By Eric Pfanner
International Herald Tribune
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2005
AMSTERDAM When
John de Mol, the Dutch television executive who brought the world the reality TV show "Big Brother" six years ago, retired last year from his production company, Endemol, he might have been expected to fade from the media scene like a minor reality-TV celebrity whose 15 minutes of fame had expired.
After all, de Mol had personally pocketed an estimated 1.5 billion, or $1.8 billion, from the sale of Endemol to Telefónica of Spain in 2000, so he surely did not need any more money.
Yet de Mol decided to go back into business - this time not as a producer of programming but as an owner of television channels, radio stations and other media outlets.
As de Mol's new TV channel, Talpa, starts broadcasting in the Netherlands, it is relying on an old standby, "Big Brother," to generate ratings, and notoriety.
The latest Dutch edition of "Big Brother," which appeared last month as Talpa TV went on air, provides a new twist for a format that has proved popular around the world, throwing a dozen or more contestants into a house decked out with TV cameras and letting viewers vote them out until only the winner is left.
While previous shows have featured transsexuals and sexual romps in hot tubs, this time the producers added a pregnant woman to the mix and suggested that she be filmed while giving birth.
Even in the relaxed Netherlands, that proved to be a step too far.
Viewers complained, and the government stepped in, ruling that a live broadcast of the birth, should the mother be among the contestants when it happened, would violate child protection rules. Talpa - which means "mole" in Latin, a play on its founder's name - would be allowed to show the baby once born, but only for a limited amount of time every day.
In any event, the tactic seems to have paid off, generating useful attention for Talpa, which enters a crowded market, with nine mainstream television channels serving a population of only 16 million. In its first three weeks, the channel, which also features Dutch soccer highlights, other so-called reality series and a variety of programming aimed at general audiences, has posted ratings of about 10 percent, immediately placing it among the market leaders.
Ronald Goes, chief executive of de Mol's Talpa Media Holding, defended the channel's populist approach. Because new digital distribution technologies could soon lead to a fragmentation of television and other media markets, he said, it was important for Talpa to establish a strong brand name and mass-market appeal quickly.
"We want to be a major player in Holland, and we want to do it on short notice," Goes said in an interview at Talpa's headquarters in a quiet office complex in Laren, a suburb of Amsterdam. "If you want to grow in the new digital world, you have to have a strong foothold in the old."
De Mol also decided that Talpa Media's footprint should be broad.
Nearly three years ago, he started investing the proceeds from the sale of Endemol, in which he had held roughly a 29 percent stake, by buying radio stations in the Netherlands, Denmark and Belgium.
This year, he accelerated the push into radio by acquiring the leading station in the Netherlands, Radio 538, from Advent International, a private equity firm.
In the quest for broad appeal, de Mol is also investing in content, not just media outlets.
Talpa Music, which owns rights to musicians' back catalog works, was started last October. Content development and marketing strategy divisions were also added. "We saw that times were changing," Goes said. "You can't rely just on one pillar."
In December, de Mol won the rights to show Dutch top-tier professional soccer highlights, trumping the Netherlands' public broadcaster, NOS, by agreeing to pay about 35 million a year. Over all, Talpa TV aims for more than 80 percent of its content to be produced in the Netherlands, following a trend toward increased localization among European broadcasters.
Because space on the television dial is limited, Talpa reached an unusual agreement to guarantee access. It set up a channel-sharing arrangement with Nickelodeon, the Viacom subsidiary, in which that service beams its programming via cable from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., with Talpa taking over on the same channel in the evening hours.
Goes acknowledged that Talpa TV faced stiff competition.
The biggest player in the Dutch market is RTL, a subsidiary of Bertelsmann of Germany, whose three channels have around a 30 percent market share.
Trailing them are three channels owned by SBS Broadcasting, a Luxembourg-based company that agreed last month to be acquired by the investment firms Permira and Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts, and three others run by the public broadcaster.
