Jel-kép Special Edition for the Cultural Forum 1985 [antikvár]

In a year or two, Western Europe will notice the symptoms of a peculiar shortage economy—at least this is forecast by a few recent studies, which analyzed the market of television programmes. According to an EEC commission, by the end of the 1980s, West European televisions will need at least 1.5 million hours of prog- rammes every year. One third of this will be drama and entertainment, but one can foresee an annual 125,000 hours of negative balance in these genres. Gerhard Weis, an important figure in the brains trust of the Austrian Radio and Television, quotes a BBC estimation, according to which the present West European prog- ramme producing capacity is only able to produce about 0.5 per cent of the 1990 requirement. In addition to these data, the conclusion formulated by the EEC commission is also dramatic: "Europe's television industry, which is already unable to provide less than half of the transmitted programmes, can be simply swept away, together with the European national cultures. As Europe already lags behind Japan and the United States in the technological race, it is feared that it will also be swept away in the battle around culture and information." Thus, the shortage in the last decades of the 20th century will concern tele- vision programmes. At least television programmes produced in Europe, because the "three tiered" television of the near future (satellites, conventional broadcasts and cable), to dampen the limitless appetite, will import overseas programmes in a rapidly increasing quantity. Particularly because while one hour of the television series made in European studios costs 250,000 dollars, an hour of the "Dallas" series—in the case of an appropriate sized order—can be managed for about 7,000 dollars. This is considerably cheap, even at the present, artificially high dollar exchange rate—and what a good business it will be when more authentic dollar parities will develop. To adhere to the concrete facts, let us see a few data from the other side, from the world of advertising. In a report from Rome on April 22, the International Herald Tribune said that 1984 was the first year when more money was spent on advertising in Italy than on film production in the land of Fellini and Anto- nioni, on the soil of Cinecitta. In 1984, the GNP (at current prices) increased by 14 per cent, while the sum spent on advertising increased by 39 per cent. The basic reason for this was the strengthening of the private television companies— and networks. The prognoses also reflect the extremely dynamic development of the international advertising industry outside the US market. WTiile it is esti- mated that the total expenditure of the world's advertising industry will amount to 874 billion dollars by the year 2000 (which is 794 per cent of the 1980 level), the non-American market's increase—including primarily Western Europe—- will reach 850 per cent of the 1980 value. The disparity could easily be explained: while in the United States mass communication operating on commercial bases —the number one carrier of advertising—was present from the beginning, in West- ern Europe it only started to gain terrain in recent years—in a rather speedy manner, as indicated by the data of the present and the future. The formula is rather clear. There is (will be) a shortage of domestically, European produced television programmes. The American products, at a low price, are always available. Year after year, more and more commercial television companies—building up their profits from advertisements—make their way onto the market, and try to fill their programme time at a competitive cost-level. And this can be done easiest from the American products.