Many internet projects by the major TV networks and film studios in the USA have failed miserably in the past. So when the two major media companies NBC-Universal and News Corporation launched their online platform Hulu.com in March of this year to counter copyright infringements against their own products through YouTube, expectations were not too high. But then something unforeseen happened: just two months after its launch, the project had secured a place among the top ten video websites. With its 1,000 TV episodes and 400 feature films, it is now in sixth place, ahead of industry leaders such as AOL and CNN.
One of the main reasons for its success is that Hulu wanted to differentiate itself from its main competitor YouTube right from the start. While Google's YouTube is still regarded today as a collection point for creative amateurs and semi-professionals with their user-generated content, Hulu exclusively offers professional goods. The most popular downloads are established TV hits such as "The Simpsons", "Family Guy", "The Office" and "24". Nevertheless, Hulu CEO Jason Kilar, who used to work at Amazon.com, integrated an important YouTube element into the site: content sharing.

Each user can publish excerpts from the available videos on their own blog or website or send them to friends by email. "The Internet is all about sharing and community, not just a single website like Hulu," says Kilar. For this reason, the content is also publicized through other distributors such as Yahoo, YouTube, MSN or MySpace. Even links to the competitor sites of ABC and CBS are listed when a user searches for programs from these two networks on Hulu.com. According to Kilar, Hulu content has been linked 1.5 million times to over 60,000 different websites.
The use of advertising on Hulu is also considered innovative. Instead of the usual eight minutes of commercial breaks on television, 30-minute programs only contain one two-minute break. This has the effect that viewers are more likely to remember the advertised product, which in turn enables the operators to charge higher prices per clip. The site, which started out with ten advertisers, now has more than 100 sponsors to choose from, including General Motors, Procter & Gamble, Bank of America and Nissan.
"Did you like the advertisement?"
In a survey commissioned by the companies, 76% of the 18,000 respondents said that the length of the commercial breaks was just right, taking into account the fact that the product is free. They also reported an average 22 percent higher recall value of the advertising, with 28 percent even stating that they wanted to buy the product. Given the choice between four 30-second commercials and a long-form ad lasting two minutes, 88% preferred the single clip. "It all boils down to hypertargeting," says Brad Adgate, Research Director at media research company Horizon Media. "The longer consumers interact with an ad clip online, the more precisely you can tailor advertising to users."
In future, consumers will even be given the opportunity to express their opinion on whether they liked the advertisement or not. "Consumers don't like being forced to watch something they don't find relevant," says Lori Schwartz, Senior Vice President of the Emerging Media Lab at advertising group Interpublic. "As soon as you give them a choice, they start to think about it."
The company's success has even led to predictions that Hulu could soon catch up with its competitor in terms of advertising revenue, despite YouTube's overwhelming user numbers. The media research company Screen Digest estimates the advertising revenue of YouTube, which only provides three percent of its videos with advertising clips, at 100 million dollars in the USA for 2008. The figure for Hulu, which is able to add advertising to practically all of its content, is expected to be 70 million. Next year, the figure is expected to reach 180 million dollars for both, although YouTube derives around half of its revenue from its international business, while Hulu is currently only available in the USA. According to the market research company eMarketer, a total of 505 million dollars will be spent on advertising in online videos in the USA this year, an increase of 56 percent compared to the previous year.
However, YouTube has learned from the problems of the past and launched a number of initiatives to reassure advertisers that the site does have high-quality content to choose from. For example, there is now a dedicated video channel exclusively for content from the CBS network. In addition, YouTube has just signed a contract with the film studio MGM to distribute its movie content on the Internet. The production companies Lionsgate and Fremantle, where the TV hit "American Idol" is produced, are also to receive their own video channels for their content. YouTube has even introduced a "Cinema" button, similar to Hulu's, which allows users to watch a video in widescreen format on the full screen. "YouTube has changed its business model to be more like Hulu," says Adgate. "This means that advertisers are becoming more important and not just the needs of users."
Although Hulu has already provided 50 million dollars for a marketing campaign, its success to date is based solely on word of mouth. But the site will attract an even larger audience when it launches in Germany, England, France and Japan as planned.
Gerti Schön

The cult program "American Idols" is soon to have a
get their own channel. Hulu has shown the way.

