieben brand. Even today, the Hollywood blockbusters get very good ratings, as do the standout series Desperate Housewives and Grey’s Anatomy. But the channel is also made up of popular original programming like the shows with Stefan Raab, who is ProSieben’s number one host; Germany’s Next Topmodel and Popstars. The channel has changed a lot but its positioning among its core demographic has stayed very, very stable. PROFF: From a demographic standpoint, ProSieben has remained in the same spot for almost 20 years now. BARTL: And that is amazing.

On the catwalk: Germany’s Next Topmodel—by Heidi Klum is based on a U.S. format from CBS Studios International.

TV EUROPE: You mentioned American imports. You have always been quite open to them and they’ve played an important role on the channel. BARTL: True.This is another element that distinguished ProSieben from RTL and Sat.1, who introduced U.S. series in prime time long after ProSieben did. In the ’90s, U.S. series in prime time were rather rare. ProSieben was the first channel to start this with ER and The X-Files.The only other channel that had U.S. series was RTL, but they aired them after 10 p.m. and it was only one program and it ran seemingly forever—almost 15 years, and that was Quincy, M.E. And that was it—a situation totally different compared to today. So for ProSieben’s brand, which became a very strong and popular brand among young people, U.S. licensed product has always been essential.

genre and ProSieben made its version for the young generation and it was very successful. So our original productions started with Arabella and then we had a daily news show that is still on the air called Taff. It’s more of a [tabloid] news show— the kind of news you find in People magazine.We wanted to offer a broader portfolio of programming in order to attract more viewers.After being on the air for a few years, we knew that we had found all the movie fans in Germany and they were watching the channel, so our original productions were about further growth to reach new audiences.And also it had something to do with getting [carriage on] the then publicly owned TV EUROPE: ProSieben is also known for high-quality cable operators because only if you had a variety of programs mini-series and event movies. Do those continue to be and offered news were you able to be on every cable provider. important, or because of the advertising decline, is it harder So it was also about gaining technical reach. now to finance big-budget shows? PROFF: Out of this obligation, we created one of the strong PROFF: No, not really, those highlight event programs are still points of our schedule.With our original programming we very important for the ProSieben brand because, as I menare offering something for everybody. Andreas mentioned tioned, the younger audiences demand programs like these. Taff, which is a little more female-oriented with its content. On Mondays, we have been running a strand called Thrill We also have Galileo, our daily science show, which is for everybody—males watch it as well as females, younger viewers as well as older viewers, and a lot of families sit in front of the TV when Galileo is on.We also have a weekly [tabloid] magazine called Red! Stars, Lifestyle & More, which airs after Germany’s Next Topmodel and is quite an important show for us. We also have Popstars, so there is a whole bunch of factual and entertainment programming that lives beside the original marketing core of U.S. Hollywood productions. BARTL: Today it’s really a mix and you can say that the original productions are at least as important as the licensed programs coming from the U.S., which Just the facts: One of ProSieben’s most popular series is the daily science show Galileo, are still very important for the which attracts a broad viewership base. 162

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to offer our programs anytime and anywhere.To give you an example, we started [streaming] video on the Internet about 18 months ago and it was a huge success right from the beginning. We started with Germany’s Next Topmodel and about 20 percent of the total views of the program are online video views, so this is quite a lot, about one-fifth.And we also are usually number two or three among the top five mobile podcasts,with our comedy programs and with the science show Galileo. ProSieben is the number-one-rated station in the ProSiebenSat.1 Group among young viewers.We can consider the different ways the younger audiences view programming either as a threat or we can view it as a huge chance to convince younger viewers to watch our programs on every platform.

Host with the most: Stefan Raab, one of ProSieben’s bestknown personalities, hosts TV Total, a weekly entertainment series.

Time, which offers a lot of German TV movies of very high quality, like Töte mich, wenn du kannst. These movies have budgets that exceed $1 million, which is quite a lot for the German market.They look really good and are successful. We always get between a 15- and 25-percent market share with these kinds of programs, so we will continue to do them and will offer them in 2010 as well. On the international co-production side, we will offer major events as we have in the past, and the next big coproduction will be Ben Hur. BARTL: There is an economic crisis, but our viewers don’t want to see the crisis on-screen.They expect us to continue to offer strong programming and we cannot disappoint them. Therefore, even facing a crisis, we are producing TV events that draw automatic attention from the audiences because we cannot let go of these programs. TV EUROPE: More and more people are deciding how and

