Romanian soap opera site

‘Iubire ca in filme’ (approx. translation: ‘Hollywood Love’), one of the soap operas produced by Media Pro Studios, has an Internet site at www.iubirecainfilme.ro. The site launching, announced today by the broadcasting station’s PR, comes after the establishment of a strong new media division inside one of the most important television and print media holdings in Romania, Media Pro. At the end of this Summer, a dozen of managers from Boom/Netbridge (strong Romanian software developer, ad broker, site designer) left the company to form Media Pro Interactive, the Internet division of Media Pro or the so-called ‘Pro’ empire. Media Pro is a conglomerate of companies run by Romanian media visionary Adrian Sarbu, and controlled by CME (Central European Media Enterprises).

UPDATE Nov. 7: Acasa TV announced the launching of the site belonging to the 2nd Romanian soap running, www.dariaiubireamea.ro (’Daria, my love’).

The Media Pro empire includes: | More…

New executive director at Ringier Romania boulevard division

Lucian Romascanu is the new executive director of the Ringier Romania Boulevard division, says Jurnalismonline.ro. The strongest publisher on the Romanian market, Ringier Romania, recently underwent a HR crisis after the leave of Razvan Corneteanu, the former executive director of the Boulevard Division. Several managers from the business area and more than half of the team at the most succesful Romanian newspaper, “Libertatea” (a tabloid selling 250-270.000 copies/day), left for the new media holding of the controversial Romanian oil mogul Dinu Patriciu.

The “Libertatea” team, headed by the ex-Editor-in-Chief Adrian Halpert and including most of the board, took over “Averea”, to rebrand it and transform it into a big sales tabloid.

Lucian Romascanu will report directly to Alexander Theobald, the new General Manager of Ringier Romania, and will be in charge of the “Libertatea” and “Pro Sport” newspapers.

Ringier Romania press release: | More…

Edipresse-AS: 1,35 million euros profit, 9 million euros turnover in 2006

Cristina Simion, the director general of Edipresse-AS, stated earnings of 1,35 million euros in 2006 for the company she runs, in an ymterviu (ymterview) she gave me yesterday, for Blog.HotNews.ro. Edipresse-AS publishes 17 titles in Romania, has a turnover of 9 million euros in 2006 according to Simion, and is a joint venture between the Swiss group Edipresse and Axel Springer.

Edipresse-AS is the owner of the first western-style title on the Romanian magazines market, Avantaje, launched in 1995.

“ymterviu” is a new type of interview (from Yahoo Messenger) I’ve been publishing on blog.hotnews.ro since August, 2006. The Cristina Simion session here (Romanian).

Gandul newspaper relaunch

Today, „Gandul” („The Thought”) newspaper has been relaunched. From the press release:

• berliner format (replacing broadsheet), 32 pages Monday-Thursday, 24 Friday-Saturday
• same price: 0,9 RON (slightly less than 0,3 euros, slightly more than other newspapers)/copy
• printed circulation: „up to” 50.000 copies
• new sections: Europe, Government, Careers, Media Planet, Kaleidoscope, Trends
• some other new pages: GO, readers’ opinions
• improvements on the web site: „The Thought of the Day” in audio, GO section (announced)
• Cristian Tudor Popescu, the director, wants the newspaper to be „warmer, closer to the readers”
• slogan: „cold mind, warm heart”. | More…