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TELEVISIONBUSINESSINTERNATIONAL

SEPTEMBER 1995

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TBI

TBI CONTENTS26 COVER STORY

MGM: Roaring BackAfter a spate of eighties -style asset-stripping,MGM/UA was in a bad way. But by selectivelyexploiting its main asset - its library, it's revivedinto an international force.

26 Back From The Brink28 Remake Makes Good

32 THAILAND

lime And Thais

DEPARTMENTS

Monitor8 Merger Gives Disney Int'l Boost

9 Turner: Levin's Number Two?

9 Trading Giants Stake Yen On I -Way

10 Media Giants Joins Battle Over RTL

14 TV12 Niche Channel Splits Into Two

16 New Cable Channels Disappoint

18 Gang Of Seven Walk Out Of Nordisk

18 Globo Follows A Factory Line

20 Sony Net Spurred By Synergies

With a new terrestrial channel on the way and pay-tv licenses being liberally handed EDITOR'S NOTEout, Thailand is a market on the move.

32 Block Tactics36 27 Is A Crowd

39 FOCUS: CHILDREN'S TELEVISION

Kid BizKid's tv is one of the most commercially -driven areas of the business. TBI's annualsurvey sounds out the state of the genre andidentifies some of the leading players.

39 Block Tactics46 For The Kids52 Ceiling Points56 I Is For Investment Banker60 Cartoon Capers62 Kids' Product News66 Together We Can Make Beautiful Television68 TBI's Survey Of Children's Television

I 1II1CS To Come 4

PERSPECTIVE

A Tale Of Two Mergers 6

COMMENT

Sobering Facts Of Digital Life 24

PRODUCT NEWS

News About New Production 76

ADVERTISING

Me TV In A Race Against Free TV 80

HARD TECH

What? You're Not On The Web? 82

DATA

Counting Up Growth 83

Television Business International September 1995

1

EDITOR'S NOTE

TBITELEVISIONMBUSINESSINTERNATIONAL

Publisher Paul Nicholson

Editor Rich Zahradnik

Deputy Editor Tim Westcott

Hong Kong Bureau Chief Sarah Walker

Contributing EditorsToby Syfret, Les Brown, Wilfred Ahrens,Jean -Luc Renaud, Chris Dziadul,Barbara Bliss Osborn (U.S.)

Editorial Assistant Adrian Peregrine

Director of Sales Sally -Anne Wilse

Publishing & Sales Co-ordinatorCaroline Haybyrne

European Sales Manager Helen Stredder

Sales RepresentativeDavid Field I \

Art Editor/Business PublicationsMatthew Humberstone

Designer Marie Calvert

Production Debbie Williams

Managing Director,21st Century Publishing Nick Snow

Correspondents: Argentina Mike GalettoAustralia Liz Fell; Brazil Michael Kepp;Canada Noel Meyer, Karen Murray; DenmarkThomas Dodd; France Serge Siritzky;Germany Jack Kindred; Greece StylianPapathanassopoulos; Hong Kong SarahWalker, Owen Hughes; India Asoka Raina;Ireland Fergal Ringrose; Israel BarryChamish; Italy Cecilia Zecchinelli; JapanMark Schilling; Kenya Kazunga Katana;Netherlands Dick Versteeg; New ZealandPaul Smith; Nigeria Titus Ogunwale; PortugalEduardo Cintra Torres; South Africa DeziRorich; Spain Justin Webster; Sweden BemtHermele, Goran Sellgren; Turkey SerhanYarar

U.K. (Editorial and Advertising)531-533 King's Road, London SW10 OTZTel: (+44 171) 352 3211Fax: (+44 171) 352 4883 or (+44 171) 352 965-e -mail: [email protected]: 925030New York (Editorial)Suite 900, 226 W. 47th St.New York, N.Y. 10036Tel: (+1) 212 997 7470 Fax: (+1) 212 997 7472e-mail: 100135.5300compuserve.comHong Kong lEdKoriall2E Twilight Court, Discovery BayLantau, Hong KongTel/Fax: (+852 2) 987 0797e-mail: [email protected] (Advertising)Tel: (+61 2) 439 4730 Fax: (+61 2) 439 3103TBI is published monthly except January end Auguet. 10 *Wee (ISSN 0953-68413 01.Television Business International. a 21st Centel, Puldlengl onmPsnY. Thl Mtry subscript. any at an annual subscription wk. of ao United Kingdom. US$Europe end USS89 USA US1110 Outside Europe including alt speed delivery.address changes tp TM. 531-532 King's Road. London SW10 012.0 All contents "

copyrtght 21st Century PublishingPrinted in England by Healey Brothers LW Aseford Ilent.Reproduction by Graphic Ideas Studios, 1.11 Bache& Street. Landon NI VOLU.S.A. POSTMASTERS, Send address changes to Television Business International.PlIbliCatiOnS Expediting. Inc.. 200 Meachern Ave.. Simons N.Y. 11003. Air tfeigntmailing n the USA by Pubbcabons Ewediting. Inc.. 200 Meacham Ave.. Eimont, N. .

11003_ Second class postage paid at Jamaica. N.Y. 11431.

In limes To ComeThis is my last issue as editor of TBI. So, as a parting gift to you, my readers,here's an exclusive look at the stories I expect TBI will be covering over thecoming months and years. Don't ask me how I know. I never reveal my sources.

October 15, 1995: Sumner Redstone calls a press conference at Viacom headquar-ters on Broadway. He steps to the podium, pulls his check book out of his pocket,waves a blank check in the air and says he plans to buy everything. "Everything?" askreporters. "Everything," says Redstone. The multi -billionaire further announces he'sfired all of his investment bankers and hired quantum physicist Stephen Hawking toput a value on "all of it, the whole shooting match."

October 17, 1995: Rupert Murdoch counteroffers with two blank checks, saying heknows of synergies between matter and anti -matter that Redstone hasn't eventhought 'of. Several phone companies are already lining up to invest in a worm -holesubsidiary of Murdoch's Everything Inc., convinced that it'll be easier to pierce thespace-time continuum than to offer video dial -tone service.

October 18, 1995: "You're too late," Bill Gates tells Murdoch and Redstone in aninterview on his own Microsoft News Network (formerly CNN -Reuters).

April 27, 1996: Walt Disney Co. president Michael Ovitz presides at the opening ofthe newest attraction at Epcot Center, an educational ride called Survival of theFittest. Horrified Epcot customers watch as animatronic teams from rival talent agen-cies tear apart the client list of the biggest agency in the jungle. Several customerspass out.

October 1, 1997: The first sitcom developed entirely under the auspices of the EUMedia programme begins airing regionally in the UK - on tiny ITV station ChannelTelevision - and in Liechtenstein. Producer Wilfried Dopple-Ganger and writer Fran-cois Elite describe the series as a hyper -realistic look inside the minds of a manic-depressive Parisian bus driver and his schizophrenic wife. "It is an anti -sitcom sit-com," says Elite. "We cannot fight the Americans by diluting our own cultures. Theymay go for laughs. We must not."

December 31, 1999: A Franco -Russian -British -American co -production airing onCBS shoots to the top of the U.S. ratings. International sales of the program breakrecords set a decade earlier in press releases issued by Michael J. Solomon. (Okay, soI made this one up.)

Leaving those titbits with you, I turn TBI over to deputy editor Tim Westcott, themagazine's new editor. He is the right man for the job, and I wish him luck and suc-cess. I am moving back to the U.S. - New York to be exact - where I will be open-ing TBI's new U.S. office. As the magazine's new editor at large, I'll be co-ordinatingTBI's coverage of the tv business in North America. Get in touch if you've got some-thing we should know about. My thanks to everyone at TBI, especially Tim,Paul Nicholson, Sally -Anne Wilse, Caroline Haybyrne, Sarah Walker and Helen Stred-der, and to a great art staff headed up by Matthew Humberstone. Also, goodbyeand thanks to a excellent team of correspondents and all those press officers, execu-tives and friends in the industry who tried mightily to explain it all. Don't blameyourselves.

The Editor


4

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PERSPECTIVE NEW YORK

The pending mergers involving ABCand CBS are an arresting study incontrasts. One is glamorous, the

other decidedly drab.This was even reflected in their news

conferences. The Disney and CapCities/ABC announcement had the flavor of acelebration, while at the sober assemblyfor Westinghouse and CBS, the only onesmiling was CBS chairman LaurenceTisch. Perhaps that was because the dealstands to add some $900 million to hislush personal wealth.

Disney and ABC are a coming togeth-er of winners, of well run companiesdoing exceedingly well at what eachdoes. Westinghouse and CBS, on theother hand, are companies that are strug-gling in their main lines of businesswhile having lost the great prestige theyboth once enjoyed.

Disney and ABC bring a lot to eachother that is complementary, with verylittle redundancy. Born is another greatmedia conglomerate that touches justabout every base, including those set inthe future. A perfect fit.

In acquiring CBS, Group W (Westing-house's broadcast division) wouldbecome the largest broadcast group inthe U.S., with 15 tv stations, 39 radio sta-tions, and the third ranked tv network.But that's just about where the goodnews ends.

To most analysts, the most surprisingthing about both mergers was the size ofthe bids. Other suitors had turned awayfrom CBS because Tisch held out for $80a share, very high for a company with aslumping tv network and not much elseto offer besides the stations. CBS is theonly U.S. network not involved in cableor in significant ventures abroad.

It was Tisch's good fortune thatMichael H. Jordan, who became chair-man of Westinghouse two years ago,was determined to get the industrialcompany out of a bad patch by putting iton new course, concentrating on its mostproductive sector, broadcasting.

CBS and Group W had alreadyformed a tight affiliate alliance, and sothe acquisition fell naturally into place -unless other bidders should enter thepicture and make an auction of it, takingit beyond $5.4 billion.

The Tale Of

Two Mergers

BY LES BROWN

Disney will be paying $19 billion forCapCities/ABC, astonishing in light of the$3.5 billion CapCities paid for ABC in1986 in one of the great bargains ofmedia history.

The premium in both instances antici-pates the increased value of networksthis November when ABC, CBS and NBCwill be freed from restrictive regulation,known as fin-syn, that had stood fornearly 25 years. Clearly the dynamic ofthe U.S. television system will changedramatically as a result.

No longer barred from producing ortaking ownership positions in programsthey put on air, or from engaging inlucrative domestic syndication, the net-works will have substantial ways toexpand their earning capabilities.

It's generally acknowledged that thereal growth potential is in internationalmarkets. Here ABC, with its various yen -

What CBS needs most is an injectionof enlightened leadership, someonewith the instincts of an impresario

and the mettle of a true broadcaster

tures in Europe and Asia, improves theprofile of Disney, which admits to beingdeficient in foreign contacts. CBS willhelp Group W with its international salespresence, but the combination isnowhere as formidable for global cloutas ABC and Disney.

For CBS the merger means greater sta-tion strength in the large domestic mar-kets, but that's not quite what the doctorprescribes for the network's deficiencies.

What CBS needs most is a powerfulinjection of enlightened leadership at thetop, someone with the instincts of a bornimpresario and the mettle of a truebroadcaster.

ABC has that both in Eisner, a One-time ABC program executive who rebuiltthe Disney organization into a majorHollywood studio in a scant few years,and in the new Disney president,Michael Ovitz, the Hollywood agentextraordinaire who promises to be amagnet for top talent.

Like Tisch, Jordan is a bottom -line ori-ented businessman with no backgroundin the media arts. He was a strategist fora management consulting firm beforejoining Westinghouse, whose core busi-ness is power equipment.

Jordan said he intended to cut costs atCBS by cutting staff. But it's hard toimagine how yet another swing of theaxe will improve the fortunes of a net-work in need of hit programs. Losing hasa way of perpetuating itself, because thehot producers always gravitate to thewinners.

If both mergers are consummated, theU.S. tv business will be tilted to a muchstronger ABC and a considerably weak-ened CBS. This is a stunning role rever-sal from the first three decades of televi-sion when CBS was the perennial leaderand far away the class of the field, whileABC was the poor struggling tail -enderthat could barely afford to play in thesame league.

Who would have dreamed the tableswould have turned so completely? al


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MONITOR

DIGITALDEALS

A battle of the boxes isshaping up as Europe pre-pares for the beginning ofthe digital era. CLT hassigned a licensing agree-ment enabling it to use thedigital conditional accesssystem jointly developedby Canal Plus and Bertels-mann. The Luxembourggroup, which is planning tolaunch packages of digitalservices in France and Ger-

many, will have a 15 -yearlicense to use the Media -Guard system and an inter-

active module developedby Canal Plus called MediaHighway in Europe.Deutsche Telekom andGerman tv channels ARD,ZDF and RTL signed up touse the same system inAugust. However the Kirchgroup has ordered a mil-lion units of an alternativesystem developed withNokia to launch its ownpackage of channels inGermany. Dutch -basedpay -TV group Nethold hasmeanwhile announced anorder for 1.1 million digitalsatellite receiver/deco-ders, split jointly betweenPhilips, National Panason-ic and Pace. The decoders

will be used to serveNethold's existing marketsin the Benelux, Scandi-navia, the Middle East andAfrica.

In July, Mitsubishi Corp., Japan's largest trad-ing company, revealed a three-year plan forinvestments in six information -related fields,including domestic and international telecommu-nications, computer software and entertainment.The total outlay is estimated to be from $460 mil-lion to $575 million. Scheduled to start this yearand run until 1997, the plan is part of a 10 -year,$1.15 billion project to make Mitsubishi a leadingforce in the multimedia industries of the 21st Cen-tury.

Mitsubishi already has a stake in various infor-mation -related businesses that, by the end of1994, totalled $534.5 million. "This is going to bea hot area for us," said Planning and Co-ordina-tion department assistant general manager KazuoTsurumi. "The three-year plan, however, onlyproposes certain investment guidelines to our topmanagement. We will make the actual investmentdecisions as opportunities present themselves."

Mitsui & Co., another of the big five tradingcompanies, has announced a project to build acable network in Kyoto, Japan's ancient capital,by the year 2000. By April 1996, Mitsui plans tolaunch a cable service to 70,000 subscribers inUkyo Ward. Expanding from this base to othercity wards, it plans to cover the greater part ofthe city, with the exception of two central wardsthat are being cabled by other companies. Mitsuiwill also launch cable stations in the Tokyo sub-urbs of Hino, Masashino and Mitaka as well asneighbouring Saitama Prefecture.

The company's ultimate aim is to establish anationwide cable network providing a wide rangeof telecoms services.

In August, Sumitomo Corp. and partner Tele-Communications Inc. revelaed plans to expandtheir cable business into the Asian region. InJapan, the two companies already have a jointventure, Jupiter Telecom, that is one of Japan'spioneering MSOs. Using Sumitomo's extensivenetwork of contacts in the Asian region and TCI'stechnological expertise, the partners will targetSoutheast Asia, China and India for cable stations.In addition to cable, they intend to offer news,entertainment, education, cartoon programs andother TCI-supplied programming via satellite.

In Japan, Sumitomo is the largest cable tvoperator, with 150,000 subscribers nationwide.Founded in January, Jupiter Telecom serves35,000 subscribers in the Tokyo area.

The trading companies are also taking to thesky. On August 28, Japan Satellite Systems (JSAT),a common carrier system owned by Itochu, Mit-sui, Nissho Iwai and Sumitomo, successfullylaunched the JCSAT-3 satellite from CapeCanaveral, Florida. Beginnning next spring, JSATwill use this satellite to offer Japan's first digitalbroadcasting services.

The JCSAT-3 carries 40 transponders, of whicheight can beam digital broadcasts. Using digitalcompression technology, each transponder cansend six channels, compared with only one ortwo for analog transponders. The footprint willcover all of Asia, from Hawaii to India and

Indonesia to the Russian Far East.Next spring, DMC -a joint venture of the four

trading companies and JSAT - will launch a 50 -channel digital service aboard JCSAT-3, the firstdirect -to -home service of its kind in Japan. Alsoon the horizon at international broadcasting ser-vices covering Japan and Asia.

by Mark Schilling - TOKYO

GERMANY

Media Giants Join

Battle Over RTLBertelsmann bid to gain controlknocked into court by CLT

drawn-out, legal tussle over control of Ger-timany's largest commercial channel, RTL, isshaping up after media giant Bertelsmann and theWest Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ) joinedforces in setting up a new company, TV Holding,to challenge CLT's control of Europe's most lucra-tive broadcaster.

At the same time, the Bertelsmann/WAZalliance announced its intention to acquire theMunich publisher Burda's 2% stake in RTL, which

Thome: Not displeased by Bertelsmann/WAZ alliance?


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MONITOR

GREEKMEDIA LAW

PASSED

The Greek government has

steered an all -encompass-

ing media bill whichincludes new licensing reg-

ulations for private tvchannels through parlia-ment with almost unani-mous cross -party support.The minister responsiblefor press and mass media,Evagelos Venizelos,expects the new law,which is designed to pre-pare the way for new tech-nological developments, tobe enacted before the endof the year. Concerningtelevision, the law pro-vides for three categoriesof tv license: national,regional and local. Nation-al tv license -holders - like-ly to include Antenna,Mega Sky, Star and New -wilt be obliged to cover allGreek territory a year fromthe day they are granted alicense. Licenses will begranted for a period of fouryears. Shareholdings willbe required to be dis-closed and will be limitedto 25% for one company or

individual, and no compa-ny or individual will beallowed to own more thantwo media interests. Regu-lation will continue to becarried out by the TheNational BroadcastingCouncil.

Venezilos: Expectant

would shift the balance of power in the supervi-sory board in favor of of TV Holding. CLTpromptly responded by persuading a Hamburgdistrict court to issue an injunction against thenew alliance's purchase plan, which could netBurda an estimated DM100 million ($72 million).

Bertelsmann's hook-up with WAZ, one of Ger-many's biggest newspaper combines, caught mostanalysts by surprise, since the partners in RTLwere often at loggerheads over policy differences.However, Burda, annoyed by the way in whichCLT controlled RTL, had made a standing offer ofits 2% stake to Bertelsmann on the grounds theLuxembourg group neglected the interests ofsmaller wri, shareholders.

Although Ufa Film and Television holds a37.1% stake, the Bertelsmann subsidiary was out-manned in the RTL supervisory board and had lit-tle to say against CLT, which prevailed with its49.9% plus another 2% held for it in trust. Now ifthe Burda sale goes through and the mediaauthorities and the Kartelamt (anti-trust office),voice no objections to the alliance, TV Holdingcould eventually change RTL's corporate struc-ture, giving the partners a 49.1% stake asopposed to CLT's 49.9%.

With five seats on RTL's supervisory board, thesame number as CLT, control of the channelcould shift to the alliance. The single board mem-ber from the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung,which has a 1% stake, could cast the crucialdeciding vote. And the FAZ is believed to be inBertelsmann's camp. Meanwhile, however, RTL'sshareholder stakes remain 49.9%, Ufa 37.1%,WAZ 10%, Burda 2% and FAZ 1%.

Bertelsmann and Burda have announcedpending legal action against the injunction, whichis based on CLT's claim to right of first refusal."Both Bertelsmann and Burda are convinced thatsuch a right does not exist," according to theirjoint statement. "Moreover, transfer of Burda'sshares to RTL would not be allowed under tv reg-ulations. German media laws only permit compa-ny participation in a broadcaster with a stake ofless than 50%. CLT already holds 49.9% in RTL."

Because of contracts within RTL, TV Holdingwill not become effective until 1998. Thus, thelegal tug-of-war over wri, control could drag onfor years.

RTL managing director Helmut Thoma, underwhose leadership the channel raked in DM2.6 bil-lion ($1.85 billion) in gross ad revenue last year,appears not to be too unpleased by the Bertels-mann/WAZ alliance. According the news maga-zine Der Spiegel, CLT's chief shareholder AlbertFrere and his Belgian banking group BruzellesLambert is clamoring for higher returns on itsinvestment. Hence, CLT's rigid cost managementis a thorn in the side to Thoma. The once fiercelyloyal CLT man reportedly had to fight bitterlywith the CLT members on the RTL board tosecure approval for DM990 million ($707 million)earmarked for this year's programming budget.

by Jack Kindred - MUNICH

SINGAPORE

N12 Niche Channel

Splits Into TwoNew service will mean increasein local production

Singapore's Television Twelve Pte Ltd (TV12)has been authorized by regulatory body the

Singapore Broadcasting Authority (SBA) to launchand operate the island state's fourth terrestrialtelevision channel.

Launched on September 1, 1995 and broad-casting via UHF, which gives it access to 85% ofhomes, Premiere 12 joins TV12's existing terrestri-al channel Prime 12 (previously just called TV12)and Channels 5 and 8. The later two are operatedby the Television Corporation of Singapore (TCS).Both TCS and TV12 come under the umbrellaarm of holding company Singapore InternationalMedia (SIM) which replaced the former SingaporeBroadcasting Corporation last October.

The launch of the new channel has resulted ina schedule reorganization across the board. Onthe more commercially -driven TCS side, English -language Channel 5 will remain unaffected andwill continue to schedule programs from the westin addition to locally -produced English -languageshows. However, Channel 8 has moved its smallamount of Indian -language programming over toTV12, freeing up its schedule to concentrate onChinese -language programming.

According to TV12 CEO and president SandraBuenaventura, the broadcaster's function hasalways been to "serve niche markets, not justwith mass entertainment but with quality, particu-larly from abroad." As such, Prime 12 and Pre-miere 12 will offer two distinct schedules, thoughboth will be targeted at different niches.

Prime 12's niche is language and culturallybased with a commitment to multicultural andmultilanguage scheduling. The emphasis will beon Malay and Indian programs during theevening primetime hours, although other foreign -language programs will continue to be broadcast.During the daytime, infomercials, lifestyle andself-improvement programs will target house-wives, interspersed with a number of children'sslots.

The niche targeted by the new Premiere 12channel will be genre -based, providing the bestof English -language programming in the areas ofchildren's, documentaries, sports and the arts,plus two Chinese slots for opera and arthousefilms.

TV12 channels are required to provide a least60 hours of public-service programs a week,including a minimum of 15 hours of Malay, 11

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MONITOR

GLOBO JOINSDTH RACE

Rupert Murdoch's NewsCorporation and Brazil'sGlobo group are planningto join the race to launchdigital direct -to -home satel-

lite services in Latin Ameri-

ca. A $300-$500 millionjoint venture between thetwo will consist of a Brazil-ian DTH service, part -owned by News Corp, anda Latin American DTH ser-vice excluding Brazil 60%owned by News Corp and40% owned by Globo.Together the two serviceswill offer more than 100channels to all of LatinAmerica and theCaribbean. The Globogroup, now negotiatingwith PanAmSat and Intel-sat, hopes to find a per-manent transmitting satel-lite by year's end. Globoowns cable tv operator NetBrazil, a cable networkwith two smaller associat-ed companies in southernBrazil which competes with

TVA, a cable networklaunched in 1991 by pub-lishing group Editora Abril.While Net and TVA pay-tvservices now each haveover 400,000 subscribers,the Globo group's newDTH service, one of fourDTH services being devel-oped in Latin America, willgreatly expand the numberof potential subscribers,especially outside bigcities where cable exists.That's because getting theservices will only requireinstalling a relativelycheaper, 60cm parabolicdish. Globo's DTH project,as does an Abril groupDTH project, depend onthe government's allowingit to use non -Braziliansatellites for Pay-tv ser-vices. Current legislationonly allows Brazil's Brasil -sat satellite to transmitthose services.

hours of Indian programming and 34 hours ofsports, current affairs, cultural, info -educationaland children's programs.

