MEDIABLAB DAILY DIGEST NOV 6: BISCUIT MAKER VYING FOR CHINA TIMES OVER APPLE DAILY BOSS
November 6th 2008 03:57
TAIWAN’S TV BROADCASTERS TEST PROGRAM PRODUCT PLACEMENT LIMITS
Hard-pressed Taiwanese TV broadcasters are testing the legal limits of product placement in programs, and are facing fines from the island’s National Communications Commission.
Asia media reports that on October 29, the commission levied a fine of NT$1.6 million (US$48,000) against Formosa Television and NT$840,000 against Chinese Television System.
Formosa Television’s infractions occurred in popular soap operas. In its hit show Love, the male lead was shown sitting inside his car, where he spent a full three minutes discussing the merits of its onboard TV. In another drama, Nyangjya, the lead actor waxed lyrical over the virtues of his mobile phone.
The National Communications Commission has received 20 complaints from consumers during the past two months, and 13 of the cases were deemed questionable. But only the above two channels were fined, the rest receiving warnings.
The National Communications Commission follows guidelines similar to those in the European Union and the US, and product placement in news broadcasts and children’s shows are considered more serious than in dramas, sports or variety programmes.
Product placement has a long history in Taiwan.
ASIA’S CABLE AND SATELLITE ASSOCIATION ELECTS NEW BOARD AND COUNCIL
The Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia has announced the results of its 2008 Annual General Meeting elections to its board of directors and its Council of Governors, the Association’s leading advisory group.
Marcel Fenez, Global Managing Partner, Entertainment and Media Practice, PricewaterhouseCoopers & Chairman, CASBAA
Peter Jackson, CEO, AsiaSat
Tom Keaveny, EVP & MD, Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific
Jonathan Spink, CEO, HBO Asia
Todd Miller, EVP & MD, Asia, Sony Pictures Television International
William Pfeiffer, CEO, Tiger Gate Entertainment
Sompan Charumilinda, Exec. Vice Chairman, TrueVisions
Ian Carroll, SVP & GM, Turner International Asia Pacific
Anthony Tse, CEO of Cosmedia Group steps down from the CASBAA Board for 2009.
Meanwhile, elected for two-year terms to the CASBAA Council of Governors are:
Peter Papaioannou, Director of Operations, Video and Cable Solutions Group, Cisco
Christine Fellowes, MD Asia, Comcast International Media Group
Anthony Tse, CEO, Cosmedia Group
Jill Grinda, Director, Worldwide Distribution, Euronews
Arjan Hoekstra, MD, Eurosport
PJ Wong Founder, Chairman and CEO, iMediaHouse
Garie Pimentel, President & CEO, Mabuhay Satellite
Nigel Francis, Partner, Minter Ellison
Jeanette Chan, Partner, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison
Lee Beasley, Head of Media & Entertainment, Standard Chartered Bank (HK)
Kathleen Syron, Head of Content, StarHub
Dario Choi, VP & GM , Asia Pacific, Tandberg
Alvin Lee, Executive Director, International Relations and Public Policy, Asia Pacific, Time Warner
Retaining seats on the CASBAA Council are:
Manu Sawhney, MD, ESPN STAR Sports
Mark Patterson, CEO, GroupM Asia Pacific
Stephen Ng, Chairman, President and CEO, HK Cable TV
Nick Pilbeam, MD & Founder, Itsun limited
Mongryong Lee, President & CEO, KDB Skylife
Paul Brown-Kenyon, COO, MEASAT
Michelle L. Guthrie, MD, Providence Equity Asia
Andrew Jordan, President & CEO, SAT-GE
Alex Muller, MD, Asia, TV5MONDE
Gregg Creevey (Individual member)
The following are Patron members of the Association also have an automatic seat on the Council:
Phil Lawrie, Al Jazeera; Tom Choi, Asia Broadcast Satellite; Rohana Rozhan, Astro; Bruce Dover, Australia Network; Shawn Galey, Bloomberg Television; Shyue-Ching Lu, Chunghwa Telecom; Jeremy Pink, NBC Universal Networks Asia Pacific; Robert Gilby, Disney-ABC International Television; Paul Dujardin, Genesis Networks; David Ball, Intelsat; Bengt Jonsson, Irdeto; Ben Way, Macquarie; Ian Chapman-Banks, Motorola Mobile Devices – North Asia; Amit Jain, MTV Networks Asia; Sue Taylor, NDS; Pawan Gandhi, Nokia; Lindsay Servian, now TV; May Oh, Qualcomm MediaFLO Technologies; Elias Zaccack, SES New Skies; KaHoe Low, SingTel; Joe Welch, STAR Group; Ken Yeung, Tom Group and Gregory Ang, VOOM HD Networks.
