16 January 2012
OASYS, the pioneering developer of IT-based automated playout solutions, is pleased to announce the appointment of Ed Calverley as Solutions Design Manager. Calverleys new role will see him working closely with the Sales and Development teams and with clients to build feature-rich, reliable automated playout solutions that are both easy to use and to maintain.
Calverley joins OASYS from Miranda where he held a central role in the development and delivery of the iTX IT-based playout system. Prior to this,Calverley spent several years at the BBC, joining via a graduate training programme and subsequently gaining experience across a wide range of broadcast technologies and disciplines including Studios, Outside Broadcast, Engineering Support and Playout.
Ed Calverley commented, I have been aware of OASYS for some time, but when I actually saw the OASYS software in action it was a real eye opener to the true power of IT-based playout. By focusing on actual customer requirements, OASYS has built the most versatile playout device Ive ever seen.
Mark Errington, CEO, OASYS, said, We are pleased to welcome Ed to the team. His broadcast knowledge and experience combined with his ability to design pragmatic customer solutions will be invaluable, as will his input into the continued development of our Automated Playout solutions.
13 January 2012
euronews has hit the ground running with the launch of DTT broadcasting in Greece and Cyprus. The channel targets full nationwide coverage in both countries by the end of 2012.
In Greece, euronews English is already available to 4,000,000 people in the region of Attica, which includes the capital Athens, and in Thessaloniki. More precisely, the DTT coverage reaches 75% of homes in Attica and the whole population in Thessaloniki.
Before the end of this year, euronews aims to extend its reach all over the country. ERT, the Greek public broadcaster, will offer the free-to-air DTT transmission of euronews English, as part of the digital technology deployment offer at a national scale.
In Cyprus, euronews English is available on a 24/7 basis on digital terrestrial TV since July 2011 and covers currently 95% of the population.
euronews is available on Cyprus DTT through the CYBC platform, the public broadcaster, among CYBC-1, CYBC-2, CYBC-HD and ERT-World channels.
The CYBC digital platform will cover 99% of the population by March 2012.
Michael Peters, CEO of euronews, said: “The move on Greek and Cyprus DTT is a huge step forward for euronews. Our close partnerships with ERT and CYBC enable us to be watched by a large audience and places euronews as premium international news channel at a country level. We are very proud to announce those two important agreements.”
13 January 2012
More than 2,600 Cubans contacted Radio Martí for a chance to win one of six mopeds in a listener contest sponsored by the station.
The contest, which ran from Dec. 19 to Jan. 5, raffled off six mopeds donated by Cuban-Americans and provided important insight into the Cuban audiences use of shortwave and AM radio as well as social media. Martí asked Cubans to call, e-mail, Twitter or subscribe to Facebook for a chance to win.
The positive audience feedback for this moped raffle and our new forward-leaning programming reinforces our program choices, said Carlos García Pérez, Director of Radio and TV Martí. It is compelling to hear from Cubans about attitudinal changes on the island, incremental changes underway, and how closely connected they continue to feel to the U.S. and Cuban-American community in particular.
The listener contest is part of a year-long effort by Radio and TV Martí to reshape programming to better match the interests of young Cubans who face economic hardships as well as ongoing political restrictions. Through numerous focus groups with Cubans who have recently arrived in the U.S., as well as daily call-in programs and contests like these, Cubans consistently express their interests in technology, economic opportunities, entertainment and connecting with Americans.
The Martís have responded with a series of program initiatives to make programming relevant to the day-to-day lives of young people on the island. Shows like Avanza Cuba (Cuba Forward), look at the incremental changes underway in Cuba and future opportunities in technology and business; while El Revotillo (The Scramble) provides an on-air market for trading goods and services; and other news and entertainment programs foster enhanced audience participations through mobile, online and social media tools.
13 January 2012
Babcock International Group (Babcock) has won a 10-year contract to continue providing services relating to the transmission and distribution of radio and television for the BBC World Service.
The contract was awarded to Babcock following a rigorous competitive process. It is designed to ensure that the BBC receives the optimum value for money that continues to deliver high levels of service for its audience. The contract start date is 1 April 2012; it is worth circa £200 million over 10 years.
Babcock has been a trusted delivery partner for the BBC World Service for 15 years, and has ensured that the BBC World Service reached its audience of 166 million. Under the terms of the new contract, Babcock will build upon this heritage and provide essential support to ensure that the BBC provides a reliable and resilient service to its global audience. This will include:
* Scheduling and co-ordination of all BBC World Service shortwave broadcasts across the globe. In the first year of the new contract Babcock will co-ordinate a total of 180,335 hours of transmissions for the BBC.
* Operating and maintaining the BBC’s six high power sites and a power station to ensure global coverage. This includes the BBC key target areas of Africa and the Middle East, the Indian Sub-Continent and South East Asia.
* Monitoring of high frequency broadcast performance (using independent data). The BBC is committed to offering the best quality of service to its worldwide audience and Babcock’s monitoring ensures the best possible audio quality is achieved in the desired target areas.
* Managing the satellite network contracts and support of the satellite distribution systems including 1,300 receivers worldwide in over 650 locations in 128 countries.
* Maintaining the BBC World Service’s FM Relay network. In addition to the satellite receiver maintenance, Babcock will support the equipment of more than 150 FM relay sites around the world. This will underpin the resilience of the service offered by the BBC.
By the end of the new contract the partnership will have lasted for a quarter of a century. In 2009 Babcock and the BBC World Service jointly won the ‘Team of the Year – Professional and Support Services’ at the BBC Global News Reith Awards. This was the first time an external supplier won an award at this event. The year after Babcock was selected as the winner of the Reith Award under the category of Professional Services.
Bryan Coombes, Director, Communications, Babcock, said:
“Our history of working in partnership with the BBC shows that we can deliver value for money and unprecedented levels of performance. We know and understand the BBC and the broadcasting industry and are committed to finding the right solutions to the challenges the broadcaster faces over the next ten years. We will achieve this through offering innovative ideas that drive efficiencies over the life of the contract.”
Nigel Fry, Head of Distribution BBC Global News, said:
“The new contract with Babcock builds on the success of the last 15 years. It will provide us with clarity of costs over the coming years, and significant savings that are critical in the current economic climate. Importantly, these savings will not affect the quality of service that our global audience expects.”
13 January 2012
Vizrt Ltd., a leading provider of content production tools for the digital media industry, announced today that the Company has promoted Bernt Kare Johannessen to Chief Development Officer.
This newly created position is effective immediately and will complete the Corporate Management team for Vizrt.
In this new position, Bernt will be in charge of developing and leading the Company’s business strategy process and oversee its appropriate implementation throughout the company in close cooperation with all areas and business lines responsible heads. He will further take a leading role in future M&A activities and integration of acquired companies.
Bernt brings a wealth of technical and managerial experience to this new role: he joined Vizrt in August 2003 as Customer Support Engineer after graduating Master of Computer Science of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. During the years 2005 to 2009, Bernt joined the Vizrt U.S. office in New York, as Vice President Customer Relations, before being promoted Senior Vice President U.S. Operations. In August 2009, the Company called upon Bernt to take on the position of Head of R&D in Bergen, Norway. Very recently, Bernt has returned from the Haas School of Business, University of California Berkeley, as part of his ongoing Master of Technology Management.
Martin Burkhalter, CEO of Vizrt: “I am very happy that the best candidate for this important position was an internal candidate. Bernt has the necessary knowledge and experience to help the further development of Vizrt’s growth and profitability targets. In addition to his broad knowledge of our technologies he knows the media industry very well and therefore he will be a great asset in our efforts to continue to win market shares.”
