It will definitely be interesting to see how they deal with the current NERIT presenters. In the spirit of moving forward, let's hope they're given some kind of roles. I was in Athens recently and drove past the ERT building. If there was ever any doubt in my mind about it being a 'bloated' over funded broadcaster it was gone when I saw it for real. The building is arguably one of the most run down in all of the city. It looks like it is in a real state of disrepair.
The 'Radiomegaro' building has always looked like that. They made it pretty in 2008 by covering the front in canvas advertising the new look for ET1 and NET. These remained till 2013 when they were removed after the closure leaving the ugly building back on view.
I did actually wonder why they weren't re-using the channel logos and branding created by Red Bee Media for ERT back in 2008. At the time there was conflict about the amount of money paid to Red Bee for the logos and branding work - but to be fair, they were used right up until the closure two years ago.
Anyway, the ERT.gr website is live now and we're a little over four hours away from the official launch however the one channel they've not mentioned at all during this process is ERT World. A satellite channel that showed the 'best of ERT' to audiences worldwide.
The 'Radiomegaro' building has always looked like that. They made it pretty in 2008 by covering the front in canvas advertising the new look for ET1 and NET. These remained till 2013 when they were removed after the closure leaving the ugly building back on view.
I did actually wonder why they weren't re-using the channel logos and branding created by Red Bee Media for ERT back in 2008. At the time there was conflict about the amount of money paid to Red Bee for the logos and branding work - but to be fair, they were used right up until the closure two years ago.
Anyway, the ERT.gr website is live now and we're a little over four hours away from the official launch however the one channel they've not mentioned at all during this process is ERT World. A satellite channel that showed the 'best of ERT' to audiences worldwide.
There will probably be 3 reasons why they're not using the Red Bee imaging.
Firstly, when you commission imaging for TV and radio, you need to re-license every couple of years. The license for their use has probably expired and re-starting this from scratch can be costly.
Secondly, any marketing consultant worth their weight in gold will have advised the ERT execs to bring the ERT corporate logo into use rather than the old ET. ERT is now the strongest brand and should be seen on-screen.
Thirdly, the rebranding meant they couldn't really use the old imaging.
What's wrong with that woman? Overwhelmed by it all?!
I think that's exactly it. Two years ago they were closed down with a few hours notice and then were out of a job. They fight in the court who rules the closure was illegal, the Samaras government ignore it. They then keep broadcasting from Agia Paraskevi until they find themselves being evicted by the riot police. Still undeterred, they move to the studios of ET3 in Thessaloniki where they keep the fight alive until today when they are back on the air. So I think she was overwhelmed and did say it was an emotional day.
The on screen channel logos look good (very colourful so a lot of people would hate them) however it's clear that the rest of the graphics packages on the programs (including the news) are amateur so I fully expect them to commission someone to create their on screen brand over the course of time.
Back to the point of retaining the Red Bee Media content, I hadn't taken into account that ERT (as was) completely closed down. The replacement company DT (Public Television) which became NERIT (New Hellenic Radio Internet Television) was a brand new company so wouldn't have had the rights / agreements to any of the work that Red Bee did for ERT.
The change to ERT is just a name change, they didn't close NERIT. It was easier to keep it running so they could continue to take the licence fee from the electricity bills.
But I suppose it's a case of seeing what the future brings from ERT and Greece as a whole. There's nothing stopping all this happening again if Greece does go through elections and New Democracy find themselves in power again. Add to that the fact that POSPERT (the ERT union) are already up in arms over various issues relating to the new ERT so perhaps it won't be long till we can get really nostalgic for the days where you'd tune into any of the ERT channels and get the following....
What's New Democracy's position on ERT now? If they attempted to shut it down in future I think they would face a lot of pressure from Brussels, etc. it's now widely accepted that the Nerit transition was a costly and highly politicised exercise that simply damaged the reputation of the EU reform policies. My view, however, is that Greece will never see a return to an ND government. More likely a more centrist Syriza in coalition with To Potami, but that's probably for another forum!
Well we're a few days in now and there are teething problems. So from day one, we had statements from both New Democracy and To Potami basically accusing ERT of being a SYRIZA mouthpiece.
Ironically ERT always was a government mouthpiece until the austerity came along and we had incidents of breakfast presenters being suspended for questioning the policy of the then ND government.
On Thursday evening, they showed 'The Lost Signal of Democracy' (the documentary about the closure and what happened since) and followed it with a studio based discussion where they talked about the employees who resisted VS the traitors who accepted their fate.
The managing director of ERT has since spoken to the media and said he plans to sort out these problems. Mainly the criticism that ERT is giving disproportionate airtime to the government and to the report that rehired employees are clashing with the staff that left ERT and joined NERIT.
Well we're a few days in now and there are teething problems. So from day one, we had statements from both New Democracy and To Potami basically accusing ERT of being a SYRIZA mouthpiece.
Ironically ERT always was a government mouthpiece until the austerity came along and we had incidents of breakfast presenters being suspended for questioning the policy of the then ND government.
On Thursday evening, they showed 'The Lost Signal of Democracy' (the documentary about the closure and what happened since) and followed it with a studio based discussion where they talked about the employees who resisted VS the traitors who accepted their fate.
The managing director of ERT has since spoken to the media and said he plans to sort out these problems. Mainly the criticism that ERT is giving disproportionate airtime to the government and to the report that rehired employees are clashing with the staff that left ERT and joined NERIT.
Fairly inevitable I guess. However, we should see the situation calm down as the staff members realise they have a job to do beyond politics.