EUROPEAN PUBLIC BROADCASTERS COULD BE FREE TO CHARGES FOR SERVICES
Public service broadcasters in Europe could get more freedom to charge for services and build up reserves to expand their activities under proposals due to be unveiled by Brussels this week.
But, according to the Financial Times the European Commission is also suggesting that there should be tight controls on these activities, and urging so-called public service broadcasters to separate clearly their public service and non-public service activities, both in accounting terms and at an organisational level.
The Commission's proposals come in a revision to the 2001 guidelines for applying EU state aid rules to public service broadcasting. These have become increasingly outdated as technologies have changed. With more distribution options available, broadcasters generally have been keen to diversify. But that has led to a rise in complaints to Brussels from commercial operators about some of the activities of the public service broadcasters.
Disputes have arisen in several countries, including Germany, Ireland, Belgium, Austria and the Netherlands. On Tuesday the Commission is due to unveil its proposed revamp of the rules, which will open the way for public consultation and the adoption of new guidelines next year.
FRENCH WEEKLY NEWSPAPER IN MOROCCO BANNED FOR PUTATIVE ATTACK ON ISLAM
Morocco's communications ministry announced a ban on distribution of the international edition of the French weekly L'Express for an “attack on Islam,” according to AP.
Algerian and Tunisian authorities followed suit three days later.
The October 30-November 5 issue of l'Express had a cover page headlined “The shock: Jesus-Mohammed: Their journey, their message, their vision of the world.”
A ten-page article inside presented portraits of the founders of Christianity and Islam days ahead of a meeting in Rome of Muslim and Catholic dignitaries on the initiative of Pope Benoit XVI, to 'promote dialogue' between the two monotheist religions.
The Moroccan authorities used Article 29 of the press code that authorises banning of publications “when they strike a blow at the Islamic religion, the monarchy, territorial integrity or respect for the king and public order.”
AUSTRALIA’S YOUNG WOMEN’S MAGAZINE DOLLY INTERACTS WITH SOCIAL NETWORKS TO SELL PRODUCTS
In what publisher ACP calls “an Australian first,” Dolly magazine has launched a new digital feature in the pages of the December issue magazine, and called it the Dolly Wish List.
Descending into the usual jargon gibberish typical of ACP PR practitioners, the pres release said, “Hot on the heels of launching Dolly Messenger, the magazine has collaborated with Mocom to combine print, mobile and internet to create a unique, sponsored online experience.”
What this means is that readers use their camera phone to take a photo of one of the advertisements in a special eight page section, a password is sent back via SMS to access the Wish List site. They can then post the photo of those items on their MySpace or Facebook page for their friends and family to view and purchase for Christmas. They can also recommend items to their friends, and search for their closest stockists via a postcode search device.
SELL OF APN MEDIA MACHINE IN AUSTRALIA TIPPED TO BECOME A MESSY AFFAIR
The Australian reports that the sale of Irish group Independent News & Media's stake in one of Australia's premier media companies is a messy business.
Twenty years after first investing in Australian media, INM's major owner, Tony O'Reilly, is being forced to sell the group's 39.1 percent holding in APN News & Media at a less than ideal time.
Share markets are yet to signal any sustained recovery, credit and debt markets remain tight and the share prices of media companies worldwide have been slashed.
The Australian said, “The positive aspect for INM is that in APN it has a good business to sell.
“APN owns The New Zealand Herald, its Australian regional newspaper group dominates the Queensland growth corridor, it owns Australia's largest outdoor media group and half of one of the biggest radio networks.
“Despite that, potential bidders for APN may be treading cautiously given the state of the debt markets and the governance issues at both the INM and APN level.
“The most obvious issue that needs to be addressed is the dual role of INM chief operating officer Gavin O'Reilly, who is also the chairman of APN. Who's interests does he represent?
