25 April 2006
Harris Corporation Announces Multi-Deal Agreement as
Exclusive HD Radio(TM) Supplier to Cumulus Broadcasting
LAS VEGAS, NAB 2006, April 24, 2006 – Harris Corporation’s (NYSE: HRS) Broadcast Communications Division today announced that Cumulus Broadcasting, the nation’s second-largest radio broadcaster, with more than 320 FM and AM stations, has signed a multi-year agreement with Harris for the exclusive provision of HD Radio(TM) equipment. Harris will provide HD Radio transmitters and its FLEXSTAR(TM) family of HD Radio products to approximately 80 percent of the Cumulus station fleet through 2012. Harris will also exclusively provide analog transmitters to Cumulus stations, and offer access to Harris Intraplex(R) STL and resale items as part of the agreement.
Read the complete release: http://www.harris.com/view_pressrelease.asp?act=lookup&pr_id=1848
Harris Corporation Announces D-Series(TM) Playout Automation
Compliance with the H-Class(TM) Content Delivery Platform
LAS VEGAS, NAB 2006, April 24, 2006 – Harris Corporation (NYSE: HRS) today announced an enhanced D-Series(TM) Playout Automation solution that interfaces with the H-Class(TM) Content Delivery Platform for more efficient workflow in multi-channel environments. New features include the dynamic exchange of play list and “as-run” data. The enhanced solution also includes native interfaces with the H-Class(TM) Platform, which provide existing and new D-Series(TM) customers with tighter integration to other H-Class applications, such as H-Class(TM) Scheduling, H-Class(TM) Media Ingest and H-Class(TM) Digital Asset Management.
Read the complete release: http://www.harris.com/view_pressrelease.asp?act=lookup&pr_id=1847
Harris Corporation’s NUCLEUS(TM) Control Panel Gaining
Significant Worldwide Market Acceptance
LAS VEGAS, NAB 2006, April 24, 2006 – Harris Corporation (NYSE:HRS) today announced that NUCLEUS(TM), its next-generation, user-configurable, real-time control panel, is gaining significant worldwide market acceptance. The NUCLEUS control panel is designed to centralize the operational control of processing, branding and routing products. Broadcast operations that have chosen the NUCLEUS control panel include CTV Television Inc. in Canada, Hearst-Argyle Television’s KCRA-TV and WGAL-TV in the United States, and PLAZAMEDIA GmbH TV & Film Production in Germany.
Read the complete release: http://www.harris.com/view_pressrelease.asp?act=lookup&pr_id=1843
NEP Supershooters Outfits New High-Definition Broadcast Trucks with Harris Videotek(R) Test and Measurement Products
LAS VEGAS, NAB 2006, April 24, 2006 – Harris Corporation (NYSE:HRS) today announced that NEP Supershooters (NEP) has purchased 22
Videotek(R) TVM series video and audio signal analyzers to outfit their latest top-of-the-line, high-definition (HD) broadcast trucks. These newest additions to the NEP fleet of mobile broadcast facilities will be on the road mid-2006 to broadcast coverage of golf’s U.S. Open and the National Football League’s new lineup of Sunday and Monday night telecasts. This significant purchase by NEP comprises mostly TVM-950 models with an assortment of video and audio options, as well as an all-new VTM Series(TM) instrument – the most recent addition to the
Videotek(R) product line.
Read the complete release: http://www.harris.com/view_pressrelease.asp?act=lookup&pr_id=1844
Harris Corp. Demonstrates FLO(TM) Mobile TV Products at NAB2006
LAS VEGAS, NAB 2006, April 24, 2006 – Harris Corporation today announced that it will introduce a new line of television transmitters at NAB2006 to support mobile television applications using FLO technology. The Harris Atlas(TM) Mobile and Ranger Mobile TV transmitters are powered by the Harris Apex(TM) digital television exciter, featuring fully adaptive linear and non-linear correction for FLO requirements. Visitors to Harris’ Central Hall location (Booth #C807) will see the Harris Atlas Mobile UHF transmitter delivering FLO mobile television services to a FLO-capable handset.
