3 September 2013
Broadcasting Board of Governors Chairman Jeffrey Shell today announced that distinguished journalist and broadcast executive Kevin Klose has accepted an offer, unanimously supported by the BBG, to serve as President and CEO of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
In its capacity as RFE/RL’s corporate board of directors, the BBG had hired Klose as Acting President in January 2013. Meeting today with RFE/RL leadership and staff at the organization’s headquarters in Prague, Shell noted that the entire board approved a multi-year contract for Klose, to be reviewed annually.
“Kevin Klose’s seasoning in international media — here and over his entire career — makes him the right person to carry out this critical mission,” Shell said. ”His stewardship as brought steady progress. We look forward to working with Kevin and the talented team at RFE/RL to bring news and information to priority countries from Iran to Russia and across Eurasia.”
Klose said, “As great an honor as it was for me to return to the Radios in January, I am even more excited to take this opportunity to lead RFE/RL as it continues its digital transformation while building on its hard-earned reputation for extraordinary, fact-based journalism.”
Klose was president of NPR from 1998 to 2008, and named President Emeritus in 2008. Before joining NPR, he directed the International Broadcasting Bureau at the U.S. Information Agency from 1997-1998. Klose first joined RFE/RL in 1992 as director of its Radio Liberty division, and as president of the network from 1994 to 1997 oversaw its relocation from Munich to Prague. Prior to this, he was an editor and reporter for The Washington Post for 25 years, including posts as Moscow bureau chief, city editor and deputy national editor. Klose is currently a tenured professor at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland and served as dean of the journalism college from April 2009 to July 2012. He will be on leave from his faculty position while serving at RFE/RL. He earned a B.A. from Harvard and is the author of five books, including Russia and the Russians: Inside the Closed Society.
“Kevin has extensive experience in transformational leadership and has brought important changes to this highly respected media organization,” said BBG member Susan McCue, who serves as the RFE/RL board’s vice chair and spearheaded the effort to recruit Klose earlier this year. “I have full faith in his ability to move things forward. We are grateful that he could take an extended leave from the University of Maryland to remain at the helm of RFE/RL.”
Upon accepting the position in January, Klose said he was eager to lend a hand, adding, “I look forward to re-connecting with many friends in Prague and Russia and to working with the entire RFE/RL team.”
2 September 2013
SatLink Communications Ltd., a leading teleport, Content Management & HD Playout Centre, has today announced that SatLink has been selected by i24 News for the global distribution of its three international news channels. The new 24/7 broadcaster will utilise Satlink’s comprehensive satellite and fibre distribution network to deliver its multi-lingual channels across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia, as well as providing other services including: production, Satellite News Gathering (SNG), Occasional Use coordination, fibres to the UN buildings in New York, to Gaza and Ramallah and content monitoring. The i24 News channels launched on 17th July 2013and are broadcasting live news reports throughout the day alongside interviews and analysis. Broadcasting three different channels in three languages; English, French and Arabic, SatLink is providing ground services and satellite capacity to Asia on AsiaSat 5 over DVB-S2, to Europe & the Middle East on Hotbird 13˚E on Ku-band and Canal + bouquet on Astra 19.2˚E on Ku band, and the CanalSat Afrique bouquet to North Africa on SES 4 on Ku-band.
As a new player in the market, i24 needed a satellite communications partner that was able to support them in delivering fast, reliable news from the Middle East to a global audience.
i24 News will also be taking advantage of SatLink’s Content Monitoring solution, a service, which monitors all of the news feeds in the Middle East in Arabic, Farsi and English and provides reports and analysis direct to i24 of all of the current news emerging from the region. In addition, SatLink’s Occasional Use (OU) services will enable the swift and cost effective delivery of bundled, end-to-end solutions including production, SNG’S, OU satellite capacity, global fibre optic network, streaming and added value services.
i24 News channel will be joining SatLink’s growing bouquet of broadcast & transmission suite of services for leading international news broadcasters and agencies such as Thomson Reuters, AP, France 24, and euronews.
Frank Melloul, CEO at i24News commented: “We were looking for a global provider and partner to help us deliver high quality broadcast content to audiences across the globe. With SatLink we have found a partner that shares our passion of offering a fresh view of the world; that looks beyond the headlines and uses uncompromising journalism to explore multiple perspectives. With SatLink’s support, international reach and advanced technology, we are looking forward to setting new standards and expectations in news broadcasting.”
David Hochner, CEO of SatLink, commented: “We are delighted and proud to be part of the i24 news international launch. We are committed to offering the highest quality global news delivery via our extensive global satellite and fibre network, backed up with our in-depth knowledge and experience in offering content production and news delivery over the Internet to any device 24 hours a day. We’re looking forward to a long and prosperous partnership with i24news.” (Source: SatLink press release)
30 August 2013
BBC Burmese radio programmes – Mobigeno (Mobile Generation) and the English-learning series Flatmates – will now be available for listening on FM in Burma (Myanmar), thanks to a re-broadcasting agreement with the country’s leading radio network, Padamyar FM. This is a first for the BBC in Burma.
