Lenka Hrivnáková, Author at The Association of Commercial Television

ARRESTS IN ILLEGAL STREAMING CRACKDOWN

In one of the largest operations to date, UK intellectual property protection body FACT and partners, including Sky, have taken action across the UK to combat illegal streaming and the use of unlawfully modified Firestick devices.

In a month-long coordinated and sequenced nationwide surge, FACT and police targeted individuals providing unauthorised access to premium TV content, including film, television and live sporting events.

From Essex to Dundee, 40 illegal IPTV operators were identified, investigated, and served with official warnings. Cease-and-desist notices were delivered in person by FACT and police, and through post and email, instructing those running the services to immediately halt their illegal activity or face criminal prosecution. The operation targeted individuals across the UK, including London, South East England, West Midlands, North West, North East, North Wales and Scotland.

These notices are part of a broader campaign to disrupt and dismantle piracy operations. Three warrants were also served leading to the arrest of a 42-year-old man in Nottingham, a 51-year-old man from Widnes and a 52-year-old man in Stockton-on-Tees. Digital devices and ‘fully loaded’ smart TV devices or Firesticks were also seized from the addresses and are currently undergoing forensic examination by FACT.

Additionally, Sky actively works to remove listings and social media posts selling illegal IPTV subscriptions and ‘loaded’ Firesticks in the UK and Ireland. During this intensification period they removed over 3,000.

This targeted intensification period over June and July has already proven highly effective. It has resulted in the majority of illegal services being taken down and their advertising removed from platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X.

FACT works with sports rights holders and broadcast partners, including Sky, The Premier League, TNT Sports and Virgin Media, to investigate and prosecute suppliers of illegal streaming services, other IP crimes, and those accessing illegal content. Illegal IPTV undermines broadcasters’ rights by diverting revenue streams, enabling users to access premium content without providing proper compensation.

Kieron Sharp, FACT CEO, said: “These measures underscore the serious consequences of engaging in such illicit activities. We thank the police services involved for their invaluable assistance in this operation, particularly Cheshire, Nottinghamshire and the North East Regional Crime Unit for executing the warrants.

“The rise in illegal IPTV operators using modified Firesticks to unlawfully access premium content is a growing concern. This not only infringes upon copyright laws but deprives content creators and distributors of their rightful earnings and disrupts the economic balance of the creative industry. FACT and our partners are steadfast in our commitment to disrupt these criminal operations. This is just the start of our enforcement efforts, with more actions planned.”

Matt Hibbert, Group Director of Anti-Piracy at Sky, added: “The action taken by FACT, police and Sky across the country sends a strong message to those involved in illegal streaming operations that they will be identified, and they will face consequences.

“We are very grateful to our partners for this latest wave of enforcement, and we will continue to work together to protect consumers from the risks of illegal streams. To this end, Sky proudly supports educational campaigns, including BeStreamWise.com, which highlights the risks of piracy and directs consumers to safe ways to enjoy the content they love.”

Source: advanced-television.com

SUNDAY NOON IS THE “GOLDEN TIME” FOR HOBBY SHOWS ON PRIMA

Prima has concentrated its hobby programmes around Sunday lunchtime. The series of programmes forms an important vertical, which it also exploits commercially.

Four shows broadcast between 12:00 and 14:00 every Sunday formed the backbone of TV Prima’s Sunday programming this spring season. To the trio of established programmes Receptář prima nápadů, Libovky by Pepa Libický and Vychytávky by Láďa Hruška, the programme Zahradník po ruce was added in mid-April. Prima has already announced that hobby topics will become an important axis of one of its thematic verticals, which it will offer to advertisers. In addition to TV shows, this media group includes the websites Českýkutil.cz, Primanápady.cz, Zahrádkářská poradna.cz and PrimaDoma.TV. The range of online video programmes with a hobby focus is even wider than the aforementioned TV titles. Social media and performance campaigns for clients are also on offer. We spoke about hobby shows with representatives of Prima Doma Media, which creates hobby content for the Prima Group. Stanislav Knotek (12%) and Jiří Kadrnka (8%) are also minority owners of this company, which is majority owned by Prima Media Club Group.

This spring, Prima has expanded its Sunday hobby shows to include the new feature Gardener at Hand. The number of programmes in this block increased to four and the novelty complemented Receptář prima nápadů, Vychytávky Ládi Hruška and Libovky Pepa Libický. How is the whole block doing on air?

It is essential to say at the outset what a hobby is. The band airs around Sunday lunchtime, when the whole family is sitting in front of the TV, and our job is to make the shows interesting for all members of the household who are watching. So that every member of the family can find their own theme in our hobby programmes. From the kids, to the parents, to the grandparents. So it’s not just about introducing workshop topics such as tools, gardening, or affectionate dog training, but the whole household, which is a broader range, including insurance, energy, savings and so on. Newly in Libovky, for example, modern building technologies, or on the contrary, the nowadays very resonant topics of recycling and upcycling.

The four programmes have a net time of two hours, which is equivalent to the length of a feature film. The entire block reaches an audience of around 300 000 viewers over the age of 15, with a share of 16-18% of the audience, which we consider to be a solid result in this day and age. Moreover, we are only talking about the viewership in a linear TV broadcast without reruns. The other thing is that each show has its own social media accounts, including active industry groups, which bring in tens of thousands more followers and millions of users on the networks. For example, within Prima Doma’s online portfolio, that’s 12 million views of short hobby videos a year. We also leverage partner resources, such as Stream.cz, where there are an additional 2 million views of our videos per year.

Can the reach of hobby shows be described in summary? Or do you provide clients with reach numbers on a channel-by-channel basis?

One thing is the reach of linear broadcasting, which we talked about. Prima Doma is the primary vertical in the hobby segment, which means we cover everything from TV broadcasting, to online, social networks and the print magazine (Prima gadgets, published in cooperation with Prima’s agency Solootions and Mafra, ed.). The aggregate reach is wide. Each week, around 25 videos are produced during the shoot, which we continue to use in various digital forms on our websites and networks. This content now represents over nine thousand videos that we work with.

“Each week, around 25 videos are created during filming, which we continue to use in various digital forms on our websites and networks. This content now represents over nine thousand videos that we work with.”

Do you only create video content for the web from what is created for linear broadcast, or do you create additional content for social media and the web?

Yes, we create separate videos mainly for social media and trailers to promote shows when it comes to new viewers. Separating content in the form of videos for the internet is also necessary due to cross media campaigns so that we reach the relevant audiences well.

Hobby shows took up time around noon on TV Prima’s Sunday schedule. Have viewers got used to it?

Yes, they now know that they can find hobby programmes on Prima at this time. Of course, they have to try in a certain way to find the ideal place for a programme. It is true that it also helps that the hobby block starts at 12:00. This suits the audience, as we have found out when there were some shifts and it started later. It’s a golden time for our slot. We may have tried other slots with similar shows, mostly on the weekend, and it didn’t really work for us.

This year, the hobby shows band expanded to include a new show, Gardener at Hand. What was your intention in launching it?

