TV Europe MIPCOM 2013

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Top Buyers MTG’s Jørgen Madsen Lindemann Doctor Who’s Steven Moffat RTL II’s Jochen Starke

MIPCOM EDITION

www.tveurope.ws THE MAGAZINE OF EUROPEAN TELEVISION

OCTOBER 2013

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CONTENTS FEATURE

A Mature Europe

12 Hit Seekers Some of Europe’s top buyers talk about spotting hits, output deals and the need for nonlinear rights.

I was rummaging through an old trunk and came across articles that I wrote early in my career.

Ricardo Seguin Guise Publisher Anna Carugati Editor Mansha Daswani Executive Editor Kristin Brzoznowski Managing Editor Joanna Padovano Associate Editor Simon Weaver Online Director Victor L. Cuevas Production & Design Director Phyllis Q. Busell Art Director Meredith Miller Production Associate Cesar Suero Sales & Marketing Director Vanessa Brand Sales & Marketing Manager Terry Acunzo Business Affairs Manager

Ricardo Seguin Guise President Anna Carugati Executive VP & Group Editorial Director Mansha Daswani Associate Publisher & VP of Strategic Development TV Europe © 2013 WSN INC. 1123 Broadway, #1207 New York, NY 10010 Phone: (212) 924-7620 Fax: (212) 924-6940 Website: www.tveurope.ws

They ran from the late ’80s to the mid-’90s when I was living in Italy and covering the Italian, French, Spanish and German television markets. While the landscape then was vastly different from what it is today, as I re-read many of those articles, I was reminded that the seeds of today’s mature European media scene had already been planted some 20 years ago.

The evolution of TV in Europe has been impressive. Deregulation gave way to commercial stations, and while imported programming filled many time slots, broadcasters’ desire for shows that depicted familiar settings and local issues was fervent.

Fiction programs began to appear, first in the form of TV movies and mini-series, often as co-productions. And partners then, as they do now, looked for topics that could appeal to audiences in more than one country. One Italian executive told me at the time, “The Europe that is being formed today is a Europe of currencies and economies, not a political or cultural Europe. And yet, there are certain values, cultural issues and social themes that bind together life in this European continent. Emotions can be easily exported. Jealousy, envy, revenge and love are not different in other countries.” The same holds true today.

As Europe’s production industry grew, so did the broadcast landscape. Public broadcasters faced competition from commercial networks. Together they dealt with fragmentation of their audiences due to a plethora of cable and satellite channels.Then, digital terrestrial channels started targeting all sorts of viewer tastes and niches.To offset fragmentation, media companies developed the strategy of launching groups of channels in a given market, each targeting a different demographic or genre.

RTL II in Germany is one such channel. It focuses on a young demo, and CEO Jochen Starke talks about serving this dynamic audience in this issue.The Modern Times Group operates freeand pay-TV channels in a number of European countries.

President and CEO Jørgen Madsen Lindemann explains how his company is satisfying viewers on linear channels and online.

Programming continues to drive the business, and hits like the U.K.’s Doctor Who exemplify the best of what television has to offer. Executive producer Steven Moffat talks about his craft.

Even though homegrown programming remains the most successful, imports still play a key role on many schedules, as some of Europe’s top buyers explain in our feature. In today’s competitive European market, quality programming becomes all the more important.

—Anna Carugati

12 INTERVIEWS 20 MTG’s

Jørgen Madsen Lindemann

24 Doctor Who ’s Steven Moffat

29 RTL II’s Jochen Starke

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Audiovisual from Spain • Cuba: Life Shelter • The Avatars • Dreamland The Audiovisual from Spain banner represents the interests of Spanish companies involved in the content industry. Its promotional activities are sponsored by ICEX Spain Trade and Investment and FAPAE Spanish Audiovisual Producers Confederation.

At MIPCOM, Audiovisual from Spain is celebrating the coming together of Spanish companies and Argentine companies, says Sonsoles Huidobro, the head of the audiovisual department at ICEX. “Both sides will focus on four key areas: product sales, coproduction agreements, catalogue expansion and the acquisition of distribution rights,” she notes. Companies represented under the Audiovisual from Spain umbrella include Explora Films, with Cuba: Life Shelter ; Mediaset España, presenting Dreamland; and Onza Distribution, which is launching the teen series The Avatars.

“We intend to increase the number of networking activities between our companies and major players in the international market.”

—Sonsoles Huidobro Dreamland

Boomerang TV International • The Time in Between • The Avatars • Old Bridge’s Secret

The prime-time mini-series The Time in Between recently debuted on Spain’s Antena 3. It is based on a bestselling novel, El tiempo entre costuras, written by María Dueñas, about a woman who uses her talent to transform herself into a prestigious couturier. Boomerang TV International is presenting the mini-series alongside two series highlights. “We’ll bring two very strong new series to the market this time,” affirms Ruth Martínez, Boomerang TV’s head of entertainment sales and acquisitions. “One is a wonderful epic drama based on an inspiring international bestseller, and the other one is a youth series fully recorded in English. Both could be appealing for any territory so we feel this MIPCOM will be more global than ever for us.” Martínez is referring to the drama Old Bridge’s Secret and the youth-skewed The Avatars, respectively.

“With an international cast, The Time in Between has been filmed on over 1,500 sets, using highdefinition standards.”

