FS1 (or FS1 - Community TV Salzburg) is a

non-commercial A non-commercial (also spelled noncommercial) activity is an activity that is not carried out in the interest of Profit (economics), profit. The opposite is Commerce, commercial, something that primarily serves profit interests and is focused on bu ...

community television Community television is a form of mass media in which a television station is owned, operated or programmed by a community group to provide television programs of local interest known as local programming. Community television stations are most ...

channel in

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

(

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

). Next to the Community TV ''okto'' in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

and ''dorf i''n

Linz Linz (Pronunciation: , ; ) is the capital of Upper Austria and List of cities and towns in Austria, third-largest city in Austria. Located on the river Danube, the city is in the far north of Austria, south of the border with the Czech Repub ...

, it is the third non-commercial broadcaster with a 24-hour full (as opposed to specialized) program in

. Since the launch on 16 February 2012, the channel has been broadcasting via

DVB-C Digital Video Broadcasting - Cable (DVB-C) is the Digital Video Broadcasting, DVB European consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital television over coaxial cable, cable. This system transmits an MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 family digita ...

in many areas of the state of Salzburg. Over

IPTV Internet Protocol television (IPTV), also called TV over broadband, is the service delivery of television over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. Usually sold and run by a Telephone company, telecom provider, it consists of broadcast live telev ...

, the station is available nationwide.

History

The original idea and an impulse to create FS1 was given by the Salzburg free radio station Radiofabrik. The project was introduced to the public in 2009 and designed on the legal basis of the Non-Commercial Radio and Television Broadcasting Funding Initiative (NKRF) of the Austrian Republic, created in 2010. This initiative provided a financial opportunity for creating a community television broadcaster in Austria. The Institute of Media Education (Institut für Medienbildung, IMB) was the first organisation to support the project, joined by the Salzburg ''

umbrella organization An umbrella organization is an association of (often related, industry-specific) institutions who work together formally to coordinate activities and/or pool resources. In business, political, and other environments, it provides resources and iden ...

of cultural sites'' and individuals (Dachverband Salzburger Kulturstätten, DSK). The community of Salzburg was positive about the idea. Alf Altendorf (formerly working for TIV, engaged in the establishment of Okto, Radiofabrik commercial director) and Markus Weisheitinger-Herrmann (employee of the former IMB) founded FS1. They remain its managing directors until now. The DSK managing director Thomas Randisek supported the new TV station as an volunteering activist. A sponsoring association was registered in 2010. The city and state of Salzburg delayed the requested

funds Funding is the act of providing resources to finance a need, program, or project. While this is usually in the form of money, it can also take the form of effort or time from an organization or company. Generally, this word is used when a firm us ...

, explaining the delay, inter alia, with previous bankruptcies of several commercial television channels such as Salzburg TV, Jedermann TV, and Salzburg Plus. This situation provoked many disputes about media policy. In mid-2011, the grants previously provided by the Austrian regulatory institution of radio and television broadcasting (Rundfunk und Telekom Regulierungs-GmbH, RTR) were returned due to the lack of local funding and the associated

financial risk Financial risk is any of various types of risk associated with financing, including financial transactions that include company loans in risk of default. Often it is understood to include only downside risk, meaning the potential for financi ...

s. The Culture Committee of the City of Salzburg confirmed the partial funding at the end of 2011. Because of the conflicts, the youth organizations akzente and Spektrum withdrew from the sponsoring association. At the end of 2011, a consortium of Radiofabrik, DSK and IMB decided to implement the FS1 project in 2012, in spite of the resistance of

local authorities Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...

On 16 February 2012, the FS1 TV station went on air in the

cable network Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with broa ...

of Salzburg AG. The State of Salzburg has also been involved as a sponsor since April 2012. In May 2012, the sponsoring association of FS1 was converted into a

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

. Radiofabrik, IMB, DSK, the producers' association, and the founders of the project became its

shareholder A shareholder (in the United States often referred to as stockholder) of corporate stock refers to an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the ...

s. The new studio was designed from scratch and opened in Bergstrasse in June 2012. The broadcaster's infrastructures have been managed by the subsidiary "FS1 Infrastructure GesmbH" since December 2013. Since 2014, FS1 has been organizing the Civilmedia conference together with Radiofabrik. FS1 has been broadcasting in HD since the end of 2016 and can also be received on A1.TV's network.

