Sarkozy-ing French TV In January, French president Nicolas Sarkozy announced plans for what some are now calling a “French BBC” by banning advertising on public television. In fact, last summer, Sarkozy’s advisor even visited the U.K. to study the BBC. Media tycoons, including Martin Bouygues, owner of TF1, France’s biggest private broadcaster, stand to gain should advertising be banned from stateowned television. The four public channels in France are financed by a mix of license fees and commercial revenues. License fees have been kept at 116 euros since 2002, and Sarkozy has made it clear that he doesn’t intend to raise them. Replacing the ad revenue and paying for programming to fill empty spots in the line-up will cost approximately one billion euros. The deficit will be made up by new taxes. Commercial broadcasters will be taxed on the surplus revenue that they stand to generate. Taxes on broadcasters will be complemented by a tax of around one percent on ISPs and mobile providers. But with the clock ticking towards the implementation date, which Sarkozy indicated as January 2009, there is uncertainty as to how any of this will actually be achieved. German B’caster Loses Revenue Germany’s largest private broadcaster, ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG, which runs the Sat 1 and Pro7 channels, reported the biggest decline in revenue in company history. In the first quarter of 2008, the value of the company’s stock plummeted 28 percent to 9.75 euros and earnings dropped 25 percent. Analysts have attributed the fall to fines incurred in October 2007. The company was penalized by Germany’s national cartel office for offering rebates to advertisers to boost sales, which harmed smaller competitors. The fines amounted to 120 million euros (U.S.$188 million). Additionally, ProSiebenSat.1 recently acquired SBS Broadcasting, a company with TV and radio stations all over JU N E 2 0 0 8 World Wrestling Entertainment® TELEVISION | ON DEMAND | PAY-PER-VIEW | LIVE EVENTS | FILMS | MOBILE | HOME VIDEO | PUBLISHING | MUSIC | LICENSED PRODUCTS | ONLINE All WWE programming, talent names, images, likenesses, slogans, wrestling moves, trademarks, logos and copyrights are the exclusive property of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. and its subsidiaries. All other trademarks, logos and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. © 2008 World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Visit us at the Intercontinental Hotel – Century City, Suite 1221 Contact Information: World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. 1241 East Main Street Stamford, CT USA (T) +(203) 352.7098 (F) +1 (203) 353.2983 wweintl@wwecorp.com Todos Vuelos Internacionales Con más que 500 horas de programaciíon en más que 130 países y 22 idiomas...estarán sorprendidos de donde les podemos llevar. (Continued on Page 10) (Continued from Page 4) Scandinavia and the Benelux countries. The takeover was costly, and reduced the firm’s profits by half. As a result of the loss, Peter Christmann, head of Sales and Marketing, resigned. The company plans to cut costs by 70 million euros over the course of this year to compensate for declining profits. Singapore TV Fined For Gay Show In April, Singapore’s Media Corp TV Channel 5 was fined for airing a show that featured a gay couple and their baby in a way that “promotes a gay lifestyle,” according to the city-state’s media regulator. The Media Development Authority (MDA) fined the channel 15,000 Singapore dollars (U.S.$10,950) after the station aired an episode of home décor series Find and Designthat featured a gay couple that wanted to turn their game room into a new nursery for their adopted child. The MDA said that the episode included scenes of the couple and their baby, as well as the host’s acknowledgement of them as a family “in a way that normalizes their gay lifestyle and unconventional family setup.” The episode violated rules of free-to-air programming which bans content seen to be promoting, justifying or glamorizing the gay lifestyle, according to the MDA. Earlier this year, the MDA fined StarHub Cable Vision, a local cable TV operator, 10,000 Singapore dollars (U.S.$7,300) for airing a commercial depicting two lesbians kissing. Under Singapore law, gay sex is “an act of gross indecency” and is punishable by a maximum of two years in prison. Spike Lee, Nokia In Mobile Movie Nokia is teaming up with U.S. director Spike Lee to create a short film made up of videos shot on mobile phones. The film will be a collage of three five-minute videos, all pertaining to the theme “humanity.” Lee, who recently directed Inside Man and When the Levees Broke , joined the project because he was interested in collaborating with the public and experimenting with an alternate medium that might take off in the next few years. For Finland-based cell-phone manufacturer Nokia, the project is an attempt to re-brand itself as an entertainment-friendly company, much like Apple has done with the iPod and iPhone. However, the firm has denied that its partnership with Lee is solely a marketing gimmick. According to Nokia executives, the project will also serve to show the possibilities of mobile phones in producing entertainment. Critics of Nokia’s mission have pointed out that it is doubtful that films shot on phones will become a genre of their own. At press time, the company had not found a carrier willing to distribute the film to viewers on mobile phones.
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