TV Nova, the holder of the team's TV rights, has decided to air the hugely popular Big Brother show in place of a scheduled World Cup soccer qualifier against Armenia Sept. 7. The decision essentially forces fans without access to cable TV Galaxie, which is broadcasting it live, to watch a tape of the Olomouc game later that evening.

"Program selection is under the competence of each TV station's management, and TV Nova decided to air Big Brother since it is undoubtedly more appealing to viewers than a soccer game against Armenia," said Vladimír Jurásek, marketing director for MAG Media 99, which manages advertising sales for the station.

TV Nova spokeswoman Veronika Šmítková said the television station offered the Czech Soccer Association (ČMFS) the alternative of broadcasting the game against Armenia live at 9 p.m. instead of the originally planned 8 p.m., but the ČMFS would not agree to postpone the game's kickoff.

In TV Nova's defense, Jurásek said, the launch of the two reality shows on the country's private TV channels with nationwide coverage (TV Nova and Prima TV) attracted hordes of advertisers. "There are many firms that link their commercials to the reality show," Jurásek said, and many of those advertisers are in the fast-moving consumer goods industry.

But TV Nova's decision to remove the soccer game from prime time has raised concerns among some team sponsors. "TV presentation attached to Czech teams' soccer games is very important for our sponsors," said ČMFS spokesman Daniel Macho.

The initial reaction of team sponsors T-Mobile and Hyundai Motors to the cancellation of the soccer broadcast was disillusionment.

"It's obvious that [the removal from prime time] did not please us," said Jiří Hájek, T-Mobile spokesman. "We'll be asking for compensation."

ČMFS Vice President Jaroslav Vacek told The Prague Post that the association has reached an agreement with the sponsors and the television station. "We're well aware that [the removal of the game with Armenia from TV Nova's prime time] did not please our sponsors. We therefore decided to compensate them by increasing their air time during the last qualification game against Finland."

In contrast to Armenia, an underdog that the home team is expected to beat easily, the Finland game in mid-October could well determine whether the Czech team will qualify for the 2006 World Cup. As a result, viewership of that game is expected to be much higher than during the Armenia game.

Reality fever

The launch of the TV shows Big Brother and VyVolení (Chosen) has significantly increased TV viewership in this country, according to ratings, and has brought added value to TV advertisers.

An earlier introduction of VyVolení (Aug. 14) by Prima TV against TV Nova's competing Big Brother (Aug. 28) pushed Prima TV ahead of TV Nova in terms of prime time viewership numbers for the first time. On Aug. 31, 1.764 million viewers — 52 percent of all viewers in the country at that moment — watched VyVolení. Big Brother was viewed by 1.417 million people.

Since April Prima TV's viewership has risen by 25 percent, primarily on the early airing of VyVolení, according to station spokeswoman Jana Malíková.

MAG Media 99's Jurásek said viewership was a crucial factor for advertisers. "Advertisers do not care about programs — they care about who and how many people watch them," Jurásek explained.

Last year television advertising reached 9 billion Kč [$363 million]. TV Nova and TV Prima control the vast majority of the market.

In 2004 TV Nova received 5.3 billion Kč in commercial advertising revenues, while TV Prima garnered 1.7 billion Kč and Czech Television (ČTV) captured 1.3 billion Kč.

In June Parliament passed a bill stipulating that Czech Television drop all commercial broadcasting by 2008. To make up for the lost income, the deputies agreed to allow ČTV to increase its monthly household service fees.

Analysts say removal of ČTV from the advertising market will further intensify the fight for advertisers among private TV stations.