'Post-reality' era dawns as 'Big Brother' gets the boot

Poland's top two private TV stations, Polsat and TVN, are not planning to introduce any run-of-the-mill reality shows in their fall lineups. The result is that they'll probably have no anchor programs similar to TVN's "Big Brother" (BB) to attract advertisers. In the past 18 months, BB's three editions made TVN's market position strong enough to compete with Polsat for greater audience share. Still, the two stations are planning to roll out a series of hybrid programs to replace typical reality shows. TVN, part of the ITI Group, is basing its fall lineup on a blend of programs with 11 completely new formats. "We have never had such a variety of prog-rams in our lineup before," said Katarzyna Alińska of TVN's press office. "We classify all the new programs as 'post-reality' formats, which combine only elements of a classic rea-lity show and a game show. It's simply the next stage in our programming development after 'Big Brother' and 'Agent.' This time the (prog-rams) are more directly addressed to the entire family."

"Big Brother" a bore According to Alińska, BB no longer appeals to audiences. "TVN's programming strategy is based on constant surprises," she said. "We cannot afford to bore our viewers." But market analysts said TVN was forced to dump BB due to poor audience-share ratings for its third edition. "I'm not surprised there will be no fourth edition of BB," said Maciej Ziomek, the head of the television section at Warsaw-based media house Pan Media Wes-tern. "The first edition was BB's biggest success, but a fourth one wouldn't make sense because it wouldn't generate serious audience share." According to industry price lists and estimates by AGB Polska, TVN is getting closer to Polsat in terms of its advertising market share. During the first six months of the year, TVN carved out a 23.8% slice, 5% more compared to the same period in 2001. Polsat also saw its ad market share dip slightly to 27.7%. "Fall has always been the time of year when all TV stations battle for viewers," Ziomek said. In target groups, such as young urban women, TVN even ranks higher than TVP, the public broadcaster. "So it certainly will not only fight against Polsat," Ziomek said. "On the other hand, BB was TVN's driving force, so its position on the market may change if it has no such 'locomotive' this time."

Herbie rides again One of TVN's new programs will be "Love Bugs," a successful Canadian TV serial. The program has generated huge revenues for Distraction Formats, the show's producer. The French television station France 2 has run "Love Bugs" for the past four years, and the program is now shown in nine other countries. TVN is also planning to launch a popular BBC game show/reality program, "Dog Eat Dog," in which six contestants play upon each other's strengths and weaknesses in a battle for cash. "We hope that these kinds of programs will become very strong components of our fall lineup," Alińska said. TVN will also air a new talk show, "What do you know about coo-king?" hosted by movie star Bogusław Linda.

"Russian Roulette" Polsat plans to play not only on the runaway success of its two programs "Bar" and "Idol," whose new versions will be launched this fall, but it also promises completely new shows like "Russian Roulette." "We said good-bye to classic reality shows a long time ago," said Bogusław Chrabota, the station's programming director. "We've had one edition of 'Bar' (a reality show set in a bar), while TVN had three BBs. The second edition of 'Bar' will be modified. We're also running another edition of 'Idol' (an amateur singing contest), because it's become one of the most interesting programs of the past season." A game of chance, "Russian Roulette," owned by the U.S. film and television producer Columbia TriStar, has been a hit in countries as far-flung as Russia and Spain. If a contestant answers a question incorrectly, he or she must pull a lever, potentially triggering one or more "drop zones." When only one contestant is left standing, that person keeps all the money and proceeds to a final round for bigger cash. Polsat is also planning a new talk show with people from business, politics and culture that will be hosted by a famous personality, Chra-bota said. Sector analysts had few predictions about the impact of the new lineups on the stations' audience-share ratings. "All we have is information about Polsat's fall programming," said Małgorzata Grzyb, the managing director of Initiative Media, a Warsaw-based media house. "I think that running another edition of 'Bar' and 'Idol' is a good decision. Their first editions generated good audience ratings. Even if their second editions won't be as well received as the ori-ginals, they might still be the strongest elements of Polsat's lineup."