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W elcome to the
latest media industry briefing from the
Association for International
Broadcasting, the industry association and networking organisation
that focuses on cross-border media.
In this issue, reaching a constantly growing subscriber base of in excess of 20,000 media professionals:
Visit
www.aib.org.uk for more
free-of-charge news from
the media worldwide.
All AIB members benefit from our specialist
confidential and exclusive member-only
market intelligence briefings as well as an extensive range of other
services, including an extensive series of discounts on key events
worldwide.
Contact us today
to explore how membership can
help your organisation.
The
European HD market is full of contradictions. Just a few weeks after
Germany‘s free-to-air commercial broadcasters Sat1 and
ProSieben suspended their HD channels, Dutch public
broadcasters have said that they’re on track to launch new HD services
in 2009. Nederland 1, 2 and 3 will start HD transmissions
next year. This summer (in the northern hemisphere), the Olympics and
Euro 2008 football (soccer) championships will be carried on a special
Nederland 1 HD channel.
The change of heart by Sat1 and ProSieben in Germany is said to be due
to a "lack of demand" by German consumers (where 4:3 TV sets are still
widely available), although some commentators have said that satellite
operator SES ASTRA was offering the German channels free HD
channels to drive demand, an offer now longer available to the German
broadcaster.
Germany’s HD-ready consumers will have to wait until around 2010 for
Germany’s public broadcasters to start regular HD transmissions –
WDR,
Germany’s most affluent pubcaster, is backing HD and plans to roll out
services in less than two years. Meanwhile,
Premiere and
Discovery
subscription HD channels remain available to German viewers.
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We told the story in our last newsletter of an
expired Sharp 42" LCD at AIB HQ after a couple of power surges
during a storm here in the UK. The Sharp engineer arrived a few days
later, switched the screen on and it worked instantly. It seems that
after a power surge, screens like this need a couple of days unplugged
to restore themselves, so we didn’t feel as silly as we could have done.
The engineer noted that this particular screen had missed several
software updates, so he duly uploaded the updates and it’s worked fine
since. Well done to Sharp UK!
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Significant problems face the independent media
in Belarus. The authorities have cracked down on free media outlets,
arresting journalists and raiding offices. EU-backed
Belsat TV has been one of the
victims, with its offices in Warsaw raided, effectively closing down the
channel’s operations in the country. The president of
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty,
Jeffrey Gedmin, added his voice to those expressing concern over
the actions of the Belarus government.
"It goes without saying that the arbitrary arrests of these journalists
and the raiding of their offices fundamentally violates the concept of a
free press," said Gedmin. "The Belarusian people deserve to be
well-informed; by harassing those who seek to disseminate factual
information and ideas, this is not possible. I hope the Belarusian
authorities reconsider their antagonism toward independent
broadcasters."
Read more
here.
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Changes are likely in Pakistan‘s media
following the recent elections. The new prime minister, Yusuf Raza
Gillani, wants to free up restrictions on the country’s media by
shutting down the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority,
PEMRA. PEMRA was responsible for
stopping the broadcasts of all commercial TV news networks in Pakistan
in the run-up to the elections last year, reportedly calling up every
major cable TV operator and telling them to stop the relay of all
channels not supporting President Musharraf’s state of emergency – every
channel other than Pakistan’s state-run TV. The International Federation
of Journalists has welcomed the move, and Pakistan’s main journalist
organisations have called on the PM to appoint a self-regulating body to
replace PEMRA.
See pages 134-136 of the AIB Directory for details of media
companies in Pakistan – order
online.
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AIB recommends…
MIPTV featuring MILIA, Cannes,
April 2008
More than 13,000 TV professionals at the heart of content creation,
production and distribution including the increasingly important new
media distribution platforms. Didier Lombard, Chairman and CEO of France
Telecom, will outline the telecom giants audiovisual strategy as part
of the conference programme. The AIB will be at the event, covering
developments for its members and meeting broadcasters, new media
companies, mobile manufacturers and others.
Arab Broadcast Forum,
Abu Dhabi, 4-5 May 2008
The annual meeting of the news industry in the Arab-speaking world,
with delegates from across the region and many from elsewhere in the
world who have an interest in the Middle East news broadcasting
industry. AIB members receive a major discount on the delegate fees.
12 November 2008 – mark that
date in your diary now! It will involve a trip to a
London venue for one of the most important
events in
international TV and radio. More information about this event, and the
lead-up to it, coming soon from the AIB.
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The FT has launched a
new senior-level networking club for broadcasters, content providers,
operators, ISPs, software companies and device manufactures. The
FT TMT Executive Membership Forum is a package of networking
and information tools enabling members to engage online and face-to-face
with leading figures from their own industry and to build new
partnerships across different sectors.
Membership is being
kept exclusive and includes access to member-only networking events and
FT conferences, a secure online messaging tool, premium TMT content from
ft.com and access to online forums with FT specialist reporters and
commentators.
Top executives from
the BBC, ITV, Bloomberg, Warner Bros, MTV, Yahoo! and Orange have
already taken up membership of this exclusive club. AIB members who meet
the entry criteria can join today
with a 15% discount on the membership fee.
For more information
including further details on the membership benefits and eligibility
requirements, please visit http://www.ftexecutiveforums.com/technology/?src=AIB.
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Independent TV news and documentary company
Linx Productions has
created a series of public service announcements for the United
Nations Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking.
UN.GIFT held its Vienna Forum in
February, and has asked TV broadcasters around the world for their help
in highlighting the issue of human trafficking by airing the PSAs. The
UN.GIFT PSA series is available to download from the Linx
website, and can
also be supplied on tape in whatever format the broadcaster requires.
