14 February 2006
The world’s media gathers in New Delhi on Tuesday 14 February for the AIB Regional Media Leaders Forum. Titled Broadcasting 2.0 – the Audience is up to something, the Forum will debate and discuss the state of broadcasting in the multi-platform, multi-channel world. Delegates are travelling from throughout the world – from Taiwan, New Zealand, Canada, the UK, the Netherlands and Fiji – as well as from India, Pakistan and the rest of South Asia.
The one day event – at New Delhi’s Habitat World – is designed to stimulate conversations between broadcasters and to brief them about developments in the electronic media industry around the world. Opening the event will be a keynote address by Dr. Madanmohan Rao, research director of Singapore-based Asian Media Information Centre. Rao has been investigating media and lifestyle trends in the Asia region for many years and will present developments across the region from South Korea to China, as well as South Asia. Rao will offer his views of some of the scenarios for the preferred futures for media and entertainment in Asia, home to two-thirds of the world’s population in an essential briefing for everyone involved in the electronic media in the region.
Jonathan Marks, former programme director at Radio Netherlands and now an international media consultant, travels the world on investigative media safaris. He’s been capturing great ideas that illustrate the sideways shift that is happening around the traditional bastions of broadcasting. For example, how can established media players shift resources to adapt in today’s complex media environment?
Other speakers include Mr K S Sarma, chief executive of Prasar Bharati, Tim Suter of the UK’s telecoms to media regulator, Ofcom, and Pawan Gandhi, Nokia India’s executive responsible for content as well as a range of other senior executives from the broadcasting and web industries.
“We’re seeing immense change in global media,” comments Simon Spanswick, AIB chief executive. “Members of the AIB wanted to learn more about developments in South Asian media, so we are staging this event to ensure that a dialogue starts between broadcasters from the region with those in other parts of the world. We’re also aiming to provide an insight into how major broadcasters are addressing the challenges of global competition, attracting viewers and listeners and developing businesses. With a truly international audience eager to learn from developments in India, this event will provide a unique opportunity for media executives to exchange views with colleagues from all over the world.”
The half-day conference, at Habitat World in central New Delhi, has delegates registered from broadcasters, production companies, satellite operators and related industries throughout India, South Asia, the Pacific, Far East, North America and Europe. The delegate fee for the 14 February event is INR1,950. To register, contact Sanjeev Kapur, telephone 098 11 639 274 or e-mail kapur.sanjeev@gmail.com.
14 February 2006
By 2015, India will have 16 million qualified scientists. Thats more than the entire population of many European countries. The G-8 Summit of the worlds largest economic powers will be a very different group, with China and India expected to be part of the new, enlarged economic forum. Globalisation, sustainable development, technical convergence, public safety and climate change are just some of the issues that will affect us all ever more greatly.
Thousands of issues already affect the effectiveness of the message from traditional broadcasters. As lifestyles change, this industry forum will highlight those organisations that are adapting to change and are becoming the “media organisations” of the future. They are creating the new social currencies being exchanged through mobile phones, broadcast, broadband, wi-fi, cable and satellite.
New media is no longer “new”. 12 years have passed since the Internet became accessible to the public. Initial results are in. Digital Audio Broadcasting was invented 25 years ago; DVB was developed 12 years ago and DRM is a decade old in 2006. The AIB believes it is time to present an overview of what is hot and what is not.
This one-day Regional Forum for media leaders – which is open by invitation only – will focus on practical case studies. It has been designed to allow the sharing of ideas on relevant trends that are affecting the international media industry and how leading players are reacting. The Forum will take advantage of the location to examine how the Indian media, mobile and IT industries are serving a huge domestic market of citizens and consumers as well as more than 20 million Indians living abroad. The worlds largest democracy has some surprising insights to share.
From search engines to mobile phones, the AIB Delhi Regional Media Leaders Forum will cover the issues that matter, with reviews and predictions, plus case studies that provide pointers to the way media organisations have embraced the new opportunities and delivered success, in both the public and the commercial sectors. Taking place immediately before the Commonwealth Broadcasting Associations General Conference, the AIB Forum will be a truly international event, with cross-over attendance from some of the worlds leading broadcasters who are attending the CBA conference.
And recognising the pressures that todays media executives are under, weve scheduled the Forum to allow time for going to the office or having a meeting before the event, and plenty of time left after the event to do business as well.
SPECIAL DELEGATE RATE FOR SOUTH ASIA PARTICIPANTS: INR1,950. Contact Anmol Saxena or Rakhee Sakhuja at anmol.saxena@aib.org.uk, or call +91 (0) 11 416 33483 to take advantage of this special South Asia delegate rate.
Download the event brochure
here, or book online by clicking
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Remember, there is a special delegate rate for South Asia – just INR1,950.
