Vizrt and LiberoVision to Demo Fastest Sports Analysis Tool to Date at Sportel Monaco 2011

6 October 2011

Hailed as a success at IBC in Amsterdam this September, Vizrt and LiberoVision will demonstrate a sports analysis tool with unparalled speed – the Libero Playbook – at the Sportel convention in Monaco (Stand AO5). From October 10th to 13th, LiberoVision will showcase its new Libero Playbook, an ultra-fast version of Libero Highlight, offering 3D game analysis in less than 60 seconds.

Analyze the action as the game unfolds

Depending upon setup, in-game analysis can go live, on-air in as little as 30 seconds. LiberoVision’s powerful 3D annotations work in the same way as Libero Highlight, seamlessly combining live camera feeds. All major annotations are included, such as arrows, areas, player marks, etc.

”Instead of a typical replay, Libero Playbook provides its users with the option of telling the viewer at home exactly why a player’s movement disrupted his team’s entire offensive – or why a tiny movement of the ball prevented his defense from conceeding,” said Stephan Würmling Stadler, CEO at LiberoVision. “The product is our direct response to a huge demand in the market. We feel confident that both new and existing customers will appreciate the extra dimension it adds to in-game analysis.”

Key Features of Libero Playbook:

· In-game 3D replays

· Typical turnaround time of 30-60 seconds

· Fast playbook analysis

· Powerful 3D annotations

All LiberoVision products come as one-box-solutions for easy integration into a production environment. No additional infrastructure is required inside the stadium.

Tighter Integration with Vizrt Workflow

In addition to the new Playbook features, LiberoVision’s incorporation into the Vizrt workflow has been greatly enhanced. Through its Viz Engine real-time renderer and Viz Trio CG software, Vizrt already supports bringing Libero Highlight clips into a Vizrt workflow. With Viz Anchor, on-air talent can start sports analysis from an iPad. And Vizrt now offers an interactive sports studio application, enabling the Viz Engine renderer to smoothly interact with Libero Highlight clips. Analysts and presenters can interact with the Libero clips using a touch screen, for example showing arrows on the field, highlighting certain players, and describing their movement, all in perspective and tied to the field.

With this product integration, sportscasters can deliver Libero clips — with defined starts/stops and annotations—into the Vizrt workflow. They can then control the playback of the clips from any Vizrt control software and play it out, embedded in graphics, through the Viz Engine. Metadata, such as short text, can be exported and then rendered by Viz Engine. LiberoVision analysis can reach videowalls, virtual sets and can be distributed to mobile devices by using the device-optimized delivery of video to all devices.

AIB announces international judging panel for 2011 AIBs

5 October 2011

An independent panel of respected media professionals from Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe, North and South America has been appointed to judge the 2011 AIBs. Their expertise covers TV, radio, satellite & online broadcasting as well as broadcast technology & marketing.

The AIBs, the International Media Excellence Awards run by the Association for International Broadcasting (AIB) are unique in being judged by an independent panel of respected professionals drawn from the broadcasting and international media industries across the whole world. Today the AIB is delighted to announce that the panel of judges for the 2011 AIBs is made up of media leaders representing every continent and 23 different countries – from Russia to South Africa, from Brazil to China, and from Australia to Norway. They have a vast range of experience in radio, TV and satellite broadcasting as well as online and cross-media production.

“We are delighted that the reputation of the AIBs has convinced such an eminent group of broadcasting and media experts to volunteer to judge entries to the awards and to ensure an independent choice of the best in each category” said Simon Spanswick, CEO of the Association for International Broadcasting. “The judges bring knowledge from diverse media landscapes – including France, Germany, UK, USA, Russia, Brazil, China, Korea, South Africa, Turkey , Qatar and UAE.”