The president called them dogs, "des chiens". Journalists are dogs, Mitterrand once said indignantly. He formulated his scolding of journalists at the abdication following the suicide of his Prime Minister Pierre Bérégovoy. Now the concept of pack journalism, coined by a sociologist, is also finding its way into Switzerland. Are we a pack that hunts its victims? Are we creating an icy climate like during the Cold War? "Only once have the media in Switzerland written so unanimously in the same direction" as about Samuel Schmid, said his colleague Hans-Rudolf Merz, referring to the sociologist: "During the Hungarian uprising in 1956."
Everyone saw Samuel Schmid's tears - and the TV viewers also saw the nosebleeds. The photographers nobly put their cameras to one side. "The drops of blood were not politically relevant", explained the Keystone reporter in a newspaper, and by showing them, the outgoing minister would have been "visually discredited". You can look at it like this. Blick also documented the resignation with blood and tears in print. This can be seen as distasteful.
I found the media's treatment of Merz much more shocking when he was taken to hospital on a stretcher and television filmed him from the roof. Why didn't Merz protest on his own behalf when medical confidentiality and his personal dignity were systematically violated? Was he now compensating with his unspeakable comparison with the coverage of the Hungarian uprising? Perhaps we should remember what happened in this country at the time to contemporaries who did not bow to official public opinion. And professed their support for communism, for example.
I haven't read a single really bad and primitive article about Samuel Schmid that would be a matter for the Press Council. Schmid was elected to the Federal Council against the wishes of the SVP. He must have known what to expect from his friends. As an opposing figure to Blocher, he was in the spotlight more than others. And he was often glorified as a shining light. After the parliamentary coup against Blocher - which I was delighted about - it was foreseeable that Schmid would also be assigned a new role in the federal collective production. He has also made mistakes in various cases in recent months. The story took on a dynamic that led to his resignation. But a minister's media advisors should be able to see through these mechanisms. And to defuse such a situation.
The tears shocked me more than the nosebleed in my eyes. Had there also been tears after the accident in the Kander? A defense minister must not capitulate to the media and should announce his own resignation without tearfulness.
But perhaps Sämi Schmid's tears were only those of anticipation and the media were not to blame for his resignation. That's what Peter Rothenbühler suggested in his column in the French tabloid Le Matin.
Schmid's Labrador and his German shepherd had died some time ago. He was happy on his walks with them. They were the balance to his stress. But as long as he remained in office, the Minister of Defense was not allowed to get any new dogs. That's what "Vreni", his wife, and "Sämi" himself had faithfully told the journalist.
Perhaps Schmid has already got his new dogs. They will also help him to overcome the withdrawal symptoms that his resignation from the brutal spotlight will trigger. And perhaps one day a new picture of the historic farewell press conference - a communiqué would have done just as well - will emerge. The nosebleed could very well become the emblematic scene of an era: The time when political debate in Switzerland increasingly shifted to the media arena and began to resemble boxing.

TV sport is set to become three-dimensional. The US broadcaster Fox has decided this and is planning to broadcast a football game in 3D. The first game in 3D will be shown at the Consumer Electronics Show CES in Las Vegas on January 8. This was announced by Fox sports boss David Hill at a congress on Tuesday. The three-dimensional match, which requires 3D glasses to perceive the spatial depth effect, will also be broadcast in a few cinemas and possibly even in private homes.
According to Dreamworks boss Jeffrey Katzenberg, almost every film will be shown in 3D in cinemas within four years, writes the Tages-Anzeiger. In the USA, digital 3D material can already be shown on 1,400 cinema screens.

