TELENOVELA BLOCK.pages 24 - 30: - Discop
TELENOVELA BLOCK.pages 24 - 30: - Discop
TELENOVELA BLOCK.pages 24 - 30: - Discop
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
FREE COPY<br />
ISSUE 03, MARCH 2006<br />
ISSN 1452-1016<br />
USA & CEE .<strong>pages</strong> 14 - 17:<br />
* UNITED WE STAND<br />
* AMERICANS ON THE AIR<br />
* AMERICAN TV PRODUCTION IN MONTENEGRO<br />
<strong>TELENOVELA</strong> <strong>BLOCK</strong> .<strong>pages</strong> <strong>24</strong> - <strong>30</strong>:<br />
* <strong>TELENOVELA</strong> AND AUDIENCE<br />
* HOW DO THEY CHOOSE<br />
* DISCOP 06 <strong>TELENOVELA</strong>S GALA EVENING
news<br />
DISCOP LINK NEWSLETTER<br />
Contents and Format Business in CEE<br />
EDITORIAL<br />
Publishers: Basic Lead & Media Art<br />
Service International<br />
Publishing Director:<br />
Patrick JUCAUD<br />
Basic Lead<br />
18 Rue Jose Maria de Heredia<br />
75007 Paris, France<br />
T + 33 1 42 29 32 <strong>24</strong><br />
F + 33 1 42 29 34 74<br />
patrick@discop.com<br />
Executive Editor:<br />
Rastislav DURMAN<br />
Bul. M. Pupina 6/VI,<br />
21000 Novi Sad, Vojvodina,<br />
Serbia & Montenegro<br />
T/F + 381 21 420 900<br />
ceo@mediart.org<br />
Contributing Editor:<br />
Bob JENKINS<br />
T + 44 203 22 00 188<br />
M + 44 781 42 42 405<br />
bobjenkins7@btinternet.com<br />
Contributors: Danica A]IMOVI], Ed<br />
BAUMNEISTER, Daniela COMAN, Eva<br />
DEKANOVSKA, Jelena MILOJKOVI],<br />
Anna NJEMOGA KO LAR, Stamos PRO-<br />
TOPSALTIS, Olivera POPOV-OBRENOV,<br />
Spas SPASOV, Dragana STANI],<br />
Verica VUKOVI]<br />
ART & DESIGN<br />
Emil OTRUP^AK & Sr|an GULIN<br />
SALES<br />
Booking Manager: Aurele RIVET<br />
Basic Lead<br />
18 Rue Jose Maria de Heredia<br />
75007 Paris, France<br />
T + 33 1 42 29 32 <strong>24</strong><br />
F + 33 1 42 29 34 74<br />
aurele@discop.com<br />
MAILING LIST ADDITIONS<br />
Elina NESTEROVA<br />
T + 33 1 42 29 62 25<br />
F + 33 1 42 29 34 74<br />
elina@discop.com<br />
© Basic Lead & Media Art 2005. All<br />
rights reserved. No part of this publication<br />
may be reproduced or transmitted<br />
in any form or by any means, electronic<br />
or mechanical, including photocopying,<br />
recording or any information storage<br />
or retrieval system without the express<br />
prior written consent of the publisher.<br />
Printed by: Maxima Graf,<br />
Petrovaradin, Serbia & Montenegro<br />
ISSN 1452-1016<br />
COBISS.SR-ID 204927751<br />
WHEELER DEALER<br />
By Bob Jenkins<br />
Rive Gauche reports two new sales<br />
to Russia and the former CIS.<br />
Very different, a hundred and fifteen<br />
hours to Russian-based distributor,<br />
Intra Communications, and four hours<br />
to Via Sat, the territories differ too.<br />
The Intra deal is for Russia and all former<br />
CIS territories, whereas the Via<br />
Sat deal is for Russia only. “But,” says<br />
Head of Non-Fiction, Sales and<br />
Acquisitions, Dorothy Crompton,<br />
“what they both have in common is<br />
that they are both the direct result of<br />
attending DISCOP.”<br />
Crompton reveals that Rive Gau -<br />
che and Intra Communications met for<br />
the first time at DISCOP 05 resulting<br />
in the deal announced this month,<br />
including fifteen one-hour episodes of<br />
THE GREATEST, seasons 1 and 11 of<br />
DID YOU SEE THAT, totalling 20 hours,<br />
and 26 hours of the brand new<br />
SECRETS OF WAR: SWORN TO<br />
SECRECY.<br />
The Via Sat deal was for WHERE<br />
DISASTERS HAPPEN, and WHEN<br />
GOOD TIMES GO BAD, making a total<br />
of 4 hours.<br />
Entertainment Rights has also<br />
been active in Russia where the company<br />
has announced the licensing of<br />
SNOW WHITE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL,<br />
HAPPILY EVER AFTER, PINOCCHIO<br />
and HARVEYTOONS to Video Soyuz for<br />
video and DVD in the territory. POST-<br />
Fit for Family (Zodiak)<br />
MAN PAT has also been snapped up<br />
for video in Poland by Cassfilm, which<br />
launched the title in November in a bid<br />
to cash in on the Christmas buying<br />
frenzy. PAT is doing his rounds in<br />
Latvia, too, where LTV launched the<br />
classic property in January 06.<br />
Another of the company’s classic<br />
properties, BARBIE, will dance her<br />
way into the Ukraine where New<br />
Channel has licensed five titles, including,<br />
BARBIE OF SWAN LAKE, BARBIE<br />
IN THE NUTCRACKER and FAIRY-<br />
TOPIA.<br />
Danish format house Zodiak has<br />
been busy in the CEE recently racking<br />
up deals for its format SHOPAHOLICS.<br />
Slovak’s Markiza has produced 12<br />
episodes, while Romania’s Antena 4 is<br />
producing 26 episodes. FIT FOR FAMI-<br />
LY, Zodiak’s format in which ‘amateur<br />
parents’ are given ‘instant kids’ to see<br />
how they cope has 26 episodes in production<br />
with Ukraine’s ICTV, with<br />
transmission scheduled for Spring<br />
06. Romania’s Prima TV is producing<br />
two Zodiak formats. Prima is in production<br />
with <strong>24</strong> episodes of F.C.<br />
NERDS in which 16 self-confessed<br />
nerds undergo three months of rigorous<br />
soccer training in an attempt to<br />
impress a former international, and<br />
16 episodes of FRIENDS FOREVER,<br />
which reunites celebrities with former<br />
school friends.<br />
Ukraine has been active recently<br />
in the acquisition of Western programming<br />
and formats. AETN Inter national<br />
has just announced the sale of over 50<br />
hours of History Chan nel and Bio -<br />
graphy Channel programming, including<br />
DIGGING FOR THE TRUTH and<br />
DECISIVE BATTLES to Ukrainian broadcaster<br />
STB. Russia’s REN is even<br />
keener on the History Channel programming<br />
having just acquired 54<br />
hours. Included in the deal are titles<br />
such as THE MOST, BREAKING<br />
VEGAS, VANISHINGS and SEX IN THE<br />
COLD WAR. The Bio graphy Channel<br />
has its Russian fans two, and Channel<br />
One has acquired several episodes<br />
including ARNOLD SCHWARZENEG-<br />
GER, CHARLIE CHAPLIN, SYLVESTER<br />
STALLONE and GEORGE LUCAS. }<br />
04<br />
discop link 03 www.discop.com march 2006
news<br />
FULL OF WESTERN PROMISE<br />
By Bob Jenkins<br />
Who hasn’t been to a wedding at<br />
which at least some of the<br />
guests quietly ask, “what does she<br />
think she’s wearing Or, “who chose<br />
those flowers” But Californian distributor<br />
Rive Gauche has the series that<br />
goes one stage further! WILD WED-<br />
DINGS, 6 x 60 minutes, is the wedding<br />
series that will make everyone question<br />
the sanity of one or both of the<br />
happy couples. Rive Gauche says the<br />
material, which is collected from<br />
around the world, details weddings<br />
that are, “bizarre, dangerous, dramatic<br />
or funny,” and include a wedding in<br />
which the bride attacks a guest, and<br />
the ceremony is halted when the<br />
police arrive and take her away; a<br />
groom who wants to set his bride’s<br />
heart on fire – but only manages to<br />
torch his tuxedo when he wanders too<br />
close to candle, and couple who really<br />
do ‘take the plunge’ – marrying on the<br />
end of a bungee jump!<br />
Not known as the marrying kind,<br />
Casanova’s life is retold in<br />
CASANOVA’S LOVE LETTERS starring<br />
Patrick Bergen and distributed by<br />
British distributor Centre Film Sales.<br />
Filmed in HD, and shot in Venice, the<br />
Czech Republic, France and England,<br />
CASANOVA’S LOVE LETTERS is available<br />
either as 6 x 50 minutes or a 105<br />
minute special. Centre Films also is in<br />
pre-production with THE ADVEN-<br />
TURES OF RAHIB AND MAHMOOD<br />
planned as 26 x 10 minutes, and,<br />
aimed at 7-12 year olds, the series will<br />
tell the story of an old man journeying<br />
to Mecca with his grandson, and is<br />
intended as “a young person’s guide to<br />
Islam.”<br />
Californian distributor, GRB Enter -<br />
tainment, launched a new series<br />
THE SUMMIT, also available as a format<br />
at NATPE. Produced by New<br />
Zealand’s Teleola, and set against that<br />
country’s spectacular scenery, THE<br />
SUMMIT, sets twenty men and women<br />
a series of daunting mental and physical<br />
tasks over a period of ten weeks as<br />
they battle, individually, and as teams,<br />
to be the only one to reach THE SUM-<br />
MIT.<br />
Macbeth (BBC & Horsebridge Productions)<br />
Four new offerings from the UK’s<br />
High Point Films could hardly be<br />
more different. Four modern day<br />
adaptations of some of Shakespeare’s<br />
most popular plays, co-productions<br />
between the BBC and Horsebridge<br />
Productions, they include Sally Wain -<br />
wright’s THE TAMING OF THE SHREW,<br />
David Nicholl’s MUCH ADO ABOUT<br />
NOTHING starring Sara Parish, Peter<br />
Moffat’s MACBETH, starring James<br />
Mc Avoy, and Peter Booker’s A MID-<br />
SUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM.<br />
If High Point are offering food for<br />
thought, fellow British company, Icon<br />
Animation, is offering food for thought<br />
about food! VITAMIX is 104 x 2 min<br />
episodes educating pre-schoolers on<br />
the issues around healthy eating.<br />
Of course, NHK, Japan’s state<br />
broadcaster, was the pioneer of<br />
High Definition television, but it is also<br />
true that the US platform Voom has<br />
developed it to a greater degree than<br />
Much Ado About Nothing<br />
(BBC & Horsebridge Productions)<br />
anywhere else in the world. Voom<br />
operates 22 Hi Def channels stateside,<br />
and they have entrusted<br />
International Broadcast Communi -<br />
cations (IBC) with the placement of<br />
these channels in the international<br />
market place. IBC Chairman Jon<br />
Helmrich says, “although a number of<br />
factors, in particular the falling cost of<br />
plasma and large screen sets have<br />
‘tipped the balance’ in favour of Hi Def,<br />
caution is still necessary. We are,”<br />
states Helmrich, “still at the beginning<br />
of the real Hi Def revolution, and Voom<br />
have not cleared all of their programming<br />
for international exploitation.” As<br />
a result, IBC is initially offering a ‘taster<br />
channel’ made up of programming<br />
from the full US offering, but that still<br />
includes over 400 hours of high quality,<br />
High Definition.<br />
Canada’s state broadcaster CBC<br />
has completely em braced HDTV.<br />
Amongst the new offerings from CBC<br />
in HDTV are: GREAT BEAR, NAKED<br />
JOSH and 72 HOURS. GREAT BEAR<br />
(20 x 60’) is set in a remote, fictional,<br />
mining town of that name, where<br />
ancient beliefs are often in conflict with<br />
modern technology. Jean-Charles<br />
Lapointe, a former star journalist<br />
about to dead-end his career by crawling<br />
into a bottle, stumbles into town as<br />
a well-loved spiritual community leader<br />
is mysteriously murdered – he has no<br />
idea what he’s in for. The second season<br />
of NAKED JOSH (26 x <strong>30</strong>’) tells<br />
the further adventures of Josh Gould,<br />
the world’s youngest professor of sexual<br />
anthropology, and his own, less<br />
than brilliant, sex life. Every detective<br />
knows that the first 72 hours after a<br />
crime are crucial to its solution, and<br />
the 33 x <strong>30</strong>’ second series of 72<br />
HOURS TRUE CRIME focuses on this<br />
period in true crime mysteries.<br />
Remember THE TELETUBBIES<br />
Well, the creative and business<br />
partnership that delivered the world’s<br />
most successful pre-school brand are<br />
working together again on a new preschool<br />
series, IN THE NIGHT GAR-<br />
DEN, which will be 100 x <strong>30</strong> minutes.<br />
Anne Wood and Andrew Davenport<br />
are the creative team, and Ragdoll,<br />
the company Wood founded, has<br />
again chosen to partner with BBC<br />
Worldwide, its partner on the TELE-<br />
TUBBIES phenomenon. Also included<br />
in the agreement is the production of<br />
TRONJI, <strong>30</strong> x <strong>30</strong> minutes, and aimed<br />
at the 6-8 demographic. }<br />
discop link 03 www.discop.com march 2006 05
news<br />
BENEATH THE RADAR<br />
By Bob Jenkins<br />
Apace Media has successfully<br />
raised GBP7 million in a London<br />
rights issue to fund corporate acquisitions<br />
and development. The company,<br />
which already owns two stations in<br />
Bulgaria, has used some of this money<br />
to acquire a 50% stake in Diema<br />
Vision from the owners Diema Group.<br />
Under the terms of the deal Apace will<br />
acquire a further 16% over the next<br />
two years. The company already owns<br />
66% of Bulgarian outfit MMTelevizia,<br />
which owns a television production<br />
company and the business and music<br />
channels MMTV and M2. This<br />
GBP450,000 acquisition was completed<br />
in September. Apace is chaired<br />
by Didier Stoessel, the former head<br />
banking giant HSBC.<br />
British distributor, Centre Film<br />
Sales, has picked up international<br />
distribution to BLIND, a six part detective<br />
from Uzbekistan. Available in both<br />
Uzbek and Russian, BLIND tells the<br />
story of a soldier invalided out of the<br />
army when an accident cost him his<br />
sight, and who decides, improbably, to<br />
become a private investigator<br />
British mini-major RDF has acquir -<br />
ed the largest Scottish producer,<br />
and second largest UK independent,<br />
IWC. Formed in May 2004 with the<br />
merger of Wark Clements and Ideal<br />
World Productions, IWC has been<br />
responsible for a wide range of drama<br />
and factual programming for all the<br />
UK’s leading broadcasters including<br />
such titles as COMMANDO VIP, NO<br />
SEX PLEASE – WE’RE TEENAGERS<br />
and ROSS KEMP ON GANGS. All the<br />
top five IWC executives, including<br />
Managing Director Sue Oriel and<br />
Creative Directors Alan Clements,<br />
Hamish Barbour, Zad Rogers and<br />
Eileen Quinn will remain with the company<br />
under the new ownership.<br />
It has been announced by All3Media<br />
that Russia’s TNT has commis sion -<br />
ed twenty-three episodes of the entertainment<br />
game show shot in a taxi<br />
cab, CASH CAB. Produced by<br />
ALL3Media subsidiary, Lion TV, the<br />
CASH CAB commission was brokered<br />
by Scre entime Partners. CASH CAB<br />
airs on ITV in the UK, and Discovery in<br />
the US.<br />
Hungarian MMDS Antenna has<br />
reached agreement with Euro -<br />
News to carry the channel in five different<br />
languages, English, French,<br />
German, Russian and Spanish. Euro -<br />
News is estimated to already be in<br />
155 million homes in 102 countries,<br />
giving it a larger audience than CNN<br />
and BBC World combined. The deal<br />
with Antenna adds another 1.2 million<br />
homes to those numbers.<br />
Buena Vista International Television<br />
(BVITV) has agreed the first ever<br />
reversioning of its hit comedy, HOME<br />
IMPROVEMENT, with Russian broadcaster<br />
CTC. The hit comedy, which ran<br />
on ABC in the US from 1991 – 1999,<br />
was a big success both in the US,<br />
where 202 episodes were produced<br />
and also internationally.<br />
Announcing the deal Philippe<br />
Maigret, Senior Vice-President,<br />
Sales and Portfolio Development,<br />
BVITV, commented, “we’re pleased to<br />
be concluding this agreement to produce<br />
HOME IMPROVEMENT locally for<br />
the first time whilst we look to exploit<br />
the great reversioning potential of our<br />
