Out-of-home advertising Affichage
Company acquisitions in Romania and Greece without Eastern European partners
JCDecaux. In poster research, too, going it alone is now definitive, with the Swiss out-of-home advertiser Affichage
has expanded and made acquisitions in Eastern Europe in recent years,
he always did this together with JCDecaux, his
Joint venture partner in the joint company Europlakat
International (EPI). The latest acquisitions in Romania and
Greece, the affichage over the past holidays
communicated, the out-of-home advertiser now for the first time outside of
EPI and completely on its own.

"That's right, we
acted autonomously," confirms Affichage CEO Christian Kauter. The reason
is simple: "Greece and Romania are not part of the clearly
defined perimeter of EPI," says Kauter, who immediately adds:
"So this is not a breakaway from our partner JCDecaux." The
French out-of-home advertisers are not even present in either country.
The CEO also points out that JCDecaux already holds 30 percent of its shares in
Affichage and thus indirectly in the newly developed countries.
is also part of the game. Kauter also emphasizes that Affichage
opportunity arises, it may well gain a foothold in other countries.
could grasp. In Romania, Affichage took over the Churchill Group, which
currently number 3 in out-of-home advertising, with 1500 billboards in
larger cities. In Greece, out-of-home advertising increased by 60 percent
with megaboard provider La Strada Outdoor. Both companies
together achieve a sales volume of around 3 million euros.

Is the brisk expansion in south-eastern Europe a substitute for the
failed to gain a foothold at Deutsche Eisenbahn-Reklame (DERG)?
"Not in terms of volume, of course, but the fact is that we are
now shift our focus more strongly in other directions," says Kauter.
Nevertheless, DERG remains in Affichage's sights. Because
the German out-of-home advertising giant Ströer, which was awarded the DERG contract.
may have overreached himself. In any case, the
Federal Cartel Office under the microscope.

Also in a completely different area, namely the
satellite-based Swiss poster research, Affichage must now
definitely march on alone. Clear Channel Outdoor Plakanda
(CCOP) rose, as announced in the middle of the year, at the end of 2005 at Swiss Poster
Research (SPR), the joint research company. The former
announced data surveys for the city of Geneva were still being jointly
executed and completed. Now the
Liquidation negotiations are underway, and Affichage will soon be
Founding a successor company. According to Kauter, it is certain that Felix Mende
Project manager remains. The "sticking point" in the whole thing is
the CEO asked whether and how Affichage will be able to improve the performance values of the
CCOP poster sites, which will also be published in future
data surveys are of course also collected. CCOP wants a
Prevent publication.

Markus Knöpfli

Newspapers Lüdin AG in Liestal is spinning off the Basellandschaftliche Zeitung. This fuels speculation.
"We talk to everyone." For years
repeats Mathis Lüdin, publisher of the Basellandschaftliche Zeitung
(bz), this sentence when asked about the future plans for his paper
asks. Furthermore, he never showed his cards in advance. And so
He states that he works sporadically with both Basler Zeitung Medien (BZM) and
also hold talks with AZ Medien, NZZ and Tamedia. Undoubtedly
he is courted by all four to a greater or lesser extent.

Lüdin has his reasons for the talks: He has to keep the small hand
(paid circulation: 23456 copies) urgently to the national
advertising market, the regional market alone no longer provides enough
here. In the medium term, the 60-year-old publisher also needs a
Succession solution, with none in sight in the family. And
In the longer term, in five to eight years' time, the company's own
web offset press gives up the ghost. One thing is certain for the publisher now
that it will no longer be replaced. So Lüdin is also looking here
a cooperation.

In this increasingly acute situation, the
family business Lüdin AG, which in addition to the newspaper publishing
customer printing as well as in the book and photo trade, is now
Flagship in a yet-to-be-founded Basellandschaftliche Zeitung AG
out. At the same time, Lüdin announced the termination of the
director's contract with Publicitas in order to renegotiate it. No wonder,
speculation about an imminent sale of the bz has now
Boom.

