THE CHANNEL
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ISSUE 1 2014
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05
GUNDA CANNON EDITOR
P47
PREMIUMCONTENT
TimesTelevisionNetwork’s
agenda forprofitablegrowth
P30
DIGITALTRANSITION
Intelsat’s future-proof solutions
forDTT
P66
SPORTSDISCOVERY
DiscoveryengineThuuz
delivers incremental viewing
THE INTERNATIONALMEDIAMAGAZINEFORTV,RADIO,ONLINE&MOBILE
ISSUE1 |2014
TheChannel
Perfectdigital
FromprinttowebTVto
full-blownnewschannel
Kids’ TV
Nextgeneration
IPTV
What young audienceswant
How theywatch
Businessmodels that work
The Channel
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online andmobile,
published by AIB, the
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Forget the power suit, here comes the Creature
Power Suit. I’ve got mine on – wonderful. Thank
you, ‘wild’ Kratt Brothers, for your powerful
imagination – feeling like a peregrine falcon has
made putting this edition together a particular
pleasure! There are many angles to Kids’ TV. A
recent survey by Viral Spiral found that “creating TV
shows and content for young children is as much
about meeting parents’ desires for nostalgia and fun
as it is about entertaining children.” Wow, that’s a
tall order so let’s get a few basics straight, as gleaned
from our interviews.
Generally the kids audience gets left behind because
no-one can make the financials work. But kids are
worth it, they are tomorrow’s consumers. Anyone
who does not realise this is simply kidding himself.
Kids are very competent at managing technology –
witness mother saying to her five year old: ‘Can you
just find the programme we recorded last night for
me?’ Everywhere in the world they now have mobile
phones, tablets and laptops almost irrespective of
their parents’ income, which allows them to snack
on. And kids the world over have the same favourite
topics, reflecting their life stage more than where
they come from. So, the kids business is a nice
business but a business it is. Some kids’ networks
have closed, citing the crowded marketplace of the
genre, and with such a splintered target group (baby
TV, pre-schoolers, teens, young people) the challenge
remains that you can’t possibly serve all children
with a single service. The good news is that
committed individuals are keeping kids’ TV fresh –
with new channels, new formats, new avenues of
engagement. There is always room for improvement.
Speaking of which, in the exciting world of broadcast
technology improvement is on-going even as I write,
and how it is astonishing how cleverly it meshes with
content. Just have a look at the articles on delivery –
Intelsat and Vision247 offering solutions for what we
might need tomorrow. But even the professionals
admit that it is a complicated world out there,
wishing for more unified platforms and a common
set of development tools. So that even greater content
can reach you and me in even better ways.
Content comes in many forms - sport is a major
element. In the interview with Sunset+Vine some
interesting points emerged: the trend of brands
becoming broadcasters and using content as a vehicle
to drive broadband subscription, and the reversal of
the traditional pattern of ‘piece goes on TV first, clip
goes online’. And in case you did not know: sports
discovery engine Thuuz can now measure
excitement. How? Read on.
2014 brings a number of anniversaries: Eurosport
celebrates 25 years in the business, Alhurra is 10
years on air. It’s always interesting to look at
different news channels’ strategies so we peek behind
the scenes at India’s TTN, France 24, Bloomberg and
RFE/RL. All are expanding while RFE/RL’s aim is ‘to
go out of business’. Judging by what Kevin Klose
tells us, that’s not likely to happen anytime soon.
I hope you enjoy this edition.
WELCOME
Even the
professionals
admit that it is a
complicated
world out there
”
“
CHIEF EXECUTIVE
Simon Spanswick
E
simon.spanswick
@aib.org.uk
EDITOR, THE CHANNEL
Gunda Cannon
E
gunda.cannon
@aib.org.uk
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
Rita Stade
DIRECTOR ASIA &
HEAD OF SPORT
John Barton
E
REGIONAL HEAD |
SOUTH ASIA
Amitabh Srivastava
E
amitabh.srivastava
@aib.org.uk
ADVERTISING
EdwardWilkinson
Sales and Marketing
Executive
T
+44 20 7993 2557
E
edward.wilkinson
@aib.org.uk
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The views and opinions
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The Channel
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Copyright
© 2014
Association for
InternationalBroadcasting
ISSN
1477-8718
Print
BuxtonPress, UK
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