Newest station makes it to airwaves
"I think it is possible to have a good deal now because we are on the air," said Boguslaw Zieba, a member of TV Wisla's management board who owns 1.5% of the company.
Currently the station, which employs 90 people, has $5 million cash on hand but needs to raise $12 million to $15 million by the end of the year to cover costs of transmission, programs and to pay back loans, Zieba said.
Major shareholders include construction firm Realbud with 71% and Efekt, a trading company listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, with 25%.
Zieba noted that Efekt is a passive shareholder and said he would not be surprised if Efekt got out of TV Wisla completely. But a spokesman from Efekt said the company was not planning to sell any of its shares.
Zieba said TV Wisla is seeking mainly technical know-how, not cash, from a foreign partner. "I am sure that we can emit our program without a new partner," he said. "But we need know-how, we need international contacts."
Executives at TV Wisla are mum about their potential new partners.
On Christmas Eve, TV Wisla emitted its first broadcast. Currently, the station is broadcasting seven hours a day.
The station is purchasing 70% of its programming from foreign providers such as Paramount and the BBC; the remainder is produced in-house.
Zieba said the station's reach is currently 5 million potential viewers. In March, the station hopes to begin broadcasts from its new newsroom, which Zieba said cost "a few million dollars."
Jarek Sulik, the new chairman of the National Broadcasting Council, told the Business Journal that TV Wisla is financially sound and does not need foreign capital to survive. But with the entrance of foreign investors into private TV in Poland, which he said is a strong possibility, TV Wisla may find it necessary to get some foreign money as well.
Sulik said that TV Wisla was in danger of losing its broadcasting license had it not gone on the air Christmas Eve.
Rank and file
Businessman Magazine's rankings of Polish advertising agencies are out, in a 100-page industry supplement to the January 1996 issue.
Lintas tops the list, followed by DMB&B, Bates Saatchi & Saatchi, Leo Burnett Warszawa, ITI McCann-Erickson, BBDO Warszawa, Publicis FCB Poland and Ogilvy & Mather.
Media executives around town - even those who made the Top 10 list - said they don't put much weight into the rankings, which are after all based on revenues from the first half of 1995.
Network news
Seeking to play catch-up with its competitors, public relations firm Ogilvy & Mather this month launched a separate media department, called the Network, to coordinate the agency's media planning, buying and research operations.
The effort is part of a retrenching move to make the agency more profitable.
"I think Ogilvy was perceived by clients as a very creative agency and suddenly we became less cost-efficient," said Marek Drabik, media director of Ogilvy & Mather, speaking of the agency's operations worldwide. "It's important to get back some of what we lost a couple of years ago," he added. Here in Warsaw, Drabik heads the nine-person Polish division of the newly established Network, which will coordinate media activities for Ogilvy & Mather.
Network will operate under the banner Ogilvy & Mather and be formed as a separate company in 1997.
"We are seeking to be more efficient, more cost-oriented," said Drabik, who said a separate media arm allows the company to monitor costs better.
Together with J. Walter Thompson, the firm has negotiated a six-month, exclusive-rights deal for software program SuperMidas, a television planning tool. The program was developed by U.K.-based research organization BMRB. In addition, O&M will install a customized Lotus Notes system that will permit instant transfer of information between Network's offices worldwide. Lotus is owned by O&M client IBM.
O&M, established in Poland in 1992, recorded $15 million in billings in 1995.
Malcolm Etheridge, executive media director for ITI/McCann-Erickson in Warsaw, said Ogilvy's move is indicative of a worldwide trend. "Where you have a large number of multinational clients, it can be difficult in a region where there is a dearth of good research to fulfill the clients' needs," he said.
Currently the station, which employs 90 people, has $5 million cash on hand but needs to raise $12 million to $15 million by the end of the year to cover costs of transmission, programs and to pay back loans, Zieba said.
Major shareholders include construction firm Realbud with 71% and Efekt, a trading company listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, with 25%.
Zieba noted that Efekt is a passive shareholder and said he would not be surprised if Efekt got out of TV Wisla completely. But a spokesman from Efekt said the company was not planning to sell any of its shares.
Zieba said TV Wisla is seeking mainly technical know-how, not cash, from a foreign partner. "I am sure that we can emit our program without a new partner," he said. "But we need know-how, we need international contacts."
Executives at TV Wisla are mum about their potential new partners.
On Christmas Eve, TV Wisla emitted its first broadcast. Currently, the station is broadcasting seven hours a day.
The station is purchasing 70% of its programming from foreign providers such as Paramount and the BBC; the remainder is produced in-house.
Zieba said the station's reach is currently 5 million potential viewers. In March, the station hopes to begin broadcasts from its new newsroom, which Zieba said cost "a few million dollars."
Jarek Sulik, the new chairman of the National Broadcasting Council, told the Business Journal that TV Wisla is financially sound and does not need foreign capital to survive. But with the entrance of foreign investors into private TV in Poland, which he said is a strong possibility, TV Wisla may find it necessary to get some foreign money as well.
Sulik said that TV Wisla was in danger of losing its broadcasting license had it not gone on the air Christmas Eve.
Rank and file
Businessman Magazine's rankings of Polish advertising agencies are out, in a 100-page industry supplement to the January 1996 issue.
Lintas tops the list, followed by DMB&B, Bates Saatchi & Saatchi, Leo Burnett Warszawa, ITI McCann-Erickson, BBDO Warszawa, Publicis FCB Poland and Ogilvy & Mather.
Media executives around town - even those who made the Top 10 list - said they don't put much weight into the rankings, which are after all based on revenues from the first half of 1995.
Network news
Seeking to play catch-up with its competitors, public relations firm Ogilvy & Mather this month launched a separate media department, called the Network, to coordinate the agency's media planning, buying and research operations.
The effort is part of a retrenching move to make the agency more profitable.
"I think Ogilvy was perceived by clients as a very creative agency and suddenly we became less cost-efficient," said Marek Drabik, media director of Ogilvy & Mather, speaking of the agency's operations worldwide. "It's important to get back some of what we lost a couple of years ago," he added. Here in Warsaw, Drabik heads the nine-person Polish division of the newly established Network, which will coordinate media activities for Ogilvy & Mather.
Network will operate under the banner Ogilvy & Mather and be formed as a separate company in 1997.
"We are seeking to be more efficient, more cost-oriented," said Drabik, who said a separate media arm allows the company to monitor costs better.
Together with J. Walter Thompson, the firm has negotiated a six-month, exclusive-rights deal for software program SuperMidas, a television planning tool. The program was developed by U.K.-based research organization BMRB. In addition, O&M will install a customized Lotus Notes system that will permit instant transfer of information between Network's offices worldwide. Lotus is owned by O&M client IBM.
O&M, established in Poland in 1992, recorded $15 million in billings in 1995.
Malcolm Etheridge, executive media director for ITI/McCann-Erickson in Warsaw, said Ogilvy's move is indicative of a worldwide trend. "Where you have a large number of multinational clients, it can be difficult in a region where there is a dearth of good research to fulfill the clients' needs," he said.
