Monastic order launches prime time religious channel
TV viewers will have more to watch this spring with the launch of a new channel. On March 18, Spolka Producencka TV Familijna (TF) will launch TV Puls, a commercial channel produced by request of the Franciscan order. It will use frequencies occupied by the existing TV Niepokalanow, also broadcast by a religious order.
The Franciscans hold a supraregional broadcasting concession, but financially it's fueled by minority shareholders: KGHM Polska Miedz, PZU Zycie, Prokom and Polski Koncern Naftowy Orlen (PKN Orlen).
"The market is difficult and crowded. But we based our project on research, which showed that there is a market niche and viewers feel the need for television like ours," said Maciej Pawlicki, TF interim president.
While TV Puls promises to be a mix of objective information and entertainment, it will also address other viewer requirements such as broadcasting live prime time programs.
But according to market insiders, it's going to be tough for TV Puls to find its place. "The Polish TV market is full and it was TVN that first experienced tough competition," said Jakub Benke, managing director of Starcom media house. "While TVN bought the best productions, they were climbing the ladder very slowly. Today it's even more difficult, especially in cities where viewers have access to as many as 30 channels and are wary about trying another new one."
But Pawlicki said TV Puls' goal is to reach an audience of 4% by 2002. By comparison, TV4, a commercial channel launched in April last year, has weekly viewing figures of 3.5%, and private TV broadcaster TVN 10.8%, according to last week's estimates by AGB Polska.
"I don't believe they can get as much as 4% this year," Benke said. "The market is full and nobody would enter TV Puls with significant budgets without good viewing figures."
But Joanna Pawlak, a sales director at TF who spent three years as head of marketing in public television and three years as media planner at McCann-Erickson Polska, believes in TV Puls' success. "It will be a tough job, but I am prepared for it," she said.
According to Pawlak, TV Puls is targeting 16-49 year-old viewers from cities with a population over 20,000. "They are the great shoppers so it's the most attractive group for advertisers," she said. TV Puls' secondary target group will be viewers 24-49 years old. "Usually, people of that age have families," she added.
Pawlak said TV Puls will initially try to attract advertisers that are present in smaller stations such as RTL7, TV4 and TVN. According to AGB Polska's estimates, RTL7 had a 2.73% share in weekly ad spending and TVN had 19.5%, while Polsat, Poland's leading private television, had 28.39%. "In a sense all stations are our competitors because the dynamics of the ad market's growth is going down," she said. TV Puls will provide flexible prices and a discount policy, Pawlak said. "We will try to be competitive."
Starcom's Benke was skeptical about the 4% viewing figure as a realistic goal. "They are placing themselves alongside TV4 and TVN, which are mass TV stations for viewers living in cities," he said. "TVN has a lot of money these days, so can TV Puls afford such competition?"
TV Puls has attracted many celebrities, who made their careers at Telewizja Polska (TVP) and also at private broadcasters. It plans to run daily talk shows with the popular Wojciech Mann and Krzysztof Materna as hosts. Pawlicki said one of the channel's potential hits is a satirical show with electronically animated dolls. According to its author, it will be one of the most expensive productions in the history of Polish television.
TV Puls will be available on frequencies used by TV Niepokalanow and on a digital platform, through cable and satellite. Pawlicki wouldn't disclose the platform since negotiations are in progress. "TV Niepokalanow won't disappear, but it will have to diminish its reach to some 40%, which equals the current reach available through satellite and cable," Pawlicki said.
In 1994, the Franciscan Order, which broadcasts TV Niepokalanow, received a concession to transmit across the regions. So far that license has been extended to six cities: Warsaw, Lodz, Opole, Krakow, Skierniewice and Gorlice. According to TF, KRRiTV promised in 1994 that it would grant, if possible, additional frequencies to broadcasters with the smallest coverage.
TV Niepokalanow's analog reach covers only 13.5% of the population while TV4 has 20% and TVN 34%. Meanwhile, TV Niepokalanow expanded its reach nationwide through agreements with several cable companies. According to Pawlicki, TV Puls will have a 50% reach when launched in March.
"Nevertheless, we hope that the council (KRRiTV) will do its best to provide equal chances for all license holders," Pawlicki said. "That 50% is not enough for us and I hope that good feedback for TV Puls will be a message to the council and that a greater number of analog viewers will be able to watch it in future."
TV Puls' advertising campaign, to be prepared by Warsaw-based ad agency Publicis, will start in a few weeks. Feb. 24 is the deadline for technical readiness to broadcast the channel's signal.