This year’s judges are:

Nashwa Al Ruwaini, CEO, Pyramedia, UAE

Salim Amin, Chairman, A24 Media, Kenya

David Astley, Executive Chairman, Asia-Pacific Media Alliance for Social Awareness, Singapore

Nigel Baker, VP Business Operations EMEA and Asia, APTN, UK

Wayne Borg, Deputy CEO and COO, twofour54, UAE

Julian Clover, Editorial Director, Broadband TV News, UK

Eugen Cojocariu, Director, Radio Romania International, Romania

Helle Dale, Senior Fellow for Public Diplomacy, The Heritage Foundation, USA

David Dufresne, Writer/Director, DufLab, Canada

Hosam El Sokkari, Head of Audience, Yahoo! Middle East, UAE

Mark Errington, CEO, OASYS, UK

Adelheid Feilcke-Tiemann, Director International Relations, Deutsche Welle, Germany

Monica Fritz, Producer/Director, 6 news, Turkey

Angela Fung, Deputy Head, Phoenix Chinese Channel, Phoenix Satellite TV, Hong Kong

Regina Goh, Executive Editor, Channel NewsAsia, Singapore

Peter Goldstein, Director of Communications, InterMedia, USA

Mohamed Ali Harrath, CEO, Islam Channel, UK

Mondher Kalai, Commissioning Executive, JCC, Qatar

Kim Hyuk-dong, Deputy Director, KBS World Radio, Korea

François Laborie, Chief Commercial Officer, Vizrt, Norway

Paulo Markun, Consultant, TV Escola, Brazil

Chris Maroleng, Africa Editor, e.tv, South Africa

Michael McCluskey, CEO, ABC Radio Australia, Australia

Marcus Metzner, Head of Marketing Services & Communication, arvato systems GmbH, Germany

Olivier de Montchenu, Commercial & Marketing Director, Euronews, France

Dick van Motman, President & CEO, DDB Greater China Group, P.R.China

Alexey Nikolov, Deputy Editor in Chief, RT Channel, Russia

Ian O’Reilly, Producer/Director, BBC News – TV, UK

Nader Sh. Rad, Director Programmes Department, PressTV, Iran

Julia Ragona, Chief Broadcast Operations Officer, RFE/RL, Czech Republic

Dick Rempt, CEO, TalentsMedia, The Netherlands

Paul Robinson, MD, KidsCo, UK

Karim Sarkis, Executive Director of Broadcast, Abu Dhabi Media Company, UAE

Vatche Sarkisian, Director of Research and Program Review, Middle East Broadcasting Networks, USA

Danny Schechter, Executive Producer, Globalvision, USA

Simon Spanswick, CEO, AIB, UK

Fedor Strizhkov, CEO, Russian Travel Guide TV, Russia

David Treadway, Managing Director, WRN Broadcast, UK

Jeff Trimble, Executive Director, Broadcasting Board of Governors, USA

Laeed Zaghlami, Journalist/Writer, Algerian Broadcasting, Algeria

Biographies of all the judges, together with the full list of the award categories, entry details and information on the awards ceremony will be found on theaibs.tv

The AIBs, now in their seventh year, are independent of commercial interest and attract entries from throughout the world, representing the best of international radio, TV and cross-media broadcasting. The 16 different categories to be judged cover the broad spectrum from single news events to long-term investigation and from traditional terrestrial broadcasting to innovative use of multi-platform formats, with new awards this year in the categories of science, business and sports coverage. The categories also include awards for best marketing strategy, for most innovative technology and for radio and television personalities of the year. The one category not judged by the panel is the People’s Choice award, which this year is for programmes dealing with “Democracy Uprisings” and which is awarded on the basis of online viewing and voting.

The winners of the AIBs will be announced at the AIB awards gala on Wednesday 9th November 2011 which is held in the stunning visual and acoustic space of LSO St Luke’s in London.

The currently announced sponsors for the 2011 AIBs are Russian Travel Guide (RTG) TV, Eurosport and OASYS.

AIB announces shortlist for 2011 International Media Awards

5 October 2011

The Association for International Broadcasting (AIB) has announced the shortlist for the 2011 AIBs, the seventh annual International Media Excellence Awards, selected from a record number of entries submitted this year from countries as diverse as Australia, France, Germany, India, Japan, Nigeria, Qatar, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, UK and the USA, among others. The AIBs celebrate the best of global broadcasting across 16 different categories for radio and television and cross-media productions, plus creative marketing and innovative technology.

