John de Mol paints his face red

He is definitely on a path to war and the first strikes are hard for the opponents. John de Mol has a strong attraction on many established presenter in the Netherlands, or does it come down to plain old deep pockets?
He is definitely shooting the schemes of competitors to pieces, taking away anchors (people and programs) that have taken years to build. For all I can say, he may not be to interested in new projects/people himself, I am very happy with what is happening. Where there are holes they must be filled. I understand the need for establishment, especially John de Mol's, but establishment always means no room for new initiatives. Now, the Dutch broadcasters must move out of their comfort zones.

Al Gore in favour of co-creation

Former US vice president Al Gore has pledged to "transform television" with his new channel venture, which will launch in August aimed at the internet generation and feature a tie-up with über search firm Google. Gore said the channel, called Current, would be the country's first national network created by, for and with an 18-34 year-old audience.

Programming will be short-form, 15-second to five-minute segments, covering everything from fashion to music, videogames, politics and the environment. It will be produced by Current as well as its viewers, who'll be able to submit their own content via a website. 30 seconds to three minutes in length, these segments are intended to "buck conventional news practices by reporting not on what media editors decide is 'news,' but on the topics people are actual searching for right now. So news isn't what the network thinks you should know, but what the world is searching to learn."

He may have my vote

C21Media:

IPO fever in Broadcast industry

Is it a new hype forming or is it sound market movement? After the announced flow to the market ..again.. of production house Endemol, more indies are following in search of growing capital. The upcoming developments in the broadcast market are showing the powers are shifting. Maybe now the time has come that content will be king? It is definitely true the value of regular broadcastchannels is decreasing. Still they have a direct path to the viewer that newcomers need to build. And that is all depending on the content or more precise the anchors. In the Netherlands John de Mol is currently securing many a deal with high potential presenters to secure the success of his new channel. After first acquiring the loyalty if his very successfull sister he has now secured a deal with Beau van Erven Dorens (for whom I hold a weak spot after discovering in him an inspiring colleague, a long time ago). Apart from this, I think he has grown into a very valuable presenter and a skilled progam maker, that still has many talents to show. With these characters John de Mol is getting hold of the scarse creativity that will be key to success in the fast changing medialandscape.


C21Media:

Lost not a hit in NL..yet?

LOST has received good ratings in other countries. It does not seem to be picked up by the Dutch though.