Until now, every public limited company (AG), no matter how small, had to submit its annual financial statements to an auditor. The law also did not distinguish between economically significant companies and micro companies in the scope of the audit. In contrast, there was no audit requirement for limited liability companies (GmbH).
The new audit law came into force on January 1, 2008. The audit obligation now applies not only to the AG, but also to the GmbH. The scope of the audit, however, depends on the economic importance of a company: For large companies, for example, the regulations were tightened to prevent a collapse of companies as in the case of Swissair. They are now subject to the so-called ordinary audit. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which also include advertising and media agencies, only have to have their books audited to a limited extent in comparison. The limited audit will not save any money, however, because the scope of the audit is the same as that which has been applied in practice to SMEs up to now.
Waiver is possible
In other words, those who want to save on expenses will dispense with the auditors. This so-called opting-out is now open to all AGs and GmbHs that do not employ more than ten full-time employees and whose shareholders or partners all agree to it.
Around 250,000 companies are faced with the not-so-simple decision of whether to forego an audit in the future. If they choose the less expensive opting-out option: Will they be scrutinized more closely by the tax office and the compensation office in the future? And how will the banks react to a waiver? Will their rating deteriorate so that they have to pay a higher interest rate for a bank loan?
Opting out not always sensible
Today, it is not yet known how authorities and banks will react to an opting-out. But there are situations in which it does not make sense at all for a company to dispense with the auditors:
- Minority shareholders: They are the main shareholder or - in the case of a limited liability company - the main shareholder and manage the agency themselves. Minority shareholders can quickly become suspicious, especially if the company hardly generates any profits.
- Upcoming sale: As a rule, you must provide interested buyers with audited financial statements for the last three to five years.
- Credit obligation: If the loan agreement states that you must submit an audit report to the bank above a certain credit limit, the bank can terminate the agreement if you decide to opt out without its consent.
- Accounting and financial statements without a specialist: If you do the accounting and prepare the financial statements yourself, you lack an external control. You may miss out on permissible tax optimizations.

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Radio AG has lodged an appeal with the Federal Administrative Court against DETEC's radio decision in the canton of Aargau. Roger Schawinski's radio project Radio AG, which had applied for an FM license, came away empty-handed; the license was in turn awarded to Radio Argovia, which is owned by AZ Medien. AZ Medien also operates the only major daily newspaper in the canton, Mittelland-Zeitung, as well as the only television station, Tele M1, and therefore has a de facto media monopoly, Radio AG wrote in a press release on Wednesday.
Based on the analysis of OFCOM's reasons for the license, Radio AG co-founder Roger Schawinski believes his appeal has a "very good chance", as he told Werbewoche. He sees "a lot of contradictions" in OFCOM's reasoning, such as the fact that Radio AG's concept is described as "realistic" in the criterion of distribution (technical development of the coverage area) at one point, but at another point it is stated that Radio Argovia performs better. "In addition, evaluation criteria suddenly appeared in the explanatory statement that were not included in the invitation to tender," says Schawinski.
Grotesque practices of Radio Argovia
However, Roger Schawinski considers the diversity of opinion criterion in particular to be underweighted. "We believe that diversity of opinion is the most important criterion in a licensing region, and that it was given far too little consideration in Aargau." In this context, Schawinski considers it "grotesque" that Radio Argovia pays the second radio licensee in the canton, the special-interest station Kanal K, to have the advertising monopoly in the Aargau radio business. "It doesn't make sense to me that this should be a positive thing in terms of diversity of opinion."
Schawinski wondered whether he had perhaps relied too much on his good name instead of hard facts when drafting the application for a license, particularly with regard to quality assurance and the training concept: "These are hard facts, certainly harder than nebulous promises about future quality controls. But since such concepts are obviously desired, we have delivered them, and solid ones at that." He is not the only one who considers quality assurance and training concepts to be partly nebulous promises. "Argovia was even criticized by its own (Aargau) government council for its poor quality."
The reasoning of the Bakom
In its letter, the Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM), which is part of DETEC, justified the licensing decision in particular with the superior quality assurance system described in the license application and the better training concept of Radio Argovia. Argovia also performed better than Radio AG in terms of broadcasting, wrote Bakom on October 31, 2008 in its explanatory statement (See disposal).

At the sixth round of negotiations on the CLA in the graphic arts industry, an agreement was reached on Tuesday to adjust minimum wages. These are to be increased by up to nine percent between January 1, 2009 and January 1, 2010, depending on employees' qualifications. In addition, the Swiss Association for Visual Communication announced that the final differences regarding the organization of annual working hours had been resolved.
Around 300 print shop workers responded to a call from the Comedia trade union and demonstrated in Bern on Tuesday. They opposed the employers' plans to further deregulate working hours and cut night work allowances, Comedia announced. Instead, the demonstrators demanded a 13th monthly wage for apprentices, general wage increases and compensation for inflation.
At the negotiations, the social partners agreed on continued salary payments by the employer in the event of incapacity to work due to illness of 90% of gross salary for a maximum of 720 days per case. An initial rapprochement was reached on bonuses for night and shift work. The employers' association Viscom proposed a gradual reduction of the current supplements from 100 percent to 60 percent as of January 1, 2011. For newspaper printers, the bonuses will remain at 100 percent.
According to the Viscom press release, negotiations on a new collective labor agreement should be successfully concluded at the next round of negotiations on December 15.