In 2011, the AIBs People’s Choice Award is hosted on Yahoo! Maktoob, harnessing the site’s constantly growing reach of more than 55m unique visitors across the MENA region. This year’s topic for the People’s Choice award is “Best Coverage of Democracy Uprisings” highlighting the impact that traditional and social broadcasting has had in enabling the movements for change. Online users from across the world can view and vote for their favourite entry from the six best shortlisted entries via Yahoo! Maktoob.

Simon Spanswick, AIB CEO, said “Of course the big stories of 2011 such as the tsunami and the Arab Spring are represented in the AIBs entries, but interestingly many of the entries are follow-up stories and incredible tales of people’s survival. Footage captured by ordinary citizens is woven into intricate story-telling to recreate events and put them in context, demonstrating the power of TV in challenging situations. In the cross-media category too the range of topics that programme makers the world over tackle creatively and skilfully is astounding.”

The shortlist is being judged by an independent panel of respected professionals from the broadcasting and wider media industries, making these awards unique in broadcasting because of their independence from commercial interests.

Full details and how to vote for the winner of “People’s Choice” can be found on the People’s Choice page at theaibs.tv website.

The 2011 AIBs are sponsored by Eurosport, OASYS, Russian Travel Guide TV and Vizrt. The award ceremony takes place at a gala evening attended by media professionals from around the world on Wednesday, 9 November 2011 in London.

Media contact

Gunda Cannon gunda.cannon@aib.org.uk

T +44 (0)20 7993 2557
AIB, PO Box 141, Cranbrook TN17 9AJ, UK

Notes for Editors

Sponsors of the 2011 AIBs

Eurosport are the sponsors of the AIBs category “Best cross-media production”. Eurosport is the leading sports entertainment group in Europe and boasts six TV channels worldwide. The flagship channel Eurosport is the no 1 pan-European TV channel, broadcast in 20 languages and reaching 125 million homes across 59 countries.

OASYS are the sponsors of the AIBs category “Most innovative technology”.
OASYS has been leading the transition to software-based playout solutions for 20 years. The company’s flagship product, OASYS Player, is complemented by straightforward optional OASYS software to provide efficient, high quality, end-to-end playout solutions that are easy-to-use, scalable, flexible and, most importantly, highly reliable.

RTG TV are the sponsors of the AIBs category “Best current affairs documentary”.
Russian Travel Guide TV is an international documentary TV channel focused on the cultural and geographical variety of the world’s largest country. It covers a wide range of topics – from history to culture, cuisine, nature programmes, active holidays, and Russia’s ethnic mix.

Vizrt are the sponsors of the AIBs category “Best live sports coverage”. Vizrt creates leading-edge content production tools for the digital media industry – from award-winning 3D graphics and maps through integrated video workflow solutions and online publishing tools. Vizrt proposes a new vision for content creation, management and delivery with an end-to-end solution from conception to multi-format distribution.

The 2011 AIBs People’s Choice Award will
be hosted on

The judges

The judges for the AIBs have a vast range of experience in different aspects of broadcasting and are drawn from all over the world. The full list is:

