(Continued from Page 6) been focused on the license fee, through which the public funds the corporation, and each year £145.50 (about $240) is collected from every British televisionowning home. The license fee generates approximately 80 percent of the BBC’s total income, at £3.6 billion a year. Members of the British Parliament are also critical of the high salaries given to top-level executives at the BBC. For example, director general Mark Thompson received £838,000 ($1.4 million) in his compensation package in 2010. In keeping with its efforts to reduce its budget, the BBC will reduce that figure to £619,000 this year. Cuts thus far include the BBC’s decision to reduce the World Service’s employees by half, axing 650 employees and terminating programming in Russian, Mandarin Chinese and other languages. Additionally, the BBC has frozen some salaries and reduced its payroll for senior management by 18 percent since August 2009. While it is struggling to reduce spending, there is little doubt that theBBCdominates in the U.K. It operates 10 TV channels and 16 radio stations domestically, and each week, over 97 percent of the British population consumes content produced by the BBC. ProSieben Assets Sold Finnishmedia companySanoma is the leader of two consortiums that purchased Munich-based broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1’s Benelux television assets for a combined enterprise value of €1.23 billion ($1.8 billion). Sanoma will take a 67 percent stake in the Dutch arm of SBS Broadcasting, while Talpa, the holding company of John de Mol, will take the other 33 percent. In a separate consortium in Belgium, Sanoma, local media group Corelio, former sports journalist Wouter Vandenhaute and TV producer Erik Watte will all take stakes in the company. Sanoma chief executive Harri-Pekka Kaukonen believes the acquisition will allow for cross-promotion between TV, online and print platforms. It plans to finance the purchase of equity with €859 million in new debt. ProSieben is controlled by private equity firms Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Permira. The broadcaster has been trying to sell SBS Broadcasting since the beginning of 2011 in an effort to reduce its debt. SBS has a 27 percent share of the Dutch TV advertising market and a 24 percent share of viewers. In the Dutch-speaking Flanders market, SBS has a 25 percent share in advertising and a 16 percent share of the TV audience. In 2010, the Dutch and Belgian operations had a revenue of €404 million, and earnings of €110 million before interest and taxes. As a result of the acquisition, the net debt to EBITDA ratio is expected to fall to 1.9 for 2011, down from 3.4 in 2010. Additional bidders included Hellman & Friedman and the Modern Times Group. Some investorsweredisappointed that ProSieben chose not to sell its Scandinavian assets. Just For Laughs Gags India Over the last few years, Asia, and India in particular, has become one of the strongest markets for Canadian production and distribution company Just for Laughs (JFL). In India, JFL has programs airing on several channels at the same time, as Gags airs on general entertainment network Zee and kids network Pogo (Turner). Since 2004, Pogo has aired new seasons of Gags, while Zee recently acquired 211 episodes of the show. In addition, the company finalized a DVD deal in India, and licensedGags to Air India and Kingfisher Air. JFL is also in the process of negotiating a closed-circuit offer to air Gags on trains in Mumbai. Since Gags is a clip show with no dialogue, it is well suited for a country that is home to as many different languages as India is. Thus, JFL may even decide to shoot gags for the show in India in the future. JFL produces series Just For Laughs Gags (Gags), a nonverbal comedy series that has been sold in 135 countries and to 95 airlines. This year, JFL is rolling out a new spin-off for kids called Just Kidding Kids, and since the majority of India’s population is under age 20, licensing the new series in India will be key for JFL at MIPJunior and MIPCOM. V I D E O • A G E JU N E 2 0 11 8
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTI4OTA5