Brussels, 22/04/2010 (Agence Europe) - According to figures published by the European Audiovisual Observatory on Thursday 22 April, the revenues of the 12 main private European television groups (which operate 534 television channels) fell by 1.9% in 2009, compared with a 3% drop in 2008. The net aggregate trading figures of these 12 groups in 2009 was €1.5 billion, after net losses of €1.2 billion in 2008. BSkyB posted a calendar year growth of nearly 20%, whereas the revenues of the Groupe CANAL+ remained unchanged and those of Sky Deutschland fell by 4%.
The European Audiovisual Observatory says that “diversification of activities is certainly one of the important factors for weathering the crisis”. This diversification has enabled BSkyB to increase its turnover by 10.5%, whereas those groups completely or mostly dependent on the advertising market have generally recorded significant declines, which, in the case of Central European Media Enterprises, was as much as 30%. “This explains why groups that have historically had a strong presence in the advertising market, such as Mediaset and ProSiebenSat.1 Media are trying to strengthen their position in the pay-TV market,” the Observatory states. (L.C./transl.rt)