View the PSAs here.
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As more and more radio listeners choose to
tune in via FM, TV set-top-boxes, mobile phones and the Internet,
broadcasters have realised that the need for expensive analogue medium
and short wave transmitters is fast diminishing. At the end of March,
Israel Radio‘s
international services stopped using short wave to reach listeners
worldwide. With the exception of the station’s Farsi-language service
which remains on short wave for the moment, all its services are now
distributed via the Internet.
Also at the end of March, the
BBC World Service‘s
short wave service to the Caribbean ended – the London-based broadcaster
now has FM relays on several islands in the region, and a raft of
partners who broadcast some BBC news bulletins.
Ireland’s RTE stopped its medium wave service on 24 March, 42
years after the national broadcaster introduced the first FM
transmitters in the country. RTE marked the occasion with a special
programme broadcast in the last hour and a half before the MF network
closed. Medium Wave Goodbye is available to listen again on the
RTE website.
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Israel’s Emek Ha’ela teleport will be in new
hands later this year after RRsat
Global Communications Network announced that it is to purchase
the satellite business of Bezeq, the Israel Telecommunications
Corporation. RRsat will pay around US$15million in cash for the Bezeq
assets which include the Emek Ha’ela teleport that covers around 26.5
acres (10.72 hectares), plus the BezeqSat and 711 business units. The
news of the Bezeq acquisition comes in the same month that RRsat
launched its high definition playout centre
More on this story
here.
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Satellite radio company
WorldSpace has secured the
rights to build terrestrial transmitters in Switzerland to
support the company’s roll-out of subscription-based satellite radio
services in Europe. It follows the US-based company’s success in Italy,
where it has started to build a network of terrestrial repeaters in
anticipation of the launch of services in 2009.
"We are very pleased at the efficiency with which [Switzerland’s]
OFCOM has granted
us this approval," said Noah Samara, Chairman and CEO of
WorldSpace. "As we begin planning the content line-up for our Italian
launch and subsequent European markets we hope to secure shortly,
including the UK, Germany, Spain and France, we hope to be able to
parlay our unique variety of news, sports, music and entertainment
programming into a line-up that is equally attractive to Switzerland’s
diverse cultures."
Read more
here.
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The latest
edition of the AIB’s quarterly magazine is in now available. Around 7,000
readers receive The Channel in their offices, and more read the
magazine at key media events worldwide. See what they get – click
here to
download the current edition, and subscribe
here
and benefit from this month’s special offer of six editions of The
Channel delivered to your office or home for the price of four.
And talk to us about using the AIB’s print and online publications to
reach an audience of 25,000 media professionals worldwide…call +44 (0)
1727 739 184 and talk to Ollie Kirkman to see how the AIB can help you.
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The AIB is the industry association for
international broadcasting and a networking organisation of more than
25,000 media professionals.
We offer this briefing to the international broadcasting
industry on behalf of our membership, and in addition we provide our members with
an exclusive range of specialist market-intelligence reports, networking
events, relevant tender data, marketing support and lobbying activities.
Contact us
today to discover how the AIB can help you in the highly competitive
media industry worldwide.
We celebrate excellence and reward success with
our annual Media Excellence Awards. The 2008 AIB Media Excellence
Awards will be launched in April, with the Awards gala dinner in
London in November.
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It’s on the desks of major broadcasters from TV
Azteca to the BBC, Bloomberg to Al Jazeera. It’s been ordered by
major media companies like Tiscali, Arqiva and Google.
It’s bigger, brighter and fuller of intelligent
source material than ever before.
It’s the AIB Directory of Global Broadcasting –
and you can now choose from the printed version or a
searchable PDF edition.
Mo re
than 147 countries’ broadcasters and media operators are included in
this year’s
AIB Directory of
Global Broadcasting.
The AIB Directory of
Global Broadcasting 2007/8 includes over 4,000 names of
media executives
From the rapidly expanding Indian media market to neighbouring
Nepal, Ghana to Venezuela, the Netherlands to Nigeria – the
AIB Directory of
Global Broadcasting is the
only reference work covering TV and radio, plus emerging platforms.
It’s the ultimate sourcebook.
Format
A4 perfect-bound, 228 pages, full-colour throughout
Price – print edition
£120/US$200/EUR160 (including standard delivery*)
Price – PDF edition
£360/US$720/EUR480
To download PDF sample pages of this new, fully revised Directory,
click here.
To buy,
click here.
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*We ship via the UK’s Royal Mail – first class for UK orders (taking
one to two days) and air mail printed papers for other countries.
Transit times vary, but are usually between 6 and 10 working days.
We can ship via air courier at extra charge.
Contact us for details:
+44 (0) 20 7993 2557 |
Also available from the
AIB: Czech-Slovak Market Report. An in-depth analysis of the
electronic media industry in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, published
by Broadband TV News. See
here
for details.
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This electronic news briefing reaches the desktop of more than
20,000
media executives, regulators, journalists, editors,
parliamentarians and media experts worldwide.
Why not use us to help you reach your clients and potential clients?
We offer cost-effective ways to maximise exposure and minimising
cost.
Talk to Oliver Kirkman today about the AIB and how it can help your
business.
From electronic to on-the-page advertising to sponsorship of major
AIB events, we can help you.
Call +44 (0) 1727 739 184, or e-mail ollie (@)
centuryonepublishing.ltd.uk to discuss the opportunities.
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