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Name of company: TRD TV Studio
TERA DOOEL – Bitola
Name of owner: Zoran Mangovski
Established: 07.04.1993
Address: Milton Manaki 21 Bitola
Telephone number: 097/22-77-31, 22-88-31
Fax number:097/22-55-31
e-mail:teram@soros.org.mk
Television details:
Name: TERA Televizija
Name editor-in-chief: Ljubica Angelkova
Editors: 6 (4 current affairs and news editors, 1 entertainment program editor,
1 documentary program editor)
Correspondents, stringers: Journalists from other local TV stations, and, if
required, correspondents from other Balkan countries, Europe and USA.
Cameramen: 4
Sound technicians: 3
Cutters: 4
Total staff: 20 full-time plus 19 part-time employees.
Background, history and aims of
the station:
TERA Television is an independent, private TV station
that broadcasts in the southwestern region of the Republic of Macedonia.
Therefore, it is a regional TV station whose news and current affairs program is
the most dominant program. The program concept of this TV station also focuses
on the production of non-commercial documentary projects (inter-ethnic
relations, historiography, ethnology etc.), educational programs (environment,
children and adult education), as well as other independent current affairs
projects that reflect the image of the overall concept of an independent and
modern TV subject, very popular in this part of the country. According to the
strategic marketing research, TV Tera has been the most dominant media in the
region for the last four years.
Editorial policy: The editorial
policy of TV TERA arises from its essential organizational structure. TERA is a
private TV station funded by the income generated from airtime, a small
percentage from sponsorships (commercial programs) and donations. Funding is
independent from the editorial and program concept of the television, especially
the current affairs program. This only proves the determination of the
television to offer hard facts from all parties involved in an issue and let the
audience derive its own opinion concerning a specific issue.
Rate of the own production programs: 16 hours of program
broadcasted daily, of which 40% is in-house production.
News and current affairs
programs: production (90 minutes per day news allocated in two big editions at
6:30 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. and short afternoon and after-midnight news reviews),
several current affairs magazines dedicated to immediate social and political
topics in the form of interviews, debates, duels etc. presenting the opinions of
different stakeholders in support of the program determination for objective,
independent reporting free from journalistic commentaries, concentrating only on
facts.
Audience/public aimed at (description/numbers):
Potentially 300,000-350,000 viewers (Pelagonia region), of which 160,000 are
confirmed every-day viewers, according to a survey. Thus, TV TERA ranges second
after TV A1 in terms of audience number.
Range/geographical area covered:
Bitola, Prilep, Krusevo and neighboring municipalities Dobrusevo, Novaci,
Bistrica and Capari.
Current immediate problems:
Although Bitola is – in the words of editor-in-chief Ljubica Angelkova –
situated far off the current crisis region, the general uneasiness of the
business community hits TV TERA as well. As there is a great crisis scare in the
region, the money circulation is decreasing. In addition, the well-known
problems of dumping-prices in advertisement by illegal TV stations accelerates
the economic malaise.
General assessment: TV TERA
leaves the impression of being professionally organized. It receives much
competition from the great national TV stations, because TV TERA is unable to
receive pictures from Skopje, where much of the political action of the country
is taking place. Not surprisingly, the main reason why TV TERA is interested in
cooperating in a TV Network is the hope that pictures from Skopje and other
important regions can be received from TV ERA in Skopje and TV ART in Tetovo in
exchange for local news from TV TERA to other stations. So far, the network is
only functioning on an informal basis with an information exchange by telephone
with TV ART in Tetovo and TV Zdravkin in Veles. On the other hand, TERA has been
able to partially react to the competition from A1 by broadcasting a popular
regional news program – in which it enjoys a quasi-monopoly – at the same
moment that A1 is broadcasting their news program.
TV TERA further claims that it
needs to be integrated in a professional broadcaster’s association, but that
its experience in that field has been frustrating so far. There is evidence of
demoralization bordering on lethargy and an unwillingness to take matters into
their own hands. An impulse from outside in this regard may be helpful, not only
regarding the association, but also in taking the lead in the TV Network. For
this reason the partners of the International Media Fund (IMF) call on TV TERA,
as the most professional station among its partners, to take the lead in further
assessing the needs and capacities of partner stations for a TV Network.
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P.O. Box, CH-8031
Zürich, Switzerland