20 September 2012
Brazil‘s leading broadcaster joins MyGlobeTV’s lineup of international and thematic content
TV Globo International has signed an agreement with GlobeCast, a leading provider of media management and global content delivery services, to join its MyGlobeTV platform.
MyGlobeTV is a television bouquet that brings international and thematic audiovisual content directly to subscribers in theUnited States. In contrast to WorldTV, GlobeCast’s direct-to-home satellite offering, with MyGlobeTV all viewers need is a broadband Internet connection and a MyGlobeTV set-top box; no satellite dish is required.
Launched in July, MyGlobeTV is currently composed of 16 Romanian channels and there are plans to rapidly expand the lineup to include further communities, attracting a large variety of niche audience groups.
“We’re very pleased to welcome TV Globo to our MyGlobeTV platform. GlobeCast Americas launched MyGlobeTV to provide an innovative, user-friendly, and unique way for communities of viewers in theAmericasto access their content,” said GlobeCast Americas CEO Lisa Coelho. “With MyGlobeTV, the significant and growing community of Brazilians and Portuguese speakers in the US and indeed any viewers with a broadband connection, will be able to watch TV Globo International and follow the news in real time — as well as live sports, soap operas, miniseries, children’s programs, and entertainment.”
“We are very happy with this new partnership,” said Raphael Correa Netto, Head of International Sales at TV Globo. “Now, more Brazilians and Portuguese speakers in theUnited Stateswill be able to watch Globo´s programs delivered via broadband. This system gives more mobility so that fans of our telenovelas, documentaries, and entertainment shows can follow their favorite programs.”
18 September 2012
The Board of Supervisors of Radio Netherlands Worldwide has appointed William Valkenburg (47) editor-in-chief as of 1 January 2013. Mr Valkenburg will set out the new course for the organisation with the recently appointed director general Robert Zaal. RNW will focus on free speech in countries where press freedom is limited and William Valkenburg will take responsibility for journalism within the organisation, he succeeds Rik Rensen.
Chairman of the Supervisory Board Bernard Bot is pleased with the appointment of Mr Valkenburg: “The organisation is now ready for a new future. His extensive experience of journalism and journalistic innovation, new media and change processes makes William is the right man at the right time.”
William Valkenburg: “The new organisation faces the challenge of reaching young people in the most difficult countries and giving them a taste of new media freedom. The opportunities are greater than ever before. I am looking forward to seeking original and creative ways to fulfil this brief with our experienced journalists and producers.”
For the last 25 years, Mr Valkenburg has worked as a journalist and manager at commercial and public broadcasting stations Veronica, VARA and NOS/NPO. His past functions include editor-in-chief of consumer programme Kassa and he is founder of the internet service Uitzending Gemist, which enables people to watch TV programmes they have missed online. Up until the beginning of the year William Valkenburg was director general of Internet & Innovatie at the Netherlands Public Broadcasting organisation (NPO). He is currently involved in innovation and change projects in the healthcare sector.
As of 2013, Radio Netherlands Worldwide’s main focus will be on Africa and the Arab World, as well as countries like China,Cuba and Venezuela.
18 September 2012
Deutsche Welle has signed an agreement with the United Nations expanding their cooperation. It is the latest development in a partnership set up five years ago.
DW Director General Erik Bettermann and UN Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal signed a broadcast agreement on Monday at the UN headquarters in New York, aimed at boosting cooperation in the field of media.
Launsky-Tieffenthal said that “we at the UN are glad that we can build upon our long-term cooperation with Deutsche Welle, which is based on trust. This agreement lets us further expand and deepen that cooperation.”
Speaking for Deutsche Welle, Bettermann stressed that “the promotion of human rights, participation and democratization is a central aspect of our multimedia programming in 30 languages, just as it is for the UN. Cooperation between DW and the UN is particularly important for us because of this shared sense of purpose. We will be glad to continue working together in the future as well.”
The agreement enables DW to supplement its television programming with materials from UN-produced documentaries. DW welcomes this as a way of enriching its internationally-focused television series like World Stories with new perspectives and high-quality reporting from around the world.
Available in English, Spanish and Arabic, World Stories draws on content from DW’s premium partners and presents highly captivating stories around the globe.
DW’s globalization magazine Global 3000, broadcast in German, English, Spanish and Arabic, is a prime example of this cooperation: Deutsche Welle has been able to include selected UN materials in the program, and, in turn, the UN’s television station, UNTV, has broadcast Global 3000 since the partnership was set up in 2007.
Beyond television, bilateral cooperation has grown in many other fields in the past five years including media partnership for UN events, media workshops ahead of the Copenhagen climate summit, involving UN experts in DW’s annual conference Global Media Forum, and integrating UN-relevant topics into DW’s multimedia projects such as Education for All, Voices from Today – Ideas for Tomorrow, or the educational program Learning by Ear for Africa.
Moreover, DW Akademie has opened its media training programs to UN staff. In cooperation with UNESCO, it conducted a series of training projects at universities in Morocco, Kenya andSouth Africa, and on behalf of the UNDP, DW Akademie provides media training to parliamentarians from Moldova. This year it is also planning radio workshops for UN reporters based in Darfur.
11 September 2012
never.no and Vizrt Inc. announce a partnership to bring a comprehensive suite of social media tools to the broadcast industry. These tools engage the audience while providing broadcasters the means to take full advantage of this new source of content and user data.
With the partnership between Vizrt and never.no, broadcasters now have the tools to embrace social user generated content (UGC) and integrate it easily, flexibly, and seamlessly within Vizrtgraphics and multiplatform distribution workflows. Together, Vizrt—the world leader in real-time 3D graphics and never.no—the world leader in social TV solutions—are bringing to market an unmatched end-to-end solution for merging social media into the existing automated broadcast production pipeline.