—Ruth Martínez The Time in Between

Global Screen • Heroes • Weissensee • Pinocchio The high-budget disaster movie Heroes features tons of specialeffects shots and a star-studded German cast. “At MIPCOM, we will be able to present the finished film, which has already been presold in several territories, including an all-rights deal for Japan,” explains Marlene Fritz, the head of TV sales at Global Screen. Fritz adds, “The second season of Weissensee, comprising six further episodes, is highly anticipated by our clients.This multiple-awardwinning family drama series from public broadcaster ARD has been praised by critics and viewers alike. Furthermore, we will be able to present the first finished scenes of another ARD program, the partly animated Pinocchio.This stands in the tradition of highquality children’s programming from Germany, which has a good reputation abroad.”

“MIPCOM is not only important for us when it comes to distribution, we also regard it as one of our favorite marketplaces for acquisitions.”

—Marlene Fritz Weissensee 214 World Screen 10/13

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Kanal D • Kayip • A.S.K. • Waiting for the Sun Produced by Kanal D’s in-house production company In D House, Kayip is an action-packed story about a missing child and his family. “Because of its dynamic structure, it will be different than the other dramas in our market,” says Ozlem Ozsumbul, Kanal D’s head of sales and acquisitions. “We are expecting a huge success with this project because of its story, casting and production quality.” Ozsumbul adds, “Another hit will be A.S.K. It has many talented and gorgeous cast members, and with its lovely story this title will become another phenomenon for the season.” Also from In D House is Waiting for the Sun, which has been airing successfully on Kanal D. “International audiences know our dramas very well,” says Ozsumbul. “They are waiting for new titles and we are extremely happy to reach them and share all our stories.”

“At Kanal D, we have had the best dramas and programs in Turkey for many years.”

—Ozlem Ozsumbul Kayip

Russia Television and Radio/Sovteleexport • Einstein: The Theory of Love • Demons • The Children Drew Death

Sovteleexport is presenting new projects from Russia Television and Radio to partners and potential clients.The roster includes film adaptations of famous Russian classics, costume series and documentaries tapping into historical events and current issues.Topics covered include World War I and World War II, space, sports and more.There is Einstein:The Theory of Love, a mini-series that looks into the private life of the genius scientist. “Russia Television and Radio is famous for its high-quality film adaptations of Russian classics,” says Julia Matiash, the director of Sovteleexport.

“Demons is one of the most anticipated wide-scale film adaptations of the outstanding novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.” The Children Drew Death is a documentary about children who were captured and brought to the concentration camps during World War II.

“We would like to attract new buyers from the U.S.A., Canada and Latin America.”

—Julia Matiash Demons

Shine International • The Face • The Bridge • The Smoke Following on the success of the U.S. original, The Face is brand new for Sky Living HD in the U.K. In the British series, international supermodels Naomi Campbell, Erin O’Connor and Caroline Winberg mentor teams of aspiring models who are competing to become the face of one of the world’s biggest cosmetics brands.

Shine International is keen to start sales on the British version at MIPCOM, alongside The Bridge. Produced by Shine America for FX, The Bridge has already been distributed in 120 territories worldwide. Katrina Neylon, Shine International’s senior VP of sales for EMEA, points to The Smoke as another star in the company’s catalogue. “This is the gripping story of what it’s really like to be a firefighter in a city station, through the emotional stories around the crew’s working and personal lives,” Neylon says.

“The Bridge is America’s number one new cable drama series of summer 2013.”

—Katrina Neylon The Bridge 216 World Screen 10/13

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SPI International / FilmBox • FilmBox Arthouse • Fast&FunBox HD • 360 TuneBox Among the channels found within the SPI International bouquet is FilmBox Arthouse, a movie service that presents independent films and arthouse cinema. Fast&FunBox HD is a channel dedicated to adrenaline-filled content. The 24-hour 360 TuneBox offers viewers music videos by emerging artists.There’s also FightBox HD. “We are also announcing major rebranding activities of our FilmBox movie channels,” says Berk Uziyel, the director of FilmBox International and new media director of SPI International. “Viewers will enjoy new on-air visuals and improved content on our flagship channel FilmBox Extra. Some key distributors will introduce attractive promotions, and the lineup of premium and extended basic channels offered across CEE will be adjusted to take advantage of the locally available content.”

“We come to Cannes to promote the global character of our business and explore opportunities with partners from new territories such as Africa, South America and Asia.”

—Berk Uziyel Fight Code on FightBox HD

TV5MONDE • TV5MONDE FBS • TV5MONDE Europe

There are nine different TV5MONDE channels offered worldwide, among them TV5MONDE FBS (for France, Belgium, Switzerland) and TV5MONDE Europe (for the rest of Europe).

There’s also TiVi5MONDE, a U.S. channel dedicated to kids.

“TV5MONDE is the only general-entertainment Frenchlanguage channel for cable, satellite and IPTV, and is available 24/7 in 243 million homes in 200 countries and territories,” says Yves Bigot, the company’s general manager. “We are present in over 25,000 top-end hotels worldwide. Our programs are subtitled in 12 languages.” The company also recently launched two new websites to honor its mission of promoting the French language, one for teachers and one for students. Programming highlights of TV5MONDE include Mais qui sera le prochain grand pâtissier?

Mais qui sera le prochain grand pâtissier?

“TV5MONDE keeps reinforcing its general-entertainment positioning.”

—Yves Bigot

TVE • Vintage: The Origins • Isabel The drama Vintage (Gran Reserva) tells the story of two families of winemakers: the Cortázars, who consider wine as a lucrative business, and the Revertes, to whom the vineyard is a way of life.The vineyards and wineries of Rioja serve as the backdrop for stories of impossible love, lies, betrayal, jealousy and ambition.The series has had a successful run in Spain, and there’s now a prequel launching in the market, Vintage:The Origins.The show is being presented by TVE, which belongs to the Spanish audiovisual group Corporación Radiotelevision Española. In it, the Cortázar and Reverte wineries are allies and struggling to make it in an environment ruled by the firm hand of an unscrupulous third company, Miranda Wineries. Rafael Bardem, the head of program sales at TVE, highlights the show along with new seasons of Isabel.

