27 March 2007
Sending dynamic sales messages to plasma screens across France, content management and delivery company GlobeCast has equipped 113 of France Telecom/Oranges sales boutiques with its digital signage solution GlobeCast Captive Audience. The product will allow France Telecom to remotely aggregate content, create and manage playlists and to broadcast to the network of plasma or LCD screens at their different agencies.
Developed by GlobeCast, Captive Audience is an IP-based digital signage solution that uses the latest technology in content management and delivery to effectively manage in-store displays that inform, entertain and communicate to shoppers. The client uses simple, user friendly software to organize content and playlists of targeted ads, product bulletins and entertaining clips, which are then sent to a Media Server, one of which is located at each agency. This Media Server then uses WiFi to command the ultra-compact Media Player box behind each individual display screen. Captive Audience is a scalable solution that can include content management, transport and playback.
GlobeCast is celebrating its tenth year in 2007 and sees this deployment as an example of how far content management companies have come in the past ten years.
France Telecom/Oranges test run of GlobeCast Captive Audience will allow the telecom company to present new products in a dynamic and targeted way. The content, while stored locally at the various agencies, is also backed-up on GlobeCasts secure content management platform at its Paris technical operations center. The platform used to store and transport this content receives constant supervision and maintenance.
GlobeCast Captive Audience is capable of delivering standard or High Definition (HD) content, and has been shown to reinforce key product information, reduce perceived wait time and increase brand loyalty.
27 March 2007
Pharos Communications announces the appointment of Russell Grute to its senior management. Joining the company on April 10 as Director of Marketing, he will lead the product management and marketing teams in driving the Pharos brand and Pharos’ technology to a wider audience.
“Russell brings a combination of experience in high-profile system sales and international marketing,” comments Roger Heath, Pharos’ Commercial Director. “At TSL he gained a unique perspective on the real-world integration issues that broadcasters face when making the transition to file-based asset management and automated workflow. His experience of broadcast system integration and workflow solutions will really help our customers. He will be working as part of the team at NAB 2007 as we launch the next generation of Mediator and Playtime.”
Russell arrives with over 25 years of industry experience. He joined Sony Broadcast in 1982, working in quality-assurance, international field service, product management and finally in professional audio sales. In 1993 he joined non-linear editing specialist Tyrell Corporation. Progressing to Leitch in 1997 as UK Sales Manager, he gained vital early experience in servers and storage area networks when the company acquired ASC. In 2002 he advanced via Marquis Broadcast to well-known independent systems specialist TSL as Head of Sales. During the last five years at TSL he has worked on a number of leading-edge projects for major broadcasters including TWI Mediahouse, Red Bee Media, CNBC, ProTV, Boom, ESPN Star Sports in Singapore and most recently the NRK Programme Bank Project.
“This is a very exciting time to be joining Pharos,” Russell Grute adds. “Working for a busy independent systems integrator over the last five years gave me a great opportunity to look closely at next-generation technology. I am very impressed with the Pharos enterprise architecture used for Mediator and Playtime. Pharos is an innovative, energetic and responsive company. I am really looking forward to joining the team and developing Pharos’ presence internationally.”
27 March 2007
TVNZ-New Zealand has introduced a new service – and a new revenue stream – that uses the Internet to cater for viewer habits and lifestyles.
One of the main planks of TVNZ’s five-year strategy, “Inspiring New Zealanders on every screen”, the online video-on-demand service offers viewers the ability to watch television on their computer screens, whenever it suits them.
At this stage all the available content is TVNZ-owned, but the broadcaster is in negotiations to include international shows as well, reports The National Business Standard.
Other plans for future developments include “pre-emptive downloading”, where viewers can pre-select material for automatic download overnight, and interactive features such as a rating system and blogs.
These will be rolled out over the next four months. Some of the videos are free, while others are paid for with “PlayPoints” purchased on a credit card.
One of the main challenges the service faces is the lack of broadband penetration in New Zealand, which will impede its popularity. TVNZ expects viewer numbers to rise as broadband infrastructure is developed.
26 March 2007
EuroNews has announced that South Africa-based MultiChoice will carry the Europe’s most-watched international news channel on its DStv platform to more than a million homes.
EuroNews is available on DStvs channel 61 providing MultiChoices customers with access to international news from a European perspective. DStv viewers are able to choose between five language versions of EuroNews: English, French, German, Portuguese or Spanish.
EuroNews is the only international news channel to be available on all satellite platforms in Africa, now available throughout the African continent to 13 million homes as a result of this agreement with MultiChoice. In addition, EuroNews remains the only international news channel to have a full time terrestrial frequency in Africa. It has been available in Kinshasa since 2004.
Philippe Cayla, Chairman and CEO of EuroNews says: “We are very proud and excited to broadcast Europes first 24-hour news channel throughout the whole continent thanks to this agreement with Multichoice. EuroNews has concentrated on global expansion for many years and concluding distribution throughout the sub Saharan continent has been a main priority for EuroNews. Africas continuing development means that it needs strong communication links and more importantly an independent view of world events. EuroNews will be a strong medium for Africa and we hope to forge strong links for the future. We will bring European and international perspectives on world events to our African viewers and provide an insight into European and world cultures.”
Says Aletta Alberts, MultiChoice GM for Content: In the pursuit to acquire the highest quality television content from across the world, MultiChoice aims to ensure there is a choice of programming that is compelling and relevant to subscribers. We are very pleased that the EuroNews channel fulfils all of these prerequisites.
Introducing EuroNews on our bouquet was yet another milestone for us at MultiChoice, which translates into more choice for our subscribers, she said.
26 March 2007
Both the BBC and Liberty Global are moving into India with agressive plans for new channels.
Reports from India say that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has granted downlinking permission to the BBC for two channels, both focusing on children’s programming. The BBC’s commercial arm, BBC Worldwide, is the licence-holder.
It is believed that the channels will be on the air within the coming few months, offering competition to established kids’ brands such as Disney and Cartoon Network.
At the same time, Liberty Global has revealed that it intends to launch channels potentially covering the genres of lifestyle, food and theatre.
According to reports, Liberty is looking at digital cable as the potential platform for its new channels as it develops its concepts and strategies.
