TV4 AB October 2001 Interim Report for January - September 2001.Business Editors STOCKHOLM, Sweden--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 31, 2001 TV4 started broadcasting CNN International CNN International (CNNI) is an English language television network that carries news, current affairs and business programming world-wide. It is owned by Time Warner, and is affiliated and shares much content with CNN, which is limited to the United States and Canada. news on 7th October by arrangement with the station. TV4 broadcasts CNN CNN or Cable News Network Subsidiary company of Turner Broadcasting Systems. It was created by Ted Turner in 1980 to present 24-hour live news broadcasts, using satellites to transmit reports from news bureaus around the world. coverage round the clock. TV4 has consolidated its position as Sweden[acute accent acute accent n. A mark (´) indicating: a. that a vowel is close or tense, as é in French été. b. that a vowel or syllable has a high or rising pitch, as in Chinese or Ancient Greek. c. ]s most-watched channel, with a 27.3 per cent share of the viewing figures across the population. Our share increased in the third quarter. TV4 has been ranked the fifth strongest brand in Sweden in a recent survey carried out by Vision, an industry periodical periodical, a publication that is issued regularly. It is distinguished from the newspaper in format in that its pages are smaller and are usually bound, and it is published at weekly, monthly, quarterly, or other intervals, rather than daily. . TV4 News at 10:00pm is now more popular with younger viewers (the 15-39 year old target group) than either Aktuellt at 9:00pm or Rapport The former name of device management software from Wyse Technology, San Jose, CA (www.wyse.com) that is designed to centrally control up to 100,000+ devices, including Wyse thin clients (see Winterm), Palm, PocketPC and other mobile devices. at 7:30pm. The Farmen docusoap has more than doubled the number of young viewers between 7:30 and 8:00pm, compared with the same period last year. The share of young female viewers (15-39 years) in the satellite universe rose by 21 per cent in the third quarter. The number of unique visitors A count of how many different people access a Web site. For example, if a user leaves and comes back to the site five times during the measurement period, that person is counted as one unique visitor, but would count as five "user sessions. to TV4.se had risen to 393,000 in September 2001, up almost double on September last year. TV4.se is now the second most frequently visited media site in Sweden. TV4 Text-TV viewing figures has risen to 1.75 million a day, which is an all-time high. Profit after net financial income/expense totalled SEK SEK In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the Swedish Krona. Notes: The currency market, also known as the Foreign Exchange market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average volume of over US $1 trillion. 213 million, compared with SEK 188 million the previous year. Earnings for the year to date include a lump sum Lump sum A large one-time payment of money. of SEK 196 million, compared with SEK 21 million the previous year. Group sales Group sales Block sale (of large amounts) of securities to institutional investors. group sales The distribution of a new security issue to institutional clients. fell by 9 per cent to SEK 1.566 million. TV4 paid no franchise fee for the first half of 2001. Parliament has urged the government to review the franchise fee mechanism in the light of changes in the TV market. Third quarter revenues were 9 per cent lower than the previous year. Costs are now under control and are on par with last year. Programme operations TV4 maintained its position as Sweden's most-watched TV channel. Time spent viewing TV4 increased in the third quarter, as did our share of the viewing public. Viewing time averaged out over the first three quarters remained unchanged, but our share of viewing rose to 27.3 per cent. Total TV viewing fell to 143 minutes in the first nine months, down from 145 minutes in 2000. A marked trend in the period to the end of September was that SVT SVT supraventricular tachycardia. SVT abbr. supraventricular tachycardia SVT Supraventricular tachycardia, see there lost viewers at the same time as "other TV viewing" increased. This is partly explained by the fact that all digital TV viewing in the first six months was reported in this category. TV4 retained its hold on the viewing public at weekends. Vem vill In old English Law, a division of a hundred or wapentake; a town or a city. VILL. In England this word was used to signify the parts into which a hundred