“In a similar bind has been APN chief executive Brendan Hopkins.”
SPECULATION OVER WHETHER DEBT-RIDDEN CANWEST WILL HAVE TO SELL ITS AUSTRALIAN TV NETWORK STAKE
The Sydney Morning Herald speculates about another debt-ridden media group, Ten Network's Canadian majority owner, CanWest.
Media analysts say the Canadian media company, which is controlled by the Asper family, could be the next to exit from the Australian market as it is struggling to deal with its own heavy debt load of A$4.5 billion.
Digby Gilmour, a media analyst at Citigroup warned that "if CanWest are approaching refinancing, it is possible this type of scenario could also emerge for them".
It has been tough sailing for CanWest, which also owns a stable of daily newspapers in Canada, one of that country's biggest TV networks and a stable of specialty TV channels such as Showcase.
Its shares have slid by 65 per cent over the past two months, hitting penny levels as concerns are mounting that it will struggle to service its debt in face of a looming advertising recession.
CanWest shelved a sale of Ten last year. Market sources said it couldn't find a buyer meeting its price tag of $3.10 a share, which the company has disputed. Its chief executive, Leonard Asper, said as late as June he was happy to ride out the storm and didn't "need or want to sell." Ten's share price closed at $1.40 yesterday, down 49 percent since January. A spokeswoman, Jeannette McLoughlin, declined to comment on renewed
Rupert Murdoch last week called Ten a "disaster zone" and said buying the network would be like starting a new channel "with limited upside.”
US COMPANIES TIME, NEWS CORP AND DISNEY TO REPORT QUARTERLY RESULTS TODAY
MarketWatch reports that Time Warner, News Corp, and Disney are slated to report quarterly results this week. Wall Street is expected to be anxious to see what impact the economic meltdown will have on early 2009, with US advertising forecasts calling for "levels approaching the worst periods" in history.
Associated Press reports that Oppenheimer & Co is cutting its profit estimates for News Corp, owner of the Wall Street Journal, ahead of its quarterly earnings report, citing a rapid decline in advertising revenue. The company's networks, TV stations and newspapers are expected to report losses.
Disney shares fell 3.4 percent in New York trading after Merrill Lynch said the slowing economy would reduce its theme park and broadcasting income. "We still do not see our current estimates as a worst-case scenario." Disney is scheduled to report quarterly earnings today.
GOOGLE PAYS OUT TO SETTLE LAWSUIT BROUGHT BY BOOK PUBLISHERS
The Century Foundation said the media overlooked the important issue of Google settling a lawsuit brought by book publishers over the digitization of their publications. Google will pay US$125 million to the plaintiffs, and a pricing protocol will be established to continue the scanning of books and making them available online.
The Century Foundation said, “So why aren't newspapers and magazines going after Google for making their content available for free online via its powerful search engine? After all, Google has just conceded, with a very large payment, that information is not free, and newspapers and magazines are struggling.
“This is complicated issue, something the book publisher settlement makes clear (141 pages plus attachments). But the collection of quality news is expensive, and it is seriously threatened. If newspapers and magazine want to continue doing it, they would be wise to address the Google issue.”
GIANT GERMAN NEWSPAPER AND MAGAZINE PUBLISHER READY TO WIELD COST CUTTING AXE
German magazine and newspaper publisher Gruner Jahr, which is part of Europe's biggest media conglomerate Bertelsmann, said it considered to slim down its portfolio of magazines worldwide and cutting company expenditures by around 20 percent in 2009. The Hamburg-based publisher owns several hundred magazines and newspapers in 22 countries world wide, among them Stern magazine, its successful international knowledge brand GEO as well as the loss making newspaper Financial Times Deutschland.
“In the light of the financial crisis growth and margin outlooks for all publishers for this and next year are significantly subdued," chief executive Bernd Kundrun said in a letter to management that was cited in the German press. "A similarly strong decline in advertising business in such a short time has rarely been seen before," Kundrun added, according to news agency Reuters.
Gruner Jahr was bidding for the trade magazines unit of Anglo-Dutch publisher Reed Elsevier but pulled out last month.
