8 December 2003
Ernest Wong, CEO of Singapore’s MediaCorp Group, has said that there is no question of a merger between state-owned MediaCorp and rival broadcasting owner, Singapore Press Holdings.
Rumours have been rife in the city state that there is about to be consolidation in Singapore’s media industry following the government saying that fierce competition in such a small market was leading to difficulties in achieving profitability in the sector.
“What I don’t understand is why the media keeps harping on the merger of SPH and MediaCorp. This is not on the cards,” Wong said.
Wong said that MediaCorp is ahead of its competition with over 77 percent of viewers.
2 December 2003
An anoymous Czech businessman has launched a project to build a private television station in southern Iraq. ” We have agreed to establish a private television station called the Voice of the South, based in Basra,” says the owner of the firm, whose name is also withheld.
The Czech-Iraqi television station may start broadcasting in southern Iraq as early as February, three hours a day at the beginning. The broadcast will focus mainly on news but will also contain animated films for children.
The joint television station is supported not only by Czech officials but also by the British, in whose sector the broadcasting will take place, says Czech news agency CTK. Interest in the project has also been shown by some Kuwaiti companies. The Voice of the South owners expect the station to be profit-making within two years.
2 December 2003
DW TV has won the German Business Film Award for the ninth time.
Ulrike Sommer, freelancer for DW-TV, was awarded first prize for her half-hour feature “Career à la française ? Women at the Top of French Business” in the category “Documentary films on business and economic trends in the social market economy.”
The award-winning film is part of the series “At the top ? Businesswomen in
Europe.” This series portrays top women managers and entrepreneurs from Germany, France and Poland. Next March, all three features will be broadcast by Deutsche Welle as a series in German, English and Spanish.
30 November 2003
It seems that Radio Netherlands were expecting to have to make government-imposed cuts of 4.5 to 6.5 million euros over the next five years, plus the 2.5 million euros that RNW had been planning for. Accustomed as all state-funded international stations are to having savage cuts imposed, this seemed to be breaking all bounds.
So there was some relief, when it all turned out to be a misunderstanding. But even so, a cut of 4.5 to 6.5 million euros is no small burden for a relatively small station. Maybe negotiation can bring this huge demand down a little.
30 November 2003
Serhiy Sholokh, the general director of Radio Kontynent, which relays international stations, believes that he is being intimidated. He thinks that the state authorities are out to close his station down, and he feels no easier as he is a witness in the case of the murder of journalist Heorhiy Gongadze, who formerly headed the information service at Radio Kontynent.
Sholokh said that he is under surveillance. He said that for this reason he has decided “not to return home and, given the question of my personal safety and the fatal outcome for my colleague Heorhiy Gongadze, to go into hiding for some time.”