or wapentake was divided. Fortesc. De Laud, ch. 24. See Co. Litt. 115 b. It also signifies a town or city. bli miljonar, Gladiatorerna, Smastjarnorna and films showcased on Bio4 continued to attract a large audience. En angels talamod (a new Swedish New Swedish (Swedish: nysvenska) is the linguistic term used for the Swedish language from the Bible translation of 1526 to the development of a common national language around 1880. comedy), Parlamentet, Sporten and Vem vill bli miljonar have all helped TV4 to increase its audience share by no less than eight percentage points on Sunday evenings. August saw a new season of Stadskampen, which tightened its grip on viewers and increased its share of the ratings, peaking at 1,450,000 viewers. The show was followed by coverage of the Golden League athletics athletics or track and field also track-and-field games Variety of sport competitions held on a running track and on the adjacent field. It is the oldest form of organized sports, having been a part of the ancient Olympic Games from c. events, which kept viewers tuned in on Friday evenings. "Super Friday" started the last week in September, and featured Djurens O, Gladiatorerna, Farmen and Sen kvall med Luuk. The package was a hit, particularly Gladiatorerna, which attracted a peak audience of 1,465,000. Nyhetsmorgon strengthened its position as the leading breakfast TV show during the third quarter, with an audience share of 51 per cent. The early evening schedule, which took market share in the first half of the year and attracted a somewhat younger audience, continued to gain ground in the third quarter. TV4 has lost primetime weekday market share. Mondays and Wednesdays are not matching the performance of previous years. Tuesday continues to be a high point, however, with Antligen hemma, Nar & Fjarran and Ally McBeal For the character, see . Ally McBeal is an award-winning American television series which ran on the FOX network from 1997 to 2002. The series was created by David E. Kelley, who also served as the executive producer, along with Bill D'Elia. . Thursday, featuring Kalla fakta and Providence Providence, city (1990 pop. 160,728), state capital and seat of Providence co., NE R.I., a port at the head of Providence Bay; founded by Roger Williams 1636, inc. as a city 1832. , has increased its share of the viewing audience. TV4 improved its share of the key 20 - 44 year-old audience by one percentage point, having lost market share in this segment in the first quarter. The overall result is that our share of the viewing audience fell marginally over the first nine months of the year. We scored successes with a number of events in the third quarter. August began with the World Athletics Championships, broadcast alternately by SVT and TV4. TV4 ratings peaked at 1,090,000. Next up was the wedding in Norway of Crown Prince Haakon and Mette Marit; highlights of the day attracted a large audience. The Cancer Gala (Ett slag for livet) was broadcast in late September, attracting a peak audience of 1,495,000. Just over 30 million kronor was raised during the two and a half hour show. Following the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon Pentagon Huge five-sided building (1941–43) in Arlington, Va., that is the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense. Designed by George Edwin Bergstrom, it was, on its completion, the world's largest office building, covering 34 acres (14 hectares) and offering on 11th September, it was decided to cancel all scheduled programmes and commercials. TV4 broadcast news continuously using our own news resources, CNN International and studio discussions led by Lennart Ekdal and Malou von Sivers. We were able to use CNN news footage thanks to our digital terrestrial Dealing with the earth. See terrestrial link. broadcasting arrangement with that station. Public response to TV4's approach was enormous; we captured a 37.9 per cent share of the ratings during the 24-hour period after the news broke. TV4's share of the 20 - 44 year-old audience was no less than 43.8 per cent. Coverage of the attacks can be seen as a breakthrough for TV4. For the first time, the viewing public saw TV4 as its main source of information about a truly major news event. Prior to this, for example following the Estonia tragedy and the discotheque fire in Gothenburg, SVT news programmes had been the viewers' first choice. The TV advertising market The downturn in the economy has had a pronounced impact on the advertising market. The Institute for Advertising and Media Statistics (IRM (1) (Information Resource Management) See Information Systems and information management. (2) (Inherited Rights Mask) In NetWare 