3 October 2006
WORLDSPACE Satellite Radio, one of the world leaders in satellite-based digital radio services, today announced it has signed an exclusive broadcast license agreement with ESPN STAR Sports to provide subscribers with live audio coverage of cricket, further enhancing its content offering and providing consumers with a truly unique listening experience. Under terms of the agreement, PLAY, the WORLDSPACE-branded all sports channel for South Asia and the Middle East, will have exclusive broadcasting rights throughout South Asia for 12 tours and over 200 days of cricket comprising both test matches and one-day internationals. Three of the 12 tours include India — WORLDSPACE Satellite Radio’s primary market in the Asia region. Coverage begins November 19, 2006 with India’s tour of South Africa, and runs through February 2008, with conclusion of the India-Sri Lanka-Australia Triangular Series in Australia.
“The exclusive acquisition of these premier cricket internationals is another demonstration of WORLDSPACE’s continued commitment to providing the best in audio entertainment for our listeners,” said Alexander Brown, co-Chief Operating Officer, WORLDSPACE. “We are very pleased to partner with ESPN STAR Sports, the leading sports broadcaster in Asia, to provide our subscribers with another compelling, personalized content option,” Brown continued.
Subscribers will have “ball-by-ball,” real-time coverage of all matches as well as a host of ancillary programming surrounding each match. The coverage will feature matches with the national teams from India, Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, and the West Indies, and will also include the biennial Australia-England test series, “The Ashes.” Broadcasts can be received in countries covered by the WORLDSPACE AsiaStar(TM) satellite’s West Beam and include: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bahrain, Qatar, and UAE.
29 September 2006
The news media death toll for 2006 has reached 102, yet another blood-stained milestone for those covering the news around the world, according to the International News Safety Institute.
The deaths of two journalists in a helicopter crash on assignment in Nepal, correspondent Hem Bhandari and cameraman Sunil Singh of NTV, were the latest in a spiralling death toll between January and the end of September.
And the outlook is grim. This time last year the total casualty count stood at 77.
The International News Safety Institute recorded 147 news media dead covering the news in 2005, making it the worst year ever. The numbers included 48 killed when a military aircraft packed with journalists crashed in Iran.
The majority of the dead between January and September this year were apparently murdered because of their work. Seventy-nine were shot, stabbed, bombed or beaten to death, 13 died in accidents and 10 in crossfire.
The journalists and support staff in their news gathering teams, such as drivers and translators, died covering stories in 33 countries through 29 September.
As has become customary, most – a total of 34 – were killed in Iraq, the vast majority by insurgents. Almost all were Iraqis, reporters and cameraman in the main, who bear the burden of keeping the world informed about their country’s agony. A total of 137 news media personnel have fallen in Iraq since 2003.
After Iraq, the deadliest countries were Sri Lanka, Guyana – where five newspaper print technicians were murdered by gunmen in one incident on 8 August – Philippines, India, Brazil and Argentina.
“The rising death toll suffered by people covering the news is a stain on free societies everywhere,” commented INSI Director Rodney Pinder. “Free societies cannot exist without a free flow of information and whenever a member of the news media is slain a window to the truth is slammed shut.
“We need fast and effective action by democratic governments and international institutions to halt this deadly spiral. If we do not act, our freedom will slowly wither and then it will be too late.”
INSI has joined with the International Federation of Journalists and the European Broadcasting Union in proposing a UN resolution on the protection of journalists around the world. Thus far it has met with little success but the effort will continue.
“We owe it to hundreds of brave colleagues around the world, who bring us the news at great risk to their lives, to press on with this initiative – to keep hammering on the doors of our governments and international bodies until someone wakes up,” Pinder said.
INSI monitors all places where members of the news media are in danger at work, whether from conflict, disaster, disease, hostile regimes or other violent elements. We track and record all staff and freelance casualties during coverage-related activities – print, photo and video journalists as well as essential support staff such as drivers, fixers and translators. As we are a safety organisation, our casualty list includes all causes of death, whether deliberate, accidental or health-related.
26 September 2006
More than 90 entries have been received for the 2006 AIB International Broadcasting Awards.
Broadcasters all over the world have answered the call to celebrate success in international broadcasting, submitting a wide range of programmes in a variety of languages that have been watched and heard by audiences worldwide.
Now the judges are starting work, evaluating the entries and deciding who will be the winners of the second AIB Awards.
Our international judges – in countries from Australia across to Canada – have looked at the range and quality of the entries and have asked for additional time to evaluate and do full justice to the remarkable programming and technological innovations that have been submitted. For this reason, we are postponing the AIB Awards ceremony until after the summer break in the northern hemisphere. Look out for details of our evening of celebration of success in international broadcasting that will be taking place in early September.
See who’s entered and who’s judging by clicking
here.
26 September 2006
The BBC has unveiled the new channel identity for its flagship domestic network, BBC ONE. Launching on 7 October, the new idents use a circle theme treated in a variety of ways by the creative team from Red Bee Media that was commissioned to create the new visuals.
One of the idents features a fantastical exploration of what it would look like if adult hippos could swim. The action climaxes with synchronised swimming in a circle. The 3D hippos were created by Framestore CFC, the team behind the famous Walking With series led by Mike McGee.
Naomi Gibney, Head of Marketing, BBC ONE adds: “In developing the new BBC ONE identity, the key for me was simplicity.
“Out of an incredibly challenging brief, Red Bee has created a simple, true, idea with the branding at the heart of the execution. We chose this idea from Red Bee as it celebrated BBC ONE’s unique ability to bring people together, and their executions beautifully convey magical moments when this happens.”
25 September 2006
SES GLOBAL announces that its operating companies SES ASTRA and SES AMERICOM will support the worldwide non-profit initiative One Laptop per Child (OLPC). The initiative aims at improving the communication and education infrastructure in developing countries by launching a low cost, web-connected laptop. It is supported by leading international players in the hard- and software industry. SES ASTRA and SES AMERICOM will serve as worldwide partners to provide satellite connectivity and smart ground solutions for broadcasting, data and internet connections. SES AMERICOM CEO Edward D. Horowitz will represent SES on the initiatives Board.
One Laptop per Child was launched at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January and is chaired by the former head of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston, Nicholas Negroponte.
As new corporate partners of the project, SES ASTRA and SES AMERICOM will contribute important know-how for the conceptual development, give financial support of US$ 2 million and provide space capacity on SES global satellite fleet to countries and organizations. The conceptual contribution includes the development of a one dish per village model, whereby the low-cost laptops with a wireless connection receive data from local hubs connected via satellite. The price of such laptops is expected to be around USD 100.
The involvement with the One Laptop per Child initiative reinforces SES`s engagement in connectivity projects, like for example the NEPAD’s e-Schools project (www.nepad.org), a ten-year initiative started in 2003 to connect 600,000 schools in Africa.
Comments Edward D. Horowitz, President and CEO of SES AMERICOM: “Together with our world class partners in the OLPC initiative and the commitment of the participating countries, we have the unique opportunity to change the way educational resources are delivered to schools and students in every corner of the planet by taking advantage of satellite’s inherent ability to connect without geographical boundaries. We look forward to supporting this important global initiative.”
