Television across Europe

Tot mai multe televiziuni au aparut in Romania, insa, daca stii patru mari actori stii cam tot. In timp ce pierde audienta, piata ramane dominata de patru mari nume, doi investitori straini si doi locali: CME (Pro TV), SBS Broadcasting (prima TV), Voiculescu (Antenele) Vantu (Realitatea TV). Televiziunea publica a pierdut ingrijorator audienta, pe segmentul stiri, iar suspiciunile de politizare s-au intensificat. Vantu, pretins detinator al Realitatii, are cazier, iar la Antene apar asociati interesanti. Acestea sunt cateva din concluziile raportului Network Media Programme - EUMAP (Open Society Network), publicat recent la Londra.

Broadcasting market

Romanians trust television a lot, while trust in Government and Parliament has
decreased.25 Nevertheless, despite its huge credibility in polls, television has been losing
ground. Overall, the broadcast industry has been faced with a serious slump in viewers.
For the first time, TVR lost its lead in the ratings in the first three quarters of 2007
when Pro TV took the lead. In urban areas, TVR’s first channel is placed third after
Pro TV and Antena 1.26
The main reasons behind this shift are the increase of the commercial stations’
technical reach thanks to growing cable penetration in the countryside,27 and a series of
financial difficulties and management crises at TVR in summer 2007. As a result,
TVR1 aired mostly repeats during the summer, which hit its ratings badly.
Cable coverage increased from 66.4 per cent in 2004 to 76.6 per cent in 2006. Satellite
had a slight growth, from 3 per cent of total households in 2004 to 3.7 per cent in
2006. By 2006, just 18.5 per cent of households had only terrestrial analogue
television.28
Despite overtaking TVR, Pro TV also lost viewers in the first nine months of the year,
which was a source of concern for the station’s owners, CME.29 The combined
nationwide audience share of CME’s three stations – Pro TV, Acasă TV and Pro
Cinema – was down 2.4 percentage points on the year to 22.2 per cent in the three-
quarter period. With the popularity of South American telenovelas plummeting and
other channels airing similar productions, women-oriented Acasă TV also saw its
audience share sink by 3.1 per cent during the period. The whole market lost in the
same period three percentage points. This was due to unusually warm weather, which
prompted people to spend more time outdoors, and to the increasing popularity of
other forms of entertainment.30
Concerns about loss of viewers were also found at the public service broadcaster. “It is
highly important to maintain the quality, but we have to pack the message in a
commercial way, otherwise we risk becoming a niche channel,” read the Annual report
of the Romanian Television Company (Societatea Română de Televiziune, SRTV).31 At
the same time, niche channels such as all-news Realitatea TV and tabloid OTV have
consolidated their positions.