We launched it for two reasons. Firstly, we see that the hobby shows band attracts viewers and can command viewership. We felt it was still untapped. And the second is that – as they say – you can never have enough garden and gardening topics. But we wanted to come up with a garden show that was something unique. We see that uniqueness in the emphasis on organic growing methods and a sustainable approach to gardening. It’s a highly topical subject today, and with this show we have the opportunity to show TV viewers through practical advice and demonstrations how they can grow their own food without the use of aggressive chemicals, how to create natural oases for the whole family, whether in the garden or on the balcony. We also feel a social obligation to make this topic more widely known.

Do you envisage expanding the block with another programme?

The entire hobby block of programmes is based on our mainstay, which is Receptář prima ideů. We can call it our incubator. If we see that some topics or sections are more interesting to our viewers, we try to offer them as separate shows, “pulling them out of the drawer”.

This is what we did, for example, with the aforementioned Gardener at Hand. The presenter of the show, Tomáš Trejbal, with his recipe column is proof of this. Tomáš is a very good presenter, an expert in the word, the show is full of ideas and he pulls it all off. We’re actually playing it safe. His ideas and tips that he presents to the audience are beneficial.

As we said, we also try to respond to trends in society, which is the case with The Gardener at Hand. It focuses on natural gardens or balcony gardening in cities. He advises people on how to grow their own potatoes in a small space in a fabric pot or save space in the garden with potato towers. Everyone in our company is familiar with mycorrhizal fungi and their effect on the soil and crops. Protecting flowering fruit trees and shrubs has certainly been something we have all dealt with in the country this year, and advice on dealing with pests using attractant plants and mechanical barriers will also be used by every gardener. This is the Gardener at Hand. It seeks to show how to care for the garden in a sustainable natural and permaculture way. We think we hit the zeitgeist and the social mood thematically as well.

And if we go back to the topic of other shows, we still have that imaginary hobby drawer full.

How big is the group of people in the Czech Republic who might be interested in hobby topics? According to Nielsen research, up to 40% of the Czech population visits chains like OBI, Hornbach or Bauhaus once a quarter, which means that the broad base could be in the millions.

Obviously, that group is not entirely small and can be measured in different ways. It can also be measured by the online portfolio, i.e. our websites, which are visited by up to 800,000 people per month depending on the season, generating up to 3.5 million marketable banner impressions and, as we said, a million views of short videos. The second metric is social media, where we have about two million people that we have a relationship with and can reach with client performance campaigns.

So a client can buy a campaign across all of the channels that you talked about…

There are several levels to this. Either we deal directly with the end client or we deal through an agency. Usually the pillar is TV, which delivers the overall reach in the population, online then reaches the younger population. With social we then target performance, i.e. leads, product sales on clients’ e-stores. On the positive side, because of our knowledge of the target audience, we can guarantee unit, minimum performance prices in advance.

“Usually the pillar is TV, which delivers the total reach in the population, online then reaches the younger population. With social, we then target performance, i.e. leads, product sales on clients’ e-stores.”

Are clients interested in using the entire vertical to its fullest?

They’re trying it out. And they usually conclude that they will increase their cooperation with us financially next year. Especially on social media, which is also due to our active work with non-commercial content. A huge asset is our social hobby audience, with whom we actively work on a daily basis. We’ve been successful so far in making performance campaigns pay off for clients. The uplift is then ultimately down to the combination of TV, online and social.

The flagship show of the entire hobby block is the Recipe Book of Primo Ideas. But are you thinking of changing any of the other hobby programmes or their faces?

Certainly not this autumn. Receptář prima idejaů is a clear constant, the flagship is also Libovky by Pepa Libický. We’re waiting to see how the new Gardener at Hand will establish itself this autumn. So far it has done well, with a total of eleven above-average episodes in the spring. And Láďa Hruška, the key face of Vychytávky, will be closing the whole hobby block in the autumn schedule. We are working with the fact that the block can be extended, we have prepared variants, but we do not count on them within this autumn.

Source: mediaguru.cz

NOVA HAS EXTENDED THE AUDIO DESCRIPTION FOR ITS STATIONS ON SKYLINK AND IN DVB-T2

Nova TV has equipped its smaller thematic programmes Nova Gold and Nova Lady with the audio description function. The accompanying service can be activated by customers of the satellite operator Skylink and viewers who receive the DVB-T2 signal of Multiplex 24.

Audiodescription is an auxiliary service for blind and partially sighted viewers. The audio commentary over and above the dialogue approximates what is happening in a particular scene. This enables visually impaired people to better understand the context. Nova Gold, for example, broadcasts older popular crime dramas, while Nova Lady offers soap operas.

Diode transcription can be switched on and off in the TV’s settings or by pressing the AD button on the remote control. The settings may vary depending on the manufacturer and model of the TV. Nova group broadcasts so called receiver mix, where the viewer can individually control the volume of the audio description and separate it from the programme sound.

All TV stations are legally obliged to make at least 3% or 4% of their programmes accessible to people with visual impairments. Nova group has already introduced this service in the past as part of the main TV Nova station.

The addition to smaller stations is beyond the scope of the legal obligation, and Nova wants to confirm its commitment to social responsibility and inclusion.

Source: lupa.cz

WHAT TO SUBSCRIBE TO AND FOR HOW MUCH? NETFLIX, VOYO, DISNEY+, MAX AND OTHER POPULAR STREAMING SERVICES IN CR

You can watch big-name Hollywood blockbusters, the latest TV series and interesting documentaries in just a few clicks. How much? Is Netflix, Disney+ or Max better? And why subscribe to VOYO? We’ve prepared a list of the 10 most popular platforms in the Czech Republic with their subscription prices and tips on what they offer.

Streaming services are technically called VOD services after video-on-demand. They experienced their biggest boom during the coronavirus, when people couldn’t go to the cinema and generally stayed at home a lot, but their popularity is still growing. Especially with their own production of series and films. You can download the app to your TV, computer and phone.

It does have one drawback though – if you want to watch more of the flagship shows that are the talk of the town, you have to subscribe to multiple services, sometimes three. For example, you can watch Czech Iveta on Nova’s VOYO, the historical-erotic series Bridgerton on Netflix, and Pixar’s animated series on Disney+. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Below you’ll find a list of the 10 most popular services in the country.

What streaming services you can find in article:

VOYO
Disney+
Netflix
Max
Amazon Prime Video
Apple TV+
SkyShowtime
Prima+
iBroadcast
O2 TV

Read whole overview on: kupi.cz

Source: kupi.cz

PRIMA’S CEO SINGER: CHANGE IN LICENCE FEES WILL SHARPLY INCREASE CZECH TV’S REVENUES. IT COULD ROCK THE MARKET

The proposal to increase licence fee collection is facing opposition from private broadcasters. Marek Singer, CEO of the Prima media group, states that the current proposal would provide more revenue to public television and radio than the lawmakers claim.

At the end of June, the government approved the so-called major media amendment, which is supposed to strengthen the budgets of Česká televize (Czech Television, CT) and Český rozhlas (Czech Radio, CR). Among other things, the proposal foresees an increase in licence fees and a widening of the range of those who will have to pay them. The broadcasting market is therefore lobbying for hundreds of millions of Czech crowns that are crucial for how the cards will be dealt between public and private media.

