COMMUNICATIONS
MEDIA
- Political freedom after the year l989 resulted in an enormous
boom for all types of media, which had been censored for forty
years. At present organizations which monitore freedom of the
press rank the Czech Republic among those countries with the
highest standards of press freedom.
- Dozens of new periodicals and broadcasting stations, and several
TV channels emerged both at the national and regional level. The
newly established market has already experienced varying degrees
of success.
- The share of foreign investors - mainly Swiss, German and
French, is quite significant in most important newspapers.
The Swiss syndicate Ringier owns one of the most widely read tabloids
- Blesk, the more sophisticated Lidove noviny, and more
than ten other periodicals.
The regional press in Bohemia is controlled, with just a few exceptions,
by three subsidiary companies of Passauer Neue Presse, the German
publishing company.
The French Hersant company owns the best-selling newspaper in
the country, Mlada fronta Dnes.
Daily periodicals
- 15 national and several dozen regional newspapers are issued
daily.
The following are the most popular daily newspapers distributed
throughout the Czech Republic (average daily circulation is listed
in parentheses).
- Mlada Fronta Dnes (380.000)
The largest independent national daily newspaper. Formerly published
under the communist regime as a youth paper, it is now a modern
western-style daily aimed at a general readership that strives
for objectivity.
This independent, colour tabloid daily is issued seven times a
week; once a week a glossy magazine is published along with the
newspaper.
A national news-oriented paper which strives to give an objective
and independent impression; it was formerly published by the Communist
Party of Czechoslovakia. Today it is not openly attached to any
political party, but it has a leftist political slant and focuses
on social issues. It has a reputation of having high professional
standards.
- Ceske a moravskoslezske Zemedelske
Noviny (200,000)
The paper is the continuation of the daily Zemedelske noviny
(l945-199O); the paper is issued nation-wide and it is focused
particularly on rural and other non-metropolitan readers.
- Hospodarske noviny (150,000)
This economic daily paper features news about economic problems
at home as well as abroad. It draws on the model of economic daily
newspapers such as the Financial Times or Handelsblatt.
- Lidove noviny (circulation 100,000)
Famous as a dissident newspaper published by the illegal samizdat
press under the communists, it is now an independent daily aimed
at a liberally-minded and university-educated readership.
Weekly Papers and Monthly Periodicals
- Just as with daily papers, the successors of magazines which
existed before 1989 are among the nation s favorite periodicals.
However, several new magazines founded after 1990 are also popular.
Here, too, foreign capital has brought many changes - notably
an improvement in the quality of the print and graphic lay-out.
At the same time the content of new magazines have started to
approach international standards.
- The most widely read periodicals are general interest weeklies
such as Reflex , Mlady svet and Kvety. In addition, a wide
array of new titles have emerged to fill the demands of special
niche markets ranging from magazines that cater to women to publications
that focus on sports.
- Three English weeklies are published in Prague:
THE PRAGUE POST,
CENTRAL EUROPEAN BUSINESS WEEKLY
PROGNOSIS
- One glossy business magazine is published in French and English:
LA TRIBUNE DE PRAGUE
The Czech Republic has a dual state and private broadcasting
system.
- At this time the only operators recognized by law are the
publicly owned institutions Czech Radio and Czech Television.
They have an arms-length relationship with the government and
finance their own actvities. These institutions have a specific
mission with regard to upholding public interest and they are
limited in developing their own business, particularly as regards
advertisement broadcasting.
- The Council for Radio and Television Broadcasting of the Czech
Republic adminsters licensing policy. The council is elected by
parliament and is not dependent on the government.
- At present, over 5O licences for radio broadcasting have been
granted.
- The largest licensed radio stations operating in the Czech
Republic include: Radio ALFA, Radio FREKVENCE 1,Radio EVROPA 2,
BBC WORLD SERVICE, and RADIO FREE EUROPE.
- NOVA was the first private television station in all of
the former Eastern bloc to receive a broadcasting license.
It went on air Feb. 4, 1994 and within six months secured half
the viewing audience in the Czech Republic, according to television
ratings.
l Since 1989, advertising expenditures have increased dramatically
- from almost five million dollars in 1989 to more than 212 million
dollars in 1993. It is estimated that in 1994 total expenditures
on advertising will increase to 250 million dollars.
Expenditures for advertising in various media in the Czech
Republic (% of total)
1989 1990 1991 1992 1993
Press 85.1 82.9 70.5 58.3 54.3
TV 10.1 10.7 12.0 22.2 28.3
Outdoor 1.4 2.1 8.3 12.7 10.2
Radio 1.4 2.1 6.1 5.3 5.7
Other 2.0 2.1 3.2 1.6 1.6
Total
in mil.USD 5.0 12.5 46.4 157.7 22.4
- After 1989 international advertising agencies quickly became
the largest in the country in terms of both turnover and billings.
Most of the successful Czech agencies merged with foreign partners.
The five largest agencies (in terms of billings in 1993
in mil. USD)
1. MARK/BBDO 25
2. SAATCHI a SAATCHI 11
3. YOUNG a RUBICAM 11
4. McCANN-ERICKSON 10
5. LINTAS 7
- Telecommunications in the Czech Republic have not yet reached
the standards of developed countries. On the other hand, huge
customer demand and ambitious plans for the future make this one
of the most promising areas for development and investment.
- Although from 1980 to 1993 the number of main telephone lines
in Czechoslovakia shot up from 1,616,000 to 2,334,000, (i.e. from
10.6 lines per 100 inhabitants to 14.9 lines), there are still
more than 500,000 applications pending. On average, applicants
for a new telephone line have to wait 2.6 years. Although foreign
capital is involved in current planning, the demand for new telephone
lines is not likely to be met until the year 2000, at an expense
of more than 4 billion USD.
- The former telephone network is quickly being enlarged by
a network of cellular telephones covering most populated parts
of the country.