23 February 2009
Wohler Technologies Inc. today announced the appointment of Jeff McNall as manager of national sales and market development. In his new position with Wohler, McNall will liaise with the company’s engineering and sales teams and work along with its customers to develop specific solutions to their needs, not just in the broadcast realm, but also in the broad range of markets looking to take greater advantage of smart media technologies.
“Over an impressive career to date, Jeff has worked with many of the industry’s leading companies, helping to identify and address both their technical and practical needs,” said Kim Templeman-Holmes, VP of global sales and marketing at Wohler. “As we expand our sales and product development efforts, Jeff’s skill in guiding delivery of the right solutions to the right clients from concept through to product will be key to our continued growth. We are confident that his experience in sales, marketing, technical operations, and product development will further our tradition of providing solid audio and video monitoring solutions.”
Prior to joining Wohler, McNall spent 25 years in the broadcast television industry. His responsibilities included marketing activities for remote monitoring solutions with Sony® Electronics, operations at major market television stations, engineering in live sports production, and technical operations coordination for the Olympics. His most recent work was with Dolby®, where he successfully launched Dolby 3D into more than 500 movie theatres around the world. McNall graduated from San Francisco State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in radio and television.
“Wohler has a long history of getting feet on the ground and figuring out how to provide clients with the tools and functionality they need,” said McNall. “The company builds solid products with great technology, and I look forward to bringing their value not only to users in the broadcast realm, but also in other sectors as we extend awareness and adoption in corporate, worship, government, entertainment, and other facilities.”
While the appointment of McNall further strengthens the company’s sales and market development efforts, two new R&D appointments enhance Wohler’s ability to design and deliver convenient and cost-effective monitoring solutions to its clients. Andrew Hutton has joined the company as FPGA hardware designer and will work primarily on hardware and firmware design. Heading up the TSG (Technical Services Group) department Mark Handa will serve as the liaison between Wohler’s engineering/manufacturing departments and customer service.
17 February 2009
WRN, the London-based TV and radio transmission company, has appointed a new managing director to lead the company.
David Treadway, WRN’s Business Manager, takes over as MD succeeding Tim Ashburner, one of the company’s founders.
Treadway has worked extensively in radio and in cable TV, as well as in finance at investment house 3i.
12 February 2009
Asia’s leading satellite operator, Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company Limited (AsiaSat) and Fashion TV (FTV) today announced the signing of an agreement for C-band capacity on AsiaSat 2 to launch FTV HD, the new high definition channel by FTV, in Asia Pacific.
Broadcast of FTV HD has commenced on AsiaSat 2. Through AsiaSat 2s powerful coverage and excellent penetration, the channel is distributed to all major cable and satellite networks, and pay TV platforms across the region, providing Asian viewers access to exceptional picture and sound quality of new programming on fashion, beauty, lifestyle and luxury.
FTV has also chosen once again RRsat Global Communication Network Ltd., a provider of comprehensive content management and global distribution services to the television and radio broadcasting industries, to provide the advanced playout and uplink services for the FTV HD channel to AsiaSat 2.
Following the successful launch of our HD service in Europe, we are delighted to work with AsiaSat, our long-term partner, to continue to roll out FTV HD in Asia. We have been using AsiaSat satellite for our Asian services since 1998, and AsiaSat has proved itself to be a highly valued satellite partner over the years. We are pleased to further extend our relationship through distributing both our high definition and standard definition channels on AsiaSat satellites, said Michel Adam, President and Founder of Fashion TV. Taking the opportunity that many pay TV platforms in Asia are rapidly expanding their HD offerings as their differentiating feature, we have successfully concluded carriage arrangements with several major Asian platform operators prior to our official launch of service.
We are very pleased to welcome FTV HD on board AsiaSat 2. FTVs extension of services on AsiaSat satellites has again demonstrated broadcaster confidence in AsiaSat to be the ideal satellite platform for distribution service in Asia Pacific. This new HD channel is an exciting addition to AsiaSats HD service offering. We shall continue our efforts to grow our HD neighbourhood on AsiaSat to meet the fast growing demand from Asian TV platform operators for HD services in the region, said Peter Jackson, Chief Executive Officer of AsiaSat.
“RRsat is pleased to be once again chosen by its long standing partner, Fashion TV, to provide advanced playout and uplink services for its FTV HD channel. This is in addition to the playout and uplink services already provided for FTV SD channel via AsiaSat 3S. We are proud to be part of such a strong group comprising a major satellite organisation covering all of Asia, a high quality programming channel as well as an advanced technological playout and uplink service provider namely AsiaSat, Fashion TV and RRsat,” said David Rivel, Founder and CEO of RRsat.
11 February 2009
The GSM Association has announced that the mobile world has celebrated its four billionth connection, according to Wireless Intelligence, the GSMAs market intelligence unit. This milestone underscores the continued strong growth of the mobile industry and puts the global market on the path to reach a staggering six billion connections by 2013.
