"Deutschland sucht den Superstar" (DSDS) seems to be turning out to be a real goldmine for the Bohlen family: Not only does Dieter receive a considerable fee for his work as a juror - no, now mom Edith's cash registers are ringing too. She cheerfully took part in the DSDS telephone competition on Wednesday. And won a whopping 10,000 euros, as RTL spokeswoman Anke Eickmeyer confirmed to DWDL.de. Coincidences do happen...And anyone who thinks that's not possible is wrong: there are no legal problems with Edith Bohlen's participation. As usual, RTL employees and their relatives are excluded from taking part in this competition. But there is no employment relationship between RTL and Dieter Bohlen - lucky for Mrs. Bohlen, she certainly knows how to spend the money wisely. And we are also happy for son Dieter: he already has to fight with the Commission for the Protection of Minors in the Media because of his "tough Bohlen slogans" - we don't want to put him through any more trouble with the paragraphs.
Despite its legal correctness, a strange aftertaste somehow remains.

 The Valais State Council is backing the independent French-language local television channel Canal 9, which is applying for a concession, as is Valais Valais TV, which is backed by the Valais publishers. The legal structures of both projects are immature, according to a statement from the State Council on Thursday. The future concession company must have a legal structure that guarantees a balanced partnership between cultures and regions.
However, the Canal 9 project appears to be more mature. The broadcaster intends to create a cantonal TV station with regional editorial teams, while Valais Valais TV is based on two regions, Upper and Lower Valais, and wants to create two stations accordingly.

 The media union Comedia has also commented on the radio and TV license applications. In its statement, it calls on the Federal Office of Communications to consider compliance with collective labor agreement regulations as a key criterion when awarding licenses. It also opposes the licensing of broadcasters from dominant publishing houses. Comedia emphasizes the importance of progressive working conditions as well as training and further education. The union points out that only one applicant from German-speaking Switzerland and Ticino is subject to a collective labor agreement (CLA). Although many submissions contain verbose statements on working conditions, these do not go beyond the minimum legal requirements. It is unacceptable for fee money to be used to promote wage and social dumping, writes Comedia.
The union is also campaigning against further media concentration. Quality and diversity of opinion have suffered greatly from the developments of recent years and decades. Comedia is therefore calling for broadcasters that are not dominated by large publishers and pure profit interests to be licensed in the same broadcasting area in the event of equivalent applications.

 The canton of Schwyz wants a review of the TV broadcasting areas. Specifically, it is demanding two licenses due to the special circumstances: one for the inner and one for the outer part of the canton. In its statement to the Federal Office of Communications, the government writes that it must be possible for the TV coverage areas in the canton of Schwyz to continue to overlap. For the outer part of the canton this would be Tele Züri, for the inner part Tele Tell or Tele 1, the latter being the new station planned by LZ Medien. The government does not want to decide between these two applicants due to its "liberal media policy stance", as it writes further. It assumes that the Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC) will take an overall view of media policy.

 Two image films produced by the Biel-based film production company Twin Productions have won precious metal at the 21st Mercury Excellence Awards in New York. Gold was awarded to "The Elements", an image film commissioned by the Grenchen watch company Titoni. The film has already won awards at several international commissioned film festivals, the agency announced. Urs Frey (concept) and Alfonso Gordillo (director) are responsible for the production. "The Elements" will be used by Titoni worldwide, with a focus on China and other Far East countries.
The image film "Nature and Man" about the Zurich-based company Bio-Strath won silver. It was filmed in South Africa, Denmark, England and Switzerland. The concept was created by Twin owner Urs Frey and directed by Vinz Feller, a Swiss national living in New York.
The jury of the commissioned film festival International Mercury Awards Competitions had to evaluate over 970 submissions from 23 countries at the 21st edition.