The custom of melting cheese over an open fire has existed in Valais since 1574. The connoisseur speaks of raclette, keeps quiet and enjoys. For years, the Valais Milk Association and other raclette cheese producers have been arguing about who is allowed to label their cheese "raclette". The Valaisans laid sole claim to the title, while other cheese producers intervened. "Over 80 percent of raclette is produced outside of Valais. That corresponds to 11,000 tons of raclette per year," said Emmi spokesperson Stephan Wehrle, for example. "The Valais' absolute claim is not justified." Cheese for the Valaisans.
Sacred cow
After a long back and forth, the Federal Office for Agriculture has now awarded Valais raclette cheese the "Valais Raclette AOC" label. This makes it easier for the people of Valais to stand out against domestic and foreign raclette competitors. The label proves that all of the cheese's ingredients come from the Valais and that it was produced in the traditional Valais way. This is monitored by a control commission.
The new quality label is advertised with a wink using three poster subjects: a typical black Valais cow with a crown, the queen for the cheese king, a Valais cow that stands for Raclette AOC head, and a Valais cow with a halo - after all, the Valais people hold their raclette cheese sacred.
Advertising highlight
Cardinal Henri Schwery was less than pleased with the last motif. He felt that giving a cow a halo was highly inappropriate and a "denigration of religion". A great annoyance for the Vatican, a wonderful advertising hit for Valais raclette cheese and the agency Visucom.com. The dispute over the sacred cow even made it into the main edition of "Tagesschau". If the eclat now also boosts consumption of the AOC-certified Valais raclette, the goal has been achieved.
Anne-Friederike Wilhelm

Valencia Kommunikation designed and produced the magazine for the Coop premium brand Fine Food for the fourth time. Celebrity chef Ivo Adam is also a central theme in the current winter issue. The magazine's elegant appearance reflects the premium character of Coop's own brand. The magazine is available in stores, is enclosed with the Coop newspaper and can also be viewed on the Coop website.

The Recording Industry Association of America RIAA has sued 24-year-old student Joel Tenenbaum for one million dollars in damages. Four years ago, he allegedly downloaded at least seven songs via the Kazaa.com platform and offered 816 titles for download. Tenenbaum felt that the initial demand of 12,000 dollars was too high, which is why an out-of-court settlement with the plaintiffs failed.
The RIAA is basing its lawsuit on the "Digital Theft Deterrence and Copyright Damages Improvement Act" of 1999, according to which an intentional copyright infringement can be sued for up to 150,000 dollars per work. However, file sharing has become a part of social reality, according to Julian Finn, press spokesman for the culture flat rate platform Fairsharing.de, in an interview with Pressetext.ch.
However, there is a tendency within the music industry to recognize that the copyright battles on the Internet cannot be won, says Finn. However, a rethink in this direction is only taking place very slowly. In recent years, the RIAA has sent around 30,000 letters to US households accusing individuals or families of illegal file sharing. However, none of the fines of between 3,000 and 5,000 dollars, which are usually offered in lieu of legal action, go to the artists, said Finn. He suspects that this is to open up an additional revenue channel. Tenenbaum's lawyer Charles Nesson argues that the RIAA is using the law to prosecute as a civil authority. In addition, the legal basis to which the RIAA refers is unconstitutional.