With never.no technology, broadcasters can monitor, filter, approve and harvest—tweets, SMS, MMS, RSS feeds, Facebook posts — all kinds of content cascading from the many new social media platforms. They can build playlists or carousels of select social content they want to push to air. The never.no user interface empowers broadcasters with secure editorial control over what social media content they aggregate, post or use on-air.
Managed chaos
The data is then cultivated by never.no in a form that makes it easier to incorporate into the data-driven 3D graphics Vizrt products. Never.no tools integrate within newsroom computer systems, such as Avid iNews and AP’s ENPS in the Viz Content Pilot interface, so users won’t have to refer to a separate never.no user interface or leave their primary application to work with never.no social data tools.
During a live show, broadcasters can instruct viewers to post their comments on the station’s Facebook page, Tweet on a specific hash-tagged topic or respond by other means and then harvest those responses. They can generate tickers of Twitter comments, put Facebook posts in a graphic, create pop-ups, show online poll results—and use the content any way they want—to integrate them within on-air graphics or push data-rich displays back to the second screen or to social platforms.
Spot what’s hot
As part of never.no’s interactive “TV. Mobile. Social. 1Framework,” broadcasters can use “word clouds” to determine and analyze what’s trending right now on Facebook and Twitter, or other social platforms, and report that timely insight back to its increasingly dual-screen users. Social buzz can generate very valuable market research for honing business strategies—like setting advertising rates, identifying viewer demographics or making changes to programs, products, or services.
Perhaps there’s a particular keyword that’s popping up everywhere, such as the name of a star athlete, celebrity, or politician. never.no’s “What’s Trending” toolkit can identify that emerging trend. Word clouds also put social buzz into context, such as geographical differences or time progressions.
For example, comments posted by people as they are affected by a terrible storm that’s passing through a region, or political comments by geographic location as polls close nationwide on Election Day. This data can be harnessed and placed onto maps in Viz World to give a perspective of where the events are taking place.
Automated workflow
Vizrt’s product portfolio hasfeatures and functionality to enable broadcasters to employ social content on the air, whether it’s from iPhone’s (iOS), Androids, iPads (tablet PCs), SMS or RSS feeds, among other data streams.
There are also tools allowing broadcasters to push content to social networks to elicit viewer response as well as promote and publicize their programming and brands. For example, Viz MultiChannel, Vizrt’s channel branding tool, will help broadcasters update Facebook and Twitter pages automatically. It will automatically post information like programming notes and schedule changes to the station’s Facebook or Twitter pages as secondary events defined by the traffic department.
Other Vizrt products—including the Viz Trio character generator and Viz Content Pilot, a template-based live graphics system—can also integrate virtually any kind of social content—such as Skype video calls, Word clouds, tweets with hash-tags and/or geographical tags, and Facebook posts—into graphics and scenes. Viz Virtual Studio can incorporate social content into immersive 3D sets. Viz Ticker can scroll the information across the screen.
The editorial staff never sees the station’s login information. Since they can only update and retrieve the data, this solution is a very secure part of the established broadcast workflow.
Immersing social content into graphics and programs builds a loyal audience, which in turns boosts station revenues, especially if the viewership is comprised of the much sought-after younger demographic.
10 September 2012
In a strategic partnership between MBC Group and X-Management LLC, the parent company of the region’s leading Mixed Martial Arts organization, Desert Force, have united to bring the first Arab Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) Grand Prix to the Middle East. The championship kicked-on Friday 7th of September in an action-packed fight that signaled the start of the Championship.
Desert Force MMA Championship is the first Middle Eastern Platform for aspiring MMA athletes to face-off regional and international fighters or the title of Middle East Desert Force Champion. The event aims to promote Arab mixed martial artists by providing them with the opportunity to showcase their skills on a regional and global level. The championship will be aired on MBC Action, the only Channel in the Middle East dedicated to young Arab males, while recently focusing on home grown productions, such as this.
Commenting on the partnership, Ali Jaber, Group TV Director, MBC Group said: “We have seen a steady increase in the popularity of action-packed shows within this category on MBC Action; and our offering of the latest in high-octane Western shows was enjoyed by the young Arab youth for many years. However, and considering the Channel’s recent shift to homegrown productions, we have decided to partner with Desert Force MMA to meet our viewers’ expectations, through the region’s first-ever MMA Grand Prix.”
The Championship will host an initial series of four events per year; based on a knock-out structure, called the Grand Prix. Fighters, coming from across the Arab World will compete in 5 weight classes, namely Featherweights, Lightweights, Welterweights, Middleweights and Light-Heavyweights. Each class will enforce the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts and see a total of 8 qualifiers competing against each other. Participating countries include Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, KSA, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia and the UAE.
From his end, Zaid Mirza, Chairman and CEO of X-Management LLC said: “Our partnership with MBC Action adds a lot of weight for the expansion of the world’s fastest growing sport in the Middle East. We work closely together to revolutionize MMA in the region, and discover the best of Arab MMA talents, and ultimately promote them on a wider Global level. After the nation-wide success of the first fight, we now look forward to sharing it across the Middle East through MBC Action”.
The first event took place in the Orthodox Club in Amman, Jordan, on Friday, September 7th 2012, and will be aired on MBC Action on September 17th at 22:00KSA.
It is worth noting that Desert Force inaugural event was held on December 8th, 2010 in Amman, Jordan. In 2011, Desert Force launched the “Elimination Series”, a single-elimination tournament for Arab MMA fighters competing to become the first regional MMA title belts holders in 5 respective weight classes.