13 February 2006
RadioScape, the world leader in Software Defined Digital Radio solutions, has launched the latest addition to its innovative range of DAB modules. The RadioScape RS200VE module is designed to provide manufacturers with a low cost solution for creating inexpensive, feature-rich entertainment centres. The module provides DAB (Digital Audio Broadcast) and FM reception, CD transport control, user interface and display drivers in a single integrated unit enabling overall system build costs to be significantly reduced.
Our unique approach of providing functionality through software running on a DSP, explained Dave Hawkins, RadioScapes VP of Business Development, enables us to provide features on the module that would otherwise have required dedicated silicon to achieve. This not only reduces the overall system cost but also reduces the complexity, time-to-design and time-to-market.
Manufacturers can also easily differentiate products by using software add-ons such as MP3 or alarm clock functions. All manufacturers have to do is to provide the peripherals such as display, buttons, antenna, power supply, amplifier and speakers as the module provides all the control functions.
The RS200VE is pin and software compatible with its highly successful predecessor, the RS200, allowing existing receiver designs to utilise the new features enabled by the new module. As with all RadioScape modules, the RS200VE is fully RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) compliant in line with the Directive that comes into force in the EU on 1 July 2006. This restricts the use of certain hazardous substances in electronic and electrical equipment within the EU.
12 February 2006
The proposed fiscal year 2007 budget for U.S. international broadcasting calls for an overall increase of 4.3% from fiscal year 2006 targeted to the war on terror and new technology.
While proposed increases go primarily to Middle East Broadcasting Networks and Voice of America (VOA), non-war on terror related language services would see reductions and/or eliminations.
Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) Chairman Kenneth Y. Tomlinson said, “In the post-Katrina budget environment, I believe we are fortunate to get an increase that strengthens our role in the war on terrorism. The ’07 proposed budget of $671.9 million follows a 7.5% increase for fiscal year ’06.”
In recent years, the Bush Administration and Congress have wiped out the 40 percent cut in spending for international broadcasting during the 1990s following the end of the Cold War. For fiscal year 2007, the budget proposal calls for a 13% increase for Middle East Broadcasting Networks and a 5.3% increase for Voice of America.
The Board of Governors’ proposed $671.9 million budget includes a number of new initiatives, enhancements and a continuation of initiatives begun in ’06. They include:
Expanding service to Iran with a daily four-hour prime time VOA Persian television lineup and enhancing the Radio Farda website.
Increasing Middle East television news coverage (Alhurra) from 16 to 24 hours a day and adding customized local news content and coverage for Radio Sawa.
Adding a one-hour television program for Afghanistan in both Dari and Pashto, and enhancing transmission for VOA Pashto programming to the people of Afghanistan along the border region while adding additional FM and medium wave capability.
Faced with the increased costs of expanding critically needed television and radio programming to the Arab and non-Arab Muslim world, the Board has had to make some painful choices. As a result, the budget proposes reductions in English language programming, by eliminating VOA News Now radio while maintaining VOA English to Africa, Special English and VOA’s English website.
The budget reflects the Board’s commitment to English language programming in the medium of the future, the Internet, and for excellence in Special English programming. Research shows that millions more are benefiting from Internet programming than from shortwave transmission, which VOA News Now relies on.
Other proposed reductions include the elimination of VOA broadcasts in Croatian, Turkish, Thai, Greek and Georgian. VOA radio broadcasts in Albanian, Bosnian, Macedonian, Serbian, Russian and Hindi would end while television programming in these languages would continue. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty will continue radio programming in Russian and Georgian while eliminating radio programming in Macedonian.
“Every member of the Board of Governors regrets the loss of VOA services proposed in this budget,” Tomlinson said. “The men and women who provided these services for many years served with distinction and provided programming that were critical to this nation’s interests. However, the Board believes that the priorities reflected in this budget proposal represent the best allocation of funds.”
12 February 2006
International Russian television channel RTR Planeta has now reached Asia following a distribution partnership between content management and delivery company GlobeCast, satellite transmissions company Satlink and leading satellite operator AsiaSat. RTR Planeta, owned by Russian state television and radio broadcasting Company RTR, provides programming that includes cultural and prime time news, sports, feature films and documentary movies.
The channel is received by Satlink from the Express 3A satellite in Tel Aviv, where it is multiplexed and uplinked onto Satlinks platform on AsiaSat 2 for Free-to-Air distribution over Asia.
GlobeCast has a long relationship with RTR Planeta, carrying it both on its platform on the Hot Bird satellite over Europe and as part of its GlobeCast WorldTV offering in the United States on Intelsat Americas 5. The AsiaSat 2 Satellite provides ideal C-band coverage of a potential 53 countries throughout Asia, the Middle East, Australasia and the C.I.S. RTR Planetas new home on this Satlink-operated platform means that the channel shares a neighborhood with TVE, RAI International, RTP and Radio France International among others.
