The Prague Post Online: Business: ČTV music shows vie for Web audience

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December 1st, 2008

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ČTV music shows vie for Web audience

Copyright laws block Czech audiences from popular U.S. shows

By Riva Froymovich
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
July 4th, 2007 issue

Czech Television (ČTV) has turned its attention to Internet broadcasting and interactive television, as copyright and licensing laws keep virtually all current U.S. shows blocked to Internet users here.

The network’s newest project, Digináves, gives Mini DV camcorders to selected viewers to report on issues that matter to their neighborhoods. It has also prepared what it calls “Web magazines” for televised programming such as StarDance, Eurovision Song Contest and International Television Festival Golden Prague.

“ČTV pays big attention to all Internet opportunities. The amount of available programs is still growing,” said Anna Freimanová, a spokeswoman for the network.

By catering to a cyber audience, ČTV is targeting a growing demographic in the Czech Republic much ignored by foreign firms.

About 36 percent of the Czech population regularly uses the Internet, according to a recent report by the European Union Information Society, and that number has been steadily rising.

But Internet users hoping to watch their favorite U.S. shows on the Web, such as Desperate Housewives or Grey’s Anatomy, are blocked due to copyright and licensing laws that limit streaming video content inside the country’s borders.

Czech broadcasters Prima TV and TV Nova import foreign content, including these shows. However, it typically airs at least a season later than when originally shown.

When the European Commission had to sign off on a new Internet broadcasting venture June 22 from NBC Universal and News Corporation, it piqued the interest of some TV fans here. Would U.S. shows be available online through this new network to Czechs?

The project, which is set to launch later this year, will combine hours of full-length programming, clips and movies from nearly 20 different networks and studios.

However, executives at NBC and News Corporation said the EC approval was just a formality because of the companies’ involvement in Europe.

The network is a U.S.-only venture at the moment, said Jason Kilar, chief executive of the new project.

That leaves ČTV, TV Nova and Prima TV as the primary players in filling Internet programming space domestically. And, because of the same laws that keep NBC and News Corp. from entering the Czech market online, those networks are limited to broadcasting their own original content via the Web.

While the amount of domestically produced programming has been growing, it is by no means large, said Milan Šmíd, a Czech broadcasting expert and lecturer at Charles University.

In the end, Czech TV viewers don’t have many options.

For example, ČTV boasts 30 percent of the viewing population daily. But that’s mostly because of the number of choices, not content, Šmíd said.

There are six domestic television channels, while cable operators, which broadcast international networks such as MTV and BBC, reach approximately 20 percent of homes, according to Šmíd.

“The number of subscribers, if you compare with the U.S., is very low,” because people in smaller towns don’t always have access to cable networks, Šmíd said.

Riva Froymovich can be reached at rfroymovich@praguepost.com

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