Company structure as a stumbling block
But Mathis Lüdin waves off the keyword "fit for sale". "Fit for
cooperation," he corrects, but excludes the possibility of a complete
sale is not out of the question. But nothing is concrete yet, he emphasizes.
"We talk to everyone." So far, the structure of the
family business, however, the possibilities for cooperation are too narrow
set. He now wants to free the bz from these.

In fact, it is unlikely that Lüdin will be able to keep his traditional newspaper
all too quickly completely into foreign, let alone Zurich hands
there are. Other scenarios are more likely to be in the foreground, such as further
cooperation with the Basler Zeitung Medien (BZM), which is already the
early delivery of the bz. In addition, the bz has the Saturday
job market of the Basler Zeitung. In addition, since the
Cooperation with the Neue Fricktaler Zeitung (minority interest
of a mere 21 percent) in April 2005, much of their terror as
power-hungry corporation has lost.

The main question for Lüdin is therefore: Can bz, together with
of the Neue Fricktaler Zeitung at the Metropool, the combination of
Tages-Anzeiger, BaZ and Berner Zeitung. Corresponding
Discussions have been ongoing for some time.

For Lüdin, the Mittelland Zeitung association is probably also a
option. Lüdin, on the other hand, would hardly be happy with a connection to the NZZ Group.
solve one of its problems. There are hardly any synergies with Tamedia either,
In addition, an entry into the bz would be too risky for the Zurich group.
costly: the BaZ would hardly appreciate such an affront and the
Metropool and magazine partnerships.

Lüdin still has one last option: A merger with Schaub
Media in Sissach, also a family-owned company, which is the
Volksstimme (circulation: 8,000 copies). But although this
sheet only just closed the year 2005 with a black zero and
a round of savings and probably also layoffs is imminent, shows
Peter Schaub, Chairman of the Board of Directors, rejected the advances of bz and BaZ.
cold shoulder. "I don't know what cooperation would do for me.
should", he said coolly. However, if cooperation were nevertheless to
If this were to happen, it would not really solve Lüdin's problems. The bz
would be even more attractive as a bride.

Markus Knöpfli

The Allgemeine Plakatgesellschaft APG
is continuing the Swiss Poster Research SPR project. The joint project with
Clear Channel Plakanda CCP within the framework of a simple partnership
The project was launched around five years ago and was launched on the market.
communicated. On June 29 of last year, CCP announced the cooperation
discontinued. The notice of termination was formally given on December 31, 2005.
legally binding. As the market leader, APG stands by its responsibility
and its promise to the Swiss advertising market, as set out in
in a press release. According to APG, the
company will continue the SPR research project in a new, independent
Conclude the sponsoring organization without the involvement of CCP
and finance the remaining work alone.

Buureradio.ch was launched on December 28, 2005 with
a down-to-earth program, but completely Internet-based
was launched. The technology required for this comes from Netstream, which
the livestream of even large amounts of data without interruption and
guaranteed without delay. Netstram spontaneously made the decision
decided to take over the sponsorship of buureradio.ch and to continue its
services free of charge, according to the announcement. 

The small Zurich advertising agency Walker has
won bronze at the New York Festivals. Her commercial "Pizza, Taxi,
Garden" for the Swiss fuel paste manufacturer Powerflame achieved
third place in the "Household Products/Pet Products" category and
a short-list placement in the "Best Humor" category. The spot
"Gotthard" for Esspresso descaler Durgol also received a
final award and was honored for Best Music in the category "Best
Original Music/Lyrics" honored.
The agency has also teamed up with Swiss Personal Trainers from Getinshape.ch
New customers acquired. The posters for the fitness program were displayed in the
Week 52 with first place in the APG Poster-Of-The-Week competition
excellent.

The Zurich advertising agency ViznerBorel advertises
for Novartis. The enegiespendende chewable tablet Gly-Coramin of the
Pahara Group was previously known primarily to an older target group. The
new campaign is designed to bring the product closer to younger and sporty people.
according to a press release. Initial work will
in February.