In an effort to head off the incursion of Talpa, RTL revamped one of its channels, RTL5, which had been aimed at male viewers, with an eye toward giving it a broader appeal.
For all three of its channels, including the strongest, RTL4, the company moved up the start of its autumn programming season to Aug. 12, one day before Talpa went on air and nearly three weeks ahead of the usual schedule.
Over all, RTL channels have lost only a few ratings points so far, said Kim Koppenol, a spokeswoman. They still lead Talpa, with a combined market share of close to 30 percent. "When someone new comes into the market, of course things will change," she said. "So far, we've won the battle."
Robert Bennemeer, who buys broadcast time for advertisers at Initiative, a media-buying agency in Amsterdam, said Talpa's performance so far had been better than expected. He added, however, that to gain the critical mass that advertisers desire, the company might have to add a second television channel. One way for Talpa to do that would be to buy one from SBS, he suggested. SBS declined to comment.
Eventually, all of the Dutch television channels are likely to face new competition from digital TV stations. So far, digital television has been slow to get started, in part because more than 90 percent of Dutch homes receive their TV signals via analog cable. But digital providers are gearing up, including telecommunications companies like KPN and Versatel, which already offers television signals via its fixed-line network.
de Mol, who owns 42 percent of Versatel, has given his blessing to the pending sale of that company to Tele2 of Sweden for about 1.3 billion.
As Talpa moves into the digital era, Goes sees opportunities for synergies between the group's different media outlets. Near the end of "Big Brother" television broadcasts, for instance, the host advises die-hard fans to log on to the Talpa Web site, where the show continues for a further half-hour.
The latest "Big Brother" includes a few other "enhancements," Goes said. For instance, some of the contestants may be reinserted into the "Big Brother" house after having been voted out, giving them a second chance to win.
That is apt, given that the show is helping to give de Mol, who is 50, a second chance at being a media mogul. And while Goes is running the business from day to day, de Mol can check in whenever he wants to from his home, only a stone's throw from the Talpa headquarters.
"Some people go golfing or travel around the world," Goes said. "What he wants is to be in the media, but in a free way."
AMSTERDAM When John de Mol, the Dutch television executive who brought the world the reality TV show "Big Brother" six years ago, retired last year from his production company, Endemol, he might have been expected to fade from the media scene like a minor reality-TV celebrity whose 15 minutes of fame had expired.
After all, de Mol had personally pocketed an estimated 1.5 billion, or $1.8 billion, from the sale of Endemol to Telefónica of Spain in 2000, so he surely did not need any more money.
Yet de Mol decided to go back into business - this time not as a producer of programming but as an owner of television channels, radio stations and other media outlets.
As de Mol's new TV channel, Talpa, starts broadcasting in the Netherlands, it is relying on an old standby, "Big Brother," to generate ratings, and notoriety.
The latest Dutch edition of "Big Brother," which appeared last month as Talpa TV went on air, provides a new twist for a format that has proved popular around the world, throwing a dozen or more contestants into a house decked out with TV cameras and letting viewers vote them out until only the winner is left.
While previous shows have featured transsexuals and sexual romps in hot tubs, this time the producers added a pregnant woman to the mix and suggested that she be filmed while giving birth.
Even in the relaxed Netherlands, that proved to be a step too far.
Viewers complained, and the government stepped in, ruling that a live broadcast of the birth, should the mother be among the contestants when it happened, would violate child protection rules. Talpa - which means "mole" in Latin, a play on its founder's name - would be allowed to show the baby once born, but only for a limited amount of time every day.
In any event, the tactic seems to have paid off, generating useful attention for Talpa, which enters a crowded market, with nine mainstream television channels serving a population of only 16 million. In its first three weeks, the channel, which also features Dutch soccer highlights, other so-called reality series and a variety of programming aimed at general audiences, has posted ratings of about 10 percent, immediately placing it among the market leaders.
Ronald Goes, chief executive of de Mol's Talpa Media Holding, defended the channel's populist approach. Because new digital distribution technologies could soon lead to a fragmentation of television and other media markets, he said, it was important for Talpa to establish a strong brand name and mass-market appeal quickly.
