V I D E O • A G E OC T O B E R 2 0 1 1 36 Fox Turkish Expansion Is Fully Grounded Locally Fox International Channels (FIC) Turkey currently operates 11 channels, including National Geographic (a joint venture with National Geographic Society), FoxLife, FX, Nat Geo Wild, Nat Geo Adventure, Fox Sports, BabyTV; 7 websites and .FOX Networks (that includes more than 1,000 websites in different categories). For now, FIC is the only U.S. media group with Turkish offices to support local programming acquisitions, marketing and sales. Currently, FIC Turkey offers the highest number of thematic channels in that market. “As a result of the successful operation of the FIC Turkey office, we have become a hub office to manage Southeast Europe including Greece, Malta, Israel and Cyprus,” commented Yadigar M. Belbuken, deputy GM, Fox Channels Southeast Europe (pictured below). She continued: “At the moment we are focused on two projects: The launch of FOXCrime on November 14 of this year and producing local content for Nat Geo. FOXCrime on the D-Smart DTH platform fills one of the gaps within the market and we will be able to reinforce our strong positioning in the market.” Belbuken further explained that, “We have a local content team that works with major studios for programming acquisitions to acquire content that meets the positioning of the channels. Some of the strongest content that our channels offer are: The Walking Dead, True Blood, CSI, Glee, Falling Skies and soon, Terra Nova. “This reflects our commitment to the subscription television industry and to Turkey. We have unique feeds and brands fully dedicated to Turkish viewers. We specialize in building clearly positioned channels for local subscription TV audiences. These channels must also meet the needs of our local operators. We prefer full distribution and want to see growth in competition and value of subscription television. We aim to add value with the maximum marketing support to platforms and help them raise their TVHH penetration,” she said. National Geographic Channel (NGC) was launched in 2000 on Digiturk DTH platform and in 2006 on the cable TV system, Turksat. Subsequently, Turksat Digital Cable, Tivibu Web and Tivibu Home were added in 2008, 2010 and 2011 respectively. FoxLife, exclusive to Digiturk, was launched in 2006. FX was launched in 2008 on D-Smart and the following year on Digiturk. In 2010, Turksat Digital Cable was added and, as of this year it became available on Tivibu Home. Baby TV and Nat Geo Wild are also exclusive to Digiturk. BabyTV was launched in 2006 and Nat Geo Wild the year after. Nat Geo HD was launched on Digiturk in 2007 and it has been on Turksat Digital Cable since 2008 and on Tivibu Home since early this year. Nat Geo Adventure was launched in 2010 simultaneously on Turksat Digital Cable, Tivibu Web and Digiturk. Nat Geo Wild HD was also launched in 2010 on Turksat Digital Cable and on Digiturk. Nat Geo Music has been exclusive to Turksat Digital Cable as of 2008. FOX Sports is on Digiturk, launched in 2007, while FOX Sports HD was launched last year on Digiturk. Yadigar M. Belbuken, deputy GM, Fox Channels Southeast Europe T u r k i s h ( C o n t i n u e d ) $350,000. If it’s a period drama the budgets can go up to $500,000 to $600,000. On most series productions the broadcaster carries costs, but in some cases the production house can prefinance the costs and the broadcasters pay the producers later.” Özsümbül added some perspective from the channel side: “Production companies are responsible for their own expenses. The channels pay a license fee per episode. Depending on the rating results of each episode, there can be some additional payments.” The international revenue is split three ways: Producer-network-distributor, but there is no standard for revenue splitting. It changes by project and varies from producer to producer as well. “A couple of years ago, the broadcasters didn’t take any share of the international rights,” Okan recalled. “As Turkish series’ popularity increased, the broadcasters prefered to keep the international rights and give a certain percentage to the producer from the international sales. [Usually], the broadcaster and the producers share the revenues 50-50 after deducting the distributor’s share. The percentage that each distributor takes varies from (Continued from Page 34) (Continued on Page 38) Turkey Gets Attention From Italy The Rome, Italy-based Universal Channel Italia is taking advantage of the Turkish entertainment boom with a Turkish cable channel of its very own. Although Universal Channel Turkey premiered in December 2009, March 2011 marked its HD debut. The high-def version of the channel is available through D-Smart Platform, while its standard definition version can be seen through D-Smart and Teledunya. Where content is concerned, the channel offers viewers a diverse range of acclaimed U.S. TV series fromNBC and Universal’s cable channels, and feature films. Popular series franchises include Law & Order, Flipping Out, Million Dollar Listing, House and more. With 340 hours of TV series and 330 hours of movies each month, the intended audience for Universal Channel Turkey is very broad. This fall, the channel has a packed slate. The weekly schedule features a host of series, plus evenings of weekly themed programming like Tuesday’s Reality Night, as well as a slew of romcoms, sci-fi movies and new releases. Can Okan, ITV Inter Medya Izzet Ressam Pinto, Global Agency
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