TV EUROPE: Are distributors and the studios willing to give you VOD rights and Internet rights to movies and shows? BARTL: It’s a new business for everyone.When we talk to the studios, we agree on being eager to [pursue VOD and new media],but as we cannot really know what the size of the business is, the discussion sometimes becomes a negotiation. But they started with Gossip Girl on prosieben.de and it was a great success. PROFF: Yes, quite good. It actually did better on the Internet percentage-wise than it did on the air.That’s because Gossip Girl attracts a very, very young audience, as it does in America. The younger the viewers, the more they turn to different platforms, and as long as we can push these platforms as well, then the business stays in hand, and that is what we are talking about with the major U.S. studios. TV EUROPE: How does Prosieben’s programming complement

the offering of the other channels in the ProSiebenSat.1 group? BARTL: The complementary nature of our brands and of their schedules is part of the recent success of our German free-TV channels, which have been dynamically growing their ratings this year.And it partly comes, from my point of view, from the fact that the general managers of the channels are working closer together than they have in the past.We have a much higher coordination of our strategy in our programming, and many departments are centralized now, so we are working much more

when to watch movies and TV programs “anytime, anywhere.” Tell us about maxdome, the on-demand broadband portal, and what you are learning about how your viewers want to see their programs and films. BARTL: TV on demand is a very important trend among viewers and will continue to be so over the next years. It’s not as big in Germany yet as it is in the U.S. But viewers, and especially young viewers, have grown up with the Internet and have become accustomed to having what they want immediately, anytime and anyplace.This is also something we are dealing with and will continue to do so in the future.We are anticipating this trend, and we are actually pushing it.Maxdome is number one in video views online by far, and we call this concept TV 3.0, which means that TV content will be watched on three screens: the big TV screen, the laptop screen and also, and this will be very important very soon, the mobile screen on smart phones like the iPhone. We are ready for this development, and we take it very seriously.And as a TV group, we see it as a chance to grab some share of the online advertising business by [extending] our core business, which is showing movies and programming [to the online and mobile worlds]. PROFF: Speaking about ProSieben and TV 3.0, On the scene: One of ProSieben’s longest-running original productions is the we labeled it internally “everytainment,” which is entertainment magazine show Taff. 164

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TV EUROPE

“The success formula for ProSieben should be: being sexy and providing the talk-ofthe-town formats.”

that comes with it that prices sharply go down. But there is the common-sense element in our business that we want to sell our advertising at prices that are fair and reasonable. Plus, our product hasn’t become less valuable. So our strategy is to keep the prices constant. TV EUROPE: Let’s look into the future.What will be

the key to ProSieben’s success in coming years, even as the market changes because of technology and the ways viewers want to watch their content? BARTL: If we imagine that the market in the future will have more possibilities than today, and that technology will offer many platforms that will be used more than they are today—like online and mobile, as well as hybrid TV sets that are able to receive broadband signals so you can see online content on your TV screen—there will be many more possibilities to see TV content than only on linear channels. And with ProSieben being the number one channel for the under-30 audience in Germany, it is the channel that is best prepared for the future. If we are able to stick to our brand proposition—which has remained attractive for 20 years, and I think will be attractive for the next 20 years because there will always be a need for a young channel that is different from broad generalist channels like RTL and Sat.1—then ProSieben will be fine.We also need to be able to have enough ownership of content and be present with our content on the several platforms we just talked about—TV 3.0.This will be decisive, but in my forecast, ProSieben will still be around in 20 years. PROFF: In the future, in order to be seen, you will need to shine brighter with your brand than today.The success formula for ProSieben should be: being sexy and providing thetalk-of-the-town formats. [If we do that, we will be able to meet whatever challenges the future will bring.] And if our programs, our highlights and our events are on every platform, I’m sure we’ll succeed.

