Magazine eschews CD inserts, moves to higher-tech offering<BR>
While magazine readers have begun to grow accustomed to finding CD's attached to publications, PC World Komputer hoped to make that practice seem passe by attaching a DVD disc to its latest publication.
DVD is the latest hot thing in the entertainment industry, combining multi-media with the world of film. The new discs can hold up to 8 gigabytes of information and allow users to play movies, which can have subtitles in multiple languages, on a DVD player or a computer that is equipped with a DVD drive.
Attaching a DVD disc was more expensive than producing the magazine, but PC World felt the expense was worth it if for nothing more than bragging rights. Krzysztof Matej, PC World's general director, said IDG Poland was the first in the region to attach a DVD disc to a magazine.
Although the technology has yet to catch on in a big way here, Matej said he believes the new medium will ultimately prove popular. "One of its most obvious applications is recording movies," he said. This will allow cinema lovers to easily find films that weren't distributed here and watch them at home or on their computer.
To give readers a taste of the new technology, the DVD disc attached to the magazine contained the movie "Microcosmos" along with teasers and scenes from Polish and foreign films such as "Ogniem i Mieczem," "Gattaca" and "Brooklyn Boogie."
Even so, it's questionable if consumers will rush out to buy DVD players to replace their tried and trusted VCRs.
Sunny skies?
If you still haven't gotten a full dose of coverage of the papal pilgrimage, here's another twist to the visit. Web surfers can track the weather that will follow the pope's tour of 19 cities.
Aura, a Poznan-based weather-forecasting company, is providing daily internet updates on the weather for pilgrims following John Paul II around the country. (www.aura.com.pl/pielgrzymka/index.html)
"We came up with the idea of a pilgrimage web site spontaneously," said Leszek Kruszona, an Aura forecaster.
The service is not a new site but an addition to Aura's three-month old site that provides daily weather forecasts for the country. The weather forecasts are updated twice a day, and Kruszona said his company's short-term forecasts are 85% reliable.
So far, the company is pleased with reaction to the feature. "Radio Zet, one of our main customers, also decided to do the weather for pilgrims, with our help, on the air," Kruszona said.
Not that Aura is the only one that's had this idea. Telewizja Polska (TVP) is also providing daily forecasts for pilgrims, on TVP1, during its evening program that sums up each day of John Paul's visit.
But Kruszona argues that not only is Aura's service different because it's on-line, but also because, in his opinion, it's better.
"Our idea of informing pilgrims about possible changes in weather has already proved to be right because it's reliable," he said. "Whereas if you look at TV forecasts, they all differ very much."
Empty TVs
The national women's basketball team enjoyed a spectacular success at the European championships, bringing home a gold medal. But they didn't get that much attention back home because their triumph wasn't televised.
That wasn't just bad news for the team. It was also a headache for Telewizja Polska (TVP).
The public broadcaster came in for heavy criticism for not being able to televise the match. The reason had nothing to do with technical glitches. Rather, TVP no longer has the rights to the game.
Wizja TV, which purchased the rights to such games, couldn't broadcast the match because it did not fit with a previously determined programming schedule.
This meant the team's fans had no choice but to turn on their radios if they wanted to hear Mazurek Dabrowskiego, the national anthem, performed after the final game of the championship.
Although some said TVP should have retained the rights to the championship to prevent such a lack of coverage, the broadcaster argued that it cannot buy the rights to every sports event.
"We didn't buy the rights because they were a part of a larger, five-year package which was too expensive and not necessarily interesting as a whole to Polish viewers," said Pawel Sosnowski, a spokesman for TVP. "We couldn't pick what was the most delicious part of it so we gave up everything."
While TVP's mission as the nation's public broadcaster is to meet the expectations of a wide audience, there are budgetary constraints which ultimately decide what it can cover, he added. "Commercial stations can be more extravagant," Sosnowski added.
Wizja TV agreed, saying that TVP has to pick and choose what coverage it will bid for like everyone else. "I wouldn't call it a scandal because everybody could have bought the rights," said Piotr Golos, sports promotion manager at Wizja TV. "It's a market situation."
Wizja TV planned to show the match, but only after a delay of a few days. Golos said the station couldn't show the match sooner because scheduled programming could not be changed. He added that the women's team matches will become part of a daily package of six hours of sports programming on Wizja that will include Polish football and motocross racing.
Meanwhile, Sosnowski argued that current sports programming on TVP is wide enough to satisfy all possible tastes and interests. "I will just mention canoeing, horse racing and judo, etc, whereas our competitors focus on the most spectacular sports and that is what makes the transmission rights so expensive," he said.
