6 July 2006
SES ASTRA, an SES GLOBAL company, has announced that the German-French public channel Arte will broadcast for the first time in High Definition (HD) quality in Germany. Arte will show Georges Bizets famous opera Carmen from the national opera-house in Berlin today at 7 pm.
We are very pleased that our partner Arte has chosen SES ASTRA to broadcast its first HD programme in German, said Alexander Oudendijk, Chief Commercial Officer of SES ASTRA. We have played a major role in the creation and the development of HDTV and we will keep on promoting and supporting our partners for the great benefit of the TV viewers. Today, SES ASTRA is the leading delivery platform for HDTV in Europe.
We recently succeeded in showing some important HDTV events in France, but it is the first time that Arte provides the German TV viewers with such a high quality programme, explains Dr. Gottfried Langenstein, Vice-President of Arte. We are very happy to share this exciting moment with our long-term partner SES ASTRA and we hope to be able to provide more HD programmes to our viewers in the near future.
27 June 2006
Arqiva today announced it has secured another contract from Cellcast to provide the uplinking facilities for the interactive channel Majestic TV. The deal is further demonstration of the strong relationship between the two companies and brings to five the total number of managed or owned channels uplinked for Cellcast by Arqiva. All channels are broadcast via Eurobird space segment onto the BSkyB platform and include Get Lucky TV, You TV, You TV3, Game Network and most recently Majestic TV.
Majestic TV is an aspirational lifestyle channel for people who plan to move to a place in the sun. It broadcasts a range of programmes including an independent guide to living in Spain and shows giving financial and legal advice on buying a home abroad.
John Bozza, head of broadcast sales at Arqiva Satellite Media Solutions, said: Were delighted to be able to support all these interactive channels for Cellcast. Its a great example of the facilities we can provide for channel operators who rely on us to take them onto the BSkyB platform, while keeping the cost of satellite services as low as possible.
Andrew Wilson, CEO of Cellcast plc, added: Arqiva has an impressive track record in providing broadcast services and an excellent reputation for reliability and customer service. This, combined with its understanding of what was required for these channels, was an important factor in our choice of Arqiva as our technical partner.
26 June 2006
Arabsat, the leading satellite operator in the Middle East and North Africa region, and Mlive announce a five-year agreement to broadcast the Mlive channels on the BADR-3 satellite of the Arabsat fleet. Uplinked from Arabsat’s strategic partner Jordan Media City, the digital distribution platform in Ku-band will allow Mlive to directly access the extensive Middle Eastern and North African audiences via Arabsats constellation of BADR satellites @ 26°East. Furthermore, thanks to its dual-broadcasting on Arabsat’s “SEE-DIGITAL” C-band platform on its BADR-C satellite, Mlive will also dramatically extend its reach towards the numerous sub-Saharan viewers tuned to 26°E already watching a C-band bouquet of 37 digital plus 18 analogue channels.
Mr. Khalid Balkheyour, Arabsat President & CEO, welcomed the launch of the Mlive set of programs as part of the Arabsat rapidly expanding offering of channels, wishing them every success. Mlive is an innovative and attractive new style of channels and we are proud to be their partner in this exciting launch, delivering them immediate reach to an audience of 130 Million individuals in the MENA region alone, and much more beyond” he commented, confirming Arabsats strong commitment to help its customers succeed and steadily support their growth throughout the region. “We are honoured by their trust in our system and confidence in the extensive penetration of Arabsat’s constellation of BADR satellites at our 26° East primary fast growing DTH neighbourhood he concluded.
Frederic Giaccardo, CEO of Mlive, added: We are very pleased to broadcast through Arabsat and to collaborate with CEO Eng. Khalid A. Balkheyour and his team. This global and long-term agreement will ensure that Mlive is widely seen around the Middle East, Maghreb regions and Europe, offering Arabsat viewers a privileged and multilingual host of Music, Fashion and Dance, along with Interactive services and applications such as voting, chat, song dedications or quizzes.”
22 June 2006
The second annual AIB International Broadcasting Awards have attracted more than 85 entries from countries throughout the world.
With nine categories covering television, radio and technology, the 2006 AIB Awards are a celebration of success in international broadcasting.
“We’re delighted that so many broadcasters and technology companies have responded to this year’s Awards,” says Simon Spanswick, the AIB’s chief executive. “The range of entries and their quality demonstrates the vibrancy of the international broadcasting industry. The judges face some hard decision-making!”
Judges, drawn from broadcasting organisations and TV and radio critics in the UK and around the world, have been amazed by the quality of the entries and have asked for more time in evaluating them before choosing the winners.
The winners will be announced during a special event – details will be available online soon.
Organisations entering the AIB Awards 2006
Al Arabiya
Al Jazeera Children’s Channel
BBC
BBC Religion and Ethics, Radio
BBC TV News
BBC World
BBC World Service
BFBS
Camerapix
CBC
Channel News Asia
CNBC Europe
Createcna XXI
Deutsche Welle
Dutch View Holdings/CIRIS
EuroNews
EuroSport
IBB/VoA
Independent Media Corporation/GEO TV
KBS
Link Research
NDSatCom
NDTV
Norddeutscher Rundfunk/ARTE
Omnibus Systems
Proseibensat. 1 Produktion
Public Television Service
Quadrant
Radio France Internationale
Radio Free Asia
Radio Netherlands
Radio Taiwan International
RFE/RL
RR Satellite Communication
Sky News
SSVC-BFBS
SW Radio Africa
Teletrax
Televisa
United Nations
Winetworks c/o Eclat Marketing
WorldSpace
22 June 2006
Radio Netherlands Worldwide, the Dutch International Service, held the official opening ceremony of its new-look newsroom the largest foreign newsroom in the Netherlands – on Monday 19 June. The official opening was performed by Jan Hoekema, Director and Ambassador and for International Cultural Cooperation at the Dutch Foreign Ministry. Mr. Hoekema stressed the importance of Radio Netherlands in delivering information to countries where press freedom is restricted
The re-designed newsroom reflects the new policy of one station, one sound. Whereas previously the working space was divided into clusters for different language services whose staff worked independently of the others, the new design is more open-plan and is based around a large, central desk, which is used for the planning and coordination of news broadcasts in nine languages. Material and ideas will be shared across the different languages, and there will be more consistency in the way major stories are covered.
The refurbishment of the newsroom was carried out in just 10 days. Around 150 journalists had to be moved to temporary accommodation while the work took place, and regular broadcasts and Internet services were maintained. Apart from a new layout, furnishings and carpeting, the IT department has replaced all the computer workstations in the newsroom and throughout the Radio Netherlands Worldwide building. The old computers, about 500 in total, will be passed to Dutch NGOs that can use them in projects abroad.
Radio Netherlands Worldwide Director-General Jan Hoek says of the new-look newsroom Its not only a striking symbol of the beating journalistic heart of our organisation, but also a milestone in its revitalisation and the introduction of the new working procedures.