— Thilo Proff, ProSieben like a team. So it’s much easier now to bring the brands on to the screen in a complementary manner. PROFF: If you could see us now sitting together, you would see that we are sitting in Andreas’s office, which is right next to the office of Jürgen Hörner, who is the managing director of kabel eins.The next office is my office, the managing director of ProSieben, and in the next office is Guido Bolten, the managing director of Sat.1. Also, all the programming planning people are sitting right around us. So even in times of e-mail communications and BlackBerrys, nothing can beat the geographical proximity of people. BARTL: It makes life much easier, I’m telling you! TV EUROPE: It’s a very tough ad market everywhere.What are the forecasts for the German market this year? Some channels have been offering discounted advertising rates. Has some of the discounting bottomed out or is it necessary given the tough market now? BARTL: The ad market will decline as the whole German economy will decline.TV is holding stronger than print, but TV will also decline this year. It’s a sign of a crisis and the pressure

A History of ProSieben 1989

1996

2003

ProSieben launches on January 1 with feature films and international series

Unveils the charity event Red Nose Day and the new entertainment show Wok-WM, created by Stefan Raab

Is the first TV station in Germany with 24-hour programming

Milestones include the rollouts of the science magazine Welt der Wunder and the comedy series Comedy Factory. The ProSieben Group launches its first website, www.pro-sieben.de. It is the most extensive web destination for a German channel

1991

1997

Adds news to the schedule with Tagesbilder

The feature film Jurassic Park attracts 9 million viewers; new shows include Quatsch Comedy Club, Bullyparade and Switch

2005

1998

2006

The first daily science magazine, Galileo, launches with host Aiman Abdallah

1999

ProSieben’s new entertainment slate includes Germany’s Next Topmodel—by Heidi Klum, Stars on Ice, hosted by Katarina Witt, and Schlag den Raab, created by Stefan Raab

Entertainer Stefan Raab joins ProSieben with the new weekly entertainment show TV Total

2008

New shows include the talk show Arabella, the magazine series Liebe Sünde and U.S. import The X-Files

2001

The Next Uri Geller—Unglaubliche Phänomene Live launches on the channel

1995

2002

More magazine series with the magazines Taff and SAM and the launch of the American drama ER

Seven million tune in for the blockbuster feature Star Wars: Episode I—Die dunkle Bedrohung

1990

1992 Launches the first series produced by ProSieben, Glückliche Reise, and the first prime-time magazine, Die Reporter

1993 ProSieben’s second original series is Liebe ist Privatsache

1994

2004 The TV premiere of Der Schuh des Manitu—Extra Large delivers 12 million viewers; the new comedy Stromberg launches Hit ABC series Lost and Desperate Housewives make their German debuts

Sex and the City premieres on the channel

2009

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Germany’s Next Topmodel—by Heidi Klum has its best season ever with a 24.2-percent share of viewers aged 14 to 49; Fringe—Grenzfälle des FBI launches

TV EUROPE

a new management came in and they wanted to take it a different way and that was supported. But I think Five lost its way a little bit because it tried to be what everyone else was doing rather than remember what it was very good at.That’s why it went from being a very needy, loud, demanding child you couldn’t ignore to something that was very comfortable, very, very safe, but a bit boring. TV EUROPE: And what have you done to

turn it around? AIREY: We brought in a new creative

Frank and Forthright

Five’s Dawn Airey In the spring of 2008, Dawn Airey surprised the British media industry by quitting her job as managing director of global content at ITV and returning to Five, the channel she had helped launch in 1997, as chair and chief executive. It was during her first tenure at Five that she established her reputation as a top media executive. She famously described Five’s remit as “the three Fs: football, films and f***ing.” Airey is outspoken, often controversial, and unfailingly passionate about the television business and Five’s future, even in today’s challenging economy.

By Anna Carugati

TV EUROPE: The Five you returned to was quite different

from the Five you left. AIREY: I left Five when it was seven years old... I did leave

it as a quite noisy child, with a boisterous personality.When I got back I thought it had got middle-aged very quickly. It hadn’t had its teenage years and fun twenties and thirties or forties, and that is one of the challenges that I have. To a degree, channels always take on a bit of the personality of the directors of programs in particular, and possibly of the chief executive. So after I left and then the directors of programs changed, Five went down a different route. We were very deliberately a noisy brand when we started out, partly out of necessity, but also because of a very intentional positioning.We wanted to do things differently; we needed to be different because we had a fraction of anybody else’s budget and it had to work effectively for us. And then 168

