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IN BRIEF
WRN DELIVERS
RAINBOW
UK-based TV and radio
transmission company WRN
has signed with Rainbow
Radio to broadcast the
station to new listeners
across North America via
the Galaxy 25 digital satellite.
Rainbow Radio, which
describes itself as “the
premier-licensed
Ghanaian/West African
commercial radio”, is
currently broadcasting
across the UK and Ireland
on Sky, for which WRN
provides comprehensive
satellite and data services.
WORLDSPACE
APPOINTS
WorldSpace Satellite Radio
has appointed radio industry
pioneer Roberto Zaino as
content director for World-
Space Italia. The majority-
owned subsidiary expects to
begin broadcasting throughout
Italy in late 2008, offering a
bouquet of 40-50 channels
of commercial-free music,
news, entertainment, talk
and sports programming.
FIAT Group will introduce
WorldSpace satellite radios
as factory-installed optional
equipment on some of its
models in late 2009.
CITIZEN
INITIATIVE
BBC Urdu's website launched
its
Your Edition
initiative in
India, visiting Lucknow,
Bhopal and Hyderabad.
Aliya Nazki who took part in
the roadshow said the response
had been over-whelming,
adding "We are now selecting
a panel of 'power-users'
from the people we interacted
with. We will then cultivate
'digital relationships' with
these power-users who will
write for us and also comment
on our journalism. Within 3-
9 months we hope to turn
our power-users into 'citizen
editors', launching a micro-
site called 'Your Edition' by
the end of 2008."
10
|
JANUARY08
|
THE CHANNEL
THE CHANNEL
|
GLOBAL BRIEFING
Global satellite demand
still rising
CanWest
with S4M
According to research company
NSR's latest "Global Assessment
of Satelite Demand", every
region of the world is showing
sustained growth from DTH, and
NSR sees no reason for this to
change before 2012. Achieving
the highest growth rate of any
market segment for the coming
years, Ku-band video services
such as distribution for FTA and
cable headends, DTH, contribution
and occasional use are certainly
the highlight of the global
commercial satellite market.
NSR forecasts that over 500 36-
MHz transponder equivalents of
Ku-band capacity will be added
to global capacity demand
between 2004 and 2008 with half
of these transponders coming
from DTH markets alone.
The classic telephony &
carrier market, which still
accounts for 18% of all leased
commercial C-band and Ku-
band capacity, remains weak and
it has only been robust demand
for cellular backhaul services in
many regions that has offset the
slow decline in traditional point-
to-point voice and other non-IP
data traffic.
In North America and Western
Europe the addition of over 100
HD channels in 2006 for C-band
and Ku-band video distribution
and DTH services on commercial
capacity was significantly offset
by the loss of about 30 analogue
channels this same year. These
two major markets, accounting
for 21% and 13% of the global
number of leased transponders,
are unfortunately seeing the
enormous benefits of HD being
partially eroded by analogue-to-
digital transition, though NSR
expects the situation to turn
around shortly.
Elsewhere, NSR has seen
demand growth delayed. In
markets like South Asia and Sub-
Saharan Africa demand growth
has been delayed because of
lack of supply. This in turn is
leading to a wave of satellite
operators rushing to launch new
capacity to capture this demand,
leading possibly to oversupply
two to three years down the line.
Thomson delivers HDTV for ARD
In what was the first public
demonstration of a HDTV channel
from a public broadcaster in
Germany, nationwide broadcast
network ARD went on air with a
public HDTV showcase for a
limited demonstration period,
using equipment supplied,
installed, and integrated by
Thomson. The system was
installed at the ARD Play-Out-
Centre Potsdam, near Berlin.
To add the HD capability
without increasing the workload
on the Play-Out-Centre, Thomson’s
systems integration engineers
installed a four-channel HD K2
media server alongside the
existing standard definition
system, which uses Grass Valley
Profile servers. The HD version
of K2 was architected to enable
SD customers to simply plug in a
new HD K2 client into an existing
SD infrastructure and immediately
start playing HD to air.
ARD needed to add HD
capability to its existing
Potsdam play-out center
without any disruption of its
existing SD services, as well as
to design, implement, install,
and commission the HD system
in the very tight timeline of just
ten weeks.
According to Patrick
Canadian broadcaster CanWest
MediaWorks and German
company S4M – Solutions for
Media have successfully
concluded the main phase of a
major joint project. In
conjunction with CanWest
MediaWorks, S4M has designed
and implemented a highly
integrated broadcast
management solution based
upon the S4M products S4Rights,
S4Schedule and S4AdSales.
“CanWest is the first
conventional broadcaster in
Canada to completely move all
stations to an integrated and
customer-focused business
management system“, said Brett
Manlove, SVP of Broadcast Sales
and Marketing, CanWest
MediaWorks. All conventional
stations for CanWest
MediaWorks’ Global Television
and E! Networks have gone
“live.” S4M’s solution has
eliminated the need for 3 distinct
and separate software systems
along with 8 separate databases.
It positions CanWest as a
‘leading edge’ broadcaster able
to meet the future needs and
requirements in a highly
competitive environment.
Montliaud, SVP of Thomson’s
Integration and Networking
Solutions business unit, there is
tremendous consumer demand
for HDTV from Europe’s leading
public broadcasters. ARD and
ZDF, Germany’s two public
channels, both plan to start HD
broadcasts by 2010.