GERMANY: TV company plans to award show winners with a trip in space

Record ID: 205693

  • Title: GERMANY: TV company plans to award show winners with a trip in space
  • Date: 12th December 2000
  • Summary: SLV/SV/LV NEWS CONFERENCE (5 SHOTS) MCU JOERG GRABOSCH, CHAIRMAN OF BRAINPOOL, POSING WITH JOSEPH KIND, MEMBER OF THE BOARD OF ASTRIUM SLV/SV/CU 1:1 MODEL OF ISS SPACE MODULE (7 SHOTS) MCU (German) JOERG GRABOSCH, CHAIRMAN OF BRAINPOOL, SAYING: "What is new here is that one does not need 20 million usd to buy such a flight. Through the media and TV every normal human bein
  • Embargoed: 27th December 2000 12:00
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  • Location: BREMEN, GERMANY
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVABYWY4NHYJRKRELUSSS708K89X
  • Story Text: A German TV company plans to award game show winners with an out-of-this world prize - in other words - a trip in space.
    Forget the jackpot prize money for winners of the reality TV shows like Big Brother, Survivor, and quiz shows like Who Wants to be a Millionaire. The newest wave of game-show winners could be awarded prizes which are literally out of this world.
    German television production firm Brainpool TV said on Tuesday (December 12) it had reserved seven slots on Russian Soyuz rockets to send winning contestants from a series of game shows to the International Space Station orbiting above the earth.
    Brainpool said it will make a 7.5 million usd downpayment to the European Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co (EADS) subsidiary Astrium GmbH to conduct the training and arrange the flights, which are to take place between 2002 and 2008.
    Of an expected 60,000 applicants per country, 600 will be chosen in each country to compete in events that judge their knowledge, physical fitness, and social skills.
    At the end of the contests, which will be televised, five national winners will be sent to Moscow for six months of cosmonaut training and a course in the Russian language.
    The final winner -- chosen by viewers -- will spend eight days in space.
    The firm would not confirm how much each flight would cost, but said it would be comparable to the current cost of a trip to Russian space station Mir, which is 20 million usd.
    Space TV is also open to partnerships with other firms to help cover the costs.
    Astrium board member Josef Kind confirmed that his firm had a contract with the Russians for an open rocket seat.
    The flights will proceed even if the full station is not finished in 2002. The U.S. space agency NASA had been informed of the project, but according to Astrium was not required to give its approval.
    The intergalactic gimmic is the latest in the bid for viewing audiences, but Brainpool is not alone.
    The U.S. network, NBC is exploring its own plans for space-themed superprizes. Originally called Destination: Mir, the project is being spearheaded by the producer of Survivor.
    Two American billionaire space buffs, Walt Anderson and Chirinjeev Kathuria teamed up with the Russian space agency RSC Energia in MirCorp, a venture that has one paying space passenger, and the deal for the NBC TV show.
    NBC executives are reportedly pleased to hear of Brainpools plans, and the opportunities to salvage its own plan for space contestant travel now that the Mir Space Station will be crashed into the ocean next year. The ISS is undoubtedly an even better intergalatic destination for its game show winners.
    MirCorps American investors are sinking in millions of dollars for the space travel concept. In Moscow last week, the Americans and Energia reached an aggreement that would give MirCorp control of an International Space Station Module that Russia would be obligated to build.
    MirCorp said it would finance the construction of the Russian module as well as two supply rockets and two passenger-carrying rockets. The module alone will cost about 100 million usd and could be space travel ready in 18 to 24 months.
    Meanwhile, Brainpool has not yet sold broadcasting rights for its shows. It hopes to start with the programs in Germany and also hold contests in Great Britain, France, Italy and Spain, but details will depend on the outcome of negotiations.
    Brainpool will pay 100 million marks for 120 planned shows in Germany and 25 million marks for related sponsoring.
    The firm expects turnover in the three-digit million marks for each participating country, Grabosch said.
    Each stage of the process will be filmed, starting with the contests and ending with the trip to space and back.
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