Read the complete release: http://www.harris.com/view_pressrelease.asp?act=lookup&pr_id=1845
Harris Corporation Introduces New DVB-H Mobile TV Transmitter for 1670 MHz Mobile TV Services
Cool Play(TM) 1670 offers unique design to withstand
harsh conditions of outdoor operating environments
LAS VEGAS, NAB 2006, April 24, 2006 – Harris Corporation today announced that it is introducing Cool Play(TM) 1670, a new television transmitter platform specifically designed for 1670 MHz Digital Video Broadcasting Handheld (DVB-H) applications, including the Modeo(TM) mobile TV service planned for the United States. Featuring proprietary Convection-Cooled Technology, Cool Play(TM) 1670 is uniquely suited to cellular network-style transmitter installations. Harris will highlight the Cool Play 1670 platform at NAB2006 (Booth #C807), where the transmitter will deliver wireless video to a handset.
Read the complete release: http://www.harris.com/view_pressrelease.asp?act=lookup&pr_id=1846
Harris Corporation Announces NetBoss(R) Element Management System Will Support Harris Broadcast Video Networking and Microwave Solution
LAS VEGAS, NAB 2006, April 24, 2006 – Harris Corporation (NYSE:HRS), a leading global provider of turnkey network management systems, wireless equipment and services, today announced the availability of NetBoss
EM(TM) (Element Manager) to support the Harris Video Networking and Microwave Solution, a point-to-point transport solution for the broadcast industry that combines the company’s NetVX(TM) video networking and TRuepoint(TM) microwave digital radios. The announcement was made at the National Association of Broadcasters 2006 conference in Las Vegas, Harris booth #C807, where NetBoss EM(TM) is being demonstrated as part of the Harris Video Networking and Microwave Solution.
Read the complete release: http://www.harris.com/view_pressrelease.asp?act=lookup&pr_id=1849
25 April 2006
GlobeCast, a leading content management and delivery company, and NEOTION, a high-tech company focused on digital TV and MPEG-4 related technologies, announce a strategic Agreement to offer turnkey MPEG-4 AVC satellite distribution platforms. The primary objective is to enable unprecedented transmission cost-efficiency for broadcasters, while using NEOTIONs patented MPEG-4 Pocket Decoder Technology, that is ideally tailored to address the issue of viewers with legacy equipment.
GlobeCast, a subsidiary of France Telecom, anticipates the roll out from 2006 onwards of numerous newer generation secured platforms in Europe where MPEG-4 is gaining tremendous momentum. Furthermore, GlobeCast will be capable of delivering TV channels to the MPEG-4 platforms over its global transmission network that includes 15 teleports and technical operations centers on five continents, as well as via a global ATM fiber ring that interconnects GlobeCasts facilities worldwide.
At the other side of this turnkey solution is the NEOTION Pocket decoder, a credit card sized MPEG-4 decoder that can take advantage, in a real plug & play mode, of the millions of DVB-CI legacy MPEG-2 set-top boxes already deployed. Beyond upgrading those digital receivers with the best-of-breed codec technology available today, it will also feature advanced conditional access capabilities and support.
The genuine combination of GlobeCasts MPEG-4 AVC distribution platforms, alongside with NEOTIONs plug-n-play MPEG-4 Pocket Decoders, opens a wide scope of benefits for TV operators, including: Pure Home Cinema DVD quality at a very low bit rate; unbeatable cost optimization for worldwide TV coverage; affordable Direct To Home transmission costs for new Digital TV market entrants; efficient VOD both in streaming and push modes.
Through this joint MPEG-4 AVC offer, GlobeCast and NEOTION will make a significant contribution to the evolving digital television industry. For the first time, a new service will enable audiences to receive better quality sound and images, as well as an increased choice in the number of channels whilst addressing TV programmers priorities such as delivery costs, audience ratings and anti-piracy issues.
