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So it appears that Kontominas company has been awarded the rights for ERT World temporarily until they hold a bidding process to find a permanent rightsholder- correct?! I wonder if this has anything to do with the person who is in charge of ERT World, recently quitting?! They don't even have stable leadership so what do you expect with all these deals being made and the rights changing hands so many times.

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Guest TheTruth

Don;t reproduce everything you see in Greek forums/blogs. Most (if not all) of it are lies. You can ask me ANY question on ANY issue regarding ANY channel distribution rights after 2010 (Greek or English) and I will answer. ANY question, please...

 

I've been reading the forums for quite some time, There is lots of guessing (sometimes right sometimes wrong) on what happened with ERT, Alpha, Mega, Home2US, UBI etc...

 

As a start, replying to:

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Don;t reproduce everything you see in Greek forums/blogs. Most (if not all) of it are lies. You can ask me ANY question on ANY issue regarding ANY channel distribution rights after 2010 (Greek or English) and I will answer. ANY question, please...

 

I've been reading the forums for quite some time, There is lots of guessing (sometimes right sometimes wrong) on what happened with ERT, Alpha, Mega, Home2US, UBI etc...

 

As a start, replying to:

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Is it really a rumor though? I thought ERT had official announced that they had signed a 4 year 4.4 million euro contract with KBI...

 

 

900,000 per year plus VAT. So, yes, 4.4M. This is public info, anyway. Globecast and OTE submitted proposals over 1.1M per year (plus VAT)
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I would like to know the truth about the Mega Cosmos soap opera going from Dish to Directv to Home2US to Dish again! Maybe not in this topic since it pertains to ERT World.

 

Very very long story. To cut it short:

MEGA had been frustrated with Dish. Mainly because Dish had preferable terms for Ant1. Dish chose to reward the loyal channel, not the first channel. So, Mega left in 2005. Tried to create a whole new greek subs base on Directv. In the process, Alter and Alpha joined Directv (just a hint, here: The Alpha-Directv deal was actuelly made by KBI, belonging to the same owners as Alpha) in 2007.

When ERT rights were assigned to PCCW in 2010 there was an effort to end ERT DTH exclusivity on Dish, so there were contacts with DirecTV. This, legitimately, in my opinion, made Dish furious, starting to impose several legal and financial obstacles to such a deal, along with the very clever move to make a deal with Alpha (which then belonged to RTL, not to Contominas any more). This was the same period that Alter started having problems, not having any programming for weeks or months. So MEGA was left alone on Directv. At a point, Directv got fed up with the situation and decided to stop the greek package.

This left MEGA homeless, with the only option to join Dish. But, still wanted a good share of the income, while Dish kept rewarding loyalty. 

For the second time, MEGA decided to lead a new path outside Dish, joining Home2US. This time, ERT joined. As DISH was still playing hard on ERT (because they tried, through their subcontractors, to join DirecTV) ERT had no distribution agreement with any platform (but nobody dared to just stop its distribution until things are resolved, political impact would have been hard to handle). So, anyone feeling like it could include ERT in his package.

 

But, at a point, some company managed to reach some deal with DISH (hint again: KBI is the company, but now Alpha belongs to Contominas, again), obliging Home2US to drop ERT.

 

This left MEGA alone agin (and again... and again... and again....)

 

Eh, finally they joined DISH

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Very very long story. To cut it short:

MEGA had been frustrated with Dish. Mainly because Dish had preferable terms for Ant1. Dish chose to reward the loyal channel, not the first channel. So, Mega left in 2005. Tried to create a whole new greek subs base on Directv. In the process, Alter and Alpha joined Directv (just a hint, here: The Alpha-Directv deal was actuelly made by KBI, belonging to the same owners as Alpha) in 2007.

When ERT rights were assigned to PCCW in 2010 there was an effort to end ERT DTH exclusivity on Dish, so there were contacts with DirecTV. This, legitimately, in my opinion, made Dish furious, starting to impose several legal and financial obstacles to such a deal, along with the very clever move to make a deal with Alpha (which then belonged to RTL, not to Contominas any more). This was the same period that Alter started having problems, not having any programming for weeks or months. So MEGA was left alone on Directv. At a point, Directv got fed up with the situation and decided to stop the greek package.

This left MEGA homeless, with the only option to join Dish. But, still wanted a good share of the income, while Dish kept rewarding loyalty. 

For the second time, MEGA decided to lead a new path outside Dish, joining Home2US. This time, ERT joined. As DISH was still playing hard on ERT (because they tried, through their subcontractors, to join DirecTV) ERT had no distribution agreement with any platform (but nobody dared to just stop its distribution until things are resolved, political impact would have been hard to handle). So, anyone feeling like it could include ERT in his package.

 

But, at a point, some company managed to reach some deal with DISH (hint again: KBI is the company, but now Alpha belongs to Contominas, again), obliging Home2US to drop ERT.

 

This left MEGA alone agin (and again... and again... and again....)