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team. Richard Woolfe has joined us from Sky1, and I lured Jeff Ford back from Channel 4 to manage acquisitions and the digital channels.We’ve also got a string of new creative appointments in the programming department. Those appointments have already started to bear pretty good fruit.We’ve been commissioning a lot of fast-turnaround documentaries, which get us noticed and make a lot of noise fast.And we’ve announced a whole host of key entertainment and talent announcements, whether it’s Paul Merton doing a new series, or Robson Green or Louise Redknapp, Justin Lee Collins, Zoë Ball, Jamie Theakston, Ian Wright, Melinda Messenger or Kate Walsh. We just recently bought what I hope to be the hit U.S. show, which is FlashForward.We have also commissioned big entertainment formats that will feature in the autumn schedule. We have launched an early evening entertainment magazine between 6:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m, Live from Studio Five. It’s a new-style news-and-entertainment format.We’ve got high hopes for it. And we’ve done all of that against the backdrop of the worst entertainment economy that I have seen in my 25 years of work in broadcasting.This year I’m looking at revenues being down 20-plus percent. Not surprisingly, when I joined, most of the channel’s programming money was committed to 2009, so we had to take an aggressive review of the overhead, a consequence of which was losing 25 percent of the staff—a painful but essential outcome.We’ve also had to substantially reduce the program budget, but we’ve done that through renegotiating the contracts, and taking money out of non-key areas of the schedule and focusing it on prime time.We’ve done all that and, interestingly, the results are quite spectacular.We are the only family of channels to have grown its share of viewing year to date. So I’m pretty pleased with our performance. TV EUROPE: Despite the fact that your budget has been reduced for obvious reasons, are U.S. shows still important to your family of channels? AIREY: Oh, God, they are really important! Five has always had, right from the beginning, really good U.S. series and films.We’re changing the structure of the schedule so it goes back to being slightly more stripped and stranded so it’s easier to navigate. From the autumn, we will be almost exclusively narrative on the main channel from between 9 p.m.and 11 p.m., 10/09

TV EUROPE

Loud and clear: With its new leadership in place, Five has begun to refresh its grid with a slate featuring the daily magazine-style series Live from Studio Five.

and we will do that with U.S. series and movies.We’ve got the top-rated U.S. series in the U.K.: the CSI franchise, NCIS and The Mentalist, which is a huge hit, and I mentioned FlashForward. So we will continue with our preeminence of U.S. product. And Five US, the digital channel, which we rebranded earlier this year as Five USA, that little “A” made all the difference.That is exclusively devoted to U.S. programming and it plays a key role in our overall performance. Actually, U.S. acquisitions are important for Fiver as well. Fiver and Five USA are delivering year-on-year growth figures and are doing spectacularly well. I am sure we will continue to be the home of U.S. drama, although some of our detractors say, “You’re overly reliant on CSI.” Well, CSI accounts for 5 percent of our ratings. Coronation Street accounts for 10 percent of ITV’s ratings. Deal or No Deal on Channel 4 accounts for 10 percent of their ratings. So we’re not overly reliant on any one specific series, but they are an important part of the mix.We are very happy and proud to have the best of the U.S. on the channel. TV EUROPE: The British government released its Digital

Britain report, which outlines its vision for ensuring that the U.K. is at the forefront of the global digital economy.

One of the issues the report addressed is the future of Channel 4, which faces a substantial funding gap. Is the prospect of a merger between you and Channel 4 completely off the table? AIREY: It is for the moment. Digital Britain wasn’t just about the broadcast landscape—it was about the broadband landscape, too.The government and Ofcom asked us to come up with a solution for the funding problems that Channel 4 presented.And we did. But ultimately they didn’t go with us for a number of reasons, primarily political.They were opposed to the idea of a state-owned asset, like Channel 4, becoming a public-private partnership, which it would have done with RTL [Group, the parent company of Five]. Channel 4 felt that philosophically we were in very different places and didn’t quite see how the partnership would work. But I think it’s quite ironic that one of the things that Digital Britain set out to do was to solve the funding problems of Channel 4. And it actually hasn’t proffered any solution. There may be a deal with BBC Worldwide, I don’t know. I think it would have been a really good solution for publicservice broadcasting because the synergies of putting Channel 4 and Five together were so significant that it would have more than dealt with the funding gap that Channel 4 stated it has, and it would have resulted in more programming in key public-service interest areas. TV EUROPE: Do you see Five remaining a stand-alone

channel? AIREY: I sit at my desk with a big crystal ball on it! We’ve

always said, and I do believe, that consolidation is going to happen.And if consolidation happens, the smaller players tend to consolidate, and we are a smaller player, so yes, I think we will consolidate.When, where and who with, I cannot say. TV EUROPE: Well, more importantly, are you still