«Our NEOTION Processor 4 will be available through patented module and cartridge implementations readily compatible with millions of existing digital satellite receivers already deployed in consumer homes» commented Jean Yves Le Roux, President and Founder of NEOTION. « We were the first satellite services provider to implement MPEG-2 technology for our customers and we are very proud now to be the first to propose a complete MPEG-4 AVC solution with our partner NEOTION» concluded Christian Pinon, CEO of GlobeCast.
25 April 2006
SES ASTRA announced on 21 April that its new ASTRA 1KR satellite has been successfully launched into orbit. ASTRA 1KR roared into space onboard an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, last night at 16.27 local time – 22.27 CET. The satellite will now be brought into its final orbital position within the next weeks and will be made commercially available end of June 2006 after extensive in-orbit testing.
ASTRA 1KR will be located at 19.2° East, ASTRA’s prime orbital position for delivering broadcast services to Continental Europe, and will also transmit HDTV channels. With its satellite fleet ASTRA reaches 107 million homes in Europe.
We are very proud and satisfied that the ASTRA 1KR mission has been a success, said Ferdinand Kayser, President and CEO of SES ASTRA. ASTRA 1KR will benefit our customers, strengthen our unique inter-satellite back-up scheme and provide replacement capacity for our ASTRA 1B and ASTRA 1C satellites. The success of the ASTRA 1KR mission is a milestone in our company history and shows that we have strengthened the fruitful cooperation with our launch partners, Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems and International Launch Services.
This was an especially important mission for ILS and our customer, SES ASTRA, said ILS President Mark Albrecht. It was our 100th launch, as well as an opportunity to introduce a valued customer to the excellence of Atlas.
The pictures of the launch will be available under www.businesswire.com together with the related press release from ASTRA’s partner ILS.
24 April 2006
Al Jazeera International, the 24-hour English-language news and current affairs channel, headquartered in Doha, have appointed Ghida Fakhry as lead female news anchor at their Washington DC broadcast centre.
Ghida Fakhry is an accomplished on air and print journalist, in both English and Arabic, with extensive international experience, which makes her the ideal candidate for our goal of reaching a global audience hungry for news that offers analysis and context. We are overjoyed to have her as a member of the Washington team, said Washington D.C. bureau chief, Will Stebbins, on her appointment.
Since 2004, Fakhry has been the New York Bureau Chief of the pan-Arab daily Asharq Al Awsat published in London, and was a Columnist for the newspaper. From 2002 to 2004, Fakhry was lead anchor on the flagship Evening News broadcast from London for the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation-Al Hayat news joint venture. In addition to covering the events leading up to the invasion of Iraq in March 2003 from LBC’s headquarters in Beirut, Fakhry conducted exclusive in-depth interviews in Washington D.C. with U.S. Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, and Secretary of State, Colin Powell, as well as several other senior State Department and Pentagon officials. She further reported on location from Baghdad and Kabul in the summer of 2003 while travelling with Rumsfeld during his first trip to Iraq after the US-led invasion and covered his visit to the Abu Ghraib prison.
Fakhry also worked for the Al Jazeera Channel (Arabic language service) as its New York Bureau Chief from 2000 to late 2001. During this time she covered the attacks of September 11 and their aftermath, reporting from Ground Zero on the rescue and relief operations.
With a career spanning 10 years of political journalism in television and print, Fakhry, who started her television career as New York Correspondent of Abu Dhabi Television, has also reported extensively from the United Nations, accompanying Secretary-General Kofi Annan on several trips to the Middle East and North Africa. In 1998, she was part of the first group of journalists who flew into Baghdad to cover the stand-off between the UN and the Iraqi government following the withdrawal of the UN’s weapons inspectors from Iraq. For several years, she covered the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and interviewed the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, at his headquarters in Ramallah. She reported from Washington on the Bush and Clinton administrations efforts to mediate between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Fakhry has further appeared as a political analyst on CNNI, BBC World, ABC News, and MSNBC and has published Op-Eds in the International Herald Tribune and the Financial Times.
