Is the ORF really in the Broadcasting Business?

Many businesses have already made the mistake: They defined their business totally wrong. And now also the ORF seems to repeat this mistake.

The railway companies in the U.S. thought to be in the railroad business instead of the transportation business. They were product/industry oriented instead of costumer oriented (see also Marketing Myopia from Theodore Lewitt). Are Americans still travelling a lot? Sure, you will say. But who is travelling the U.S. via railway nowadays? Hardly Anybody! Americans are still travelling, but just not by train.

The same failure of management now seems to happen within the ORF. People still want to get and stay informed but not anymore just via TV and Radio. In an article about politician’s power in the ORF and about its management, the Austrian news magazine Profil (magazine number 10, 40^th year of publication, March 2^nd, 2009) also talked about the fact of the declining consumer figures of the ORF. Especially young people are not consuming the ORF programme as heavily as a few years ago (cited in German: „Laut Studien der ORF-Medienforschung ist die durchschnittliche Zeit, die zwölf bis 29-jährige Österreicher täglich vor dem TV-Apparat verbringen, in den vergangenen vier Jahren um eine Viertelstunde auf nunmehr 90 Minuten gesunken. Im selben Ausmaß stieg die Nutzung des Internets und die Verfügbarkeit von Spielkonsolen. Die Generation Playstation kehrt der Glotze immer öfter den Rücken.“).

The problem seems to lie within the fact that everybody, also the ORF, is NOT AT ALL seeing itself as a PUBLIC INFORMATIONAL SERVICE, that also has the mission to give people orientation in cultural life and has an important life for social cohesion. It is paid by and legitimated by the public. It seems that the ORF fails to see the growing importance of new media to inform and get through to the AUSTRIAN public. A sufficient, well concepted and informing Internet presence is crucial for the future existence of our Austrian Informational Service.

(carina)