 The consultation responses received from many cantons regarding radio and TV licenses have provoked different reactions from applicants. Werbewoche has collected reactions. Read what Tele Züri, Tele Ostschweiz, Tele Top, Tele Säntis and RBB have to say. Tele Top and Tele Säntis satisfied Günter Heuberger is in the concession race with two stations: Tele Top for the Zurich-North-Eastern Switzerland region, Tele Säntis for Eastern Switzerland. For Tele Top, the media man recorded successes in Schaffhausen and Thurgau. In contrast, the eastern Swiss cantons prefer Tele Ostschweiz for the eastern Switzerland region. Nevertheless, Heuberger was satisfied. He was particularly pleased that the governments repeatedly mentioned the "high quality of the applications". He also thanked the governments for "ensuring media diversity with the TV licenses". According to a communiqué, the cantonal governments' positions are "delicate and therefore all the more valuable in monopoly areas dominated by one media company".
Tele Top and Tele Säntis had accepted the qualification and selection criteria formulated by OFCOM from the outset. In the months leading up to the licensing decision, the two broadcasters now want to increase the level of information available to the public about the services to be provided.
Tele Ostschweiz is delighted Tele Ostschweiz is "delighted" with the comments from the cantons of Eastern Switzerland. "Both the government of the canton of St. Gallen and the governments of the cantons of Thurgau and Appenzell-Ausserrhoden are in favor of awarding the concession to Tele Ostschweiz and against the Tele Säntis project," writes the broadcaster, which belongs to the publishing house of the St. Galler Tagblatt, in a press release. The city of Rapperswil-Jona and the Association of St. Gallen Municipal Presidents have made the same recommendation.
The station sees this as an "overwhelming vote of confidence" and "proof of its excellent roots in the region". It now wants to press ahead with the planned expansion of the program and the editorial team with all its strength. Tele Ostschweiz is confident that it will receive the license for the Eastern Switzerland region. The intention is to implement the significantly expanded program mandate described in the license application before the end of this year.
Tele Züri does not want to be punished for its own successTele Züri's parent company Tamedia is being combative, even though the Schaffhausen and Thurgau governments have not spoken out in favor of the station. "Of course we would have been delighted if Thurgau had supported us," spokesman Christoph Zimmer told Werbewoche. "But we are still convinced that Tele Züri, as the number one private broadcaster, has a track record that would make it incomprehensible if it were to come away empty-handed with the license."
Zimmer also parried the fears expressed in the comments that the TV station might not pay enough attention to local issues in Thurgau and Schaffhausen: "Tele Züri selects the news based on journalistic criteria. It is weighted according to the relevance of the topics, not the location of the events". The idea that a certain quota of reports must be dedicated to a specific region or institution is "an insult to any independent editorial team", the spokesperson says. Regional topics would also be included in the news windows.
According to Zimmer, if Tele Züri were to be refused a license, this would have serious consequences: "It would have existential consequences. We would have to rethink the entire concept of the station and the operation of TeleZüri in this form." Tamedia is of the opinion that two stations cannot coexist in the same space. Zimmer does not accept the argument that Tele Züri is the most likely of all the private broadcasters to survive without licence fee money: "That's crazy. You can't make a fuss about Tele Züri's economic success".
RBB radio project aims to dispel doubts about profitability Although the Basel government had expressed doubts about the profitability of Christian Heeb's RBB project in its statement, the media entrepreneur believes the milestone has been reached. "The two governments of Baselstadt and Baselland have not rejected our project in principle, which is a great endorsement for us," Heeb told Werbewoche. And he also wants to dispel any doubts about the economic viability of the project. He spoke to a representative of the Basel government on Thursday. "I presented him with the financial analysis that Publigroupe, led by Christian Gartmann, has carried out for our project. They are very cautious in their calculations and still come up with very good forecasts as far as the economic side is concerned.
Of course, it is difficult to compete against existing projects. "But it is a misconception that the stations would be closed because of the new applications. All licenses were terminated last August, and in the end no one objected to this." Heeb emphasizes that, according to the Bakom criteria, there are no privileges for the existing broadcasters. And he appeals to Moritz Leuenberger to take into account the diversity of opinion and the independence of the applications submitted. In the coming months, more efforts will be made to inform the people of Basel about the RBB project. "That's not easy, because the Basler Zeitung is simply boycotting reporting on us. Basler Zeitung Medien is also launching its own station, Radio Basel 1."
But Heeb is in good spirits: "We are backing RBB more than ever." He has the support of Ringier man Fibo Deutsch, Tele-Top boss Günther Heuberger and former Basellandschaftliche-Zeitung editor-in-chief Franz C. Widmer. If the license is granted, Publigroupe intends to acquire a 25 percent stake in RBB.

