Radio Zet gets face-lift; treasury unimpressed with TVP
One of the two largest private radio stations in the country received a face-lift last week when its new logo appeared in an advertising campaign for Spanish carmaker Seat.
The logo will be used in all of the radio station's promotional and advertising materials. "We changed the logo to emphasize that we've come a long way in 10 years," said Krzysztof Kouyoumdjian, PR manager of Radio Zet, which is owned by the media holding Eurozet. Some of those changes are symbolically represented in the new logo." He said the logo's red "Zet," done in a brush stroke, is intended to convey an image of a fast-moving, modern radio station.
Radio Zet was launched in 1990 by Andrzej Woyciechowski, journalist and correspondent for Le Monde, Liberation and Agence France Presse. The first private station in Warsaw, Radio Zet received a concession to broadcast nationally in 1994.
"Over a year ago we decided to change the logo because the media is changing all the time," Kouyoumdjian said. "The old one was good for the times when the radio was established."
The new logo will officially appear on the station's web site July 28. "We will not be promoting the logo in a separate campaign because the company's name has not changed," Kouyoumdjian said.
In May, Radio Zet's weekly reach hit 20.6% compared with rival broadcaster RMF FM's 28.2%, according to SMG/KRC radio track estimates.
Telewizja Polska's (TVP) shareholders, represented by Treasury Minister Emil Wasacz, who officially owns the broadcaster, were not impressed with the station's management last week.
At the state-owned public broadcaster's annual meeting, Wasacz refused to accept the management board's 1999 annual report or approve the board's actions in 1999. He was, however, willing to accept TVP's financial report. In accordance with the meeting's resolutions, 20% of the station's zl. 219 million ($56 million) in 1999 profit will be distributed to employees as bonuses. Wasacz rejected the board's application for rewarding the supervisors with special bonuses for generating profit last year. The minister said he rejected the board's report because it had no long-term goals and lacked a TV-reform cost analysis. He also disapproved of the board's actions concerning TVP's planned participation in Cyfra+, the digital platform operated by Canal+. In 1999, the Wasacz refused to agree with TVP's plan to join the Cyfra+ platform and questioned TVP's deal with Canal+. The station's board appealed the decision but lost.
Last week's Treasury Ministry communique, which was released after the shareholders meeting, also criticized the station's supervisory board for doling out a hefty pay increase for TVP executives.
The shareholders' resolutions irked station executives. "The treasury minister cannot see the company's determination to keep a dominant position on the Polish media market," said a TVP statement released on the day of the shareholders meeting. "He ignores the introduction of the reform, TVP's very good financial results and the high public credibility of the station."
Polskie Radio (PR), the public broadcaster, might become the fifth Polish radio station to transmit its signal via the Wizja TV digital platform owned by United Pan-Europe Communications (UPC).
So far PR has been available through the Cyfra+ digital platform operated by Canal+. "We are really close. It's a question of weeks rather than months," said Marek Sowa, vice president for corporate affairs at UPC's operations in Poland. Eugeniusz Smolar, vice president of PR's management board, said last week that the agreement with Wizja might be concluded very soon. "It's our duty as the board of a public radio station to make its signal available to all legally operating institutions," he said. While sources said PR and Wizja started talks before the National Radio and Television Council (KRRiTV) voted to grant a broadcasting license to Wizja, the council's decision will definitely make the coming agreement easier. The KRRiTV ended a two-year dispute over the legality of broadcasting from abroad. Wizja, which broadcasts from the U.K., was accused by Canal+ of operating illegally. "Doubts should be melting away now and the atmosphere for negotiations is much more friendly than it used to be," Sowa said.
PR will be the fifth radio station included in the Wizja digital platform. PR will join Radio Zet, regional Radio Flash, Radio WAWa and Radio WA-MA, which are available to Wizja subscribers via the Astra satellite. The signal is also available to Poles living abroad who are not Wizja subscribers, since the signal transmitted through Astra is not coded.
According to media sources, Wizja is also talking to radio stations Eska, RMF and Radio Kolor about including their signals in the platform.
Tygodnik AWS, a weekly newspaper published by Krakow-based Malopolska Press since 1997 the year Solidarity Election Action (AWS) won the parliamentary elections will be no longer available in print form. Publication of the paper, whose circulation ranged from 20,000 to 60,000, was suspended, said Cezary Rybczynski, president of Malopolska Press. The paper will now only be available on the internet (http://www.aws.com.pl). Rybczynski wouldn't reveal the reason for the print version's suspension. "It was the owners' decision," he said. He wouldn't, however, rule out the possibility of changing the previous format and creating a new kind of a weekly, for instance by merging with Nowe Panstwo, a right-center paper published by Srebrna. "Of course, such concepts are still feasible," he said. Nowe Panstwo has recently boosted its circulation from 18,000 to 25,000 while adopting a smaller format to improve ad revenue.