whole library of evergreen series as<br />
local productions in international markets.”<br />
CEO of CTC, Alexander Rod -<br />
nyansky, added, “HOME IMPROVE -<br />
MENT’s great comedy and characters<br />
will be sure to be a success with viewers<br />
in Russia, as the original US series<br />
has been worldwide.”<br />
BBC Motion Gallery, the footage<br />
sales business of BBC Worldwide,<br />
has announced the appointment of<br />
Linda Reeve as Sales Director. Repor -<br />
t ing to Commercial Director, Mark<br />
Fricker, Reeve will have overall responsibility<br />
for the London-based sales<br />
team and for developing the business<br />
within the broadcast market. Reeve<br />
joins the BBC from ITN Archive, which<br />
she joined in 1999, rising to be head<br />
of ITN Archive worldwide sales in<br />
2004.<br />
Asignificant merger is underway in<br />
France, which is set to create the<br />
country’s second largest audio-visual<br />
production group. La Financiere Hera<br />
(Finhera) is set to merge with<br />
Marathon, producer and distributor of<br />
hit series such as ST TROPEZ and<br />
TOTALLY SPIES. Finhera is a subsidiary<br />
of Bridgepoint Investment<br />
Fund, and is the sole shareholder in<br />
Tele Images, and the majority shareholder<br />
in Adventure Line Production<br />
(ALP). Once the normal process of due<br />
diligence has been completed, the status<br />
of Finhera will change to that of a<br />
company with a board of management<br />
and a supervisory board, but all existing<br />
production and distribution brands<br />
will continue to operate as present,<br />
with their own editorial independence,<br />
but under the new Finhera structure.<br />
Sony-owned, pan regional channel<br />
AXN has announced that it is to<br />
produce a Central European version of<br />
the three-time Emmy award winning<br />
reality adventure series, THE AMAZ-<br />
ING RACE. AXN will bring the local version<br />
of THE AMAZING RACE to its<br />
viewers across Poland, Slovakia, the<br />
Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania<br />
and Bulgaria. Two teams from six<br />
Central European countries will compete<br />
for the grand prize of<br />
US$100,000. Each team consists of<br />
two people already in a close relationship,<br />
such as spouses, partners or<br />
parents and children. They are filmed<br />
around the clock as they travel, across<br />
many countries and are set mentally<br />
and physically challenging tasks that<br />
will test their abilities, determination,<br />
and the strength of their relationship.<br />
THE AMAZING RACE is available<br />
through Buena Vista International<br />
Television.<br />
Liberty-Global owned Extreme<br />
Sports Channel is launching a<br />
Polish feed early in 2006. The new<br />
feed will be supported by locally produced<br />
programming, events to be<br />
staged in Poland, local on-air promotion<br />
and a Polish version of its web<br />
site. The announcement follows the<br />
recent agreement between Polsat<br />
DTH and Extreme, which now adds the<br />
Polish carrier to its partners in the<br />
country. }<br />
06<br />
discop link 03 www.discop.com march 2006
strategy in region<br />
ASIA HAS THE CEE IN ITS SIGHT<br />
By Bob Jenkins<br />
As DISCOP continues to cement its<br />
role as the venue for trade with<br />
Central and Eastern Europe, a number<br />
of very interesting developments follow<br />
this continuing expansion. One<br />
such, is the increasing presence of<br />
sales companies from South East<br />
Asia, who are starting to see the<br />
region as offering new, and potentially<br />
significant opportunities for growing<br />
their international business.<br />
Amongst these early pioneers of<br />
an audio-visual trade between two<br />
regions on opposite sides of the globe<br />
is Reena de Guzman Garingan, Direct -<br />
or International Sales and Distribution<br />
at ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corpora -<br />
tion. Although Garingan draws hope<br />
from the popularity of Indian movies in<br />
some CEE territories, notably Ro -<br />
mania, and the recent sales of some<br />
Chinese costume drama to Bulgarian<br />
cable, she recognises that, “after just<br />
three years operating in the region, I<br />
am still a baby.” But she believes that<br />
the Philippino tradition of, “gritty<br />
drama with strong female characters,<br />
will offer a real alternative to ‘the beauty<br />
pageant’ of the telenovela,” and, she<br />
vows, “I will return to DISCOP every<br />
year until I find an opening.”<br />
Garingan sees the CEE as the logical<br />
extension of the existing markets<br />
for her product of South East Asia,<br />
Latin America and Africa, whereas<br />
Gary Kam, Producer and Marketing<br />
Manager at MBC, Korea’s largest<br />
broadcaster, thinks the CEE might<br />
bring about a change in their international<br />
policy. “Traditionally,” says Kam,<br />
“we have only paid to clear rights such<br />
as music, on our drama series, as<br />
these have been hugely successful in<br />
our home market of South East Asia,<br />
and our documentaries, game shows,<br />
and entertainment shows have been<br />
less so.” MBC attended DISCOP for<br />
the first time in 2005, and, reports<br />
Kam, “we noticed a marked preference<br />
for our documentary programming,”<br />
which he puts down to, “many<br />
of our documentaries are culturally<br />
neutral, unlike all of our drama, which<br />
culturally is very Asian.” Kam believes<br />
it will take, “maybe five years” to get<br />
into real business in the CEE,” but like<br />
Garingan, he is determined to make<br />
that investment.<br />
Another Asian delegate bullish<br />
about the potential of the CEE is Mr<br />
Hiroshi Kumada of Japan’s GDH<br />
group. GDH produces animation for<br />
three different demographics, kids’,<br />
teens’ and theatrical, and, says<br />
Kumada, “we believe the teenage animation<br />
market will grow along with the<br />
expansion of DVD, and the development<br />
of new TV platforms in the<br />
region, and we also hope to find an<br />
audience for our newly created theatrical<br />
business.” Although Kumada<br />
acknowledges that, “at the moment<br />
the CEE is a pretty small market for<br />
our content,” he points to, “recent<br />
success in placing five series on a panregional<br />
TV channel,” and notes that,<br />
“the demand for our content is certainly<br />
increasing.”<br />
Mikyeong Jung, Director of Pro -<br />
gramme Development at Korean animation<br />
house Iconix attended DISCOP<br />
for the first time in 2005 under the<br />
Korean umbrella stand, KIPA. Jung<br />
reports that, “although she was very<br />
busy during the market,” she is, “a bit<br />
disappointed,” that there has been little<br />
or no feedback from the CEE buyers<br />
she met in Budapest. Despite this,<br />
Jung believes that the region has the<br />
capacity to, “develop into a new market<br />
to continue the sales expansion we<br />
have witnessed in Latin America, and<br />
Europe,” although she does admit<br />
that, “I am undecided whether to continue<br />
visiting DISCOP, and the CEE territories,<br />
learning about their cultural<br />
needs, and building relationships, or<br />
to appoint local agents on a territory<br />
by territory basis.”<br />
Overall, it is probably true to say<br />
that life is not easy for Asian companies<br />
in the CEE, but it is also true to say<br />
that opening new markets never is,<br />
and that without both imagination and,<br />
above all, perseverance, it’s probably<br />
impossible. }<br />
discop link 03 www.discop.com march 2006 07
portrait<br />
A GOOD FRIEND – MICHEL RODRIGUE<br />
By Bob Jenkins<br />
When it comes to doing business<br />
in the CEE, Michel Rodrigue,<br />
CEO and President of Canadian format<br />
distributor, Distraction Formats, is a<br />
man with form as well as formats. The<br />
company was founded in 1989,<br />
launching at MIPCOM in the autumn of<br />
that year. “And,” recalls Rodrigue, “the<br />
very first sale recorded by the then<br />
fledgling outfit, was to a Polish producer<br />
of a Canadian format, THE MAD<br />
DASH. The producer sold it on to TVP,<br />
and the show ran in Poland for a total<br />
of 115 episodes.”<br />
This might have been the first<br />
experience Distraction had in the<br />
region, but it was not Rodrigue’s first<br />
exposure to Eastern Europe. In 1989,<br />
just at the very moment communism<br />
was falling, Rodrigue was part of a<br />
Quebecois delegation that visited<br />
Czech Republic and successfully negotiated<br />
a co-production agreement<br />
between the republic and Quebec.<br />
Poland was Distraction’s first sale<br />
in the CEE, and despite the company<br />
now doing business, per Rodrigue, “in<br />
virtually every country in the region,<br />
Poland,” he says, “remains the company’s<br />
most important market in the<br />
region.” And it might be about to<br />
become more significant.<br />
One of the techniques which has<br />
been very important to Distraction‘s<br />
expansion in the region is one known<br />
as “carousel production.” This is the<br />
process by which one set is built in a<br />
chosen location for a given format,<br />
and one crew becomes versed in the<br />
techniques of the show, and then presenters<br />
and contestants are brought<br />
in from neighbouring countries and<br />
the same crew and set are used to<br />
produce several different versions,<br />
allowing the cost to be amortised over<br />
a number of different productions.<br />
Poland has run two seasons of<br />
what Rodrigue describes as, “a big,<br />
SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER style format<br />
from Italy called CIAO DARWIN”. As<br />
Poland is preparing to shoot its third<br />
season, there is a lot of interest from<br />
surrounding countries such as<br />
Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania, and<br />
possible interest from Russia as well.<br />
In many ways, this is the logical<br />
continuation of what Rodrigue sees as<br />
an ongoing process that started with<br />
the fall of communism. “Obviously,”<br />
says Rodrigue, “before communism<br />
was overthrown in this part of the<br />
world, there were no commercial stations,<br />
and, just as obviously, there<br />
were no independent producers. Once<br />
communism went, many western<br />
companies such as SBS and ViaSat<br />
moved in to open stations. But they<br />
needed a viable independent sector,<br />
and so, they set about helping to create<br />
one. And, they succeeded.”<br />
Although Rodrigue celebrates the<br />
successful birth of the independent<br />
sector in the CEE, it was not, he notes,<br />
without its birth pangs. “Initially,”<br />
recalls Rodrigue, “there was a question<br />
of technical and creative communication.<br />
The people of the region have<br />
always been very creative, but under<br />
communism, this creativity was channelled<br />
in a very specific manner. Also,”<br />
he continues, “this creativity was ope -<br />
rating with technology that was<br />
increasingly antiquated, film, and only<br />
the very earliest form of video. This led<br />
to a situation, once free enterprise<br />
was introduced, in which the new independent<br />
production sector in the CEE<br />
immediately upgraded the technology<br />
to state of the art, often putting them<br />
ahead of the West where conversion<br />
costs had to be amortised, but in<br />
which they were still imbued with the<br />
old creative styles.” But Rodrigue is<br />
insistent that all of that, “is now in the<br />
past,” and that there is now a vibrant<br />
and successful independent production<br />
sector which bodes well for the<br />
future of the region.<br />
In fact, one of the things he celebrates<br />
most in the region is that,<br />
“unlike many other parts of the world,<br />
when it comes to formats, they are<br />
not, unlike most other regions of the<br />
world, wedded to formats from the UK<br />
and the US; in fact, reports Rodrigue,<br />
“90% of the formats we sell in the<br />
region are from Germany, Italy,<br />
Canada and France.”<br />
Finally, and possibly most encouragingly,<br />
Michel Rodrigue believes that,<br />
in the format business, the CEE is laying<br />
the foundations of a solution to its<br />
biggest challenge. “That challenge,”<br />
insists Rodrigue, “is the successful<br />
export of their own formats.” But with<br />
the carousel production method<br />
Distraction has pioneered in the<br />
region, a healthy market in format<br />
sales is developing between various<br />
CEE countries and, believes Rodrigue,<br />
“it will only be a matter of time before<br />
that success begins to be exported to<br />
other countries around the world.” }<br />
08<br />
discop link 03 www.discop.com march 2006
egion<br />
ARMENIAN TV MARKET AS IT IS<br />
By Anna Satyan<br />
For the time being there are about 45 private TV stations<br />
(including the regional ones) in Armenia. The broadcaster<br />
centres are mainly concentrated in Yerevan, the capital<br />
of the republic, and the audience has the opportunity to<br />
watch at least 21 local channels there. Most of them are<br />
private, except the National Public Television, which<br />
became a satellite channel, broadcasting almost all around<br />
the world. Armenia, Prome theus and ALM (Alternative<br />
Media) have national coverage.<br />
During the last two years, the problem of the broadcasting<br />
industry has been actively discussed in different<br />
professional circles. The most often regarded issues have<br />
been the following: problems of the domestic TV production<br />
quality, program formats, lack of ethical norms in journalism,<br />
and low standards of programming in general.<br />
Several surveys have revealed that the most popular<br />
media in Armenia is television, which is preferred by 85-90<br />
per cent of the population and is considered to be their primary<br />
source of information. International experts discovered<br />
that during the recent years the situation in television<br />
market has changed. Three-four years ago, small local<br />
broadcasters were becoming weak due to financial problems.<br />
According to the sales managers, the volume of TV<br />
advertising in Armenia in the last few years increased for<br />
about 20 %.<br />
It is noticeable that the two leading national Russian TV<br />
channels (ORT and RTR) are quite popular among the<br />
Armenian population and have full retransmission of their<br />
programs over the most territory of Armenia. This service<br />
is provided by Armenia Public Television. The company providing<br />
the service (First Channel) inserts local advertising<br />
blocks and gets the main portion of the ad income of other<br />
TV channels.<br />
Several other Russian TV stations like TV Centre, Ren<br />
TV, Muz TV, etc., are also broadcasting in Yerevan but not<br />
all day through. According to the agreement signed<br />
between few Armenian television companies and Moscow<br />
channels, Russian programs are available only during the<br />
certain hours of the day; the rest is covered by the local<br />
production. Some TV managers say that it helps to attract<br />
the audience and to get higher ratings. “From the other<br />
