The Channel | 2008 | Issue 1

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THE CHANNEL | JANUARY08 | 09
80% of radio archives
are rotting
GlobeCast
goes East
The Sound Directions project at
Harvard and Indiana universities
has published the results of two
years’ research in ‘Sound
Directions: Best Practices for
Audio Preservation’. The work,
carried out in consultation with
an advisory board of experts in
audio engineering, audio
preservation and digital libraries,
establishes best practices in
many areas where they did not
previously exist and explores the
testing and use of existing and
emerging standards. It includes
chapters on personnel and
equipment for preservation
transfer, digital files, metadata,
storage, preservation packages
and interchange and audio pre-
servation systems and workflows.
Each chapter is divided into
two major parts: a preservation
overview that summarises key
concepts for collection managers
and curators, followed by a
section that presents
recommended technical
practices for audio engineers,
digital librarians, and other
technical staff.
The work is a must for
institutions pursuing audio
preservation. A PDF is available
from
projects/sounddirections .
GLOBAL BRIEFING | THE CHANNEL
Teletrax monitors TV show promotions
CBS Television Distribution will
use the Teletrax comprehensive
suite of broadcast intelligence
services to electronically monitor
and analyse affiliate stations’
usage of its on-air TV show
promotions across all 210 major
cities, or DMAs, in the US.
Teletrax will provide CTD with
reports detailing how its video
content is used and aired by
affiliate stations, so it can
evaluate marketing campaign
performance and more precisely
measure return-on-investment
and maximise profits. Teletrax
will monitor the promotions of
CTD’s top syndicated shows.
Teletrax president Andy
Nobbs said that following on
from the contract agreement
with CBS TV Network, Teletrax
was very excited to now also
provide broadcast intelligence
services to CBS TV Distribution.
Teletrax maintains a proprietary
network of detectors that monitors
BBC Worldwide’s Global
Channels business has selected
content management and
delivery company GlobeCast as
its distribution partner for the
expansion of its four new
entertainment channels to the
Telstar 10 and HOT BIRD
satellites in Asia and Europe.
BBC Knowledge, BBC
Entertainment, BBC Lifestyle
and CBeebies are currently
available to IPTV, DTH and Cable
Operators in India, Hong Kong,
and Singapore and all four
channels launched in Poland
with major operator Cyfrowy
Polsat in December. This is the
latest of several high profile
international channel deals for
GlobeCast, which boasts France
24 and Al Jazeera English among
its global broadcast clients.
the TV broadcasts of nearly 1,500
channels from over 50 nations,
including all 210 US markets.
Teletrax also announced that
it will provide the International
Committee of the Red Cross with
data on the usage of its video
material by broadcasters
worldwide.
Mission, the new media and asset
management system from Quantel
designed to complement the
Enterprise sQ and Newsbox
production systems has won Best
Storage and Media Asset Manage-
ment Solution award at the
Producción Profesional Awards.
Quantel Director of Marketing
Steve Owen says Mission makes
AM a fully integrated part of the
production process – not a layer
bolted on top of it.
With Mission Quantel has
added to the capabilities of the
Enterprise sQ and Newsbox
systems and enabled customers
to maximise use of their content.
Unique to Quantel, users can
choose to mix and match
Quantel’s production systems
with MAMs from existing
development partners, or with
Mission they can choose the
route of single vendor
responsibility.
IN BRIEF
RFI LAUNCHES
HAUSA
Radio France Internationale
has launched a news service
in Nigeria in Hausa, widely
spoken in West Africa.
Financed by RFI and with
collaboration from Voice of
Nigeria, the 120-minute
Hausa programme is pro-
duced locally by a team of
five journalists and three
technicians. The project has
aroused the interest of
Tanzania's radio and TV
service for a similar
collaboration in Swahili.
AUTOCUE FOR
POLISH TVP
Highlighting Autocue’s
growth in Central Europe,
the provider of newsroom
automation and prompting
solutions has clinched a
major order from Poland’s
TVP for an important
technology upgrade which
incorporates seven new
channels, one in HD. The
Autocue kit will be delivered
to TVP’s Warsaw HQ for use
across ten of its regional
networks. To meet TVP’s
specific requirements,
Autocue customised its
Master Series prompters to
include S-video inputs as
well as including further
modifications to enable
backwards compatibility
with existing mounts.
EU DVB-H
RULING
The EU’s decision to back
DVB-H technology as the
standard for mobile TV
broadcasts in all member
countries is under attack
from Germany, Britain and
the Netherlands. EU media
commissioner Viviane
Reding wants to put DVB-H
on a list of official
standards, and could
compel member states to
adopt the mobile technology
in 2008. Germany, Britain
and the Netherlands say no
system should be made
mandatory and the market
should be allowed to decide.
Quantel’s MAM a winner