The Zurich-based advertising agency Hesskiss has
various new budget gains at the end of last year new
employees have been hired. Thus, Karin Beerli, Claudia
Panzera and Katja Wölfel the creation, while Béa Weilenmann and
Nathalie Zeller will newly support the consulting. Furthermore, the
agency together with the Zurich web agency Station a new
Internet presence developed.

In Belgium, the first newspaper is published on
tested on electronic paper. The messages are to be sent on
screen as if it were printed, reports the Basler Zeitung.
The pages are turned at the touch of a button. The device, called Iliad, is operated by the
Dutch Philips subsidiary iRex Technologies produces and distributes
is based on a technology developed by the American company E Ink.
Display technology. The Iliad display works with 16 shades of gray and 170
pixels per inch (dpi), which corresponds to the resolution of a printed newspaper.
corresponds. The electronic paper is not yet manageable.
roll up, although at 0.3 millimeters it is almost as thick and
is as flexible as real paper. The remaining electronics still require a
fixed housing. Iliad also has a USB connection and a
WLAN card to download the current issue from the Internet daily
to play. It also has slots for memory cards.
200 subscribers to the Belgian daily newspaper De Tijd will be
test the electronic newspaper. Similar newspaper projects should
according to iRex in the USA, Sweden and Great Britain, writes
the Baz.

Cablecom's new hard disk recorder
allows viewers to interrupt the current program as well as
rewind during the program. Commercial breaks can also be
skip. However, the new hard disk recorder does not send any
electronic signal in the network, which displays the advertising blocks and
recording would be interrupted. The device also does not offer a function for
later cut out the advertising from the recording. You are under
pressure from the program providers, explains David Salzmann, responsible
for digital television at Cablecom. For digital TV, the number
of Cablecom customers by the end of September 2005 compared to the previous year by
28,000 to 128,000. Swisscom, which has been operating a
hard disk recorder for analog TV, did not want to be known
how many of them it has already rented out, reports the SDA.

Hanspeter Lebrument, President of the
Association of the Swiss Press, has called on publishers to renounce the
indirect press subsidies. The federal subsidies for the
press distribution expire at the end of 2007. The time has come to
157-year policy of state support for the press. He
wants to work towards a uniform and more favorable newspaper rate system.
2008 as well as nationwide coverage, explained
Lebrument. At the next meeting of the Presidium of the Association of Swiss
He will submit a corresponding proposal to the press.

The commission to determine the
Concentration in the media sector In its vote, the CEC approved the planned
Takeover of ProSiebenSat.1 declared "not approvable". They
justified its rejection with reference to the resulting
dominant opinion power. The purchase would give Spinger a
opinion flow, which corresponds to a viewer share of more than 42
percent on German television. A predominant
However, according to the KEK definition, 30 percent is already
as reported by the SDA. The CEC emphasized that Springer must
rejected the media supervisory authority's proposed changes. The CEC
had demanded that Springer relinquish one of the channels or
establishes a television advisory board that is also economically influential in order to
to ensure program diversity.
The CEC's "no" does not yet mean the end of the takeover.
the trade journal. The State Media Authorities can use the institution
with a three-quarters majority. The Springer
Group is confident that the KEK will approve a takeover of the
if either one of the high-reach broadcasters of the
TV chain organized internally plural or a broadcaster to a third party
will be sold. As reported by the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Springer is looking for
partners for the takeover and was already negotiating over the weekend.
with SBS Broadcasting, one of the most important European
Television company.
The conflict with the Cartel Office, whose decision is still pending
will fall on the 20th of this month. Until January 12 at 12 noon
The Cartel Office has given Springer a deadline to submit new proposals for
make

Tristan Cerf was appointed as the new Editor-in-Chief
of the free French newspaper Le Matin Bleu. His new position
he will take up his post on February 1, 2006. Cerf was most recently
deputy editor-in-chief at Migros magazine. Previously he worked
as a journalist for the daily newspaper Le Temps, for which he worked in 2000.
worked as a correspondent in Zurich. Cerf succeeds
Catherine Maret, the deputy editor-in-chief of the
television magazine Télétop.