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VIDEOAGE "PAPER CLIPS": A WEEKLY PRESS REVIEW
PROGRAMMING Private U.K.
TV station ITV News Channel has been axed. The money-losing net
has been shelved as a result of ITV's recent pricey acquisition
of the Friends Reunited website, and in favor of the soon-to-be-launched
ITV Children's Channel. After five years on the air, the channel
will close at the end of January. [The London Times] The first comprehensive
review of the Middle East TV industry was released in December,
and things are lookin' pretty good. According to consulting group
Booz Allen Hamilton's report, the region's pay-TV industry has witnessed
a 40 percent annual growth during the past several years, and the
free-to-air TV sector has seen the number of channels grow to over
150. But experts say that as a result, the industry is at a crossroads,
and long-term prospects are still unknown. [AME Info] There's no
doubt about it...Internet Protocol Television is catching on, and
Poland is the latest country to jump onto the IPTV bandwagon. Poland's
public TV channel, Telwizja Polska, is putting the finishing touches
on iTVP, a fully commercial channel that will initially be broadcast
in Warsaw, Krakow and Pozna. By the end of 2007, it will be available
in the rest of the country. iTVP will be available via PCs with
broadband Internet connections and TVs that are connected to the
Internet via a set-top box. [Warsaw Business Journal] The French-speaking
world will become a bit more news-savvy by the end of 2006. An international
French-language satellite TV news channel, CFII -- dubbed by local
media as the French version of CNN -- will be transmitted to Europe,
Africa and the Near and the Middle East. The network will be owned
by commercial network TF1 and the state-funded company France Televisions.
[BBC News] BUSINESS Friday was
a tough day for employees at the Burbank, CA-based WB Network. The
net, which is co-owned by Time Warner and Tribune, has seen ratings
numbers plummet recently, and the company gave pink slips to nearly
two dozen employees, bringing the total number of lay-offs conducted
in the last month up to around 40. Many of the cuts came from the
marketing and Kids' WB! programming unit. In order to cut costs
further, last month, the WB trimmed its orders of established shows,
including What I Like About You and One Tree Hill.
[The Los Angeles Times] TECHNOLOGY The mobile
TV business just got a little boost, which is sure to tick off naysayers
who claim mass adoption of the new technology is still years away.
Royal Philips Electronics will introduce the mobile TV broadcast
chipsets it has successfully tested in Europe (via Nokia) and Japan
to the U.S next year. The electronics giant will partner with Crown
Castle Mobile Media, which owns certain broadcast spectrum rights,
and plans to launch a mobile broadcast network in the U.S. in 2006.
Philips has been a longtime proponent of mobile TV viewing; semiconductor
executives there have said that, by 2013, they expect more than
50 percent of handsets worldwide to come with TV capability. [Advertising
Age] ADVERTISING A new deal
signed by Fox Television Studios will, once again, blur the lines
between entertainment and advertising. Arnell Group has signed an
agreement with Fox to help develop branded entertainment programming
for Fox Television Studios. The agreement calls for Arnell to develop
U.S. and international programming. [The New York Times] AWARDS SHOWS FILM Disney was
seeing dollar signs all weekend long. The Chronicles of Narnia:
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe topped the box office in
the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Ireland. The adaptation of the CS
Lewis book took $67.1 million in the U.S. and Canada, and $16 million
in the U.K. and Ireland in its first three days. In Spain, Narnia
made $7.5m; in Germany it took $6 million, while in Mexico it brought
in $5.9m. Cha-ching! [BBC News]
VideoAge at NATPE á International and U.S Television When the market gets tough, the tough turn to VideoAge. Dailies with 22 years of proven market distribution leadership: Monday, Jan.
23 Latin America TV Special Monthly with 25 years of proven market and editorial leadership; Includes the Spanish-language TV insert, also published in the Jan. 23 Daily. A great combo
for any marketing and sales strategy. Plus, at NATPE, VideoAge will have: á Table at
the hotel If your marketing and advertising budget is small, VideoAge's editorial vehicles and services are for you. After all, we've been serving you for 25 years...
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