“Our main focus is to continue the work of spreading our fiction in the world.”

—Rafael Bardem Vintage: The Origins 218 World Screen 10/13

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Hit Seekers BBC Worldwide’s Sherlock.

By Bob Jenkins

Some of Europe’s top pay-TV and free-to-air buyers talk about spotting hits, the pros and cons of output deals and the need for nonlinear rights.

T

he value of imported content to European buyers is not what it used to be. A recent report

by Essential Television Statistics, Madigan Cluff and Digital TV Research found that the revenues generated by the most lucrative genre, drama, “fell significantly” from 2011 to 2012. However, musthave titles continue to increase in value—the revenues from the top 20 drama titles rose by 7.5 percent, to $2.15 billion.

One of Europe’s biggest buyers of imported content is Sky in the U.K. Buying for a portfolio that includes Sky1, Sky Living, Sky Atlantic, Sky Arts 1 and 2, Challenge and the Skybranded movie channels, Sarah Wright, the controller of acquisitions, has a remit broader than those of most buyers.

As might be expected, Wright says she buys from “a very wide range of suppliers, really from all sorts of companies, ranging from the Hollywood majors to smaller studios and all the way down to single documentaries from individual producers for channels such as Sky Arts 1 and 2.”

Unsurprisingly, she has negotiated some output deals to meet this heavy demand. In addition to the headline-grabbing 220 World Screen 10/13

HBO deal of a few years ago, she also has deals in place with both Twentieth Century Fox and Warner Bros., although she is quick to clarify that “these deals are only for movies and do not cover series or any other content.”

The portfolio of channels operated by Sky, and the fact that it is a pay service, affects Wright’s buying strategy in a number of ways, one being that Wright does not buy for specific slots. “We have so many channels catering to so many different audiences that if we see something we think our audience will love, we will buy it and figure out what to do with it afterwards.What I don’t do is buy for ‘Friday at 9 p.m.’ Sky just doesn’t work like that.”

This diverse need, adapted to the demands of a pay audience, makes it difficult for Wright to select shows that are likely hits, not just because the range of genres makes comparison difficult, but also because success is measured as much by the audience’s willingness to go on paying for a show as by the ratings. Nonetheless, when pushed on the question, Wright mentions the following shows as the most watched and appreciated by subscribers: “The Simpsons, if only because it is an all-time television classic; more recent

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successes include Chicago Fire, The Following, Criminal Minds and Elementary.”

Wright also acquires a wide range of rights, allowing Sky to offer content to its subscribers on a variety of platforms. She is relaxed about over-the-top (OTT) services such as Netflix, insisting that “they don’t have any significant impact on our buying strategy, not least because, from the perspective of our customers, it isn’t an ‘either-or.’ Many of our customers also subscribe to an OTT service, and so I would say that we are different services that can happily coexist.”

COMMERCIAL CONCERNS

Vamping it up: The Vampire Diaries from Warner Bros. has been a top performer for ITV2 in daytime, appealing to its core 16-to-34 demo.

ITV, the U.K.’s leading commercial free-to-air broadcaster, has a markedly different acquisitions strategy from Sky. The flagship ITV (recently rebranded from ITV1) “has a schedule comprised of drama, entertainment, news, sports and factual, most of which is commissioned rather than acquired,” says Sasha Breslau, the group’s head of acquired series. However, she says, “The Americans performed very well for us and if something high-end that really fits the channel’s profile came along, I would certainly look at it.”

The majority of Breslau’s buying is done for ITV2 and 4.

ITV2 is “a mix of acquisitions and commissions targeting the 16-to-34 demo and housewives with kids, while ITV4 is very much a male-skewing channel aimed at over-25s.The bulk of its schedule is made up of live sports and movies.” Of her recent acquisitions, the top performers have been “Real Housewives in daytime and The Vampire Diaries in peak on ITV2, and River Monsters and Hell on Wheels for ITV4.”

Currently, no ITV channel has an output deal. “Not everything we got as a result of such deals was a fit for the channel and, consequently, we ended up with a great deal of stock on our books at the end of the deal,” Breslau explains.

Detailing her acquisition needs, Breslau says, “For ITV4 I’m looking for male-skewing factual entertainment and

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reality documentary series that can play 8 p.m. or 9 p.m. from 2014 onwards.”

Breslau is reluctant to get specific on either prices or budgets, although she acknowledges that “we can’t compete with what Sky will pay.” She insists, though, that “there has been no change in our acquisition budget and our prices are competitive with other U.K. free-to-air channels.”

According to Breslau, “catch-up is now a given and it is highly unlikely that we would buy any series where we could not get these rights. Also,VOD in all its forms is now quite important. It is perhaps not yet a deal-breaker in the way that catch-up rights would be, but transactional VOD and subscription VOD in particular are becoming very important.”

Despite this, Breslau does not see OTT services impacting ITV’s acquisition strategy. “In fact, we welcome these new services as potential partners with whom we can window,” she says.

GERMAN MIGHT

The leading free-to-air broadcaster in Germany is RTL Television, whose imported programming needs are overseen by Jörg Graf, head of program acquisitions at Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland. In addition to the flagship RTL, his remit includes VOX, SUPER RTL and RTL Nitro, plus the pay-TV channels RTL Living, RTL Crime and Passion.

Like Sky’s Wright, Graf clearly states that “we do not look for programming to fill slots. Our demand is for good TV product that is suitable for our channels. It is more about setting up successful lineups than just putting a format into a slot.” That has not been an easy task as of late.

