The Channel | 2002 | June

12 / 22

the channel | 13
Global Brief
The latest news from the international broadcasting industry
for the use of a 36MHz C-band transponder
on AsiaSat 2.
The new capacity is currently used to
transmit three Arabic television channels
named Dubai EDTV, Dubai Business Channel
and Dubai Sports Channel, as well as two
radio channels in digital free to air format
to viewers and listeners across AsiaSat 2’s
huge C-band footprint. It is expected that
more UAERTV-Dubai television and radio
services will be added in the near future.
UAERTV-Dubai is the leading Arab
broadcaster, commanding a vast Arab-
speaking audience and viewership of tens
of millions across the globe.
News World Asia will return to Singapore
in July 31-August 2, 2002 to address the
most pressing editorial, ethical and
technological issues facing broadcast,
online and print journalism today.
It’s been a dramatic and a challenging year
for journalists the world over. In Asia, the
issues remain as pressing as ever. News
World Asia’s Chairman of the Board of
Advisers, Alexander Thomson says,
“Whether it’s China’s relentless surge on
the world’s stage with their acceptance into
the WTO and the staging of the 2008
Olympics, the rise of the Arabic media or
the ever-changing media landscape in
Southeast Asia, News World Asia will once
again provide an unparalleled forum to
address the most demanding issues and
attempt to provide some answers.” The
event is to be staged at the successful 2001
venue - Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel,
between 31 July and 2 August.
This year’s main News World conference
will take place in Dublin, at the Burlington
Hotel, November 19-21.
MTV has launched a regional service in
Indonesia. The new service went live in
May, and is available via terrestrial
television. Local programming for the
Indonesian market are supplemented by
MTV’s signature global events and music-
related content.
“Indonesia is the fourth most populous
country in the world,” says Peter Bullard,
senior vice-president and managing
director, MTV South-East Asia. “It is a very
important market to MTV Asia.”
Initially available in the five key cities of
Jakarta, Bandung, Semarang, Surabaya and
Medan, the initial audience is estimated
at 15 million households. MTV Indonesia
is aired through local TV company, Global
TV.
Deutsche Welle plans regional initiatives
Germany’s international radio, television and online broadcasters, Deutsche Welle, plans
to focus its programmes in future more on the process of European integration and the
potential EU accession candidates of central, eastern and south-eastern Europe. DW will
also place more emphasis on the countries and societies of the Islamic world with competent
contributions to promote intercultural understanding. In addition, DW intends to
‘regionalize ’its journalistic efforts to reflect the geographical and strategic importance of
specific areas of the world and gear its electronic transmissions to the technical
circumstances available in these media markets. These are key aims in the repositioning
of Germany’s international broadcasting service, DW Director-General Erik Bettermann
has announced. The DW supervisory board has already unanimously approved the concept.
Mr. Bettermann held extensive talks with all DW
departments shortly after taking office to discuss his aims.
These have been documented in a comprehensive DW
profile. “The profile is essentially the ‘Magna Charta ’of
information competence for DW staff members and a
central resource for assuring DW’s future in the 21 century,
” Mr. Bettermann stressed. As examples of improved
“regional competence, ”the Director-General pointed to
plans to set up a DW-TV format for Afghanistan in the
local Pashto and Dari languages, to the introduction of
programmes subtitled in Arabic for North Africa and the
Middle East, and, if funding can be secured, the launch of Russian language programmes
for Russia and the CIS countries.
“The regional concept is like a ‘red thread ’winding its w y through a wide range of
programme changes at DW-RADIO for strategically relevant target areas, such as China,
India or certain parts of Africa,” Mr. Bettermann said. Parallel to these developments,
DW-WORLD. DE, the DW website in 31 languages, will be “…developed and expanded
further as an independent journalistic resource,” he said. Bettermann went on to say that
he expected the government to conduct “a substantive debate on strategies, aims and
appropriate financing for Germany’s international broadcasting service. ”Last but not
least, with amendments to the DW law coming up in 2003, “we want to ‘sharpen ’our
programme mission, ”the Director-General said. One of the cornerstones: To extend that
mission beyond the traditional task of providing a comprehensive picture of Germany to
include information about world events and issues as well as developments in the specific
target regions.
Meanwhile, DW—TV has celebrated a first, small anniversary. Ten years ago, onApril 2,
1992, German International Television began broadcasting. At reception to mark this
jubilee in Berlin, Christoph Lanz, Director of DW-TV, said that programming from
Germany today was “without doubt a worldwide recognised brand among international
information providers.
“DW-TV was an outstanding example of
“pure information competence,” Mr. Lanz
said. DW-TV was initially launched as a
six-hour, then a 14-hour, programme in
German, English and Spanish. The next
target was reached on July 1, 1995:a full
24-hour programme. In 1996, DW-TV was
first beamed via the AsiaSat 2 satellite, a
decisive step tow rd a global technical
presence. In the meantime, German
International Television is available to more
than 137 million households on all
continents. Some 22 million viewers
worldwide regularly watch the programmes.
A first revamping of DW-TV programming was introduced onApril 1, 1997. The essential
changes included an expansion of the news segment and a redesign of the broadcast
tableau. The re-positioning of DW-TV was launched under the motto “At the heart of
Europe” on January 1, 1999. Since then, DW-TV has been an information programme
with a focus on news, magazines, features and documentaries. Together with this re-
positioning, Mr. Lanz said, it has also been possible to “increase the importance of DW-
TV as an advertising platform for businesses interested in projecting a global image.”
Erik Betterman, Deutsche Welle
Director-General