Third public television channel fails to make impact

The third news channel of public television, 3 TVP, only managed to attract and maintain an average audience of just 200,000 or 2,8% of all viewers during the first month of its activity. The figure seems to be disappointing, especially given the fact that the channel which emerged out of local TVP stations, is available to viewers almost nationwide. Experts who were asked to help explain this failure said that a major problem was the lack of promoting and advertising the channel, particularly in an already saturated market. They also underlined the fact that that the leading news channel TVN 24 was able to capture and maintain more viewers during and since the attack on the WTC. Most of the experts criticized the idea underlying 3 TVP, saying that to much stress is put on local news and this concept needs to be revised, as well as the fact that the station is not as professional or as entertaining as its competitors. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 26) M.K.