The current draft to be discussed in the Chamber of Deputies on Thursday, 11 July has been criticised by the opposition as well. For example, the draft envisages that the fee will apply to households that do not have a television or radio but use smartphones or internet connection. It also includes an increase in fees from companies. The number of employees will now be a determining factor and larger companies will pay up to tens of thousands of Czech crowns. The change in the law is also intended to allow fees to increase automatically in line with inflation. The Ministry of Culture, which proposed the amendment, argues that television licence fees were last increased in 2008 and radio fees even in 2005.

Thanks to the amendment, Czech Television, for example, should receive about CZK 870 million more in its budget year on year. This year, the broadcaster is working with a budget of almost CZK 8 billion.

A wave of opposition to the proposal was raised by private broadcasters. One of the critics is Marek Singer, the head of the second-largest commercial television group in the Czech Republic. Singer argues, for example, that according to the calculations of Prima and the Association of Commercial Television, CT will end up receiving much more money than the bill’s drafters claim. He states that it would be between CZK 1.5 and 2 billion and that it is not clear how the ministry arrived at its calculation. Singer said such a sharp increase could also affect the programme production market.

“No one disputes the fact that Czech Television needs more money because of inflation and other reasons. What we are questioning is whether it should be such an abrupt change that we calculate at more than 20 per cent year on year. That will rock the entire market,” says Singer in an interview for Hospodářské noviny. “We need to know where the publicly owned Czech Television will move. It is financed differently than we are, and it is not dependent on the market and its fluctuations.” If the market gets bigger, Prima will also have to respond with more investment, Singer adds. The Association of Private Broadcasters, Prima, and other companies from the broadcasting industry formulated their reservations about the media amendment in a letter sent to Prime Minister Petr Fiala in May.

Even before that – in January – you were invited to workshops to be part of the preparation of the law. Do you feel that your views were not considered?

There were two processes running simultaneously. One was that we were pointing out the illogic of first announcing how much money should be allocated to the public media and then discussing what the money should be used for. That is our main objection. In response, the Ministry of Culture set up a working group to discuss the so-called memorandum. It is supposed to specify what the new money will be for and what the public service should be. The working group did not focus on other parameters, such as whether the fee should be adjusted for inflation. All of the quantitative, financial parameters were dealt with by the government coalition in parallel, without the working group having any knowledge of it or being part of the decision-making. The coalition simply talked it over separately.

But the memorandum discussion has not been finalised…

There was no one in the working group to kind of move it forward. We tried and took the initiative to propose at least a framework specification of the public service. We somehow commented on the proposal with Czech Television and that was the end of the working groups. Then, the Minister of Culture Martin Baxa (ODS) announced the draft of the final law.

Czech Television says that it is now drafting the memorandum and will describe its public service…

It is a very commendable initiative from the new CEO, Jan Souček, and his team. For the first time, someone is trying to describe what Czech Television will do in the next five years. The memorandum should specify the content priorities of Czech Television and its digital services. But still, the process is upside down. Logically, the Government’s Legislative Council said in its comments that Czech Television should fulfil its public service rather than defining it. The state is the one who should define it. We are also concerned that it is not clear what legal force the memorandum will have. Whether it is not just a piece of paper that any future government will rewrite.

The memorandum has a certain binding force in the sense that if the CEO of Czech Television does not comply with it, he can be dismissed. Is that not enough?

We are afraid that if the new government thinks it would be nice to increase the licence fee not by 15 but by 40 crowns, the memorandum will do nothing about it.

The private broadcasters do not like the financial parameters of the government’s proposal. Why?

There is a disagreement about how much money will actually flow to Czech Television thanks to the new law. The calculation depends on what model you use. We are using two models and both of them say it will be significantly more than what they are now estimating. Czech Television already said under the previous management that it needed to add between CZK 300 million and CZK 500 million a year but according to our calculations, it will get an extra CZK 1.5 billion to CZK 2 billion.

It seems to me that you don’t want Czech Television to broadcast more advertising, and at the same time, you don’t want it to receive more money from the fee payers…

We never said that CT should not get more money. We are saying that the model is built incorrectly. We have a dual system in the Czech Republic, which should ensure that both commercial and state-owned, public-service TV and radio stations are competitive. Nobody disputes the fact that CT needs more money because of inflation and other reasons. What we are disputing is whether it should be more than 20 per cent year on year as our calculations indicate. That will rock the whole market. If that money is reflected in production prices on a one-off basis, the whole market, including CT, will be affected.

We, the members of the Association of Commercial Television, have a consensus that the amount of funding for CT should not be determined first, earlier than the memorandum is dealt with. We also see a problem in the way the indexation of licence fees is proposed, in the way fees are collected, and in the increase in fees from companies. Above all, we are concerned about the extension of the definition of a payer as it is proposed now. These things together, plus the extension of the VAT exemption, make it a very different proposal.

Why is it a problem for you that licence fees should rise in line with inflation?

Personally, I am quite bothered that this is the first state institution that has guaranteed inflation protection. Why is that? Why does the Road and Motorway Directorate not have that? Perhaps only pensions are mandatorily indexed. If I understand correctly, there is a cap on the maximum increase in fees of six per cent. But it is not entirely clear, and we will try to clarify it.

Let us come back to the memorandum. There is a public service remit specification available today. It dates back to the 1990s but it is a certain list of what the public service is supposed to be. Is that not enough?

It is not enough because the market looks different today. And if so much money is to be poured into the public service media – CZK 1.5 billion into Czech Television and half a billion into Czech Radio – the state rather than the commercial media should want to know what they will get in return. After all, it is a public service. We would need to know where the public-service Czech Television is going as it is financed differently from us and is not dependent on the market and its fluctuations. Because if the market boosts, we have to try to be complementary.

Will CT be able to have advertising on its online platforms or not? That is also not clear from the current proposal.

If my understanding is correct, CT has accepted that it will not have advertising there. But in the final proposal, there was a surprising exception for advertising on video-on-demand services. We hope that someone just overlooked it and the ministry will eventually correct it.

The draft media amendment goes to the Parliament now. There is still room to lobby for changes. What will you do?

We are not just writing letters; we are going to try to compare our models with the ministry to see the difference. We will try to talk to anyone in the government or parliament about it. We will be explaining why we think it is a risky thing to make the increase so dramatic.

Are your TV competitors in agreement with you on the bill?

I don’t want to speak for them, but I would say that they agree with us on the principles that we are discussing: when there should be a memorandum, when there should be a law, and what a reasonable rate of increase in CT’s revenue is. But we would certainly find differences in the details. Each of us has our own priorities. For example, Nova is very interested in sports rights, so logically they want to know how much CT is going to intervene in sports.

But the letter to Prime Minister Fiala is missing the signature of someone from Nova. Why?

You will have to ask Nova. (Tereza Žižková from the Nova Group’s communications department wrote in response to HN: “We do not have a fundamentally different position on the key parameters concerning the major media amendment. It is just a question of how intensely and how positively we perceive the progress in the negotiations with the Ministry of Culture.” – ed.)

Have you received any official response to the letter to the Prime Minister?

Not yet.

The television market is changing, the viewership of classical television is decreasing, IPTV is growing in importance, and viewers are watching programmes on mobile phones and tablets. Competition from video-on-demand services is growing. What do you see as the biggest threat to the existing TV business model today?

