The World Digest - March 18, 2003

'Record' P&A spending

LONDON — Theatrical print and advertising spending by British film distributors passed the £250 million ($395 million) mark during 2002, according to a new report issued Monday by the Film Distributors' Assn. The report shows that U.K. film distributors spent £255 million on P&A costs during the year. Because it is the first year the FDA has published a yearbook, there are no comparative figures from previous years. But the report claims the sum is "a record investment, exceeding the quarter-of-a-billion-pounds threshold for the first time." The figure equates to about one-third of the total value of U.K. cinema ticket sales during 2002 and was partly responsible for driving British theater admissions to a 30-year high of 176 million.



Russian TV troubles

Russia's television market remains distorted and prey to political interference and economic shocks more than 10 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, a report published by the European Audiovisual Observatory says. "The unpredictable nature of the new Russian economy provides a poor basis for the independent operation of the commercial mass media market," according to the report, "Television in the Russian Federation: Organizational Structure, Program Production and Audience."



Lauder stake

TEL AVIV, Israel — American businessman Ronald Lauder is to buy a 24% stake in pay TV channel Tchelet (Light Blue), the only one in Israel to target religious viewers. Scheduled to launch April 5, it will be supported solely by subscriptions. Tchelet, which is owned by a consortium led by Shlomo Ben-Zvi, disclosed no financial details of the sale, but stated that Lauder's involvement is an example of his desire to encourage Judaism in Israel.