28 March 2011
State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) Vice-Minister, Tian Jin, said that China aims to digitalise all of its cable television networks by 2015.
“For cable TV operators, digitalisation is the key to move towards the three-network convergence,” Mr Tian said on Monday at an industry conference, China Daily reported.
The country’s cable TV subscribers reached 187 million by the end of last year, of which there were 88 million digital TV users.
A digitalised cable TV network enables a much larger amount of content transmission and, together with other technologies, will make it possible for TV broadcasters, telecom carriers, and Internet companies to enter each other’s fields and provide services.
China launched a pilot project in 12 cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen, for trials of the convergence last July.
Mr Tian said the SARFT has drawn up a preliminary plan for setting up a nationwide cable television network company, which will be responsible for consolidating all the nation’s separate cable television networks into one.
There are many cable television networks in China, all run by different operators at various administrative levels. The lack of a nationwide unified network has become an obstacle to the three-network convergence. (Source: ABU website)
23 March 2011
S4M Solutions for Media and Annova Systems will present their joint solution portfolio at NAB 2011. In booths N6229 – N6231, the two expert companies for broadcasting software will showcase state-of-the-art solutions for Newsroom Control, MAM and Broadcast Management at the worlds biggest broadcast fair. The main focus of the joint presentation will be an enhanced integration between S4Ms VPMS Media Asset Management system and Annova’s OpenMedia Newsroom system. Since both companies have collaborated for many years, the combined solution offers the most seamless workflows for using video in a newsroom environment.
S4M’s VPMS (Video Production Management System) stands for professional Digital Media Management. Designed to fit the needs of professionals in broadcast video management, its flexibility and modularity make it an all-purpose solution with a wide scope of uses. VPMS comes with powerful applications such as video browsing, metadata generation and management, draft editing with voice-over, and audio editing all available at the users desktop PC.
In addition to VPMS, S4M will also show the systems Dynamics Media and ClipJOCKEY. Dynamics Media is S4Ms All-in-One solution for all Broadcast Management needs. Different modules combine license, material and asset management, program planning as well as air-time sales. During NAB, the S4M team will show how TV Broadcasters can work more effectively and cost efficiently using Dynamics Media. ClipJOCKEY is S4Ms studio production tool that enables customers to use the best features of their video server hardware as a real multi-channel production tool. ClipJOCKEY supports a wide variety of tasks from ingest to playout, recording from live sources to producing TV shows without tapes. At NAB 2011, S4M will present ClipJOCKEY version 2.0 for the first time!
With the launch of version 3.8, Annovas NRCS OpenMedia continues to evolve ahead of the curve. Busy news teams, sports broadcasters and live shows will all benefit from the new planning and calendar functions.
In todays unpredictable news environment, the need to manage resources has never been greater. The Annova team will be demonstrating how OpenMedias new TEP (Theme & Event Planning) module means that planning information is captured as early as possible, offering synergies in planning and production, and ensuring that the right resources are always in the right place at the right time.
Visitors to the stand will be excited by the Journalist Editorial Portal (JEP), new for NAB 2011, a radical new way for organisations to relate to, share and manage newsroom assets. The JEP brings information from a huge range of sources to the desktop while giving the journalist the tools to analyse, manage, and enrich the information available.
Additionally the OpenMedia iPhone app, demonstrated on the stand, ensures that breaking news and vital information is available to OpenMedia users offering them huge advantages in timely and accurate knowledge.
Integration with S4M products is a key and continuing part of OpenMedias development strategy and visitors to the stand will be able to see tighter-than-ever integration between OpenMedia and S4Ms products including VPMS and ClipJOCKEY. Configurability and context are the keywords as OpenMedia is able to launch layouts from VPMS entirely dependent on context.
OpenMedia is, as always, committed to multi-platform output. As well as TV/web workflows Annova will be demonstrating radio workflows in action with DAVID Radio Production tools.
S4M and Annova Systems will be present at the NAB Show 2011 (April 11-14) at booths N6229 – N6231. Dynamics Media will be presented exclusively at the Microsoft booth SL 3812. Visit us and lets talk about how our solutions can help!
23 March 2011
The Associated Press has announced the addition of Sutton Images as a new content contributor for its commercial photo division, AP Images. Under the arrangement, U.K.-based Sutton Images will distribute their images via the AP Images website to users and AP customers in most of the world while also working with AP on commercial commissioned assignments globally.
AP Images, with a comprehensive archive of millions of images in entertainment, sports, news, archival and creative content, offers a high-quality custom photography assignment service for commercial entities in which public relations firms, corporations and others can commission photographers for non-editorial assignments, such as sponsored events or tradeshows.
“Theres an increased customer demand for motorsports images and we’re excited to work with one of the leading sports photo agencies in the business, AP Product Manager James Claydon said. Keith and Mark Sutton and their agency bring a high level of experience and incredibly strong industry relationships, as well as a phenomenal archive adding to the cadre of sports talent that makes AP Images a key destination for media buyers.”
Sutton Images has been a leading photo agency in the motorsports sector for more than 30 years, photographing a wide range of events and subjects for an impressive list of corporate and private clients. An archive of over four million transparencies, with a searchable on-line digital archive of over 700,000 images, spans the history of motorsport from 1960 through to the present day.
We are delighted to enter this partnership with AP Images, said Sutton Images CEO Keith Sutton. Their highly established network of customers presents us a unique opportunity to offer our archive and services to a greater global reach.
23 March 2011
Deutsche Welle is now offering a new text messaging (SMS) news service for its listeners and users in Tanzania. The initial launch focuses on text-based services in Kiswahili covering news from Africa and around the world as well as sports-related services.
In order to reach the widest possible audience, multiple language services and products will follow the first phase of launch. Deutsche Welle’s Kiswahili service is among the most popular radio programmes in Tanzania: around 70 per cent of Tanzanians are familiar with Deutsche Welle and 33 per cent are frequent listeners of the Kiswahili program.
Deutsche Welle has appointed Starfish Mobile East Africa Limited as its technology provider in Tanzania, where the broadcaster will have the opportunity to deploy mobile services in the Kiswahili language to more than 19 million subscribers from the Vodacom, Tigo and Airtel mobile networks. With a current footprint of more than 30 telco relationships in 21 African territories, Starfish is one of the leading players in the field of content provisioning and content aggregation in Africa.
With a current audience reach of nearly 90 million around the globe, Deutsche Welle is aiming to widen its reach in countries like Tanzania, where web penetration is low. By making news services available through mobile technology, subscribers will be able to access news updates. Deutsche Welle viewers and listeners also have the opportunity to view and listen to television and radio programming via mobile.
“To some extent, mobile phones have succeeded in an area where the web has struggled,” says Naser Shrouf, Deutsche Welle’s head of sales and distribution Africa and Middle East. “With its text messaging service, Deutsche Welle would like to provide Tanzanians access to international news from a European perspective, whenever and wherever they are.”
23 March 2011
The latest of the AIB’s public industry briefings is now available – click on the link below to access the briefing.
Have you considered using these briefings to place your brand in front of a constantly growing number of media leaders in over 170 countries? Talk to Judy Lund or Simon Parrish at AIB headquarters on +44 20 7993 2557 to discuss the options.
