Berlin’s only public access television station is under fire by critics. Founded in 1985 and modeled on U.S. public-access TV – which aims to further the freedom of speech of small, special-interest groups – the Offener Kanal provides a TV- and radio-broadcast platform for any legal German resident over the age of 18. Opponents say the channel is out of date and a refuge for egomaniacs and the mentally disturbed. They argue the special-interest groups don’t reflect society as a whole. – Die Welt (Germany) 03/02/00
Category: media
A GIRL’S GOTTA MAKE A LIVING
While everyone was focusing on the AOL/Time-Warner merger last month, AOL and PBS made a deal to co-brand and co-produce. Is this good for public TV? “This deal is just one more brick in the wall which basically says that we no longer have public broadcasting in the U.S.” – San Francisco Bay Guardian 03/02/00
GIANT STEPS
Clear Channel Communications, the broadcasting heavyweight, buys SFX Entertainment, the giant live-performance presenter. SFX owns or operates 120 theaters nationwide. San Antonio-based Clear Channel will soon operate 867 U.S. radio and 19 television stations, as well as 550,000 billboards. – Boston Herald 03/01/00
- Radio and concert synergy makes some nervous. – Boston Herald 03/01/00
- The company’s theater plans? – Boston Herald 03/01/00
MORE AND LESS
France has dramatically increased the number of films it produces, but audiences haven’t grown to match the growth. – Variety 03/01/00
ROUGH “SURVIVOR
BBC’s new show puts 36 people on a desolate island to live, and films the results. The critics are skeptical: “You cannot flirt with nature on this particular Atlantic frontier and not expect to get comprehensively ravaged by her. These poor sods with their suburban escapist fantasies are being shamelessly exploited, and despite the assurances, I simply do not believe they know what they’re letting themselves in for.” – Los Angeles Times 03/01/00
NOW YOU TOO CAN OWN…
In an attempt to find a better way to sell independent films, an entrepreneur holds an auction. – Los Angeles Times 03/01/00
BBC TO MOVE ITS ASIAN HEADQUARTERS —
— from Hong Kong to Singapore. – The Straits Times (Singapore) 02/29/00
I-CRAVE SETTLEMENT
ICraveTV.com settles lawsuits and agrees to stop retransmitting TV channels over the internet, effectively shutting down the internet TV website. – Variety 02/29/00
i-FILMS AND THE FUTURE
“If you love Hollywood movie-making you are in heaven right now,” says filmmaker David Cronenberg. “If you are making so-called alternative films that is what you are fighting, not Hollywood per se, because they don’t care about you, but people’s expectation of what a movie is. Expectations have to change and I think something like the Internet might be the only way for that to happen.” – National Post (Canada) 02/28/00
PAY UP OR WE’LL KILL YOU
Criminal gangs have penetrated the Indian film industry, where producing a Bollywood hit can result in death threats if you don’t pay up. – New York Times 02/27/00