4 February 2014
SatLink Communications, a global teleport, content management and HD playout services provider, has announced it has been extended its agreement with global channel, Fashion TV (FTV), for the global playout, content management and distribution of its HD and SD channels. As a part of the agreement, SatLink will distribute FTV’s content via satellite to Asia on AsiaSat3S, America on IS805 C-Band platform and to Europe on the new Hotbird DVB-S2 platform, which provides cost effective HD contribution to the Cable, Satellite and Pay TV Markets in the region.
The extension of SatLink and FTV’s relationship comes following the successful implementation of FTV’s HD Asian feed by providing playout and uplinking of FTV’s content to the AsiaSat-5 satellite located at 100.5° East to reach out to Asia’s Pay TV platforms across the continent including India, China and Indonesia in July 2013.
SatLink will be providing FTV with full HD and SD Playout services from its centre in Tel Aviv, Israel. For FTV’s HD feed to America, SatLink will be providing space and uplinking to IS805 C-band platform, which is located at 55.5° West and covers both North and South America. The IS805 satellite will enable FTV to extend its reach into the American market and is widely used for contribution to the Pay TV market, including DTH, cable and IPTV services. SatLink will be providing a second Asian feed to FTV with SD playout and uplinking to the Asiasat3S satellite at 105.5° East.
Across Europe, FTV will be utilising SatLink’s new Hotbird DVB-S2 platform to support the contribution of HD channels to the European cable, satellite and Pay TV platforms. The new DVB-S2 platform offers powerful wide beam coverage to Europe enabling a cost-effective solution for video contribution to the region and providing the highest audience penetration across Europe.
SatLink will also be provided FTV with content delivery to the Israeli local Pay-TV’s YES and HOT via a Fibre link. All services will be encrypted via a Viaccess system and SatLink is providing full technical support to FTV customers to ensure a smooth transition of the services.
Working together to provide FTV’s viewers with the latest interactive solutions to cater for their dynamic viewing habits, SatLink is also developing customised services for the seamless operations of FTV’s 4k broadcasting services and OTT and VOD solutions.
“As visionaries in the broadcasting market, I am constantly looking for new ways to extend our audience reach through innovative and reliable solutions. As our audience continues to grow and demand higher quality content across different platforms we needed to find a technical partner that was not only able to meet our requirements but work alongside us to develop creative new solutions to help us engage with our viewers” said Michel Adam, President and Founder of FTV. “We selected SatLink as our global partner because, following our highly successful engagement with them on the playout of our HD content on AsiaSat5 last year, we knew them to be reliable and offer a high quality service. We knew we had to change our satellite distribution partner and SatLink is the perfect match for FTV as we share the same creative ethos and strive to further enhance the viewing experience for audiences across the globe. Fashiontv was also motivated to consolidate its operations with SatLink, as we both share the vision to develop 4K broadcasting. Since January 2014, Fashiontv has switched all its productions to 4K, and is launching its VOD and Linear 4K channels by May to coincide with the Cannes Film Festival.”
David Hochner, CEO of SatLink Communications, said: “This is an exciting partnership and we are honoured that Fashion TV have chosen us as their global distribution partner. Having worked together since last year we know that we are able to successfully co-operate with one another to deliver a robust and reliable service that meets FTV’s requirements. As FTV’s audience continues to grow and they develop more innovative services for their viewers, SatLink will be alongside them to support this growth and ensure that we provide the advanced technical solutions that are required to make their vision a reality.”
3 February 2014
Euronews registered record viewing figures on YouTube in 2013, with 13.6 million unique viewers* in the month of December and an overall rise of 160% in its viewing figures over the year*. This new record makes Euronews the world’s no.1 news media on YouTube. *Figures Comscore VideoMetrix – December 2013
It was on the occasion of the MIPTV conference in April 2013 that Michael Peters, CEO of Euronews, unveiled the YouTube strategy and the original content channel, Euronews Knowledge. At the time, Euronews was the 3rd most watched news channel on the video sharing platform, so the objective then was to become number one within a year. The objective was achieved in just 8 months; furthermore, between December 2012 and December 2013, Euronews’ YouTube hits jumped by 160%.
Damien Marchi, Director of Product Marketing and Innovation, stated: “I’m very proud of the Euronews YouTube teams led by Mikhail Konrad, Senior Product Manager YouTube . The objective was achieved thanks to their motivation, expertise and collaboration with all the Euronews editorial and technical teams.”
At the same time, another element came to reinforce the non-linear strategy of Euronews as the news organisation became the second media outlet in Europe to be certified by YouTube for its expertise in the creation and management of YouTube channels. As a certified Multi-Channel Network, Euronews can make its know-how available to partners who want to launch on YouTube or improve their current performance. This service is accessible via Euronews Network and is designed for partners and clients of Euronews. (Source: Press release)
www.youtube.com/euronews
3 February 2014
SES S.A. announces that the SES-8 satellite has been successfully co-positioned with SES’s NSS-6 satellite at the orbital location of 95 degrees East and is now fully operational to serve the thriving markets in the Asia-Pacific region.