The old linear model is based on watching a broadcast that you can’t fast-forward or rewind, and you have advertising with a certain amount of footage embedded in the broadcast. Thanks to technology, there are other platforms like IPTV, tablets, or mobile devices. And for various reasons, there is either no or significantly less ad space there. But fewer people are watching traditional TV. That means that in order for TV to maintain its original ad space reach, it should sell more advertising on those other platforms. That is partially successful, but it is not one-to-one. In an hour watched, a viewer is exposed to many more minutes of video advertising on linear TV than on any other platform.

So it is a threat to ad revenue…

That’s right. That’s why TV needs to figure out a way to target advertising more. Because the better I can target, the less advertising that nobody cares about I have, and the less space I need on these new distribution platforms.

How do you target better?

It’s hard. It’s about data. You use statistical models that are based on the knowledge of who is looking at what by IP address. You try not to bother your viewers with advertising and only hit them with ads that are relevant to them.

What is the development of corporate ad spend this year?

Fortunately, the TV and radio advertising markets – the two segments we are primarily interested in – are still showing unit percentage growth. And given that we have been able to hold on to market share, that means some growth for us as well. Online advertising is still a relatively small part of the portfolio for us, although we are seeing growth there as well.

Will you have better revenues for this year than last year?

That’s hard to say right now because autumn has the most weight of the whole year, but so far it looks like it. We have invested a lot in content, video services, and so on, so our growth has not translated into profit. For the first half of the year at the group level, we expect a unit percent increase in sales and a slight growth at the net profit level. There is no dramatic development, I would say our position is stable.

According to ATO-Nielsen measurements, Prima has the second largest viewership in the 15+ audience group after Czech Television. In the past year (ended 31 May) it achieved a share of 27.58 per cent of the audience, higher than Nova. But at the same time, Nova CEO Daniel Grunt says that while overall viewership is falling, his group is increasing its lead over you in the 15-54 age group and stealing a bigger share of the smaller viewership pie. What is happening in the market?

The number of people watching TV is declining, and younger age groups are seeing slightly faster declines in viewership. And within that market, you are fighting for audience share. We are increasing that share with viewers primarily in the 40+ target age group while they are increasing in the 40- target age group.

And that doesn’t concern you? Isn’t that a signal that you need to step up efforts somewhere?

It also depends on what programming you have on offer. We have been focusing a lot on the programming for the 40+ group. We had a few shows in the 40- segment that we thought would play more. Now we have adjusted our content strategy accordingly, and we are going to have a new batch again in the autumn to balance that out.

Can you give us a hint of what it is going to look like?

I can’t reveal details yet. But there will be shows aimed at the target group of thirty-somethings and to some extent forty-somethings. That is where Nova has strong titles right now. In general, entertainment or reality shows and similar programmes work very well for this target group.

What is the big draw at Prima now?

We are held up by our traditional pillars. We have a large segment of viewers who like relationship series, for example, ZOO or Slunečná. The evergreen is crime drama – the last series of Polda had the highest ratings so far. The news coverage is also working well, with CNN Prima News reaching new record levels in viewership thanks to the EU elections, and at selected times, it was also the most-watched news channel in the country. In total, we reached 1.1 million TV viewers during the election week and nearly three million users online.

As for the news, according to a recent study by Oxford University’s Reuters Institute, the proportion of the population that avoids news coverage because it depresses them is growing rapidly. This is probably the impact of events in Gaza and Ukraine. Are you seeing this effect in your business?

Not at the moment. Maybe it is because we obviously cover big international events like Gaza or the war in Ukraine, but we are careful to intersperse that with domestic coverage. It may seem that the coverage is too regional, too local, but the Czech viewers need this balance. They cannot receive only bad news.

Have you cut back a bit on the international coverage?

All of us have cut back. When the war in Ukraine was fresh, everyone was watching. But after a while, people want to see something else. It is psychologically hard to be exposed to war in the news. There is also a big effect of the younger generation consuming a lot of news on social media, and it is hard to get them in front of screens at news time. They just watch the news in their feed of posts and videos on social media, which of course is where we are with CNN Prima News. But on the networks, the news is mixed in a different way than it is in a traditional newsroom. There, users don’t just consume pure news, they mix it all up, from pussies to Gaza.

What can be done with news to make it more appealing to younger viewers? As far as I know, Nova has tried to do that with certain formats…

That is an important question. Yes, Nova tried to do so, but I can’t judge how successful they were. I don’t quite see it in the figures. We are going to try to do that as well, but it is a lot about learning and understanding how and what messages young people want to consume. The younger generation just has different preferences, thinks about news differently, and quite often has different views on events. I’m not sure that news can be the same for them as it is for an older target audience. But this applies to other areas of video production as well. We just don’t have a recipe for news for the young yet.

The collaboration with US news station CNN is based on a renewal licence. Renewal time will be after the first five years next year. Do you know yet whether CNN will want to renew the licence with you?

CNN definitely wants us to continue. They are even referring to us as one example of how such a collaboration can work. They value us for the way in which we cover key events, for example for our ranking in the Reuters Institute, which rates the quality of news channels. In this ranking, our credibility is growing every year, and we are already behind the public service entities.

Will you have to renegotiate the price or other terms of the licence? Or is it already fixed?

We do not comment on the financial terms of the cooperation.

Your video library prima+ has announced that it already has one million registered visitors – together in the paid and free sections. In February, you said there were about 125,000 paying users. Unlike your competitor Voyo, which started with a paid model, you launched prima+ first in an ad-supported model and only then started to expand it to include a paid model. Was this approach better?

In the world, you have platforms that started with an ad-supported base and gradually added paid tiers. On the other hand, you have Netflix, which only added advertising the year before last. Given that we have had this project in its current mode for a year and a couple of months, I am happy with the results. I mean, I am never satisfied but we have learned a lot about what the content requirements are. We have yet to learn how to produce content for such a platform. Some of that is in progress to be ready for the autumn season.

Will the content you produce for prima+ eventually go to a traditional broadcast, which is what Voyo does?

No. We found that we had to change our content strategy for prima+. And that will start to show this autumn. Primarily the 20- to 40-year-olds, the ones who have left us from classical television, have switched to these services. As I have said, they have their specific content preferences – entertainment, reality shows, and some slightly more niche formats that you don’t normally do as much for the mass viewer. We are starting to get two models here – one is content for the mainstream TV viewer and the other one for the more niche viewer.

You said in an interview with HN three years ago that when PPF gets involved in something, “the competitors will stand on their tiptoes”. They are now praising the growth of Voyo and you started a similar video library later. You wanted to wait to see how they would be going. Didn’t you miss the chance?

They really reaped the benefit of being the first and they were also helped further by the post-covid wave where adoption of these online services jumped by many percent in the mainstream population as well. Fortune favours the brave – they have invested a lot of money that will probably pay them back at some point. But I can’t fully judge the whole business just from the number of subscribers (Voyo counts the number of paying users including Slovakia and reports more than 800,000 paying viewers for both markets. According to experts, it may be around 600 thousand in the Czech Republic alone – ed.). If Voyo is now making an operating profit, everything the owners invested in it has been spent taking into account depreciation. It is great in terms of market position, but it is not money. The effect of viewers switching from the traditional model to Voyo also means that the owners have reduced their advertising space. So they have sucked a profitable business into a non-profit business.

