In a strenuous attempt to attract viewers and ad revenues, Ukraine's top television channels are switching to sports broadcasting.
Sports programs have climbed to the top of popularity rankings on several of the country's most popular channels, and some struggling channels now depend on big sporting events to boost viewing figures.
The shift is partially due to recent high-profile successes of Ukrainian athletes.
Ukraine's top soccer club, Dynamo Kyiv, has in recent years revived its Soviet-era glory, showing Ukrainians that their economically struggling country can still be counted among Europe's great nations – at least on the soccer field. Boxing brothers Vitaly and Volodymyr Klitschko now boast similar accomplishments in the ring.
But the growing coverage of sports on TV is not driven by Ukrainian sports stars' successes alone. Money is pushing the change in focus too.
The private channel STB has signed a contract with Ukraine's National Broadcasting Company to air live 15 matches of Euro 2000, Europe's top soccer contest for national teams, which is held once every four years.
STB remains tightlipped on the exact cost of the deal, but has hinted the figure lies between $100,000 and $1 million – quite a costly purchase, given that Ukraine's national team failed to qualify for the finals of Euro 2000. However, STB's management hopes coverage of big games between Europe's best soccer nations will send the channel's viewing figures skyrocketing.
Hlib Kornilov, STB's vice president, said more that 10 percent of Ukraine's population watched all of at least one game in the 1998 World Cup in France.
'[If repeated] that would be a fantastic result for STB, [a result that the channel] wouldn't be able to achieve in any other way,' Kornilov said.
STB sees encouraging signs that its bet on sports coverage is already paying off.
Though the channel started showing soccer games from Italy's top league, Serie A, only three weeks ago, the program has already attracted sponsors, and its ratings are climbing steadily.
STB will announce the terms for advertising and sponsorship packages for Euro 2000 games by mid-April, Kornilov said.
The channel also wants to air Formula 1 motor racing, but is finding it hard to sell the idea to advertisers.
'Our phones are ringing off the hook with calls from viewers asking 'When are you going to start showing Formula 1?'' Kornilov said. 'But, as in previous years, it seems only viewers [not advertisers] care about Formula 1.'
Meanwhile, STB is talking to acquire the rights to show the Sydney Olympics and the Wimbledon tennis championship, among other big events.
STB's change in emphasis from news coverage to sports has been dictated by commercial realities. A private Ukrainian channel cannot live on news alone, Kornilov said.
'Sports [on the other hand] have well-forecasted audiences and rankings and are highly attractive to a wide range of sponsors,' he said.
And Ukrainian television needs ad revenues and sponsors badly.
According to a recent Reuters report, TV broadcasters total revenues from advertising last year ranged between $40 million and $45 million, while expenditure last year was well in excess of $100 million.
And while Inter channel and Studio 1+1, Ukraine's TV leaders, still stake heavily on movies and entertaining programs for ad revenues, less popular TV companies are using sports to draw viewers.
According to AGB Ukraine, Ukraine's independent television rating producer, sports placed first in terms of program value – an indicator based on several parameters. Last year, sports programs were the second-most watched program category (of nine ranked )for the channels ICTV, STB and Era. On the second state channel UT-2 they were a close third.
At the same time, sports programming was the spiciest fare on the otherwise dull menu offered by the state-owned channel UT-1. According to the AGB's program value index, sports programs on UT-1 rivaled the most popular programs on Ukraine's commercial channels.
That's mostly thanks to UT-1 exclusive right to air games from the Champions League – Europe's most prestigious club competition – in which local soccer heroes Dynamo Kyiv have figures prominently in recent years. Almost half of the population watches at least one minute of Dynamo's disastrous quarterfinal game with Italy's Juventus last year – an indicator described as 'very high' by AGB managing director Dmytro Dutchyn.
As heir to the defunct Soviet state television company in Ukraine, UT-1 was first in line for the rights to show the Champions League, said Andry Asyn, head of UT-1' sports department. Asyn said UT-1 has been buying the rights to show the games at discounted rates since 1991, when the state TV company became a member of Eurovision, the association of European broadcasters.
Meanwhile, Ukraine's leading channels are racing to expand their sports coverage. Studio 1+1 hopes to cash in on the huge popularity of boxers Vololymyr and Vitaly Klitchko. The channel has purchased exclusive rights to show the Klitchko brothers' fights, said Serhy Polkhovsky, sports editor at Studio 1+1.
The German-based Ukrainian boxers are under the close scrutiny of Ukrainian sports fans as they fight their way into the top ranks of world bowing.
Polkhovsky said Vitaly Klitchko's fight with Paea Wolfgram of Tonga drew almost as many viewers as the final episode of an immensely popular television serial 'The Birthday of a Bourgeois.'
He also said the channel plans to change the format of an already popular program 'Pro Sport' in a bid to increase its rating still further. 'These programs will definitely get high ratings,' he said.