Of those 60 hours, the government allocates$28 million (U.S.) to cover 45 of the hours whilethe rest has to be funded by TV12

"Presently about 70-75% of our budget is fromthe government," said Buenaventura. "But gov-ernment funds will not increase to cover theextended transmission hours provided by thenew channel, so the contribution from the gov-ernment will in effect go down." The extra rev-enue will have to come from advertising. TV12 isallowed 12 minutes of advertising an hour. Morethan 75% of that revenue is expected to comefrom Premiere 12.

Buenaventura intends to up the amount oflocally -produced and commissoned program-ming, especially that catering for Indian andMalay audiences. It is likely that Prime 12 willcarry most of the local programs, while Premiere12 will probably carry local sports, a one -hourmagazine show, and local arts performances.

by Sarah Walker - HONG KONG

CANAD

New Cable Channels

Disappoint ViewersPoor ratings for specialty licenseesmakes CRTC rethink offering more

np,mal ratings figures for the six new English -I/ language cable channels licensed by the Cana-dian Radio -Television and TelecommunicationsCommission (CRTC) may put on hold indefinitelyplans to license any more channels.

The channels went on air at the beginning ofJanuary and after six months, A.C. Nielsen figuresshow that they have not yet found an audience.

The channels were originally introducedthrough negative marketing and sold in tierswhich included popular channels such as A&E.The negative marketing and being forced to payfor channels they didn't want in order to watchthe ones they did, provoked a firestorm of out-rage from consumers which resulted in mostcable MSOs placing the specialty channels in sep-arate tiers.

The result has been that only 52% of cablesubscribers have ordered the new channels,down from pre -launch estimates of 90% and audi-ence penetration has stalled and fizzled. The sixtogether have a combined audience during peakviewing times of only 69,000. In comparison,CFTO, the Toronto CTV affiliate, draws 81,000and the CTV National News almost half a million.

The entire process may force the CRTC to re-evaluate how it licenses new speciality channelsand carves up the advertising pie. In Canada,cable systems are obliged to carry every channellicensed by the CRTC. However the amount ofrevenue paid for carriage by cable to the chan-nels and advertising revenue depends on penetra-tion. One way in which the CRTC decides onwhich channel to license is whether or not theypose a threat to the success of existing channelsand services. In other words they will not licensea channel which will be in direct competitionwith an existing service.

This probably explains why the hockey chan-nel, a channel which stood every chsnce of beinga sure fire winner in ratings and advertising, wasnever licensed. It would have cut into the rev-enues of existing broadcasters.

Regardless of the disappointing debut of thesix existing channels, others are lining up to fileapplications for new specialty licenses. The nextround of licensing is slated to take place at theend of the year. Among the already existingapplicants are Atlantis, with a supposed sciencefiction channel, the CTV for three licenses: allsports, all history and all news, a consortium bid-ding for an all -animation channel and others.

The purpose behind the licensing of the newCanadian speciality channels has been to create astrong Canadian cultural industry and presence inthe face of the 500 -channel universe. Given thereaction to the six new channels - Women's Tele-vision Network, Bravo, Showtime, The Life Net-work, The Discovery Channel, and New CountryNetwork - the CRTC sems to have only twooptions. The first is to postpone any new licens-ing until consumers show they have an appetitefor it.

The second option would, some argue, be forthe CRTC to stop sheltering the Canadian broad-casting industry from itself and allow true compe-tition in Canadian television by allowing con-sumers to pick which channel they want to payfor. This would have to include licensing services,such as the hockey channel which would com-pete against hockey night in Canada and theSports Network. It would introduce competitionand market forces as the regulators of whichchannels stay on the air.

by Noel Meyer - MONTREAL

Bravo!Television Business International September UM

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Central European MediaEnterprises (CME), theNasdaq -listed companywhich invests in start-upbroadcasting ventures, isto launch the first nationalcommercial channel in theSlovak Republic in partner-

ship with local partnerMarkiza-Slovakia. Thechannel will begin broad-casting in 1996, initiallyreaching 50% of the coun-try's tv households andreaching full coverage by1998. The channel willbroadcast a combinationof movies, news and cur-rent events, sports, dramaand entertainment 19hours a day. CME will own

a 49% stake in the compa-ny with a profit participa-tion of 80%. CME has alsoannounced that John Sev-erino, president and CEO,is leaving his position,though he will stay on as aconsultant. He will bereplaced by Len Fertig, cur-

rently chief financial officerof CME.

DENMARK

Gang Of Seven Walk

Out Of Nordisk FilmDispute over management freedomleaves Egmont's tv plans in tatters

What should have been a discussion on groupstrategy at Scandinavia's largest film and tele-

vision production house, Nordisk Film A/S,turned into a serious boardroom row last month.

The upshot of the quarrel between the man-agement of Nordisk Film and its parent group,Egmont, was the dismissal of three directors andthe resignation of five more. Egmont, a publish-ing group which moved into film and tv follow-ing a merger with Nordisk in 1994, is now leftwith its ambitions to expand its tv business seri-ously damaged.

When Egmont boss Jan 0 Froshaug decided toreview overall group strategy, assisted by man-agement consultants McKinsey, he called ongroup company directors to make known theiroutlook on future prospects. He did not expect tobe presented with what appeared to be a faitaccompli that would take one of the group's mostprized assets out of his control.

Bosses at Nordisk Film A/S rejected Egmont'smanagement -induced process of convergencetowards overarching company objectives, insteadinsisting on increased liberty to act in Nordisk'sinterests. Put plainly, Egmont's pervasive corpo-rate style was considered detrimental to the cre-ative environment at Nordisk Film's Copenhagenheadquarters.

In less than two weeks CEO Jens Jordan andchief operating officer Henrik Slipsager weresacked at Nordisk and a further five haveresigned. Despite a behind -the -scenes damagelimitation exercise, consequences for Nordisk andultimately Egmont could prove considerable;three sacked directors came from the televisionside of the business and, rendering the long-termscenario somewhat tainted too, it is widelyrumored that the departing directors plan toestablish a new production company that couldbe operational within months.

Some believe that the departing managementteam at Nordisk hit a raw nerve when they indi-rectly gave vent to a lack of faith in Egmont'smanagement style. Egmont clearly felt that themove was sprung on them and, according to astatement distributed to company employees,accused one of the sacked directors, Jens Jordan,of having "formulated a plan for breaking up thegroup contrary to the intentions of the 1992merger of Nordisk Film and Egmont."

Whatever the exact circumstances of the crisis,

the dispute is really over what one might call afusion or a fission approach to group manage-ment. Should a company like Nordisk, perhapsresting too comfortably on the laurels ofyesteryear and even perceiving itself as a mite toovenerable, go it alone in an increasingly deregu-lated market, or follow a centralized managementgroup - even one unversed in the intricacies oftelevision production? The answer must be thelatter, but only if there is trust. Egmont hadplanned to install a supreme management groupat Nordisk with the power to control direction ofdevelopment, and it is not inconceivable that therelationship derailed because of such unnegotiat-ed "top -down" schemes and counter -reactions tothem. They generate distrust and malice.

There can be no doubt that had Egmont'smanagement elected to let Nordisk Film slip outof their grasp, company strategy would risk beingdismembered. The reason is this: althoughNordisk Film broadcast, the television subsidiaryof Nordisk Film A/S, with a turnover of $18 mil-lion is a mere minnow when compared toNordisk Film's turnover of approx $320 million,the company is expected to play a central role inEgmont's plans in the Norwegian and Swedishmarkets.

Along with Norwegian company Schibsted,both holding stakes in the highly successful Nor-wegian broadcaster TV2 Norway, there are plansto launch a satellite -delivered channel for theSwedish cable and dish market. Schibsted Film,launched in 1992, is also keen to tap intoNordisk's considerable technical facilities.

by Thomas Dodd - COPENHAGEN

BRAZIL

Globo Follows

A Factory LineNew $120 million center willproduce soaps, sets and costumes

Brazil's largest network, TV Globo, attractingover 65% of the viewing audience, will soon

boast another big advantage over its competitors.This time it involves infrastructure. The net-

work - the world's fourth largest in audience sizeafter the three American giants - is in the processof building the largest tv production center in allof Latin America.

The $120 million, 1.3 million square meter Pro-jac production centre, being constructed in thetown of Jacarepagua, just south of Rio de Janeiro,will centralize its operations and cut costs.

The first stage of Projac will be inaugurated in


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late September when TVGlobo begins using one offour new 1,000 square meterstudios and new set -buildingand costume making factories.

The four Projac tv produc-tion studios will be used fortaping soaps, the staple of TVGlobo programming, and will,in a staggered timetable, all becompleted and in use by mid -1996, if not sooner. The fournew studios will allow TVGlobo to tape its three nightlysoaps, the next scheduledsoap and other programs.

That's because each studio has the space andequipment capacity to house two productions atonce.

Currently, TV Globo tapes its soaps in threeplaces: at its administrative/production headquar-ters in Rio De Janeiro, and at two rented produc-tion studios, one inside and one just outside thecity. The network's set -building center is locatedin yet another Rio De Janeiro suburb.

"Till now, TV Globo has had very decentral-ized operations," said Roberval Pinheiro, Projac'sgeneral co-ordinator. "With Projac's completion,the network will centralize production andreduce costs in general, and transport costs inparticular."

The four Projac TV studios 11 -meter -high ceil-ings will feature 603 reflectors which can be regu-lated manually or by computer. Because comput-ers can store the lighting information of eachscene, a broken down set once reconstructed willbe able to be lit exactly as it had originally been.Computers in dressing -rooms will also allow hair-dressers to design new styles for actors. Separatestudio entrances have been designed for actors,technicians and extras.

The Projac set -building factories will be able toproduce 25,000 square meters per month of setsand will use Velcro tape, not nails. The costume -making factories will have the capacity to pro-duce 2,000 pieces of wardrobe per month andhouse the network's 47,000 -piece wardrobe.

Projac buildings will take up only 120,000square meters of the 1.3 million square metercomplex, with much of the rest of the terrain tobe used to construct outdoor sets like small townor big city facades for taping everything fromsoaps and miniseries to comedy shows.

The second stage of Projac, which will includea 2,500 square meter studio for live audienceshows and a post production centre will be readyby 1997.

TV Globo's administrative headquarters willremain in Rio De Janeiro and that headquarterssmaller production studios, till now used to tapesoaps, will tape other types of programs. Thoseheadquarters will also broadcast all of TV Globo'snews and sport shows.

ASIA

Indian Net Spurred

By Sony SynergiesColumbia Tristar parent hoping forbrand name benefits

cony Pictures Entertainment is to launch a gen-aeral entertainment 24 -hour Hindi -languagesatellite channel in the fourth quarter of this year.Called Sony Entertainment Television (SET), thechannel will be a partnership with Singapore -based entertainment company Argos Communica-tions Enterprise (ACE), which specializes in Indi- A

an program production and media services.Broadcasting off PanAmSat's recently -launched

PAS -4 satellite, the new channel will be aimedprimarily at India's burgeoning cable market,which to date is accessed by 14 million of thecountry's 45 million tv homes. Channels on PAS -4include HBO Asia, a Viacom network (probablyMTV), Disney, ESPN and Turner International, aline-up which is expected to make it the region'shot bird.

"Anyone in the business of cable systems,wanting to give a good service to their viewershas to have access to this satellite," said WilliamPfeiffer, Sony Pictures senior vice president, Asia."A year after start-up we would expect to be inalmost every cable household in India."

Sony's partnership with ACE gives it instantaccess to a library of Hindi -language program-ming and a platform for original production.

Although uplinked from the Asia BroadcastCentre in Singapore, the co -venture will maintainan office in Bombay staffed by about 150 peopleand headed up by CEO Arun Arora, who previ-ously served as CEO of The Times Of India.

Initially 80% of programming for the channelwill be taken from ACE's library of 400 Hindi -lan-guage features plus entertainment shows, coupledwith dubbed Columbia Tristar product such asThe Young and the Restless and Fortune Hunter.

In the first year the co -venture will be commis-sioning 1,000 hours of programming includingdrama, action adventure, gameshows, comediesand soap operas. Most will be produced in Bom-bay using ACE's Telepictures facilities. Productionbudget for the first five years is $70 million.

SET marks Sony's first foray into Asia using itsown brand name. "There are fewer names thathave greater recognition than Sony," said Pfeiffer."Sony just set up a factory in India to manufac-ture tv sets, so what looks like a good businessfor them is also a good business for us," saidPfeiffer.

by Michael Kepp - RIO DE JANEIRO


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SINGALONGNETWORK

Backers of the world's firstkaraoke tv channel havesecured funding to launcha satellite -delivered ser-vice aimed at Chinesethroughout Asia by the end

of the year. The Pan Pacif-

ic Media Company, listedin Singapore, the NanangPress (Malaya) Berhad and

the UK's Carlton Communi-

cations, with a 31% stake,are the investors. ChannelKTV is expected to use the

PanAmSat-2 satellite andbroadcast Mandarin andCantonese versions. Thechannels will be fully sup-ported by advertising andsales of karaoke discs andmagazines. Countries KTVwill target include China,Taiwan, Hong Kong,Macau, the Phillipines andparts of Indochina, a mar-ket worth $2 billion. "Thisis the first such music -related venture to enterChina with, effectively, Chi-nese partners," saidAndrew Craissati, groupmanaging director of theMagna Group, which con-sulted on the share issue.

BUSINESSWaves Of New Investment For Mediaset

The Kirch Group, Nethold and Saudi ArabianPrince Alwaleed Bin Talal are to acquire stakes inMediaset, holding company for the media inter-ests of Silvio Berlusconi's Fininvest group. Thethree will subscribe to a capital increase ofIL1,800 billion ($1.1 billion). In the second phaseof the so-called Project Wave, a further $1.1 bil-lion is expected to be raised from institutionalinvestors, leaving the trio with a combined 20%stake. Following the public listing of Mediaset,expected by the end of the year, Fininvest's inter-est will fall below 50%. Fininvest's tv divisionshowed a 4.7% drop in revenues in 1994, to $2.3billion, in results which saw the parent groupmake a net loss of $48 million, blamed largely onits retail chain La Standa.

Revenues Pour In For Canal Plus and BSkyB

Canal Plus reported first-half revenue ofFFr4,997m ($999.4 million), up 9.1% on the sameperiod in 1994. Sub revenue from the terrestrialCanal Plus (3.9m individual subs) was up 8%.Subs to the package of satellite channels, Canal -satellite, was up 86% at 264,782. The companydecided not to go ahead with plans to launch apay-tv network in Chile. Europe's other pay-tvgiant, BSkyB, racked up profits of £155 million($258 million) in the year ended June 30, 1995,on turnover of $1.3 billion. Profits were up 67%and turnover up 41%.

PEOPLE

TVNZ Appoints Aussie CEO

Television New Zealand (TVNZ) has appointed anew chief executive to replace Brent Harman,who left to join London -based Flextech group. Heis Chris Anderson, previously managing editor ofthe Australian Broadcasting Corp. and editor -in -chief of the Fairfax newspaper group. Andersonwill take up his appointment next month.

MULTIMEDIA

CNN Launches 24 -Hour Online News Service

CNN has launched a multimedia news service onan Internet website. Rather than a "marketing -type initiative for the CNN's flagship brand," theCNN Website is a fully-fledged multimedia servicewhich will offer continously updted news togeth-er with sound clips, video, still photographs andgraphics, according to the Turner -owned net-work. Apart from the home page featuring newsfrom CNN, users will be able to access U.S. news,business news, world news, sports and showbiz.The Web site is located at http://www.cnn.com.

BROADCASTING

ESPN Backs Labatt Broadcasting Buyout

Labatt Communications Inc., the unit owning thebroadcast interests of Canadian brewer JohnLabatt, have been bought by a management -ledconsortium. The consortium includes Canadianinterests and U.S. sports network ESPN Inc. LCI'sinterests include The Sports Network, French -lan-guage Le Reseau des sports and The DiscoveryChannel. The sale is subject to approval by regu-latory body the CRTC.

CHANNELS

Playboy Inks Japanese Network Deal

Playboy Entertainment Group (PEG) will launchits second overseas network in Japan. The Play-boy Channel will launch via cable and satellite inJapan on October 1. It will be a partnershipbetween Tohokushinsha Film Corp. (which willown 80% of the venture) and PEG, which willown the remaining 20%, the maximum permittedfor a foreign interest in a Japanese network. PEGhas also entered a long-term output deal that willprovide 700 hours of programming over the firstfive years of the venture. A Playboy Channel islaunching in the UK and Benelux later this year.

Looking For New City Cities

Chum Ltd., the parent of Toronto station City-tv,is moving to clone its distinctive local tv format tothree other cities in Canada. Chum has filed anapplication with regulator the CRTC for a tvlicense in Vancouver and filed an application torebroadcast City-tv in Ottawa. It is also disaffiliat-ing CKYR in Barrie, Ontario, from the CBC torelaunch the station as a City-tv clone. Elsewhere,group made up of Chum, Moses Znaimer and for-mer Vision TV president Ron Keast bought theAccess network, public broadcaster in Alberta.

NBC And DFA Unveil Computer Channel

German news agency Deutsche Femsehnachricht-en Agentur (DFA) and NBC Super Channel arelaunching a channel dedicated to computers.GIGA-TV, in which DFA will own a 50.1% shareand the NBC -owned channel 49.9%, will launchnext year and air for 24 hours daily. The newchannel will have an Internet show, a daily news -show on the PC and on-line world, as well ashardware information and interactive gameshows. The joint venture, based in Diisseldorf,will apply for a license in Nordrhein Westfalen.

ErratumThe address for the SVT (Sveriges Television)library published in last month's film and tvarchive listings was out of date. The correctaddress SVT Film and Video Sales, Taptogatan6, Stockholm, Sweden.


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COMMENT MUNICH

0nly a short while ago, alluring termslike "digital revolution," "communi-cation superhighway" and "interac-

tive multimedia" were used to describewhat awaited us just around the corner.But nobody - neither the users nor read-ers of this kind of terminology - reallyseemed to know what was being talkedabout.

The early flurry of mergers and super -mergers across the lines of the computer,telecommunications and entertainmentindustries was as confusing as it wassymptomatic of the uncertain euphoriaabout the digital potential ahead.

Meanwhile, and millions of misspentdollars later, most of the enthusiasm hasbeen replaced by more sober reckoning,and the mists obfuscating mental andmaterial horizons are lifting.

Testifying to the sobering effects ofthe facts of life - and death - are the dis-mal fate of Time Warner's much -hypedOrlando project and the American phonegiants' retreat from the interactive path.

In both cases the technical, financialand software hurdles are higher than therespective expectations. "None of usrealized the complexity of building inter-active networks," admits Bell Atlantictechnology director John Seaholtz.

Yet while some ambitious businessplans were being scrapped, new ones,including mergers and alliances accrossthe borders of industries and nations,have evolved.

They differ from the earlier generationin that they are far more down-to-earth,concentrating more on what has beentried and tested and less on what mightbe possible in the minds and laboratoriesof ingenious experts.

Much more than before the focus ison the marketplace, and the needs andwishes of the masses of potential cus-tomers. As far as television is concerned,these are not zillions of individual inter -activists, but audiences, anonymousagglomerations passively expecting to beserved entertainment and some informa-tion on their screens.

In this respect the digital future willnot differ much from the analog presentuntil well after the year 2000. And themasses of today's telephone users willnot frantically jump on the information

Sobering FactsOf Digital Life

superhighway but will take on-line ser-vices much more slowly than wasthought probable only a year or two ago.Business traffic will take the lead.

So, in both telecommunications andtelevision, the revolution turns out to bean evolution of things as we haveknown them, updated by the digital fac-tor of more and quicker ways of trans-mission.

In both fields a number of newalliances have formed, targeting theglobal, continental and regional markets.To name just the more spectacular ones:IBM has contracted a joint venture withStet, the Italian telecommunications hold-ing company; AT&T has forged a com-mon enterprise with partners in Sweden,Holland, Switzerland and Spain(Unisource); Deutsche Telecom, FranceTelecom and Sprint have blueprintedPhoenix: British Telecom and MCI have

The tv marketplace consists notof zillions of individual interactivists,but anonymous audiences passively

expecting to be served

harmonized their interests in ConcertCommunications; Bertelsmann andAmerica Online created BertelsmannOnline, which will compete with EuropeOnline, the Luxembourg -based companyinitiated by Burda Verlag which has justwon over Vebacom, the joint telecom-munications venture of BT and Ger-many's Veba.

The battlefield in the case of digital tvand the object of mergers and alliancesis the set -top box, the bottleneckthrough which any digitized programand service must controllably pass.

The MSG (Media Service GmbH) pro-ject of Deutsche Telekom, Bertelsmannand Kirch Group, voided for anti-trustreasons by the European community, hasresurfaced as MMBG (MultiMedia-Betriebs-Gessellschaft) completed byCLT, RTL, ARD, and ZDF but without theKirch group.

Kirch, owner of the rights to 15,000films and 50,000 hours of tv programs,has decided to go it alone.

Via its own set -top device, developedin co-operation with Nokia, the Kirchpeople are preparing a bundle of digitalpay-tv offerings, including two children'schannels, a documentary program calledDocumania and film hits from the Kirchcoffers like Forrest Gump and Star Trek:Generations. In addition, Satl will offer aGerman league soccer match on a pay -per -view basis and sports channel DSFwill show a motor race where the viewerhas the option of choosing from six cam-era positions.

The great unknown factor of even themost conservative digital age calcula-tions, of course, has been and will bethe customers' budgets of time andmoney. (The Swiss Prognos institutethinks this might eventually reach $240per month by the year 2005.)

But then, as Time Warner's GeraldLevin once said, "consumers never reallyknew what they wanted until new thingslike the telephone and home computerswere offered to them." 1111


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COVER STORY

MGM/UA's library, including the James Bond films, persuaded Gary Marenzi the troubled studio had a chance

Battered by the Parrettidispute, its archivesdepleted, cold -shoulderedby Hollywood producers,MGM/UA was in a tight spotwhen Gary Marenzi tookover its tv operations threeyears ago. But now, reportsBarbara Bliss Osborn,the lion is roaring again

Acouple of years ago MGM/UA lookedlike a scene from an opera, completewith ranting, hair -tearing, and con-

spiracy. In 1990, Giancarlo Parretti paid$1.3 billion for 98.5% of the company.He borrowed the money from CreditLyonnais.

Not long after the purchase, Parrettibegan defaulting on his loans. WhenCredit Lyonnais came to collect, Parrettifought them tooth and nail. The bankwon the right from a Delaware court toseize control of the company, so Parrettiwent to his own court, in Italy, to regaincontrol. Temporarily at least, Parretti suc-

ceeded, but eventually, a secondDelaware court overruled the Italiancourt's decision. When the curtain fell,Parretti was gone but the company wasin chaos, managerially and financially.

In short, the summer of 1992 was notan auspicious time to walk through thedoors of MGM/UA headquarters in LosAngeles. During Parretti's brief tenure asowner, there hadn't been much time, letalone money, to nurture the company'sessential businesses. When Gary Maren-zi, then the highly -regarded President ofthe London -based United InternationalPictures (UIP) Pay -TV Group, was asked


7R

COVER STORY

Pic: Kobel Collection

to head up MGM/UA Television, hemade some quick calculations. He want-ed to come back to California. The ques-tion was, should MGM/UA be the way toget there?

"I looked at MGM," he said, "andasked myself, 'What's the worst that canhappen?'" The worst, he decided, wouldbe if the bank pulled the plug on thecompany and even then, MGM/UAwould need someone to service thelibrary. And the MGM/UA library was, inMarenzi's words, "a tremendous hunk ofclay to fashion a business out of."

