Mr. Skala, tonight on its birthday (ed. June 1st) bTV will start broadcasting from a brand new TV studio and many colleagues say that it will be a cosmic, technological miracle. But bTV already also uses plenty of technological innovations. What will be the difference?

It is all about giving our viewers the best experience with our news and current affairs shows. Our thinking behind this new hi-tech implementation is to make our news content even more dynamic, interactive and visible across 11 new video walls… and in the end able to retain more of the viewers’ attention on what’s important to know. We reached out to the latest innovations in TV worldwide, because in today’s media environment innovations are key to strengthen the impact of our news, and help us present even the most complex topics in an even more attractive and accessible way.

How did you select the designer of the TV studio?

We reached out to several of the best design and architecture companies in the world, and invited them on a pitch. The portfolio of the company we chose - Veech x Veech – is impressive. The studio is known for its revolutionary projects in our field, for example Al Jazeera London Shard Tower Newsroom and Al Jazeera’s studio complexes in Doha, the Communication Media Center for the Austrian Broadcast Corporation, and many others.

What does the studio cost? Why are you making such a big investment in a building, where you are renting?

The location of our premises is irrelevant. Technology is changing every day, and once we have set the trends on this market, we must follow up with the next steps. The environment has changed, and regardless of our reach and impact as a broadcaster, we are now striving for public attention facing a huge amount of competing video production, trying to look like journalism. It’s our technology that can bring quality news closer to the people, and highlight the work of our journalists. My belief is that today, responsible media should do everything possible to help people focus their attention on the reliable sources of information.

bTV was the television, which gave a strong start to the Bulgarian TV series, but now it broadcasts only Capital Hillbillies. At the same time bTV is planning another one - Sunny Beach. What is it about? When will you show it on TV? Do you intend to make other Bulgarian series?

bTV set the trend with Bulgarian series almost 10 years ago. But since then the TV fiction environment changed with the growing impact of the streaming giants. They are releasing tons of impressive original fiction, now easily accessible here, and that has forever raised the audience criteria for the genre. Viewers expect the same quality from us! That’s why we prefer to invest more, but in one local title, than plunge into many projects and compromise the quality. Sunny Beach will succeed because it has a powerful, relevant story, brilliant acting, and production quality that measures up with the best examples worldwide.

Will the Turkish series stay on the bTV primetime forever and what is the reason for this programming?

This is the reason behind every programming decision that we make - the viewers’ interest. Turkish series are appealing to the wide audience with their high quality of filming, the powerful stories, and the world-class acting of the cast. They are also among the most followed titles even on our paid platform VOYO. It is not surprising that Turkey has become one of the leading exporters of series in the world. But all in all, Turkish, American, Bulgarian, Spanish… country of origin is irrelevant, as long as the story is relevant, well made, and excites millions of Bulgarians every night, it has a place in our primetime.

There was a time when televisions in Bulgaria used to keep in secret their future program plans. bTV has been the first, which has broken the rule. So what are the news for the autumn and next spring - what will be the shows, the programs and the series on bTV?

We already revealed our fall program, focusing on The Farm and Bulgaria’s Got Talent in primetime. For next spring we have planned new strong additions to our season.  We will air Sunny Beach, and a globally renowned reality show for the first time in Bulgaria, alongside some of our most successful formats, such as Home Makeover, for example. We will announce more details in due course.

Are you separating with Slavi Trifonov and Seven Eight or only with Slavi’s Show? Were you surprised by the decision of the producer to stop the talkshow that lasted for 19 years on bTV air? There are rumors that you were anyway not going to continue the contract for Slavi’s Show and they just made the first move?

We were in negotiations with Seven Eight for a next season of Slavi’s Show, as we proceed with regard to all programs that keep up with their good performance. I am not as much surprised by their decision, as by the way they chose to respond to bTV’s invitation (smiling). Anyway, the decision is made, and since we will be parting ways soon, I can only thank them for the professional work and great results on bTV air for all these years.

bTV will celebrate its 20 years next year. How will the television look like by then and how do you want it to look like?

I see bTV at the age of 20 as an even more accessible, technologically advanced, socially committed and most of all relevant TV content producer, with even more followers across diverse channels, platforms and devices. We are determined to expand our content pillars in a digital environment.

What will happen with the television as a media? Does Internet threaten it and how?

Quite the opposite, internet is vital for our growth. Television today stands for all the video content we produce, but available on all platforms and devices, at the users’ convenience. And even though watching linear TV still prevails across Europe, the new TV consumption habits, such as online viewing, catch-up TV, advance streaming, following digital extensions and exclusives, will make us stronger. We have a huge advantage in view of this trend because high quality video production requires significant resources and expertise. As the leading broadcaster we are in a very good position.

It’s been two years and a half since you took over the management of bTV Media Group. Are you happy with the TV and what else do you want to achieve? How do you feel in a personal capacity and did you get used to Bulgaria?  

Yes, I am happy, and yes, I feel in my own waters here in Bulgaria. We just received the results from our annual nationwide survey by Market Links agency, and the findings confirm the regular people metric data - today most viewers recognize bTV as their primary and most trusted source of information, and at the same the home of their most preferred TV enterainment. But most importantly, we have significantly improved our financial results, and this will enable us to invest more in local productions and to pursue our multiplatform strategy.

See full interview here >>

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CV:

Florian Skala took over the CEO position at bTV Media Group at the end of 2016. Since then the financial results of the company have been moving in an upward direction. Before coming to Bulgaria, Skala was Sales Director at Markiza Group in Slovakia, which also part of bTV’s mother company – CME.