ProSiebenSat.1 evaluates pay-TV option | Print | E-mail
Written by Jörn Krieger
Thursday, 14 January 2010 17:49
German women's channel FEM TV, which TV group ProSiebenSat.1 wants to launch this year as an advertising-financed free-to-air offer, could be turned into a pay-TV service at a later stage.
"We think it's smarter to initially establish the channel as a free-TV service and decide later whether it will stay there or whether to consider converting it into a pay-TV offer once it has reached a certain level of viewership", ProSiebenSat.1 CEO Thomas Ebeling told German industry magazine Horizont.
Adding FEM TV to its pay-TV activities would be in line with ProSiebenSat.1's long-term strategy to gain more independence from the difficult advertising market. In the third quarter of 2009, 13 per cent of the company's total turnover was attained outside the classic advertising market. By 2014, ProSiebenSat.1 wants to boost the share to 30 per cent. "Targets have to be ambitious", said Ebeling.
FEM TV, which will launch at the beginning of the second quarter via cable, satellite and IPTV, is the Munich-based TV group's fifth free-to-air channel after Sat.1, ProSieben, kabel eins and N24. With series, real life shows and made-for-tv movies the channel will target women between 14 and 49 years.
US-based media company NBC Universal also considers launching a women's channel in Germany which, however, would be offered as a pay-TV service from the beginning.
(c) Rapid TV News 2010