Helge Koehnen
Director Sales
Bavaria Media Television
Germany
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What are the coming trends in prime time programming in Eastern Europe ?
Prime time programming is becoming either a) local shows or b) international fiction event ( Hollywood, European TV co-productions like "Napoleon" or "A Pirate's Heart"). The stations in Eastern Europe are scheduling fewer average films/shows from abroad in their precious primetime.
What are the coming trends in production / distribution of Formats in Eastern Europe ?
Concerning Formats, the coming trends will be local adaptations of successful shows/series from Western countries. For example, we are offering the format rights of our successful daily series "Marienhof" (which we already sold to other countries) and our Telenovelas "Storm of Love" now also to Eastern European stations - they can benefit from both a successful and well-proven format and also from our technical know-how.
Concerning TV Fictions, the coming trends will be films based on true stories, on events that left a big impression in the world, on internationally well-known characters - generally, on topics that have a "hook" to catch the audience. The visual quality of the product is also becoming more important.
Do you have products in production or that are currently being aired in Eastern European countries in 2006?
Our TV events "1200 Degrees" (Disaster movie) and "A Pirate's Heart" (Adventure miniseries) will go on air in our co-financing countries Hungary, Czech, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Lithuania and other territories. Our Telenovelas "Storm of Love" has already been on air in Latvia since March, and is doing extremely well, and will soon be launched in Slovakia and other territories.
What Eastern European countries are important for your business?
Nearly all are important for us. Traditionally, it has been Czech, Slovakia, Hungary, and ex-Yugoslavia. As to the biggest markets ( Poland and Russia ), Poland is now becoming more open towards European products and becoming more important for us. The same goes for the Ukraine, which is a young and dynamic market opening up towards Western Europe. South Eastern Europe is another challenge; we have increasing business in Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia. |
 A Pirate's Heart
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