SES-8 was launched on December 3, 2013 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on board a SpaceX/Falcon 9 booster in SpaceX’s maiden launch into geostationary transfer orbit. Since then, extensive in-orbit tests have confirmed the flawless functioning of the spacecraft.
SES-8 was manufactured by Orbital Sciences Corporation. The satellite features up to 33 Ku-band transponders (36 MHz equivalent) and is equipped with high performance beams to support the rapidly growing markets in South Asia and Indo-China, as well as to provide expansion capacity for DTH, VSAT and government applications.Through the co-location with NSS-6 at 95 degrees East, SES-8 not only provides incremental high performance capacity, notably for DTH services, but also delivers greater reliability and additional security for SES’s customers at that orbital position.
27 January 2014
In 18 months time, Euronews will have a sister channel in Africa. In partnership with the national television channel of the Republic of the Congo, Euronews will bring to Africa its unique know-how as a multi-lingual and multi-cultural news channel, broadcasting around the clock. Starting with English and French, and then adding other languages widely-spoken on the continent, Africanews aims to become the first Pan-African rolling news channel. The headquarters will be in Brazzaville and regional offices will be set up across the continent. Africanews will adhere to the same editorial charter as Euronews, guaranteeing its independence. The two networks will share their news, creating a synergy that will give Africa its rightful place in the world of news and give the world the latest news from the continent.
Lyon, France – Monday 27 January 2014 – Michael Peters, CEO of Euronews S.A., and Jean Obambi, Managing Director of Télé Congo, signed on Saturday 25 January in Congo Brazzaville a cooperation agreement for the launch of a Pan-African news channel to be known as Africanews. Under the auspices of the President of the Republic of the Congo, Mr. Denis Sassou Nguesso, they formalised the partnership that will lead to the launch in the summer of 2015 of a bilingual news channel in French and English, to be followed by other major languages of the continent (Portuguese, Arabic, Swahili, etc.). The headquarters will be in Brazzaville and regional offices will be set up across the continent.
Euronews, the top news channel in Europe, has developed a unique know-how in broadcasting. The channel produces 13 different language versions, 24/7. Its programmes are created by a newsroom of more than 400 journalists of 30 nationalities, and reach 400 million households in 155 countries.
At the signing of the agreement for Africanews, Michael Peters stated: “Twenty 20 years after the launch of Euronews, we are breaking new ground in the world of news. Since 1993, Euronews has covered global news from a European perspective, speaking to viewers in their language. The company’s multinational shareholder base gives the channel the independence and the means to inform viewers without promoting any particular viewpoint. Its global success in terms of viewer numbers is proof of the channel’s professionalism and its ability to integrate diversity.
Euronews has the experience, the reputation and the resources necessary to convey this model which respects the values and value of different cultures. It is precisely this model of tolerance in a world of diversity that we hope to share with Africa, via Africanews, the first independent and multilingual news channel on the continent.
Africanews is different from existing channels because it aims to give Africa its rightful place in the world of news and to give the world the latest news from the continent which is itself a news market, in the same way and at the same level as other regions of the world.
Our strategic and highly ambitious project will not be a mere African “window” made by Euronews, as most international news channels do, but rather a full-fledged Pan-African network, with editorial choices made by Africans for an African audience.
To develop this project, we were lucky to have the help of Stephen Smith, a recognized specialist on Africa (see below: Stephen Smith and Africanews). Stephen, former Africa Editor for two French daily newspapers Libération then Le Monde, is providing advice and recommendations for the editorial and strategic aspects of Africanews.
The public television channel Télé Congo decided to join us in this adventure. Our teams will now begin the preliminary studies and organisational work to be ready to launch Africanews in 2015.
We take great pride in announcing this emblematic cooperation project and we are eager to launch this new player on the world media scene,” he added.
What will Africanews be like?
Africanews will produce news content focused on Pan-African news, for its television channel and related products, both linear and non linear (see below: Africanews in other media formats).
Africanews will have a team of 40 professional journalists and technicians based in Brazzaville, covering sub-Saharan news thanks to its regional offices and a vast pool of correspondents around the continent.
As soon as the channel begins broadcasting, flagship programmes and special reports will help give Africanews its truly African identity.
Africanews will freely choose, use and adapt the international news content produced by Euronews to create programmes for its own viewers. In the same way, Euronews will be able to pick up productions from its sister channel in Africa to round out the programmes it broadcasts around the world. Thanks to this synergy, Africa will benefit from wider international exposure as it becomes a key feature in the Euronews editorial line-up.
