25-31 October 2000

News Briefs Air Malta announced that it intends to team up with French company, Accord, in order to manage more hotels, starting with the Grand Mercier Costa San Antonio, which is set to open in approximately a year’s time. An increase in imports, exports and an additional Lm32 million spent on oil have led to a commercial imbalance on the national balance sheet, Labour spokesperson Leo Brincat said yesterday. He also said that government expenditure had gone up by Lm46 million, while a further increase of Lm10 million in capital expenditure was registered. National debt has also climbed another nine per cent over last year, bringing it up to Lm 900 million. Last Friday’s Malta Today, The Business Times’ sister paper, revealed that the anti-budgetary petition gathered by the GWU, as part of the Issa Daqshekk campaign, did not ensure the validity of signatures, after one of the paper’s journalists signed six times without being asked for identification.			BA fine sends ripples around TV stations By Nadine Brincat The fine which the Broadcasting Authority meted out to NET TV last week over excessive advertising has highlighted the struggle that media companies are facing to survive in the cut-throat business. Commenting on the fine handed out by the BA, some operators who work in the field also brought up the gripe that print media is not regulated by authority. After the BA fined the Nationalist Party’s television station Lm 400 for infringing the regulations on advertising and sponsorships in its programme ‘Bongu Sinjura Borg’, the station’s head, Anton Attard, pointed out that the print media are not restricted on the amount of advertising they can run, while television broadcasting is regulated very strictly. Meanwhile, Albert Marshall, the Director of Super One – the Labour Party’s media machine - told The Business Times that the BA had to come to terms with the fact that the advertising cake is not increasing at the same pace as media organisations, which are struggling to survive. "The BA should thus rethink its management of the commercial aspect of broadcasting on a local front," he said. "The BA should exist, not simply as a punitive institution, but also to encourage broadcasting, which will otherwise move towards a natural death." Peter Busuttil, who produces and directs ‘Bongu Sinjura Borg’ – the programme for which NET was rapped over the knuckles - defended the show, explaining that the problem occurred because outlets where he presents prizes to viewers are considered as advertisements by the Authority, even though they have not paid for the publicity. "There is also an anomaly in that the BA does not distinguish between programmes which use a great deal of manpower and other resources and others which do not," he said. Mr Busuttil also called for a revision in advertising prices, so as to set standards and tackle the problem of undercutting, an issue raised by P.J. Vassallo, of ‘Where’s Everybody’ production company, which produces the popular show, Xarabank. "Some sponsors will not advertise on certain stations or programmes, because what should be termed as a fair price is considered as expensive due to the fact that other organisations are offering cheaper prices," he said. Andrew Psaila, Chief Executive Officer of Public Broadcasting Services, stressed that the Broadcasting Law was clear cut, and every producer should know the law. "If the producer does not, then it is up to the management to inform him, at least that is what we do here," he continued. He added that although some programmes have high advertising demands, some bookings are turned down, as "we are adamant about observing the law". Mr Psaila said that the limits placed on advertising give space and importance to programme content, in the viewers’ interests. However, he admitted that advertisements were important in their own right as they are the very lifeline of any commercial broadcasting station. A spokesperson for the Broadcasting Authority admitted that the local media stations require substantial income to survive in such a competitive and near-saturated environment, but stressed that the role of the Authority, as a regulator, was to reinforce the laws.

The Business Times, Network House, Vjal ir-Rihan San Gwann SGN 07 | Tel: (356) 382741-3, 382745-6 | Fax: (356) 385075
Editor: Saviour Balzan
e-mail: [email protected]