AIB membership grows; steps up regulatory work
AIB is pleased to announce that its global membership continues to grow, with more organisations taking advantage of the comprehensive range of services we offer. NHK World is the latest broadcaster to join us as a Gold Member, demonstrating the channel's high-level involvement in both AIB and the international broadcasting industry.
As AIB's membership grows, so too does the range of work AIB undertakes for its members. At present, AIB is actively working on a regulatory challenge in South East Asia on behalf of its members, liaising with governments, diplomats and opinion-leaders in multiple markets. For more information on the work we carry out for our members, contact us and for information on AIB membership, see our website. You can see how we support members at board, strategy, distribution, technology, marketing and commercial levels in this summary of our work.

PROGRAMMING AND PRODUCTION AND MARKETING
Russian music channel brands to change?
Newspaper reports in Russia suggest that music and entertainment channels Muz-TV and MTV are to be rebranded. Andrei Dimitrov, Muz-TV's director general, says that the channel will rebrand as a youth channel - Yu - this (northern hemisphere) autumn with a new on-screen appearance although programmes will remain the same. Yu will continue to target the 11-34 year old demographic that Muz-TV is designed for. MTV, operated by a different company - ProfMedia - is likely to drop the MTV brand in 2013.

Vizrt live BBC Sport Olympics graphics
Vizrt supplied BBC Sport with its HD graphics engines for the broadcaster’s live television graphics during London 2012. Working in conjunction with Vizrt are two London-based graphics providers – Mammoth Graphics and deltatre - the two firms used their Vizrt expertise to design, operate and manage the delivery of the live HD graphics operation, based within the broadcaster’s studio at the International Broadcast Centre (IBC) in London.
The graphics suite was equipped with 12 Viz Trio character generator (CG) systems, with each of six Trio live graphics systems paired with six Viz Engine HD/SD rendering systems for realtime compositing of HD video and graphics.
Read the full story here.

YouTube delivers Ramadan programming
Ramadan is the most important time for broadcasters in the Muslim world when most advertising revenues are generated. And now YouTube has recognised this developing a special site that offers over fifty premium Ramadan shows on the same day they first air on TV. Youtube.com/Ramadan is described as a hub for all viewers to experience the Ramadan tradition of watching their favourite Arabic series, but on the web.
The channel is a joint venture between YouTube and Unilever - owner of brands like Lipton and Knorr. Abd-al-Rahman Tarabzuni, head of Emerging Arabia, Google, said the initiative would further expand Google's clout and strengthen the company's core and emerging businesses while fostering the internet ecosystem in the region. AIB notes that this initiative is a continuing effort by YouTube to position itself as one of the first points consumers look for professional TV programming.

AIB recommends...events and more
IBC 2012
Amsterdam 6-11 September
IBC is the premier annual conference and exhibition for professionals engaged in the creation, management and delivery of electronic media and entertainment content worldwide.
Between 6 - 11 September you can mix with over 50,000 of the industry’s finest minds and wisest investors from across the international electronic media spectrum to do business, debate, share insight, network and lead.
AIB will be at IBC on stand 6.A05 - a new location for us this year. We look forward to meeting you there.

London 2012 - Post-Olympic Broadcast Briefing
A date for your diary: on 12 October, AIB is organising the post-Olympic broadcast briefing in association with Wimbledon.
A range of high-level speakers will share their experiences of covering London 2012, from technology to how to weave stories around a major sporting event. There will be extensive examples of the way video conveyed the atmosphere of the Games and there will also be lots on how social media and TV interacted.
Delegates from major broadcasters including ARD, ESPN and ITV have already confirmed they'll be at Wimbledon for the Post-Olympic Broadcast Briefing on 12 October.
Contact us for details about this high-level, invitation-only event.

DISTRIBUTION, TECHNOLOGY, CHANNELS
Bahrain TV to upgrade
News reports in Bahrain say that the country's state broadcaster is to upgrade what is described as its "main production studio" over the next nine months. The project, valued at around US$1.9m, is to be managed by a AurionPRO Solutions - a company that appears to mainly focus on the provision of IT solutions for financial institutions.
The new-look main production studio will equipped with high-quality control rooms fitted with high-resolution cameras, sound and photo mixers, advanced video and graphics systems. Under the deal, Bahraini media staff will be trained to "keep abreast of the new cutting edge TV production technologies".