But prima+ is certainly not in the black either…

We are trying to balance the shift now so that we don’t reduce too much of the audience base of classical television. Plus, we want to have an advertising layer in there. Subscription is a sophisticated thing: the more similar services there are, including international ones, the less loyal viewers become, jumping from one platform to another, easily every month. You are putting money into new and new content all the time, but you can’t stop. Once you stop, viewers go elsewhere.

How will prima+ do it?

We will add gradually to see when it stops making sense. It seems like a better strategy to us.

Source: archiv.hn.cz

CZECH TV REMAINED THE STRONGEST IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE YEAR

Czech Television stations recorded the highest share of the TV market in the universal audience group over 15 years of age in the first half of the year.

The cumulative share of Czech TV stations exceeded 30% in the over-15 audience group in the first half of 2024 and was the highest among all domestic TV groups. It accounted for 30.49% of all-day broadcasting, which was 0.4 percentage points higher than in the first half of 2023.

In the universal 15+ group, Prima achieved the second highest share in the first half of the year. Its aggregate share decreased slightly year-on-year, which is true of rival group Nova.

Nova remains number one in its primary audience group 15-54 and also has the highest share in the 18-69 audience group.

Growth continues for the Atmedia representation, which broke through the 6% mark in the first half (15+, all day). Television Seznam also reported a slightly better result than in the first half of the previous year.

Czech Television also remained narrowly first in prime time 15+. In the younger viewer categories 15-54 and 18-69 in the evening time, Nova was the strongest group.

Source: mediaguru.cz

FIVE MEN CONVICTED OF OPERATING MASSIVE, ILLEGAL STREAMING SERVICE THAT ALLEGEDLY HAD MORE CONTENT THAN NETFLIX, HULU, VUDU AND PRIME VIDEO COMBINED

Five men were convicted by a federal jury in Las Vegas this week for their part in operating Jetflicks, which officials say was one of the largest illegal streaming services in the U.S.

Jetflicks, which charged $9.99 per month for the streaming service, generated millions of dollars in subscription revenue and caused “substantial harm to television program copyright owners,” the Justice Department said Thursday.

At one point, Jetflicks claimed to host more than 183,200 TV episodes — a lineup larger than the combined catalogs of Netflix, Hulu, Vudu and Amazon Prime Video, according to prosecutors.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, beginning as early as 2007, the five men — Kristopher Dallmann, Douglas Courson, Felipe Garcia, Jared Jaurequi and Peter Huber — operated the Jetflicks streaming service. The group used “sophisticated computer scripts” and software to scour piracy services (including the Pirate Bay and Torrentz) for illegal copies of TV episodes, which they then downloaded and hosted on Jetflicks’ servers, according to federal prosecutors. The men were charged in 2019 with conspiring to violate federal criminal copyright law.

The jury convicted the five men of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement. In addition, the jury convicted Dallmann of two counts of money laundering by concealment and three counts of misdemeanor criminal copyright infringement. Dallmann faces a maximum penalty of 48 years in prison, while Courson, Garcia, Jaurequi and Huber each face a maximum of five years in prison, according to the Justice Department. A sentencing date has not yet been set.

According to federal prosecutors, when complaints from copyright owners and issues with payment service providers threatened to bring down the illegal outfit, the defendants “tried to disguise Jetflicks as an aviation entertainment company.”

“The defendants operated Jetflicks, an illicit streaming service they used to distribute hundreds of thousands of stolen television episodes,” principal deputy assistant attorney general Nicole Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, said in a June 20 statement. “Their scheme generated millions of dollars in criminal profits, while causing copyright owners to lose out. These convictions underscore the Criminal Division’s commitment to protecting intellectual property rights by prosecuting digital piracy schemes and bringing offenders to justice.”

Motion Picture Association senior EVP and global general counsel Karyn Temple called the verdict “a landmark victory for intellectual property rights.”

“The Motion Picture Association applauds the Department of Justice for its successful prosecution of five individuals who brazenly and illegally profited by infringing upon copyrighted works belonging to ACE,” Temple said, referring to the Alliance for Creativity in Entertainment, a coalition of entertainment companies focused on combatting piracy. “The jury’s conviction underscores the criminal nature of these types of offenses and the significant harms caused to the creative industry and the tens of thousands of workers who earn a living from key industry roles, including set designers, caterers, hair and makeup artists, and camera operators, to name a few.”

According to federal prosecutors, a member of the original Jetflicks group, Darryl Julius Polo (aka “djppimp”), left to create a competing site called iStreamItAll, whose subscription plans had a monthly fee of $19.99. Like Jetflicks, iStreamItAll did not have permission to distribute the TV and movie content on the platform, officials said. In 2019, Polo pleaded guilty to criminal copyright and money laundering charges, according to the Justice Department. In 2020, he was sentenced to 57 months in prison and ordered to forfeit $1 million in “criminal proceeds.”

Source: variety.com

REPOSITORIES UNDER FIRE. NOVA AND PRIMA CRACK DOWN ON ILLEGALLY SHARED CONTENT

Private TV stations have achieved groundbreaking preliminary rulings. Major operators have had to cut off access to several file-sharing repositories.

Customers of several operators, including Vodafone, T-Mobile, and O2, are experiencing problems loading the Datoid, eDisk, and SledujteTo internet storage sites. Under standard conditions, these sites are unavailable for most clients, but this is not due to technical problems. The reasons are legal actions by private TV stations following long-standing copyright infringements by repository operators.

Members of the Association of Commercial Television (AKTV) – TV Nova and TV Prima – have applied to the Regional Court in Brno to issue a preliminary ruling ordering six operators to block access to specific domains.

“We only take the most severe measure, a motion to block the entire domain, when we have exhausted the milder options for protecting our members’ copyrights. This was the case for both eDisk and Datoid,”

Klára Brachtlová, President of AKTV, explains in an interview for DigiZone.

It was Datoid that drew attention to the recent preliminary ruling. “It is absolutely unbelievable that it actually happened in a democratic society that a judge decided to make the service unavailable to several millions of users without the service provider being able to defend itself in any way and to express its position (it was done with immediate effect while the Court of Appeal will probably not rule for several months!),” the service provider wrote in an official statement.

“We understand the commercial broadcasters’ interest in protecting their copyrighted works, and we have always and promptly satisfied their requests to remove the reported content – but we have also always fought to ensure that the rights of our users are not harmed (e.g. when user content was repeatedly reported as infringing even though it didn’t infringe anything, just had the same name as the current series),” says Datoid.

However, AKTV has a very different opinion on Datoid’s alleged willingness. Klára Brachtlová reminds us that since January last year, an amendment to the Copyright Act has been in force, which introduced the obligation to “notice and stay down”.

“This means that when a copyright holder calls and reports that they have a copyright in a film, TV show or music album, the repository operator has an obligation to prevent the distribution of the copyrighted content through its service. This means not only deleting all reported copies but also putting in place technical measures to ensure that the work can no longer be publicly shared or uploaded at all,” she adds.