Despite having sold off the pre -1986

collection of MGM films to Ted Turner,the MGM/UA library still includes 1,500titles including the Pink Panther, JamesBond, and Rocky films, as well as 2,500hours of television. "The library put thecompany in a better position than 90% ofthe companies out there," said Marenzi.

So Marenzi took the job and set aboutrebuilding the company's television busi-ness. He reopened the Paris sales officeand put Gilberte De Turenne, who hadworked for the company until 1990, incharge of it. He also opened a distribu-tion office in Sydney, and re-engagedanother former employee, OsvaldoBarzelatto in Santiago, Chile, to handlefree tv in Latin America.

In the spring of 1993, Frank Mancuso,previously head of Paramount, becamechairman and CEO of Metro -Goldwyn -Mayer Inc., and Credit Lyonnais was per-suaded not just to keep the companyalive but to invest in it.

That meant new film and tv produc-tion. Only the long -running series In TheHeat of the Night had kept MGM's tv dis-tribution alive. Without production, dis-tribution was running out of product.Over the years of turmoil, producers hadgrown reluctant to bring projects to thestudio. In an effort to kick-start tv pro-duction, Marenzi forged a seven-yearagreement with Showtime which gavethe cable network exclusive premium tvrights to MGM and UA theatricals as wellas a commitment for tv movies. Marenziplaces the total value of the deal at overa billion dollars.

When he was negotiating with Show -time, he tried to interest them in series aswell as movies. "We sat down and said itwould be nice to have somethingbeyond feature films," he said, "to sellsome sizzle, to have some tv product."MGM/UA was especially interested inremaking some of their classic series:The Outer Limits, a popular 1960s sci-fiseries; the box office success, Poltergeist;and the hit film-turned-tv series Fame.Marenzi knew if he could get a domesticcommitment he could cover his deficitoverseas, but Showtime wasn't sure theywere interested.

Ultimately, MGM/UA persuadedShowtime to take 44 episodes of TheOuter Limits in a novel cable/first-rundeal. (See box, page 28.) The episodesof the series debut on Showtime and sixmonths later appear in syndication. Thehope, said Marenzi, is that MGM/UA cancontinue to clone this cable/first-run eco-nomic model. Already Showtime hasagreed to take two additional series onthe same basis.

Marenzi predicts that MGM/UA's pro-

duction pipeline will continue to bebased on remakes from the library, reali-ty series, and movies. "It's just a prag-matic approach," he said. "We don'thave a lot of discretionary money toshoot pilots and develop things. Thethings we will go after are the things youcan break even on really quickly, thingswhere we own a property or we havesome rights or we have old scripts. Allthe areas of production we went into arethe most prudent areas."

The studio's first reality series, LAPD,is set for first -run this fall with clearancesin 86% of the country. "Sure, there are alot of shows like it," said Marenzi, "butit's an inexpensive show and if it hits,you make a lot of money." As for tvmovies (MGM/UA is producing onemovie each for ABC, CBS, and NBC inaddition to its agreement with Show -time), Marenzi said the studio can make"a little bit of margin" through networklicense fees, worldwide free and pay-tvdeals, and home video. "But that's justthe first cycle," he said. "Five years downthe road, we'll make more money onthem."

Having successfully turned The OuterLimits and a second library title,Poltergeist, into series, the studio is nowturning its attention to other library prop-erties including Fame, The MagnificentSeven and Running Scared. Lest the strat-egy sound too formulaic, John Symes,president of MGM Worldwide Television,warned: "You can't take every theatricalproperty and point it towards tv. Histori-cally, people fail with tv adaptations ofmovies most of the time. We're lookingat certain genres that work. If we canfind those properties we'll developthem." Looking down the road, Symessaid: "If we are successful in launchingthese series, that will create opportuni-ties for us to bring completely originalprojects to the marketplace."

New blood and new production ispaying off in new revenue. Marenzi saidthat the company has taken domesticpay -per -view back as a business. "Wehave new pictures," he said. Internation-ally, revenue is also up, both on the pay-tv side and international free tv. Free tvrevenue has doubled, Marenzi said, ashe has tried to untangle some of thelong-term licensing deals he inheritedfrom previous management. Whereverpossible, Marenzi has negotiated to gettitles back.

Pay-tv revenue is up as well, byMarenzi's estimates, roughly fourfold. Inpart, that's a result of reasserting controlover European pay-tv. AlthoughMGM/UA remains a stakeholder in UIP,

Television Business International September 1995TI

COVER STORY

the company has become less central toMGM/UA's distribution operation. Moreand more often, Marenzi is doing dealsoutside UIP. He explained that pay-tv isof increasing importance in terms of rev-enue. "We get 75% of our revenue fromfree tv," he said, "and by the turn of thecentury it will be 50/50. If you screw upin free tv, you'll get it back in six

months. You don't screw up a deal inpay-tv. You have to do it right the firsttime. It's much more strategic."

Marenzi has also tried to bringMGM/UA up to speed by cultivatinginternational co -productions, equityinvestments and other strategic alliances."We have unofficial alliances with manycompanies - Rai, 'FR2, BBC, Channel

Four, Sky," he said. "You don't alwayswant to do a long term deal if the marketis competitive, but they are all potentialco -production partners."

These freefloating alliances notwith-standing, however, Marenzi is workinghard to nail down concrete commit-ments. In October of last year, MGM/UAsigned an agreement with Tele-Munchen

Remake Makes GoodThe Outer Limits was MGM/UA's one shot ata comeback

For five long years, MGM/UA had been virtually invisible inthe television business. Now it was trying to break back in.It had a hot property - at least it hoped so - a remake of

the popular 1960s science -fiction series. John Symes, presi-dent of MGM/UA Worldwide Television Group, recalls thateveryone at the company knew how much was riding on theseries. "The fact that the show has been so well -received hasgiven us a huge boost in credibility," he said. "If The OuterLimits had not gotten the reception it did, our ability to takeadvantage of the MGM library would have been greatlyreduced."

Knowing how much was at risk, MGM/UA carefully puttogether the production. First, they agreed that the series wasnot going to be cheap. Each episode would be budgeted atover a million dollars. Then, the company convinced Show -time that, given the recent success of Star Trek, The X -Filesand other sci-fi shows, The Outer Limits was a bankableseries.

Soon after MGM/UA signed the deal with Showtime, thecable network suffered what Gary Marenzi, president ofMGM/UA Telecommunications Group, calls "buyer'sremorse." The two companies went back to the negotiatingtable.

This time, Showtime agreed to take twice as manyepisodes - 44 - at a lower per -episode fee. But the newagreement allowed MGM/UA to sell the series into syndica-tion on a short window which would mean a much faster rev-enue return for MGM/UA. After the Showtime debut in thespring of 1995, the series' first -run window would begin justsix months later. Showtime will not run The Outer Limitsepisodes from September through December, while the first -run episodes air. In January 1996, the cable network willbegin airing second season episodes. "The initial cable win-dow has been reduced so substantially," said Symes, "thatcable and syndicators are almost sharing."

With that agreement in place, Symes looked for the rightcompany to produce it. "We wanted to bring a theatrical feelto the series," he said, so they went to Trilogy Entertainment,a company known for its features, Robin Hood: Prince ofThieves, Backdraft and Blown Away.

MGM/UA insisted that the series be written by top science -fiction writers. "It all starts with the written word," Symes said."The scripts allowed us to bring prominent actors into everyepisode." Lloyd and Jeff Bridges agreed to appear in the pilot.Leonard Nimoy, who acted in the original series, agreed to

The Outer Limits: Part of a prudent production strategy

appear in an episode that his son Adam directed. RebeccaDeMomay, Marlee Matlin, Richard Thomas and Daniel J. Tra-vanti also agreed to appear.

When the series finally debuted last spring, Showtime's rat-ings for the period improved 15% and the pilot proved to beone of Showtime's highest -rated original movies ever. In fact,the series was such a success that Showtime traded in someof their tv movie commitments with MGM/UA for more series.Poltergeist: The Legacy will be produced using the same distri-bution model - 44 episodes with a short window into first -runsyndication. A third MGM/UA series, as yet unnamed, willalso be produced using the accelerated cablecast-to-syndica-tion model.

So far, Showtime's airings seem not to have hurt The OuterLimits in syndication. Symes admits that at first there wassome apprehension, but MGM/UA cleared the series in 95%of the country. In fact, Symes hopes that the cablecast willultimately help the series. "The Showtime run will enhance,and hopefully quicken, the response to the show in syndica-tion because the series has already gotten national exposure,albeit limited exposure," he said.

Overseas, MGM/UA has also had luck with the series. GaryMarenzi reports that The Outer Limits has been sold in 40 ter-ritories and the number continues to climb.

Despite the studio's success with their new production/dis-tribution model, Symes does not believe deals like this onewill become a mainstay of television production. "Program-ming will always be based primarily on exclusivity," he said.arguing that this deal works because Showtime has a relative-ly low penetration (8.5 million households) and The OuterLimits is a great title.


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giving the company the right to dis-tribute the studio's tv movies and seriesin German-speaking territories. ForMarenzi, a crucial aspect of the deal wasthe agreement to jointly develop pro-jects. Although the two companies haveyet to announce a co -production, Maren-zi believes that in the next year the twocompanies will move forward.

Those co -productions may wellinvolve another new MGM/UA partner,the Seven Network in Australia. InAugust, Marenzi signed an exclusive dis-tribution license for Australian free-tvrights to MGWUA films and tv programs.The agreement also included a develop-ment fund with which MGM and Sevenwill develop potential projects.

MGM/UA's biggest step in the interna-tional arena has been the decision tolaunch its own channel, MGM Gold, asatellite and cable -delivered service inIndonesia and other territories in Asia.MGM Gold is expected to launch sometime in 1996. It is a joint venture withAsia Media Management, a companydeveloping satellite entertainment ser-vices in Asia. Programming is expectedto be drawn from the MGWUA library ofmovies, tv series, children's programs,and animation.

"It's going to have our name on it,"said Marenzi. "We want to build a brandwith our name and our logo, not just fortv but for our products, no matter whatthey are." Like the new cable/first-runmodel they developed for The OuterLimits, MGM Gold is a model the compa-ny may clone in the future. Marenzi hasalready discussed the possibility oflaunching a channel in Western andEastern Europe as well as Latin America.

Gary Marenzi: Glad he came back

tr

ilrinda an Pia di..n

LAPD: If it hits, the reality checks will roll in

Were MGM/UA to launch a channel inLatin America, the company might findhimself competing against program ser-vices in which it already has a stake. Butin Asia, MGM/UA doesn't have thatproblem. MGM Gold will not substantial-ly cut into company licensing revenue."In Asia, distributors don't make a lot ofmoney licensing their product, so therisk, even if the channel doesn't grow asfast as we'd like, is small," Marenzi said.

From his standpoint, launching newchannels in developing markets is a bet-ter bet than counting on internationalbarter. "I don't want to pour water onwhat some people are saying is the nextbig thing," he said, "but I'm not realbullish on barter unless it's absolutelynecessary. If you look at the mess thedomestic market is in, you can't sell any-thing for cash unless it's second or thirdrun product. Barter gets program direc-tors in the consignment mode. I likepeople making their evaluations, puttingtheir reputation on the line."

Marenzi is trying to keep his eye onthe long term. MGM/UA holds equitystakes in five other international enter-tainment services including a small stakethrough UIP in Japan's pay-tv channelStar. In Australia, MGM/UA has teamedwith Warner Bros and Disney for twomovie channels with pay-tv operatorOptus Vision. Those channels are set tolaunch later this year. The first will fea-ture classic films from the partner'slibraries, while the second will includerecent Hollywood releases from the

three studios as well as Australian filmsfrom Aussie supplier Village Roadshow.

In Latin America, MGM/UA has astake in Telecine, a Portuguese -languagechannel in Brazil which launched inDecember of last year. Thanks to goodmanagement from local partners, Maren-zi said, Telecine has had a smooth start-up. MGM/UA had less luck launchingCineCanal, a Spanish -language channelin Latin America which launched in1993. The number of new channels inthe market, Marenzi said, has made thesituation confusing to consumers andMGM/UA has had a harder time estab-lishing the channel.

In some territories, CineCanal hasbeen offered as a basic service, while inothers it is offered as a premium chan-nel. MGM/UA is currently trying to repo-sition the channel as only a premiumservice throughout Latin America.

Sizing up MGM/UA after three yearsof hard work, Marenzi said, "It's like adifferent company. The old MGM doesn'texist anymore. We've gone from zero toa quantum leap."

It's that success that makes himguardedly optimistic about ridingthrough MGM/UA's one last wild card.By law, Credit Lyonnais has to reduce itsstake in the studio to 25% by May 1997.Marenzi said he tries not to let thechange of ownership worry him. "Hope-fully," he said, "whoever buys us willsay, 'These guys are doing the right thingand that's why we want to buy the com-pany.'" fly' 1


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THAILAND

Television luanrtl Iulrm.JwnalSepleuthril.

2

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jj y the Thai tv busineft

ctions is anything but military.

chedules are nearly identical,

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commer al time. By Sarah Walker

111(40:SPOCill111 I

is dime i 61.11 y

THAILAND

With five national terrestrial broad-casters serving 13 million tv house-holds, you would think Thailand

had more than enough television to keepits population of 60 million -plus going.But the tv industry, as in many otherAsian countries, keeps growing andgrowing.

In addition to the five terrestrials,Thailand also has three existing pay-tvoperators: International BroadcastingCorporation (IBC), Thaisky Cable Net-work and Universal Cable Network(UTV), plus another 20 or so who havereceived licenses since the pay-tv marketwas deregulated (see box, p.00). Soon tojoin the fray will be a new UHF -deliv-ered broadcaster, Siam TV, whichreceived its license from the governmentthis year and is set to begin broadcasts in1997. A second UHF licensee could fol-low.

Tv broadcasting began in Thailand in1952 when the Thai Television Co wasestablished by the Public RelationsDepartment and other government agen-cies to operate Thailand's first televisionstation, now Channel 9. Between 1958and 1970, three additional stations -

- also launched. Thefifth service, Channel 11, launched in1985. In 1977, the Mass CommunicationsOrganisation of Thailand (MCOT) wasset up to operate the mass media onbehalf of the government. MCOT is nowthe official owner of Channels 9 and 3,although the Bangkok Entertainment Cois responsible for the operations ofChannel 3. MCOT is also one of the bod-ies responsible for handing out pay-tvlicenses. Channel .5 is owned by thearmy and so is Channel 7, but the latermore indirectly. It works under theChannel 5 license and meets with thestation directors once a month to discusspublic responses to programs, but on aday-to-day basis it is operated by theBangkok TV and Radio Co, a unit of pri-vate company BBTV Satelvision.

Despite the fact that all the Thaibroadcasters are owned by governmentor official bodies, there are few statutoryprogramming requirements. Four of thefive terrestrials are funded by advertising,with ten minutes of advertising timeallowed to be sold in each hour. And,despite the growing number of potentialcompetitors, it is unlikely revenues willbe threatened in the short term. Advertis-ing is banned on pay-tv.

According to figures provided by theThai ratings organization Demaar, in theyear to April 1994, gross tv advertisingexpenditure by the four commercialchannels was $244 million, rising to $276

million in the year to April 1995.Of this, Channel 7 took the lion's

share: $86 million in 1994 and $103 mil-lion in 1995, increasing its revenue by21%. This was followed by Channel 3,posting $70 million in 1995, an increaseof 15%. In third place was Channel 5with a 3% revenue increase followed byChannel 9 with 8%.

Channel 7, not surprisingly, is also theratings leader. Between April 1994 andApril 1995 it often claimed a 40% plusaudience share in the main Bangkokarea, followed increasingly closely byChannel 3 and then Channel 5, 9 andfinally 11, the latter barely managingmore than a 1% share in any month.

According to Channel 7's develop-ment manager Boontem Dhaneswongse,about 70% of the broadcaster's program-ming is locally -made. "We buy mainlyfilms, sports and miniseries. We used tobuy a lot of action adventure but nowthere is more talk and not so muchaction, it is not so interesting to ourviewers."

At Channel 3, the programming trendis also becoming more local. "We usedto have two or three acquired series aweek," said the broadcaster's MolvipaVisuwan. "Now at least two hours of ourprogramming a day is produced in-house."

There is little differentiation betweenthe schedules of the broadcasters withthe most prevalent and popular genrebeing the Thai drama serials. "They tendto operate a 'me too' philosophy," saidone observer. "Channel 5 began showingdrama at 9pm and all the others fol-lowed."

Aside from drama, the weekdaymornings include other programmingaimed primarily at the housewife, suchas films and magazine -style shows. Fol-lowing the news at lunchtime, the after-noon schedules are again heavy onentertainment such as gameshows, re-runs and variety. At 5pm to 6pm most ofthe broadcasters show family program-ming, which is mainly imported car-toons.

However, it is the primetime 6pm to10pm slot that is considered the mostimportant in Thai terrestrial broadcasting,and here that the most advertising rev-enue is generated.

Up until the early 1990s the authori-ties imposed a rule that each broadcasterhad to show the news in the earlyevening, followed by a locally -producedThai drama, in order to help the growthof the independent production sector.

Although those rules have now beenrelaxed, each broadcaster still follows the

same pattern. The news is broadcastbetween 6pm and 8.30pm to 9pm, fol-lowed by drama, mostly locally -pro-duced. Channel 3's acquisition of theChinese -language series Pao Bun Jin(Judge Pao), also a huge hit in Taiwanand Hong Kong, has pushed its ratingsabove those of Channel 7 in that timeperiod.

Not surprisingly these slots are themost expensive for advertisers: a 30 -sec-ond spot on Channel 7 costs about$7,200 during the news and $10,000 dur-ing the drama slot compared to $480after midnight. The cost of a 30 -secondspot on Channel 3 has risen, since thesuccess of Judge Pao, to $9,600 com-pared to $5,600 for late night. For theothers the cost for the primetime dramais around $8,000.

However, although primetime slotsare the most expensive, the unconven-tional way in which the Thais sell themhas led to a situation where prices arekept artificially low, leaving, said oneadvertising executive, "an over -demandfor primetime and an under -demand forother parts of the schedules."

This is achieved through a quotaarrangement whereby tv stations limitthe amount of airtime they can sell toeach agency during primetime and otherespecially popular slots. Agencies areallocated a certain number of primetimeslots based on how many of their clientsare likely to purchase spots in that timeperiod. Deals are negotiated on a yearlybasis.

"It is very important to fill that quota,"said an executive at ad agency McCannErickson in Thailand. "If we asked for 20spots a month and our clients only cameup with 15, then when negotiationscome round for the following year, ourquota would be lowered."

It is up to the station to decide whichshows are given over to quotas. General-ly the station with the highest share ofviewing has the most quotas. Channel 9has only one set of quota programs.

The Thai broadcasters' approach toprogramming and scheduling is also at

Numbers GameViewing shares all indivs 6+, Ju'y'95

Channel 3 38%Channel 5 13%Channel 7 34%Channel 9 13%Channel 11 2%

Source: Nielsen SRG


33

THAILAND

times unconventional. An over -supply ofadvertising guarantees revenue at themost expensive times, meaning ratingsare not always the bottom line.

The practice in Thailand has been tosell blocks of time to independent pro-ducers, commonly referred to as brokers,for a flat fee in exchange for program-ming. While brokers say they alwayscome to a joint decision with the broad-caster as to what programming will beproduced for that slot, some reports saybroadcasters offload the slot to the bro-kers, who sell the airtime and thenschedule whatever they want in the slot.

"It's an easy way to increase the bud-get. You just increase the prices of theslot, but it tears the direction of theschedule apart," said one programmingexecutive.

Channel 5 and Channel 9 broker outmost of their programming slots and assuch own very few of the programsthemselves.

However Channel 7 and Channel 3operate differently and more convention-ally.

"We sell the airtime at midnight andearly in the morning because we don'thave enough resources and there is notenough manpower to fill up 22 hours aday, but we always know what they areputting in the slot," said Channel 7'sDhaneswongse. "We generally ownprimetime and fringe periods ourselves."

The number of terrestrials, coupledwith the relatively small number of pro-ductions made in-house, has created abuoyant production industry in Thailand,with the major independents/brokersbeing Grammy, Kantana, JSL and MediaOf Medias. The nature of the industrymeans they each wear more than onehat. "We have our own marketing arm tosell the advertising. In 1994 we soldsome 5,300 minutes of airtime," said PaulSrichandra, vice president of the KantanaGroup. "We operate in a number of dif-ferent ways, the channels all have differ-ent structures - some sell outright, somerevenue share, some commission andsome work across all principles."

A big producer of software, Kantanahas four studios and produces a wholerange of genres. Overall it supplies about80 hours of programming a month toChannels 3,5,7 and 9, including 25episodes of drama. Shows include I willlove you tomorrow -a drama for Channel9 and The Challenge for Channel 5. Kan-tana has also just acquired the format ofquiz show Show By Shobai from NipponTelevision Network of Japan which willalso be broadcast on Channel 5.

Srichandra said the costs of produc-

Dramas like The Devil's Princess are a staple of the Thai viewing diet

tion in Thailand come in at around$20,000 for a one -hour drama and$10,000 for a variety or quiz show.

Grammy Entertainment, a tv produc-tion house, in addition to being thecountry's largest producer, distributorand copyright holder of Thai music, pro-duces around 100 hours of programminga month for all the terrestrials, with theexception of Channel 3, whose movetowards commissioning out program-ming instead of selling the airtime hasmade it less attractive to independents."We are not just a production house,"said Watanachai Jesdangkul, senior vicepresident, business development group."We always produce for ourselves andtake the ad revenue."

Grammy produces primetime dramaserials and talk shows as well as musicprogramming. Many of the late -nightslots are given over to Grammy formusic shuks. The company's large rosterof artists means it can produce suchshows very cheaply.

Having built up substantial libraries,the relatively mature Thai independentsare now hoping to spread their wings.All are looking at selling programmingoverseas or co -producing with overseascompanies and some are going intochannel development. Grammy hasbought a stake in IBC (see box) whileKantana has set up a tv station in neigh-bouring Cambodia as a joint venturewith the Thai NaKorn Pattana Co. Kan-tana is also part of the 12 member con-sortium behind UHF station Siam TV,alongside Siam TV and CommunicationCo. Ltd, a media and communicationshouse owned by the Siam CommercialBank and the Crown Property Bureau's

United Cinema Co, and newspapergroups Sang Enterprise Corporation andTH Vatanakij Holding Public Company,among others. With an initial capitalinvestment of about $162 million, SiamTV is building 36 transmission stationsand four studios with the help of theBBC's technical department and is hop-ing for 97% coverage within two years.

Not only is Siam TV the first broad-caster to be owned by the private sector,it's the first broadcaster, perhaps with theexception of Channel 11, to have specificgovernment programming requirementsand a commitment to show educationaland socially enlightening programming.The channel's schedule which will be amix of locally -produced and importedfare, will be made up of news (30%),documentaries (40%) and entertainmenta mere 30%.

With the Thai television market soheavily centred around entertainmentprogramming, the arrival of Siam TV in1997 could provide viewers with analternative to the daily diet of drama,drama and drama.

"Thai people still like to see drama,talk shows and variety shows," saidNatavoot Chitasombat, executive vicepresident of shareholder Siam TV andCommunication Co. "We have to makenews and documentary programmingthat is more interesting and useful...Thais have a broader view of everythingand would like to see something differ-ent."