When assessing the legal conformity of the use of web analytics tools, the provisions of the Unfair Competition Act (UWG) and the Data Protection Act are paramount.
Fair trading law
Fair trading law requires that web analyses are carried out in good faith. This also includes the principle of transparency. In practice, these two principles mean that website visitors must be explicitly informed about the analysis.
Privacy
Whether the Data Protection Act also applies to web analyses is questionable. This is because the Data Protection Act only applies to data that can be directly traced back to a person. As users generally only identify themselves with a randomly assigned IP address when surfing the internet, the data collected via web analytics cannot be assigned to an individual person. However, because providers are required by law to retain individual connection data for six months, there is still a latent risk of linking web analysis data to actual persons.
It is therefore advisable to comply with the principles of data protection law when using web analytics tools. In addition to the principle of good faith and the principle of transparency already mentioned in connection with fair trading law, these are the principles of proportionality and purpose limitation.
The principle of proportionality means that only data that is necessary and suitable for the specific web analysis may be collected. Data collection in advance is therefore not permitted from this point of view.
In the context of web analytics, purpose limitation means that the data collected may only be used for purposes that were previously communicated to visitors to the website or that they must assume based on the circumstances.
Data transfer abroad
With some web analysis tools, the data is not evaluated in Switzerland, but is sometimes even sent abroad directly via the browser. This is permissible if the foreign country in question also guarantees adequate data protection. This applies in particular to all EU member states. A US partner to whom the data is sent from Switzerland must commit to the principles of the Safe Harbor Agreement. The American providers Google and Webtrends in particular do this (see info column on the left).
Privacy Policy
From a legal perspective, the use of web analysis tools is therefore generally unobjectionable. However, it is advisable to make explicit reference to their use, how they work and how the data they collect is used in a privacy policy published on the relevant website. If data is transferred abroad, this should also be declared.
Ueli Grüter

Web analysis tools
Web analysis tools, such as Google Analytics and Webtrends, are programs that enable the collection and evaluation of information about the behaviour of visitors to websites and thus their optimization. As a rule, log file analysis on the web server or the integration of tags that send data via the browser is used to examine where visitors come from, which areas of the website they visit and how often which pages are viewed. Cookies are also used to recognize visitors.

In March of this year, SwissMediaCast, a consortium of around two dozen digital radio providers, was awarded a license to broadcast up to 18 digital radio stations in the new DAB+ standard (which is roughly equivalent to CD quality) in German-speaking Switzerland. Since then, however, the consortium has been so quiet that even the Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM) has become nervous. After all, the license clearly stipulates that DAB+ must be receivable at least in the conurbations of Zurich, Berne and Basel by spring 2009 - and in 80 percent of all households in German-speaking Switzerland by the end of February 2011.
However, SwissMediaCast has recently been given a new lease of life: the expansion of technical distribution, which will cost seven million francs, is now to be tackled quickly. The first step is to increase the share capital from 100,000 francs to one million francs, explains Chairman of the Board Günter Heuberger, who is also head of Radio and Tele Top. Although most of the existing shareholders, including NZZ, Ringier and SRG, will participate in the increase, new shareholders are also welcome, says Heuberger. There are several interested parties.
However, one major shareholder is withdrawing from the DAB consortium: Tamedia recently sold its 10 percent stake to its previous representative Andreas Meili, who sits on the Board of Directors of SwissMediaCast. It is still uncertain whether Meili will now be able to buy as a private individual, as the other shareholders have a right of first refusal - and according to reports, they will exercise it. Tamedia spokesperson Christoph Zimmer justifies the DAB exit by stating that, following the award of the FM concessions, the Zurich-based group is now focusing on FM - as well as radio streaming via the Internet.
To use DAB+, you need a radio device that can receive DAB+. At present, the distribution of such devices in Switzerland is still low. However, because DAB+ is also gaining ground in Australia and Asia, Asian manufacturers in particular are increasingly bringing multifunctional devices onto the market, i.e. devices that can receive FM, DAB and DAB+ and cost less than CHF 100. This development has also given SwissMediaCast a boost.
Markus Knöpfli

Tele Züri's broadcasting area will be significantly expanded over the next six months. In addition to the canton of Zurich and the Aargau districts of Baden and Bremgarten, the station's program will be broadcast via Cablecom's network to the entire region around Lake Zurich, including Rapperswil-Jona. Large parts of the canton of Glarus, the Linth plain and the entire canton of Schwyz are also covered. Corresponding agreements have already been signed with the cable network providers for the distribution of the channel on the analog cable network, according to a press release. The activation of Tele Züri in Schaffhausen and Zug is still being examined by the cable network operators concerned. Digital distribution is also being expanded: The channel will be launched on Cablecom Digital-TV throughout German-speaking Switzerland and Ticino, as well as on BluewinTV throughout Switzerland. The new broadcasting area will thus be around 50 percent larger than the current license area.