1 June 2009
As reported on the ABU web site, going digital is the best way for a small broadcaster to survive in a competitive media environment, an international conference in Macau heard today.
The advice came from the Director-General of Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation, Bijayecoomar Madhou, on the second day of the Asia Media Summit. I advise everyone to take the digital plunge, he said.
He also encouraged small broadcasters to join international broadcasting organisations for the benefits this would bring, including access to important sports rights.
The CEO of Media Niugini, Ken Clark, said there were no secrets to survival as a small broadcaster, other than knowing who you were and where you wanted to go, and taking care of the boring bits the management and accounting details.
He said protecting the copyright on a broadcasters material was also important. Copyright piracy was widespread and would get worse until the problem was addressed.
The Chairman and CEO of Sri Lankas Young Asia Television, Hilmy Ahamed, said survival depended on the ability to reach out to niche markets and find sources of revenue other than the traditional ones.
Dorji Wangchuk, Managing Partner of Bhutans Centennial Radio, said small broadcasters should concentrate on local content and languages, and try to keep up with peoples expectations of an open society.
1 June 2009
Journalist Roxana Saberi, jailed in Iran for over three months, told the Voice of America (VOA) in an exclusive Farsi interview that the people of Iran are “kind and hospitable” and she would definitely like to return someday.
Saberi, in her only Farsi-language interview conducted by VOA’s Persian News Network (PNN), also said international pressure was “very effective” in helping secure her release from prison, as were her parents. “Without the international support, I would still be in prison,” she said.
The 32-year-old North Dakotan was convicted of spying for the United States in a closed-door trial in Iran, but an appeals court later reduced her sentence to a two-year suspended term. U.S. officials denied the charges and repeatedly demanded Saberi’s release.
During her imprisonment, Saberi said she was subjected to “extreme psychological pressure,” including solitary confinement for part of the time. Under those circumstances, she said she confessed to being a spy, but later recanted. “I lied a lot in the confession,” she said.
As for her future, Saberi, who was released May 11, said she would like to introduce Iran to outsiders. “There are different people, different groups and this is the beauty of Iran,” said Saberi, whose father is Iranian-born.
After working in Iran for six years as a journalist, including providing stories to VOA, Saberi had hoped to write a book about the country, depicting its rich history and society. “I realized what a beautiful culture, what hospitable and kind people Iranians are.” She added: “I would definitely love to return to Iran someday.”
Saberi’s 20-minute interview, conducted by well-known PNN anchor Setareh Derakhshesh, aired on the network’s flagship news program, News and Views, seen in Iran at 9 p.m.
VOA’s PNN has the largest combined radio and television audience of all international broadcasters in Iran, with one in four adult Iranians tuning in to a VOA show at least once a week. VOA’s PNN broadcasts seven hours of television daily, repeated in a 24-hour format, and five hours of radio. Broadcasts are available on demand at www.VOAPNN.com.
1 June 2009
Quantel announced the general release of Marco V4 software, which adds useful new features and capabilities to its field editing companion for Quantels Enterprise sQ integrated news production systems. Marco V4 is already in use with broadcasters in Europe and Asia, who have welcomed its enhanced capabilities.
Marco has brought the same easy-to-use editing interface utilized on thousands of Quantel news editors to journalists and editors in the field. Designed to run on standard laptops, Marco allows journalists and editors to be just as productive on the road as they are at base. This has made it an enormous success with broadcasters around the world
Marco V4 adds useful new features and capabilities that make the whole job even faster and more creative:
Essence driver support for P2 and XDCAM
Mixed format, mixed resolution timeline
Version 4 UI with Multi Layer Timeline
One-shot video fix-it tools
Integration with store-and forward software
Marco is the ideal non-linear editing partner for todays non-linear camcorders, said Quantel Broadcast Marketing Manager, Trevor Francis. What makes Marco even more attractive to broadcasters is that it also enables journalists and editors to take all their skills out into the field and produce high quality edited packages without the need to learn a different editing interface.