In keeping with the Euronews model, Africanews will be available from the start in both French and English. The goal is to then expand to include the other widely-spoken languages in Africa (Portuguese, Arabic, Swahili, etc.), making it accessible to the largest number of African viewers.
The news teams at Africanews and at Euronews in Europe will adhere to the same editorial charter.
For all of its news teams, Euronews is the absolute guarantor of editorial independence and is responsible for the hiring of journalists; it continually monitors full compliance with the editorial charter.
Will Africanews be available in other media formats?
The content of Africanews will benefit from the extensive know-how of Euronews, making it as widely and easily accessible as possible for all types of users.
Starting with linear formats, offering TV broadcasts 24/7, live streaming of the channel on the internet, and then with live mobile applications and perhaps digital radio programmes.
The non-linear formats will start right away with the website www.africanews.com and then gradually move into specific mobile applications, following the latest trends in media consumption on the continent.
For example, Euronews, at the cutting edge of mobile applications, has been selected by Nokia to be included in its new operating system, S40, soon to be released in Africa, one of the most dynamic markets for mobile phones.
Africanews will be accessible to a large number of people on the continent thanks to rebroadcasts by local partners and operators, with the support and expertise of Euronews’ international teams.
What is the business model for Africanews?
Africanews will be based on a model financed by advertising. It will then be able to develop by adding new public and private partners, in particular for the set-up of its regional offices around Africa and for adding new languages.
Advertising opportunities on Africanews will enable African and international advertisers to reach the African audience via a complete communication package: advertisements spread across the 24-hour schedule will cover all time zones and all formats including Africanews.com and then mobile applications, along with opportunities for sponsorship of TV and key online programmes (business, special reports, weather…) or linked to business and cultural events covered by the Africanews team of journalists.
Stephen Smith and the Africanews project
Recognised around the world for his expertise in African affairs, Stephen Smith supported Euronews from the very beginning of this ground-breaking project to develop an African media network. He worked with the Euronews management team in all phases of building the project. His advice and recommendations range from editorial aspects to strategy for Africanews. In close coordination with the Euronews teams, Stephen Smith will participate in creating the channel and ensuring its future development.
Stephen Smith, an American journalist, is most noted for his work as Africa Editor for Libération (1988-2000) and then for Le Monde (2000-2005), having earlier served as African correspondent for Reuters and RFI. He has written some 15 books and academic publications on the subject of Africa and, since 2007, has taught African Studies at Duke University in the United States.
27 January 2014
Sunset+Vine, the multi-award winning UK independent TV sports production and media company, has today announced the opening of a new Asia operation to take advantage of the growing TV sports production market in South East Asia. Headquartered in Singapore, Sunset+Vine Asia will be headed by Huw Bevan, who has been released by Fox International Channels to take on the Managing Director role.
Huw who has worked in Asia for a total of 15 years, the last 10 of which were as Senior Vice President, Production for Fox International Channels and previously ESPN STAR Sports (ESS) will be responsible for establishing the Sunset+Vine Asia business across the region. The new business is expected to be operational towards the end of January, subject to the conclusion of formal registration procedures with the local authorities.
Sunset+Vine, part of The Tinopolis Group, was set up in 1983 and is now a leading independent supplier of sports programming to broadcasters in the UK and overseas. It was recently appointed as primary production partner for BT Sport (UK) and produces the channel’s live English Premier League Football and Aviva Premiership Rugby matches and all support programming. In 2013 it was awarded a BAFTA for “Best Sport and Live Event” in relation to its ground-breaking coverage of The London 2012 Paralympic Games. In 2014, Sunset+Vine will be Host Broadcaster of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Jeff Foulser, Chairman of Sunset+Vine, said: “It is clear that South East Asia presents some significant opportunities for Sunset+Vine in the production around big sports events and we feel that now is the right time to establish a dedicated operation in the region.
“In Huw, we have identified the ideal person, with the established network, relevant business experience and local market knowledge to spread Sunset+Vine’s reputation for creative production excellence to a new audience. In Singapore, we have a vibrant place to do business and a perfect location to reach out to the rest of South East Asia.”
Huw Bevan, the newly appointed Managing Director of Sunset+Vine, added: “I am excited to be joining such a well-respected and dynamic media outfit. I am proud to have been afforded the honour of managing the company’s first office outside of the UK. Thanks to my experience with Fox International channels and previously with ESS, I have been fortunate to witness the great growth that has taken place in Sports Production across the region.
“With more Asian sports events, TV channels and platforms catering for increasingly knowledgeable sports fans, the opportunity to showcase Sunset+Vine’s unique production and programme-making skills is something which I know will be particularly appealing to this market.”
