Kazakhstan National
TV explores adoption
Adopted Children from
Kazakhstan
promises to be one
of the most important TV
projects of the new 2014
television season from the
Kazakhstan Republican
Television and Radio Corporation.
The ground-breaking programme
which explores the lives of
Kazakh adopted children in their
new families and their new
homelands is the brainchild of
Zhanar Baisemizova, head of the
creative association "TV
Production" JSC RTRC
"Kazakhstan". She worked on
the project for about six years
before finally realising it with the
Kazakhstan Republican
Television and Radio Corporation.
Foreign adoption has always
been a controversial issue:
Should there be stricter laws and
regulations on foreign adoption?
Should adoption by foreign
citizens be banned altogether?
Baisemizova embarked on the
project with an open mind. Her
initial goal was to show the lives
of ex-Kazakhstani citizens
abroad. In the course of making
the programme, her focus
changed. Many adopted children
knew that they were from
Kazakhstan but they did not
think that their homeland was
still interested in their lives.
Zhanar Baisemizova says,
“The Kazakhstan National TV
channel’s main focus is to
preserve our national identity.
We hope that this project will
help to stimulate discussion in
our society about the issue of
foreign adoption and give more
information about the lives of our
children.
“I believe the programme will
help our society find the right
solution to the problem. These
children should always know that
no matter where they are, they
will always have a home here, in
Kazakhstan.”
MEDIA MARKETS
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THE CHANNEL
IN BRIEF
DOLBY VISION
At CES 2014 Dolby
announced its new imaging
technology Dolby Vision
which gives content creators
and TV manufacturers true-
to-life brightness, colours,
and contrast by augmenting
the fidelity of UHD and HD
video signals for OTT online
streaming, broadcast, and
gaming applications. An end-
to-end solution, Dolby Vision
is expected to drive adoption
of UHD 4K displays with a
winning combination of more
and better pixels. TVs
featuring Dolby Vision tech-
nology will be available for
retail purchase later this year.
MOBILE MONEY
The Tanzanian market
shows potential for further
mobile money (m-money)
adoption, according to a
report by global consultancy
InterMedia. 63% of surveyed
households have access to a
mobile phone, and even
among rural, unbanked and
poor households, about one-
half of households have
access to a mobile and own
a SIM card. The InterMedia
report is part of the
Financial Inclusion Tracker
Surveys project, based on
the first annual FITS survey
of 2,980 households
conducted in 2012.
GREEK PSB
The Greek government has
announced the formation of
the New Hellenic Radio,
Internet and Television
(NERIT) which is expected to
launch in March 2014 and
will only have 132 members
of staff. The International
Federation of Journalists
and the European
Federation of Journalists
have expressed concern that
the move will mean the loss
of many journalists’ jobs
and create a sub-standard,
Athens-focused organisation
that will find it difficult to
provide quality programming
that is competitive with
private TV channels in
Greece.
TVC News reaches milestone
Lagos-based 24-hour pan-African
news channel TVC News, part of
the Continental Broadcasting
Service network, which first
broadcast in February 2013 says
it has reached an important
milestone in breaking foreign
media dominance of African
news coverage within one year of
operation. TVC News CEO Nigel
Parsons (right) stated: “TVC
News has come a long way in a
short time and will remain
committed to providing reliable,
accurate and up-to-date news
about Africa.”
Reaching over 3m households
in Africa and Europe, TVC News
has been filling a gap that meant
Africa was previously the only
continent without its own self-
produced news & current affairs
channel. In its first year, TVC
News has proved to be the voice
of Africa on the global scene,
received a number of international
awards and been endorsed as a
credible news channel by notable
figures such as HE Dr Nkosazana
Dlamini Zuma, Chairperson of
the African Union commission.
TVC News’ notable coverage
included the 2013 elections in
Ghana, Kenya, Zimbabwe and
Mali, the African Union's 50th
anniversary celebrations in Addis
Ababa, the civil unrests in Egypt
and Tunisia, the conflicts in the
Central African Republic and
Mali, the Nairobi shopping mall
siege, the insurgency in Nigeria
and the death and funeral of
Nelson Mandela in South Africa.
THE CHANNEL
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ISSUE 1 2014
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13
Instant
translation
Al Arabiya News Channel, which
celebrated its 10-year anniversary
in 2013, launched a state-of-the-
art subtitling service via its
English-language website during
the first “Al Arabiya News Global
Discussion” forum. The service
allows English-speaking audiences
to follow its Arabic news bulletins
and programmes thanks to a new
instant translation technology.
Users of the site will also be able
to search Al Arabiya News
Channel’s entire 24-hour output
in English, with the ability to
download video clips and see
subtitles showing translations of
the original Arabic broadcasts.
Abdulrahman al-Rashed,
General Manager of Al Arabiya
News Channel, said the video-
translation service provides a
true picture of the news as
consumed by Arab audiences -
not tailored for Western viewers.