MultiChoice responding to Chinese pay-TV challenge?
AIB has reported the large-scale projects by China to build out Africa's digital and pay-TV networks. Now South Africa's MultiChoice appears to be fighting back, introducing new digital terrestrial pay-TV services in a number of countries. GOtv, a DTT pay-TV service, first launched in the Zambian capital Lusaka in June last year. Now the service is on the air in Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda and Namibia, with reports suggesting that Angola and Ghana may soon have the service.
GOtv's Zambian service offers five entertainment and movie channels, Al Jazeera English, Islam Channel, two children's and two music channels, plus a sports channel as well as ZBC's national services. The subscription is around EUR5.80 a month.
While at present GOtv is only available in capitals and second cities, the service is likely to gain a good foothold as DTT requires less installation than satellite-delivered pay-TV services - and that's important in countries where retail channels are limited and support infrastructure is not advanced.
At the same time, Canal+ Afrique has launched in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. This service offers 104 channels but is more costly than the GOtv offer, at around EUR16.50 a month - although Canal+ says its offer is considerably cheaper than MultiChoice's DSTV service at EUR106 per month.
With China's Star Times Media also offering services in a number of countries, debates about who should run digital multiplexes in Kenya and SES saying it plans to provide DTH platforms in the continent, the battle for Africa's living room is hotting up.
AIB will be providing its members with analysis of the African TV market in a forthcoming edition of its member-only market intelligence briefing.

WRN gets Nautical
WRN Broadcast has been selected by Nautical Channel, the specialist nautical sports and lifestyle broadcaster, to provide fibre distribution to the US for three years, with supporting data centre and content management services.
WRN Broadcast’s solution was created specifically to meet the channel’s expanding global distribution plans. From its launch in 2011, Nautical Channel is now available to over 15 million subscribers across 29 countries and its development is set to continue through a distribution deal with DISH in the US. WRN Broadcast will enable the delivery of the channel’s content to DISH’s head-end in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Adapting to Nautical Channel’s existing playout process, the technology team at WRN Broadcast was able to provide both the fibre circuit to the major US satellite operator and ensure secure hosting of the client’s playout equipment in WRN Broadcast’s London-based Broadcast Data Centre, which launched in May 2012.

North Korea distributing tablet PC
In a sign of the times, it is reported that North Korea is manufacturing its answer to the iPad and Nexus 7. It has unveiled the Achim ("morning" in Korean), a 7-inch long tablet that weighs 300g and has a battery life of around five hours. Chinese reports say that the operating system is based on Linux and there's no information on whether the device has any wireless connectivity or what programs and apps are available for it. AIB doesn't believe that the device - although popular with students and school kids - is going to help foreign media companies enter the closed country any time soon.

PEOPLE
Robert Zaal has been appointed director of RNW 3.0. From November 1, the 48-year-old will lead the implementation of RNW’s new direction, focused on free speech. As of 2013, RNW will operate primarily in Africa and the Arab world, but also in countries such as China, Cuba, Venezuela and Mexico.
More here.

Roger Mosey, Director London 2012 at the BBC, is to become the Acting Director of Vision at the Corporation at the end of August. Mosey will take over from George Entwistle who is becoming the BBC's next Director-General. Delegates at the AIB/Wimbledon Post-Olympic Broadcast Briefing on 12 October will be able to meet Roger Mosey - he's the keynote speaker.

Christopher Slaughter has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer designate of CASBAA, succeeding Simon Twiston Davies who will remain at the Association until the end of the year. John Medeiros will be promoted to the new role of Chief Policy Officer and will become Senior Government Relations Advisor to the Board. The new CASBAA senior team will be completed by Jill Grinda, who is newly appointed as Executive Vice President, focusing on operations and CASBAA’s advertising initiatives.