 
Interpack "Bioplastics in Packaging" is the largest exhibition on this topic at interpack. 
Bioplastics have developed rapidly against the backdrop of current discussions about resource conservation and sustainable development. In the course of this development, the fields of application for bioplastics are also becoming ever more numerous. Today, water vapor-permeable fruit and vegetable packaging, biodegradable bin liners and even completely compostable packaging can be found on the international market. Visitors to interpack, which takes place in Düsseldorf from April 24 to 30, 2008, can find out in detail about the latest trends and current developments in the various material classes, such as improved barrier properties, heat resistance or easier processability, and the various applications as part of the special theme "Bioplastics in Packaging". International companies from the fields of polymers and granules, additives, finishers, plastics processing and packaging production - including well-known names such as BASF, DuPont Packaging and Nature Works - will be covering the topic comprehensively. All material classes are represented (synthetic material/biodegradable, material based on renewable raw materials/biodegradable, material based on renewable raw materials/non-biodegradable). The exhibition, which will take place in Hall 7a at interpack, is being organized with the support of the European Bioplastics Association. A supporting program with contributions on current topics in the industry will accompany the special show.

The Zurich agency Euro RSCG was inspired by the "Pin-Art" game and used it to design an interactive poster for the mattress manufacturer Riposa. "Pin-Art" is studded with hundreds of metal pins, which can be used to depict the contours of hands, objects or faces. Euro RSCG adopted this idea for Riposa in order to dramatize the effect of the back mattresses. The result is a mega pin art poster measuring 1.20 m x 2.00 m. According to the agency, this makes it one of the largest of its kind in the world. The poster was on display at this year's Muba. Countless onlookers pressed their backs against the more than 2,000 aluminum rods and then looked at the result: their back contours had been transferred 1:1 to the pin art poster. Promoters handed out flyers with product information on the unique Riposa back mattresses to raise awareness of this topic among trade fair visitors.

Responsible at Riposa:
Walter Schnellmann (founder and co-owner), Iva Schnellmann Head of Marketing. Responsible at Euro RSCG Zurich: Axel Eckstein (creation), Alexander Fuerer (text), Isabelle Buehler (graphics), Andreas Sedmak, Sarah Gianesi (consulting), Frank Bodin (overall responsibility).

 The private broadcaster 3+ wants to realize more in-house productions and is therefore expanding its team with Christina Noell and Martin Schäfer. The two are no strangers to the broadcaster: Noell was already on duty as head of the 3+ production "Supermodel" and Schäfer was responsible for sponsor integration and production management as a consultant. The 32-year-old Noell will now take over responsibility for the editorial content of in-house productions on 3+ as Head of Entertainment from March 1. After studying digital media, she initially worked as a consultant for the Berlin agency Aimaq Rapp Stolle. Since 2003, she has been working as a freelance author for image and documentary films as well as a producer and head of production. In addition to "Supermodel", the formats she has worked on include "Einsatz in 4 Wänden", "Weddingplaner", "Bravo TV", "Unsere Strasse" and "Schmeckt nicht gibts nicht".
Martin Schäfer has been a permanent employee since the beginning of the year and is responsible for the integration of branded entertainment in Swiss-German in-house productions and the production management of 3+. After working in an advertising agency and as a producer, Schäfer founded Couch Potatoes TV-Produktions GmbH together with his sister Bärbel Schäfer in 1998. As managing director and producer, Schäfer has produced well over 1,500 hours of programs for TV stations such as RTL, Sat.1, Pro7, RTL2, Kabel 1 and MTV in recent years; in 1999/00 also for the Swiss station TV3. From 2006, Schäfer was responsible for the development of branded entertainment activities at Scholz & Friends in Hamburg.
The previous Head of Entertainment and In-house Production, Arne Kreutzfeldt, is returning to Germany for family reasons, 3+ announced. Kreutzfeldt had been Head of Entertainment and Executive Producer for Swiss in-house productions since March 2007.

