3 June 2006
Ibrahim Helal has been appointed Deputy Managing Director News and Programmes of the soon to launch global English language news and current affairs channel.
Helal is a former editor-in-chief at Al Jazeeras Arabic language channel and most recently served as a project director on the Middle East North Africa Dialogue Programme for the BBC World Service Trust. Prior to his joining Al Jazeera International, he worked in London for the BBCs Arabic service.
Having Ibrahim join us at the English-language channel not only further professionalises our staff with a top-flight newsman, it also solidifies us as a family built around the core spirit of Al Jazeera, said Managing Director Nigel Parsons.
Helal will oversee the Middle East desk and ensure close working relations with the Arabic news channel. Ibrahim will have a quality-control responsibility to assure that news content across the channels is consistentand consistently good, said Parsons.
Al Jazeeras English-channel promises agenda-free news from every corner of the globe carried across fibre-optic HDTV technology. Both firsts, said Parsons. The channel plans a launch later this year.
3 June 2006
VT Communications continues to push the boundaries of digital radio broadcasting by launching its dual-channel Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) transmission service from Crystal Palace in South East London into Greater London. Partnering with Deutsche Welle and UBC Classic Gold VT Communications can now provide two discrete broadcast services over a single 20KHz transmission band centred at 25.7 MHz. This is the first time the double channel mode of DRM has been used for extensive field trials and further enhances VT Communications digital offering.
The 26 MHz band is designated as an international broadcast band, but is underused and could also be used to provide local FM type coverage. Demand for both FM (88-108 MHz) and DAB (band III) spectrum in the UK is very high, and DRM could offer broadcasters access to additional spectrum in addition revitalising existing MF and LF frequencies with enhanced audio quality.
The ability of the 26 MHz band to provide local and digital radio coverage adds to VT Communications existing regional and international DRM capability. In 1999 VT Communications started regular ITU compliant DRM tests from the Rampisham transmitter site in Dorset UK, to Europe. In 2003 a new high power MF transmitter was added to the portfolio, which now transmits the BBC World Service in digital quality to the Benelux countries. In March 2006, VT Communications announced a significant investment in a new high power HF transmitter at its Woofferton (Shropshire, UK) transmitter site. This will be operational by mid 2006.
VT Communications are also investing in a new broadcast centre designed to distribute audio in a totally digital format from studio to listener, including distribution of DRM. This will eliminate audio degradation caused by repeated conversion between analogue and digital, a surprisingly common problem with digital transmissions. The broadcast centre will also be able to format & distribute audio via a number of different routes, including archiving, podcasting, content repurposing and audio on demand. The 26 MHz service in London will showcase the broadcast centre technology, as data channels, Electronic programme guides (EPG) and a 3rd audio service are all scheduled for test during the course of 2006.
VT Communications ongoing investment in DRM 26MHz and HF capability is part of our new Global Media Network says Bryan Coombes, General Manager Broadcast at VT Communications. This underlines our commitment to provide a digital service to satisfy all of our customers broadcasting requirements, from local through to truly international coverage.
3 June 2006
Harris Corporation has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Aastra Digital Video, a business unit of Aastra Technologies Limited. Aastra Digital Video develops and markets video networking, encoding, decoding, and multiplexing technologies used by television broadcasters, telecommunications providers and satellite networks. The heart of their product portfolio is the VideoRunner multi-service video networking system. They have been a supplier to Harris of video networking products for the past eight years, sold under the Flexicoder and NetVX brand names.
Aastra Digital Video is based in Bridgewater, NJ, with approximately 35 employees. Aastra’s customers also include Turner Broadcasting, the National Football League, DIRECTV, Bell Canada, and the Canadian Television Network (CTV). Revenue for the 12 months ended December 31, 2005, was approximately $18 million with EBITDA of $5.7 million, which does not include certain corporate allocations. Harris will acquire the assets of Aastra Digital Video for approximately $35 million in cash, subject to customary closing conditions, and the transaction is expected to be accretive to Harris fiscal year 2007 earnings per share, excluding acquisition-related charges.
“This acquisition adds to our Total Content Delivery solutions for the broadcast industry and will enable Harris to offer networking products that transport media content over a variety of broadcast, cable, satellite, and telco networks, including those supporting new services such as IPTV and Mobile TV,” said Tim Thorsteinson, president of Harris Broadcast Communications Division. “Harris has had an excellent relationship with Aastra for many years, and we believe this acquisition will broaden our engineering resources to address rapidly emerging markets and new services that require expertise in areas such as the distribution and delivery of MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 program streams. This acquisition is a good technology match that creates significant value for our customers.”
3 June 2006
Pharos Communications announces a new addition to its Reading-headquarters staff with the appointment of David Barnes as Director of Sales and John Walmsley in Presales Support.
“David Barnes and John Walmsley join us as we introduce the Mediator family of broadcast workflow management systems,” comments Pharos Commercial Director Roger Heath. “These are far more operator-friendly than any comparable system hitherto introduced to the market. Pharos has evolved an extremely efficient method of analysing the minute-by-minute operational activity within playout centres and broadcast networks. We are using that knowledge to create an evolving range of task-specific user interfaces which are far easier for operators to work with than the GUIs found in traditional MAM systems. David and John will help us roll out that message to the broadcast community.”
A Chartered Engineer with a B.Sc. (Honours) degree in Engineering Technology, David Barnes began his career in 1981 as an electronics engineer at Racal-Carlton. He progressed to IBM in 1984, working in senior engineering and project management roles. Then followed six years in sales management for subcontract manufacturing with ADFlex and World Circuit Technology before joining Tandberg Television in July 2000, initially as Senior Account Manager and, from 2004, as Sales Manager. He reports to Commercial Director Roger Heath.
John Walmsley spent six years in BBC Television OB operations before becoming a broadcast engineer with Dhofar Region Television, Oman, in 1975. From 1976 to 1978 he worked as a project engineer at Link Electronics, moving to Ampex in 1978 and later Sony Broadcast. He progressed to Quantel as Principal Engineer, Systems Sales, and subsequently to Tektronix, Drake Automation and Omnibus Systems. He joins Pharos from Television Systems Ltd and reports to Director of Sales David Barnes.
Based in Reading, England, Pharos Communications (www.pharos-comms.com) is focused on software architecture for broadcast process management. Since its formation in 1997, the company has developed a wide range of systems for automating the flow of material through broadcast facilities including playout presentation, media asset management, archiving, and facility management.
See Pharos on Stand F74 at Broadcast Live, Earls Court 2, London, June 20-22
23 May 2006
SES ASTRA, an SES GLOBAL company, has concluded a new contract with the German Anixe GmbH & Co KG for the transmission of its HDTV channel. The programme ANIXE HD starts to broadcast today in high resolution and unencrypted from the main orbital position 19.2° East.
We are pleased that an innovative enterprise such as Anixe has chosen SES ASTRA and our satellites for its HD transmissions, said Alexander Oudendijk, Chief Commercial Officer of SES ASTRA. The new HDTV channel broadens our portfolio and will contribute to satisfy the rising demand for HD content.
The new contract with SES ASTRA allows us to expand our offer and business into the growing sector of HDTV, said Emanuel Lapidakis, Managing Director of ANIXE HD. Our high quality standards are reflected in our programme as well as in our business relationship with SES ASTRA.