3.x and 4. ) estimates that spending on advertising fell by just over eight per cent in the first eight months of the year. The TV advertising market is estimated to have contracted by ten per cent. TV4's advertising revenues fell by 12 per cent in the first eight months of this year. The TV4 TV channel underperformed the market as a whole but local TV did better. For TV4's part, the loss of revenues is entirely explained by the sizeable revenues generated last year by the pension reform, the stock market flotation flotation or froth flotation Most widely used process for extracting many minerals from their ores. The method separates and concentrates ores by altering their surfaces so that they are either repelled or attracted by water. of state-owned Telia and spending by the dot.com sector. TV4's regular advertisers have continued to spend somewhat more than last year. We now also have a large number of new advertisers, but this has not compensated for the absence of major campaigns, particularly the pension reform campaign. At the end of September TV4's advertising revenues were up 4 per cent on 1999. Group advertising revenues were SEK 1,411.9 million (1,592.0), of which sponsorship revenues accounted for SEK 100.4 million (94.3). The TV4 TV channel's advertising revenues totalled SEK 1,255.4 million (1,439.8), of which sponsorship income accounted for SEK 89.2 million (84.1). TV4's total advertising revenues thus fell by 11.3 per cent. Sales and earnings Group net sales Net Sales The amount a seller receives from the buyer after costs associated with the sale are deducted. Notes: This amount is calculated by subtracting the following items from gross sales: merchandise returned for credit, allowances for damaged or missing goods, freight fell by SEK 150.9 million (-8.8 per cent), totalling SEK 1,566.2 million (1,717.1). Operating expenses Operating expenses The amount paid for asset maintenance or the cost of doing business, excluding depreciation. Earnings are distributed after operating expenses are deducted. , not including the franchise fee, increased by 6.7 per cent and totalled SEK 1,257.6 million (1,178.6). Pre-franchise fee profit was SEK 512.4 million (566.5). Profit after financial income/expense was SEK 213.4 million (187.9). This figure includes items affecting comparability totalling SEK 196.3, compared with SEK 20.8 million last year. The third-quarter loss after net interest income totalled SEK -8.5 million, compared with a profit of SEK 13.5 million the previous year. Net sales fell by 8.7 per cent. The decline in the advertising market has had a pronounced impact on all operations. Third-quarter costs, not including the franchise fee, were on a par with the previous year. Profit by division Net sales by the TV4 TV channel fell by SEK 158.4 million (-10.4 per cent) to SEK 1,357.2 million (1,515.5). Operating expenses fell by SEK 48.6 million (3.8 per cent) to SEK 1,245.4 million (1,294.1). Not including the franchise fee, costs rose by SEK 29.3 million, ie, by 3.0 per cent. Programme costs, which represent the largest single cost item, totalled SEK 592.7 million (553.3). Profit after franchise fee fell by SEK 108.6 million to SEK 119.3 million. Licensing revenues rose by 42.1 per cent to SEK 32.4 million (22.8). Books, CD-ROM CD-ROM: see compact disc. CD-ROM in full compact disc read-only memory Type of computer storage medium that is read optically (e.g., by a laser). games, video films and DVD DVD: see digital versatile disc. DVD in full digital video disc or digital versatile disc Type of optical disc. The DVD represents the second generation of compact-disc (CD) technology. productions are sold under the TV4 Vision brand. The Gladiatorerna 1 CD was a success, achieving sales of 60,000; a follow-up was launched in the third quarter. Thomas Ledin's Greatest Hits went platinum in two weeks. Over 200,000 copies have now been sold. The Lokets favoriter album went gold. Antligen hemma, the first of three video releases this year, was launched in May, the second followed in September. The second Nar & Fjarran DVD, came out in June. A new Rummel & Rabalder CD-ROM game was also released in May. Sales of licensed products peak in the fourth quarter. Local TV companies The local TV companies saw their profitability fall during the first nine months of 2001. Net sales by the local TV companies were SEK 213.8 million (219.4). Sales results vary between the companies. Of the subsidiaries, TV4 Halland, TV4 Norrbotten and TV4 Goteborg reported most sales growth. TV4's share of local TV company profit/loss less joint costs totalled SEK -4.3 million (7.0). After deduction of franchise fee, a loss of SEK -73.3 million by the local TV