“Recent U.S. output is not 100-percent congruent to our needs,” Graf notes. “So, we have to think about the best way to launch new, and sometimes unusual, product.”

Asked to name some recent acquired hits, Graf lists Grimm and Revenge on VOX, Once Upon a Time and Dallas on SUPER RTL and Bones and CSI for RTL. More broadly,

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Sleeping beauty: Among the most popular imported shows on VOX in Germany is NBCUniversal’s Grimm.

Graf comments, “In terms of group-wide success, I would say the CSI franchise, and NBCUniversal’s House and Monk were eminent hits for RTL Group.”

Besides output deals with Disney, Sony Pictures Television and NBCUniversal, the RTL Group also has “output or volume deals with a number of the non-majors,” Graf says.

PRICE MATTERS

Graf has several concerns regarding pricing—concerns that he is not afraid to reveal. “Prices should correlate to both the economic situation and also the success of the product in the individual market or territory, and, from time to time, this price has to be adjusted—in both directions,” he says. “In Germany, the market is stable but the product has not been that suitable for European networks targeting a broad audience.”

He goes on to observe, “Discussions over pricing are made more complex as the scope of rights increases and this becomes more of a crucial issue. Broadcasters cannot be asked to maintain, let alone increase, prices if, at the same time, their exclusivity is being reduced.”

Graf now counts catch-up as a given and not as an extra right. Accepting that “SVOD is a separate right, no question,” Graf is adamant that “we cannot continue under the same terms and conditions as pertained before these means of exploitation existed. If we get less in terms of exclusivity and exploitation windows, then we can’t pay the same as we once did.”

Rozan Hamaker is the head of acquisitions for SBS Broadcasting’s Dutch networks SBS6, Net5 and Veronica.

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She describes SBS6 as “family-oriented, friendly and with a broad appeal”; Net5 as “our female-skewing channel, the key words being feel-good, guilty pleasure and relationships”; and Veronica as “our young-skewing channel—fun, daring, edgy and fast.” The group also operates an ondemand/electronic sell-through site that offers “Hollywood blockbusters and premium series as well as preview and catch-up series from our linear channels.”

GOING DUTCH

“These rights are must-haves,” Hamaker notes. “Linear viewing is declining, and for a traditional broadcaster such as ourselves securing these rights is key if we are to [maintain] the same number of eyeballs and, therefore, income.” That said, Hamaker is adamant that OTT services have not yet caused her to make any changes to her buying strategy.

“LOVEFiLM currently has no presence in the Netherlands, and [although] Netflix [has entered] our market, we have not changed our strategy.”

However, Hamaker does concede that because “the fragmentation of the audience is the key issue in our marketplace, we enable our audience to decide where, when and how they want to watch their favorite programs, and of course this has an impact on our buying strategy.”

Hamaker opted not to comment when asked about her budget and any movement in prices paid.While acknowledging that “we do have volume deals,” she declined to give any details as to with whom or what content they cover. In any

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Acquired programming serves as “an extra supplement to in-house production, which forms the bulk of the schedules of most of our channels,” Kvasnicka says.

The series that work best for Ceská’s channels are “dramas such as [NBCUniversal’s] Downton Abbey and [ITV’s] Mr Selfridge, and the BBC’s Sherlock, along with attractive foreign documentary series, typically from the BBC, and classic features rather than more current titles.”

COMEDY IN BULK

Under the hood: Sky Arts in the U.K. has been acquiring the rights to foreignlanguage dramas like TVE’s Isabel.

case, top-performing purchases have included NCIS, The Mentalist and Relocation, Relocation for SBS6; Grey’s Anatomy, MasterChef Australia, Desperate Housewives and The Little Couple for Net5; and Criminal Minds, Storage Wars, Border Security and Top Gear for Veronica.

CZECH IT OUT

The Czech Republic is another market, like the Netherlands, that so far has not been affected by the arrival of OTT services.

Vaclav Kvasnicka, the head of acquisitions for state broadcaster Ceská televize, says that for his station, “we do not care about these services. Our audience is mostly older viewers who do not make much use of Internet services.” Still, he says, “we do request catch-up rights as part of any deal, and we like children’s series that come with an Internet bonus such as web links.”

However, digitization in general is having an impact on Ceská’s acquisitions. “Digitization has created a new space for small, niche channels,” Kvasnicka observes. “Some of these are managed at the very edge of economic feasibility, creating a competitive environment and driving up the cost of programming. But our income, based on license fees, has not increased by a single crown [the local currency] for several years.”

An older viewer profile, coupled with Ceská’s stagnant licensefee base, largely determines the broadcaster’s buying policy. Its acquisition department, lead by Kvasnicka, buys drama, animation, documentaries and formats for CT1, CT2, CT:D and CT art.

“We avoid output or volume deals, as we are not able to absorb ordinary foreign series in afternoon slots. Also, our interest in series and features is very selective, which is why we are unable to buy large quantities.”

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For the Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) channels in southern Europe, volume deals are really only of interest in comedy. “In some cases, we do volume deals,” says Amalia Martinez de Velasco, VP of comedy brands for VIMN in southern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, who buys for channels in Italy and Spain. “We mainly buy from a variety of sources: sitcoms from U.S. majors, sketches from independent producers in the U.S., U.K. and Europe and local sitcoms from local distributors.”

Lucia Nicolai, the VP of youth and music brands for southern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, eschews such output deals for her genres. Nicolai reveals that acquisitions are mainly made for the territories of France, Italy, Spain and Portugal, with content coming from “majors such as Fox, Disney, MGM, HBO, BBC, Endemol and NBCUniversal, as well as indies such as all3media, Eagle Pictures, Shine and Electus.”