Daniel Adams, Head of International Content, Dailymotion, France | Nashwa Al Ruwaini, CEO, Pyramedia, UAE| Salim Amin, Chairman, A24 Media, Kenya | David Astley, Executive Chairman, Asia-Pacific Media Alliance for Social Awareness, Singapore | Nigel Baker, VP Business Operations EMEA and Asia, APTN, UK | Wayne Borg, Deputy CEO and COO, twofour54, UAE | Julian Clover, Editorial Director, Broadband TV News, UK | Eugen Cojocariu, Director, Radio Romania International, Romania | Helle Dale, Senior Fellow for Public Diplomacy, The Heritage Foundation, USA | David Dufresne, Writer/Director, DufLab, Canada | Hosam El Sokkari, Head of Audience, Yahoo! Middle East, UAE | Mark Errington, CEO, OASYS, UK | Adelheid Feilcke-Tiemann, Director International Relations, Deutsche Welle, Germany | Monica Fritz, Producer/Director, 6 news, Turkey | Angela Fung, Deputy Head Phoenix Chinese Channel, Phoenix Satellite TV, Hong Kong | Regina Goh, Executive Editor, Channel NewsAsia, Singapore | Peter Goldstein, Director of Communications, InterMedia, USA | Mohamed Ali Harrath, CEO, Islam Channel, UK | Mondher Kalai, Commissioning Executive, JCC, Qatar | Kim Hyuk-dong, Deputy Director, KBS World Radio, Korea | François Laborie, Chief Commercial Officer, Vizrt, Norway | Paulo Markun, Consultant, TV Escola, Brazil | Chris Maroleng, Africa Editor, e.tv, South Africa | Michael McCluskey, CEO, ABC Radio Australia, Australia | Marcus Metzner, Head of Marketing Services & Communication, arvato systems GmbH, Germany | Olivier de Montchenu, Commercial & Marketing Director, Euronews, France | Dick van Motman, President & CEO, DDB Greater China Group, PR China | Alexey Nikolov, Deputy Editor in Chief, RT Channel, Russia | Ian O’Reilly, Producer/Director, BBC News – TV, UK | Nader Sh. Rad, Director Programmes Department, PressTV, Iran | Julia Ragona, Chief Broadcast Operations Officer, RFE/RL, Czech Republic | Dick Rempt, CEO, TalentsMedia, The Netherlands | Paul Robinson, MD, KidsCo, UK | Karim Sarkis, Executive Director of Broadcast, Abu Dhabi Media Company, UAE | Vatche Sarkisian, Director of Research and Program Review, Middle East Broadcasting Networks, USA | Danny Schechter, Executive Producer, Globalvision, USA | Simon Spanswick, CEO, AIB, UK | Fedor Strizhkov, CEO, Russian Travel Guide TV, Russia | David Treadway, Managing Director, WRN Broadcast, UK | Jeff Trimble, Executive Director, Broadcasting Board of Governors, USA | Laeed Zaghlami, Journalist/Writer, Algeria