companies was charged to Group profit (-63.7). Eleven of the fifteen local TV companies are subsidiaries, of which eight are wholly owned. Four local TV companies are associated companies associated company associate n → Partnerfirma f associated company n → società collegata . TV4 pays franchise fee on total advertising revenues, regardless of the size of its stake in these companies. TV4 Norrbotten, TV4 Uppland and TV4 Ost have become wholly-owned subsidiaries during the year. These acquisitions will have no more than a marginal effect on group earnings this year. Local TV operations are governed gov·ern v. gov·erned, gov·ern·ing, gov·erns v.tr. 1. To make and administer the public policy and affairs of; exercise sovereign authority in. 2. by TV4's broadcasting agreement with the Swedish state and by agreements with the local companies. The latter expire at the end of 2001. TV4 is seeking to improve local TV profitability without any decline in programme quality. Allt om Stockholm, a leading city guide on the Internet, was acquired in late 2000. Visitor numbers continue to rise. The loss for the period was SEK -13,5 million. Revenues, which were SEK 7.7 million during the period, are increasing. Following poor summer sales, revenues have improved this autumn. The service was launched in Gothenburg and Malmo in March and visitor numbers are improving steadily. TV4 Interaktiv comprises TV4 Text-TV and tv4.se. The year got off to an excellent start in audience terms, both for text TV and for tv4.se. TV4 Text-TV achieved a record of 1.75 million daily viewers in October (MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) An enhanced transmission service that enables graphics, video clips and sound files to be transmitted via cellphones. Developed as part of the 3GPP project, MMS phones are generally backward compatible with SMS and EMS. ). This is the highest figure ever and represents an increase of 17 per cent on last year. tv4.se continues to be a hit with the public, with 939,000 unique visitors in September, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Jupiter MMXI MMXI Media Metrix Nordic. This was the highest figure ever. In August last year, before the relaunch Relaunch can refer to several things:
tv4.se's revenues continue to grow even though the market for Internet advertising Delivering ads to Internet users via Web sites, e-mail, ad-supported software and Internet-enabled cellphones. Also called an "ad network," Internet advertising organizations act as a middleman between the advertiser and the Web sites and software publishers that display the ads. contracted sharply during the first nine months of 2001 (down 40 per cent according to Mediebarometer). The aim of TV4 Interaktiv is to create interactive entertainment and utility services for viewers and customers on the Internet, text TV and via other distribution media. TV4's strategic advantage lies in its ability to combine TV, text TV, the Internet and various mobile channels, and also take advantage of its dual presence nationwide and locally. TV4 Interaktiv sales fell by 9.4 per cent to SEK 56.6 million during the year (62.5). However, third-quarter revenues were on a par with last year. The loss for the first nine months of the year was SEK -15.4 million (2.9). The third-quarter loss was unchanged on last year. Text TV revenues fell partly as a result of the decline in the advertising market, particularly that for financial services The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. , and partly because of lower revenues generated by the stock exchange service. Text-TV's sales were SEK 45.1 million, down 20.4 per cent on last year's figure of SEK 56.7 million. tv4.se's sales totalled SEK 11.5 million (5.8). Investments and financial position Investments totalling SEK 37.1 million were made during the period (27.0). This figure includes financial investments of SEK 3.4 million (3.8). Depreciation during the period totalled SEK 40.0 million (55.1). Group liquid assets Cash, or property immediately convertible to cash, such as Securities, notes, life insurance policies with cash surrender values, U.S. savings bonds, or an account receivable. totalled SEK 51.9 million at the end of the period, compared with SEK 284.0 at the same time last year. Outstanding franchise fee totalled SEK 71.7 million at the end of the period (336.1). Programme stock totalled SEK 607.8 million (565.7), of which repeats accounted for SEK 170.8 million (164.0). Other stock totals SEK 13.7 million (9.9). The equity/assets ratio as at 30th September 2001 was 69.1 per cent, compared with 54.1 per cent at the same time last year. The parent company Net sales by the parent company totalled