"We want to be a major player in Holland, and we want to do it on short notice," Goes said in an interview at Talpa's headquarters in a quiet office complex in Laren, a suburb of Amsterdam. "If you want to grow in the new digital world, you have to have a strong foothold in the old."
De Mol also decided that Talpa Media's footprint should be broad.
Nearly three years ago, he started investing the proceeds from the sale of Endemol, in which he had held roughly a 29 percent stake, by buying radio stations in the Netherlands, Denmark and Belgium.
This year, he accelerated the push into radio by acquiring the leading station in the Netherlands, Radio 538, from Advent International, a private equity firm.
In the quest for broad appeal, de Mol is also investing in content, not just media outlets.
Talpa Music, which owns rights to musicians' back catalog works, was started last October. Content development and marketing strategy divisions were also added. "We saw that times were changing," Goes said. "You can't rely just on one pillar."
In December, de Mol won the rights to show Dutch top-tier professional soccer highlights, trumping the Netherlands' public broadcaster, NOS, by agreeing to pay about 35 million a year. Over all, Talpa TV aims for more than 80 percent of its content to be produced in the Netherlands, following a trend toward increased localization among European broadcasters.
Because space on the television dial is limited, Talpa reached an unusual agreement to guarantee access. It set up a channel-sharing arrangement with Nickelodeon, the Viacom subsidiary, in which that service beams its programming via cable from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., with Talpa taking over on the same channel in the evening hours.
Goes acknowledged that Talpa TV faced stiff competition.
The biggest player in the Dutch market is RTL, a subsidiary of Bertelsmann of Germany, whose three channels have around a 30 percent market share.
Trailing them are three channels owned by SBS Broadcasting, a Luxembourg-based company that agreed last month to be acquired by the investment firms Permira and Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts, and three others run by the public broadcaster.
In an effort to head off the incursion of Talpa, RTL revamped one of its channels, RTL5, which had been aimed at male viewers, with an eye toward giving it a broader appeal.
For all three of its channels, including the strongest, RTL4, the company moved up the start of its autumn programming season to Aug. 12, one day before Talpa went on air and nearly three weeks ahead of the usual schedule.
Over all, RTL channels have lost only a few ratings points so far, said Kim Koppenol, a spokeswoman. They still lead Talpa, with a combined market share of close to 30 percent. "When someone new comes into the market, of course things will change," she said. "So far, we've won the battle."
Robert Bennemeer, who buys broadcast time for advertisers at Initiative, a media-buying agency in Amsterdam, said Talpa's performance so far had been better than expected. He added, however, that to gain the critical mass that advertisers desire, the company might have to add a second television channel. One way for Talpa to do that would be to buy one from SBS, he suggested. SBS declined to comment.
Eventually, all of the Dutch television channels are likely to face new competition from digital TV stations. So far, digital television has been slow to get started, in part because more than 90 percent of Dutch homes receive their TV signals via analog cable. But digital providers are gearing up, including telecommunications companies like KPN and Versatel, which already offers television signals via its fixed-line network.
de Mol, who owns 42 percent of Versatel, has given his blessing to the pending sale of that company to Tele2 of Sweden for about 1.3 billion.
As Talpa moves into the digital era, Goes sees opportunities for synergies between the group's different media outlets. Near the end of "Big Brother" television broadcasts, for instance, the host advises die-hard fans to log on to the Talpa Web site, where the show continues for a further half-hour.
The latest "Big Brother" includes a few other "enhancements," Goes said. For instance, some of the contestants may be reinserted into the "Big Brother" house after having been voted out, giving them a second chance to win.
That is apt, given that the show is helping to give de Mol, who is 50, a second chance at being a media mogul. And while Goes is running the business from day to day, de Mol can check in whenever he wants to from his home, only a stone's throw from the Talpa headquarters.
"Some people go golfing or travel around the world," Goes said. "What he wants is to be in the media, but in a free way."