 
Printing Koenig & Bauer's customer magazine, KBA Report No. 31, and a publication on inline coating provide a wealth of information.  
In just over three months, Drupa, the world's largest trade show for the print media industry, will begin. On 52 pages, KBA Report No. 31 deals with the central Drupa topics such as the increasing automation and digitalization of process sequences in offset printing with JDF, MIS through to CAM. Other topics include the growing importance of inline finishing, the high productivity potential of modern large-format presses in commercial, display and packaging printing, current brand protection options, book, telephone book and waterless offset printing for sheetfed and web, UV applications, eco-printing and much more. In the age of the Internet, however, major trade shows are no longer the only showcase for innovation. New products and processes are increasingly being presented at open house events. Back in September 2007, for example, KBA unveiled the new, compact and highly automated Commander CT wet offset press and DriveTronic SPC plate cylinder direct drive technology for the high-tech Rapida 105 medium-format press, which is geared to shorter runs. The user benefits of both innovations are described in practical terms in the KBA Report. Coating compendiumThe 4th edition of the KBA Process trade publication contains useful information on inline coating enhancement. The latest edition provides a comprehensive overview of the many variants of inline coating enhancement, types of coating, their properties and areas of application, film formation and drying, and interactions between the products used for printing and coating. It is also devoted to the structure of modern coating units and includes an excursus on offline gloss finishing. Other topics include physico-chemical relationships to coating transfer and application, flow and wetting processes, and requirements for consumables and auxiliary materials used in coating. Numerous overviews provide a comprehensive overview of the criteria to be observed when selecting coating types or anilox rollers, the properties of commercially available coating forms, and much more. The coating compendium is "spiced up" with reports on successful users and many practical tips from the KBA coating seminars held in the recent past. Business models for coating round off the 60-page technical information. Both brochures can be requested by e-mail: [email protected]
Sabine Flaxman

 
The Swiss communications company Freicom is now the exclusive partner of the global PR and communications network Iprex. Iprex was founded in 1983 and today comprises 62 independent PR agencies with 75 offices in North America, Europe, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region. The agencies belonging to the network employ a total of 825 people and offer communication services of all kinds.
Increasing globalization requires a connection to international markets, said Freicom PR Manager Marc Reinhardt in a press release on Wednesday. By becoming a member of Iprex, Freicom can now also offer its customers international contacts and services.
Freicom offers services ranging from PR, marketing and advertising to project management and event management. It employs forty people in Switzerland. These are spread across four branches in St. Gallen, Balgach, Chur and Zurich.

 The Federal Council has elected Stephan Netzle and Andreas Bühlmann as new members of the Federal Communications Commission (ComCom). They succeed Hans-Rudolf Schurter and Beat Kappeler, who left the Commission at the end of 2007. The 50-year-old business lawyer Stephan Netzle has extensive experience in telecommunications law, as announced by the Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (Uvek). With Netzle, the Commission once again has a proven business representative. The 49-year-old Andreas Bühlmann heads the Office of Finance of the Canton of Solothurn. As a former deputy director of the Swiss Federal Banking Commission, he is familiar with regulatory issues, writes the Uvek.
ComCom, which deals with regulation in the liberalized telecommunications market, now once again consists of seven members. In addition to Bühlmann and Netzle, these are Marc Furrer (Chairman), Reiner Eichenberger, Christian Bovet, Jean-Pierre Hubaux and Monica Duca Widmer.