The Padamyar FM network, which is available in 120 towns across Burma, will now re-broadcast two BBC Burmese programmes which have a special appeal to younger audiences. The 10-minute Mobigeno – a programme for “mobile generation”, in which successful young professionals, artists and sports personalities share their experiences and aspirations – will be broadcast at 10.25am local time every Saturday. Flatmates, the 5-minute radio soap opera for English-learners, will be broadcast at 13.55 on Sundays and Thursdays.
Editor of BBC Burmese, Tin Htar Swe, says: “With the internet not readily available in Burma, FM is an important and very popular platform in the country. We are really thrilled to be expanding our reach via Padamyar FM’s extensive network. This is also an exciting development for our listeners who can now tune in to BBC Burmese in crystal-clear FM quality.”
Thida Swe, Assistant Director of Padamyar FM, adds: “We see the re-broadcasting partnership with the BBC as a milestone for our network. And while we are proud to be the first to deliver the BBC Burmese radio on FM in Myanmar, we are also happy that these programmes help the country’s youth to better themselves and their chances for success – via inspirational stories from their peers, and also by improving their English.”
BBC World Service is a mass broadcaster in Burma. Independent surveys show that BBC Burmese has established itself as a trusted international broadcaster in Burma. BBC Burmese keeps its audiences informed about regional and international events via radio, online on bbcburmese.com and increasingly via Facebook and other social media.
29 August 2013
Intelsat S.A. (NYSE: I), the world’s leading provider of satellite services, and Japan-based SoftBank Mobile Corp. today announced the successful trial of a cost-effective, rural 3G mobile phone service in Kenya. Intelsat supported the demonstration through capacity on the Intelsat 10 satellite and via the company’s teleport in Fuchsstadt, Germany.
The demonstration reinforced Intelsat’s ability to deliver a high throughput, managed VSAT-based 3G solution through the allocation of capacity based on traffic demands. Intelsat’s fleet and IntelsatOne terrestrial network were instrumental in enabling the deployment in rural Kenya, an area of Africa not supported by traditional land line infrastructure.
“There are still hundreds of millions of people who live outside mobile network coverage areas today,” said Junichi Miyakawa, executive vice president, director & CTO of SoftBank Mobile. “Harnessing SoftBank’s technology in rural parts of the world literally matches our corporate philosophy, ‘Information Revolution – Happiness for everyone.’ I hope this technology will make communication even more free and convenient for people around the world.”
“The successful field trial of a cost-effective, managed VSAT-based, rural 3G service delivery solution is an excellent example of the collaborative innovation that our industry requires to properly support the demands of its end users,” said Intelsat vice president of network services product management Steve Good.
“We are confident that technology advancements, such as this and our Intelsat EpicNG platform, will allow mobile operators to provide reliable, ubiquitous support to their most remote users, and provide a robust broadband infrastructure as networks upgrade from 2G to 3G, and eventually to 4G via satellite.”
SoftBank Mobile also utilizes the Intelsat 8 satellite and a managed service offering via the IntelsatOne terrestrial network for the delivery of cellular and data backhaul services to its customers across the southern islands of Japan. The agreement enables SoftBank Mobile to expand its service area and enhance the company’s offerings to customers in this geographically dispersed section of Japan.
25 July 2013
Box TV and WRN Broadcast today announce a partnership that sees Box TV’s music portfolio available across the globe. The move signals a confident step forward for Box TV, the biggest music television player in the UK, accelerating its robust distribution strategy with WRN Broadcast’s cutting edge cloud-based broadcast technology solution – a key new element of the company’s OTT offering announced at NAB 2013 in April.
Box TV’s network features seven premium music channels including Kiss, 4Music, Kerrang!, The Box, Magic, Smash Hits and heat. Each channel has its own personality catering for every music enthusiast with original and innovative programming. Kiss, Kerrang! Magic, Smash Hits and The Box have already launched successfully in new territories.
Scott Monks, Box TV’s director of international said: “Box TV has already secured carriage on a number of key television platforms across the world. Demand has also been particularly high from small and medium sized platforms. However, physically accessing the channels from the UK was a problem for some and we required a fast, innovative and cost effective distribution solution. WRN Broadcast’s Alto Cloud solution solves this issue for us. If a platform has good IP connectivity they can receive our premium channels in broadcast quality anywhere in the world. It’s great to see the portfolio reaching new and emerging audiences which is really at the heart of our plans to make Box TV borderless.”
David Treadway, CEO, WRN Broadcast commented: “Our new range of OTT delivery services are proving a fantastic way of delivering content to a global market and the tailored Alto Cloud solution for Box TV is a perfect example of this. WRN Broadcast continues to listen to it’s clients in order to better assist them in meeting their business and broadcasting objectives. We look forward to continuing our work with Box TV and watching the continued success of the network on a global scale.”
Box TV’s seven channels are available via WRN Broadcast’s ground-breaking technology now.
(Source: WRN Broadcast press release)
