Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Whither Channel 5?
In an interesting development yesterday, yet to be picked up by the British Press bar Media Week, the massive German media conglomerate Bertelsmann AG has completed the purchase of Channel 5 the UK terrestrial broadcaster through its Luxembougish subsidiary RTL "which has founded its growth on its wholeheartedly European approach". This is the first time that such a broadcaster has been owned by a non UK firm. That is in itself no bad thing of course, I wouldn't want to see the sort of madness espoused by the French Industry Minister Francois Loos who believes that important French firms should be >"shielded". , But it has to be watched. Bertlesmann is a well known corporate cheerleader for the project and it will be instructive to guage the European coverage on Channel 5 from now on.
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2 comments:
It would have to struggle to cheerlead as strongly as the BBC, and the BBC has a much bigger audience.
I don't think we'll ever see such a thing in France. As you say, shielding their "strategic industries" while bragging about their "Europeanism" is a purely French instinct.
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