The Channel | 2002 | June

20 / 22

the channel | 21
Broadcast Technology
“Tektronix is to blame!” That’s the verdict from web publishers Phil Sandberg and
Hugh Salmon on , the free online library of broadcast technical
papers launched by the pair in February 2000 and now used by around 20,000
broadcast professionals every month.
“Our background is in broadcast industry print titles,” says Sandberg. “Aside from
the usual news and product updates, we used to see quite a number of technology
whitepapers submitted for publication - and of these Tektronix was the most prolific
producer. Unfortunately, we just didn’t have the real estate to accommodate them.”
“That’s where the Internet came in,” says Salmon, “but the Internet isn’t a magazine
- or radio or television for that matter - its present strength still lies in storing and
transmitting information. So, we settled on a library concept.”
A totally free service, the library concept encompasses
topics as diverse as digital asset management, audio,
radio, post-production, HDTV, interactive TV,
transmission and more. The whitepapers on
are sourced from equipment
manufacturers, consultants and conferences around
the world.
Among those conferences is IBC2002, which has
engaged as official online host
for this year’s presentations. In the months prior to
IBC, will provide potential
attendees with access to abstracts of white papers
being presented at the conference.This will be followed post-show with provision
for access to conference presentations in their entirety.
According to IBC Conference Chairman Martin Salter, “IBC2002 promises to be
the best yet. Our theme for this year, ‘a year’s knowledge in one show’, highlights
the richness of the IBC event. We are pleased that the wealth of top class
knowledge that exists within the IBC Conference Programme will now be available
at the highly regarded Broadcastpapers.comweb site.”The IBC content agreement
follows landmark official recognition by digital TV standards body, the DVB Group.
According to Phil Sandberg, this endorsement vindicates Broadcastpapers’
commitment to sourcing the latest in digital broadcasting information.“In addition
to radio and audio,” he says, “we are standards agnostic when it comes to digital
TVmaterial.However, we think the sheer number of whitepapers we have covering
DVB/MHP can only be a reflection of interest in the standard.” In addition to
whitepapers, the site also offers access to software plug-ins, calculation tools
and updates with its service.
“Like the whitepapers collection,” says Hugh Salmon, “Broadcastdownloads is a
library, but instead of documents, it features links back to software on the web sites
of technology developers. The overall aim of the site is to save time for industry
professionals as they collect the information they need in making decisions for their
operations. And did we mention it’s free?”
For more, visit
One-stop broadcast reference GlobeCast gets
fashionable
GlobeCast has leased capacity on
HISPASAT for the launch of a new digital
DTH distribution platform targeting cable
headends and DTH households across
Latin America from its Americas gateway
in Madrid.
Eurosport News and Real MadridTV are
among the flagship networks to join the
new DTH community on HISPASAT. A
wide range of international channels
from Europe and the Middle East will
soon be announced.
Of the 15 million homes in Latin America
that have multi-channel cable television,
more than 8 million receive programming
broadcast via HISPASAT satellites, a
market penetration of 55%.
GlobeCast has also announced the
launch of NETwork interactive
TeleVision, the first exclusively French-
language Ku-band bouquet to DTH
households in Sub-Saharan Africa.
NETwork interactiveTeleVision joins two
existing bouquets in Africa - Multichoice
and CFI¹s Le Sat.
GlobeCast provides the service from its
new digital platform based in Madrid on
W4 at 36° East. This enables
broadcasters to reach a very large target
audience in Sub-Saharan Africa by
offering co-location with Multichoice, the
leading pay-TV operator in Africa, with
over 50 established television and digital
music channels broadcast in more than
30 countries.
GlobeCast has begun delivery of
Fashion TV in North America via the
GlobeCast Digital DTHWorld Television
Service on Telstar 5.
Produced in France, Fashion TV is a 24-
hour international television network
dedicated to programming the best in
fashion coverage. To distribute Fashion
TV in America, GlobeCast is providing
24/7 end-to-end channel distribution,
including signal turnaround in Miami
from GlobeCast capacity on NSS 806,
fiber backhaul over GlobeCast¹s North
America ATM network to the Telstar 5
gateway in New York, uplink and digital
space capacity on Telstar 5, plus
Nagravision encryption. Additionally,
GlobeCast is supporting consumer
access through decoder/dish sales and
subscription management by way of the
company¹s owned-and-operated World
TV Call Center in Miami.
SMS for the Broadcasting Industry
Mobile communications provider Portalscape has launched its product TXTbox to
enable mass SMS text messaging. Handling over one million messages a day, TXTbox
provides customer acquisition solutions inherent to marketing campaigns, CRM,
entertainment, commerce and content delivery.
It enables companies to reach their target audience anytime and anywhere, while at
the same time allowing consumers to personalise the services they would like to
receive, such as competitions and voting. Portalscape can provide solutions to enable
the broadcasting company to create highly targeted marketing campaigns, as well as
empower the target customer to feedback pertinent information on their viewing
preferences.
With the TXTbox companies can instantly advertise, promote, contact and interact
with their target market. Portalscape CEO, DavidWainwright said: “SMS has become
the perfect marketing medium - it’s instant, trusted and personal.”