However, some even within TVP feeling it is falling down on the sports job. In May, the network's sportscast director resigned in protest to what he saw as sports programming being marginalized. The resignation came after broadcast of a basketball game was cut short in the final, tense minutes to start showing a news program.
DVD is the latest hot thing in the entertainment industry, combining multi-media with the world of film. The new discs can hold up to 8 gigabytes of information and allow users to play movies, which can have subtitles in multiple languages, on a DVD player or a computer that is equipped with a DVD drive.
Attaching a DVD disc was more expensive than producing the magazine, but PC World felt the expense was worth it if for nothing more than bragging rights. Krzysztof Matej, PC World's general director, said IDG Poland was the first in the region to attach a DVD disc to a magazine.
Although the technology has yet to catch on in a big way here, Matej said he believes the new medium will ultimately prove popular. "One of its most obvious applications is recording movies," he said. This will allow cinema lovers to easily find films that weren't distributed here and watch them at home or on their computer.
To give readers a taste of the new technology, the DVD disc attached to the magazine contained the movie "Microcosmos" along with teasers and scenes from Polish and foreign films such as "Ogniem i Mieczem," "Gattaca" and "Brooklyn Boogie."
Even so, it's questionable if consumers will rush out to buy DVD players to replace their tried and trusted VCRs.
Sunny skies?
If you still haven't gotten a full dose of coverage of the papal pilgrimage, here's another twist to the visit. Web surfers can track the weather that will follow the pope's tour of 19 cities.
Aura, a Poznan-based weather-forecasting company, is providing daily internet updates on the weather for pilgrims following John Paul II around the country. (www.aura.com.pl/pielgrzymka/index.html)
"We came up with the idea of a pilgrimage web site spontaneously," said Leszek Kruszona, an Aura forecaster.
The service is not a new site but an addition to Aura's three-month old site that provides daily weather forecasts for the country. The weather forecasts are updated twice a day, and Kruszona said his company's short-term forecasts are 85% reliable.
So far, the company is pleased with reaction to the feature. "Radio Zet, one of our main customers, also decided to do the weather for pilgrims, with our help, on the air," Kruszona said.
Not that Aura is the only one that's had this idea. Telewizja Polska (TVP) is also providing daily forecasts for pilgrims, on TVP1, during its evening program that sums up each day of John Paul's visit.
But Kruszona argues that not only is Aura's service different because it's on-line, but also because, in his opinion, it's better.
"Our idea of informing pilgrims about possible changes in weather has already proved to be right because it's reliable," he said. "Whereas if you look at TV forecasts, they all differ very much."
Empty TVs
The national women's basketball team enjoyed a spectacular success at the European championships, bringing home a gold medal. But they didn't get that much attention back home because their triumph wasn't televised.
That wasn't just bad news for the team. It was also a headache for Telewizja Polska (TVP).
The public broadcaster came in for heavy criticism for not being able to televise the match. The reason had nothing to do with technical glitches. Rather, TVP no longer has the rights to the game.
Wizja TV, which purchased the rights to such games, couldn't broadcast the match because it did not fit with a previously determined programming schedule.
This meant the team's fans had no choice but to turn on their radios if they wanted to hear Mazurek Dabrowskiego, the national anthem, performed after the final game of the championship.
Although some said TVP should have retained the rights to the championship to prevent such a lack of coverage, the broadcaster argued that it cannot buy the rights to every sports event.
"We didn't buy the rights because they were a part of a larger, five-year package which was too expensive and not necessarily interesting as a whole to Polish viewers," said Pawel Sosnowski, a spokesman for TVP. "We couldn't pick what was the most delicious part of it so we gave up everything."
While TVP's mission as the nation's public broadcaster is to meet the expectations of a wide audience, there are budgetary constraints which ultimately decide what it can cover, he added. "Commercial stations can be more extravagant," Sosnowski added.
Wizja TV agreed, saying that TVP has to pick and choose what coverage it will bid for like everyone else. "I wouldn't call it a scandal because everybody could have bought the rights," said Piotr Golos, sports promotion manager at Wizja TV. "It's a market situation."
Wizja TV planned to show the match, but only after a delay of a few days. Golos said the station couldn't show the match sooner because scheduled programming could not be changed. He added that the women's team matches will become part of a daily package of six hours of sports programming on Wizja that will include Polish football and motocross racing.
Meanwhile, Sosnowski argued that current sports programming on TVP is wide enough to satisfy all possible tastes and interests. "I will just mention canoeing, horse racing and judo, etc, whereas our competitors focus on the most spectacular sports and that is what makes the transmission rights so expensive," he said.
However, some even within TVP feeling it is falling down on the sports job. In May, the network's sportscast director resigned in protest to what he saw as sports programming being marginalized. The resignation came after broadcast of a basketball game was cut short in the final, tense minutes to start showing a news program.