Others are not so sure. "Its ratings willprobably begin at zero," said one cynicalobserver. "But that won't matter. Adagencies are desperate for additionalchoices." 51


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However in May 1993, MCOT award-ed a similar license to Universal CableTV Network (UTV) owned by the giantSino-Thai conglomerate CP Group.Since then, MCOT and the Public Rela-tions Department - the other bodyauthorized to hand out pay-tv licenses -have between them awarded over 25concessions, and more are waiting inthe wings.

Although anyone who is anyone inThai business is a backer of at least oneof the licensees, among them the tele-coms companies Jasmine InternationalGroup, Thai Telephone and Telecom-munications (TT&T), terrestrial broad-casters Channel 3 and Channel 7 andindependent producer Grammy Enter-

tainment, the market for pay-tv is atpresent small.

"If all the people who have cablewatched nothing else it would onlymake a difference of about one ratingpoint," said one tv executive.

Although industry estimates pointto a potential subscriber base of 1.6million in greater Bangkok, the coun-try's richest area, present payinghomes only amount to 220,000, withIBC claiming 150,000 and Thaisky70,000. UTV only launched in July butis aiming for 80,000 subs a year afterstart-up. And with the cost of sub-scriptions no higher than $32 a monthfor each of the services and advertis-ing banned, revenue potential in theshort term isn't all that great.

New entrants are also going to berestricted by other means: firstly bydelivery. All the MMDS frequencieshave been taken up by Thaisky andIBC and although some companies,such as UTV, are laying fibre -opticcable, it is a costly alternative. Asregards DTH delivery, IBC, Thaiskyand UTV are the only companies tohave obtained transponder space onthe domestic satellites Thaicom 1 and2, the others will have to wait untilThaicom 3 is launched in late 1996.

New entrants will also face a short-age of programming. IBC's eightchannel line-up, aside from locally -

packaged channels, includes ESPN, TheDiscovery Channel, HBO Asia andCNNI, while Thaisky's nine -channelbouquet includes several Star TV chan-nels. UTV has distribution deals withAsia Business News, TNT/Cartoon Net-work and MTV among others. It is pro-viding a ten -channel service.

A schedule full of overseas fare maynot be the way to go in the long term.Advertising agency McCann Ericksonrecently did a survey among 15-24 yearolds to monitor whether or not pay-tvwas popular among the Thai youth. Ofall the operators, IBC was the most pop-ular, but the vast majority of viewershad watched none in the past week.

"While there is room for expansion itis still a medium that has to grow beforeit can be used on (advertising) sched-ules here," said a McCann Erickson rep-resentative, anticipating a lift on the cur-rent ban. "It comes down to program-ming. There has to be some localizationof programming. A vast majority ofThais still struggle with English and U.S.programs."

There are signs that the existingoperators are already going in thatdirection. "We intend to spend as muchon local production as free tv," saidBernard Sumayao, vice president of pro-gramming and production at UTV. Heintend the network's family channel tobe 50% locally -produced and hasalready commissioned a one -hour showfrom independent JSL called The Laugh-ing Mask.

Of the three it is probably IBC thathas scored the greatest coup, though.Earlier this year its majority owner Shi-nawatra sold an 18% stake to BBTVSatelvision, operator of Channel 7, and18% to Grammy. Both are expected tobolster IBC's original productionbeyond the current 10% of output.

"Cable and broadcast tv complementeach other," said Channel 7's develop-ment manager Boontem Dhaneswongse."There are a certain amount of pro-grammes that are not suitable for broad-cast tv... we like to cover the wholespectrum, so cable is a natural choice."

Television Business I viemabonal September 1995

36

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Few areas of the businessare as commercial as

kid's tv. Production costsare high, the audience is

fickle and competitionis intense. But dealingwith young minds andyoung sensitivities, a

hard sell can often beout of place. Starting

TBI's annual focuson the genre, TimWestcott reportson a distribution

trend which is onthe increase

- the offer ofblocks and

packages ofprogramming

I've got jewelpower. At least,that's what it says,

in fancy pink let-ters, on the badgethe people fromBohbot Interna-tional sent me.Jewel Power iswhat theU.S. compa-ny, throughits Paris -based salesoperation, ishoping tochannel to lit- -taria ,Uliy_

°InCed b -tie girls the world aOhbotover via the adventures of heading itsStarla, the heroine of Starla launched on -sgressive

inAnd The Jewel Riders, one of the international market international

Pushthe three Bo:Mot shows earlier this year.


39


Starla (Princess Guinevereif you're in the U.S.) leads hercohorts on 4 quest to find thelost enchanted jewels andthus save the Land Of Avalonfrom the evil Lady Kale.Through their role model,young girls will learn to setand achieve goals in theirown lives, enjoying romance,fantasy and a music sound-track featuring original songs"in the classic tradition of Dis-ney," according to the pressmaterial.

Together with the boy'sanimated show Sky SurferStrike Force, live action edu-

Bohbot: Programs are getting better

tainment show AJ's TimeTravellers and two Christmasspecials, Starla is aiming tohave a similarly dynamiceffect on Bohbot Internation-al's sales, which totalled $10million in its first year.

The company is adoptingthe same approach to theinternational market as it hasused in domestic syndication.That is, offering its programsin a block, backed up anarray of inducements rangingfrom a cut of merchandisingrevenues to the advertisingdollars of toy clients handledby its media buying arm.

Bohbot launched its distri-bution operation in 1990. Atfirst it sold its programs likeany normal distributor. Sta-tions put its programs on atdifferent times of day and dif-ferent days of the week. Thatwasn't much help to Bohbot,which was looking for maxi-mum synergy to drive its mer-

chandising and promotionaltie-ins.

Through research, it identi-fied a daypart on Sundaymornings between 8am and10am which was an idealtime for kids' viewing andwas, at the time, neglected bymany stations.

Amazin' Adentures waslaunched in 1992 and clearedin 70% of the market. In May1995, Nielsen ratings recordeda rating of 3.5 and share of 15among kids aged 2-11 and3.6/17 among kids aged 6-11for the block.

This year it will be seen in166 tv sta-tions by apotential88% of thepopulation."The successof the blockhas given usgreat lever-age in theU.S.," saidAllenBohbot,chief execu-tive officerof BohbotCommunica-tions Corp."The kinds

of programs we are airing aregetting considerably better. Ifwe can find a way to enticeprogrammers (around theworld) to program the blockit will be a valuable resourcefor our company."

Nadia Nardonnet, Interna-tional Managing Director, saidthat three broadcasters havealready signed up to take theblock: 2x2 in Russia, RPC inPanama and Star in Greece.2x2 starts airing a one -hourblock this January, and RTCand Star will switch on a one -hour block in the fall of 1996.A full two-hour blockbecomes available for theyear 1996/7.

Although these stations arecomparative minnows, Nar-donnet said she is in negotia-tion with a big fish - RTVE inSpain. The company is pre-pared to be patient. "Havinga block of programming isrewarding for the broadcaster

because it creates a loyalaudience and better aware-ness. It's very helpful in acompetitive market where itis usually hard to keep chil-dren," said Nardonnet.

As it did in the U.S.,Bohbot has sold the licensesto individual shows. Starlithas sold to RI" in Germany,GMTV in the UK, France 3,Reteitalia and RTVE, whileAJ's Time Travellers sold toRTL, Middle Eastern serviceOrbit, Canal Famille in Cana-da and Vision Plus in Asia.Skysurfer Strike Force has soldto BSkyB in the UK, Mediasetin Italy and Latin America. Inmarkets where the leadingnetwork ,is offering a slightlylower license fee than itscompetition, Nardonnet isauthorized to take the loweroffer, said Bohbot. "Ultimate-ly, you're judged by the com-pany you keep." Bohbot'sclients - each show is backedby a toy line - want big expo-sure to drive sales.

Broadcasters are becomingincreasingly keen to take ashare of merchandising rev-enues, recognizing the crucialimportance of their viewers tothe business. Bohbot is pre-pared to offer a percentage ofmerchandising in their territo-ry if the broadcaster takes theblock, but not if it is onlybuying a single show. Bohbotalso says he could make tak-ing a block a condition for abroadcaster wishing to buy asingle show.

Bohbot is moving toincrease its output. It has 12shows currently airing in theU.S. and plans to launch threemore next year, two of whichit will finance itself. Averageproduction budgets rangefrom $275,000-300,000 perhalf-hour for a 26 -episodeseries. Last month it openedan acquisition and develop-ment office in LA whichBohbot said is taking 3-4 con-cepts a day from independentproducers - "the Nelvanas,the Dics and the FilmRomans."

Bohbot, which fully fund-ed Starla, using an animationstudio on a work for hire

basis, has also investigatedstudios in Britain, France andSpain, which could add pro-grams with European contentto its catalog.

Many of the producerswhich supply programs for itsU.S. block have their owninternational sales operation.But from next year, accordingto Bohbot, it will be lookingto retain all rights to shows inthe block. "We're saying ifyou want to be in Amazin'Adventures in the U.S., youhave to be in it around theworld. We will not put ashow on in the U.S. unlesswe control worldwide rights."

Bohbot said he plans toopen a media buying office inLondon as the "hub" of aEuropean operation nextApril. But, although it willclearly be pitching for theEuropean business of its U.S.clients, Bohbot affirms hewon't be trying to use adver-tising leverage. "We're notlooking at doing barter deals.It's not a good business.Importing the barter businessis the last thing we want todo." He admits, however, thatbeing a major buyer of mediamight give it an "edge" overother distributors in some sit-uations. Bohbot also backs itsshows in the U.S. with pro-motional campaigns forclients including retail chainToys R Us.

Rival distributors are pre-dictably quick to pick holes inBohbot's sales pitch. First,they say, the internationalmarket doesn't operate thesame way as the U.S. "It'sapples and oranges," said NeilCourt, a consultant for FilmRoman. "Bohbot's success inthe U.S. is largely driven bythe inability of independentstations to get access to themajors' programs," he said."In Europe, broadcasters haveaccess to anything theywant."

The big studios, notablyDisney and Warner Bros,already have broadcasterssigned up to supply deals(see story, p.42). As well asthe library, they have thename. "Warners and Disney

cont. page 44Television Business International September 1995

40

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Brand BuildingBroadcasters may never been offered so many inducementsto hand over the programming of their children's seg-ments lock, stock and barrel to a distributor.

Walt Disney and Warner Bros both offer branded blocks ofanimation programming. Disney blocks air in 35 territoriesand 42 have blocks bearing either the Warner name or that ofBugs Bunny. Turner has reintroduced a Hanna Barbera hourto the international market this year. Saban International,according to Stan Golden, Managing Director, is looking tobuild its own branded blocks on the back of the success of itsMighty Motphin' Power Rangers.

It doesn't stop there. Basic cable networks Nickelodeonand Cartoon Network have both launched international net-works, and programming from both is airing in blocks. Thismonth, Fox launches a children's block onits Latin American network, Canal Fox, andthe Warner Channel also featuresa kids' segment made up oflibrary product.

Sue Kroll, former headof TNT/Cartoon in Europe,is now at Warners devel-oping plans forlocally -tailored net-works, including afamily channel.Fox Children's Net-work is also,according to aspokesman, "mov-ing aggressivelyforward on pro-gram servicesacquisition" over-seas.

Disney's blocks vary from half an hour to two hours inlength. The studio's name is usually featured, a reflection ofthe power of the brand name and its associative value tobroadcasters. In each market, the block is produced by Dis-ney and in Russia and India, it gets a share of advertising air-time from the broadcasters, RTR and Doordarshan respective-ly, as part of the deal.

Warner Bros describes The Warner Hour as a working title.It offers a flexible package including archive and new materi-al, pre-recorded bridges and promotional back-up. Warnersdoesn't insist that the broadcaster uses the Warner name; it is"more concerned that the block is successful for the broad-caster," according to Lisa Gregorian, vice president of interna-tional research and marketing.

Lengths vary from half an hour to two -and -a -half hours.ITV (which has deals with both Warner Bros and Disney)incorporates Warner animation in a block fronted by a pre-senter, an approach also adopted in Denmark. In France,three networks have Warner -branded blocks.

One reason broadcasters are inclined to do deals with themajors is that they are often linked with larger output dealsfor feature film and network hours. Distributors claim somebroadcasters buy more programming than they can show just

Sylvester and Tweetie

to secure film rights.Mike Byrd, head of international syndication at Turner,

said it had aggressively been selling a Hanna Barbera blockfor the last six to eight months. Artear in Argentina andBangkok Broadcasting in Thailand have both signed up andByrd said he would announce "three or four" further sales atMipcom. Next year, Turner will target Europe.

Byrd said broadcasters are offered the best of Hanna Bar-bera's library of 3,600 half-hours of programming and intersti-tial' to help tailor the block to their requirements. In addition,the broadcaster gets a cut of merchandising revenue in its ter-ritory - "something," noted Byrd, "Disney doesn't do."

Turner's Cartoon Network now airs as a 24 -hour channelin Latin America and as a daytime service in Europe and Asia.

The HB block will, it is hoped,help to cross -promote the ser-

vice, since many of thecartoons airing in theblock will also appearon the network. Or, toput it another way, itopens up another win-dow for Turner toexploit its rights at littleextra cost. The samerationale could alsoapply to the Warner and

Fox Networks.Nickelodeon, which is

a 50/50 joint venture in theUK with BSkyB, has alsolaunched a German network

with production companyRavensburger and launches in Australia in

partnership with the ABC later this year.Further launches in India, Asia and possibly Benelux andScandinavia are in the works for next year.

Nick blocks are airing on SIC in Portugal, Globosat inBrazil, UTV in Thailand and TV3 in Poland. "We also havedefinite bookings in Israel and South Africa and we are innegotiations for proposed launches in Scandinavia, Singaporeand Malaysia," said Kathleen Hricik, senior v -p, programenterprises. SIC is about to produce Portuguese versions ofthe gameshows Guts and Double Dare.

"Programs include the best of our current shows andlibrary shows. It varies from country to country," said Hricik."We are customizing and tailoring our blocks to create ablock of programs that works for the broadcasters and theirviewers."

The growth of the U.S. majors' worldwide cable and satel-lite distribution operations is, paradoxically, good news forbroadcasters. It will mean more competition but it will alsomean that the national windows offered by terrestrial chan-nels will be of increased value to distributors. Those moreadversely affected will be independents who are trying tobuild up their own international sales and specialist cablechannels which are not aligned with or owned by the majorcontent providers.


42

NELVANA

BUILDINGTHE FANTASYNELVANA, THE COMPANY KIDS LOVE TO WATCH.

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Heyward: Euros "cherry -pick"

are able to sell a block inter-nationally because they'reselling a brand," said AndyHeyward, president of DicEntertainment. "Europeanbuyers really like to cherry -pick. Unless you've gotunsinkable brands like Disneythey're not interested in tak-ing it."

Bohbot recognizes that sta-tion managers in the U.S, will-ing to "abdicate" their chil-dren's hours to a.distributor,are a different proposition tochildren's programmers inEurope. He notes that manyU.S. buyers are content tobuy after viewing a couple ofminutes, while at Junior Mip-com, buyers sit through theentire tape. "There is a com-pletely different mentality. Itwill take longer (for Bohbot)to get the credibility that willmake the broadcaster take a

chance on the block," headmitted.

But even where there is awill, broadcasters are oftenunable to schedule a wholeblock. GMTV, which pro-grams the early morning onthe ITV network, will air Star -la as two 11 -minute seg-ments. "We simply don't havethe time available. A pre-packaged, pre-recorded blockdoesn't fit in," said CliveCrouch, sales director for thecompany.

Advertising regulations andchannels' own policies arealso tough on toy -relatedshows. Power Ranger toys,for example, can't be adver-tised within two hours of theshow on ITV, so the ads hveto go out on another day.(Toy lines are, however,effectively getting lots of freeairtime and product place-ment whenever the show isaired.)

The competition argument- no broadcaster will be toofussy if they are being offeredhigh -rated, good qualityshows for low license fess -only goes so far. TCC, the UKchildren's channel, is battlingagainst two other kids' net-works for share of a crampedsatellite tv universe. ButFranklin Getchell, generalmanager, said: "We're notinterested in blocks, for onesimple reason: we are in the

midst of a campaign to brandour channel, and having ablock of somebody else's pro-gramming that's branded astheirs doesn't help."

Several distributors alsomaintain that broadcasters arelooking for more quality,more creative -driven showsand for more educationalcontent. Sunbow, as its presi-dent CJ Kettler admitted, "hasalways been known for toy -related shows," but is gradu-ally changing the kind ofproduct it is distributing."From a strategic point ofview, we are looking forproperties that stand on their

Weinberg: "speciality" business

own two feet as entertain-ment. And if they are success-ful, the merchandising flowsfrom that."

"In the future, it's not

going to be about volume,"agreed David Ferguson, direc-tor of co -production for Nel-vana. "The winners are goingto be the character -drivenshows."

Ron Weinberg, presidentof Cinar, called kid'sprograms "more of a specialtythan a volume -type business.The question is whether aprogram exists because itshould exist or whether itexists to support merchandis-ing. It's pretty easy for mostprogrammers to distinguishbetween the two."

Brian Lacey, a consultantfor 4Kids, though he says thekids market is one of themost commercially -drivenareas of the tv business,noted "a recognition by somebroadcasters like Rai, ZDF,and the BBC that they shouldmake a greater commitmentto broadcasting programs thatare educationally positive andnon-violent. That makes itdoubly difficult to do blockprogramming."

So, barring a suddenaccess of jewel power, distrib-utors think it unlikely Bohbotwill be able to achieve itsgoals. Bohbot, however, is nostarry-eyed ingenue, and itwould be a mistake to imag-ine his company will disap-pear in a puff of smoke.

"We can afford to be long-term visionaries," he said. Ef

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For The KidsOutside the major tv territories, production of programs for kids is either a low priority orvirtually non-existent. TBI correspondents survey the state of the genre in four developingmarkets around the world.

CZECH REPUBLIC

Scheduling fairy tales againstits commercial rival's blood-thirsty evening news bulletin,Czech Television is trying torecapture market share lost toTV Nova. Normandy Mad-den reports

TV Nova continues to domi-nate children's tv viewing inthe Czech Republic, butCzech TV (CT) is implement-ing changes in its program-ming schedule to bring kids -and their parents - back topublic broadcasting.

CT's overall audience sharehas declined steadily since TVNova, the first national com-mercial broadcaster in EasternEurope, was launched 20months ago. The publicbroadcaster has been slow torespond to the presence of acommercial rival and the lastmedia survey gave CzechTelevision's main station CT1a 7% rating, while TV Novaenjoys a 75% rating. For chil-dren's programming, the rat-ings for both CT channelsrange from 5% to 12% and TVNova's can top 14% but aver-age around 12%.

But from September 1, CTrevamped its schedule tobring it in line with publicbroadcasting practisesthroughout Europe, whichwill hopefully bring appeal toboth parents and kids,according to Jaroslav Bazant,director of IP Praha, whichhandles advertising for thepublic broadcaster.

CT now has several blocks

dedicated to children's pro-gramming. Beginning at 5pmeach weeknight, there are 50 -minute fairy tales for 8 to 13year olds, followed by a 10 -minute animated spot foryounger viewers. On Mondaythrough to Thursday from6.20pm to 7.15pm, CT showsa family series such as TheYoung Riders for the 10 -plusage group. These pro-grammes run against TVNova's notoriously blood-thirsty nightly news program.On Friday, this timeslot con-tains educational nature filmsand documentaries.

Programming for kids isrounded out on Sunday with120 minutes of cartoons, bothdomestic and imported. "Weprefer Czech productions, butwe don't broadcast onlyCzech animation. We alsobuy from companies such asWarner Brothers," explainedVaclav Kvasnicka, CT's headof programming. For Czechteens, there are also after-noon programmes, such asThe Wonder Years and Cross-roads.

Petr Sladecek, head of pro-gram acquisition for TV Nova,argued that the changes at CTdo not represent a significantchange from previous sched-ules for young audiences. TVNova, he said, is not wor-ried about the success ofits children's program-ming, most of whichis imported from Dis-ney, Warner Brothersand Hanna Barbera.

TV Nova broad-casts strong program-

ming on both Saturday andSunday, beginning withanimated programmessuch as The Pink Pan-ther's New Adventuresbeginning at 7.30am.At 9.45am live actionshows such as Zorroand 21 Jump Streetair until 11am. Andevery Saturday after-noon The NewAdventures of Lassiebegins at 6.45pm.

One of Nova'smost successfulteen programs airson Sunday

Television Business Interne

46

morning at10am. ESO is anin-house popmusic chartshow hostedby TeresaPergnerova, aCzech teenpop star. Sheearns asteady 14%rating eachweek.

Bothstationsadmit that

it is difficult to obtain true rat-ings for children's program-ming. "The problem is wehave no peoplemeters," saidSladcek. "We can't measureyoung audiences properlyand agencies don't want to

Zorro: Joining the fight for Nova

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recognise our own figures,which are based on diaries.Some agencies say they arenot accurate, as kids can pre-tend and fill in the wrongdata."

The lack of advertising,combined with a drop inadult audiences, promptedNova to move its children'sprograms from earlyweeknight time slots to week-end mornings.

INDIA

With half of its population of900 million aged under 25,India should be a major mar-ket for kid's programming.But as Asoka Raina reports,the airtime programmersdevote to the genre is minus-cule.

Tejan Dewanji is nine yearsold. A popular model for BPL,a company that manufacturestv sets, among other things,he is also the youngestanchor on Indian television,presenting a weekly Hindi -language show on Zee TVcalled It's My Show.

It's My Show, is not aimedspecifically at kids, despitethe youth of its presenter,although it is much viewedby children and their families.Like many programs on Indi-an screens, It's My Show isbased on India's vibrant filmindustry.

Indian programmers -national broadcaster Doordar-shan and the newer, satellite -based channels led by Zee TV- have not made much of aneffort to create segments oftheir schedules for kids. Or,to put it another way, theytreat young children as mina-ture adults who watch muchthe same fare as their parents.

Doordarshan's deputydirector general, Jai Chandi-ram, however, did admit thatwhere the kid's genre is con-cerned, "a lot more could bedone, and we are looking atthe possibilities."

Children's programs form aminuscule part of Doordar-shan's output - around 1.5%.

The genre tends to be brack-eted with women's and youthprogramming, which accountfor a combined 5% of outputcompared to almost 25%devoted to film -based pro-grams, 20% to serials, and16% to news.

Disney Adventures, a blockof Disney animation, is a reg-ular feature of the schedule,airing in the mornings on themain Doordarshan channel.The shows - which includeTaleSpin and DuckTales - aredubbed into Hindi by BuenaVista Television India, a jointventure between the U.S. stu-dio and the Modi Group.Doordarshan also airs theweekly Philips Top 10, featur-ing the most popular filmsongs.

Turner International isseeking permission from theIndian government to set upa company to license its car-toon products in India, and ifit is successful it is expectedto start dubbing into local lan-guages, including Hindi.Around half an hour of car-toon programs are airing onDoordarshan's recently -launched satellite channel.

Youth Entertainment Ser-vice (YES), launched in Juneby the Srishti group, is aimingto redress the absence ofyouth -targeted programming.At present, YES is a two-houra day service which formspart of the Srishti Videocorpnetwork. The company claimsthat 50% of India's 900 millionpopulation are aged less than25, and that although 80% oftv ads are geared towards theyouth demographic, very littleprogramming is aimed at it.As well as popular dramasand music, YES is planningprograms on career advice,innovative drama andcomedy, debateand leisureprograms.MTV and StarTV's ChannelV, both satel-lite -delivered,also feature programsaimed directly at Indianyouth.

