8 September 2006
GlobeCast has been chosen by the new French international news channel, FRANCE 24, to carry out its broadcast by satellite throughout Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
GlobeCasts satellite platforms, based in key orbital positions, will provide FRANCE 24 with access to several million television households throughout the world.
When it launches, FRANCE 24 will cover these regions with two channels, one entirely in French and the second carrying primarily English-language programming. Programs in Arabic will be added in mid-2007 and in Spanish in 2008.
GlobeCast will supply FRANCE 24 with an end-to-end solution, which will include the reception of programming in Paris, multiplexing, uplink and capacity services on the following platforms:
– ASTRA at 19.2° East (Europe)
– EUROBIRD at 28.5° East (United Kingdom and Ireland)
– NSS7 at 22° West (Africa)
– ArabSat-Badr at 26° East (Middle East)
– Nilesat at 7° West (Middle East)
FRANCE 24 chose GlobeCast for its renowned expertise in the delivery of television channels throughout the world, as well as its presence on five continents. Working independently vis-à-vis satellite operators, GlobeCast is network agnostic and not limited to providing capacity from a single satellite fleet. This permitted GlobeCast to bundle capacities in this first launch phase from five unique satellite operators into a multi-continental delivery platform for FRANCE 24.
FRANCE 24 is scheduled to launch between 25 November and 5 December 2006. The channel represents a 50/50 partnership between the public television group France Televisions and the French commercial channel TF1.
8 September 2006
Asia’s leading satellite operator Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company Limited (AsiaSat) announced that the Arabsat/ASBU Bouquet has commenced broadcasting on AsiaSat 2, joining other Middle Eastern programming for free to air distribution to serve the vast Arab community in Asia and Australasia.
This Arabic-language Bouquet consists of a group of television and radio services from the ASBU (Arab States Broadcasting Union) members including ten television channels from Abu Dhabi TV Europe, Jamahiriya Satellite Channel, Oman TV, Palestinian TV, Qatar TV, Saudi Arabian TV 1, Sharjah TV, Sudan TV, Syria Satellite Channel, Yemen TV and 13 radio channels. These channels, originally broadcasting on AsiaSat 3S, will be dual illuminating on both AsiaSat 2 and AsiaSat 3S satellites till 1st October when they become exclusively available on AsiaSat 2.
This broadcast arrangement is part of the ASBUs global satellite distribution project, in partnership with GlobeCast and Arabsat, initiated for the ASBU members for global programme distribution. AsiaSat 2 carries an established Middle Eastern community of programming from the Arab States. Moving the Arabsat/ASBU Bouquet to AsiaSat 2 is therefore the natural choice for continuing and expanding the broadcast services of our member channels in Asia and Australasia. We appreciate the value of joining Asias most popular multicultural and multilingual broadcast platform, bringing our member channels to wider Arab audiences across the region, said Abdelrahim Suleiman, ASBU Technical Director.
Eng. Khalid Balkhyour, Arabsat President and CEO, welcomed the move of the Bouquet to AsiaSat 2, We are committed to actively support the development and success of the Arabsat/ASBU Bouquet and are glad to see the move to an even stronger neighbourhood of Arabic and foreign
programming on AsiaSat 2. AsiaSat 2 is home to Asias Middle Eastern content that now offers viewers a comprehensive platform of Arabic programming. We are very pleased that we have further expanded the Middle
Eastern neighbourhood on AsiaSat 2, enabling Arabic viewers under our vast coverage to access multiple channels on a powerful satellite, said Peter Jackson, Chief Executive Officer of AsiaSat.
The Arabsat/ASBU Bouquet is available on AsiaSat 2 in C-band with the following reception parameters:
Transponder: 5A
Frequency: 3820 MHz
Polarisation: Vertical
Modulation: QPSK
Symbol Rate: 27.5 Msym/sec
FEC: 3/4
28 August 2006
The annual IBC in Amsterdam is the principal electronic media trade fair in Europe, attracting visitors from throughout the world.
This year the AIB is once again taking part at IBC, exhibiting on stand 9.545 where the organisation will showcase the work that it undertakes for its members throughout the world.
The AIB booth also offers visitors to IBC the opportunity to find out more about AIB members who can distribute marketing collateral from stand 9.545.
Call by and meet Chief Executive, Simon Spanswick, and European representative, Asma Jhina and other members of the AIB team – we’ll be delighted to see you and tell you more about the AIB and its work.
28 August 2006
Berlin’s annual Medienforum gets underway on 30 August and includes sessions examining the impact and role of the world’s new international news channels and how radio is shaping up in the Internet- and mobile-crazed 21st century.
The AIB is represented at Germany’s major media event, and is working with Deutsche Welle, an AIB Corporate Member, in hosting a dinner for members of the AIB as well as invited guests for an off-the-record and, we hope, memorable evening of discussion.
“The AIB connects the industry,” says Simon Spanswick, AIB Chief Executive. “One of the ways we do this is to organise special, invitation-only events in different parts of the world that bring together media executives, politicians, journalists and regulators for off-the-record discussions. These events form part of the on-going activities that the AIB carries out on behalf of its global membership.”
More events are planned for later in 2006 – details will appear on this website.
8 August 2006
Watching live TV has not been possible on aircraft on a major scale up to now. But Qatar Airways is changing all this with the launch of live TV on five of its fleet of Aribus A330 long-haul aircraft. It’s part of a plan to equip all its aircraft with live in-flight entertainment – by the end of the year, the airline intends to have 14 planes with its new TV system operational.
Independent, personal television viewing allows each passenger to select from a suite of premium European and Arabic-language TV channels. The systems multi-directional antenna allows passengers to enjoy uninterrupted entertainment as their flights pass from Middle Eastern into European airspace. In the Middle East, passengers have access to AIB Platinum Member Al Jazeera plus BBC World, EuroNews, CNN International, TV5, EuroSport News, MBC and Disney Channel. Within Europe channels available are Al Jazeera, BBC World, EuroNews, CNN International, TV5, EuroSport 2, Future TV and Bloomberg.