point of view, it is a good way to ‘occupy’ the air and not to<br />
spend much money on producing shows. Retransmitting of<br />
the Russian channels is cheaper, especially when primetime<br />
is filled with local advertising,” managers explain.<br />
Another foreign broadcaster is CNN, but it covers only the<br />
capital, as well as Euro-News, which is also partly Armenian<br />
and is called Arm-News, with local headline news and political<br />
talk-shows.<br />
TV managers dislike questions about the financial side<br />
of their business due to several reasons, among them<br />
being the transparency of the tax responsibilities, though<br />
some of the “TV chiefs” anonymously agreed to provide<br />
approximate figures.<br />
So, summing up the results, we can make the following<br />
conclusion: The Armenian Public TV, the First Channel with<br />
Russian ORT and RTR, Armenia and Prometheus control<br />
about 70% of the advertising market. More precisely -<br />
Public TV with First Channel eats <strong>30</strong>% of this pie,<br />
Prometheus and Armenia about 20% each. On the whole,<br />
all private channels survive due to rich sponsors - politicians,<br />
parliament members, businessmen, etc. They have<br />
great expectations from the upcoming elections, so they<br />
need this, let’s say, megaphone. As in many Western countries,<br />
the main principle, actually, is “broadcasting is a business”,<br />
in most cases a political one.<br />
Armenian market is characterized by harsh competition<br />
and politicisation that increases on the eve of any election<br />
(local, presidential, parliamentary). The most remarkable<br />
example is the results of the first licensing competition<br />
announced by the National Commission for Television and<br />
Radio in 2002. According to the RA Law on Television and<br />
Radio Broadcasting license holders do not obtain the right<br />
to prolong the license after its expiration: they should take<br />
part in the licensing competition on a common basis once<br />
again, together with the new applicants. As a result, the<br />
A1+ TV Company, well-known for its oppositional attitude<br />
towards the acting authorities, left the market. Noyan<br />
Tapan TV Company did not get a license for the same reason.<br />
Going back to the viewers attraction, it is remarkable<br />
that some Armenian broadcasters, Shant TV, for example,<br />
started the practice of purchasing format licenses from<br />
international leading TV corporations such as Endemol<br />
(POP IDOL), Celador (WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE)<br />
etc. We can add to this list also world-title football matches,<br />
NBA basketball league live games, boxing and the like.<br />
According to several public opinion polls, conducted by local<br />
television companies, these shows have doubled the audience.<br />
}<br />
discop link 03 www.discop.com march 2006 09
news<br />
14<br />
discop link 0 www.discop.com june 2005
egion<br />
THE CEE IS OF GROWING IMPORTANCE<br />
TO WESTERN CABSAT OPERATORS<br />
by Bob Jenkins<br />
Joel Krutz, Head of Finance and<br />
Operations, Emerging Markets at<br />
US giant MTV is categoric. “We will,”<br />
he insists, “over the coming years<br />
make a substantial investment of both<br />
time and money in the region.”<br />
Explaining the thinking behind this<br />
strategy, Krutz continues, “the CEE is<br />
a very important part of our overall<br />
international strategy because it<br />
offers so much potential for growth<br />
when compared to the West.”<br />
The view that the CEE offers great<br />
potential for Western cabsat operators<br />
is shared by Katarzyna Kieil, Vice<br />
President, CEE, Discovery Networks<br />
Europe, who describes the region as<br />
being, “extremely important,” to<br />
Discovery’s international strategy.<br />
Kieil is keen to emphasise that<br />
Discovery recently opened a Warsaw<br />
office with a staff of twenty, to service<br />
their operations in the region, and<br />
that, “as our business grows in the<br />
future, we will explore opening new<br />
offices in those markets where we see<br />
the potential for growth, so as to<br />
reach closer to our platform operators<br />
and also to create localised services<br />
which have a real resonance for<br />
viewers.” Although Kieil insists, “we<br />
never disclose internal forecasts”, she<br />
remains confident that, “there is significant<br />
growth potential in the<br />
region.”<br />
Wayne Durford, Director of Chan -<br />
nels at BBC Worldwide, is reluctant to<br />
give hard estimates for growth. The<br />
BBC only operates one channel in the<br />
region, its advertising free, general<br />
entertainment channel Prime, and,<br />
says Durford, “the future of Prime in<br />
the region is very difficult to predict,”<br />
but he does suggest that, “Poland<br />
must have plateaued,” although he<br />
does see potential in Hungary and the<br />
Czech Republic, “which,” according to<br />
Durford, “are countries where we still<br />
have a lot more work to do.” But, by<br />
way of underlining the significance of<br />
the CEE to Prime, which Durford<br />
describes as “extremely important to<br />
Prime’s overall business strategy,” he<br />
reveals that, “currently, we have 22<br />
million subscribers throughout EMEA<br />
and of these, 3.5 million are in the<br />
CEE.”<br />
More forthcoming is Zone Vision’s<br />
Commercial Sales Director, CEE, Mark<br />
Young. Young claims that, “we have<br />
teams in each of the territories who<br />
are very close to the action, enabling<br />
us to be accurate in our forecasting,”<br />
and he goes on to reveal that these<br />
forecasts predict annual growth of,<br />
“between 15% - 40% over the coming<br />
twelve months, depending on the territory.”<br />
Another who views the CEE as<br />
primed for growth is Bruce Tuchman,<br />
Executive Vice-President, MGM Net -<br />
works; although there are some<br />
unusual features of the MGM offering<br />
when compared with operations such<br />
as MTV, Discovery, and BBC Prime. To<br />
begin with, MGM Channels are based<br />
exclusively on the library of 4,000 plus<br />
titles and offer no new production.<br />
Also, as Tuchman explains, in relation<br />
to the CEE specifically, there are a<br />
number of other distinctions. “Firstly,”<br />
he points out, “under communism<br />
Hollywood was very much the enemy,<br />
and therefore very few of our films<br />
have been seen in the CEE. This,” he<br />
continues, “is both a positive and a<br />
negative. On the positive side, it<br />
means that there is a greater demand<br />
for our movies which are new and<br />
exciting to audiences in the area.<br />
However, this also means that frequently<br />
we don’t have local language<br />
versions for enough of the movies to<br />
sustain an operation.” Even so, MGM<br />
has taken the first tentative steps in<br />
the region launching a year ago on<br />
MTV+ in Russia, and more recently on<br />
Liberty Global in Warsaw, which<br />
Tuchman describes as, “testing<br />
Poland”.<br />
For Discovery’s Kieil the process<br />
of identifying a new market, or the<br />
potential to launch a new service in a<br />
market in which the factual behemoth<br />
already has a presence begins with,<br />
“closely following consumer trends, as<br />
well as working with our platform operators<br />
to assess which services will<br />
have local appeal.” This process, she<br />
suggests, would run alongside, “a<br />
number of focus groups to gauge viewers’<br />
response to a new product offering.”<br />
Additionally, Discovery would,<br />
“assess the potential for delivering ad<br />
sales, and, crucially, the talent to be<br />
found within the independent production<br />
community.”<br />
MTV’s Krutz says the process of<br />
establishing a new service in a territory,<br />
“usually begins with us receiving a<br />
proposition from a potential partner.”<br />
Once this has happened, Krutz details<br />
a number of assessments that the<br />
Viacom-owned giant would make.<br />
“Firstly,” he reveals, “we would assess<br />
the local economy, and, should this<br />
seem promising, we would look at the<br />
TV market within that economy with a<br />
view to establishing whether it is<br />
mature, or whether it is a market<br />
offering potential for growth.” But<br />
Krutz insists, “the major factor is<br />
always the partner. We need to be<br />
certain that the potential partner has<br />
the right business plan and background,<br />
and, most importantly, that<br />
they have the right hopes and ambitions<br />
for the MTV brand. After all, we<br />
have spent twenty-five years building<br />
the brand, and we are not about to<br />
carelessly give it away.”<br />
Growth is the key fact BBC<br />
Worldwide’s Durford says that they<br />
are looking at when assessing a potential<br />
new market for BBC Prime.<br />
Whatever assessments Western<br />
cabsat companies have to make, two<br />
things can be said with certainty:<br />
they’re in the CEE to stay, and they’re<br />
in the CEE to grow. }<br />
discop link 03 www.discop.com march 2006 11
egion<br />
THE FILM GUIDEBOOK OF VOJVODINA<br />
By Dimitrije Vidanovic<br />
Although after October 5, 2000, film industry funds<br />
were revitalized in Serbia, there is not enough money<br />
for making even one serious film. To improve this obviously<br />
bad situation in film industry, several film and TV professionals<br />
have launch ed the project “The Film Guidebook of<br />
Vojvodina”.<br />
Namely, like in Hungary and Romania, that make large<br />
revenues from foreign productions that use their locations<br />
and capabilities for film making, during the last few years an<br />
idea has been maintained that those things should happen<br />
to us, too. Hungary has achieved €44,000,000 income<br />
from foreign productions, and in Romania, the film THE<br />
COLD MOUNTAIN was made last year by Anthony Miguel,<br />
featuring Nicole Kidman. The film budget was 98 million<br />
dollars, out of which 28 million were spent in Romania, and<br />
$600,000 in the village where the cast was settled. Five<br />
years ago, Romanian government decided to make efforts<br />
in attracting foreign film producers.<br />
The Romanian have tripled their film production. They<br />
have the most up-to-date film studios and laboratories.<br />
They have reached Hollywood superstructure in their film<br />
industry. Author of the project is Sasa Karisik, independent<br />
Producer/Director. Thanks to his personal efforts, the<br />
Executive Council of Vojvodina joined the project, and some<br />
local governments and sponsors also supported it.<br />
“The comparative advantage of Vojvodina is that a relatively<br />
small area includes a plain, hills, rivers, pretty and well<br />
preserved environmental entities, and a great number of<br />
experienced and educated professionals,” Karisik says.<br />
Until the 1990s, films were relatively often recorded in<br />
Vojvodina. Anthony Queen and Michel Piccoli have made<br />
films in Novi Sad. In the 1950s-1970s, TOY SOLDIERS,<br />
THE CASTLE GUARDS, and THE VIOLENCE ON THE<br />
SQUARE were also filmed here. The complete plot of the<br />
latter film takes place in the suburb of the Petrovaradin<br />
Fortress and at the Liberty Square in Novi Sad. Also,<br />
Sophia Loren has made a film in the town of Pancevo. The<br />
first Hungarian colour film was made on the Palic Railway<br />
Station. So, tradition exists, and should be continued.<br />
For determining film locations, the team engaged in<br />
the project has included all important areas in Vojvodina. A<br />
lot of aerial filming has already been done, as you can see<br />
on the website: www.filminginvojvodina.org - Deliblato<br />
sands, the Titel Hill, Precursor for Ships projected by<br />
famous Eiffel, <strong>30</strong> castles in different stages of preservation,<br />
urban environment of Novi Sad wide boulevards, monumental<br />
buildings of modern architecture, sports fields,<br />
schools, hospitals, etc.<br />
According to Karisik, benefits from those projects can<br />
result in concrete financial inflow, creation of jobs for a<br />
great number of film workers, and a favourable market<br />
environment for professional TV and film making. However,<br />
wide community would also benefit – industry and crafts<br />
One of locations from www.filminginvojvodina.org<br />
development. Also, this would lead to better preservation<br />
of cultural and historical monuments, and sacral buildings.<br />
Great productions are inconceivable without the military<br />
and police support, meaning new jobs for those structures<br />
as well – leasing of technology, logistics and security.<br />
Benefits for tourism are immeasurable. For example, in her<br />
interview for BBC Nicole Kidman said that Romania was a<br />
great country that everyone should visit. This kind of promotion<br />
is not possible to state in money figures. Also, foreign<br />
media always cover the stay of a film star in a foreign<br />
country.<br />
“What initially motivated us to launch the project was to<br />
make the market environment where it would be easier to<br />
find assets for domestic production. Secondly, there are<br />
secondary benefits, like leaving the equipment behind by<br />
film crews, since it is not worthwhile taking it back, e.g.,<br />
reflectors and generators. Finally, there is a possibility for<br />
our professionals to compensate technological backwardness”,<br />
Karisik concludes.<br />
The presentation will include the TV Pink film studio in<br />
Dobanovci; all other technical facilities will be supplied by<br />
Magic Box in Novi Sad, that has got technology; Berar<br />
Studio will be responsible for audio postproduction in Dolby<br />
sound. All individuals that want to offer their services are<br />
welcome to register.<br />
For every location that will be included in the<br />
Guidebook, there will be available data regarding infrastructure<br />
like electricity and water supply, accommodation, etc.<br />
There are 360 photos on the web site, while around <strong>30</strong>0<br />
locations will be included in the printed book on 200 <strong>pages</strong>,<br />
that will be distributed in the electronic form on CD-ROM. It<br />
will be possible to see video clips too. After initial contacts,<br />
producers will receive the Guidebook on request, while to<br />
certain American and European producers the book will be<br />
mailed. }<br />
12<br />
discop link 03 www.discop.com march 2006
usa & cee<br />
UNITED WE STAND<br />
By Bob Jenkins<br />
The announcement, January 23rd in Las Vegas, that<br />
NATPE was to acquire DISCOP is a major development<br />
for both organisations. But it is not one designed to bring<br />
fast and furious change.<br />
Speaking to DISCOP.Link immediately after the<br />
announcement, NATPE President and CEO, Rick Feldman<br />
was keen to emphasise that, “NATPE is an organisation<br />
that has always tried to grow by meeting the needs of those<br />
attending our conferences, and I think this is an important<br />
philosophy.” Applying this to DISCOP means, says Feldman,<br />
“allowing DISCOP to grow organically,” and also, “taking the<br />
time to learn what the needs of those attending DISCOP<br />
are, and understanding how we can best serve those<br />
needs.”<br />