The growth is driven by two primary sources: the integration of mobile into previously unconnected devices and subscriber additions in emerging markets. At Mobile World Congress, the worlds leading mobile communications industry event, taking place from 1619 February in Barcelona, the industry will be exploring ways of sustaining this growth.
“As we enter 2009, the world is in the midst of a broad economic slowdown, one that is impacting every facet of business, every link in the communications value chain. To address the significant challenges facing the global economy, the GSMA and its membership are focused on leveraging mobility to create new opportunities and to drive productivity and prosperity,” said Michael OHara, Chief Marketing Officer of the GSMA. “GSMA industry initiatives in the areas of Mobile Broadband, Mobile Lifestyle and Mobile Planet will help drive this innovation and growth despite the challenges of the global economic downturn.”
Mobile Broadband
The GSMAs Mobile Broadband initiatives focus on the development of a ubiquitous Mobile Broadband infrastructure and the proliferation of Internet-connected mobile devices. With the worlds mobile connections now numbering four billion nearly 100 million of which are Mobile Broadband – and with 1.1 billion fixed broadband lines reaching only one sixth of the worlds population, the opportunities are vast.
At Mobile World Congress on Wednesday 18 February C-level executives from China Unicom, Google, Nokia Siemens Networks, Qualcomm, Skype , Telstra and Verizon Communications will unite at the “Mobile Broadband” and “Mobile Internet” sessions to explore Mobile Broadband uptake, how consumers are adapting, and how Internet services become even more compelling when married with always available Mobile Broadband.
Mobile Lifestyle
The GSMAs Mobile Lifestyle initiatives concentrate on the cross-industry creation of innovative services that combine web attributes with mobility to make services, such as banking or entertainment, far more compelling.
Chris DeWolfe, CEO and Co-founder of MySpace will be sharing his perspective on the role of the mobile industry in entertainment at the Mobile Backstage conference on Thursday 19 February at Mobile World Congress. The conference, which features both Kevin Spacey and will.i.am, will also tackle the technical challenges of delivering mobile services and commercial elements influencing mobile industry and entertainment partner collaboration.
AIB CEO Simon Spanswick will chair the session examining the synergies between broadcasting and mobile on that day.
Mobile Planet
The GSMAs Mobile Planet initiatives leverage mobility to help improve the lives of individuals across the developing world in a socially responsible manner. With countries like India adding 10 million new mobile connections per month, and many users accessing the Internet, email and banking exclusively via mobile devices, the developing world is central to mobile industry growth.
As grid electricity is inaccessible to many emerging market areas, Mobile World Congress will be exploring the use of renewable energy. The GSMAs Development Fund, that facilitates the delivery of mobile offerings to people living on less than $2 per day, will be presenting the Green Power Pavilion where leading green technology providers will meet with operators. The “Green Power for Mobile” seminar on Wednesday 18 February will explore the role of renewable energy in expanding off-grid network coverage and reducing OPEX.
“Mobile phones have evolved to become broadband-enabled multi-media devices that connect mass markets in mature and emerging markets alike. Mobile World Congress will showcase how the industry will continue to push the boundaries into the mobile future,” said OHara.
11 February 2009
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) began a new chapter in its long and distinguished history on 3 February when Radio Free Iraq broadcast its first program from RFE/RL’s recently completed Prague headquarters.
The six-minute news bulletin at 1800 Baghdad time was part of RFE/RL’s 17 hours of daily programming to Iraq. Many of today’s stories focused on the aftermath of Saturday’s elections and what they might mean for Iraq’s future. [Read a commentary by RFE/RL’s Abbas Djavadi, “Iraq is More Democratic than Iran”]
The broadcast was the first step in relocating all of RFE/RL’s more than 500 Prague-based employees to the facility in Hagibor, ten minutes from the city center. The five-story, 236,000 sq/ft broadcast center features multimedia recording studios, interlinking offices, and a modern newsroom. It is also energy-efficient and one of the most secure buildings in Europe.
“Our new home is tailor-made to meet the needs of a 21st century media organisation,” said RFE/RL President Jeffrey Gedmin. “It allows us to stay ahead of the technological curve as we broadcast news and information to many places where authorities are hostile to free and independent media.”
Steve Simmons of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which oversees all U.S. international broadcasting including RFE/RL, credited a number of partners for the successful completion of the project. “We could not have done this without the crucial support of the Czech government, the U.S. Congress, and the U.S. embassy in Prague,” he said. “The BBG is delighted that RFE/RL employees, who broadcast in 28 languages to 20 countries via radio, TV, and the Internet, will now have a state-of-the-art headquarters to meet their needs.”
The building was constructed by Paris-based Orco Property Group and designed by the architectural firm Cigler Marani. RFE/RL is leaving its home of 15 years, the former Czechoslovak communist parliament building, which is being turned over to the National Museum.