BIG MEDIA BUNFIGHT OVER VISIT BY CHINESE OFFICIAL TO TAIWAN
The arrival of Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait chairman Chen Yunlin, the highest ranking Chinese official to visit Taiwan since 1949, in Taipei on Wednesday for a five-day visit attracted huge media attention.
More than 1,000 journalists from more than 130 local and foreign news organizations applied to cover the visit.
Among the 574 journalists selected to cover the event were 30 reporters from China, including the director of Xinhua news agency's Taiwan desk. Several major foreign news outlets, including the New York Times and Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun, have also been reporting on Chen's visit.
Former Vice President Annette Lu complained about too much media coverage and too tight security for the historic visit of the highest-ranking Chinese official ever to Taiwan.
Lu said that Chen is not a national leader like Chinese President Hu Jintao. The media frenzy and unusually tight security for Chen have only exposed the mentality of looking up to the nation across the Taiwan Strait as the "great China" and regarding Taiwan itself as a "little daughter-in-law."
The former vice president said that Chen is coming as a guest and people in Taiwan should not treat him like an enemy.
INDIA’S ENGLISH-LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER SLIP A LITTLE IN READERSHIP STAKES
India’s Media Research Users Council has released the Indian Readership Survey 2008 R2 data. The top-line findings for dailies show that The Times of India leads the English dailies with a total readership of 133.4 lakh (a lakh equals 100,000.)
Hindustan Times is second with a total readership of 63.5 lakh, an increase from the 60.9 lakh last year. The third place is taken by The Hindu (52.5 lakh last year and 52.8 lakh this year), followed by The Telegraph (29 lakh, as opposed to the 30 lakh last year, and Deccan Chronicle, 28 lakh from the 30 lakh last year).
India Today leads in English magazines, but has declined from 71.3 lakh to 68.5 lakh.
RICE CRACKER MANUFACTURER TIPPED TO OUST APPLE DAILY PUBLISHER IN RACE TO BUY CHINA TIMES
Asia Media reports that in an eleventh hour move, Want Want China Holdings, a maker of rice crackers and milk drinks, is believed to have snatched the China Times Group from rival suitor Jimmy Lai, founder of Next magazine and Apple Daily.
Rumours suggest Taiwanese billionaire Tsai Eng-meng, ceo of Want Want and Taiwan’s ninth richest person, signed a memorandum of understanding with China Times Group and, according to local reports, the deal is worth US$622 million.
The most likely suitor in the deal was considered to be NextMedia’s Jimmy Lai, who reportedly was to announce a deal in the first week of this month.
Asia media reported, “The purchase, if consummated by Tsai, is believed to include the troubled flagship China Times newspaper and its business sibling, Commercial Times, along with terrestrial Chinese Television and cable CTi, among other properties.
“Unlike Lai, Tsai has no background in media, but a commonly expressed view in Taipei is that Tsai would be more likely to continue in the strait-laced China Times style.”
Lai’s Taiwan publications Next and Apple Daily are known for reporting sensational scandals and titillating sexual photos.
Asia Media said, “NextMedia is one of the many reasons for China Times’ demise. Launched in 2003 and 2004, Lai’s Taiwan publications grew rapidly in circulation and ad pages, while the China Times watched its own slowly fade.”
MAGAZINE HOPING TO MAKE MIDDLE-AGE MEN HAPPY LAUNCHES IN HONG KONG AND MACAU
A new magazine titled HappyMen has launched, targeting middle-aged men in Hong Kong and Macau.
The magazine is published by a joint venture between publishing company Hong Kong Communications and Christian organisation Happy Men Foundation.
“There are no religious elements in the magazine,” said Haman Li, chief editor of HappyMen. “We cover profiles of successful career men who have overcome adversity, lifestyle and current affair.”
HappyMen already has a database of 10,000 recipients, mostly members of the Hong Kong Directors’ Committee, ACCA, and the International Association of Registered Financial Consultants.
ASSOCIATED PRESS’S ROLE IN US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION COVERAGE
The Associated Press is known for its comprehensive coverage of political campaigns. It was, in fact, the sole source of vote count for the American media on election night.
While covering the 2008 presidential election, AP relied on a team of more than 500 reporters, technical workers, researchers, photographers, and others to provide a balanced perspective to the more than 2,000 news organisations, both print and broadcast, that subscribe to the agency.
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