If rapid change is not part of the new game plan, longer<br />
term change certainly is. Explaining NATPE’s excitement at<br />
the acquisition of DISCOP Feldman reveals that, “we felt it<br />
important for NATPE to develop as a global brand, extending<br />
its footprint outside the US. The nascent, but growing,<br />
market of the CEE,” says Feldman, “made DISCOP a perfect<br />
organisation for us to partner with.”<br />
Revealing longer term thinking Feldman continued,<br />
“NATPE has been an established brand for forty-three<br />
years now, during which time we have successfully established<br />
and run a number of conferences, and this experience,”<br />
believes Feldman, “has allowed us to develop marketing<br />
abilities and relationships that are much broader<br />
than those possessed by DISCOP.” The combination of<br />
these marketing abilities and relationships, and of NATPE’s<br />
ability to, as Feldman puts it, “have experienced US conference<br />
staff talk to people from Central and Eastern Europe,”<br />
will, he believes, “offer real scope for the expansion of the<br />
John Weiser, NATPE Co-Chairman, President, Distribution Sony<br />
Pictures Television; Rick Feldman, NATPE President and CEO;<br />
Patrick Jucaud, General Manager DISCOP; Stephen J. Davis, NATPE<br />
Co-Chairman, President Mobile Media Infospace, Inc.<br />
DISCOP market, and the development of a richer range of<br />
services for DISCOP delegates.”<br />
And there is good reason to feel excited at the<br />
prospects for the future. Not only is the region a nascent<br />
and growing market, but there are plenty of signs that the<br />
CEE is an early adopter of the new digital technologies, with<br />
all the growth potential these offer. While Feldman cautions<br />
that, “it is important to understand that no one really knows<br />
what the impact of these new digital platforms will be,” he<br />
continues, “one of the few things that can be said with certainty<br />
is that over the coming two or three years, not only<br />
14<br />
discop link 03 www.discop.com march 2006
usa & cee<br />
Sandrine Pechels de Saint Sardos<br />
3rd Annual Legacy Award Recipients, Marc Cherry, Pat Mitchell,<br />
Steven Bochco<br />
will content producers enjoy many more ways of getting<br />
their content seen, but over that same time frame we will, I<br />
believe, see an increasing amount of content made specifically<br />
for these new platforms driving new revenue streams<br />
for content creators both large and small.”<br />
Nor are these the only grounds Feldman sees for optimism.<br />
“The big development in terms of the future of companies<br />
from North and South America,” he predicts, “will<br />
be the overseas sales of Telenovelas.” South-American<br />
countries, historically the world’s powerhouse of<br />
Telenovelas, have now started selling these, effectively, as<br />
formats giving the purchasing station the right to adapt the<br />
characters and storylines to their own culture. In the US,<br />
Fox is about to start running a Telenovela strand, DESIRE,<br />
which will feature three or four Telenovelas over a thirteen<br />
week period, and, says Feldman, “I believe these will be successful.<br />
If they are, and, especially if the Anglo audience<br />
buys into them, then I think this will presage an era of<br />
unprecedented opportunity for Latin American companies<br />
in the US.”<br />
Of course, Telenovelas are already well established in<br />
the CEE as a hugely popular form of entertainment, and<br />
many pounding the floor at NATPE will be in Budapest in<br />
June for DISCOP; and with good reason.<br />
One of those is Amanda Cordner,<br />
Director, International Television<br />
Sales, Lionsgate Entertainment, who<br />
views Central and Eastern Europe as,<br />
“probably one of the fastest growing<br />
international entertainment markets.”<br />
Cordner attributes this to a number of<br />
factors. Firstly, “new platforms are<br />
popping up all the time, and panregional<br />
operators are expanding at<br />
an incredible rate, also, the population<br />
is consuming more and more entertainment.”<br />
And that’s not all. Ac cor d -<br />
ing to Cordner, not only is the population<br />
of the CEE consuming more and more entertainment,<br />
but also, “its tastes are closer to American tastes, meaning<br />
that, in this region, the programming needs are a little<br />
easier to meet than say some emerging Asian markets.”<br />
These are points echoed by Lise Romanoff, Managing<br />
Director of Vision Films. “DISCOP,” says Romanoff, “is a<br />
great market to focus on strengthening relationships with<br />
Eastern European buyers.” Romanoff reveals that, “in the<br />
past we used to sell to just one distributor for the whole of<br />
the CIS or Yugoslavia, but now,” she enthuses, “we are<br />
meeting buyers from across the region who want<br />
American product from companies like ours.”<br />
Underlining the point NATPE’s Feldman made that the<br />
audio-visual market in the CEE is nascent, but growing,<br />
many of the companies working the floor in both Las Vegas<br />
and Budapest are just starting out in Central and Eastern<br />
Europe.<br />
Classic Media attended the market for the first time in<br />
2005, and, says Vice-President, Programme Distribution,<br />
Sandrine Pechels De Sardos, “ we made sales in Hungary,<br />
Poland, Georgia and Ukraine, as well as entering into a<br />
development deal in Russia.” Consequently, she plans to<br />
develop Classic’s business in the region, “principally be visiting<br />
DISCOP,” where in 2006 she plans to, “introduce two<br />
new titles, THE LEGEND OF FROSTY THE SNOWMAN, and<br />
PETER COTTON TAIL THE MOVIE, while also building on and<br />
developing the relationships I made at DISCOP 2005.”<br />
Also in the early stages of, “making a foot print in the<br />
CEE market,” is Sesame Workshop, says Vice-President,<br />
International Television Distribution, Rene Mascara.<br />
Although Sesame Workshop already has ULITSA SEZARN<br />
well established in Russia, where season<br />
10 is due to launch in September,<br />
Mascara is looking forward to the<br />
April launch of a SESAME block, on<br />
Poland’s Canal+ MiniMini, which will<br />
include PLAY WITH ME SESAME,<br />
ELMO’S WORLD, GLOBAL GROVER<br />
and SESAME ENGLISH. This, she<br />
hopes will, “eventually lead to a local<br />
co-production of SESAME STREET featuring<br />
Polish Muppets and storylines<br />
reflecting the everyday life of a Polish<br />
child.” If this should happen Mascara<br />
reveals, “our goal is to replicate this<br />
programming strategy in other Central and Eastern<br />
European countries,” adding, “we hope to grow as the CEE<br />
grows, and to be an integral part of the evolution of children’s<br />
programming in the region.”<br />
This is an aspiration shared by Canadian kids outfit,<br />
Cookie Jar. “The CEE,” says Sam Ewing, Senior Vice-<br />
President, Sales and Distribution, “is experiencing an<br />
incredible rate of growth, and we want to grow with it.” DIS-<br />
COP is an important part of that ambition because, as<br />
Ewing puts it, “DISCOP gives us the opportunity to personally<br />
meet many of the buyers from the region and to present<br />
them with both our exciting new series such as DOODLE-<br />
BOPS and GERALD MC BOING BOING, and also many old<br />
favourites from our library such as MONA THE VAMPIRE<br />
and PADDINGTON BEAR.”<br />
Echoing Rick Feldman’s earlier point that the CEE is<br />
jumping ahead of the game when it comes to new digital<br />
platforms, Mainline Releasing’s Senior Vice-President<br />
International Sales, Tannaz Anisi, finds the CEE, “a fast<br />
growing market, embracing new technologies and delivery<br />
systems,” adding, “I find it a pleasure to continue to explore<br />
new relationships with new buyers, while continuing to<br />
strengthen those with my existing client base.” }<br />
discop link 03 www.discop.com march 2006 15
AMERICANS ON THE AIR<br />
By Anna Njemoga Kolar<br />
CZECH REPUBLIC: PRIMA TV, PRAHA<br />
TV Prima is a full form TV that is seen<br />
in Czech Republic, and partially in<br />
Slovakia. At the moment, it is the se -<br />
cond significant TV station on the Czech<br />
media market. On its program are<br />
broad cast purchased programs (films,<br />
serials, documentaries) and programs<br />
of its own production (entertainment,<br />
reality shows, quiz programs, serials).<br />
Its audience can watch informative program,<br />
journalism and sports.<br />
PR at Prima TV, Jana Malikova, in -<br />
formed us that purchased programs<br />
are from the Czech Republic, America<br />
and Europe. American films and serials<br />
are significant part of TV program,<br />
since they are very attractive to the<br />
audience. In the program schedule,<br />
they can be found in both daily and<br />
evening hours. During the week serials<br />
for children and the young, sitcoms,<br />
serials for women and criminal movies<br />
are mostly broadcast. In the evening<br />
hours Prima TV offers attractive films.<br />
How does the broadcasting of programs<br />
produced in America look like in<br />
this period (January-February 2006)<br />
BEVERLY HILLS, rating 3, share<br />
19. 55, broadcasting time – afternoon<br />
hours, Mondays to Fridays. Audience:<br />
younger generation, 15 – 34 years old.<br />
MY FRIEND MONK, rating 4, share<br />
15. 86, broadcasting time – Sundays<br />
morning, audience: women aged<br />
betwe en 35 and 54.<br />
PROTECTORS OF AFRICAN WILD -<br />
ERNESS, rating 1.9, share <strong>24</strong>.14,<br />
broad casting time – Saturdays, audience:<br />
men over 45.<br />
PASADENA, rating 3.1, share 15.<br />
88, romantic serial that is broadcast on<br />
Saturdays, women over 45 are the<br />
majority audience.<br />
ROSEANNE, rating 1.7, share 16.<br />
95, spectators can see it Mondays to<br />
Fridays in the morning hours, audience:<br />
women 25 to 34 years old.<br />
THE SEDUCTION, rating 0.9, share<br />
19.29, broadcasting time - Mondays<br />
after midnight, audience: men, 25-44<br />
years old.<br />
BELIEVE – DO NOT BELIEVE, rating<br />
13.6, share <strong>30</strong>.58, broadcasting time<br />
– Thursdays evening, audience: mostly<br />
women 35-44 years old.<br />
WOLF LAKE, rating 1.1, share<br />
25.52, broadcasting time - Fridays<br />
after midnight, audience: men 35-54<br />
years old.<br />
THE LAW AND ORDER, rating 1,<br />
share <strong>24</strong>.79, broadcast time - Sun days<br />
after midnight, audience: men 35-44.<br />
Prima TV also broadcasts Ameri -<br />
can films. This year, audience could see<br />
more than 70 American films. Se the<br />
list below for the most successful five:<br />
- AIR AMERICA, rating 10.2, share<br />
20.14<br />
- I DREAMT ABOUT AFRICA, rating<br />
10.1, share 29.03<br />
- THE BATTLE FOR MIDWAY, rating<br />
9.9, share 21.15<br />
- NOT BEFORE THE WEDDING!, rating<br />
9, share 19.82<br />
- INDEPENDENCE DAY, rating 8.8,<br />
share 19.49<br />
In the next period we are planning to<br />
show new films, serials and animations.<br />
At the beginning of this year, Prima TV<br />
informed the public about signing the<br />
contract with Warner Bros. Company.<br />
This contract provides for Prima TV the<br />
licence for broadcasting the most popular<br />
films, and premiere showing of high<br />
quality TV serials and cartoons, like<br />
classical - Looney Tunes. This contract<br />
is one of the most significant that Prima<br />
TV has ever signed.<br />
By this contract, Prima TV can<br />
broadcast a great number of unique<br />
and successful films, for example,<br />
MATRIX and HARRY POTTER, and<br />
blockbusters like THE LORD OF THE<br />
RINGS, THE TROY, and many others.<br />
From the attractive production for<br />
2005/2006 season, we will soon start<br />
broadcasting the following: POINT OF<br />
NO RETURN/THE ASSASSIN, LAST<br />
MAN STANDING, GLIMMER MAN, ON<br />
DEADLY GROUND, 15 MINUTES,<br />
ERASER, THE MATRIX RELOADED, THE<br />
MATRIX REVOLUTIONS, etc.<br />
It can be concluded that American<br />
production has, and will have, a significant<br />
place in the program of Prima TV.<br />
}<br />
usa & cee<br />
SLOVAKIA: TV<br />
JOJ, BRATISLAVA<br />
TV JOJ is the younger one of the<br />
two private Slovakian TVs. It<br />
began broadcasting in 2002, taking<br />
licence from TV GLOBAL, the<br />
network of Slovakian local stations<br />
from Kosice.<br />
Acquisition Manager, TV JOJ,<br />
Martin Smatlak told us about the<br />
influence of American programs in<br />
this TV’s program scheme, in the<br />
period 1.9.2005 to 31.12.2005.<br />
In this period, TV JOJ broadcast<br />
835 American production programs<br />
of different genres, with<br />
259 premieres. That was 781<br />
hours of program, and 27% of total<br />
TV JOJ program in this period.<br />
285 American films were<br />
broadcast, 72 were premieres.<br />
The length of films was 4<strong>30</strong> hours,<br />
15% of total program. The average<br />
share of the TV in broadcasting<br />
American movies on the Slovakian<br />
market was 19%.<br />
In this period, 28 different serials<br />
were shown, that is 550<br />
episodes. Duration time of these<br />
serials was 12% of total program.<br />
The average share of TV on the<br />
market while broadcasting these<br />
serials was 15.2%.<br />
When speaking about films,<br />
premieres and repetitions had the<br />
same average market share, and<br />
repetitions of serials had higher<br />
share comparing to premieres.<br />
Presence of genres:<br />
- action – 39%<br />
- crime – 13%<br />
- sitcom – 9%<br />
- comedy – 6.5%<br />
- thriller – 5.5%<br />
- cartoons – 5.5%<br />
- romantic – 4%<br />
- horror – 3%<br />
- drama – 2.5%<br />
- adventure – 2.5%<br />
In this period, some of Ame -<br />
rican programs were the most popular<br />
ones on TV JOJ. }<br />
16<br />
discop link 03 www.discop.com march 2006
usa & cee<br />
AMERICAN TV PRODUCTION<br />
IN MONTENEGRO<br />
By Marijana Bojanic<br />
From the newest Hollywood hits to<br />
the legendary black and white cowboy<br />
movies, serials about the most<br />
romantic American couples, the rich<br />
and losers, scientific programs, cities<br />
of the world… The majority of Monte -<br />
negro TVs broadcast various TV programs<br />
of American production.<br />
How and where are they<br />
acquired<br />
Mostly from distributors, say people<br />
from TV houses that we have<br />
talked to. And there are televisions<br />
that can only dream about American<br />
production, because of the prices in<br />
the price list and their own poor financial<br />
situation.<br />
One of the most popular TV hou -<br />
ses in Montenegro is IN Television. It<br />
shows films from American production<br />
every day. General Manager at<br />
this television, Rade Vojvodic, explains<br />
that they broadcast serials and films<br />
of American production following the<br />
quality standards. „We extremly carefully<br />
choose what we are going to offer<br />
to our audience, and we do not want to<br />
neglect the quality at the expense of<br />
price, “Vojvodic says for <strong>Discop</strong> Link.<br />
They do not cooperate directly<br />
with people from America; they purchase<br />
American production by means<br />
of agencies that represent American<br />
production houses in the territory of<br />
Montenegro.<br />
