Russia, Italy and Poland together claimed almost half of the prizes at this year’s prestigious Hot Bird TV Awards in Venice.
The event, attended by 250 international broadcasting executives, was the 13th of its kind – it was founded in 1998 by Eutelsat, in partnership with Eurovisioni and Satexpo – and looked at the output of over 150 thematic channels from Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
The awards comprised of 11 thematic categories, with 3-4 channels short-listed in each category, along with a ‘People’s Choice’ channel chosen by viewers and, for the first time, Best Programme and Best New Channel launched over the last 12 months.
Winners in the 11 thematic categories were:
HDTV: Mezzo Live HD, France
Children’s: Yourfamily. Germany
Cinema: Kino Polska, Poland
Culture/Education: Nostalgia. Russia
Documentaries: 365 Days TV, Russia
Fiction/ Entertainment: Ma Chaîne Etudiante, France
Lifestyle: Joint Winners: Gambero Rosso Channel. Italy; Information TV, UK
Music: iConcerts, Switzerland
News/Information: Joint Winners: BBC World News, UK; Current, Italy
Sport: Sky Sport Channels, Italy
National Window: CCTV News, China
Other category winners:
People’s Choice: TVN Warsawa, Poland
Best Programme: Metro (RTR Planeta), Russia
Best New Channel: SuperSport International, South Africa