Although Indian produc-

tion is burgeoning with theanticipated demand of morechannels, and Indian tvadspend is expected to climb44% this year to $403 million(Zenith Media Worldwide),production of kid's programsis likely to remain a low pri-ority.

Locally -made programs forchildren don't attract high rat-ings, or advertising revenues.Most advertisers prefer for-eign programs and bought -inanimated fare.

ARGENTINA

Kiddie novelas - not to every-one's taste but a hit with theirtarget audience - are the mostvisible local productions inArgentina. But cable tv hasbreathed new life into anima-tions, with four all -cartoonchannels vying for viewers,reports Mike Galetto

The lack of local animationproduction and an inbredhankering for telenovelas hasresulted in a somewhat pecu-liar children's television genrehere: soap operas for kids.

Like their grown-up coun-terparts, the kiddie-novelasdeal with the stock topics ofromance, betrayal and scan-dal, which in their diminutiveforms turn out to be puppylove, broken hearts and badgrades.

And with state -run Argenti-na Televisora Color as theonly broadcaster with morn-ing programming, the chil-dren's shows

air alongside novelas in after-noon slots.

Canal 13/Artear since earlythis year has producedAmigovios, a one -hour kiddie-novela airing Monday throughFriday. Canal 13 productiondirector Hugo Di Guglielmosays the show has been"quite successful" and thecompany is already pitching itin foreign markets.

Telefe, meanwhile, hasrecently begun airing Chiqui-titas, another novela foryoungsters. The show hasalready topped the 6.00pmweekday slot thanks in part toits not -so -little star, GabrielCorrado, who may be betterknown for his role in Telefe'ssteamy international hit, PerlaNegra. Moms and daughtersare vying for couch space onthis one.

Telefe has also been suc-cessful in another scaled -down genre - kid -orientedvariety programs.

It struck gold with theJugate conmigo (Play WithMe) hour-long, circus -likeshow which aired weekdayafternoons until last year. Theshow, however, looks to haveflopped after being given athree-hour format and movedto Sunday nights.

Telefe may have recoveredwith Nico, another one -hourshow named after its smartaleck host. Few over 18 cantolerate the show - parentshave labeled it senseless andthe host was recently bashedover the head with a metal

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bar by a disturbed youngadult - but kids have made ita success nationwide sincedebuting this season.

Cable's growth here, how-ever, has given new lifebloodto cartoons. There are cur-rently four cable channels forkids, including Turner's Car-toon Network, all of whichare strictly animated.

The format has proveditself a good business. Cablin,the largest local channel isowned by 650,000 -subscriberMSO, Video Cable Comunica-cion, while another, The BigChannel, is widely said to beowned by a local toy compa-ny. Big Channel officials,however, have denied this.

All is not rosy for thelocals. "The market is at aplateau after strong growth in1993 and 1994," said BigChannel general managerRodolfo Pochat. "There'sstrong competition and notmuch room for growth."

Adding to their troublesare Cartoon Network's signifi-cant inroads here and thepossible launch of a Disneychannel in Latin America.

Broadcasters are just nowgetting off the sidelines. Canal13 earlier this year purchasedHanna Barbera stock fromTurner Syndication and aimsto make itself known as a car-toon broadcaster. Canal 13will debut the material nextyear on the tentatively -titledHora de Hanna Barbera(Hanna Barbera Hour).According to company FilmPurchasing Advisor WalterSequeira, the material will beaired on Canal 13, before Car-toon Network.

MALAYSIA

Despite low production costs,most of the children's showsaired in Malaysia are import-ed animation, reports SarahWalker

Although all the terrestrialbroadcasters in Malaysia havechildren's slots in their sched-ules, the programming broad-cast is mainly acquired anima-

tion, with very littleoriginal produc-tion.

Furthermore, ina market where allthe stations arefunded in whole orin part by advertis-ing, an imminentincrease in compe-tition from newcable and satelliteservices, expectedto launch by theend of the year,could marginalizethe genre even fur-ther.

Presently about25 hours of chil-dren's program-ming is providedby state-controlledbroadcaster RTM'stwo channel ser-vice, TV1 and TV2,commercial chan-nel TV3, and the recently -launched regional terrestrialstation MetroVision.

The highest -rated kid'sshow in Malaysia at present isthe Japanese (TV Asahi) car-toon Doraemon, broadcast onTV1 on Saturdays at 7pm."Children's programmingdoesn't do well apart fromanimation," said Po Lin Hofrom producer/distributor andlicensing company VisionEntertainment.

Currently, Vision's produc-tion unit Double Vision isproducing a one -hour Sundaymorning children's programcalled What's Up Doc for RTMwhich is comprised of WarnerBrothers cartoons and a localwrap around. RTM has anoutput deal with the studio.

Of all the broadcasters,RTM has the biggest commit-ment to children's fare, broad-casting over nine hours aweek on TV1 and about 2.5hours on TV2.

"We have a social obliga-tion to provide for children,"said Helen Abu, deputy direc-tor 'of tv at RTM. "We are notreally motivated by revenue."The broadcaster strips SesameStreet across the scheduleweekday mornings and itselfproduces a 30 -minute maga-

Doraemon: Hooking viewers on TV1

zine called Rice Mice which isbroadcast on Saturday morn-ings and costs in the region of$2,000 to $3,000.

Although 10% of the pro-gramming budget is account-ed for by children's shows,the vast majority of RTM'sschedule is made up of ani-mated acquisitions such asThe Pink Panther and BlinkyBill, for which Abu said RTMpays between $500 and $700per half hour.

RTM does help with pro-ductions for an educationalchannel, ETV, which is broad-cast by the Ministry of Infor-mation from 8.30am to3.30pm using TV2's frequen-cies.

At TV3 about nine hours ofthe total schedule is allocatedto children. The broadcasterhas an output deal with Dis-ney, programming fromwhich occupies slots on Sat-urday mornings and Saturdayafternoon. From Monday toFriday, the 4pm to 5pm slot isgiven over to imported ani-mation series such as StuntDawgs and Sharkey andGeorge.

The only show producedin-house, said assistant man-ager of programes at TV3,Mandi Ihwan, is a 30 -minute

magazine show called AlamRia. Broadcast on Saturdaymornings, it costs in theregion of $4,000 an episodeto produce.

With the potential foradvertising revenue from chil-dren's programs low, Ihwansaid the likelihood is TV3would decrease its children'soutput by September, how-ever.

"There isn't a lot of moneyin children's programming inthis country," said AK Foo,president and CEO of Malay-sian distributor and produc-tion company Juita-Viden."Advertisers zero in on prime -time, but children's program-ming is always in the fringe.However the market is drivenby success, so once you haveone..." Foo is now looking atdeveloping children's showsacross the board, frompreschool to the youth mar-ket, in addition to developinghis own characters.

One of these projectscould be a local version ofSesame Street with the Chil-dren's Television Workshop.This would be in addition tothe English and locally -dubbed versions Juita Videnalready distributes toRTM. Ell


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CeilingPoints

Studios in the Far East are a hive ofanimation activity. Selling the advantage ofcheaper labor costs and high productivity,they've been hired by producers fromaround the world. As Sarah Walker reports,costs as well as skills are on the increase

Most animation seriesshown on networksaround the world bear

the logos of American, Euro-pean and Japanese compa-nies. Yet, although the cre-ative ideas and majority offinancing is stumped up bythose territories, most of thereal graft that goes into theproduction of animation isstill done by studios in theFar East.

Aside from pre -production,post -production and many ofthe computerized specialeffects, the time consumingprocess of creating a cartoon,from layout to ink and paintto camera work, is subcon-tracted out to a myriad of stu-dios in countries such asSouth Korea, China, HongKong, Taiwan and the Philip-pines.

To do such work in thewest would, said Gaumont'sMarc Du Pontavice, "costabout two and a half to threetimes as much and takemuch, much longer."

It is the ready supply ofcheap labor that has madeAsian countries the hotbed foranimation production. Typi-cally employing anywherefrom 200 to 1,000, a studiocan churn out a 22 or 24 -

minute episode in 12 to 14weeks. Costs range from$50,000 to $200,000 anepisode depending on theclient, the complexity of thecartoon and the country it isbeing produced in. SouthKorea and Taiwan are themost expensive with costsranging from $100,000 for abasic show up to $1800,00 forlive action with specialeffects. China and the Philip-pines are cheaper. PRC pricesstart as low as $50,000 perepisode. However, a Disneyepisode in any country canreach $200,000 -plus.

The recognized leader ofanimation production is stillSouth Korea, which inheritedthe mantle from Japan someten years ago after risinglabor costs priced Japan outof the market. Today around90% of all U.S. networkshows are still producedthere.

However, rising costs inSouth Korea are beginning tothreaten its dominance of themarket. "The Koreans arevery organized and reliableand produce quality work,"said Saban International Presi-dent Michel Welter. "But theprice rises over the last fewyears have been enormous

Jin Jin: Animatedfor Saban

by China's Golden Pandt;

and the problem is tv stationsaren't paying any more."

Cost hikes have forcedcompanies to look for cheap-er alternatives provided bylesser developed Asian coun-tries.

China's open-door policyof the last few years hasenabled studios there toembrace free market princi-ples and they are now toutingthemselves as a more cost-effective alternative. "In SouthKorea they are very wellorganized, they fit well into aproduction line, but they arenot as creative," said JoannaWong from the Beijing -basedstudio Golden Panda.

Employing between 200and 300 staff at any one time,Golden Panda is doing theanimation for Saban's Jin Jinand the Panda Patrol, a pro-ject the producer/distributordeveloped with the ChineseMinistry of Radio, Film andTelevision. And once that is

finished, it will begin work onthe next Saban series, OliverTwist.

Producing in China cancreate "a lot of headaches,"said Welter. "These studiosare not used to producinglong -running series whichrequire enormous commit-ment, organization and tech-nique. We need more time toproduce over there, but at theend of the day they are verytalented and the productionslook nice."

Other companies that havesubcontracted work to Chinainclude the UK's BBC andTony Collingwood Produc-tions, while Shenzen-basedstudio Colourland, 60%owned by Hong Kong -listedcompany Gold Tron Hold-ings, is working with Pixibox,Procidis and BRB. "(Subcon-tracting to China) has grownin the past few years. We arestill inferior to Korea, Taiwanand Japan in terms of quality,


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Du Pontavice: Advantages are cost and speed

but we are cheaper and cancompare with the Philippinesin terms of talent," said man-aging director Louis Sek. Thisyear Colourland will animatesome 90 30 -minute episodes.

Filipino studios, on theother hand, are playing notjust on the cost-effectivenessof their operations but alsoon their understanding ofwestern culture.

"Not only do they speakEnglish butthey have awestern viewand in anima-tion you reallyhave to under-stand the gagif you aregoing to ani-mate it well,said generalmanager ofFil-Cartoons,Bill Dennis."The econo-mics are rightand there is atremendoustalent, whilethey may not have formaltraining they have the basistalent and skills."

Fil-Cartoons, located inManila, has about 600 full-time employees and in 1994

Welter: Worth the headaches

produced over 1000minutes of anima-tion. Two-thirds ofits work is forowner Hanna Bar-bera, but the studiosubcontracts forothers as well.Currently it is work-ing on a pilot forGerman companyHahn Productions.

Rainbow Anima-tion operates astudio in SouthKorea and last yearopened a similarventure in Manila."We went there toget a cost break,"said Rainbow'sTed Tchoe. He hasmixed feelingsabout the move."Their cartoon styleis more orientedtowards the western

world but the working envi-ronments and ethics are verydifferent. Talent is one thingbut to get productivity isanother... There is a lot ofbureaucracy, even in terms ofgetting supplies such as paintand cells into the country."

Companies are still testingout the cost-effectiveness ofthese new options by farmingout two or three episodes at atime. The next generation of

possible ani-mators are al-ready queuingup, with Viet-nam and thecountries ofSouth Americacited as thenext possiblecontenders forcheaper pro-duction oppor-tunities.

Howevertales of gov-ernment bur-eaucracy, un-trained labor

pools, misseddeadlines, high overheadscaused by a lack of basicinfrastructure, dusty studiosand old equipment is makingsome western producersquestion the wisdom of stray-

ing too far from the sanctumof South Korea.

"A lot of companies havehad problems with the othercountries by choosing a badstudio. They get a great dealfrom, say, China, but thematerial can be horrendous,"said Peter Keefe, managingpartner of Zen Entertainment."Most of the big studios areusing the same people inSouth Korea and Taiwan asthey have been for the lastten years, only becausethey've tried out the cost-effectiveness of everywhereelse. You may initially save$20,000 but you'llspend $30,000 try-ing to fix it." Keefehas had a long-term relationshipwith Korean studioSei Young.

"South Korea isthe most importantcountry for Satur-day morning net-work shows.wouldn't take thechance of doing itanywhere else.You have yourorder in Februaryto deliver in September. I wouldn'twant to take therisk of not being on time,"agrees Gaumont's Du Pon-tavice.

Aware that they could bein danger of losing a signifi-cant portion of their business,some Korean companies aretaking steps to reduce costsby investing heavily insophisticated computer equip-ment. Sei Young has spent $5million on Silicon Graphicshardware, an investment ithopes to break even on inthree years, while RainbowAnimation has over $1.5 mil-lion worth of computers inthe U.S. that it uses for inkand paint, special effects andcamera movement.

Not content with just sub-contracting on the productionside, Asian studios are alsolooking at expanding out ofjust the animating side of thebusiness. Some, such asCuckoo's Nest in Taiwan and

Sei Young, already contributepart of the financing ofshows, in return for rights.Others are looking at creatingand distributing their ownshows from scratch.

"We are working on sever-al of our own characters rightnow and are looking at creat-ing a show with globalappeal," said Don Han fromKorean company Sem Anima-tion. "We have been ap-proached by several U.S.companies for co -productionsbut we want to keep editorialcontrol." Financing -wise, Hansaid he is looking to find a

Keefe: Long-term link with Korea's Sei Young

contribution from a broad-caster.

Currently, Fil Cartoons isworking on the production oftwo seven -minute shorts.One, Swamp and Ted, hasalready been picked up bythe Cartoon Network, whilethe other, Rot 'n Skunks, isstill at the storyboard stage."We have such a large talentbase it makes sense to haveour own ideas," said Dennis."Initially the incremental costsare very small and it is a goodexercise and motivator foreveryone to start from thebeginning through to theend."

"In the future we will belooking to create our ownshows," said Colourland'sLouis Sek. "When we getmore expensive, clients willask us to become co -produc-ers so we might as well callall the shots." El


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ftIs For Investment BankerThe Children's Television Workshop, known round the world as the producer ofSesame Street, has sought high powered help as it moves to launch a cablenetwork. By

aybe it's

The Chil-dren's Television Workshop.That name has always madethe place sound like a happyco-operative of teachers andresearchers, writers andproducers, all earnestlystriving to make showslike Sesame Street. Whenthat name - that work-shop idea - is uttered -in the same breathwith top mediainvestment bankAllen & Co., it's prettyjarring. The Children'sTelevision Workshopand media's biggest deal -maker. What gives?

To get an answer, lookat children's television inAmerica. PBS, home of CTW's26 -year -old hit Sesame Street,faces huge budget cuts andCongressional attacks.And the rest of theAmerican televisionindustry losesinterest in edu-cating andentertain-ing kidswith

Rich Zahradnik

every passing year, monthand day. CTW, squeezed byfalling funding on the oneside and evaporating demand

on the other, realizedit needed a new

approach tothe mar-

ket

it had served so well for twoand a half decades.

CIW saw "that the fundingmechanisms that built ourlarge successes - large-scalegovernment and corporatefunding - were not likely tobe a part of our future," saidDavid Britt, CTW's presidentand CEO. "To all intents andpurposes, the proportion of(kids' tv) programming thatwas both entertaining andeducational had probablyshrunk to the smallest propor-tion it had ever been. Andyou can whine and fussabout that - which we'veprobably done - or you can

turn it on its head andsay, 'Wait a minute, thisis an opportunity."

To capitalize on thatopportunity, the organi-

zation had to changetack. CTW could nolonger be content get-ting programs on the

air one ata time.It wasgetting

Plazo Sesamo, one of CTW's honest -to -goodness international co- pros

burned in the competitivecommercial tv marketplace.Cro, an animated series thathelped explain basic scienceconcepts, was cancelled fromABC's Saturday morningschedule - despite the fact itwas winning the timeslot - tomake way for an ABC -ownedshow. That's no real scandalgiven how the networks aremoving to put on more oftheir own product now rulesbarring such activities havebeen repealed. But Cro'sdemise was still a cruel blow:the animated series had beenan easy and popular sell onthe international market.

The cancellation of Crowas just a symptom. Govern-ment and corporate fundingis on the wane. Others - readthat Barney - have success-fully gone after SesameStreet's pre-school audience.CTW, a $120 million a yearproduction, publishing anddistribution organization, hadto secure a platform to nur-ture and protect its program-ming. Like its for-profitbrethren in the tv business,that platform had to giveCTW control over distribu-tion. CTW needed its ownchannel.

In April of this year, CTWsignalled it was serious aboutthe idea when it brought inthose heavy hitters at Allen &Co. to find partners for thechannel, which will actuallybe the anchor for a broadpackage of multi -media ser-vices for children. Allen & Co.and CTW have had meetingswith just about everybodywho's anybody in cable andeducational tv. CTW execu-tives hope to launch the$100 million venture -

working title New Kid City -

]


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by the beginning of 1997.New Kid City, supported

by advertising and licensefees from cable operators, willoffer programming for bothpre-schoolers and kids six toeleven. "The cable service is acrucial step for us," explainedBritt. "For older kids - thosesix to eleven - it's really theonly reliable way we can getto them on an ongoing basis."As it negotiates with jointventure partners, CTW isoffering cash, its extensivelibrary and wealth of talentand experience. "We're notgoing to be a charity partner,"Britt added.

The profit -making jointventure will have its ownchief executive, as well as acharter outlining certain stan-dards and practices, like noads interrupting -shows forpre-schoolers. Gary Knell,senior vice president for cor-porate affairs, said: "We'regoing in with our eyes wideopen. We're being veryupfront about the fact thatthis is a concept our partnersare buying into as well."

In the American market,CTW's move would look tohave the greatest impact onPBS. Already beset by otherworries, the public broadcast-ing network now must watchas the creator of its mostimportant children's programputs time, money and creative

energy into anew ven-

ture.

Britt: Network crucial for older kids

But CTW executives denyNew Kid City represents ablow to PBS. They point tothe second leg of their newstrategic plan: a commitmentto produce Sesame Street- and fund a huge portion ofthe show's deficit - for aslong as there is a PBS. In dol-lars, that commitment comesto $13 million a year, sincePBS only provides $6 millionof the show's $19 million ayear production budget."There may be opportunities,"noted Britt, "whereby we canreduce some of the fundingdifficulties at PBS by doing adouble -window approach"with the cable service.

CTW hasn't abandonedproducing shows for the com-mercial sector, either. Thenewest is Big Bag, a weeklycommercial -free hour that willair on Turner Broadcasting'sCartoon Network.

Getting CTW to its newstrategy did not come withoutsome heartache. The compa-ny cut 47 jobs after it endedits 1994 fiscal year with a $5.8million deficit. CTW has theresources to underwrite suchdeficits -a $34 million opera-tions reserve fund and a $71million endowment fund -but the 1994 deficit was stilltoo large for executives' lik-ing. Domestic television pro-duction showed a $17.9 mil-lion loss, the bulk of whichcame from the $13 millionCTW "invests" in SesameStreet. CTW executives arequick to point out that theSesame Street deficit was notthe problem. It's always beenpart of the plan for CTW tofund two-thirds of SesameStreet production - making itPBS's largest non -governmen-tal supporter - out of itslicensing and internationaltelevision income. The realproblem in 1994 was anincrease in paper prices in itsmagazine publishing opera-tions that added $1 million incosts to the bottom line and aslow down in the growth oflicensing income. During theyear, product licensing made$20 million on $27.5 millionin revenues, while interna-

tional tv showed net incomeof $2.5 million on revenues of$10.4 million.

CTW is a real leader intrue-to-life, honest -to -godinternational co -production.The first Sesame Street co -pro-duction commenced in 1971in Mexico. Since then, 14streets have been builtaround the world, from Mexi-co's Plaza Sesamo to RechovSumsum in Israel, fromSusam Sokagi in Turkey toSesamstrasse in Germany. TheSesame Street co -productionsare as complex as any ininternational tv, involvingproduction on the local streetset, a mix of live and animat-ed material provided by thebroadcaster and CTW, andMuppet segments producedby CTW. CTW holds curricu-lum development seminars ina country and then bringsshow writers into New Yorkfor their own series of work-shops. It even has Jim Hen-son Productions develop spe-cial characters for each show.And all that only happensafter a long courtship duringwhich CTW works to makesure it's found the right part-ner or partners in a country. Ittook two and half years to doa deal in Poland, where thefirst East European version ofSesame Street will start airingnext autumn.

"We do it the most difficultway you could, and whatusually happens is we end upwith an incredibly effectiveshow locally," said J. BaxterUrist, senior vice president forproduct licensing and theinternational television group.

A local production cancost $2.5 million to $5 mil-lion a year for 130 half-hourepisodes. That's pricey formany broadcasters around theworld, admit executives, evenif it is a good deal less thanthe U.S. Street's $20 millionbudget. But then again, CTWhas in the past gone out andraised its own fees from otherfunding sources. There aren'tmany other distributors will-ing to do that to make a showhappen.

CTW is now involved in

delicate talks to create aSesame Street in South Africa,one in Russia, and to open upthe Israeli production toPalestinians. In Israel, "theysaid to us, 'look we've beenat each other for years,'" saidSteve Miller, regional vicepresident, Europe and Africa.-Now it's not about us, it'sabout the children. -

The international tv groupis also involved in straightsales of CTW programs -including Sesame Street,Square One Wand Ghostwrit-er - and format sales. C'IW'slatest and perhaps mostintriguing format deal will seePolish TV produce agameshow, Risky Numbers,that teaches math. Thegameshow is based on seg-ments from Square One TV,but is seeing its first incarna-tion as a separate show inPoland. There are thoughts ofproducing a version of RiskyNumbers for the U.S.

"We're now moving intothat next world, the worldthat's developing," said Miller."Whereas, in the past in ourdeals, we were working withbroadcasters, we're nowworking with foundations,with sponsors, as well as withbroadcasters."

It's all meant to take CTWtowards a single goal. SaidBritt: "What we need to befive years from now is thelargest provider of productsand services through mediathat delightand educatechildren."fill

Urist: Co -pros are difficult but effective

4


58

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Cartoon CapersDespite its success in stimulating Europeananimation, Cartoon has an uncertain future.By Paul Nicholson

Europe's animators havetraditionally been awidespread group of

slightly crazy creatives. Lack-ing the factory approach (andfinance) to animation produc-tion characterized by theAmericans and Japanese, theEuropeans focused more onsingle, short -run productionsthat were often only broad-cast in home markets.

Cartoon was created tochange this. Its aim is to stim-ulate and build a Europeananimation industry.

This month the annualCartoon Forum takes place inTurku, Finland, where therewill be intense analysis of avariety of planned animatedprograms, as well as heateddiscussion about the future ofCartoon itself, which is by nomeans secure.