 

Eh, finally they joined DISH

Interesting info. What does KBI stand for? I would like to know more info on Greek Media Group since its been stated that they are the distributors of Mega in the US and the iptv service Ellas TV. Are they legit and are they related with GMG? Will Star join Dish in the future? Are there still efforts to revive Alter? Back in 2007 when Mega, Alpha, & Alter formed the package on Directv, it was stated on this forum that Mad World would also join. Are they still interested in broadcasting in the US?

By the way, Mega left Dish in 2006 but maybe this was a typo on your part.

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Dont really know what KBI stands for. Check their web site.

 

Grrek Media Group is GMG, so I don't understand the question if they are related. They are legit, they appear sometimes with different entity names, but these are usual corporate tricks. They do represent MEGA in the US. They are EllasTV distributors (but they distribute many things, I think)

 

Alter does not exist (at least, not today). There is interest in reviving it, but, on the other hand, who would invest in a Greek channel today? I doubt anyone sane would invest in a channel today, worldwide, let alone, Greek.

 

Don't really think that Star or MAD will join DISH, I think DISH completed the setup. This is a speculation, but having smaller channels join would require a raise in the fee you're paying. Would you still be interested?

 

Yes, the 2005-2006 thing was a typo. Sorry.

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Dont really know what KBI stands for. Check their web site.

 

Grrek Media Group is GMG, so I don't understand the question if they are related. They are legit, they appear sometimes with different entity names, but these are usual corporate tricks. They do represent MEGA in the US. They are EllasTV distributors (but they distribute many things, I think)

 

Alter does not exist (at least, not today). There is interest in reviving it, but, on the other hand, who would invest in a Greek channel today? I doubt anyone sane would invest in a channel today, worldwide, let alone, Greek.

 

Don't really think that Star or MAD will join DISH, I think DISH completed the setup. This is a speculation, but having smaller channels join would require a raise in the fee you're paying. Would you still be interested?

 

Yes, the 2005-2006 thing was a typo. Sorry.

I don't think you read my post carefully.

 

I asked if GMG and EllasTV are related, not Greek Media Group and GMG. I know GMG is the abbreviation of Greek Media Group. When I asked the question about EllasTV being related I used the abbreviation rather than type the whole name again.  :)

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I don't think you read my post carefully.

 

I asked if GMG and EllasTV are related, not Greek Media Group and GMG. I know GMG is the abbreviation of Greek Media Group. When I asked the question about EllasTV being related I used the abbreviation rather than type the whole name again.  :)

Sorry... Bad reading

Not related from a shareholding point of view (like one is subsidiary of the other or they share ownership), but related enough.

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This is an ERT topic. I don't see too much of ERT related questions here and the supposed Greek scandals. I don't see people using to abuse the blog with false info, posting. maybe they know exactly what happened (or, then again, maybe they don't?).

 

MEGA has been the big issue for Greeks watching (or not) DISH, EllasTV, H2US etc...

 

But there are accusations here (top post in this topic contains at least four false of them)

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Are there still efforts to revive Alter?

Several of the on-air talent (Autias, Nikolouli, Triantafilopoulos) have moved on to other things now and the other employees are still fighting to get the money that is owed to them.  As a result, I think its highly doubtful that you will ever see Alter again unless a miracle happens and a new investor with deep pockets comes on board.  Last I heard, some guy was looking to buy the channel but he wanted to buy it out of bankruptcy so that all the debt would be erased and he wouldn't have to pay anyone including all the employees.  It was said that he was willing to rehire some (not all) of the employees who worked at Alter but in the end the deal fell apart.

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Several of the on-air talent (Autias, Nikolouli, Triantafilopoulos) have moved on to other things now and the other employees are still fighting to get the money that is owed to them.  As a result, I think its highly doubtful that you will ever see Alter again unless a miracle happens and a new investor with deep pockets comes on board.  Last I heard, some guy was looking to buy the channel but he wanted to buy it out of bankruptcy so that all the debt would be erased and he wouldn't have to pay anyone including all the employees.  It was said that he was willing to rehire some (not all) of the employees who worked at Alter but in the end the deal fell apart.

Exacttly.

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Are you sure they got the contract because they underbid or because the system in Greece is corrupt from top to bottom?!  A bid should be judged on all merits not just cost- was KBI's bid the best one even though it was the cheapest?!

The bids were ranked according to technical specifications. Then the

bid sum was divided by the rate each bid got. KBI was 3rd in technical

expertise (of course, OTE and Globecast are bigger and older), but still

the division result was favorable for them.

 

 

1- Why does ERT keep awarding the distribution rights for ERT World to different companies- first it was PCCW Global then a short while later we heard that Greek Media Group (or Titan TV) had supposedly been awarded the rights?!  Now this KBI outfit is the rightsholder, what's with the constant changes, are they incapable of making a decision and sticking with it?!

