Austrian TV Channel ServusTV To Stay On Air After Initial Announcement Of Shutdown

Austrian free-to-air TV channel ServusTV "will continue despite an announcement earlier this week that the Red Bull-owned channel would shut down," according to KRONE. Red Bull Founder Dietrich Mateschitz said in a statement, "The excution of the desicion in the current situation was not helpful, it's obvious." The alleged reason for reversal "was that the vast majority of the employees is against the creation of a workers' council." The possibility of a workers' associaton is said to have angered Mateschitz who then decided to pull the plug on the channel (KRONE, 5/4). BROADBAND TV NEWS' Jörn Krieger wrote industry insiders, however, speculate that the "suggested closing of Servus TV could have been a PR stunt by Red Bull, a company famous for its publicity offensives, to attract awareness for the channel." If it was a PR move, "then it has certainly been successful." The viewer figures in the next weeks "will show whether it has paid off" (BROADBAND TV NEWS, 5/4).