To date Cartoon has beenjudged a success by justabout everyone who hascome into direct contact withthe organization - whetherproducer, broadcaster orpolitician. More than $4.3 mil-lion has been provided inpre -production aid to morethan 250 separate projectssince the start of Cartoonback in 1989. Cartoon esti-mates that about a third of theprojects given pre -productionaid have moved into produc-tion. That figure may be evenhigher (up to 40%) as fulldetails of the last three financ-ing sessions have not yetbeen fully accounted for.

But despite its success instimulating European anima-tion to date, the future forCartoon is clouded by the

For the Europeans, Car-toon has created an aware-ness within the EU and itstelevision industry of the vol-ume and quality of creatives ithas within its own borders. Ithas succeeded in uniting avariety of producers acrossEurope into studio groupings.The result has been morethan just a sharing of

future of the Media Programitself. Plans are in place for areorganization of the wayEuropean Community supportfinance is provided for theaudiovisual sector. Media 2(as the second round of fund-ing is being

Oscar winning Eutotoon

Aardman' s The Wrong Trousers:

called) is likelyto be organized along threemain lines: distribution, devel-opment and training. Theproblem for Cartoon is that itsactivities cover all three. Thefear is that under the newstructure, many of its activitiesand initiatives would disap-pear.

Officially, funding for theMedia Program ends Septem-ber 30 with the new structurenot beginning in full until Jan-uary 1996. One possibility forCartoon is to continue operat-ing in some kind of "no man'sland" for six months until aplace can be found for itwithin the new structure.

experi-ences, but real projects andthe authority to get projectsdone.

What has been moreimportant for producers hasbeen the increased credibilitythey have been given bybroadcasters. Back in April1989 when the philosophy forCartoon was first being for-mulated, a meeting was heldin Barcelona to which theleading 30 animation studiosin Europe were invited.

One of the key problemsall the studios had was withtheir domestic broadcasters,who felt they took too long toproduce series for them. Thestudio groupings and theshared resources, ideas and

production responsibilitiesthat have subsequently result-ed have given Europeanbroadcasters more confidencein European producers - theend result being more com-missions from within Europe.

Cartoon provides a rangeof services from financial sup-port for training and the pro-vision of information (it holdsa database of studios, produc-ers, creatives and commis-sioning editors) to the directfunding of pre -production.

Pre -production finance isprovided as follows: up to$3,900 for graphics research,up to $15,600 for writing oradaptation of works, and asmuch as $31,200 for the pro-duction of a pilot. All aidcomes in the form of a loanrepayable on completion. Aidis granted to a maximum of50% of the budget andfinancing sessions take placetwice a year. Generallyabout 100 projects are sub-mitted from which between25 and 30% will getmoney.Further finance is available

to groups of three animationstudios (Studio Grouping Aid)of between $234,000-468,000over a maximum period ofthree years.

Cartoon has also devel-oped a job bank which holdsdetails of job vacancies acrossEurope. Launched at theAnnecy festival earlier thisyear with 500 jobs detailed,the job bank has now risen tocontain information on over740 vacancies.

It is ironic that as projectsinitially financed with supportfrom Cartoon are now comingon to European screens, thereare question -marks over thewhole future of this supportmechanism. Ifil


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Secret Of Crystal Cave is based

on Groundling Marsh, now in its

third season on YTV. The moviefeatures puppet characters who,every now and then, will turn to a

viewer and ask them a question.Depending on the response, thecharacter will reply from one of

four different soundtracks. Link Entertainment is handlingthe worldwide tv and video distri-

bution for The Slow Norris, aseries of 15x10 -minute programs

which airs on the ITV Network

this month. Produced by HTV,

The Slow Norris is a pre-school

series combining puppetry, ani-

mation and live action. It isbased on stories invented by DanMaddicott, controller of children'stelevision at HTV.

Australia -based animation stu-dio Yoram Gross Film Studios

(YGFS) is about to start produc-

tion on It's Samuel, a 13x5 -

minute series which will air aspart of Big Bag, being produced

by Children's Television Work-

shop and The Cartoon Network.

Big Bag will be distributed jointly

by CTW and Turner. YGFS is cur-

rently co -producing Blink), Bill with

the ABC, WDR, Beyond and

EM -Entertainment and Tabaluga

with Tabaluga, ZDF Enterprises

and EM.

Annie Miles, previously generalmanager of kids' satellite chan-

Toy Link For Gaumont Cartoon PackageFRANCE'S Gaumont Televi-sion is producing two animat-ed half-hour series in partner-ship with toy maker AbramsGentile Entertainment (AGE).The two series, Sky Dancersand Dragonflyz, will be thefirst to emerge from GaumontMultimedia, the animation,merchandising and CD -Romdesign division set up by theFrench company earlier thisyear.

Sky Dancers, a 26 -partseries aimed at girls aged 2-

11, was created from a best- 1996, with AGE holding theselling action doll developed U.S. rights with Active Enter -by AGE and made by Lewis tainment, and Gaumont sell-Galoob. AGE is developing ing the show internationally.an action figure for Dragon- According to du Pontavice,flyz, aimed at boys 6-11. "four or five" broadcasters in

Marc du Pontavice, head Europe have already commit -of Gaumont Multimedia, said ted, and he expected boththe two series would be sold fantasy/action series to selltogether as a package. "Sky well in Asia.Dancers was a pre-existing Each episode is budgetedproperty that has been outra- at $360,000-375,000 and willgeously successful around the combine computer -enhancedworld." Both series will debut animation with music, dancein U.S. syndication in fall and action.

Back With The BrothersFILM Roman is to produce ananimated version of classiccult movie The Blues Broth-ers. The lead characters ofJake and Elwood Blues willbe voiced by Dan Aykroyd -star of the original film - andJim Belushi, whose late broth-er John played Elwood.

The germ of the idea camefrom Belushi's widow, JudithBelushi Pisano, and

writer/producer MichaelWaeghe. The deal took sevenmonths to negotiate, and seesFilm Roman and Waeghe asexecutive producers with TinaInsana as producer.

The brothers "lend them-selves perfectly to animationbecause we can push the lineof the antics they'll get into,"said Phil Roman, president ofthe Hollywood animation stu-

dio. "This promises to be anexciting primetime series bothvisually and musically."

The studio is co-ordinatingthe sale of the series to a U.S.network with the WilliamMorris Agency. There isalready significant interestfrom at least two, accordingto executive vice-presidentBill Schultz. Film Roman willhandle international sales.

Fox Network Eyes International LaunchesFOX is planning an "aggres-sive" move into internationaldistribution of its kid's ser-vice, Fox Children's Network(FCN).

A one -hour daily block ofchildren's shows, includingMighty Morph in PowerRangers, launches this monthas part of the Latin AmericanCanal Fox network. Furtherdown the line, according toFCN spokesman Rod Regal,Fox is planning to followbasic cable nets Nickelodeon

and Cartoon Network bylaunching internationally.

"We are moving aggres-sively forward on programservices acquisition," saidRegal, referring to a recenttrip by senior Fox executivesto London. Without identify-ing potential partners or tar-gets, he said Fox would begoing head to head withother U.S. kids' operations bylaunching cable and satelliteversions of Fox Children'sNetwork. "We would certainly

like for it to be this year," headded.

FCN, which currently airsfor three hours daily and twohours on Saturday morning,features series like PowerRangers and The Tick.

Although Fox doesn't ownthe international rights tothese and other series, Regalsaid Fox would "clearly begetting those rights back."

He added: "We have theability to offer some prettyoutstanding success stories.


62

I' 1 I 1 I I \ 1 ( )1 \ I I 1:

MMARKETING

MP

PRODUCTION

aos..................f.''.

............ ,....

or tYle sec°season

roil i

ilIAASS`0,...11PMi A

1......j!31111° '1 in t

Created by Tony Barnes in association with Transylvania Pet Ltd. Co -production with TF1 in association with Carlton and Ravensburger Film + TV 1995 P.M.M.P./TRANSYLVANIA PETS LTD./1F1

P.M.M.P - 39, rue Vineuse - 75116 Paris - Tel.: 33 (1) 47 04 40 88 - Fax: 33 (1) 47 04 40 98


nel TCC, is joining UK animation

studio Cosgrove Hall as chief

executive, a new position. MarkHall, joint managing director of

the studios, said Miles would"bring drive and focus" to thestudio's "continued expansion."The studio, majority owned byMAI Media and HBO, currently

has commissions from all UK

networks and is making Peter

and the Wolf, for ABC.

DIC Entertainment haslicensed its half-hour animated

series The Wizard Of Oz to U.S.

pay-tv network HBO, the BBC,

France 3, TSI Malaysia, Taiwan

TV, Singapore Broadcasting and

Telepictures (the Middle East).DIC said it would offer over 100half-hours of new animated pro-

gramming at this year's Mipcom

and Mipcom Junior.

The Disney Channel is launch-ing as part of the Multichannel

satellite package operated by

BSkyB in the UK on October 1.

Directed at a family audience,

NBC And TCC Hang TogetherNBC Productions new teenlive action series Hang Timewill air simultaneously on theNBC network and on Euro-pean kids, satellite channelTCC starting this month.

Executive produced byMark Fink, who helped devel-op NBC's hit teen com SavedBy The Bell, the series featuresa small town basketball teamwhich attempts to reverse alengthy losing streak byrecruiting the most talentedplayer in the neighbourhood,who is a girl.

TCC, which is distributedto cable and satellite homesin the UK, Benelux and Scan-dinavia, has previously airedTeen NBC series Saved ByThe Bell and CaliforniaDreams. Talks to acquire thelicense for Hang Time startedwhen it acquired the latter

TCC is teaming up with NBC for Hang Time

series in January.TCC, which has invested

$13.5 million in its autumnschedule, owns the UK rightsand a share of ancillary rev-

enues. Joan Lofts, head ofprogramming, said a terrestri-al channel in the UK hadexpressed interest in theseries.

ME MOSiAHIMAffUlflfYISIOH 111111180110N

mEDTERITsE°

COMPANY IN SPAINPROUDLY PRESENT

OVER 3,500 ANIMATED HALF HOURS including international HITS:TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES 177 episodes

DORAEMON: THE COSMIC CAT over 450 episodesPEANUTS: A CLASSIC FEATURING SNOOPY

GARFIELD & FRIENDS The series and prime time specials

DISTRIBUTED THROUGHOUT SPAIN

CONTACTS:

FRANCISCO GRATACOS

PresidentDAVID HENDEN

Vice President

ROSELLON 208, 34 -1A- 08008 BARCELONA TEL: (343) 487-8448 FAX: (343) 487-0687


German Nick Launches Own ProductionsNICKELODEON'S secondEuropean venture, Nick-elodeon Germany, hasannounced plans for its localoriginal production. The jointventure between NickelodeonInc (90%) and RavensburgerFilm & TV used the Interna-tional Funkausstellung inBerlin to unveil three originalGerman productions and aregionalised videotext service.The fledgling channel targetschildren aged between threeand 14 years.

Nickelodeon Germany'sfirst original production is alocalized version of the actiongameshow Global Guts, pro-duced by Ravensburger andfeaturing 12 German children.

Currently in pre -produc-tion, the Coast -to -Coast serieswill focus in on a group ofchildren travelling around theworld, complete with video

Hess: Getting shows together

cameras, recording diaries oftheir experiences. The seriesis a co -production which alsoinvolves the Viacom -ownedkid's networks in the U.S. andthe UK. The third program,also in pre -production underthe working title KidPortraits, allows childrenfrom around Germany to film

their views on chosen topics.Managing director Andreas

Hess said it was important to"get together with the kids."The channel's videotext ser-vice, Nickelodeon Text,which includes a mailbox forthe viewers to send messagesto each other. Local pageswould be introduced for eachof the German states, whilecolour codes will enable thechildren to find their wayaround the system.

The new Nickelodeon isonly available in one of Ger-many's 16 states - to the 2.5million cable connectedhouseholds in North RhineWestphalia where Nick-elodeon has its license. Ahandful of viewers will alsobe able to see the channel onthe Kopernikus satellite untilViacom's digital platform onEutelsat Hot Bird 1 is ready.

the channel will be available tosubscribers to the premium -rate

Multichannel package including

both of Sky's film channels - anestimated audience of 2.6 mil-lion. Broadcast hours will be

6am-10pm, with mornings andafternoons targeted to children,early evenings dedicated to films

(including The Jungle Book),

series and specials, with con-certs, classic and contemporarymovies, documentaries and spe-

cials in the late evening.

Oscar's Orchestra, a 13 -episode animated series whichdebuts on the BBC this month, isthe most expensive animationseries hitherto produced indepen-

dently in the UK, its makers say.Budgeted at $4.5 million, theseries was produced by Tony

Collingwood Productions and

funded by Warner Music Vision

and Europe Images. The series

features the voice of DudleyMoore as Oscar, a bright bluegrand piano.

The most beloved classicof Western literature is nowan animated cartoon series

Pim ubcate of la 4IaxtcIaThe Series

A real present for children and family audiences.Dorn of the desire to fill a gap in TV Programming.

An exceptional classic whose colourful charactersand most amusing situations will cause on ever-lasting impression.

Length:Original Format:Original Version:

Dubbings avail.:Director:

MIPCOM '95 Contact:STAND: H4.35Telephone:

39 x 26 -min. episodes35 mm. colour filmSpanish23 (Info. upon request)Cruz Delgado (Goya Award)Mr. Santiago RomogosoEURO AIM Umbrella(33) 92 99 85 97

ROMAGOSA INTERNATIONAL MERCHANDISING, S.L.Alberto Aguilera, 58, Bajo Dcha.

Telephone: (341) 543 16 46Fax: (341) 543 94 7928015 Madrid, Spain

This publicity receivedthe support of Euro Aim,an Initiative of theMedia Programmeof the European Union

EURO AIM

!Fh,tcrtiAROMAGOSP. INTERNATIONAL MERCHANDISING, S.L. All Rights Reserved


Together We Can MakeBeautiful TelevisionThe just -published Co -Production International 1995 offers a snapshot of the state ofinternational co -production of kid's programs. Tim Westcott finds that a hard core ofspecialists is emerging

Television markets aroundthe world are more com-petitive than they were

when today's teens were nomore than a twinkle in theirfathers' eyes. The kid's genre

Animation: Top 10 Producers

CinarFrance AnimationNelvanaD'OconEllipseC&DDIC EntertainmentRavensburgerSaban4D Marina

Canada 12France 12Canada 12Spain 9

France 8France 7

USA 6Germany 6

USA 6France 5

is perhaps particularlyexposed to competitive pres-sures: production costs, par-ticularly with animation, arehigh, and the amount ofadvertising revenue thatbroadcasters can or are per-mitted to levy from their kid'stimeslots is often restricted.

The sheer volume of out-put, animation expertise andthe global success of Disney,Hanna Barbera and WarnerBros is unmatched, but small-er studios around the world -France Animation, Cinar, Nel-vana, Saban and D'Ocon -are putting their names onthe map and building theirown international distribution.Many of these companies areworking with internationalpartners to spread the costand the risk - and often com-ing back to do it again.

Co -Production Internation-al lists 109 animation co -pro-ductions either in progress orcompleted since 1991. Theyrange from Bob's Birthday,the Oscar -winning short pro-duced by the National FilmBoard of Canada and Channel4 to Bamboo Bears, a seriesin 52 half-hour episodes co -produced by 4D Marina andTF1 from France, ZDF (Ger-many), Telescreen (theNetherlands) and Mitsui(Japan), which cost $23 mil-lion to produce at an estimat-ed $885,000 an episode.

Some names feature moreregularly than others, withCinar, France Animation andNelvana topping the list ofanimation producers with 12co -productions apiece. Cinarand France Animation haveworked together on The BusyWorld Of Richard Scarry,Albert the Fifth Musketeer andThe Tales Of The Cat And theTree. Nelvana has workedmost often with Ellipse (twoseries of Tintin, Rupert the

Animation: Top 10 Broadcasters

BBC UK 15France 3 France 13TF1 France 11Canal+ France 9

RTVE Spain 6

S4C UK 6

ZDF Germany 6Antena 3 Spain 5Rai Italy 5

RTBF Belgium 4

Bear and Doug). A group ofbroadcasters which regularlyco -produce has also emerged,headed by the BBC, France 3and TF1.

U.S. activity in this areahas come from the likes ofSaban and DIC Entertainment,while a handful of networkshave dabbled - Nicke-olodeon, Showtime, HBO andFox Children's Network.

The longevity of a success-ful cartoon series, and theability of the right idea tocross boundaries, partlyaccounts for the appeal ofanimation in the co -pro field.Drama is a much rarer birdboth on broadcasters' sched-ules and in international co -pro terms. It can be expen-sive, does not travel so well,and the distinction betweenkids -targeted shows and thoseaimed at a family audience isoften blurred.

The BBC, though it is ableto put large sums of moneyinto programming, has moreand more adopted co -pro asa way of financing children'sdrama serials, particularlyadaptations of classic chil-dren's books. Two series ofThe Borrowers were co -pro-duced with Working Title andTurner Network TV, whileThe Chronicles Of Narnia wasmade with WQED Wonder -works. Five years ago, theBBC merged its commercialand programming activities tocreate BBC Children's Interna-tional.

Part of its remit is to devel-op long-term relationshipswith the likes of the Aus-tralian Children's TelevisionFoundation, France Animationand Film Australia. Such rela-tionships are generating anincreasing number of chil-dren's drama productions.

Other sub -genres such aspre-school, education and

Drama: Top Five Co -Producers

BBC UK 6

France 3 France 3Telewizja Polska Poland 3RTVE Spain 3

Yorkshire/Tyne Tees UK 3

The following were each involved in two co -

productions: ABC, Barron Films, Grundy,

Nine Network, Seven Network (Australia),

Central, Red Rooster, Working Title (UK),

Coral Europa (Spain), NDR, Ravensburger,

ZDF (Germany), Nickelodeon (USA), Quarti-

er Latin (France).

puppetry, have also wit-nessed a number of co -pro-ductions. They range fromMighty Morph in PowerRangers, developed fromJapanese action -adventureseries to the Britt Allcroft/Cat-alyst produced Shining TimeStation. Fill

Co -Production International1995, published by 21st Cen-tury Publishing, costs £150(Europe), £165 (rest of theworld), and is available fromTBI, 531-533 Kings Road,London SWIG 07Z.


66

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MULTI MEDIkGROUP OF CANADA5225 Berri Street, Montreal (Oeber) Canada 621 254 Tel.: (514) 273-4251 Fax: (514) 276-5130

STAND 00.01

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/INCHESTER. rt i n n. r n

5 Water Court, 36 Water Street, Birmingham B3 IHP United Kingdom Tel.: (44) 121 212 0337 Fax: (44) 121 212 0338

STAND 14.24

WORLDWIDE VIDEO DISTRIBUTION

'W"11101. GV IDE 0Bedford House, 69-79 Fulham High Street, London 5W6 31W United Kingdom Tel.: (44) 171 384 7800 Fax: (44) 171 736 3503

STAND 03.23

TO

26 half hoursA coproduction of Winchester Entertainment

and Prisma Productions Inc.


Growth in expenditure on kid's tv programming is cominglargely from the private sector. Tim Westcott looks at thefindings of this year's survey

Time Facilities

TBI's fifth annual survey ofchildren's programmingfeatures information on 55

broadcasters around theworld. Most are serviceswhich offer children's pro-gramming as part of a broad-er schedule, but seven spe-cialized services - Canada'sYTV, France's Canal J, Hol-land's Kindernet and the UK'sTCC, the Cartoon Networkand Nickelodeon, and FoxChildren's Network from theU.S. - are included. The oper-ations covered range from theBBC, which is budgeting $93million for children's pro-gramming this year, to AVRO.which programs an hour aweek of the genre on Dutchpublic television for a budgetof $2.7 million.

Unsurprisingly, given thecompetitive dynamics at workin television around theworld, the tendency has beenfor public service budgets toremain static while the newerprivate channels are able tomake double-digit increasesin budgets this year.

The ABC, the BBC, ZDF.DR, BRTN. AVRO and NRKall said their budget for 1995is the same as last year. whileRTE increased 3% and PBScrept up just 1%. RTL2 andPro 7 both increased budgets.as did TV2 (Denmark), up20%, MTV (up 30%). TV3(Sweden) up 20% and Fuji TVup 10%.

There are some exceptions- France 3's budget for chil-

dren's programs hasgone up each year since1993, since more airtme hasbeen allocated to the genre.This year's budget of $31 mil-lion represents a 30% increaseon the year before. Switzer-land's German -language pub -caster DRS reported a budgetof $5.8 million this year, up75% on the year before. Pri-vate channels Satl, CTV, YTVand TCC said their budgetswere the same (though TCCrecently announced it hadspent $13.5 million on its up-coming autumn schedule). Nobroadcaster reported a cut inits budget.

Programming of animationalso appears to show up adivide between pubcastersand private stations. Whilethe ABC, BBC, NRK. and PBSdevote a much larger amountof airtime to live action, pri-vate stations Canal Plus. MTV,Pro 7, NTV and Fuji TV allshow nothing but animationin their kid's strands. RTL2shows roughly 36 hours ofanimation a week. and 95%of Global TV's 32 -hour week-ly output is made up of ani-mation.

Live action tends to beproduced in-house ratherthan acquired. NBC producesits two-hour Saturday morn-ing slot in-house. SIC of Por-tugal produces all of its out-put of around 14 hours of liveaction itself. and the 30% ofSatl's schedule devoted tolive action is all in-house.Broadcasters' replies on theaverage cost of live -actionhalf-hours, which range from

$6,000to $350,000, indicate

that it is something of a blan-ket term, covering everythingfrom studio -based presentersto full-blown drama.

Animation tends to beacquired either from abroador domestically, for obviousreasons. Fuji TV said it is pro-ducing all of its animation in-house, though it has alsoacquired from the U.S. andthe UK. Broadcasters in Aus-tralia, Scandinavia, Germanyand the UKwhich import most of theiranimation. France 3 producesmost of its animation in-house. In Canada, Globalimports most of its animation,but CTV acquires its entireoutput domestically.

Overall, the biggest impor-ters of programming, in termsof hours per year, are TVE(700 hours), TV2 Denmark,TV3 Sweden and Channel 4(all around or over 500hours). Kindemet (450 hours)and the ABC (400hours). Territorieswhich figure mostoften as the source ofimports are theU.S.A.. Canada,France, Australiaand the UK.

YTV in Canadaemerges as thebusiest co -produc-er in the worldthis s

involved in 130hours of co -prosthis year and isprepared to in-vest up to 30':of the budget.Not far behindis the ABC.

with 76hours this year,

although it doesn't allocate aspecific budget for co -pros.Canal J is co -producing 70hours, NRK and TCC 40hours, and YLE 30-35 hoursthis year. Canal Plus and SRCprefer to pre -buy rather thanco -produce.

Top -rated shows are amixture of the new, not -so -new and in some cases thetruly venerable. Reboot isequal top on YTV, Albert the5th Musketeer is the top -ratedshow on France 3, Animals

well on YLE and the BBC,and Sailormoon is one of thetop -rated shows on Antena 3.Pro 7 says The Flintstones isone of its most popularshows. Bugs Bunny is one ofthe top -rated shows on CanalPlus. But they are mere new-comers. Fuji TV's Sazae-Sanon Sunday evenings has beenrunning for 25 years and getsa rating of 25%.

TBI thanks all those whotook the time and trouble to

respond to the survey.

Zuci9et-for livecti-i hcllf-h our

(SUS000s)

48.1Variable

64100-350

70120 approx

150-300120

5.8-9.6PBS does not 210

produce.These

prices are whatSource:TBI

PBS wouldexpect producer

to negotiate.

