Melita is to introduce Robert Redford’s Sundance Channel to subscribers on February 1 while it plans to bolster content on its own series channel Melita More with updated programming that would have featured on the discontinued Living TV, chief executive officer Andrei Torriani told The Times Business.
Melita is also to make an important announcement on a new premium content platform that will be made available to subscribers early next month.
“The Sundance Channel, Robert Redford’s associated channel featuring independent movies, is a ‘thinking person’s’ entertainment channel,” Mr Torriani explained.
“It shows series and independent studio films featuring stars like Forest Whitaker, Jeremy Irons, Laura Dern, Isabella Rossellini and Robert Downey Jr. It will be available in standard and high definition. Sundance is just coming into Europe and Malta is one of the very first markets to receive it. We will make another announcement on new content soon. This is a considerable investment for Melita and both these additions will be exclusive to our subscribers.”
Meanwhile, Melita More, which was extended to other programming packages to replace the popular Living TV, will introduce Top Gear, the BBC-produced motoring show, and Supernatural, a huge favourite in the US and the UK.
Comedy content has also been sourced to bridge the gap left by the removal of Comedy Central from the Maltese territory and will also be introduced to More.
Melita, Mr Torriani added, worked hard to bring some titles to the channel soon after release in the US and often managed to do so before the UK. Among the comedy series to be introduced are ‘Chuck’, ‘Mike and Molly’, ‘How I Met Your Mother’ and the US hit ‘$#*! My Dad Says’ with William Shatner.
“There are discussions with major studios which are still ongoing to add even more content,” Mr Torriani added. “There will be developments within the traditional content channels as well as internet-based content which is how Melita intends to leverage the potential of the equipment it recently brought to Malta.”
Melita’s forthcoming announcements on new programming come in the wake of two months of controversy and consumer disappointment following the removal of the highly popular Living TV and Comedy Central by both Melita and its rival Go from their line-ups.
But Mr Torriani refuted any suggestion that Melita was broadcasting channels illegally, saying the “excitement” stemmed from misconception and misunderstanding. The TV content industry, he insisted, was very dynamic and change happened all the time.
“Melita has done nothing illegal in terms of the content mix that it offers consumers,” the chief executive said. “We still have commercial and contractual relationships with the new owners of both Living TV and Comedy Central and we broadcast more than 10 channels from their portfolios.”
He admitted that Melita had been so caught up in fighting to keep the channels on its platform over the Christmas period and holding sensitive discussions with content owners, that it directed less effort to keep furious consumers as informed about developments as they would have liked.
He explained how Living TV – and several other channels – had been acquired by BSkyB from Virgin Media in June but regulators cleared the transaction in September. Following a content review, BSkyB announced it would close some channels, including Bravo TV and Channel One, both very popular with UK viewers.
Mr Torriani said BSkyB believed Living TV’s programming line-up required a new injection of investment and content from several channels would be blended into a new planned offering.
“All channels have contracts with owners like studios and independent agencies for the content that they carry,” he continued. “Those contracts allow them to broadcast content in certain territories. Historically that was not a problem for us as Living TV was owned by Virgin and earlier by the UPC Group which used to be a shareholder in Melita. We had consent to carry that channel and there was no reason for us to question whether that consent still existed. Nobody had ever said that Malta was out of the picture after UPC Group sold it on.
“When BSkyB took ownership of the channel, they decided to change the content, and in their strategy informed Melita that it would have been illegal to continue to broadcast it. Somehow the entire issue was blown out of proportion to the extent that there were suggestions we were breaking the law.
“We have an established relationship with BSkyB and we broadcast several channels from its portfolio, the most noteworthy being Sky News HD, which we launched in December, and Sky News. All of our channels involve contracts, consent and transparency. There is nothing that we are doing that is not above board. We have licences and we operate in an EU member state.”
The situation involving the loss of Comedy Central was similar, the removal of Jimmy Italia different, Mr Torriani explained.
With channel owners taking such decisions at the end of calendar years, Maltese viewers were unfortunately dealt a triple swipe.
Mr Torriani explained Viacom, the group which owned the Nickelodeon and MTV networks, decided to review its contracts with content providers of Comedy Central after it was decided programming had become repetitive. Many Maltese viewers, he pointed out, would have agreed.
Jimmy was owned by a joint venture between an Italian media group and the French company Canal+. Negotiations on growing the channel’s market potential fell through and the owners parted company. Jimmy was taken off the air in Italy, leaving only Malta – which made the channel economically unfeasible for continuation. The notice period in the owners’ contract with Melita was not honoured.
Melita, Mr Torriani emphasised, had always directed major investment to its TV programming and would continue to do so. Since 2009, Melita’s channel line-up had almost doubled from 80 to 150 and the company would continue to pursue new content to compensate consumers for the loss of some of its favourite shows.
“We have multiple channels with the same media group,” Mr Torriani said. “We would not want to endanger the broadcast of other channels by making one channel rise above others in terms of importance. At some point, we will obtain some form of compensation from them in terms of new content. Those talks need to progress. When we have notification of channel movement, we will ensure to do our best to pass that information on to consumers as soon as possible. The reality is Malta is considered a very small market by content and channel owners: unfortunately it is not a top priority for them.”
Mr Torriani added Melita was seeking to make another investment in video-on-demand – content libraries which allowed consumers to choose to view series, drama, comedy or other programming as and when they wished.
Following the launch of Melita’s HD offering in time for the World Cup last June, the company channelled efforts into clearing up teething problems and later in the year boosted its HD programming line-up.
The wider plan was to lay a solid platform on which future, highly technological services could be provided: new IP features will be introduced on the platform later this year. Melita planned to bring all high quality content available on the internet to TV subscribers thanks to the IP-centric HD set-top box.
Movie studios and news networks had developed sophisticated applications that would find their way onto consumers’ TVs through a platform of libraries and movies that allowed immediate access to content. Programming would be procured through Melita’s partners allowing for a much wider range than the company would normally have access to as a small player in a small market.
“Some movies in certain regions are only allotted to specific channels and some channel owners believe Malta is too small to bother with. We have to contend with that,” Mr Torriani emphasised.
Melita, he stressed, also had to compete with Dreambox, the satellite platform which was distributed in Malta illegally.
“The service providers are not licensed and the content they are handing out is not licensed by the content owners to them for distribution in Malta. Anybody who makes an investment in Dreambox is engaging in an illegal activity,” Mr Torriani said.
He warned that the providers of these services were breaching international and Maltese copyright law and putting their own customers’ viewing of channels at risk as they had no guarantee they would be able to continue to enjoy them in six months’ time.
He insisted it would not be Melita which would act on this situation but the channel and content owners who had recently taken firm measures in Belgium and Cyprus.
He said a Belgian association safeguarding content owners’ property rights had taken legal action and Dreambox providers were jailed while equipment distributors were fined heavily. The Cypriot regulator declared Dreambox illegal and equipment had been seized by police.
Mr Torriani cautioned that legitimate TV viewers could ultimately pay the price for such illegal practices. Content and channels owners invested billions in programming and movie production and Malta would do well to clamp down on piracy, particularly as it was counter-productive to the local film industry.
He added: “Content is brought to Maltese consumers because there are companies in the local market like Melita which invest heavily to broadcast it legally. If the investment in property rights cannot be upheld, consumers are at risk as content owners themselves might choose to shun Malta.”