“What I find most exciting and challenging about Al Jazeera International is that, for the first time, a television network from the developing world will break the monopoly over 24-hour global television news in English and provide viewers the world over with an alternative source of information and analysis more critical and less Western-centric. I am thrilled to be part of this journalistic challenge, said Fakhry on her appointment.
Born in Beirut, she holds an MA in Near and Middle Eastern Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London) and an M.A. in International Relations from Boston University. She is fluent in English, Arabic and French and speaks conversational Spanish.
24 April 2006
Autocue, leading provider of newsroom automation and teleprompting solutions, unveiled at NAB its QSmart newsroom system which has been created specifically to meet the needs of the small market broadcaster and other next-generation applications. The latest addition to the highly successful QSeries newsroom and broadcast automation platform, QSmart encapsulates the expertise and functionality of its world-class lineage while making it cost-effective for a wider range of stations and broadcasters.
The QSmart module is a software bundle that provides an optimised version of Autocue’s QSeries database, ten user licenses, script archive, wire server, Autocue prompting software, and optional integrated device control for a character generator. In addition, on-site installation, configuration and training are included in the product package. Autocue can also provide a turnkey QSmart system, pre-configured on a PC server and delivered fully operational to the customer.
QSmart goes beyond full-scale newsroom functionality by providing a robust, expandable and cost-efficient solution to small broadcasters. The QSmart bundle is priced to match the broadcast station’s market size and is thus affordable to even the smallest broadcasters. The cost can be spread over a nine-month period further reducing the financial impact. The value of QSmart is perfectly complemented by Autocue’s new range of Professional Series prompters, which provide cost-effective prompting solutions for a variety of scenarios.
The introduction of QSmart is just one of several significant QSeries announcements for NAB, which together increase the flexibility and availability of modules across the product line. The revolutionary and award-winning QScript, the script mark-up and workflow application, is now available in a new configuration featuring additional functionality. Enhanced features to be demonstrated at the show include a new MOS-compatible interface and the display of additional automation information. To introduce this updated software, QScript will be available at a special show price for the duration of NAB, and for orders received before the end of May. The application has already been demonstrated to generate a return on investment within a year, and this special offer will further decrease the time needed to achieve those cost-savings.
QNet, the QSeries networked scripting and production scheduling application is well-proven in the most demanding production environments, and the functionality of this module has now been extended to meet the specific needs of non-news, and even non-broadcast, applications. A scaleable and flexible system, QNet is equally at home providing a multi-user prompter solution, a script-preparation application or production system for a complex live show. Autocue has made QNet more accessible to the end customer by making it, for the first time, available for off-the-shelf purchase and self-installation, supported as always by Autocue’s highly respected customer service. QNet remains equally appropriate for larger, more complex installations where a greater degree of configuration is required, such as religious, corporate and educational broadcasters who require a complete solution comprising scripting, prompting, captions and video, but do not want the newsroom functionality.
Finally, the core QNews application continues to add useful tools and functionality. Among other new features, QNews is now MOS compliant, supporting MOS plug-ins (ActiveX controls) from other vendors and providing a MOS Gateway to supply script, rundown and automation information to third-party systems. This new compatibility makes QNews even more essential to newsrooms around the world.
“It is very exciting to be launching a new product aimed at a new market at this show,” said Neil Hutchins, CTO, Autocue Group Ltd. “QSmart builds on the success of the existing QSeries components and will place the proven reliability and functionality firmly within reach of a new range of users. It is also significant that the QScript and QNet products continue to expand – they are both unique applications in their own areas, and their continued development will make them invaluable to an even wider range of customers.”