”The presence of American production<br />
on the TV IN program is<br />
between 20% and <strong>30</strong>%, ”explains<br />
Vojvodic.<br />
The youngest TV house in Monte -<br />
negro, Atlas TV, launched its experimental<br />
TV program few days ago.<br />
They broadcast American hit movies,<br />
and legendary Hollywood films that are<br />
almost forgotten. Some of them are<br />
from black & white era. Besides, they<br />
announce a lot of popular serials, of<br />
both new and old production.<br />
US Product: Biography<br />
(AETN International)<br />
One of the people who created this<br />
TV is Stanko Crnobrnja. Crnobrnja<br />
explains that this TV will broadcast<br />
films, serials and different shows of<br />
American production, since audience<br />
wants and loves that. ”We will show<br />
everything that is popular and that our<br />
audience wants, ”says Crnobrnja for<br />
<strong>Discop</strong> Link.” We have good experiences<br />
with Americans and people who<br />
provide all these programs for us.”<br />
One of the owners, General<br />
Manager and Program Editor of independent<br />
TV Montena, Djuro Vucinic,<br />
explains for <strong>Discop</strong> Link that his TV<br />
house does not broadcast American<br />
films or serials. ”We do not have anything<br />
from American production.<br />
American production is too expensive<br />
for an independent TV station.” says<br />
Vucinic.<br />
Anyway, Vucinic says that audience<br />
will soon be able to watch on this<br />
NEWS: ATLAS IN<br />
MONTENEGRO<br />
Recently, RTV Atlas, the<br />
youngest TV house in Montenegro<br />
started its operation. They still do<br />
not have a <strong>24</strong>-hour program. But,<br />
as they say, they are in the second<br />
phase of experimental broadcasting<br />
– every day between 6 p.m. and 2<br />
a.m.<br />
Author show THE BOOK OF THE<br />
DAY just started. It is realized with<br />
the bookstore Karver, with the aim<br />
to present high quality publications<br />
in an original and interesting way.<br />
This show marks the significant segment<br />
of Atlas TV program orientation.<br />
This TV is planning to place<br />
itself as media that affirms culture<br />
and gives program space to cultural<br />
institutions in Montenegro.<br />
In the second phase of their<br />
experimental broadcasting, Atlas TV<br />
will offer films and serials of high<br />
quality. Films will be broadcast<br />
Monday to Thursday at 10 p.m.,<br />
and mini-serials Friday to Sunday at<br />
7 p.m. and 1 a.m.<br />
TV a scientific serial from the USA.<br />
“The serial is in educational character,”<br />
says Vucinic. Thirty hours of documentary<br />
program are just in the<br />
process of translation, and will soon<br />
arrive on the TV screens by NTV<br />
Montena.<br />
The serial is about American governmental<br />
system, civil society, parliamentarism,<br />
and legislation. It is<br />
acquired from the American Consu -<br />
late.<br />
Montenegro is a small TV market,<br />
and all TV houses here operate<br />
through intermediaries; they do not<br />
have contacts with people that directly<br />
procure American production, and<br />
because of that, they do not have<br />
much experience in this field.<br />
For the time being, Montenegrin<br />
TV sky is occupied by telenovelas from<br />
Latin America, while the youngest are<br />
amused by cartoons with elements of<br />
pornography, imported from Asia. }<br />
discop link 03 www.discop.com march 2006 17
programing tools<br />
PRODUCT PLACEMENT: THE MYTHS AND THE REALITY<br />
Product placement certainly generates<br />
strong emotions. It’s “the<br />
plague”, according to one German<br />
public broadcaster. But for some<br />
advertisers, product placement may<br />
become the only way to get their message<br />
across in a world of audience<br />
fragmentation, digital video recor d -<br />
ers, and content delivered on de -<br />
mand. And in the US, the Screen<br />
Actors Guild is agitating to be consulted<br />
(or is it compensated) on how<br />
products are integrated into shows.<br />
PP is an accepted marketing tool<br />
in the US – take for example the<br />
episode of “<strong>24</strong>” which ran without ad<br />
breaks, because Ford had covered the<br />
episode’s costs through a combination<br />
of sponsorship and integrating<br />
their cars into the storyline. But when<br />
a German public channel tried to do<br />
something similar in the soap opera<br />
MARIENHOF, it caused a scandal<br />
which was front page news in<br />
Germany for weeks. And, yes, that’s<br />
the same pubcaster that thinks PP is<br />
“the plague”.<br />
So, how can a producer or broadcaster,<br />
especially in a post-transition<br />
country, understand which deals are<br />
legal And why is it such a big issue –<br />
commercially, and politically<br />
Firstly, all commercial broadcasters<br />
need to diversify our revenue<br />
sources beyond conventional <strong>30</strong>-second<br />
spot advertising. PP will make a<br />
modest contribution to the mediumterm<br />
sustainability of commercial television.<br />
But it’s no magic bullet. For one<br />
thing, it only works in some genres –<br />
great for reality TV or drama, no use<br />
for a package of movies.<br />
How much is a “modest contribution”<br />
The UK regulator OFCOM predicts<br />
that PP could contribute betwe -<br />
en GBP 25m and GBP 50m p.a. in the<br />
UK market by 2010. Variables include<br />
degree of digital penetration, PVR<br />
usage and, of course, advertiser<br />
enthusiasm. But even on an optimistic<br />
forecast, and in a mature market<br />
characterised by a high degree of<br />
investment in original programming,<br />
PP would generate only 1.5% of total<br />
advertising spent.<br />
The interest for European broadcasters<br />
and producers is that if there<br />
is significant advertiser demand for<br />
PP, then we need to be in a position to<br />
meet that demand, or the money<br />
would be lost to the broadcasting sector<br />
altogether. This is about convincing<br />
our advertisers that television re -<br />
mains the best medium ever invented,<br />
and an attractive destination for their<br />
marketing budgets.<br />
But no innovation in television can<br />
take off without asking, “will the viewers<br />
like it” and, at least in European<br />
television, “will the regulator allow it”<br />
So, do viewers like PP<br />
Again, OFCOM can help. Their<br />
recent research on viewer attitudes<br />
concluded that, “PP is generally well<br />
received when it enhances the realism<br />
of a programme, is relevant and not<br />
too prominent… background PP was<br />
the most popular when ranked against<br />
the other means of funding,” and that,<br />
“participants did not like the idea of<br />
being sold to by stealth – they preferred<br />
transparent disclosure of commercial<br />
arrangements.”<br />
So, the viewers are happy – so<br />
long as they’re informed of the PP deal<br />
(the key difference between “<strong>24</strong>” and<br />
MARIENHOF). What about the regulators<br />
This is where it gets complicated.<br />
There’s a basic rule in all EU countries<br />
that programming and advertising<br />
should be separated. Fine, for a <strong>30</strong>-<br />
second centre break, which was what<br />
“advertising” was when the rule was<br />
invented. But unworkable in a world of<br />
virtual advertising, product placement,<br />
interactive ads, scrolling text,<br />
etc.<br />
Help may be on the way. The<br />
European Commission has included in<br />
its proposal for a new Audiovisual<br />
Media Services directive some wording<br />
which would clarify when PP is<br />
legitimate.<br />
The Commission puts forward<br />
four clear rules, and one additional<br />
test:<br />
1. No PP deal involving tobacco;<br />
2. No PP in news and current<br />
affairs programmes;<br />
3. No PP in kids’ programmes:<br />
4. And the existence of PP must<br />
always be disclosed to the<br />
viewer.<br />
Beyond that, the Commission has<br />
previously suggested that PP should<br />
not have “undue prominence” in the<br />
programme. This complicated piece of<br />
regulator-speak means that you can<br />
show brands in a programme, but that<br />
they can’t be decisive in the script. So<br />
it might be OK for a policeman to drive<br />
a BMW, or for a character in a soap<br />
opera to drink Stella Artois. But, if the<br />
policeman turns to camera and says,<br />
“without the BMW’s superior acceleration,<br />
we could never have caught the<br />
villain”, or if the soap star finally gets to<br />
sleep with the barmaid the night he<br />
starts drinking Stella instead of another<br />
brand, then that might fall foul of<br />
the “undue prominence” test.<br />
It’s easy to criticise the European<br />
Commission’s attempts to regulate<br />
the media industry. And there are<br />
many faults with the Audiovisual Media<br />
Services proposal. But in product<br />
placement, the Commission suggestions<br />
are eminently sensible, which<br />
doesn’t mean they are guaranteed to<br />
pass into European law. There are<br />
plenty of vested interests opposed to<br />
seeing commercial television become<br />
more effective – regrettably, including<br />
some print media. And it’s easy to<br />
frighten politicians with lurid tales of<br />
“threats to journalistic independence”<br />
or “misleading consumers”. These are<br />
unfair criticisms, as the Commis sion<br />
has addressed all these points in its<br />
proposal. The ARD/MARIENHOF deal<br />
would remain illegal. Journalistic content<br />
is not open to PP.<br />
This debate will run and run. At<br />
the ACT, we’re regularly asked, “what<br />
are the rules” on product placement.<br />
As these vary enormously across<br />
Europe, the simplest advice we can<br />
give is (1) to follow the new rules suggested<br />
by the Commission, and (2) to<br />
persuade your national ministries and<br />
regulators to support this proposal<br />
being adopted as EU law. }<br />
18<br />
discop link 03 www.discop.com march 2006
programming tools<br />
LOCALIZATION OF FILMS FOR DVDs<br />
By Svetlana Djuricin<br />
Translated and culturally adapted<br />
DVD films content aided by innovations<br />
in subtitling technology reaches<br />
world-wide audience, enhancing the<br />
understanding between cultures.<br />
Film subtitling is a cinematogra -<br />
phic service reaching audiences<br />
throughout the world via readily available<br />
and affordable media such as<br />
DVDs.<br />
Many film localization companies<br />
headquartered in Los Angeles and<br />
London work through a network of linguistic<br />
and technical associates.<br />
Under fierce competition, their aim is<br />
to release films on DVDs for the global<br />
market in as short time as possible<br />
and without compromising translation<br />
quality. This is achieved through<br />
upgrades in subtitling technology and<br />
the use of freelance translators’ services<br />
in lower cost countries.<br />
The fast cycle of film localization<br />
and marketing requires an increased<br />
effort on the part of the translator and<br />
his mastering the new localization<br />
software without compromising the<br />
quality of the final product. The film<br />
translator’s primary task is to produce<br />
the most concise and correct translation<br />
as possible, i.e. cultural adaptation<br />
of the original text.<br />
The task is complex and requires<br />
not only mastery of the target language<br />
but also skills such as creativity,<br />
the ability to recognize the gist of a dialogue,<br />
visualization and cultural adaptation<br />
skills.<br />
The procedure for film translation<br />
for DVD release is simple and driven<br />
by technological innovations and market<br />
demands. Often, the translator<br />
receives via e-mail, the master file with<br />
the source language dialogue list and<br />
the precisely set titles’ in and out<br />
times. Along with the text file, either a<br />
VHS tape quality film is sent, or the<br />
film is copied by the translator onto his<br />
hard disc from the designated file.<br />
A complete synchronization of the<br />
original text, audio-visual material and<br />
the translation is an innovation<br />
enabling the translator to match his<br />
subtitles with the original text and the<br />
picture. The translator is able to<br />
return to subtitles he wishes to check<br />
as many times as necessary until an<br />
optimal translation solution is found.<br />
With the original dialogue divided<br />
into subtitle boxes with clearly marked<br />
times and potentially unknown concepts<br />
thoroughly researched, problems<br />
with incomprehensible/barely<br />
audible material are eliminated, especially<br />
in bonus materials that are<br />
included with a film on DVD such are<br />
director’s commentaries, trailers, featurettes<br />
and making ofs.<br />
The translator of films for DVDs<br />
has to observe some technical<br />
requirements of the work procedure<br />
i.e. to translate everything avoiding literal<br />
translation, to translate the<br />
accompanying text - such are road<br />
signs, names of restaurants and<br />
newspapers, enable smooth flow of<br />
the dialogue, use various language<br />
registers – from highly specialized to<br />
slang, maintain consistency and<br />
observe subtitle box line division rules<br />
and time limits.<br />
The process of film translation<br />
also involves observing the grammatical<br />
rules with idiomatic and cultural<br />
nuances to produce really high quality<br />
work serving as a model for literacy.<br />
Therefore, to achieve this, it is important<br />
to avoid literal translation and to<br />
correctly render all text, finding the<br />
equivalent expressions for puns and<br />
proverbs.<br />
In addition, the translator has to<br />
observe some subtitling industry-specific<br />
technical requirements which,<br />
first of all, call for the translation of the<br />
entire text. If this is impossible due to<br />
time limitations (i.e, in- and out- times<br />
of subtitles), film dialogues are to be<br />
truncated in such a way as to preserve<br />
their natural coherency and the<br />
smooth flow.<br />
Text accompanying the dialogues<br />
is also translated, e.g. street signs,<br />
notices and names of restaurants and<br />
newspapers. Names and common<br />
phrases which are repeated in subsequent<br />
boxes and are obvious to the<br />
reader need not always be subtitled.<br />
When transcribing character<br />
names, addresses, book and film<br />
titles, abbreviations, numbers and<br />
measurements etc. full consistency<br />
has to be retained. Of equal importance<br />
is the observance by the translator<br />
of the subtitle box line division<br />
rules.”<br />
Generally, technical requirements<br />
involving translation consistency and<br />
quality assurance are more easily<br />
upheld across the translation fields by<br />
an increased deployment of a number<br />
of computer-aided translation tools<br />
(CAT) that have sprung up in recent<br />
years, such as Trados, DejaVu,<br />
MetaTexis, SDLX and Wordfast. The<br />
use of these tools involves saving the<br />
translation units in a database called<br />
“translation memory” (TM) enabling<br />
their later re-usage in the same or any<br />