Projects

FS1 develops projects for networking, media education, and the

film industry The film industry or motion picture industry comprises the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking, i.e., film production company, production companies, film studios, cinematography, animation, film production, screenwriting, pre- ...

. * Civilmedia,

conference A conference is a meeting, often lasting a few days, which is organized on a particular subject, or to bring together people who have a common interest. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always d ...

, in cooperation with Radiofabrik since 2014 * Medienwerkstatt Salzburg, media education platform, in cooperation with Radiofabrik, DasKino and others (since 2019) * filmedition: online Salzburg, presentation of Salzburg local films, in cooperation with the city and state of Salzburg (since 2012)

Juvinale

Since the Diagonale festival moved to Graz in 1998, there has been no regular

film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theater, cinemas or screening venues, usually annually and in a single city or region. Some film festivals show films outdoors or online. Films may be of recent ...

in Salzburg. The international youth film festival Juvinale focuses on young filmmaking and has been held biennially since 2017. Partners of the festival are the city and state of Salzburg as well as the local Economic Chamber.

Program

The media authority KommAustria classifies the broadcaster within the guideline framework of the Non-Commercial Broadcasting Fund as Community TV. The funding is provided under condition of compliance with the guidelines of the NKRF and the program creation and coordination in the sense of the commitment to the Charter for Community Television in Austria of the Alliance Community Television Austria (Verband Community Fernsehen Österreich, VCFÖ). The program is ad-free. The shows are produced by the Salzburg locals and civil society organizations on a voluntary basis. The program is focused on the spheres of art and culture, music scene, youth, social affairs and education. All content is coordinated and then broadcast via the station. The FS1 producers receive special training for TV content creation on the workshops and courses of the FS1 Academy. The TV channel rebroadcasts the US news program

Democracy Now ''Democracy Now!'' is an hour-long TV, radio, and Internet news program based in Manhattan and hosted by journalists Amy Goodman (who also acts as the show's executive producer), Juan González, and Nermeen Shaikh. The show, which airs live ...

Organization

Owner and editor of FS1 is a non-profit limited company. Shareholders are the association of the program creators, Salzburg's

community radio Community radio is a radio service offering a third model of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial broadcasting, commercial and public broadcasting. Community broadcasting, Community stations serve geographic communities and communities o ...

Radiofabrik, the ''Institute for Media Education'' (IMB), the umbrella organization of cultural sites and individuals. Through participation of the producers in the ownership structure of FS1, the station can be considered as the first democratic television in Austria. In September 2018, the IMB sold its shares to the cultural center ARGEkultur Salzburg and Lebenshilfe, the organization training and supporting people with intellectual disabilities.

Finances

The organization is financed by government grants and self-generated income.

Broadcast area and reception

FS1 has been receivable since February 2012 via DVB-C in the cable network of Salzburg AG in the state of Salzburg, Schladming, and Ausseerland. The station also runs a live stream of the program as a simulcast. Since January 2017, FS1 has been broadcast on A1 Kabel TV's (A1 Telekom Austria) IPTV network.

Partnerships

FS1 is member of the umbrella organization of Salzburg's cultural sites (DSK), the Association of Austrian Community Broadcasters, the Alliance of Community Television Austria (VCFÖ), and the Community Media Forum Europe.

External links

*
Information page

References

{{coord, 47.803873, N, 13.045840, E, display=title Television stations in Austria Organisations based in Salzburg Non-profit organisations based in Austria Organizations established in 2012 2012 establishments in Austria Mass media in Salzburg Community television Publicly funded broadcasters Television channels and stations established in 2012 Freedom of expression organizations Human rights organisations based in Austria