ABC (Aus)BBC

C4FoxFrance 3

Fuji TVPBS*RTE

YLE

ZDF


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For the official launch a press conference will be organized at MIPCOM 95,on October 9 at 3pm at Auditorium 1, level IV.

For further information contact:

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The TBI Global Children's ProgrammingCOUNTIr CHANNEL HEADS OF

DEPARTMENT/

BUYERS

ANNUAL

BUDGET

HOURS

BROADCAST

A WEEK

% A: LIVE ACTION

% B: ANIMATION

PROGRAM % OF LIVE ACTION

TIMESLOTS A: PURCHASED ABROAD

B: PURCHASED DOMESTIC

C: IN-HOUSE

Australia ABC Claire Henderson (head)

Peter Jackson (co-ordinator)

15% of prog

budget

24.5 A:70% B:30% M -F: 8-30-10am/3-6pm A:60% B:15% C:25%

Sat: 9-7pm Sun: 8-9am

*Nine John Stephens (prog.dr) - 12-15 A:66% B:33% M -F: 9-9.30am/4.30-5pm k<5% B: >95%

Network Sat: 7-11am Sun: 7-8am

Seven Chris O'Mara - 20 B:75% M --F: 7.30-9.00am/4-5pm N/A

Network (Animation Buyer) Sat&Sun 7-9.00am

Austria "ORF Andreas Vana (head) 15 A.50% B:45% M -F: 3-5pm Sat: 9.30-10.30am/ C:100%

Marie-Luise Kaltenegger (buyer} 3-5pm Sun: 9-9.30am/3.30-5pm

Belgium BRTN Hilda Verboven (head) 10+ A:60% B:40% M -F: 6-7.30pm Wed: 4pm A:51% C:49%

Frans Huybrechts (buyer) Sat: 9-10am Sun:9-10am

Sun: 9-10am/6-7pm

Canada *SRC Michel Lavoie (head) $13m 25 A: 40% B: 40% M -F: 6.30-7am/10-11am/3.30- A: 15°k B: 35% ,.';: 50%

5.30pm Sat: 7.30-11am/4.30-

5pm Sun: 7.30-10am

CTV Arthur Weinthal (vp

entertainment prog)

- 6:100% Weekdays early primetime

YTV Kevin Wright (prog dir) - 79 A: 50% B:50% M -F 5am-8pm A: 23% B: 22% C: 55%

Paula Parker (prog acquis) Sat -Sun 5am-12.3pm

Global TV Doug Hoover (vp prog) 32 A: 5% B: 95% M -F 6-9arn, Sat 6am-6pm B: 100%

Sun 6-9.30am, 4.30-6pm

Czech Rep Nova Petr Sladecek 6 B:100% M 11am, Tu 5.50pm, W 11.30am,

4.50pm, Th 6.30pm, F 7.30am,

Sa 8am, 9am, 9.20am, 9.45am

Sun 7.35-10am (start times)

Denmark DR Mogens Vemmer (head) 10 A: 55% B: 45% Daily: 6-6.30pm Tu-Th: 5.00- A: 25% B: 5% C 70%

Anne Lise Adreasen (acqu) 6pm F: 4-6pm Sat: 10-12.30am

TV2 Preben Vridstoft $6m 15 A:50% B:50% M -F: 5.00-6.00pm A:75% B:25%

Sat & Sun: 8-12am

Finland MTV Arto Kirinen - 5 B:100% Sat: 9-11am, Sun: 9-10am -(Head of acquisitions)

YLE Ingegerd Pesonen ( FST) $10 m 13.30 A: 20% 6: 30% M -F: 4-7.30pm A:30-40% C:60-100%

Jussi Pekka Koskiranta (TV2) Sat & Sun: 8-9am, Sun: midday

Ms Airi Vihunen (TV1)

France Canal J Eve Baron (prog dir) $8m 93 A:90% B:10% M W Th F Sun: 7am-8pm A: 80% B: 20%

Emmanuelle Baril (buyer) Tu Sat: 7-9am

Canal Plus Francoise Reymond (director) 11.40 B:100% M -F: 7.30-8.00am/6-6.30pm -Weds:1.30-2.30pmSat: 5.15-7.00pm

Sun: 7.45-8.30pm

*M6 Christine Lentz 4.5 A:20% 8:80% Wed: 2-4.30pm Sat: 8-10am C: 100%

Nathalie Drouaire (buyer)

France 3 Mireille Chalvon $31m 21.30-30 A: 3% B: 85% M -F: 7.15-8.15am, 4.30-5.30pm A: 50% C: 50%

Bertrand Mosca W 8.30am-12pm

Sun: 7.40-10.55am

Germany ZDF Susanne M(Iller (head) $27m 10 A: 50% B: 30% M-Th: 2.30-3.30pm, Fri:1.45-3.30 A:35% 6:15% 0: 50%

Sat llam-1 pm

Sun: 7.15-8.30am

Sun:10.15-11.30am

NDR Wolfgang Buresch 12 A: 50% B: 50% 7.30am-8.00am-6-6.45pm Daily A: 50%B: 50%

Sun 2-3pm

RTL Erhart Puschnig - -C: 100%

(head of acquisitions)

Sat 1 Doris Kirch 7 A: 30% 6:70% Sat: 6am-10am Sun: 8.00am- C:100%

10.00am

Pro 7 Marie-Line-Petrequin - 33 B: 100% M -F: 4.00-6.00pm Sat: 6.30-12am -

Sat: 4.00-8.00pm Sun: 6.30-12am

RTL 2 Andrea Lang 40 A:10% 6: 90% Mon -Fri 7-9.30 am 1-5pm -

Television Business International September 19957R


and Animation Survey% ANIMATION HOURS MAIN COUNTRIES FROM PROGRAMS OUTPUT HOURS OF BUDGET FOR HOURS OF

A: PURCH ABROAD IMPORTED WHICH PROGRAMS ARE SUBTITLED DEALS? PROGRAMS SOLD CO -PRODUCTION? CO -PRODUCTION

B: PURCH DOMESTIC A YEAR PURCHASED OR DUBBED INVOLVED IN

C: IN-HOUSE THIS YEAR

A.80% B:20% 400 Canada (25%) Neither Yes 147 Not separately 76

U.S.(40%), UK (25%) (Childrens's only)

A:90% B:10% 13-26 U.S. (90%) Europe (10%) Neither - -

A:100% U.S. Neither Disney

A:100% 300 Germany Dub Yes Yes 20

A:76% C:24% 270+ U.S., UK, NZ,

East and West Europe

Both Yes

A:65% B:35% 3-4 series France (25%), U.S. (25%) Dub None Don't sell Mainly for pre -sales

UK/Australia (25%)

B:100% Canada

A:23% B: 22% C:55% 37 Canada, U.S. U.K _ Yes 30% 130

A: 80% 20% U.S.A

A: 100% 312 U.S.A. Disney

A: 98% B: 2% 250 USA 50%, England, France Both EBU No 30

Sweden, Czech Repulblic Co -Production

A:90% B:10% 500 U.S., UK, Australia Both Few

A:100% 200 U.S Canada Both Disney Don't sell

A:50-90% B: 10%

C: 10-40%

370 UK, Denmark, Spain

Canada, Germany,Sweden

Both None 20-22 Yes

about 10%

30-35 nous

A:60% B:40% 100% France, Canada, UK Dub $1.4m 70

Australia, USA, Germany

A:63.4% B:36.6% - U.S. (48%), Europe (52%) Dub No sales No None

A: 60% B: 40% U.S. Europe Dub

A:30% C:70% U.K., U.S.A, Japan Dub None 430 $19m

A:60% B:30% C:10% 60 U.K., U.S.A., France, Canada Dub None Yes 20

Scandinavia, Australia

A: 70% B: 30%

A: 100% U.S.A. _ Disney, MCA-Uni. - No None

Columbia-Tristar

A:100% U.S.A./Canada (50%), Europe (20%) Dub None _ Yes 10

U..S.A. U.K. France Dub - Yes

A:60% B:40% U.S.A. France, Germany None Yes



C3LIINTRY CHANNEL HEADS OF ANNUAL HOURS % A: LIVE ACTION PROGRAM % OF LIVE ACTION

DEPARTMENT/ BUDGET BROADCAST % B: ANIMATION TIMESLOTS A: PURCHASED ABROAD

BUYERS A WEEK B: PURCHASED DOMESTICALLY

C: IN-HOUSE

belled RTE Kevin Lenihan (head prog) $5.6 m 30 A:50% 8:50% M -F 2-6pm, Sat 8am-12.30pm A:20% B: 10% C:70%

Dermot Horan (head prog acqu) Sun 9am-11.30am

t al y Rai 1 Paola De Benedetti (head) 18.40 A: 40% B: 60% M -F: 3.45-6.00pm

Max Gusberti (head acqu,

prod. co -prod cartoons)

Sat: 7.-10.am Sun: 7.30-8.30am

Sun 7 30-10.00am

Japan Fuji TV Kazuya Maeda $52m 7 B. 100% Non

(head of programs)

*NTV Acquisitions &

external prods division

5 B:100% M -F: 5-6pm,

'TV Asahi Takaaki Narikawa 7.30 A: 20% B: 80% M Th F Sat: 7-8pm C: 100%

(head of sales) F: 5-6pm Sat Sun: 6-6.30pm

Sat: 5.5.30pm Sun:9-10am

TBS Masato Ueda (VP Prog) 2.30 A:40% 8; 60% Sat: 7-7,30am 5-6.30.pm B: 100%

Sun 11-11.30am

ietherlamds RTL4 Keers Oversier(head acqu) 22

AVRO Hans Lubberd ing $2.7m 1 A;50% B: 50% Sat: 8-9.00am 5-6.00pm A:75% B:25%

*Kindernet Eric Van Trommel (buyer) 25 A: 20 %B: 80% M -F: 7-10am, Sat -Sun: 7-12am A:75% B: 22% C:3%

*VPRO Danielle Lunenborg (head) 25% of

total budget

6 A: 80% B:20% M Tu Th F: 5.30-6pm

W 2-4pm Sun: 9-11am

A:30% C:71)%

New Zealand 'TVNZ Janine Morrell $3.3m

(executive producer) production only

40 A: 25% B: 75% M -F: 6.30-10am/2.30- 5pm,

Sat: 6-11am, Sun: 6-10am

A: 10% C:90%

Norway NRK Kalle Furst (head) 7.30 A:70%1130% M -W 6-6.30 Th-Sun 6-7.00 am A: 5% B: 3% C: 92%

Sat & Sun 9-10am

Portugal SIC Manuel Fonseca(dep prog dir) 18 A:75% B: 25% M -F 3.30-6pm Sat: 11.00am-2pm C:100%

Sun: 11.00am-1.30pm

Spain Antena 3 Beatriz Maesso (buyer) 24.30 A: 65% 13: 35% Daily: 8-11.30am (Holiday) A: 80% C: 20%

Paloma Garcia (head) Daily: 7-9.30am (rest of yr)

'NE Don Enric Frigola Vinas 10-15% cf 40-55 A: 20% B: 80% M -S: 7.30-11am/ 1-3pm A: 70% 8:15% C:15%

David Nogueira (buyer) program budWt (holidays), M -F: 7.30-9am/

1-3pm/5-8m (rest)

SWOON SVT (CM) Helena Sandblad (head) $5m 7 M -F: 6.15-6.45pm, M: 7.15- A: 40% G. 60%

6.45-7.15pm, Sun: 10-10.30am

TV3 $3.5m 20 A:10% B: 90% Varies A:100%

Switzerland TSI Augusta Chollet (buyer) 5% tot bldg 8 A: 40% B:60% A: 60% C: 40%

Adriana Parola

TSR Varnel Janry 12 A: 50°/. B: 50% M -F: 5-5.30pm Wed: 2.30- A: 98% C: 2%

5.30pm, Sat: 8-11am

Sun: 7.30-10am

DRS Barbera Dusek $5.8m 7 A:50 B: 10% M -F 4.45-5.10 Sat/Sun9-10am A:10% B C 80%

UK BBC Anna Home (head) $93m 20 A: 78% B: 22% M -F: 10.05-10.35am/ A: 5% B: 1% C: 94%

Theresa Plummer-Andrews(hd acq) 1.20-1.35pm/3.50-5.35pm

Michael Carrington (dep acc) Wends: 7.30am-12noon

Cartoon Net. Andy Bird (sen vp/md) 98 B: 100% 5am-7pm 7 Days a Week

Channel 4 Lucinda Whiteley 25 A: 20% B: 80% M -F: 6.30-7am/12.30-2pm/ A: 20% C: 80%

(commissioning editor) 6-6.30pm, Sat: 6.09-7.45am,

Sun: 7-11.15am

IN Vanessa Chapman $64m 12.35 M -F 3.30-5.30pm Sat 9.25

(controller, ch & youth prog N) 11.30am Sun. 9.25-10.15am

Nickelodeon Simon Graty (dir prog) 84 A:15% B: 85% Mon -Sun 7am-7pm Varies

Howard Litton (acqu mgt)

TCC Joan Lofts (buyer) 77 A: 35% 6:65% Daily: 6am-5pm A: 80% 1 10% C: 10%

U 'ABC Jennie Trias (head) 5 A: 10°,,k B. 90% Sat: 8am-1pm A: 20% B: 30% C: 50%

'CBS Judy Price (head) 5 A: 10% B: 90% Sat: 8am-lpm A: 0% B: 100%

Fox 19 A: 70% B: 30% M -F 7.30-8.30am 3-5.00pm A: 5% 13: 20% C:75%

Sat *.00am- 12.00am

NBC Linda Mancuso (head) 2 A: 100% Sat: 10am-12.30pm C: 100%

PBS Alice Cahn (head) A: 90% B:10% M -F: 7am-6pm Sat: 6- B:100%

8pm Sun: 8am-lpm

Notes: The information In this survey is compiled f-ont questionnaires completed by broadcasters.* Answers have been based on 1994 replies.

Mukha Wow laternatisiol *tray 1995


% ANIMATION

A: PURCH ABROAD

B: PURCH DOMESTIC

C: IN-HOUSE

HOURS

IMPORTRED

A YEAR

MAIN COUNTRIES FROM

WHICH PROGRAMS ARE

PURCHASED

PROGRAMS

SUBTITLED

OR DUBBED?

OUTPUT

DEALS?

HOURS OF

PROGRAMS SOLD

BUDGET FOR

COPRODUCTION?

HOURS OF

COPRODUCTION

INVOLVED IN

THIS YEAR

A:95% B:5% U.S, U.K. Australia No None None Yes (Varies) 21.5

Canada, France.

U.S.. Europe Nore

B:100% UK, U.S.A. Both None No None

B: 100% 0 Do not purchase Neither None Yes None

C: 100% 0 Do not purchase Neither No

A:16.7 B:83.3 0 U.S.A. Australia Neither None 70-75 None None

U.S

A:100% Sweden, U.S, U.K. Both Bos Bros

A: 80% B: 20% 450 Europe, UK, Canada, Australia, NZ Both None No sales Yes

A:90% C:10% 75 Scandinavia (50%),Canada (10%) Both None No sales No 3

U.S. (10%),Others (30%)

A: 100% U.S. Neither None No

A; 98% B: 2% 120 U.S, U.K, Germany,Czech Rep Both CTW 15-20 Yes 40

Scandinavia.

A:100% 936 U.S. Dub No sales 18

A: 100% U.S.(30%)Japan (70%) Dub no

Japan (70%)

A: 60% B: 5% C: 35% 700 U.S. (70%) France (20%) Dub Disney, Warner

40-70 Canada, U.S., Germany, UK Dub yes Included in

A;100% 500+ U.S. Europe Both None

A: 85% B:10% C: 5% 150 UK (15%), U.S. (60%) Dub

Other (10%) Italy (15%)

A: 98% C: 2% 260 Europe (60%) U.S. (40%) None $133,000 6

A:100% 50 U.S, U.K., France, Austria. No None

A: 60%B: 40% 100 U.S., Australia, Canada,

Europe, New Zealand

Dub None None Not specifically 26

A: 90% B: 10% 500 U.S., Australia, Canada,

France

No None No 26

U.S.A

A:65% B&C varies Varies

A: 80% 8:20% Australia, Canada, U.S, Europe Yes None Yes 40

A: 1% B: 90% C15% U.S. Neither Yes 3-10

B:80% C:20% 0 Do not purchase Neither None Yes

A:5% B: 70% C: 20% U.S. ,U.K., Australia No Yes TBA

0

B:100% 0 U.S. Subtitle None None None

Merin kiwi IntimRoil Septedter73


TBI World Price GuideFor Kids ProgrammingP24

listed are U.S. dollars for commercial half hours (22 toF 24 minutes). Where no prices for live action shows are givenit is because those countries do not purchase enough to accu-rately gauge average pricing levels. It is possible to gain higherprices than those listed in some markets if the product deemed

to be of very high quality. No price for the big three U.S. net-works is listed as the prices they pay in commissioning fromthe domestic market have no relation to acquiring finishedproduct, and they buy almost no imported animation or liveaction children's shows. Prices exclude dubbing costs.

Highest and lowest prices paid for imported commercial half hours (U.S. dollar)

Country

AustraliaPublicPrivate

Animation Live actionlowest - highest lowest - highest

2,400 - 4,1003,500 - 6,000

3,400 - 4,5003,500 - 6,000

BelgiumPublic 1,200 - 4,100 1,200 - 2,500

BrazilGloboOthers

CanadaEnglish nat netsEnglish pay/cableFrench nets

DenmarkPublicPnv,it e

FinlandPublicPrivate

FrancePublicPrivateCanalCanal Plus

GermanyPublicPrivatePay tv

Hong Kong

ItalyPublicPrivateJunior Tv

2,000 - 3,0001,000 - 1,200

1,500 - 12,0003,000 - 5,0005,000 - 8,000

1,000 - 3,000800 - 2,500

1,000 - 3,800800 - 1,200

12,000-20,00014,000

800-1,4005,000 - 13,400

15,000 - 25,00016,600 - 66,600

8,000-10,000

750 - 1,000

8,000 - 12,0008,000 - 12,000

1,500 - 4,000

5,000 - 9,000

800-2,000

1,000 - 3,8001,000 - 1,500

12,000-20,00014,000

800-1,4005,000 - 13,400

10,000 - 20,00016,600 - 66,600

2,350 - 7,000

8,000 - 12,0008,000 - 12,0001,500 - 2,000

Country

JapanPublicPrivate

Korea

Mexico

NetherlandsPublicPrivate

New ZealandPublic

PortugalPublicPrivate

South AfricaPublicM -Net

SpainPublicPrivate

SwedenPublicPrivate

SwitzerlandPublic

UKPublicPrivateC4

U.S.FoxPBS

Syndication

Animation Live actionlowest - highest lowest - highest

5,000 - 15,0005,000 - 15,000

800 - 1,500

2,000 - 4,000

3,000 - 5,0002,500 - 5,000

3,000 - 7,2002,500 - 5,000

375 - 1,000 375 - 1,000

1,500 - 3,000800 - 1,500

2,000 - 3,000750 - 1,200

3,000 - 6,0001,500 - 8,000

1,400 - 3,0001,400 - 3,000

1,500 - 3,000

3,000 - 6,0003,000 - 7,200

1,400 - 3,0001,400 - 3,000

1,300 - 2,400 1,300 - 2,400

4,800 - 16,00010,000 - 30,0004,800 - 48,000

2,500 - 10,00012,000 - 100,00025,000 - 40,000

8,000 - 16,00010,000 - 30,00011,200 - 32,000

2,500 - 50,00010,000 - 100,00015,000 - 20,000


74

WE ARE ALL SOPROUD AND HAPPY

TO ANNOUNCETHE ARRIVAL OFOUR NEW SERIES

Catici°g00einhoti

SERIES

A Claude Berthier Production

WORLDWIDE SALES BY:

MA1ATHOMINTERNATIONAL27, rue de la FalsanderIe - 75116 ParisTel, (33 I) 44 34 66 00 - Fax (33 I) 44 34 66 05

EXCEPT:UK, USA, FRANCE

and FrenchSpeaking Canada

Distributed by:

rmMARINA- JDUCTIONS

PROGRAMMING

PRODUCT NEWS The Monte Carlo TelevisionFestival and NATPE International,

which happen within a few weeks

of each other at the beginning ofeach year, have agreed to co-

operate in marketing their events

to potential attendees. MonteCarlo will exhibit at next year's

NATPE in Las Vegas (January 22-

25). Next year's Monte Carlo festival and market takes placeFebruary 8-15.

Jon Feltheimer is to succeedMel Harris as president of Sony

Television Entertainment.

Feltheimer will oversee all

aspects of Sony's global televi-

sion business including Columbia

Tristar's distribution and broad-casting activities. Joel Denton has joined Hall-mark Entertainment as senior

vice president, managing directorof sales. Denton, who will bebased in London, moves from

Itel, where he was director of

sales. He will be responsible fordistribution of all Hallmark prod-uct outside the U.S.

King World has commissionedTV New Zealand to produce a

pilot for a new gameshow, Poker

Palace. TVNZ director of pro-

grams Mike Lattin set up thedeal, which draws on the Kiwi

pubcaster's inhouse facilites andsubsidiary Avalon Studios. Two

pilots of Poker Palace for TVNZ

and two demos for the U.S.

gameshow specialist were being

made last month. All American Fremantle Interna-tional has transferred internation-al sales vp Jennifer Chrein from

New York to London to strength-

en its European team. Canal Plus Espana has agreedits first documentary co-production with National Geographic

Television. ltel and Canal Plus

France are also co -producing. The

program is provisionally titledHeartbeat of the Forest.

UN Opens Singapore Production CentreRAPIDLY -EXPANDING Asian productioncompany UTV International is to establish amajor television production centre in Singa-pore to produce programming in English,Malay and Tamil for Singapore and otherAsian markets.

Headquartered in Canada with offices and astate-of-the-art production and post -produc-tion facility in Bombay, UTV is 49% owned byNews Corp subsidiary 20th Century Fox andhas already produced a number of shows forStar TV, in addition to supplying Doordarshanand other Indian broadcasters.

According to Myleeta Aga, UTV's represen-tative in Singapore, the island state has provedto be an attractive centre for a regional opera-tion, due in part to government's efforts toturn it into a regional media hub. As yet, thereare very few independent program producersoperating there, despite the growth in chan-nels and local production possibilities.

Aga said genres of programming to be pro-duced will include sitcoms, soap operas,gameshows, reality -based shows, currentaffairs, children's and youth shows. UTV Sin-gapore will be drawing on the Indian compa-ny's experience in cutting costs through high -volume production and economies of scale.

UTV will be ploughing $4.9 million into theconstruction of a production and post -produc-tion studio complex which it hopes to have upand running by the end of the year. At the

moment the search is on for the right premisesand suitable staff.

Shareholders of UTV Singapore will includeUTV International and News Corp, but thecompany is also looking for other investment.

Although Singapore will be the south-eastAsian hub, plans are also underway to set upa production site in Malaysia. Although thatmarket is already served by a number of well -established independent producers, Aga saidthe 80% production quota which terrestrialbroadcasters are expected to reach by 2000,plus the launch of MMDS service Mega TVand satellite pay-tv package Measat, will pro-vide opportunities. UTV is also looking at set-ting up regional sales offices in Indonesia, ThePhilippines and Thailand in the first half ofnext year.

In addition to serving the Singaporean andMalaysian broadcasters, UTV will also be look-ing for regional and international co -produc-tion opportunities. It will also be looking tohold onto international rights to productionsin order to maximise revenues from regionalsales.