SEK 1,358.4 million (1,516.7). Profit after financial items was SEK 260.2 million (189.8). The parent company had liquid assets totalling SEK 18.5 million at the end of the period (223.7). Digital TV TV4 started broadcasting on the digital terrestrial network in September 1999 and now has access to two channels. Development of programme content broadcast exclusively on the digital network has begun but remains limited. Examples of unique programmes on the digital terrestrial network are Cityliv, films and World Handball handball Any of a variety games in which a small rubber ball is struck against a wall with the hand or fist. It can be played in a three- or four-walled court or against a single wall by two or four players (in singles or doubles games, respectively). Championship matches. TV4 has been broadcasting digitally via Canal Digital since April 2001. TV4 applied for a broadcasting permit for two new channels in August. These are a news channel by arrangement with CNN and a sports channel Sports channels are television specialty channels (usually available exclusively through cable and satellite) broadcast sporting events, usually live, and when not broadcasting events, sports news and other related programming. . Digital TV gives scope for developing new services and increasing broadcasting hours with access to new channels. This will allow more efficient use of TV4's programme stock. TV4 is now upgrading its technology to simplify transmission of more than one TV channel. Franchise fee The Swedish parliament decided in June that TV4 did not have to pay any franchise fee for the first half of 2001. This followed a decision by the Radio and TV Authority that TV4's exclusive right to transmit commercial television had been ended by the government's decision to establish a nationwide digital TV network. The government proposed an amendment to the law reinstating TV4's franchise fee obligation. Parliament did not accept that this proposal should apply retroactively ret·ro·ac·tive adj. Influencing or applying to a period prior to enactment: a retroactive pay increase. [French rétroactif, from Latin for the first half of 2001. The fee is therefore once again payable as of 1st July 2001. In future the fee will be computed per calendar six months in line with a scale producing the same fee as earlier. Parliament urged the government to review the regulations governing the franchise fee in the light of technical developments and changes in the market since the fee's inception. Parliament also strongly urged that the government should waste no time in putting a bill before parliament to ensure that TV4 is not placed at a disadvantage as regards the franchise fee payable on revenues from digital transmissions. October saw a government initiative to comply with the wishes of parliament. Following reviews of franchise regulations in Finland and Norway, franchise fees in those countries are now substantially lower than that paid by TV4 in Sweden. The fee for the first half of 2001 has been calculated as if it had been payable under the new rules. The figure thus arrived at (SEK 212.9 million) is reported as a positive item under ``items affecting comparability.'' Miscellaneous Following financial difficulties experienced by one of its customers in the dot.com sector, TV4 was obliged o·blige v. o·bliged, o·blig·ing, o·blig·es v.tr. 1. To constrain by physical, legal, social, or moral means. 2. to write off a debt of SEK 16.6 million. This was charged to profit in the second quarter and reported as a negative item under "items affecting comparability". Prospects for 2001 Doubts remain about the prospects for the Swedish economy and the advertising market continues to contract in October. TV4's costs in the second half (not including newly acquired subsidiaries) will be lower than the same period last year. Next report TV4[acute accent]s full-year report for 2001 will be issued on 12th February 2002 This interim report and other financial information is also available on the Internet at www.tv4.se Note to Editors: This press release is also accessible online at www.Waymaker.net. The following files are available for download To receive a file transmitted over a network. In any communications session, "download" means receive, and "upload" means send. The download/upload often implies a big/little scenario, in which data is being downloaded from the "big" server into the "little" user's computer. : http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2001/10/31/20011031BIT00770/bit0002.doc http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2001/10/31/20011031BIT00770/bit0002.pdf |
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