As for the sort of programming Viacom is looking to acquire, Nicolai says, “In France, Portugal and Spain I am looking for daytime programming and also access prime time, while in Italy my focus is more access prime/prime time.

“In Italy we entered the public ratings system in 2012, so we had to make sure we had a very strong lineup for that reason.That also led to an increase in the acquisitions budget in Italy, while [budgets in] France, Spain and Portugal remained pretty stable.”

For comedy, Martinez de Velasco is looking for “sitcoms we can strip and any kind of funny programming that travels well.”

Commenting on her budget, she says, “We have had to adapt to challenging economic situations in some of our markets, but have managed to preserve our acquisitions budgets in general.”

TheViacom executives have very different views on the impact of OTT services in their markets. Nicolai says that their arrival “makes it harder to acquire SVOD rights in third-party deals.

Distributors are very aware of the business opportunity they have with platforms such as iTunes, Netflix and LOVEFiLM, which are beginning to replace home video. So, even in territories where these services are not yet available, distributors are very careful about licensing these rights.” Meanwhile, Martinez de Velasco is positively enthusiastic. “They have not had any impact on my buying strategy, but, in some markets, we are selling them some library of our own productions!”

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Modern Times Group’s Jørgen Madsen Lindemann

By Anna Carugati

Modern Times Group (MTG) operates 60 branded channels in 37 countries and has the largest broadcasting footprint in Europe. Present in the Nordic region, Eastern Europe, the Baltics and Russia, MTG has been gaining market share in several countries by launching groups of channels, online services and even radio stations. Despite economic ups and downs, increased competition and changing viewing habits, MTG has recently posted strong financial results. President and CEO Jørgen Madsen Lindemann is bullish about the television business.

TV EUROPE: In Scandinavia, are you beginning to see com-

petition from the likes of Netflix and other over-the-top services, or are your services still holding their viewers?

MADSEN LINDEMANN: We were first to market with our online pay-TV service Viaplay in 2011, and we began to see the competition in late 2012. It is very crowded right now with OTT services in the Nordic region because of the high broadband penetration in these countries. Netflix has entered the market. HBO has entered as well, but we have managed to make long-term contracts with our partners at the different studios. The content we are showing in the Nordic markets is superior to our competition’s offering thanks to the content we are getting from our partners. On top of that, we have our sports, which none of the other OTT services have, and we have our own produced content as well, meaning that our programming that airs on our linear channels is also available online. So it is quite a superior product but, no doubt, it is fierce competition that we are facing. On the other hand, online offers us the possibility to reach out to customers that we couldn’t attract in the old days because there is a fixed amount of cable companies and a fixed amount of people who have satellite, but now with broadband penetration we have opportunities to go out and attract more customers who use broadband as a secondary TV. So we don’t see it as cord cutting, we see it as complementary, which is good news for us.

TV EUROPE: Is online viewing complementary to the linear

viewing or are you beginning to see online threaten the viability of linear channels?

MADSEN LINDEMANN: Right now we are looking at the U.S. to see the viewing behavior there. In the first quarter, according to Nielsen, there was an increase of television viewing. People spent more time in front of linear TV than they did during the same quarter in 2012. On top of that you have the online viewing, which is incremental.We believe that long term, linear channels will be there, no doubt about that. But we also see that a lot of the younger audiences like the way we are serving content online; that is what they are embracing. That is why we see it as incremental.

TV EUROPE: And are you seeing advertisers willing to go online?

MADSEN LINDEMANN: Yes, we do and they are paying a higher price for viewers online than they pay on TV, because it is more targeted as well. So it is helping us.

TV EUROPE: How have your businesses in the emerging markets been performing?

MADSEN LINDEMANN: Latvia in the Baltics is a large market and we acquired a big TV company called LNT 228 World Screen 10/13

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about a year and a half ago.We have a strong presence with a wide range of channels. Lithuania is also doing very well with our multichannel strategy. The same goes for Estonia, where we’ve had good growth on our main channel. Our combined share of viewing now in the Baltics is around 48 percent. Moving on to Bulgaria, we managed to find good programming and execute it well in different formats, we have a 32.5-percent viewing share.

That is 7 percentage points higher than 2012, which is very fine growth as well.

Feeling bookish: Runasim atklati airs on LNT in Latvia, which became part of the MTG portfolio in 2012.

TV EUROPE: In the Czech Republic you also recently had particularly strong growth.

MADSEN LINDEMANN: We managed to grow 47 percent in the second quarter. Unfortunately, that is probably a oneoff; that is not going to happen again! The most important thing is that we launched a new channel called Prima ZOOM, so we have four channels in the Czech Republic and have a very strong media offering. That has also helped our online development. We would like to do more in the emerging markets. We would like to launch more channels.

We are looking at production companies, at more TV channels and online businesses as well.

TV EUROPE: How is CTC in Russia doing?

MADSEN LINDEMANN: It is doing well. Russia is a

very interesting market.This may be a childish description, but it’s like being in a candy shop! Digitization is happening right now, the analogue world is changing to a digital world; there will be about 70 million digital households in 2017.You will see more channels coming into the Russian market and this is always good news for content producers.

If you look at the advertising market, Russia is forecast to be the biggest TV advertising market in Europe in 2014, bigger than Germany and bigger than the U.K., which is quite impressive. In the online world, the growth rates are around 25 percent, so it is really a very interesting market for us; it’s booming. Right now we have three channels in Russia: CTC, the main channel; Domashny, which is a successful female-skewing channel; and we have Peretz, which is a comedy channel targeting younger male viewers.

There are a lot of opportunities in Russia; it is a big country. We are very happy to have 38 percent of the biggest private media group there.