Shortlisted entries for the 2011 AIBs – by category

Organisation – Entry title

Current Affairs Documentary – radio

KBS, South Korea – A Special Journey to the DMZ

Radio Taiwan International, ROC Taiwan – Freeing Taiwan’s Slaves

CTVC, UK – Haiti One Year On

BBC World Service, UK – Africa Mass Rapes in Fizi, Eastern DR Congo

DR (The Danish Broadcasting Corporation), Denmark – Sold to Prostitution

ABC Radio, Australia – Sustainable Sounds

Current Affairs Documentary (domestic) – TV

VRT, Belgium – Children of the Church

Current TV, UK – Gail Porter on Prostitution

INX News Pvt Ltd, India – India Endangered

NHK, Japan – Surviving the Tsunami

SABC, South Africa – Thug-ocracy

SRF Swiss Television, Switzerland – Two Women – One Journey

Antena 3, Romania – Wandering for a piece of bread

Current Affairs Documentary (international) – TV

Channel 4, UK – Dispatches: City of Fear

Channel 4, UK – Dispatches: The Battle for Haiti

BBC Scotland, UK – Eorpa Belarus

Aljazeera English, Qatar – People & Power: Blood and Dust

British Sky Broadcasting, UK – Ross Kemp: Extreme World

True Vision, UK – Zimbabwe’s Forgotten Children

Current Affairs Documentary (Middle East) – TV

BBC Arabic, UK – Egypt – Revolution Diary

BBC, UK – Panorama: Fighting Gaddafi

BBC Arabic, UK – Revolution Uploaded

Aljazeera English, Qatar – The Death of Fear

Press TV, Iran – The Distorted Lens: The Media and the MIddle East

NDTV, India – The Women of Tahrir Square

Most creative marketing strategy

Shree FM, Sri Lanka – Shree Reload Wasanawa

Star News, India – Star News Anchor Hunt

France 24, France – The Birds

Most creative feature – radio

RTE, Ireland – Don’t go Far

Voice of Nigeria, Nigeria – Early Marriage – The bane of the girl child

RTHK, Hong Kong – Mandela and South Africa

VRT, Belgium – The America Watcher

Voice of America, USA – The Making of a Nation: D Day invasion at Normandy

Société Radio Canada, Canada – The Spirit of Places

Best investigative documentary – radio

Czech Radio, Czech Republic – Pilot and death

Radio Free Asia, USA – Staring Down the Muzzle

RFE/RL, Czech Republic – The Invisible Women of Osh

Clearest coverage of a single news event – radio

BBC Radio 5 Live, UK – AV: Mock Election

Voice of America, USA – Cairo Protesters in jubilant mood

ABC Radio, Australia – Cyclone Yasi

Radio Free Asia, USA – Nuclear leak at Daya Bay

BBC Burmese Service, UK – Release of Pro Democracy Leader Aung San Suu Kyi

Clearest coverage of a single news event – TV

CBS, USA – 60 Minutes: A Relentless Enemy

NHK, Japan – Departing in Dignity

Sky News, UK – Egypt Crisis

VRT, Belgium – Floods in Pakistan

NDTV, India – Japan Tsunami

BBC World News, UK – Japanese Earthquake & Tsunami

Aljazeera English, Qatar – Osama Bin Ladan Death

Antena 3, Romania – Tragedy at the Giulesti Maternity Hospital

Best children’s factual programme or series

BBC Newsround, UK – Growing up in a war zone

BBC Newsround, UK – Living with Alcohol

BBC Newsround, UK – Living with Cancer

BBC Children’s, UK – Serious Explorers: Livingstone

Best financial or business programme

CBS, USA – 60 Minutes: Hard Times Generation

Société Radio Canada, Canada – Meltdown

RT News Channel, Russia – On the money

CBS, USA – 60 Minutes: The 99ers

France 24, France – The new Irish exodus

Best investigative documentary – TV

Aljazeera English, Qatar – On a wing and a prayer

BBC London, UK – Project Prevention

DR (The Danish Broadcasting Corporation), Denmark – The Man who lied the World into War

Antena 3, Romania – The Poison on our homes

Channel News Asia, Mediacorp, Singapore – Unbroken Faith

CNN International, USA – World’s Untold Stories: Locked up and Forgotten

Best science programme or series

KBS, South Korea – Exploring Human – Memory

British Sky Broadcasting, UK – Flying Monsters 3D

Deutsche Welle, Germany – Future Now Series

TGA Production, France – Is the magnetic pole about to flip?

Russian Travel Guide TV, Russia – Volcanoes of Kamchatka

Best coverage of a live sports event

Nine Network, Australia – 2010 State of Origin – NSW v QLD Game 1

Russian Travel Guide TV, Russia – Khanty-Mansiysk World Chess Olympiad

BBC Birmingham, UK – Stoke City in the FA Cup Final

Eurosport, France – IRC SimulCam Coverage

NDTV, India – The World Cup of Joy

Sony Professional & Others, UK – Wimbledon in 3D

Best cross-media production

KBS, South Korea – Korean Cuisine

Czech Radio, Czech Republic – Secret defence of the iron curtain

Radio Free Asia, USA – The Lives of Vietnamese Women….

BBC, UK – Eight Weeks to face the Taliban

BBC, UK – Arabic-Persian Special on the 30th Anniversary of Iran-

Iraq War

BBC, UK – 24 Hour Panel People

DR (The Danish Broadcasting Corporation), Denmark – 1864

Most innovative technology

Radio Taiwan International, ROC Taiwan – Establish KPI with cloud computing

France 24, France – HBB TV Applications

Thomson Reuters, USA – Reuters Insider Promo

Ideal Shopping Direct Limited, UK – USA Live

International Radio Personality of the Year

RFE/RL, Czech Republic – Farshid Manafi

Radio Sawa, USA – Mohamed Moawad

Voice of America, USA – Steve Ember

International TV Personality of the Year

NDTV, India – Barkha Dutt

British Sky Broadcasting, UK – Sir David Attenborough

BBC World News, UK – Mishal Husain

The Doha Debates, Qatar – Tim Sebastian

British Sky Broadcasting, UK – Ross Kemp

“People’s Choice: “Best Coverage of Democracy Uprisings”

