discop link • #11

CEE dossierTV MARKET PATTERN INBOSNIA & HERZEGOVINABy Dragana StanicAt the moment, in the territory ofBosnia and Herzegovina someforty televisions broadcast their TVprogramming. Interesting enough,the Public Broadcasting System inB&H also operates well. It comprisesthree public radio and TV stations -two entity broadcasters, the Radio-Television of Republika Srpska and theRadio-Television of the Federation ofB&H, and the third one being theleader on the federal level, the PublicBroadcasting Service of Bosnia andHerzegovina. Competition for audienceshare in B&H goes on two levels.On the second level are small TV stationsfrom the beginning of this report.The first level is occupied by thebig ones. In the struggle for audienceshare, beside the above RTV systemsand TV stations like ATV Banja Luka,NTV Hyatt, TV PINK, TV BN, and OBNonly the strongest survive. Also, thereis a growing number of competitive televisionstations from Serbia andCroatia, which viewers in B&H watchvia a cable network.Elvir Svrakic, director, NTV Hyattsays that they broadcast satellite programmingvia the cable network inAustria, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland,Sweden, France, Slovenia, andMacedonia, but not in Serbia and Croatia.“On the other hand, cable networksin B&H illegally broadcastHTV1, 2 and Nova TV, which is provedby the contracts signed with contentdistributors. From Serbia only RTSbroadcasts, based on settled rights,"maintains Svrakic. "We have done ourbest to protect our legal rights, however,we failed. They keep broadcastingthe same content as we do, and inthe same language."For those who want to betterunderstand the media situation inB&H and the neighbouring countries,the important fact is that some contentdistributors treat Serbian, Croatianand Bosnian languages as thesame language. "If you ask me how tokeep our viewers, I will tell you that inB&H we and Nova TV broadcast thesame sports events. The audienceshare, however, is on side of Nova TV,"says Svrakic. "Our own production iswhat differentiates us from our maincompetitors. In addition, we acquiretop quality world programming. By theend of this year we expect to becomeNo. 1 TV station in B&H," Svrakic isdetermined.The situation in the public broadcastingsector is slightly different. Theposition of the Public BroadcastingService of Bosnia & Herzegovina doesnot depend on commercial televisions."The difference between commercialand public televisions," explains InesMrenica, PR PBSB&H, "is most obviousin terms of broadcasting globalevents. Every TV station may acquirequality content or buy a feature blockbuster,but only the No. 1 Public BroadcastingService may get the EuroSong Contest or the Olympic Games”.One of the great problems theBosnian media market has to tackle isthe fact that neighbouring televisionsinterfere in their television marketthus decreasing the advertising timefees. Mrenica says that PBSB&H hasmade a deal with the Association ofCable Operators according to whichthe signal of the neighbouring televisionstation is being coded during exclusivesports live broadcasts (ChampionsLeague, FIFA WORLD CUP).Jasmin Durakovic, general manager,RTVFB&H, says that Radio-Television of the Federation, being thepart of the Public Broadcasting System,is the most influential electronicmedia in B&H. "During the pastyears," explains Durakovic, "we hadthe greatest share in our primary territory(B&H Federation), and certainlythe greatest market share on theB&H television market. Our dominationon the Federation TV market isthe result of our investments intodomestic (local) production whichmade us the leaders in the productionof news and fiction programming. FTVis the major producer of successfuldocumentaries, arts and culture contentand programmes targeting childrenand youth in B&H. As for entertainmentcontent, we keep our groundrelative to commercial televisions, inparticular to Pink B&H being our maincompetitor on the market."Durakovic also stresses out thatthe development of cable networks,arrival of regional and world TV stations,and new forms of TV contentdistribution will further fragment themedia market, which will lead to furtherrating decrease of domestic TVstations. "Regional markets (particularlyin Croatia and Serbia) are considerablystronger than ours. Also, televisionsfrom these countries havegreater production potentials and are,therefore, stronger than B&H TV stationsin terms of finances and advertising.FTV tries to tackle this problemby producing the best possible localcontent, and to offset the influence ofthe neighbouring TV stations by enteringregional co-productions. Consequently,FTV is now producing severalprogrammes in co-operation with theCroatian private TV stations (RTL andNOVA TV). I believe that these formsof co-operation should also be developedbetween public service broadcastersin the region, because this willbe the only appropriate response toglobal TV companies penetrating thismarket," concludes Durakovic. }42 DISCOP LINK • #11 • NOVEMBER 07