Page 13 - AIB | The Chanel | Issue 1 2013

Alhurra TV's series Rayheen ala
Feen? ( Where Are They Going?)
follows the day-to-day lives of
five young Egyptians as they
respond to the political, social
and economic changes brought
about by the January 25th
Revolution. Series Creator and
Executive Producer Fran Mires
says by focusing on Islam, Mario,
Sondos, Zoghby and Hanan who
each represent different
political and socio-economic
perspectives, Alhurra’s audience
is able to view a cross-section of
Egyptian society revealing their
hopes, dreams, fears and
challenges – including facing
issues such as the role of women
in society, freedom of expression
and the difficulty finding jobs in
the new Egypt.
Alhurra is operated by The
Middle East Broadcasting
Networks which is financed
through a grant from independent
federal agency BBG – the BBG
provides oversight and serves as
a firewall to protect the
professional independence and
integrity of the broadcasters.
China converged network
China has imposed tighter
internet controls, legalising the
deletion of posts or pages with
"illegal" information and
requiring internet users to
register under their real names
with network providers. An
official statement released in
January says that the Chinese
authorities deleted over 3.7m
online items involving pornography
or other illegal content in 2012.
FRANCE 24 increases
worldwide distribution
Available to 206m households
throughout the world, FRANCE
24 has concluded a series of
significant new distribution
agreements. In Denmark, the
French and Arabic versions of
FRANCE 24 have joined the
English version on the digital
terrestrial network operated by
Open Channel in Copenhagen.
This agreement allows
FRANCE 24 to be available in
three languages to 700,000
households throughout the
Danish capital.
In Indonesia, thanks to an
agreement with Telkom Vision,
FRANCE 24 English is now
available 24/7 on the operator’s
cable, IPTV and DTH offers.
FRANCE 24 has also extended its
agreement with SINGTEL, the
largest telecommunications
company in Singapore, which
means its English version is
available on the operator
mobile offer.
In Thailand, FRANCE 24
English version is now available
on major operator ME TV's IPTV
offer. And in Australia, FRANCE
24 has partnered with SBS,
allowing its English version to be
broadcast on SBSONE.
RFI's French African signal is
now available 24/7 on mobile
phones across the USA after the
company signed an extension of
its distribution agreement with
partner Audionow. For the price of
a normal call without requiring
3G, 4G or WiFi networks, users
anywhere in the US can access
both the live signal and the
latest African News Bulletin.
Each month, 450,000 calls of an
average duration of 20 minutes
are made by people eager to
follow RFI programmes across
the US.
MEDIA MARKETS | THE CHANNEL
IN BRIEF
DAB BOOST
Communications infra-
structure and media services
company Arqiva has
launched the first of four
new digital radio multiplexes
in Oxfordshire, UK, bringing
high quality local digital
radio stations to 300,000
listeners. This is the first
stage of a £6m investment
from Arqiva following the
2012 MOU on Digital Radio
switchover in the UK by
commercial radio groups,
BBC and the government.
Arqiva's Director of Digital
Radio Paul Eaton expects
that digital radio will open
the door to smaller radio
stations and push local
content and talent.
DMS
Exset, pioneers of TV
ecosystems for emerging
markets, has signed Digital
Telemedia as a Digital
Monetisation System
technology partner. DTM will
develop value-based MPEG-
4 STBs for digital cable in
South Asia as well as for
deployment with some key
DTH platforms using Exset
CAS. The boxes will also be
suitable for Exset’s DMS
technology which allows
digital TV platforms to be
created that can then be
monetised where previously
impossible.
PACIFIC
DEVELOPMENT
Radio New Zealand
International is providing
development secondments
and training workshops for
Pacific colleagues. Tonga
Broadcasting Commission’s
General Manager spent
three weeks with RNZI on a
leadership development
programme through the
Australia-funded Pacific
media project PACMAS. New
Zealand's Aid Programme
funded four technicians/
studio operators from
Vanuatu’s national TV and
radio service to spend three
weeks with RNZI and Maori
TV on studio recording, OBs
and transmission training.
China Mobile subsidiary
CMHK is rolling out its TD-
LTE/LTE FDD converged network
in phases. Built with technology
partners Ericsson and ZTE, the
network integrates CMHK's
current LTE FDD network with
the new 2300 MHz TD-LTE band.
CMHK says customers will get a
“seamless 4G experience for
international roaming when
travelling between Hong Kong
Egypt
now
and China”.
China's Ministry of Industry
and Information Technology is
proposing a two-year MVNO trial
in an attempt to increase
competition on the telecoms
market which is dominated by
three firms - Chine Mobile, China
Telecom and China Unicom.
Leader China Mobile's
subscriber base exceeds 700m –
of those 79m are 3G users.
THE CHANNEL | ISSUE 1 2013 | 13