Although Aga said nor all genres travelacross the region, the production companyhas been encouraged by the success of Shanti- a Tamil -language daily soap opera originallyproduced for Doordarshan, it has now beensold to broadcasters in Singapore, Sri Lankaand Indonesia.

HIT Opens Doors In The USBRITISH distributor HIT Entertainment hasopened an office in Los Angeles to develop itsproduction and cistribution links with the US.

Sophie Turner -Laing, deputy managingdirector of HIT, said it made the move "pre-dominantly to acquire international distribu-tion rights in the children's and natural historyfield, and to facilitate the sale of shows inHIT's international catalog."

She added that HIT was also keen toexplore the possibility of raising finance fromU.S. networks and from cable for new produc-tions. "It's just such a huge marketplace. Thepotential for exploitation of ancillary rights ismuch bigger than in Europe."

The BeverlyHills office,HIT Entertain-ment USA Inc.,will be headedby DorianLangdon, whowas formerlyresponsible forworldwidesales and pro-duction atHemdaleHome VideoInc. HIT series: Dennis & Gnasher


76

THE 36TH

MONTERL

TELEVISIOFESTIVAL'

MonteCarlo

MeansPrestige

Montecarlo

MeansBusiness

President: H.S.H. Prince Albert de Monaco

FEBRUARY 8-15, 1996,The 36th Monte Carlo Television Festivalwill award the coveted Golden Nymphfor the best in Television

FEBRUARY 12-15 1996,The 18th Monte Carlo Television Marketis a unique meeting place for internationalTelevision executives

Monte Carlo Means Television !

For more information call

MONTE CARLO PARISTEL.(33) 93 10 40 60 TEL.(33) 1 42 96 11 26FAX(33) 93 50 70 14 FAX(33) 1 42 96 15 78

U.S.A.TEL.(201) 869 4022FAX(201) 869 4335

MGM/UA TelecommunicationsGroup has inked an exclusive

licensing and co -production

agreement with Seven Network in

Australia. The commercial net-work will get Australian free tv

rights to MGM and UA theatricaland tv properties, starting with

1995 releases. Channel 4 International hasappointed Minotaur International

as one of its chosen specialistdocumentary distributors. The

contract covers over 200 hours

of catalog, including the pubcast-

er's scientific series Equinox. The Kinnevik-owned ModernTimes Group (MTG) has appoint-

ed U.S. cable executive SidAmira to expand its pay -per -view

operations. Grundy Worldwide has landedits first light entertainment com-mission in the Netherlands from

upstart commercial network

Veronica. The network ordered

eight 50 -minute episodes of Man

0 Man.

Endemol Goes All AmericanLIGHT entertainment specialists All AmericanFremantle International and Endemol Enter-tainment have formed a strategic alliance tocombine operations in Por-tugal and Greece. They planto look beyond Europe forfurther joint venture oppor-tunities, particularly in Asia.

In Greece, the two com-panies have formed a jointventure with newspaperpublisher Eleftherotypia.Versions of Wheel Of For-tune, Dating Game, Let'sMake A Deal and OtherTricks are already in pro-duction in Greece. In Portu-gal, All American and Ende-mol will pool productionand management resourcesto work on joint and indi-vidual projects. Endemol isworking on five shows forSIC and three for RTP.

David Champatloup, present of intemation-

Champtaloup: "Economies of scale"

miniseries

al television at All American, said it made "realsense" for the two companies to work togeth-er in certain countries. "Together we can

achieve economies of scalewhich will allow us to deliv-er a broad range of provenprograms at very competi-tive prices."

Holland's Endemol hasalso linked up with AllAmerican to produce andsyndicate a version of thegameshow All You Need IsLove for the U.S. market.

All American last monthadded the David GerberCompany into its operationsand named David Gerber,formerly head of Columbiaand MGM's television arms,as President of All AmericanTelevision Production. Thecompany has a four-hour

for CBS and a two-hour movie forFox currently in production.

ninimailtin

May

Cardiff

1996

THE INTERNATIONAL ANIMATION FESTIVAL CARDIFF

29

30

31 1

fest'vil

June

A festival of films, exhibitions, lecturesand workshops - the only one of itskind in Britain dedicated to animation.

"Inventive, outrageous and rude" THE TIMES

"Britain's flagship animation event" SCREEN INTERNATIONAL

"Firmly established as the UK's most prestigious showcase" THE INDEPENDENT

for further information:

Fran Barlow

18 Broadwick Street

London UK W1V 1FG

Tel: 0171 494 0506

Fax: 0171 494 0807

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ADVERTISING LONDON

Nof long ago, only engineering whizz -kids knew about digital compression.And, once the concept began to per-

colate through, many perhaps wonderedwhether it spelt the decline of the satel-lite business. For, if digital compressionmeant several or more channels pertransponder where analog gave one, yousurely would not need as many satellites.

The reality appears to be the oppo-site; that many more channels meansgreater demand. Thus Europe's leadingsupplier, SES, plans to launch three satel-lites inside the next two years offering atotal of 56 digital transponders, or 560extra tv channels, assuming a digitalcompression ratio of 10:1. That supplyhas been gobbled up and there is still ademand for more, much more.

One point to have escaped no -one'sattention is that 36 out of the 56transponders, or almost 65% of capacity,has been allocated to the current domi-nant forces in European pay-tv: CanalPlus, CLT, Kirch and Nethold. A furtherbatch of transponders are expected to beallocated to BSkyB, leaving a handful forthe rest.

Needless to say, the allocation hasprovoked renewed criticism of SES com-mercial policy which, it is said, continuesto favour certain players. Worse still, atleast two favored parties, BSkyB andCanal Plus, have been very successful atlocking out competition from their highlyprofitable analog pay-tv markets, andnow these allocations on Astra give thema head start to establish their subscriberbase and proprietary conditional accesstechnologies in the digital era.

Yet, assuming all this to be true, wemust still wonder at the nature of thevictory. SES sources say that they havegiven large chunks of capacity to theleading pay-tv operators in order to kick-start the market for digital services; butwhat kind of kick can they give? Do theyreally have something to offer the public,or do they suppose the public will beseduced into buying digital decoders bythe sheer quantity of channels containedin the package?

For sure, there are plenty of ideas forthe new channels kicking about. Theyinclude near -video -on -demand (NVOD),pay -per -view (PPV), simulcast channels,

Me TV In A Race

Against Free TV

BY TOBY SYFRET

the same channels broadcast at staggeredtransmission times, channels importedfrom overseas, and nice, cheap -to -pro-duce spin-off channels.

Taken as a whole, there is very littlein the current plans to excite the imagi-nation. In so far as the pay-tv operatorsrely on subscription income for theirnew channels, exact audience size is nota big issue. That said, audiences are ameasure of appeal, and they must seekto attract viewership. However, it is onething to bring in lots of extra channels atvery low cost, another to build audienceswithout investing large extra sums inprogramming. Moreover, it is very hardto see how all the new channels can sur-vive on subscription alone, however lowtheir overheads; and if they want adver-tising support, audience share is critical.

Meanwhile, the actions of the currentpay-tv operators, with the addition of

It is one thing to bring in extrachannels at low cost, another to

build audiences withoutinvesting large sums

CLT and maybe one or two others, willcontribute to the growing dichotomy inthe concept of tv channels. Nowadays,whenever programs are aired or articleswritten about the future on the informa-tion superhighway, the Malones andDiners of this world will time and againbe seen advocating the world of Me TV;that is to say, the world not of 500 -pluschannels, but of one self-selected chan-nel. Then lined up on the other side ofthe fence one gets the corporate officersof the U.S. majors proclaiming the "neverdie" qualities of universally availableFree TV. One wonders what the two setsof talking faces would say if they wereforced to swap sides just for once.

And this leads to a further observa-tion. Perhaps part of the reason pay-tvoperators have figured so prominently inthe first round of digital allocations byAstra is that most of the big terrestrialfree tv operators do not really believe init. Other reasons (e.g lack of funds) orother excuses (e.g. restrictive regulationson channel ownership) notwithstanding,there has been very little evidence tosuggest that it matters to them.

What is unclear is whether the leadingpay-tv operators are buying up so muchdigital capacity as a defensive hedge oftheir existing pay-tv interests, or out ofthe belief that this is the route to theinformation superhighway. In two years'time we may find out.

This is to be my farewell Advertisingcolumn for TBI as I embark on a newcareer. Somewhere, if only I knew whereto look, is my copy of the launch issueof TBI. It contains my first column forthe magazine. It was very exciting to beinvolved from the start, especially as anon -journalist, and later to continue asTBI built its identity and achieved suc-cess. I am proud to have played a smallpart in the formative years, and wouldlike to thank past and present editors,the rest of the TBI team, and readers, fora long and happy experience.01


80

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HARD TECH STEPHEN JACOBS

What?You're Not On The Web?TV shows round the world continue to jump on the World Wide Web... NewTek to takeVideo Toaster beyond the Amiga platform

In June, TBI wrote aboutibroadcasters and producersusing both the World WideWeb and commercial on-lineservices to promote theirprograms and stay in touchwith viewers. Since then,more deals have been inked,more broadcasters havebegun toying with the netand more technology hasappeared on the scene.

Microsoft continues to addbroadcast companies to itsroster of Microsoft Networkcontent providers. The soft-ware giant's latest agreementwas made with Sweden'sModem Times Group (MTG),Kinnevik's media division.Kinnevik is the media mono-lith that launched the firstScandinavian tv channel offthe first Astra satellite andnow owns a host of broad-cast, pay -per -view and homeshopping channels, as wellas radio, music, newspaperand magazine ventures. MTGcan be found on the WorldWide Web at "http://www.everyday.se/MTG/".

America's TV Guide hasjust finished beta testing anon-line service. The goodfolks at the Rupert Murdoch -owned magazine had origi-nally intended to set up astand-alone, dial -up serviceuntil Murdoch's News Corp.bought the on-line serviceDelphi. TV Guide on-linenow seems slated to becomeone of the services Delphiwill put up on the Web,though TV Guide currentlyappears as only an address

on the service without anycontent. Beta test itemsincluded crossword puzzlesand personalized tv listings,similar to the cable boxesthat now allow users to dis-play personal tv schedules.TV Guide's currently emptyWorld Wide Web address is"http://tvguide.com" and noone at Delphi or the maga-zine will say anything aboutwhen there'll be somethingto look at.

Earlier this year, the Sci-FiChannel began merging on-line chat with television. Fansof the show The Prisonerstayed up until 3 a.m. Easternstandard time on Thursdaynights to log in and commenton the show as it progressed.One at a time, the commentsof the viewers scrolled ontothe tv screen below the pic-ture. The content of the dis-cussion was not unlike thatof Mystery Science Theater3000, witty commentary onthe on -screen action (thoughthe boys at MST are morepractised and funnier).

The feature has beenpopular with viewers, andthe Sci-Fi Channel will usethe technology in the fallprimetime season. On -LineShowcase - the show'sworking title - will featuredifferent episodes of thechannel's most popular serieswith on-line commentsscrolling along at the bottomof the picture. On -Line Show-case will air on Friday nightsat 10 p.m., with a re -broad-cast at 2 a.m. The Sci-Fi

Channel can be found onthe World Wide Web at"http://www .scifi.com/".

A Pal Toaster

NewTek, maker of the VideoToaster, the Emmy-winningdesktop video post -produc-tion system, has begun toexpand out towards non -Amiga and non-NTSC mar-kets. The original Toasterand its popular 3D package,Lightwave, were originallydesigned to be inexpensiveenough for the one-manindependent video producerwhile powerful enough forthe professional market. Bothproducts have been excep-tionally successful at fillingthat niche. Lightwave effectshave been an integral part ofa whole roster of Americantelevision programs, includ-ing Babylon 5, Robocop,seaQuest DSV, Star Trek. Voy-ager, Unsolved Mysteries andWeird Science.

The new Video Toasterhas left behind its reliance onthe Amiga platform. The newToaster, at a cost of $7,995, isshipping with software forWindows, Windows NT, DECAlpha and MIPS platforms, aswell as Amiga, and canpotentially run off of any boxwith a SCSI port and a harddrive. For an additional$2,000, the Toaster can be fit-ted with an LCD display andused as a digital fieldrecorder. It will even do lim-ited cuts -only editing without

a computer connection. Thisability could greatly reducethe time consumed in shoot-ing, reviewing, logging andediting footage.

In their first step awayfrom being an NTSC-onlycompany, NewTek hasunbundled Lightwave fromthe Toaster. The new Light -wave runs on all of the plat-forms listed above that willsave in PAL format as well asNTSC. The new Lightwavealso benefits from NewTek'srelationships with Xaos Toolsand Elastic Reality, two mak-ers of special effects soft-ware.

With Lightwave blazingthe trail, the Toaster itselfmay soon be available as aPal literate device.

Stephen Jacobs, TBI's newHard Tech columnist, haspreviously written aboutvideo, communicationsand computing technologyfor TBI, as well as Wired,Video Maker and Fast For-ward. If you've got newsfor him, send it to TBIat our London address,or directly to StephenJacobs, Assistant Profes-sor, Information Tech-nology, Rochester Instituteof Technology, 102Lomb Memorial Drive,Rochester, N.Y. 14623,USA.

His telephone numberis 716-475-7100 andhis e-mail address [email protected].


82

DATA

Counting Up GrowthNo wonder everybody ismerging. VS&A's annual lookat the U.S. industry seescontinued expansion - torridgrowth, even, in some sec-tors - for the next five years.By Jean -Luc Renaud

Spending by advertisers and end -userson products and services providedby the U.S. communications industry

totalled $233.5 billion in 1994. Advertis-ers accounted for $95.7 billion (41%) andend -users $137.8 billion (59%) of thetotal. By 1999, total spending is forecastto reach $323.7 billion - advertisersaccounting for $126.3 billion (39%) andend -users $197.4 billion (61%).

These figures are dissected over the330 pages of Communications IndustryForecast - the ninth annual edition ofVeronis, Suhler & Associates Inc.'s high-ly -regarded compendium on the U.S.communications industry.

VS&A's definition of the media indus-try includes tv and radio broadcasting,subscription video services, filmed enter -

5.7% during the 1994-1999 period, upfrom the rate during the previous five-year period (3.1%). VS&A expects overallend -user spending to grow at 7.4% ayear over the forecast period, animprovement over the 6.8% increase ofthe last five years.

Although sensitive to the economy,end -user spending is less cyclical thanadvertiser spending. During the 1991recession, for example, end -user spend-ing did not decline as it did for advertis-ing, although growth slowed, and duringthe ensuing recovery, end -user spendingdid not bounce back as strongly. As forlong-term trends, end -user spending hasbeen affected by new technologies thathave penetrated the market. Penetrationgrowth of home video and cable in the1980s fueled end -user spending, VS&Aexplained, but as these industriesmatured, growth has slowed. Similarly,penetration growth for interactive digitalmedia will stimulate spending in the1990s. VS&A noted that, although con-sumers have adopted a number of newtechnologies, they have not abandonedtheir media staples; spending on books,movies, newspapers, and magazines hascontinued to grow.

terms of time spent on them by con-sumers. Video -game usage escalated at a29.7% compound annual rate, while timespent by the average consumer watchingbasic networks increased by 13.1% com-pounded annually over the 1989-1994period. The time spent watching prere-corded videocassettes rose by 5.9%. Fur-ther penetration gains should continue tospur video -game and home video usage.

Time spent in 1994 on consumer on-line services averaged three hours perperson, while Internet access servicesrecorded two hours per person of usage.As these media become established,VS&A looks for usage levels to rise sig-nificantly over the forecast period; thetwo sectors will also see growth as aresult of increasing computer penetra-tion. By 1999, the time spent using on-

and Internet -access services willaverage an estimated 14 hours per per-son, and usage of educational softwarewill average five hours.

As per VS&A, consumers spent$456.26 per person on media in 1994.Subscription video services were thelargest segment, getting $110 in per capi-ta spending. Books were the next -largestcategory at $79.22, followed by home

Communications Industry Spending ($000s)

Year TV

B'castingRadio Subscription Filmed Recorded

B'casting Video Entertainment MusicServices

NewspaperPublishing

BookPublishing

MagazinePublishing

BusinessInfo

Services

InteractiveDigitalMedia

Total

1989 24,356 8,323 15,785 22,352 6,580 44,148 18,036 18,693 21,314 1,527 181,1141990 25,507 8,726 18,047 23,826 7,541 44,700 19,043 19,313 22,753 3,137 192,5931991 24,208 8,476 19,585 24,323 7,834 42,588 20,101 19,024 24,206 3,364 193,7091992 25,879 8,654 21,278 25,701 9,024 43,396 21,224 20,097 25,568 3,717 204,5381993 26,444 9,457 23,246 27,615 10,047 44,916 22,635 20,848 27,067 4,421 216,6961994 29,045 10,295 24,078 29,512 12,068 48,055 23,794 22,240 28,663 5,749 233,4991995 30,430 11,257 26,175 31,363 13,496 50,569 25,490 23,729 30,375 7,178 250,0621996 33,050 11,900 28,891 32,877 14,225 52,801 27,009 25,246 32,230 8,776 267,0051997 33,800 12,770 31,239 35,099 15,629 55,172 28,720 26,615 34,260 10,652 283,9561998 36,050 13,445 33,667 37,018 17,249 58,167 30,750 28,153 36,425 12,604 303,5281999 37,550 14,505 36,119 39,054 18,916 61,706 33,150 29,742 38,740 14,238 323,720Source: Veronis, Suhler & Assosicates

tainment, recorded music, business infor-mation services, interactive digital media,and newspaper, book and magazinepublishing.

VS&A forecasts a compound annualgrowth rate in advertising spending of

I will concentrate here on the sectionsof Communications Industry Forecast ofinterest to TBI readers. VS&A found that,over the last five years, video games,home video and basic tv networks weresome of the fastest -growing sectors in

video at $72.97 per person.The least expensive media, on an

hourly basis, tend to be the most widelyused. In the U.S., broadcast televisionand radio are free to consumers andaccount for the largest amount of time


83

DATA

spent. Subscription video services, nextin terms of time spent, cost only 23 centsper hour in 1994. Recorded musicranked fourth in time spent, and itshourly cost was 19 cents. The mostexpensive media on an hourly basiswere consumer on-line and Internet

years.For the five-year forecast period,

VS&A projects spending on basic cableservices to rise at a 7.3% compoundannual rate. By 1999, spending on basicservices should total $22.1 billion, upfrom $15.6 billion in 1994. Premium

expand by offering greater selection,more convenient viewing options andattractive pricing. VS&A expects spend-ing to rise at a 28.7% rate compoundedannually over the next five years, climb-ing to $1 billion in 1999 from $297 mil-lion in 1994.

End -User Spending Per Person Per Year ($)

Year SubscriptionVideo

Services

RecordedMusic

Daily ConsumerNewspapers Books

ConsumerMagazines

HomeVideo

Moviesin Theaters

HomeVideoGames

ConsumerOn-Line/InternetAccess Services

EducationalSoftware

Media

Total

1989 77.86 32.25 45.71 61.24 31.49 50.71 24.67 5.39 2.22 0.10 331.651990 87.90 36.64 47.55 63.90 33.14 56.35 24.40 12.39 2.93 0.22 365.431991 94.44 37.73 46.56 68.18 33.45 58.69 23.13 12.47 3.61 0.48 378.771992 101.28 43.05 48.54 71.37 34.26 63.23 23.24 13.08 4.39 0.70 403.151993 108.54 47.42 48.25 74.90 35.27 68.42 24.33 14.56 5.35 1.15 428.191994 110.00 56.35 49.28 79.22 36.36 72.97 25.20 17.00 7.44 2.44 456.261995 117.84 62.36 52.67 84.20 38.79 78.19 25.13 18.95 11.23 2.99 492.351996 128.65 65.07 55.78 88.89 40.53 81.47 24.83 20.70 16.34 3.48 525.741997 137.16 70.76 58.08 93.91 42.12 86.47 25.82 22.89 21.82 4.28 563.321998 145.75 77.29 60.61 100.03 43.75 89.85 26.61 25.38 27.03 5.24 601.551999 154.30 83.92 62.76 107.19 45.53 93.56 27.39 28.13 29.95 6.43 639.17

Source: Veronis, Suhler & Assocs

access services ($2.48), movies in the-aters ($2.10), home video ($1.40), andeducational software ($1.22), each overthe $1 per hour mark. Books and homevideo games fall in a middle ground,costing 78 cents and 77 cents per hour,respectively. The hourly cost of readingnewspapers was 29 cents and of readingconsumer magazines, 43 cents. Thesetwo media receive much of their fundingfrom advertisers, helping to keep downthe cost to end users.

Spending on subscription video ser-vices rose at an 8.8% compound annualrate over the last five years - 11.3% forbasic cable services, 0.8% for premiumcable channels and 31% for pay -per -viewmovies.

The U.S. market, probably to no one'ssurprise, is becoming more and morecompetitive, said VS&A. Direct broadcastsatellite (DBS) is available, wireless cable(called MMDS in Europe) is becoming aforce, and video dial tone services likevideo -on -demand (VOD) will probablycome on line during the forecast period.In an analysis that could be valid inEurope as well, VS&A forecast the emer-gence of these competing delivery chan-nels should keep rate increases by cableoperators in check. Since one or anotherof the various subscription video servicesis already available in nearly all tvhouseholds, there will be fewer newsubscribers to generate subscriptionspending growth over the next five

channels should benefit from increasedcompetition at the basic services level.With lower growth in basic fees, sub-scribers will have more money to spendfor premium channels, VS&A said. Thereport projects spending on premiumservices to continue to grow at a rate of8.7% annually over the forecast period,increasing from $5.3 billion in 1994 to anestimated $8 billion in 1999.

Pay -per -view movies represent a smallcomponent of the subscription video ser-vices segment but one that is growingrapidly. Over the last five years, spend-ing rose at a 31% compound annual rate.DBS should help PPV continue to

Share Of Spending 1994 (%)

Industry Segment Advertising End UserTelevision Broadcasting 100 0Radio Broadcasting 100 0Subscription Video Services 12 88Filmed Entertainment 6 94Recorded Music 0 100Newspaper Publishing 79 21Book Publishing 0 100Magazine Publishing 61 39Business Information Services 0 100Interactive Digital Media* 0 100Total 41 59

* Excludes about $30m in advertisingSources: Veronis, Suhler & Assocs,Wikofsky Gruen Assocs

Advertising on subscription video ser-vices is forecast to grow at an 11.1%compound annual rate over the forecastperiod, rising to $5 billion from $2.9 bil-lion in 1994.

Bringing together the various sub -sec-tors, VS&A calculates that total spendingon subscription video services will growat an 8.4% compound annual rate to$36.1 billion in 1999. This compares withadvertiser spending on broadcast televi-sion of $37.6 billion in 1999.

Not surprisingly, growing interest inthe Internet will spur torrid growth inspending on on-line and Internet -accessservices. The analysts expect subscrip-tion spending for these services toincrease at a 33.4% compound annualrate over the forecast period, reaching$6.1 billion by 1999. Spending on pack-aged PC/multimedia software, whichincludes consumer reference and gener-al -interest titles, educational and enter-tainment software, will grow at a 23.2%compound annual rate, driven by growthin the CD -Rom universe. Spending willincrease from $1.4 billion in 1994 to anestimated $4 billion by 1999.

For interactive digital media as agroup, spending will rise from $5.7 bil-lion in 1994 to an estimated $14.2 billionby 1999, growing 19.9% annually.Although forecast growth is down fromthe 30.4% increase of the last five years,this segment will still be the fastest grow-ing in the communications industry.

Television Business International September 1995ert

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