The community platform Myspace is launching a self-produced web TV series at the beginning of March, thereby raising its profile as a content provider. The series is called "Kavka vs. the Web" and is hosted by MTV presenter, DJ and music journalist Markus Kavka. In the five to ten-minute episodes, the 41-year-old presents Internet finds such as technology gadgets and introduces young bands who want to make a name for themselves online. The show will be broadcast every Friday from the beginning of March.
According to Horizont.net, Myspace users will be closely involved in the format. They can contact the presenter via e-mail and comment functions, suggest topics for the show and apply for the "Myspacer of the week" section, in which the most interesting users of the social network are presented.
The format is produced by the company The Burn Baby Burn. Blackberry manufacturer Research In Motion has been secured as a partner.

The British government is pushing for an international strategy to tackle illegal downloads. According to the press release, Culture Secretary Andy Burnham has presented an ambitious plan to the British Parliament, which will subsequently be coordinated with the USA and the EU. The aim of the strategy paper, which was co-drafted by the British music industry, is to reach an agreement with other governments that would give British actions in the fight against illegal file sharing a better chance of success. The UK wants to reduce illegal downloads by 70 to 80 percent.

Urs Schweizer will join the Management Board of NZZ no later than January 1, 2010, and will take over the newly created Services/Printing division. Furthermore, with the addition of the Heads of Media Central and Eastern Switzerland as of March 1, 2009, the NZZ Executive Board will be supplemented with representatives of the regional media houses. This is associated with closer cooperation between all Group companies and the coordination and consolidation of service areas of the NZZ Group in the areas of services/printing and finance/informatics/human resources, according to a statement. The corresponding projects are to be launched in spring 2009.
A few days ago, it was announced that Urs Schweizer would be leaving Tamedia at the end of 2009 to join the NZZ Group.

The German arm of the Jung von Matt agency group has landed some exciting advertising accounts. The creative office of Holger Jung and the Swiss Jean-Remy von Matt is now responsible for the advertising of the electronics retail chain Euronics, the search engine giant Google and the sporting goods manufacturer Nike.
Euronics and Google will be looked after by the Berlin office of JvM/Spree. Nike will be looked after by the Stuttgart office of JvM/Neckar in future.
The Vienna branch of JvM/Donau is now also in charge of advertising for the telecommunications provider Tele 2.
In Switzerland, JvM/Limmat will soon have the budget for Migros' umbrella campaign.

The poster advertising group Affichage grew strongly last year: sales revenue increased by 17 percent to CHF 452 million. However, profits declined, as Affichage announced on Thursday according to SDA. Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) shrank by 4.3 percent to 52.6 million francs in 2008, while net profit fell by more than half to 29.7 million francs. However, a large part of this fall in bottom-line profit is due to a special factor: The absence of an extraordinary capital gain reduced net profit by 27.4 million francs.
Managing Director Christian Kauter has decided not to take early retirement as planned in order to maintain continuity in difficult economic times, according to the statement. The dividend will be halved to CHF 4.4 per share.

Many cantonal websites have poor user guidance, are difficult to find on Google, are technically outdated and offer too few services. These are the findings of a test conducted by Computerworld. In addition, security gaps were found in the handling of sensitive data, according to a press release from the trade journal. However, not all sites scored poorly in the test: the cantons of St. Gallen, Zug and Solothurn are in the top three places in the Computerworld ranking and impressed with exemplary user guidance, a comprehensive range of services and a modern design. The canton of Zurich, on the other hand, scored poorly. Poor programming and very confusing user guidance earned it second-last place.
> To the ranking list

No one is immune to the pressure of the economic crisis: Spiegel is also making savings. According to a statement from the publishing house, it has been decided by mutual agreement to cut costs in all areas and at all of the company's subsidiaries. The reason, as in practically all places, is the decline in advertising revenues.
"From what we believe we know today, advertising revenues will continue to decline by double digits," the statement continues. However, as publishing director Ove Saffe said, the aim is to cut costs "without compromising the substance of our journalistic products."
Material and departmental costs, such as travel and personnel costs, are to be reduced. In individual cases, it will also be examined whether vacant positions need to be filled. Although the Spiegel publishing group is in an excellent position, it lost around 10 percent of its advertising revenue last year. "Although we are suffering less than our competitors, this does not make the situation any better," Saffe continued.

The Federal Council is not ruling out a change to the collection system for radio and television fees. This is stated in the answer given on Thursday to an interpellation by SVP National Councillor Natalie Rickli.
The Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC) carried out an invitation procedure for the award of the collection mandate until 2014. Three providers were invited to submit bids in this procedure, which is required by procurement law, but their names may not be disclosed. Today, the fees are collected by the Swisscom subsidiary Billag, which receives CHF 55 million annually from the federal government. Price watchdog Stefan Meierhans had called for Billag to be abolished because it only increased the cost of radio and TV fees. These would be better collected with the direct federal tax. The National Council's Telecommunications Commission (KVF) also wants to know more about the collection system for radio and television fees. Following a parliamentary initiative by Rickli, it has requested a report from the Federal Council by the end of the year by means of a postulate.
Rickli's initiative aims to reverse the decision of the Federal Office of Communications (Bakom) to charge fees for radio and television reception via cell phone and Internet from September 1, 2009. The KVF postulate requires the Federal Council to present the collection system and alternatives.

Three months after its launch, the magazine 20 Minuten Friday is already increasing its print run. After hardly a copy was left in the boxes from the start, an additional 18,000 copies will be printed each week from February 27, 2009, 20 Minuten announced on Thursday. This brings the total print run to 155,000 copies.
In addition, 20 Minuten Friday is planning a series of events entitled "Thank God it's Friday", which will be tailored to the magazine's readership.

On March 5, 2009, a panel discussion on the topic "Good Design = Good Business - Design as an Advertising Factor" will take place at the Museum für Gestaltung in Zurich. Jean Etienne Aebi, President of the Art Directors Club Switzerland, Ruedi Baur, designer and head of the Design2context Institute, and Stefan Haas, Head of Marketing Switzerland at SBB, will be taking part in the discussion. The discussion will be moderated by Renate Menzi, curator of the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich.
The event will take place at the Museum für Gestaltung at Ausstellungsstrasse 60 in Zurich in the lecture hall and will begin at 7.30 pm. The framework for the podium is the current exhibition "Good design, good business". Registration is not required.