other text.<br />
Global content is further supported<br />
by the wealth of resources for<br />
translators found on the Internet such<br />
are dictionaries and glossaries, of not<br />
only major languages, but also of the<br />
ones of lesser diffusion. We should<br />
say thad the impact of globalization on<br />
the letter could be manifested in their<br />
gaining higher visibility via multilingualism<br />
as expressed through DVD technology,<br />
among other things.<br />
Further developments in the localization<br />
industry-specific CAT and quality<br />
control tools, and their integration<br />
into the specific work flow processes,<br />
as well as automatic voice and cut<br />
recognition are set to further streamline<br />
the localization process, reduce<br />
international marketing cost and<br />
enable simultaneous shipment to multiple<br />
markets.<br />
Likewise, the continuous improvement<br />
of localization practices for films<br />
on DVDs, standardization of language<br />
and translation rules and the content<br />
that is adapted locally can lead to an<br />
increase in the consistency and accuracy<br />
in this form of global communication.<br />
}<br />
discop link 03 www.discop.com march 2006 19
telenovela block<br />
<strong>TELENOVELA</strong> AND AUDIENCE<br />
By Dejan Pralica<br />
The phenomenon of popularity of<br />
telenovelas, which are better<br />
known as “Spanish serials” in the countries<br />
generated from former Yugo -<br />
slavia, is not typical only for this<br />
region. However, since in the CEE the -<br />
re was an expansion of Latin-American<br />
serials in a relatively short time, media<br />
theoreticians, sociologists and media<br />
owners have got opposed opinions<br />
about the influence this kind of TV<br />
entertainment has on public.<br />
Because of their easy content, full<br />
of stereotypes about love, jealousy,<br />
infidelity, man-woman relationships,<br />
and family relationships, and cheap<br />
placement of tens, even hundreds of<br />
short episodes, this kind of TV serials,<br />
i.e. telenovelas, is accepted by large<br />
audience. Media say that usually<br />
housewives and retired women are<br />
those who are fond of “Spanish serials”,<br />
but these serials are regularly or<br />
occasionally also watched by pupils,<br />
teenagers, and even students and<br />
educated people. Of course, if you ask<br />
them whether they watch any of these<br />
serials, they will smile vaguely depriving<br />
you of the confirmative answer.<br />
The higher their education, the less<br />
honesty showed. Why are educated<br />
people so ashamed of telenovelas<br />
DOES NOT BURDEN THE<br />
BRAIN<br />
Cultural sociologists may agree on<br />
one thing: the “soaps” are a typical<br />
massive culture representative. They<br />
have all features of massive culture.<br />
They are (Dragan Kokovic, 2004)<br />
“equalizing different cultural levels,<br />
searching and attracting great number<br />
of people, increasing cosmopolitan<br />
characteristics of cultural values,<br />
commercialization...” The fact is that<br />
telenovelas are intended for a relatively<br />
wide and heterogeneous audience,<br />
and since the target group is so dispersive,<br />
hitting the target was easy.<br />
The British culturologist and psychologist<br />
Rob Vederil (Vederil, 2005)<br />
classifies “soaps” into pop culture. He<br />
explains pop culture as wide span of<br />
cultural forms that are easily available<br />
and accessible to everyone. Pop culture<br />
overcomes all class and ethnic<br />
differences. In addition to “soaps”,<br />
there are also commercials. And by<br />
combining these two things, media<br />
owners have reasons to be very satisfied.<br />
The audience will complain about<br />
commercials, but will patiently wait for<br />
the end of the episode.<br />
LET’S WATCH DOMESTIC<br />
Since we live in the era of globalization,<br />
with strong media influence,<br />
“family intrigues” from distant South<br />
America had moved in the Balkans<br />
region, and a great number of commercial<br />
TV stations in Serbia and<br />
Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia and<br />
Herzegovina, as well as Hungary,<br />
Romania, Bulgaria and even Greece<br />
have bought original scripts for<br />
“Spanish serials”, engaged domestic<br />
actors, and the effort was worth their<br />
while. Yet, it looks paradox that a typical<br />
Serbian family, for example, lives in<br />
a big house, has three kids, father,<br />
mother (with unavoidable lovers), and,<br />
of course, a nanny and servants, by<br />
South-American model.<br />
Majority of globalization theoreticians,<br />
according to Italian anthropologist<br />
Christiano Giordano (Giordano,<br />
2001), would like to convince us that<br />
the world is in the middle of the turn in<br />
which all societies, step by step,<br />
become closer to one another, and<br />
become more alike. Famous culturologist<br />
Marshal McLown, could not even<br />
dream about telenovelas when, in the<br />
middle of the 20th century, predicted<br />
that the world will become “a global village”.<br />
Telenovelas have brought the<br />
expansion of South-American cultural<br />
values on our market. Connection of<br />
domestic and foreign, by commercial<br />
TVs, is an interesting undertaking<br />
that, as it has been proved, guarantees<br />
financial success.<br />
THE MORAL CULTURE<br />
When speaking about correct<br />
media usage, with the accent on moderate<br />
consumption of TV contents, TV<br />
broadcasters and individuals from<br />
audience share equal responsibility.<br />
User – spectator has the task to<br />
choose time and topics that are interesting<br />
for him. French culturologist,<br />
Louis Dolo (Dolo, 2000), emphasizes<br />
the man and his mission to be trained<br />
and capable not to bear things that<br />
others have imposed, but to choose<br />
things that are appropriate for his personal<br />
development and to throw away<br />
what is not needed.<br />
Next time when we ask people if<br />
they watch telenovelas or “soaps”, will<br />
we receive the same answer, or the<br />
situation will drastically change, de -<br />
pen ding on the quantity and, of<br />
course, the quality of other content<br />
that is placed on TV. Until on the<br />
majority of the CEE TV channels different<br />
telenovelas are broadcast at the<br />
same time, our audience will be moved<br />
into the fiction of beautiful South-<br />
American landscapes, actors and ac t -<br />
resses, and live in a different world,<br />
with a smile on their face, running<br />
away from everyday problems. Is it OK<br />
to deprive them of such satisfaction<br />
}<br />
22<br />
discop link 03 www.discop.com march 2006
programming / formats<br />
discop link 02 www.discop.com november 2005 23
telenovela block<br />
<strong>TELENOVELA</strong> IN THE CEE<br />
- PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE<br />
Are TV broadcasters and audience<br />
in the CEE familiar with telenovelas<br />
DISCOP LINK’s network of journalists<br />
had researched the position of<br />
genre in some countries of the region.<br />
BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA<br />
“TV BIH FEDERALNA broadcasts<br />
only on one channel and due to that,<br />
only one term is provided for telenovalas.<br />
We broadcast telenovelas THE<br />
PEPPER AND THE CHOCOLATE every<br />
working day at 5:<strong>30</strong> pm. That part of<br />
the program is well covered in the<br />
marketing sense and is very attractive.<br />
Second showing is at 9 am the following<br />
day. When this serial is finished,<br />
we will start broadcasting MEN<br />
OF HONOUR,” says Tatjana Majhrov -<br />
ski, Chief of Foreign Program.<br />
In Banja Luka TV ATV, the number<br />
of telenovelas is going to be reduced in<br />
the next period. “We gladly broadcast<br />
teenage telenovelas, such as STEP<br />
FORWARD, “says Branko Lazic, one of<br />
the owners. “On ATV, there are three<br />
serials: THE COLOUR OF SIN broadcast<br />
by GLOBO TV at 8 pm; THE<br />
WOMAN IN FRONT OF MIRROR at 6<br />
pm; and THE BRIDE’S VEIL broadcast<br />
by TELEVIS at 4 pm. Researches show<br />
that ratings and popularity are<br />
decreasing; there are around 16<br />
telenovelas that BIH audience can<br />
watch. Telenovelas from domestic<br />
productions have growing popularity, ”<br />
added Lazic .<br />
BULGARIA<br />
Olga Lozanova, TV Programming<br />
Expert, says for <strong>Discop</strong> LINK that<br />
Bulgarian televisions have great interest<br />
for soaps for three main reasons:<br />
first, very low price; second, great<br />
number of episodes that guarantee<br />
the formation of a stable slot during<br />
the broadcasting and, third, rating<br />
maintenance that facilitates the sale<br />
of advertising time.<br />
The soaps almost always return<br />
investments and bring the profit, since<br />
the ratio price/popularity is very<br />
favourable.<br />
They are ideal “addition” to “out of<br />
prime time zone” and generally, every<br />
television is interested in them. Soaps<br />
are something like “the blue litmus” in<br />
complete program of media that<br />
broadcast them – the greater the ratings<br />
of TV, the better the soaps. They<br />
can not be “rocket booster” that would<br />
pull the media forward, but surely they<br />
are “Oscar” winners for a supporting<br />
role. There are, of course, “veterans”<br />
that play the leading role in ratings of<br />
some TVs, as is the case with the serial<br />
THE ARROGANCE AND THE BEAU-<br />
TY on Bulgarian National TV (BNT),<br />
but this is an exception.<br />
The interest for soap serials in<br />
Bulgaria is stable and permanent, with<br />
a mild increase being the result of<br />
complete market development and<br />
not the genre boom.<br />
CROATIA<br />
There are two telenovalas on the<br />
Croatian national TV: LOVE HAS NO<br />
PRICE and WORLD OF THE FAMOUS.<br />
“As a public service, HRT has no much<br />
space for telenovelas. There are two<br />
telenovelas broadcast by TV: a<br />
Mexican telenovela LOVE HAS NO<br />
PRICE that is broadcast on HRT1 at<br />
12:25 pm, and the serial THE WORLD<br />
OF FAMOUS that is broadcast on<br />
HRT1 at 9 am, and on HRT2 at 4:25<br />
pm,” says for DISCOP LINK Ranka<br />
Horvat, Foreign Programme Editor at<br />
TV HRT, Zagreb. “We co-operate<br />
exclusively with TV GLOBO, whose serials<br />
are from the Mexican Spanish language<br />
area, and TELEVIS from the<br />
Portugal language area,” says Horvat.<br />
CZECH REPUBLIC<br />
“TV NOVA started broadcasting<br />
telenovelas in the year 1999, to be<br />
more precise, on February 1, 1999,”<br />
says Veronika Smitkova, TV Nova PR.<br />
“The first telenovela was such a success<br />
that we removed it from early<br />
afternoon hours to prime time. After<br />
the ‘boom’ in the beginning, interest of<br />
audience started falling and the tele -<br />
novela lost its prime time in 2000.<br />
Now we are fond of broadcasting<br />
European telenovelas (of Russian and<br />
German production), but, honestly,<br />
telenovelas are not our priority. We<br />
have maximum two telenovelas on our<br />
program, and we broadcast them in<br />
the early afternoon.”<br />
GREECE<br />
Telenovelas in Greece are in a<br />
kind of a static situation. Currently,<br />
only one station is broadcasting two<br />
first run telenovelas in the late afternoon<br />
slots, and another station is<br />
broadcasting two rerun telenovelas,<br />
also in the early afternoon slots.<br />
The competition that telenovelas<br />
face is intense as they run against<br />
Greek reality and gossip shows, Greek<br />
soaps and Greek rerun sitcoms.<br />
Depending on their ratings and<br />
other variables, we may see more<br />
telenovelas in the near future as they<br />
could be regarded as a low-cost programming<br />
alternative appealing to<br />
heavy TV viewers and could possibly<br />
create viewers’ loyalty!<br />
MACEDONIA<br />
TV A1 continues the practice of<br />
having at least three telenovelas during<br />
a day. For some of the serials it is<br />
very obvious that they are compensations<br />
(provider leaves the broadcasting<br />
to a TV station and receives advertising<br />
time for their clients, in return),<br />
which resemble a classic barter.<br />
POLAND<br />
Recently, national TVP achieved<br />
the highest rating with 27%; TVN was<br />
on the second place with 18.4%; and<br />
POLSAT took the third place, with the<br />
rating that was little lower.<br />
“TVP presently shows just one<br />
telenovela of foreign production, BOLD<br />
AND BEAUTIFUL,” says Malgor Zapa<br />
Cup, Acquisition Department at Polish<br />
National TV. TVP prefers serials of<br />
domestic production, such as ‘L’ FOR<br />
LOVE that is broadcast twice a week at<br />
8:05 pm, and has 10 million spectators.<br />
<strong>24</strong><br />
discop link 03 www.discop.com march 2006
telenovela block<br />
HOW DO THEY CHOOSE<br />
Telenovelas are still one of the most popular TV formats<br />
in South-Eastern Europe. In spite of the attack by the<br />
great number of producers that produce and sell this kind<br />
of programming, only top quality and confirmed ones are<br />
being bought. But, how do buyers recognize top quality<br />
One of the most frequent statements, which we have<br />
found in our research, was: “We do not have enough<br />
money to buy cheap!”<br />
Of course, we’ve also got more specific answers:<br />
“When I decide about the serial that we may broadcast<br />
on HRT, I choose them subjectively. I choose serials<br />
for the wide audience and older population. Classical love<br />
stories have priority. Some of the criteria are that telano -<br />
vela is from the best production, with carefully selected<br />
cast, and rich exterior. We try to broadcast telenovelas<br />
with theatre actors, and we are constantly informing ourselves<br />
about them from the magazines covering this kind<br />
of production,” says for DISCOP LINK Ranka Horvat. “We<br />
cooperate exclusively with TV GLOBO, whose serials are<br />
from the Mexican Spanish language area, and with TELE-<br />
VIS from the Portugal language area. I observe the work of<br />
these two production houses, and consider them to be the<br />
best.<br />
Tatjana Majhrovski said that for selection quality of<br />
production is crucial.<br />
“We had found the quality with the productions of<br />
GLOBO TV and TELEFE International from Argentina.”<br />
“Criteria that I use to choose telenovelas are, in the<br />
first place, successful production house, telenovela’s success<br />
and popularity on other markets, and the quality of<br />
the story,” says Branko Lazic. “I choose love stories like<br />
CINDERELLA BECOMES PRINCESS and similar stories.”<br />
In Bulgaria, besides obvious criterion being the production<br />
quality, another important criterion in the selection<br />
of a serial is how it fits into the complete program<br />
scheme of the media.<br />
Ratings of the serial in countries with similar audience<br />
are also important (the Balkans, Russian republics, East<br />
European countries). Also, there is always a matter of<br />
price of certain serial.<br />
Completely “unprofessional” yet applicable is the<br />
selector’s intuition criterion that plays a decisive role in<br />