TV EUROPE: And the

Nordic region continues to perform well?

MADSEN LINDEMANN:

Fortunately, we have had growth in all our markets. We are growing the viewing in Norway, Denmark and in Sweden as well, which is very important for us. Still, there are 230 World Screen 10/13

things to be done with all of our channels. We want to make sure that we select the right formats that can offer viewers interesting stories because there is a lot of content out there and our mission is to offer the right content and the most relevant content.

TV EUROPE: As you look across your portfolio, where do you

see growth—launching channels in the countries where you are already present or also expanding into new territories?

MADSEN LINDEMANN: Both. We are launching a new channel in Norway in the second half of the year. We launched a new channel in the Czech Republic. At the same time, we are looking at new countries. We would like to expand our business model into more countries, particularly in Eastern Europe and in Africa; those are the areas where we would like to grow our businesses.

TV EUROPE: As competition increases from outside companies, the power of your brands must be all the more important, because people know what they get from Viasat.

MADSEN LINDEMANN: Yes, it’s the power of the brands, but what is also important is the cooperation we have with the Hollywood studios. We want to make sure that we have very strong content from our partners. This is, in the end, still what drives it. We have seen some of the other services start up and then exit the market because they found out that their content offering was not attractive enough.

TV EUROPE: So you are confident, looking forward, that the

television business is still a good business to be in?

MADSEN LINDEMANN: It is, luckily! And last year we

decided to invest a lot in our pay-TV businesses in Russia.We have around 90 million subscribers now in Eastern Europe with our thematic channels. We also invested in our premium movie channel in Russia on the back of the digitization that is taking place right now.

TV EUROPE: Tell us about Modern Responsibility.

MADSEN LINDEMANN: Because our business is growing so

fast it is very important that we have and communicate a culture of corporate responsibility. We have different kinds: one is to conduct our business in an ethical way—that is very important for us in the markets that we go into. We have a broadcast responsibility as well: we are aware of the impact of entertainment and we offer parental guidelines. We are in 36 countries now, so it is very important for us to have responsibility towards all our employees. And finally, we have a responsibility towards the community we serve and make sure we give something back.

In addition, we are part of a fantastic foundation called Reach for Change. It supports entrepreneurs that aim to make the world better for children worldwide, and it has a lot of great local initiatives as well.

One example is in Ghana, where we have a social entrepreneur who has a bike, some books and a tent. He goes around to different cities in Ghana. He pitches his tent and reads stories to children. He leaves some of the books with the children and then moves on to another city and does the same thing. He has expanded his business so more and more young people are having stories read to them in Ghana, which is fantastic.

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TV EUROPE: Doctor Who celebrating its 50th anniversary is

quite a milestone.Why do you think it’s endured the way it has?

MOFFAT: I frequently call Doctor Who the most perfectly

evolved predator in television. It is the perfect television show. It is the show you can’t kill. We could all drop dead tomorrow, all of us who work in Doctor Who, and they’d just carry on making it. [Laughs] It is dependent on no individual. You give it your all for the years that you do it, and when you leave it won’t even notice—you’ll be shed like scales! And you can recast the Doctor. Not only can you recast the Doctor, you can create a Doctor who is appropriate for the times. He can always be modern. He can always be new. It’s an ancient tradition and yet it’s a brand-new iteration of that tradition. So it feels old and new at the same time, old and young.

TV EUROPE: When you succeeded Russell T Davies as head writer of Doctor Who, what did you want to do with the show?

MOFFAT: I just wanted it to be good. People always want me to have some form of agenda. Sometimes in desperation I say I want it to be a fairy tale or I want it to be this or that. I just wanted it to be a good Doctor Who. The thing about Doctor Who is it’s a different show every week. It speaks with a different voice on a weekly basis. It must be fast moving. It must be funny and exciting. Those were all present in Russell’s era and I hope they are all present in mine. I serve at the pleasure of the TARDIS.

Steven Moffat

By Mansha Daswani

In 1963, the BBC premiered a quirky science-fiction show about an alien who called himself the Doctor, traveling through space and time in a blue police box called the TARDIS. With a plot device that allowed the Doctor to “regenerate,” the BBC was able to recast the lead role in Doctor Who every few years, keeping the series on until 1989. In 2005 the Beeb revived the much-loved classic with writer Russell T Davies and Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor. David Tennant later took the reins and then Matt Smith. This summer, in a live special that aired on BBC One and BBC-branded channels around the world, it was revealed that Peter Capaldi, best known for The Thick of It, will serve as the 12th Doctor beginning at the end of this year. Steven Moffat, who was named head writer and showrunner of the franchise in 2008, talks to TV Europe as the show, which has been licensed by BBC Worldwide to more than 200 territories across the globe, gears up for its milestone 50th birthday.

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TV EUROPE: What can you tell us about the 50th anniversary special for Doctor Who? MOFFAT: It will be on November 23. John Hurt is in it and he’s playing the Doctor, and that’s cool. John Hurt is very cool.

TV EUROPE: How do you decide how much of Doctor Who’s deep mythology to draw from?

MOFFAT: When it first came back, if we hadn’t done the Daleks or the Cybermen or The Master, it wouldn’t have felt like Doctor Who. Now the two eras of the show have merged into one big glorious tapestry. It is better to add to the mythology than to draw from it. I have a slight fear that the first appearance of any given monster is always the best. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t bring them back if people love them. It’s an age-old debate. I think I’d probably rather invent new [monsters].

TV EUROPE: How stressful was the casting process for the

new Doctor?

