Fincast to look at the bright side

Warsaw-based Fincast, a subsidiary of Milan-based Eurocast Italia (EI), plans to launch its new channel, Tele 5, on April 19. The station, which will broadcast mainly documentaries and programs purchased from European broadcasters such as BBC, ZDF, RAI and TF 1, is hoping to distinguish itself from its competitors by avoiding violent programming. Its radio, print and billboard advertising campaign, which starts April 15, was designed by Andrzej Pągowski and is based on the station's slogan - "See a better picture of the world." According to Dariusz Przychoda, Fincast's general manager, Tele 5 will be a "look-at-the-bright-side" kind of TV channel. "And our distinctiveness is expressed in our campaign whose main motive is "Little Red Riding Hood" who, unlike in the fairy tale, is the wolf's very good friend," Przychoda said. Fincast's homemade programs will include "Ryzyko" (Risk) a new game show designed and presented by Wojciech Pijanowski, a TV celebrity who started his career in public television.

"We are also planning to launch a kind of open studio that was supposed to be produced with Wprost weekly, which unfortunately withdrew from the project," Przychoda said. "We're now negotiating with Karol Małcużyński (former host of "Forum," a popular program on public television) who could become the host of the program." The station will also start "Bez cenzury" (Without Censorship) a program featuring politicians who rarely appear on other stations but who have strong personalities and a lot of supporters. Tele 5 will employ few celebrities to host its homemade programs. "Well, we'll obviously have a few already known personalities, such as Anna Czarnecka, who came to us from RTL7, but generally our policy will be to promote our own people because there is no point in starting a new channel based on people and faces known from other stations," Przychoda said. "But it's not that we can't afford celebrities. In Poland, paradoxically, TV celebrities don't earn a lot while TV management makes exorbitant money. This is insane."