According to Brachtlová, commercial broadcasters are first trying to reach an out-of-court settlement. They call on the operators of the storage sites to take measures under the law. The association even offers to cooperate with them on technical solutions, such as automatic filters. “However, a number of repositories continue to claim that their obligations under the current legislation are limited to removing a specific reported file, and that closes the whole matter for them. However, this has not been the case since at least last year’s amendment, and it was not entirely the case before,” continues the Association’s President.

If the repository is not willing to come to an agreement, the next step is to take the operators to court where the commercial stations seek protection for specific series or shows.

“In other words, we require repository operators to ensure that our members’ works are not available on their service. In the first phase, which was the case with eDisk and Datoid, we sought judicial protection for specific works, not blocking the entire service,”

adds Klára Brachtlová.

Although the court ruled in favour of the commercial TV companies, the operators ignored the decision, and enforcement proceedings followed. At this stage, the repositories are gradually imposed fines that can total millions of Czech crowns. However, some operators do not pay these fines because they are officially destitute. Instead, they look for ways to avoid the preliminary ruling, for example by changing the operator to another entity, sometimes outside the EU, or by changing the domain.

“In the case of Datoid, the operator did not collect mail from the data box, did not comply with the preliminary ruling and the enforcement procedure has had no results because the bailiff has not been able to identify any assets. Beyond our duties, we even urged Datoid to voluntarily comply with the court’s order before the enforcement procedure was initiated – all in vain,” says AKTV’s President, explaining what preceded the blocking of the domains.

The eDisk repository tried an evasive manoeuvre with a formal move to Seychelles. “I don’t know who their advisor is, but it is a mistake to think that this will grant them impunity. In this situation, we had no choice but to seek the blocking of the domain,” adds Klára Brachtlová.

The preliminary rulings list the Czech and Slovak domains of the three repositories where copyright infringement is taking place and commercial TV stations have exhausted other instruments. “We are suing the operators to deny their customers access to the addresses where the court finds there is a legal reason to do so,” Brachtlová explains. At the same time, this resolves the situation where the storage is not on a Czech domain.

However, blocking access to a domain is not a one-size-fits-all solution. The repositories are not parties to the proceedings because the operators are the defendants, so they cannot challenge the preliminary rulings. However, Datoid moved to another URL immediately, and eDisk and WatchTo have also launched alternative addresses.

In addition, the preliminary rulings apply to only six selected internet service providers out of almost two thousand. And the repository is actively and very specifically advising users how to technically bypass the measures to get back on the site. AKTV is aware of the technical limits but is convinced that most ordinary users will be discouraged by these steps.

“Even on the new Datoid domain, we have tracked down more than 100 works of our members that are there illegally just by a random, quick search. We are also determined to crack down hard and uncompromisingly on these tactics with all available means,” says AKTV’s President in response to the latest developments. Among other things, commercial broadcasters are irritated by the business model of repositories that incentivise users to upload files with various rewards and/or collect money for faster downloads. In addition, foreign copyright works are ‘wrapped’ in advertising.

“The repositories are now referring to this as being like cancelling an entire bus route because of two stowaways, but they got themselves into this situation by their own attitude. Because if we go by that analogy, they drive and operate the bus without regard to traffic laws, and despite numerous calls, they don’t respect traffic lights or stop signs. And such a driver will eventually have his or her licence revoked after exhausting less strict measures such as fines and penalty points. It is exactly the same with the operators of the repositories,” says Klára Brachtlová, referring to Datoid’s reaction.

Finding and reporting links costs time and money. “Just to give you an idea, every day broadcasters send hundreds of links to about ten so-called repositories where copyright infringement is most common on the Czech internet. I dare say that all repositories are aware that much of illegally shared content is found on their services,” adds the President of AKTV.

The Association would therefore welcome a more automated mechanism. For example, in Greece, France, Italy, and Lithuania there are blocking authorities that can intervene faster than the courts against illegal content. In Western Europe, for example, this is how they deal with illegally streamed sports matches. Czech politicians, however, are not too keen on this approach.

The chair of the Czech Pirate Party’s parliamentary club was upset by the current shutdown of domains. “I understand that the courts block unauthorised films and fine companies for that, but to shut down normal user data is too much! And I will adequately propose the abolition of the absurd fees of a few percent of the price of mobile phones, computers, and memory because they are fees for nothing. Downloads of copyrighted works have been greatly reduced and many more people pay for Netflix, Spotify, and YouTube, so I don’t know why they should pay 100 million a year for nothing,” said Jakub Michálek.

Commercial broadcasters remind that illegal access to protected works is a criminal offence and a number of uploaders have already been convicted and ordered to pay millions in damages.

“Our experience shows that where there is a will, there is a way. The excuses of many repositories that the demands of our members are not realistic and that it is technically impossible to ensure filtering of our members’ content are not true. Our cooperation with FastShare.cz and Fastshare.cloud clearly shows that the protection of our copyrights can be ensured in cooperation with the repository operator. We firmly believe that other repositories will join FastShare soon,”

adds Klára Brachtlová, referring to a promising example.

Source: lupa.cz

FOUL PLAY: THE HIGH COST OF IP INFRINGEMENT IN SPORTS

As Europe gears up for major sporting events like UEFA EURO 2024, the Tour de France, and the Olympic Games in Paris, the European Union faces concerning trends in illegal sports streaming and counterfeit sporting goods. According to EUIPO data, millions of EU citizens access or stream sports content from illegal online sources while fake sports equipment cost manufacturers €850 million per year. This poses a substantial threat to the financing of sports, as revenues from legitimate broadcasts are critical for the support of sports organisations and athletes.

Young people more likely to stream sports illegally

According to the EUIPO’s IP perception study, 12% of EU citizens access or stream sports content from illegal online sources. This number rises to 27% among young people aged 15-24 with 47% of Bulgarian youth admitting to such activities. This is followed by Spain and Greece at 42%, Slovenia at 39%, and Ireland at 34%.

According to the EUIPO’s study on online copyright infringement, streaming is the most common method to access illicit TV content – 58% of piracy in the EU occurs via streaming and 32% through download.

Impact of counterfeit sports goods

According to the EUIPO’s Intellectual Property and Youth Scoreboard, 10% of EU youth age 15-24 admit to purchasing fake sporting equipment intentionally. Conversely, 7% of young European consumers have bought counterfeit items by accident.

The impact of these counterfeit sales in the EU is substantial, causing an estimated total loss of €851 million annually – equivalent to 11% of the total sales in the sector – according to EUIPO calculations. France, Austria, and the Netherlands experience the highest monetary losses, amounting to hundreds of millions of euros each. In terms of proportional impact, Romania, Lithuania, and Hungary suffer the most, with counterfeit sports equipment accounting for up to 20% of total lost sales in each country.

Furthermore, the EUIPO’s studies suggest that fake goods also pose significant health risks due to non-compliance with safety standards and environmental protection standards as indicated by the EUIPO and OECD study on dangerous goods.

Fighting live-event piracy and IP infringement

Across the EU, countries and affected parties are combatting live event piracy and counterfeiting relying on regulations and technology to block illicit online services. The European Commission has adopted two recommendations on the topic: one on combating online piracy of sports and other live events, which established a network of dedicated national administrative authorities, and another to combat counterfeiting through increased enforcement and awareness to which the EUIPO contributes through dissemination, implementation and monitoring efforts.