MOFFAT: [Laughs] The key to these things is, Don’t think

it’s stressful. It’s exciting, it’s challenging, it’s thrilling. You might get it wrong, in which case everything will collapse, but you might get it right and you’ll have a huge hit. It’s bracing in the inter-Doctor moments when nobody knows who the next one will be. It reacquaints you with fundamentally what the Doctor is. At the moment we all think of the Doctor as Matt Smith. He’s young, mad and silly, and he’s a bit dislocated. But when you step back, he’s not always that at all. Think of the range of the Doctors—his apparent age can change from [his] seventies to [his] twenties and back again. He can be heroic, he can be funny, he can be scary, he can be silly; he can be any of those things.

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TV EUROPE: You’ve had such a broad career in British television. Does writing sci-fi or fantasy flex different creative muscles than mystery or comedy or any other genre?

MOFFAT: I never feel as though it does. I never feel as though the job is any different.

Comedy is good training for writing anything. It’s a very clear-cut proposition—you must be funny several times a page.

Comedy writers, by instinct, are very severe on themselves. If there aren’t sufficient gags (in a wider sense of the word “gag”) in the scene then I’m not keeping it. It has to do something to the audience. But writing Coupling doesn’t feel different from writing Doctor Who.

Shattering records: Launched 50 years ago in the U.K., BBC Worldwide’s Doctor Who is a popculture phenomenon today, particularly in the U.S., where the series consistently delivers ratings records for BBC America.

Obviously we’re about to throw it all up in the air and it’s going to land slightly differently, or very differently. It will be a completely different kind of Doctor, and yet somehow you’ll see that the same person is looking out of his eyes.

That’s the ambition. At the end of the day, the objective is to convince the nation that somehow, despite the apocalyptic change, it really is the same person.

TV EUROPE: What did Matt Smith bring to this role that

has been inhabited by so many actors?

MOFFAT: It’s interesting to look at the three modern Doctors—and there’s about to be a fourth—and see what each of them bring to the show. Christopher [Eccleston] brought a gravitas and an importance, a statement that this is a serious proposition—a famous actor playing the part [of the Doctor]. He brought a toughness to it, a sensibleness to it. And then David [Tennant] got the idea that the Doctor could be cool and sexy—a sort of dashing hero. What Matt brought to it, which is the last thing you’d expect from the youngest-ever Doctor, is he absolutely restored the idea that the Doctor is fundamentally an absent-minded professor. Matt’s Doctor is quite, quite mad. I remember David saying, I wish I had done it like that! Matt has such a madcap quality that what he brought was more than eccentricity—he’s absolutely insane. If David’s Doctor turned up [at your house] for morning coffee, he’d be fine.

He’d be a lovely young man and he’d chat everybody up.

Matt’s Doctor would turn up on a camel. He’s bonkers. The last thing anybody thought when we cast the 26-year-old was that what we’d get is a return to the eccentric old boffin that he is at heart, the hipster boffin.

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TV EUROPE: Thanks to social media, fans are much more vocal about their opinions on shows. How much attention do you pay to what people are saying about Doctor Who and Sherlock on Twitter or on fan blogs?

MOFFAT: I used to be on Twitter; I left. I found it to be a huge distraction. Most people are very nice and lovely. There are the occasional nutters, but there are occasional nutters on the street. There’s no way of avoiding the occasional nutter. I don’t pay much attention to it because you can’t. If I were doing a cult, niche show, I’d pay attention to the fans. But frankly, both these shows are huge mainstream hits. That means the vast majority of the audience never express a public view on the show at all, except in their decision to watch or not watch it. So if you start paying attention to people who are incredibly focused and think about the show every hour of the day, you’re skewing your approach terribly towards people who watch it in a very untypical way. You are romancing the casual viewer on these kinds of shows. With Doctor Who and Sherlock, you want the casual viewer to think, I like this show, I’ll watch it.

TV EUROPE: What’s your sense of the impact of binge-

viewing on the business of making television drama?

MOFFAT: It’s going to impact everything in television in

ways that we can’t imagine. My two sons don’t really watch television as it is scheduled. My older son prefers to watch television on the iPlayer on his iPad because he prefers the interface. That generation is not going to understand the notion of getting home in time to watch a show.Your bookcase doesn’t tell you when you can read. Why should your television tell you when you can watch? We’re heading towards the world of the download, and that’s a good thing.

It will favor quality, I believe.

TV EUROPE: And is it also opening up new opportunities

for serialized storytelling?

MOFFAT: It’s already happening that the casual viewer is

well caught up. And you’re slightly less forgiving of people having missed last week’s episode in an environment where last week’s episode is still available—go and bloody well watch it!

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TV EUROPE 29

By Anna Carugati

RTL II aptly sums up its programming offering with the tagline, “It’s fun”. For 20 years the German station has been catering to the needs of young viewers, providing them with creative, new and unexpected shows and formats. The 14-to-49 set has answered in kind, becoming a loyal audience of daily soaps, reality shows, Hollywood movies and hit series, as well as news programming with a twist. This blend of fun and relevant programming has paid off. As CEO Jochen Starke points out, it is imperative to reach this demographic on the linear channel, online as well as through second-screen experiences.

RTL II’s consistent ratings growth has been keeping the station’s shareholders happy, too. The RTL Group is majority shareholder, with a 35.9-percent stake; Tele München Gruppe and the publishing concern Heinrich Bauer Verlag each hold 31.5 percent, and the publisher Burda has the remaining 1.1 percent.

Starke proudly lists RTL II’s many accomplishments in programming, advertising, embracing online and social media, and last, but certainly not least, attracting Lady Gaga to do an on-air promo for the station, proof of the “cool factor” that is so important for RTL II’s viewers. Far more than being simply a TV station, RTL II wants to be a destination, a community that viewers can call their own.