1 June 2009
AP Global Media Services (GMS), which provides television production and transmission facilities covering the biggest news stories around the world, will soon be opening a new purpose-built bureau in Kabul, Afghanistan. The bureau will complement APs existing newsgathering operations in the capital.
GMS, the outside broadcast production and transmission arm of The Associated Press, announced the bureau will be fully operational for the elections in Afghanistan this August. These controversial elections will be in the international spotlight not least because incumbent President Hamid Karzais term which officially ends on May 22nd – has been extended until a new leader is elected in August, causing additional tension in the country.
Whilst AP supplies breaking news stories and footage directly to clients, APs GMS division also supports broadcasters with services ranging from renting out studio space, crewing, equipment and satellite/fibre links to providing complete news packages. Clients include the BBC and Al Jazeera, as well as independent online and broadcast outlets. GMS also runs a specialist international news reporting and broadcast facilities service for television clients in the Middle East, which is staffed by Arabic-speaking reporters and producers.
APs new Kabul office will be a state-of-the-art media centre. It will house a team of engineers, camera crews, video editors, and a live camera backdrop with satellite connectivity that links in to APs global satellite network. AP will be able to deliver a one-stop solution to broadcasters. Local producers, fixers and drivers will provide the resource and local expertise to enable GMS to help clients deliver the latest breaking news content to their local audiences, wherever in the world they may be.
Kabul is the next logical step in the global expansion of GMS, as the focus of coverage moves away from Iraq, says Alla Salehian, Director of GMS, Associated Press. International broadcasters need to know that they have a reliable method of covering the news in Afghanistan. What we are setting out to do is offer a bespoke and highly professional service which will help broadcasters cover one of the most dangerous regions in the world.
AP already has bureaux in Iraq and Pakistan with additional broadcast services provided from New Delhi and Mumbai, India In Iraq, GMS provides a network of bureaux and services in Baghdad, Najaf, Irbil, Kirkuk, and Basra, enabling AP to supply clients with over 5,500 news reports from Iraq in 2008 alone. GMS extended its operation to Islamabad nearly two years ago and has helped broadcasters cover the major political stories originating from the country since then, including the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.
With bureaux in Iraq, Pakistan and India, and now Afghanistan, we can be certain to offer broadcasters the best live shot positions, production facilities, and transmission paths with which to cover events as they develop across these news flashpoints, Salehian added.
1 June 2009
Wohler Technologies Inc. today announced that the “Dr. Phil” show has installed the company’s RM-2435-HD video monitors as part of an upgrade to the Stage 29 facilities on the Paramount Pictures Studios lot where the popular CBS show tapes. The HD upgrade includes a new control room, set modifications, and a state-of-the-art editing facility. The affordable new Wohler RM-2435-HD monitors are being used in the dub room for confidence monitoring of dubs and stage feeds.
The RM-2435-HD is designed for confidence monitoring of SD-SDI and HD-SDI video with embedded audio in the production environment. The monitoring system features four 3.5-inch screens capable of displaying SD or HD video in a high-resolution 640 x 480 format, with meters for eight channels of audio. Operators can add video overlays including safe area and safe title display markers, a center mark, time code, and under-monitor display name. The Wohler monitor automatically derives both time code and audio from the embedded SDI signal, displaying levels via on-screen bar graph meters for added convenience.
The slim and lightweight RM-2435-HD occupies a very compact 2 RU and its chassis measures only 2.25 inches in depth. Operators can select between viewing in a 16:9 or 4:3 aspect ratio and can monitor audio along with their video.
“Wohler’s affordable RM family of compact audio and video monitoring solutions offers the best value and feature set performance required to ensure a high standard of quality as popular television programs shift their production operations to HD,” said Jeff McNall, national sales manager/market development at Wohler. “The ‘Dr. Phil’ show has built a strong following based on its reliable delivery of engaging content, and the RM-2435-HD offers the show’s production team a convenient toolset for maintaining the best broadcast quality.”
A syndicated series, “Dr. Phil” is broadcast on more than 213 stations representing 99.9 percent of the national market. Since its debut in September 2002, the series has been ranked second among all daytime talk shows and consistently ranks among the top 10 of all syndicated strips.