In addition, awareness raising plays an important role in tackling piracy by helping consumers find legitimate digital content. An example of this is the EUIPO’s Agorateka, a tool that helps viewers identify legal offers for online content, including sporting events.

Targeting counterfeit goods in Europe

Law enforcement across Europe has intensified efforts against counterfeit goods. Operation Fake Star , targeting counterfeit sporting and luxury goods, resulted in the seizure of 8 million counterfeit items valued at €120 million and the arrest of 264 individuals. The operation, coordinated by Europol and led by Spanish and Greek police along with the active participation of agencies and authorities from 18 countries, uncovered not only counterfeiting but also organised crime activities such as smuggling and money laundering.

Cooperation is key in fight against piracy

As global sporting events attract millions of viewers, the EUIPO emphasises the importance of intellectual property rights in maintaining the integrity and financial viability of sports. These efforts are crucial in protecting the sports industry and ensuring that revenues continue to support athletes and sports organisations. As the EU continues to tackle these challenges, the cooperation of consumers, authorities, and the sports community will be vital in promoting fair play both on and off the field.

More information

Source: euipo.europa.eu

MULTIPLATFORM TV & AUDIO COMPANIES UNITE AROUND FIVE PRIORITIES AS KEYS TO SUCCESS IN TOMORROW’S MEDIA LANDSCAPE

New Industry Charter outlines the collective ambition and joint commitments of multiplatform TV & audio businesses worldwide.

egta, the international trade body for multiplatform TV and audio businesses, proudly announces the launch of its Industry Charter, marking a significant milestone in its 50-year history. Unanimously adopted by over 180 companies across more than 40 markets, this landmark document outlines a visionary roadmap for the continued success of multiplatform TV & audio in today’s rapidly evolving media industry.

A Collective Vision for Multiplatform TV & Audio

The egta industry charter represents a unified vision and joint commitment on behalf of multiplatform TV and audio businesses around the world. In an era of rapid media transformation and fragmentation, egta members are dedicated to leading the industry forward with confidence and purpose.

The charter focuses on five priorities that are key to multiplatform TV & audio companies thriving in tomorrow’s media and advertising landscape:

Official Launch: An Open Invitation for Collaboration

The egta Industry Charter was unanimously adopted at this year’s Annual General Meeting and announced last week during egta’s 50^th Anniversary CEO’s and Top Execs’ Summit in London.

egta invites all industry partners who share its values and ambitions to join this transformative journey. By aligning around these key priorities, egta aims to foster collaboration that drives long-term growth and sustainability for multiplatform TV and audio businesses.

“The celebration of egta’s 50th anniversary called for symbolic and meaningful initiatives. Redefining egta as the international trade body of multiplatform TV & audio businesses was an essential first step. Defining and agreeing on five key priority areas where to concentrate our efforts, align on definitions, standards and ambitions and inviting industry-wide collaboration around clearly identified objectives seemed like the obvious essential thing to do. As an industry organisation, we are proud of this achievement and hope that we can all, as partners, contribute to the future success of our sector.”

Katty Roberfroid, Director General at egta

Industry Leaders Endorse the Charter

The vision and goals outlined in this charter were developed through a series of working groups with valuable contributions from industry leaders and senior media executives who shared their valuable expertise. The charter has the support of all egta member companies, as well as the Global TV Group and the World Radio Alliance.

Experts and thought leaders from various markets have expressed their support and enthusiasm for the egta industry charter. They have shared their thoughts on the charter and its five key priorities – see quotes below.

“We are living in times of abundance and, at times, confusion. Our media now takes many forms, available any time and on any device. Some digital platforms wish to establish themselves as media outlets, without assuming any editorial responsibility and without contributing to the creation and production of reliable and verified sources of information. This civic duty is what lies in our DNA and we remain committed to it.

This is why we believe it essential to reiterate what sets us apart, the values that drive us and the benefits that these values bring to our clients’ business. This charter is also our roadmap – at a time of media convergence, our industry has work to do to optimise the vast audio/video playing field, to make it actionable for our clients, and to do so with the right KPIs and with complete transparency.”

Laurent Bliaut, egta President and Deputy Director General, TF1 Publicité, France

“TV and radio have long been the proven media in our industry, and we intend to continue this legacy. As we evolve into multi-platform entities that encompass linear broadcast, streaming, mass reach, and data-driven targeting this brings both opportunities and complexities. Despite new competitors and increased scrutiny on ad spend, TV and radio continue to offer unparalleled advantages for advertisers of all shapes and sizes. By collaborating across markets, we can address these challenges head-on – egta’s charter is therefore an essential initiative for aligning our standards, values, and ambitions. I wholeheartedly support this charter and by all partners embracing it, we can and will set out a path to innovation, growth, and a sustainable future for multiplatform TV and audio.”

Jamie West, Independent Consultant & Former Deputy Managing Director, Sky Media UK

“The egta charter is a strong collective act. It highlights a shared vision of the strengths and commitments of our audiovisual media. It reflects our common challenges and also symbolises our actions in terms of innovation, as well as our desire to co-construct the best offer for brands and advertisers.”

Cécile Chambaudrie, President, NRJ Global

Creating Quality Experiences

“At Paramount we maximise the strength of our premium content, unique global scale and expertise to provide top quality experiences for our audiences and advertisers. Our brand-safe platforms are held to high creative and commercial standards, meeting viewers’ increasingly high expectations as well as brands’ business objectives through original and bespoke solutions.”

Lee Sears, President, International Markets Advertising Sales, Paramount, US

“The evolution of TV to a multiplatform, linear and streaming world is fascinating and provides audiences with greater content, stronger entertainment, better information, and provides advertisers with enhanced opportunities and incredible, safe contexts for their brands. In this fast-evolving world, we as an industry are thrilled to deliver this charter to show to our clients, tech partners and regulators our commitments to stronger collaboration, innovation, and leadership.”

Fabrice Mollier, President, CANAL+ Brand Solutions, France

Improving Measurement

“TV businesses around the world invest huge sums in curating an optimal environment for advertising. This investment creates a high value exchange for audiences, ensures the resulting high view-through rates of TV ads, produces the costly signals that drive credibility for brands, and secures the audience scale required for mass, effective reach. Audience measurement is the means to express the value of this investment to advertisers and, as TV evolves, so too must its measurement. egta’s industry charter is an important document. It outlines the shared ambition of TV businesses around the world to ensure that measurement not only keeps pace with change but also, crucially, that it continues to reflect and express the value created by investing in a high quality, curated environment for advertisers.”

Matt Hill, Director of Research & Planning, Thinkbox, UK

“Improving Measurement is an essential pillar of this Industry Charter. Why? Because accurate and comparable measurement will remain key in earning a place in an advertiser’s media mix. Radio and TV have a proven track record, and we will continue to champion transparency and independent audits to provide a precise and trusted view of each platform’s impact, thus driving better campaign results.”