RTL II at 20 JochenStarke TV EUROPE: What has been the programming philosophy that has allowed RTL II to connect with viewers?

STARKE: The German commercial TV market is dominated by two large broadcasting groups, while RTL II has been operating independently for 20 years. I like to compare us to a speedboat, nimbly and swiftly maneuvering between all parties and sometimes moving out in front of the big ships.We have always been very innovative and risk-taking when selecting our programming—and sometimes we are even downright cheeky. That is what keeps us on our toes, full of surprises and, as a result, young and fresh.

TV EUROPE: What are some of the programming genres and

specific shows that are successful now on RTL II? STARKE: Over the last couple of years, RTL II has radically

restructured its programming.We have invested heavily in developing our own format brands and, as a result, have become more independent. For us, this is the most compelling and promising method, especially [because] we have to actively build our own success against the two major broadcasting groups in Germany.

During daytime, we have replaced more than 800 hours of chil-

dren’s programs and American sitcoms with formats that we have produced ourselves featuring a variety of genres—both unscripted and scripted reality shows, and daily soaps. We still have to do some fine-tuning here and there, and we have to continue to launch new shows in order to guarantee a long-term supply of programs. In general, we are very proud of what we have accomplished so far: optimal audience flow with no bumpy genre breaks throughout the entire day. We run two extremely successful daily soaps during access prime time and a whole lineup of excellent shows, both new and established.

RTL II was the only TV station that registered substantial growth in audience share in 2012—a year that was dominated by some major sporting events like the EURO [soccer tournament] and the Summer Olympics.The good news is that there is no sign that this upward trend is letting up. July 2013 was the 20th month in a row in which our average daily market share went up year-on-year (among 14- to 49-year-olds).

Among our most successful formats, we produce two daily soaps, Berlin–Tag & Nacht and Köln 50667. We have a lineup of reality shows: Die Geissens, about a family of self-made millionaires; Die Bauretter, the chronicle of a female lawyer and 10/13 World Screen 237

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30 TV EUROPE

Frame of mind: RTL II has adapted a number of international formats, including Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, which airs as Zuhause im Glück.

male architect helping families that have been cheated by their building contractors; and Wunschkinder, about couples who desperately want to have children. In addition to these relatively new shows, RTL II is also the proud broadcaster of several long-running cult programs, such as Die Kochprofis or Zuhause im Glück, that are very popular with our audience.

TV EUROPE: What has been the role of imported program-

ming on RTL II’s schedule?

STARKE: High-quality fictional programming is essential for any

TV channel that wants to stay ahead, both from the audience’s and advertisers’ perspective. Hollywood films are an indispensable part of our programming, and we’re always interested in acquiring rights to new product. Beside feature films from the major studios, we have also been extremely successful with series like Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead, of which we aired complete seasons over the course of a single weekend.This “event programming,” as we call it, generates considerable attention. Since we experience strong competition from DVD, Blu-ray and VOD channels when it comes to watching series, we decided to turn to event programming, as it is a pioneering way of showing complex serial fiction.

TV EUROPE: Is the linear channel still viewers’ main destination? How much are they watching online or as catch-up?

STARKE: It is notoriously difficult to compare television ratings with online statistics, but what we can say is that with our two daily soaps we have been able to lure many young viewers from online media back to the television.The formats generate around 700,000 daily video views on our catch-up service, while simultaneously achieving outstanding TV ratings. A study on viewers of Berlin–Tag & Nacht showed that 65 percent watch the show exclusively on television, another 25 percent watch it mostly on television and only occasionally online, and only about 10 percent watch it exclusively online.

Having that said, the multiscreen trend does play a key role in building successful media brands among young audiences in particular. Being able to have 24/7 access to their favorite shows strengthens viewers’ loyalty immensely. As a result, this has contributed significantly to programs’ success on traditional linear television.Therefore, this is something we strongly believe in.

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TV EUROPE: How has RTL II used social media?

STARKE: Whenever we plan a new format, we make social

media an integral part of our creative thinking right from the outset.You can’t start airing a show and then afterwards start to worry about how to integrate it into social media. That won’t work. Sometimes you quickly surmise that a particular format doesn’t really lend itself to social media, for example extending it to Facebook, which is also OK.What’s important is to channel your resources into a selective range of formats where you can really become successful.

When we premiered Köln 50667, we first launched it on Facebook weeks before [it aired on the channel] to introduce the characters online and set up the plot, of course without giving away too much. Köln 50667 already had more than 300,000 Facebook fans before it was even aired on TV. It was an instant hit.

The characters from the show regularly post messages on Facebook. This interaction with their fans is supported by editorial content, which enables them to interact with the show and, most importantly, with each other. A 24/7 community talking about the show—better promotion doesn’t exist. Our first soap, Berlin–Tag & Nacht, already has more than 2.7 million fans on Facebook, which is truly a stunning number.

TV EUROPE: How is RTL II positioned to face the chal-

lenges of changing viewing habits?

STARKE: A popular belief among TV managers is that the audi-

ence will continue to fragment. I cannot deny this trend, but I am convinced that launching dozens of offshoots is not the way to go. It is better to invest in the good formats, and that is exactly what we are doing.

You can only survive in a changing market if you have a strong, clear-cut identity. RTL II has to be a brand where people know what to expect and feel at home. Not in spite of, but precisely because of, an exploding supply of video content on all kinds of channels and devices, people are looking for orientation, and a channel with a strong brand is invaluable.We are very proud to have a large number of equally strong format brands that help people clearly identify with RTL II.These are long-term assets and we control the entire value-creation chain. That’s how we will remain successful and continue to be a household name in Germany, Austria and Switzerland in the future.

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