soap serials selection.<br />
In Romania, among the criteria for the acquisition and<br />
broadcasting soap appears are: the topic (the favourite<br />
being the classical ones which give off the subjects of the<br />
childhood’s fairy tale; Cinderella, Snow-White and the like);<br />
the script (the most favourite were those of Delia Fiallo);<br />
the actors (famous, beautiful, suitable for a specific part);<br />
quality of production (favourites are the Mexican ones and<br />
those from Peru).<br />
“Telenovelas as a genre are very popular in Slovenia<br />
and their rating constantly increases. One of the principal<br />
selection criteria for this kind of programming is, primarily,<br />
their success on the foreign markets, followed by the<br />
quality of production and the cast, because the Slovenian<br />
audience has criteria different from the audience in the<br />
region. Therefore, we are strict in our intention to satisfy<br />
the taste of the choosiest spectators,” says Petra<br />
Uranjek.<br />
TVN has been on the Polish media<br />
sky since 1997 (its roots are in regional<br />
TV WISLA) and its target group is<br />
urban audience aged between 16 and<br />
49. “During the past year, three tele -<br />
novelas of foreign production were<br />
broadcast”, says Radoslaw Ziolek.<br />
“They were Columbian THE BITTER<br />
REVENGE, which attracted 900,000<br />
spectators per episode, and two<br />
Mexican serials, THE SINNER and THE<br />
HEART OF STONE with 1.2 million and<br />
500,000 spectators, respectively.<br />
This year, THE COLOUR OF SINN and<br />
new episodes of THE BITTER REVEN -<br />
GE will be broadcast.<br />
TVN is producing three new tele -<br />
novelas at the moment. Investments<br />
are much higher compared with the<br />
amounts needed for the purchase of<br />
foreign production, but ratings show<br />
that our audience prefers domestic<br />
telenovelas.”<br />
ROMANIA<br />
In 1994 and 1995, when the first<br />
private televisions in Romania started<br />
attracting viewers and taking important<br />
place on the mass-media market,<br />
South-American telenovelas also<br />
appeared. Subsequently, these series<br />
won more and more viewers, so that<br />
the commercial generalist televisions<br />
entered a real fight over broadcasting<br />
as many soap operas as possible. In<br />
1998, Media Pro Corporation (which<br />
held PRO TV television, broadcasting,<br />
newspapers and the like) created a<br />
special television, ACASA TV, which<br />
continually broadcasts soap operas,<br />
but also some programming for<br />
women. At present, ACASA is broadcasting<br />
fifteen South-American series.<br />
Moreover, Media Pro Corpo ration registered<br />
its first performing two years<br />
ago, when the first Roma nian soap<br />
opera appeared. Now it is broadcasting<br />
the second one, which scored with<br />
the viewers of this kind of programming.<br />
On the other hand, PRO TV<br />
doesn’t broadcast any kind of soap<br />
opera.<br />
Antena 1, another generalist television,<br />
which is a part of a great media<br />
Continued on page <strong>30</strong><br />
corporation, was the first to launch a<br />
soap opera in Romania. Gradually, due<br />
to increased demand, the quality of<br />
the release deteriorated. There were<br />
not original scripts, there were more<br />
repicturisations, and the topics were<br />
alike. Now, Antena 1 doesn’t broadcast<br />
South-American soap operas<br />
either, as the audience gradually<br />
decreased. Those being fond of such<br />
programs know that they have a specialised<br />
channel for them, ACASA TV.<br />
Antena 1 also made Romanian soap<br />
operas, together with LA DOLCE VITA,<br />
which is being broadcast since last<br />
autumn, in the evening at 10 o’clock,<br />
and which was a success (audience<br />
share is 7-8%). Recently, Antena 1<br />
broadcast a Russian soap, first season,<br />
in the afternoon at 5 o’clock, also<br />
with great success.<br />
Other commercial generalist televisions<br />
either do not broadcast soap<br />
operas at all, or they have two or three<br />
serials. It must be noticed that simul-<br />
discop link 03 www.discop.com march 2006 25
telenovela block<br />
DAILY INSTANT ROMANCE <strong>TELENOVELA</strong>S IN<br />
HUNGARY<br />
By Erika Kocsor<br />
Hungarian television channels have<br />
been broadcasting a plenty of<br />
telenovelas for years. Romantica is,<br />
however, “the only channel dedicated<br />
to love” which appeared in Hungary. If<br />
you look at the programme schedule<br />
of the bigger or smaller channels,<br />
whether commercial or public service<br />
ones, everyone broadcasts a couple of<br />
daily romantic soap operas. Most of<br />
them are produced by Latin-American<br />
production companies.<br />
The Hungarian television market<br />
is based on the competition among<br />
the two national commercial channels<br />
(RTL Klub, TV2), the terrestrial channel<br />
of MTV, and the Hungarian public<br />
service television (m1), although there<br />
are numerous cable TV companies in<br />
the country as well. If you compare the<br />
figures of RTL Klub and TV2, they are<br />
now running almost side by side having<br />
an average <strong>30</strong>-32% share among the<br />
viewers aged 18-49, compared with<br />
m1, which owns only 10%.<br />
TV2 has been reaching the viewing<br />
rates of its main competitors in the<br />
last few years, and recently, at weekends,<br />
even it has beaten RTL Klub. In<br />
order to be able to strengthen its market<br />
position during the weekdays as<br />
well, TV2 decided to produce its own<br />
daily telenovela, being envious of the<br />
success of the BARATOK KOZT<br />
(AMONG FRIENDS), RTL Klub’s soap<br />
opera, which has been running on the<br />
channel from 1999 on weekdays in<br />
prime time, showing a standard 37-<br />
40% share among the most demanding<br />
viewers from the commercial<br />
aspect.<br />
Gabor Kereszty, Director-General<br />
at TV2, and Andras Svaby, Managing<br />
Director of Interaktiv-Fiction department,<br />
which produces JOBAN ROS -<br />
SZBAN (FOR BETTER, FOR WORSE)<br />
emphasise that the brand-new soap<br />
opera is not a licence programme, but<br />
genuine Hungarian one, from conceiving<br />
the idea till its realization. The<br />
Hungarian viewers can easily become<br />
one with its situations and characters;<br />
for better, for worse, as in real life. The<br />
producers chose a subject which has<br />
already made a conquest of the audience’s<br />
heart many times. The handsome<br />
chief surgeon, coming home<br />
from the States wants to set an example<br />
for the Hungarian public health, by<br />
establishing an ideal hospital. The<br />
story is full of intriguing doctors, good<br />
and ill tempered patients, faithful and<br />
fickle women, danger, and, of course,<br />
love. The series began on January 23,<br />
2005. It is on TV2 at 7 pm from<br />
Mondays to Fridays.<br />
Tamas Kalamar, the producer of<br />
AMONG FRIENDS (BARATOK KOZT),<br />
an 8-year old telenovela run on RTL<br />
Klub, can be really proud of his child.<br />
He says, “The main reason of its success<br />
is that AMONG FRIENDS stands<br />
close to ordinary people, and it represents<br />
different minorities of the society<br />
as well.<br />
The Hungarian soap opera is<br />
about a group of friends who spent<br />
their childhood together in a big house<br />
25 years ago. One day one of their fellows,<br />
the founder and leader of<br />
Berenyi Building and Construction Ltd.<br />
dies in a car accident, but nobody<br />
knows exactly how. The tragedy<br />
changes the lives of everyone. The<br />
friends took over the enterprise,<br />
changing the old building, where they<br />
were once children, into a modern<br />
apartment house. They live their<br />
everyday lives in friendship, intrigue<br />
and love like all the other characters in<br />
all the other telenovelas in the world.<br />
As for MTV, the Hungarian public<br />
service television is concerned about<br />
the fact that they have not produced<br />
their own soap opera yet, and that<br />
they do not expect to do so in the near<br />
future either. In 2004, MTV launched<br />
a new series titled ELETKEPEK<br />
(GENRE PICTURES), which is on m1 on<br />
every second Tuesday in prime time,<br />
with a psychiatrists’ talk show coming<br />
right after it.<br />
It resembles the SZOMSZEDOK<br />
(NEIGHBOURS), the popular telenovela<br />
of the late eighties and nineties,<br />
but it is no wonder, because its writerdirector<br />
is the same, Adam Horvath.<br />
In 1987, when NEIGHBOURS began,<br />
the genre was considered absolutely<br />
new. With its mild social criticism,<br />
many commonplaces, charming ordinary-looking<br />
characters living in blocks<br />
of flats in a socialistic housing estate,<br />
it was one of the most watched telly<br />
programmes on MTV, every two<br />
weeks up until 1999. Partly because<br />
of a kind of its retro feeling and partly<br />
to have its “daily MTV telenovela”, m1<br />
started broadcasting it again at 6:50<br />
pm, Mondays to Fridays.<br />
The new GENRE PICTURES is taking<br />
place in a contemporary garden<br />
quarter and it is about a drama of two<br />
families, whose fates intermingle<br />
when a widow journalist’s son falls in<br />
love with a wealthy dentist’s daughter…<br />
There is, however, a brand-new<br />
weekly youth telenovela on m1, which<br />
started at the end of 2005. The director<br />
of the series, Vera Takacs says<br />
that the point of interest of the KLIP-<br />
PEREK (CLIPPERS) is how the story of<br />
the film is happening in the 25 minutes<br />
of the programme itself. It is on at<br />
10.40 am on Saturdays; the story<br />
covers 2 sisters (aged 23 and 13) and<br />
a brother (aged 17) living without<br />
parental control, because their mom<br />
had to leave to England because of her<br />
job. According to the surveys and the<br />
messages of the young viewers on the<br />
website and blogs, there is finally a<br />
fashionable and popular youth series<br />
on MTV; the audience of the public<br />
service television, however, still has to<br />
wait for a daily telenovela with flesh<br />
and blood characters and a real<br />
human story, or at least a cup of daily<br />
instant romance. }<br />
26<br />
discop link 03 www.discop.com march 2006
telenovela block<br />
MORE THAN 200 HOURS PRODUCED<br />
BY AVA PRODUCTION<br />
By Dragana Stanic<br />
AVA TV PRODUCTION was founded<br />
in March 2003, since its found -<br />
ers have concluded that Croatian market<br />
lacks high quality TV programmes.<br />
“By many variables, AVA - with the<br />
number of produced hours and high<br />
ratings, is the most successful TV production<br />
in the region,” says Roman<br />
Majetic, Producer and joint owner of<br />
this house. The first Croatian tele -<br />
novela VILLA MARIA was a great hit –<br />
during this year AVA will produce more<br />
than 200 hours of featured programme,<br />
arranged in 4 projects:<br />
telenovela LOVE IN OFFSIDE; political<br />
thriller (20 episodes) CONSPIRACY;<br />
multi-seasonal mini soap (60 epi -<br />
sodes) MARINA; and a telenovela for<br />
the season 2006/2007, ORDINARY<br />
PEOPLE. We have asked Majetic how<br />
AVA recognized telenovela as a profitable<br />
form of production.<br />
Market research has shown that<br />
it is one of the forms that is most<br />
demanded by the audience. Our estimation<br />
is that imported forms,<br />
besides universal values (relations<br />
between people, emotions, etc.) have<br />
no close social context to the region in<br />
which they are broadcast. Therefore,<br />
we decided to make one bastard: to<br />
write a script for a great drama serial<br />
and produce it in the form of telenovela.<br />
It was a success.<br />
Tell us something about the deve -<br />
lopment of telenovelas in your house.<br />
As in every TV product, pre-production<br />
is the essential part. The<br />
preparation process of our first tele -<br />
novela (VILLA MARIA) lasted about a<br />
year, and included intensive work on<br />
the script and parallel collecting of production<br />
knowledge, to produce such a<br />
serial in this area. We had support<br />
from numerous productions (primarily<br />
in “know-how”), before all by the<br />
Mexican TV AZTECA, that was very<br />
inclined towards our pioneer project.<br />
Did AVA enter into production of<br />
VILLA MARIA alone, or it had coinvestors,<br />
or, at least, the firm broadcasting<br />
agreement<br />
AVA financed the whole project by<br />
its own assets, more precisely, by the<br />
assets of its owners, and partially by<br />
the assets collected on the financial<br />
market, with the help of Hypo Alpe-<br />
Adria Bank. The project certainly was<br />
a high risk project, since we got the<br />
agreement with the broadcaster at<br />
the moment of product presentation,<br />
and until that time we had already<br />
spent more than 70% of the budget.<br />
What are the difficulties that AVA<br />
was faced with during the production<br />
of VILLA MARIA, and how did it manage<br />
to overcome them<br />
The VILLA MARIA project was a<br />
great school for us. And like every<br />
school, it has its price. I will tell you one<br />
thing that I am really proud of. When<br />
we attended the telenovela summit, in<br />
Barcelona (September 2004), we<br />
were given special awards for production<br />
and direction (in the strongest<br />
productions competition – HBO, Tele -<br />
vise, Telemundo, TV AZTECA, etc.).<br />
People from these high developed production<br />
houses with 40 years of experience<br />
said that a production of high<br />
quality telenovela requires a 5-year<br />
period, and that VILLA MARIA looks<br />
like a 4-season project.<br />
Are you satisfied with audience’s<br />
reactions to VILLA MARIA in Croatia<br />
and outside Croatia<br />
The audience is the reason for our<br />
work and we are more than satisfied<br />
with their reactions to VILLA MARIA,<br />
and also to LOVE IN OFFSIDE. Serials<br />
have the greatest ratings in Croatia<br />
(average rating of total broadcasting is<br />
27%, share of 58%), but we are especially<br />
proud of the results achieved on<br />
more competitive markets, like Serbia<br />
and Montenegro, where we have<br />
unexpectedly great results, in severe<br />
competition with domestic serials.<br />
Was VILLA MARIA a successful<br />
project<br />
Love in Offside: Nada Gacesic Livakovic<br />
& Filip Juricic<br />
If we observe only financial<br />
results, I would have to say “no”. But, if<br />
we observe our business strategy, the<br />
answer is positive. We did not place<br />
VILLA MARIA on the market as a high<br />
risk project (which would mean high<br />
profits), but we decided for minimal<br />
commercial price instead, with an estimation<br />
that in future, as a high-deve -<br />
loped production, we will make<br />
greater profits.<br />
Are you satisfied with the results<br />
of LOVE IN OFFSIDE Where can the<br />
serial be seen<br />
The same as above. The serial is<br />
broadcast in the territory of former<br />
Yugoslavia, except for Slovenia, where<br />
only VILLA MARIA is broadcast. At the<br />
moment, we plan to broaden the market<br />
for all our serials.<br />
There is an open contest on your<br />