Jan Isenbart, Chief Research Officer, ARD Media, Germany

Optimising Buying Processes

“Our focus as a radio marketer is to continually optimise the buying process. Through targeted improvements, we aim to increase efficiency, reduce costs and continuously improve quality. We rely on innovative technology and data-driven solutions to provide our customers with a seamless and superior buying experience. In order to achieve this across the industry – and even beyond national borders – we need to share information and standards so that we, and our service providers, can continue to evolve. Radio/Audio should remain an easy-to-book mass medium and continue to successfully assert itself in the competition between media genres.”

Andreas Lang, CEO, Studio Gong, Germany

Participating and Promoting in ESG

“European TV and radio marketers have long been a essential pillar of our democratic social and societal values by recognising and fulfilling their media responsibility. This sense of obligation needs to be strengthened and expanded, not only because of the increasing regulatory requirements, but also because of various disruptive social signals. The five priorities of the new egta Industry Charter now address the key challenges of contemporary sustainability requirements around ESG education, transparency, impact and collaboration and provide an excellent basis for further steps.”

Steffen Johann Hubert, Lead Sustainability, Seven.One Media, Germany

Proving impact & Effectiveness

“We empower media brands with tailored solutions, innovation, and collaboration, ensuring effectiveness for our members. We focus on delivering data-driven insights that drive commercial goals, especially by continuously highlighting measurement tools’ importance and fostering future looking industry collaboration. Last but not least, through focus on ESG, we promote a greener, more inclusive industry, prioritizing sustainability, responsibility and diversity.”

Stella Litou, CEO of Pro Plus and RTL Croatia

About egta

egta is the international trade body of multiplatform TV and audio businesses, representing more than 180 members in over 40 markets. egta members are multiplatform TV and audio businesses that sit at the intersection of traditional TV and radio and digital video and audio platforms. Multiplatform TV and audio bring together linear and on-demand services, across all screens and platforms.

egta’s mission is to enable members to flourish and grow as they connect their audiences and services with brands, contributing to a healthy and sustainable media industry. egta is a knowledge-sharing and innovation hub for its members and the broader industry. Through its unique network of experts, egta fosters collaboration and engages with policymakers, driving the industry forward through benchmarking, alignment on standards, and cooperation.

50 Years of egta

This year, egta celebrates its 50^th anniversary – half a century of resilience, cooperation, and progress, and an opportunity to reflect and adapt for the years ahead. Established in 1974 as the European Group of Television Advertisers, egta has undergone profound growth and transformation. Today, the egta membership has grown to include over 180 multiplatform TV and audio companies across Europe and beyond, with 12 new members joining the network in the last year.

To mark 50 years of evolution and growth, egta recently unveiled a refreshed visual identity to reflect the dynamic media landscape of its diverse membership. The rebranding journey involved a new logo, tagline, definition, mission statement and visual identity, plus the launch of a brand-new website with a fresh new look and feel.

Additional Resources:

egta: Website

egta: List of members

Industry Charter: Webpage

Industry Charter: PDF document

Industry Charter: Toolkit (including PPT version, editable files, fonts, images and brand assets)

Media Contact:

For more information, please contact:

Warren O’Donnell

Communications and Marketing Manager

egta, 34 Rue Washington, box 2, 1050 Ixelles, Brussels

+ 32 2 290 31 38 | warren@egta.com | LinkedIn

COMMERCIAL MEDIA HAVE RESERVATIONS ABOUT THE BIG MEDIA AMENDMENT

Representatives of the private media sector do not like the new form of the draft media amendment. They see the wording of the accompanying Memorandum, which is supposed to describe more precisely the tasks of public service media, as essential.

The commercial media also have reservations about the modified draft of the major media amendment, which has so far appeared to be a step towards a compromise solution. According to Echo24.cz, private media have even sent a letter to Prime Minister Petr Fiala expressing their “categorical disagreement” with the amendment. In it, they allegedly said that the draft media amendment contradicts EU rules and the principle of treating the funds of concessionaires as a good steward. According to the server, the letter was signed by representatives of the private radio market, such as Jiří Hrabák (Rádio Impuls), Martin Hroch (Radio United Broadcasting) and Marek Singer (FTV Prima).

The modified draft of the big media amendment was presented in mid-May, but the representatives of the commercial sector have not yet categorically commented on it. Even at the Digimedia conference held on Thursday 13 June, there was no harsh criticism. Their statements at the conference indicated that they disagreed with some points of the amendment and that they envisioned modifications to the amendment, but they did not mention the sharp disagreement addressed to the Prime Minister.

Representatives of the private media on Digimedia spoke of how they now consider the key issue to be how the role of the public service in television and radio broadcasting will be specified in the accompanying Memorandum. The creation of the Memorandum is just part of the preparations for a major media amendment that is expected to bring more revenue to Česká televize and Český rozhlas from TV and radio licence fees. Commercial players have said that they consider the text of the Memorandum to be key to maintaining the principles of the dual broadcasting system for the coming years.

“We have been saying from the beginning that we are in favour of the dual system. So we want to create a field of action for public service media and we want to discuss ways of financing public service media. However, advertising revenue is existential for us, which is why we want to be present at the creation of the memorandum,” Klára Brachtlová, president of the Association of Commercial Television (AKTV), told the conference. She did not want to specify which programmes or formats ČT should or should not broadcast. “Public service television should produce formats with social overlap, in the public interest and for minorities. However, I consider it a problem when the cost of sports rights makes up 30% of the budget for the production of programmes. At the same time, the cost of these rights is 30% higher than the cost of news and journalism and 50% higher than the cost of drama production. This is a problem,” she described.

Jan Souček, director general of Czech Television, responded by saying that Czech Television is obliged to broadcast events of considerable social importance under the 2001 Act on the Operation of TV and Radio Broadcasting. The accompanying decree of the Ministry of Culture includes, for example, the Olympic Games or the World Cup in football and the World Cup in hockey, or, among others, all matches of the Czech team at these championships.

According to the general director of Radio Impuls, Jiří Hrabák, a media landscape is currently taking shape that offers new opportunities for the creation and dissemination of media content. “The private sector has the right to know on which field it will play. It is necessary to secure the rules of operation for the private sector as well. It should be clear how broadcasting will operate,” he said. He reiterated that defining the role of the public service media is essential for discussions on funding. “We do not want to discuss how much to increase the fee. That is a political decision and the responsibility of parliament. We want it to be clearly stated what the public gets in return. But here the procedure has been the opposite. I don’t know whether a CZK 10 increase is too much or too little. I do not know what the public’s idea of a public service is. Perhaps the fee should be increased by CZK 50 or by nothing. Has there been a big expansion of the public service? Is there a need? Should it be bigger or smaller?” Hrabák asked. In his opinion, the state should ensure the development of the dual system for the next 10 years. In his view, a smaller role for commercial media in the dual system could also threaten media pluralism if a strong public service media turned into a media dominated by the ruling political force.

The media amendment proposed by the Ministry of Culture foresees an increase in the radio fee by CZK 10 to CZK 55 per month and the television fee by CZK 15 to CZK 150 per month. The amendment is expected to be considered by the government in June. According to the plan presented so far, its text should head to the Chamber of Deputies before the parliamentary recess. The proposal foresees that it should enter into force at the beginning of 2025.

Source: mediaguru.cz