Aljazeera English, Qatar – Arab Awakening

Press TV, Iran – Battle for Bahrain

NDTV, India – Battle for Libya

France24, France – Reporters: Tunisia after Ben Ali

Alhurra TV, USA – Protests in Egypt

Deutsche Welle, Germany – Journal: Million Man March

About the AIB

Established in 1993, the AIB is the international industry association and global knowledge network for the international broadcasting industry – cross-media, cross-border, cross-cultural. With a reach of over 25,000 communicators and media professionals, AIB is a unique centre of information about international broadcasting, covering TV, radio, online and mobile. AIB researches regular market intelligence briefings for its members and provides client-specific consultancy and project support. Members receive an extensive package of services throughout the year. AIB publishes the comprehensive AIB Global Broadcasting Sourcebook and the international media magazine, The Channel. AIB hosts the annual AIB International Media Excellence Awards – the “AIBs”. For more information, visit www.aib.org.uk and theaibs.tv or call +44 (0) 20 7993 2557

New Director General for Al Jazeera

3 October 2011

Al Jazeera has announced the departure of its Director General of eight years, Wadah Khanfar.

Speaking to staff today, he said that he had served for a substantial period of time, and the Network’s current success offered him the opportunity to leave having accomplished the vision he had set for Al Jazeera to be a globally recognized media institution.

Khanfar had approached Al Jazeera’s chairman with his intentions in July. His replacement, Shaikh Ahmed bin Jassim Al Thani was identified one month ago, ensuring a smooth transition.

Since Khanfar took over the reins at Al Jazeera in 2003, Al Jazeera became a media network from being a solitary Arabic news channel. It now includes Al Jazeera English, Al Jazeera Sport, Al Jazeera Mubasher and Al Jazeera Documentary. The Arabic and English news channels have been widely acclaimed for their coverage of the Arab awakening.

Khanfar said: “Upon my appointment I set a goal to establish Al Jazeera as global media leader. This target has been met and the organization is in a healthy position. This Network is great not because of me or any other individual, it is great because of its mission which carries on with all of its outstanding staff. My successor has the skills and attributes to maintain and build upon the quality journalism that Al Jazeera has become renowned for.”

The new Director General will take over responsibilities from 21 September 2011. Sheikh Ahmad bin Jasem bin Muhammad Al Thani brings significant international and business experience to Al Jazeera. He has been a member of the most senior decision making body at Qatargas, where he led more than 247 capital projects. He has industry experience in France and the USA and holds degrees from numerous institutions worldwide including Imperial College in the UK and the Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business.

VOA Reporter Helps ‘Put South Sudan on the Map’

30 September 2011

Voice of America reporter John Tanza Mabusu is getting credit for successfully pushing the world’s largest online map sites to recognize the new Republic of South Sudan, which gained independence more than two months ago, but is still not shown on most maps.

“When South Sudan was declared an independent nation, we were all excited,” says Tanza. So, he was surprised when online sites didn’t quickly update their maps to reflect the emergence of the new nation on July 9th.

Tanza, a native of South Sudan who works for the VOA program, “South Sudan in Focus,” decided to launch an online petition calling on Google maps, Microsoft and other sites to make the change and show South Sudan as a separate nation from its neighbor to the north.

The petition, which he organized in his private time, caught the attention of Google Maps. The site, which said it had already been gathering data for the change, promptly placed South Sudan on its map. “I don’t want to make a big deal of this,” Tanza told one of his VOA colleagues, “Nation building is a long process, and there are the small steps you need to achieve on an individual basis.”

Tanza, who has reported extensively on the country’s long struggle for independence, has now been recognized by a number of media organizations, which credit him with ‘Putting South Sudan on the map.’

He says the attention has helped get the maps changed, but he gives the credit to those who took the time to join the campaign. “I have been receiving congratulatory messages for taking this initiative. But the truth is, I need to thank them for signing the petition,” Tanza says. And he says he’s optimistic that all the mapping services will soon make the change.