having fun? AIREY: I come to work every day never quite knowing what’s going to happen; the only thing I know is that it’s going to be fun, exhilarating and exciting. I work with a really lovely team of people.And I’m in a very fortunate position.We are not a plc. Our finances don’t bear the scrutiny on a daily and monthly basis as a plc’s does—as, for example, at ITV. And I have an incredibly supportive shareholder in the RTL Group. I don’t want to be anywhere else; I am very happy at Five. I wouldn’t have gone through the pain of exiting ITV to come back here if I wasn’t really, really clear that this is where I wanted to be. I never thought in a month of Sundays— and this is the joyous thing about life—that I would end up back at Five. But I am, and I’m very, very happy to be dealing with an interesting set of commercial and creative challenges, with people I admire and whose company I enjoy, with a fabulous supportive shareholder. I have every confidence in the team’s ability to put Five back on track as a fun, entertaining, challenging brand that is admired and successful. 170

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Lee Bartlett joined ITV from FOX Broadcasting last year, and as managing director of ITV Studios he is in charge of all of the broadcasting group’s British and international production-anddistribution businesses. In this very difficult economy, Bartlett’s divisions are considered growth areas that can generate revenues to offset ITV’s decline in advertising.

By Anna Carugati

TV EUROPE: You have said that ITV needs to monetize its

big brands better and make them more relevant. How have you done that? BARTLETT: We’ve made a lot of progress in this area.We have a successful daytime show called This Morning, which has been on the air for many years. It has a very loyal audience and had a lot of potential for the network, which we hadn’t developed before.It hadn’t had a revamp in a long time,so we re-created the show.We brought in a new presenter and divided it up into segments.We changed the graphics and made the look and feel a little lighter. It now has a very strong nonlinear presence and the website is very relevant to the show. Let’s say there is a gardener on, you see him working in a garden, you can go onto the website and find out how you can save this plant, what are the best seeds, and if you want the seeds, click here and you can buy them. It’s not rocket science, but we made the brand more relevant and more practical to the people who watch it.

Creating Relevant Brands

ITV’s Lee Bartlett

It’s not so much revamping the show that is important, the brand extensions are. So it’s taking a well-known brand that we had only exploited in one form and are now exploiting it in three or four other ways. We also did this to drive revenue because, when I put my plc hat on, I know a plc needs to earn revenues from more than just advertising, it needs revenues from many other sources in order to stay alive. Another brand we’ve worked on is Coronation Street, which is one of our biggest. It now has one of the best websites of any show in the U.K.We are producing special [content] for DVD: a 90-minute movie where the story line is set up within the show and then you can go buy the DVD or you can download the movie. We have a lunchtime program called Loose Women. We created a version for the German market, which just got an order for 30 episodes.That is really quite remarkable to take a brand that is so domestic and be able to create instant international value out of it. Among our international brands, we looked at shows that we’ve had some success selling internationally and we changed the way we sold them.We put a lot of effort behind them and I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! is really a good example. It has been on the air in the U.K. for eight seasons. It’s always done really well, but it hadn’t been particularly exploited internationally except in Germany on RTL. So we made a concerted effort and we are currently shooting I’m a Celebrity India for Sony, I’m a Celebrity Sweden is coming soon, and of course the U.S. commission on NBC, which is now airing around the world as a finished series. In fact, in one of President Obama’s speeches, when he was referring to Arnold Schwarzenegger, he used the phrase,“I’m a celebrity, get me out of here!”That’s manna from Heaven! TV EUROPE: You’ve made partnership deals with Shine and 19 Entertainment. Can you tell us about the projects you are working on with them? BARTLETT: Absolutely not! But I can tell you there is one project from the Shine deal that we are really keen on and there is another one we are really keen on with 19.What is interesting is how we did it.We took a couple of development people from Shine and a couple of people from ITV and we put them in a room.And over a period of time, they came up with a number of ideas that were truly developed jointly.That’s different from the way joint ventures normally work—it’s usually one party or the other coming up with ideas. Obviously, I’m only going to be happy if they are successful, but I think the formula is new. TV EUROPE: Are you looking to make more partnerships? BARTLETT: The short answer is yes. I don’t believe that

any one company, no matter what its reputation or how creative it is, can have a lock on creative talent. I am interested in creative talent, and as long as it makes financial sense, whether it’s through partnerships, joint ventures, housekeeping deals, any name you want to put to it, I want to have people present ideas that we can then turn around and develop and produce. I don’t care where they come from. And I’m not a big believer in having a giant staff of creative people, because I think creativity is best done in small groups. 172

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