website for TV serial scripts. What is<br />
the response like<br />
The response is great. We receive<br />
all sorts of proposals, of course, and<br />
sometimes they are very good. For<br />
example, the script for LOVE IN OFF-<br />
SIDE is the result of this contest.<br />
}<br />
discop link 03 www.discop.com march 2006 27
SHINE ON TV SCREENS IN<br />
FYR MACEDONIA<br />
telenovela block<br />
By Zivko Andrevski<br />
Macedonian TV program is full of<br />
telenovelas that people usually<br />
call “Spanish serials”. When we look at<br />
the program scheme of TV stations<br />
(with national and local concessions),<br />
we may conclude that every spectator<br />
is every minute supplied with such a<br />
content (literally, since 00:00 to<br />
<strong>24</strong>:00). We have looked at program<br />
structure of TV A1 (that distributes<br />
the signal all over the country and<br />
that, according to the research<br />
results, has the widest audience) for<br />
the February 2nd, 2006. The following<br />
telenovelas were broadcast on<br />
that day: TEACH ME LOVE (three<br />
times); UNTAMABLE HEARTS (three<br />
times); GYPSY WOMEN (two times),<br />
total of 450 minutes. Having in mind<br />
their announcements, we have time of<br />
500 minutes in <strong>24</strong> hours.<br />
THE WRONG TIME<br />
The whole story started in 1997,<br />
when national Macedonian TV broadcast<br />
the famous CASSANDRA.<br />
Female audience simply went mad:<br />
they cried, grieved, loved, suffered<br />
and enjoyed. And men were not indifferent<br />
either. Some facts connected to<br />
CASSANDRA certainly deserve communicational,<br />
social, psychological,<br />
and, I would say, medical analysis.<br />
There are some examples: one<br />
woman read the translation aloud to<br />
her old husband, and immediately<br />
after broadcasting they repeated it,<br />
and they again repeated it (two times)<br />
the following day, before the new<br />
episode. Daily newspapers “Vecer” on<br />
the whole page used to tell the content<br />
of the episode. That text became a<br />
part of the program of a local radio<br />
station in Prilep. In Skopje, one man<br />
In Macedonia one project was<br />
realized by a telenovela model. It was<br />
THE WRONG TIME, produced and<br />
broadcast by the Macedonian stateowned<br />
television during 1999 and<br />
2000. Story about Zivko Marti -<br />
novski, economist, his wife, who is<br />
working in hospital, their two daughters<br />
who were growing up and falling<br />
in love, his mother who is representing<br />
wisdom of traditional Macedonian<br />
village, his impression that he is living<br />
in the wrong place and time, and his<br />
surrounding full of various characters,<br />
should have lasted 50 epi -<br />
sodes, but, for financial reasons, the<br />
serial was put to an end after 37th<br />
episode.<br />
Writer of THE WRONG TIME,<br />
Vlado Dimovski, remembers how the<br />
serial was popular with audience, and<br />
he told us that the actor, playing the<br />
main character in the serial, had<br />
problems to appear in public, be -<br />
cause everybody had to give him an<br />
advice on how to arrange his own virtual<br />
life and solve the problems in his<br />
virtual family.<br />
Vlado Dimovski is a writer and<br />
journalist who is not writing only for<br />
TV, and one of the most impressive<br />
lines is his CV is a scenario for 120<br />
episodes of children serial THE WISE<br />
HEAD, which achieved not only excellent<br />
rating, but it was also sold very<br />
well on VHS tapes.<br />
has imagined that Cassandra was his<br />
own daughter, and upon his neighbor’s<br />
remark that she was immoral (since<br />
she had love affairs with several men –<br />
Ignacio, Luis David, Manrike...) he<br />
grabbed the knife to slaughter the<br />
neighbor.<br />
After CASSANDRA had been on,<br />
Macedonian public received the theoretical<br />
elaboration of the teleno vela<br />
phenomenon by the leading media<br />
theo retician, Dona Kolar-Panova,<br />
PhD. “Enormous popularity of the serial<br />
can be easily understood when we<br />
identify the dual origin of this genre<br />
from both romantic and realistic litera -<br />
ry tradition,” said Dr Kolar-Panova.<br />
Recently, on the TV Sitel (national<br />
concessionaire) a show from the<br />
ZEBRA LIFE cycle (by Eli Peseva) was<br />
dedicated to telenovelas. Among the<br />
guests that were “pro” was Cvetan ka<br />
Laskova (the owner of the KAN House<br />
that imports telenovelas) and the<br />
actress Sofija Kunovska; “contra” was<br />
Zoran Bojarovski, a journalist and<br />
author of this text. Telenovela “defenders”<br />
have argued that, “people love<br />
that”, and that we need, “few happy<br />
moments”, in gloomy reality. Teleno -<br />
vela “opponents” mentioned low (or<br />
non-existing) cultural and artistic level,<br />
the lack of creativity, and meaningful<br />
message (they last long and say nothing,<br />
contrary to a general communication<br />
process that is brief and says a<br />
lot).<br />
In Macedonia, one project was<br />
realized according to the telenovela<br />
model. It is called THE WRONG TIME.<br />
The project has been produced and<br />
broadcast by the Macedonian TV during<br />
1999 and 2000.<br />
The facts at the beginning of this<br />
text are true, and it is also true that on<br />
the variety of TV channels telenovelas<br />
simply rage. Rating is not small. In<br />
their time, CASSANDRA, ESMERAL-<br />
DA and THE CLONE had the highest<br />
ratings, compared with all other program<br />
contents. }<br />
28<br />
discop link 03 www.discop.com march 2006
telenovela block<br />
BOY MEETS GIRL, ROMANTICA FALLS<br />
IN LOVE WITH <strong>TELENOVELA</strong>S, AND<br />
EVERYONE LIVES HAPPILY EVERAFTER<br />
By Bob Jenkins<br />
Kathy Fairbairn, Head of Program -<br />
me Acquisition for Romantica and<br />
Club, is, “thrilled to be sponsoring the<br />
second DISCOP Gala dinner celebrating<br />
the hugely popular genre of the<br />
Telenovela,” adding, “and where better<br />
to celebrate the telenovela than the<br />
romantic city of Budapest.”<br />
The telenovela form is very important<br />
to Romantica, which Fairbairn<br />
describes as a “drama and entertainment<br />
channel for women, in which<br />
telenovelas make up a very significant<br />
part of our schedule.” And DISCOP is,<br />
“a very important market for us<br />
because all the telenovela sellers are<br />
her,” explains Fairbairn. She goes on,<br />
“the other important aspect of DIS-<br />
COP is that it is a market at which you<br />
get time to talk to sellers, which is very<br />
important when buying telenovelas. It<br />
is very important to be able to form a<br />
clear idea of what the highlights of the<br />
story are, where else it has worked<br />
and why it might work for Romantica.<br />
And to do that, you simply have to have<br />
the time to sit and chat with the seller.”<br />
Although Romantica originally only<br />
took their telenovelas from Venezuela,<br />
they now also buy them from Mexico,<br />
Argentina and Columbia, the rest of<br />
their schedule comprising series form<br />
the US, Canada and Australia as well<br />
as movies from Europe and Latin<br />
America in order, as Fairbairn puts it,<br />
“to offer a window on the world.”<br />
She believes that the telenovela<br />
popularity in the CEE is something on<br />
an historical accident. “I think,” she<br />
insists, “that twenty to thirty years<br />
ago, when they were first bought by<br />
stations in the region, they were<br />
bought because they were cheap and<br />
there was a lot of them. They were<br />
used as daytime fillers, but gradually<br />
grew in popularity. Now, of course, “<br />
she adds, “there’s an entire generation<br />
for whom the telenovela has<br />
always been an important part of their<br />
television landscape.”<br />
Aside from their undoubted popularity<br />
with audiences in the region, the<br />
telenovela form offers many attractions<br />
for broadcasters as well. “The<br />
biggest attraction,” admits Fairbairn,<br />
“is that once an audience has hooked<br />
into a telenovela, as a broadcaster you<br />
have created an appointment to view<br />
that will run five days a week for a minimum<br />
of six months, and possibly as<br />
long as twelve or fourteen, depending<br />
on the length of the telenovela.<br />
Whereas in the case of a standard<br />
series of twenty-two episodes, you<br />
essentially have to go out and sell each<br />
episode to your audience all over again<br />
every week.” Although she does admit<br />
that this can also be a disadvantage,<br />
“if your audience just does not buy into<br />
a telenovela, then you are stuck with<br />
poor ratings in that slot for as long as<br />
From ROMANTICA’s offer<br />
- Girls Behaving Badly<br />
it runs.” This is because having a story<br />
with a beginning, middle and end, is, in<br />
Fairbairn’s view, “one of the three key<br />
elements of a telenovela.” The other<br />
two being, “in addition to having a<br />
beginning, middle and end, a true<br />
telenovela also has a finite number of<br />
episodes and a love story as its central<br />
storyline.”<br />
Another of Fairbairn’s theories<br />
concerning telenovelas is that, “there<br />
are essentially three storylines, the<br />
classic Cinderella story, the more<br />
modern story, often involving a career<br />
woman experiencing difficulties at<br />
work, and one with a teenage protagonist,<br />
aimed at a younger audience.”<br />
Scheduling telenovelas is, reveals<br />
Fairbairn, “mostly about getting the<br />
mix right. While it is true that there is<br />
essentially only one telenovela plot,<br />
boy meets girl, they fall in love, have all<br />
sorts of problems, and end up walking<br />
off into the sunset, this story is set<br />
against a number of different back<br />
drops,” she explains, “and so,” she<br />
continues, “it is important to get a balance<br />
between the settings. Also,<br />
there is a core group of actors who<br />
appear in almost all the telenovelas<br />
and so, when scheduling, it is important<br />
to pay attention to the casting of<br />
the telenovelas. If, for example, the<br />
same actor is playing the father of two<br />
different characters in to different<br />
telenovelas, you would not want to play<br />
them one after the other. Finally,” she<br />
concludes, “different countries have<br />
very different looks, different colour<br />
palettes, directorial techniques and<br />
different styles.” }<br />
discop link 03 www.discop.com march 2006 29
telenovela block<br />
DISCOP 06 CELEBRATES 15 YEARS OF SUCCESSFUL<br />
<strong>TELENOVELA</strong>S PROGRAMMING IN THE CEE<br />
By Patrick Jucaud<br />
Next June, the annual DISCOP television content & formats<br />
market will celebrate 15 years of successful<br />
Telenovelas programming in the Central & Eastern Europe<br />
during its 14th edition to be held from 22 to <strong>24</strong> June in<br />
Budapest at the Sofitel Atrium Hotel.<br />
Telenovelas have been a successful fiction genre<br />
across all CEE television marketplaces since the first DIS-<br />
COP market in the early nineties - which already regrouped<br />
the most important Latin-American Telenovela producers!<br />
15 years later, Telenovelas are still drawing vast audiences<br />
throughout the CEE with original series produced not<br />
only in Latin America but also in Russia, Serbia-Monte -<br />
negro, the United Kingdom, Israel and Germany.<br />
To mark this phenomenal success, the DISCOP Organi -<br />
zation will organize a ‘Gala Evening’ to which all CEE Tele -<br />
novela programmers attending DISCOP 06 will be invited.<br />
The ‘Gala Evening’ will take place on Friday 23 June,<br />
the 2nd day of DISCOP 06, which will include a cocktail<br />
party sponsored by DORI MEDIA GROUP’s VIVA channel<br />
and a dinner party sponsored by ZONE VISION’s ROMANTI-<br />
CA channel.<br />
“The Telenovela genre has become hugely popular in<br />
the CEE,” says Nadav PALTI, President and CEO of DORI<br />
MEDIA GROUP. “It is a very promising market for us and we<br />
are delighted to sponsor the DISCOP 06 ‘Telenovelas Gala<br />
Evening’ cocktail party in Budapest. This event is an excellent<br />
opportunity for all Telenovela professionals in the<br />
region and for DORI MEDIA GROUP, to exchange ideas and<br />
present their high quality TV content and channels.”<br />
“Programming television for women has never been<br />
more exciting or challenging,” says Kathy FAIRBAIRN,<br />
Channel Manager at ROMANTICA, “and ZONE VISION has<br />
DISCOP LINK RESEARCH<br />
Continued from <strong>pages</strong> <strong>24</strong>-25<br />
taneously with the decrease of<br />
Romanian public interest for soap<br />
operas, the increase in both number<br />
and popularity of televisions which continually<br />
broadcast news, political, economical<br />
talk-shows, financial and<br />
informative programs is observed.<br />
SLOVAKIA<br />
According to Barbara Stubanova,<br />
audience of the Slovakian Public<br />
Service is not too fond of telenovelas<br />
nowadays. Before, STV broadcast on<br />
its channel 1 as much as five serials,<br />
but today they have only one serial. In<br />
the future, STV will search for telenovelas<br />
from the European production.<br />
According to Elza Strapkova at TV<br />
Markiza, this television could, after 10<br />
years of broadcasting, only confirm<br />
that their family-oriented programming<br />
was a right choice. Afternoon<br />
hours, when the majority of household<br />
members have a short rest, are the<br />
best time for this kind of programming.<br />
DISCOP 06 Telenovelas Gala Evening will take place at the<br />
Gerbeaud Cafe in Budapest<br />
two of the most interesting and successful pan-territory<br />
channels within its bouquet: ROMANTICA and CLUB. We<br />
are delighted, therefore, that ROMANTICA will once again<br />
sponsor the ‘Telenovelas Gala Evening’ dinner party during<br />
DISCOP 06. This unique event, set in the romantic city of<br />
Budapest, is an opportunity for programming professionals<br />
to celebrate their passion for quality television designed<br />
especially for modern woman.”<br />
Companies which have agreed to book a table at the<br />
‘Telenovelas Gala Evening’ already include the following DIS-<br />
COP 06 participants: A MEDIA, EUROPRODUCCIONES TV,<br />
FREMAN TLEMEDIA, GLOBO TV, PREMIUM MEDIA, RCTV<br />
INTERNATIONAL, SE VEN ONE INTERNATIONAL, TELEVISA<br />
ESTUDIOS, TEPUY INTERNATIONAL, TV AZTECA, and<br />
VENEVISION. }<br />
SLOVENIA<br />
“TV Slovenia does not broadcast<br />
telenovelas, and there are no pro -<br />
spects for their inclusion into our programme<br />
scheme,” says for DISCOP<br />
LINK Vladimir Frantar, Assistant<br />
Editor, Foreign Programming.<br />
In Slovenia, telenovela fans may<br />
watch telenovelas on POP TV, where<br />
currently four telenovelas are being<br />
broadcast in the afternoon hours,<br />
said Petra Uranjek, PR at POP TV.<br />
“Everyday POP TV program could not<br />
bear one more term for a telenovela,<br />
so we are not going to increase their<br />
number. Four serials are quite eno -<br />
ugh, and we will replace each of the<br />
completed serials with a new one”. }<br />
<strong>30</strong><br />
discop link 03 www.discop.com march 2006