PCCW got the rights in 2010. They transferred them to Titan. Titan failed to negotiate with any distributor. They returned the rights to PCCW. PCCW transferred the rights to KBI. KBI succeeded in its negotiations. (of course, this took like 18 months, in the meantime, DISH was not paying ERT for the rights, although all of you were paying normally your sub fees).

All this for the period until September 2012. Since then, nobody has any rights and nobody pays ERT (and, of course, you all keep paying your sub fees to DISH)

 

2- Will ERT World ever launch the regional feeds that they have talked about forever but have yet to actually implement?! (http://forums.phantis.com/topic/13615-ert-announces-new-plan-major-overhaul-coming/)  Also, do the people at ERT not know how to adjust a schedule so that programming airs according to the local time zone?!  ANT1 & MEGA's satellite channels both air programming based on the local time zone while ERT World is still aired according to Greek time.

Good questions, both. I really dont have an answer on the second one.

On the first one, probably not until crisis ends (in like 20-30 years)

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are they incapable of making a decision and sticking with it?!

 

Hmmm, yup.

But you have to give them something.

ERT management changes every now and then for political reasons. Even if

one doesn't want to be suspicious, even if all ERT BoD members and

Directors had ever been honest and working for ERT benefit, still

everyone has a mind of his own. You can't oblige them to think like

their predecessors.

And one other thing: Rights are assigned for a period of time, not for ever, or else we would have really had a scandal.

Before 2006, it was Unitel (Fessas company, BTW, KBI has inherited -

bought- all Unitel property back in 2007, and one should dig to find an

existing relationship between Unitel and GMG). They made a loooot of

money (Unitel) on this.Then, until 2010 it was this funny company,

COMART. They also made a looooot of money on ERT's back. Then, PCCW

(with KBI), funny again, but they did pay ERT. They were the first to

have ever paid ERT a decent amount of money. And them nobody (as I wrote

above).

Funny people think they can make money in ERT's back. Some succeed.

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 Thanks for the replies.

 

 

PCCW got the rights in 2010. They transferred them to Titan. Titan
failed to negotiate with any distributor. They returned the rights to
PCCW. PCCW transferred the rights to KBI. KBI succeeded in its
negotiations. (of course, this took like 18 months, in the meantime,
DISH was not paying ERT for the rights, although all of you were paying
normally your sub fees).


All this for the period until September 2012. Since then, nobody has
any rights and nobody pays ERT (and, of course, you all keep paying your
sub fees to DISH)

 

Of those companies, PCCW Global was the best IMO as they did a great job expanding distribution of the channel.  Right from the start from when it was announced that they had the rights, ERT World began popping up on many different satellites and the channel was instantaneously available in pretty much all areas of the globe.  Then something happened and distribution stopped and next thing we heard that someone else had the rights.  I suspect political instability and the constant management changes at ERT are to blame for PCCW losing the rights, too bad because they were the best of the bunch and based on what you posted it appears the deal with PCCW was the only one where ERT actually made some money?!  It would be nice if somehow they could get back the rights and bring some stability to this whole sideshow of 'who has the rights today'. B)

 

 And one other thing: Rights are assigned for a period of time, not for ever, or else we would have really had a scandal.

 

I am aware of that but it seems like with ERT the rights change hands every year or every other year- I would think most contracts would be for several years not just one.

 

As for the regional feeds, I would say the correct answer is that this will never happen- these guys are all talk.  I don't understand why management has to change everytime the government does, this indicates to me that ERT is a 'state' broadcaster (directly controlled by the government) not a public broadcaster (operate at arms length from the government)?!

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ERT has many problems, but I think their biggest problem is that the management is always changing. They can never implement any major changes in time. The last overhaul they announced in 2011 never really panned out. (http://forums.phantis.com/topic/13615-ert-announces-new-plan-major-overhaul-coming/) I think it is also a joke that every year there is talk of introducing TV series productions, but nothing ever happens. ERT spends so much money on other programs that really don't appeal to a broad audience, yet cant come to a decision or find money in their budget for a Greek TV series.

 

It is also quite funny that transparency is a double edge sword for ERT. (not that they are very transparent to begin with) Anything ERT releases to the public always gets picked apart by the Greek blogs and media. Thus many of the projects or proposals end up in limbo. Just look at the saga with the ERT World rights. By the way while we are on the subject of ERT World rights, the current Greek government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou always used to complain about mismanagement at ERT and the ERT World rights. Now that he has more sway, what has change at ERT?! :rolleyes:

 

And let's not even get started on why ERT World is FTA on KU band almost everywhere else around the world except North America....

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I presume the articles below on fimotro.blogspot.gr might shed some additional light on the subject.

 

I presume as well that the "company that belongs to a competitor of ERT" is KBI?

 

Have fun reading

 

 

http://fimotro.blogspot.gr/2013/02/14_19.html

 

http://fimotro.blogspot.gr/2013/02/17.html

 

http://fimotro.blogspot.gr/2013/02/15_20.html

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