25 November 2004
Its been in the pipeline for years; now it’s on the web. The Dutch international broadcaster has cleverly packed a mountain of content into its new web pages, folding pages and entire indexes into collapsible compartments. The subject headings are active links that take you to an index page for that topic.
There is a lot of content you wont easily find anywhere else, e.g. the daily review of the main stories in the Dutch newspapers. Apart from the extensive Current Affairs archive, you can find Dutch Horizons which deals with everything to do with the Netherlands.
Every programme from the past week can be downloaded; every major feature programme is available online indefinitely, connected to a web story. The web site also supports RNs traditional broadcasting role, with details on what programmes are coming up next and how to tune in.
Importantly, there is a Feedback section. And you can even check on the Dutch weather with the webcam perched on the PTT telecommunications tower behind the Radio Netherlands building in Hilversum.
25 November 2004
Al Jazeeras new English-language news channel, Al Jazeera International, will establish its Asian base in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur. The new Qatar-based satellite channel, to be launched next year, will have regional hubs in London and Washington, as well as its Kuala Lumpur base and headquarters in Doha.
The managing director of Al Jazeera International, Nigel Parsons, said that Kuala Lumpur had been chosen as the Asian hub for purely operational reasons: We felt Kuala Lumpur best met our requirements in terms of its geographical location, infrastructure, local labour pool and cost base.
Besides its Arabic-language and English-language news channels, Aljazeera is already broadcasting an Arabic-language sports channel under the Aljazeera banner and intends to launch a children’s channel and a documentary channel during 2005.
18 November 2004
Harris Corporation’s Broadcast Communications Division has been awarded a contract to provide FM radio transmission systems and associated equipment for operation throughout the world under the auspices of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB). The IBB provides engineering support for U.S. government-funded, non-military international broadcast services, including the Voice of America (VOA), Radio Sawa, and Radio and TV Martí (Office of Cuba Broadcasting).
Under the contract, Harris will ship numerous transmission systems, including Harris Quest(R) 1kW FM radio transmitters, Harris Z2CD 2kW FM radio transmitters, Z5CD 5kW FM radio transmitters, Z10CD 10kW FM radio transmitters with accessories, antennas from Shively Labs, and Orban products from CRL Systems Inc. for yet-to-be specified sites around the world.
“We are honored to be chosen, once again, as the International Broadcasting Bureau’s supplier of choice for this important contract,” said Debra Huttenburg, vice president and general manager of the Radio Broadcast Systems business unit of Harris’ Broadcast Communications Division. “Harris is very proud to be playing a key role in bringing uncensored news and information to listeners around the globe.”
Harris Corporation also announced the first Caribbean installation of its NetVX high-speed, integrated networking platform, and TRuepoint, Harris’ next-generation microwave radio, at Television Jamaica Limited (TVJ), the island’s leading broadcast television station. NetVX provides the broadcaster with high-speed IT-based connectivity for video and data distribution, while TRuepoint ensures highly reliable wireless communication links for voice and data transmission. The joint solution supports TVJ’s central-casting model and allows for bidirectional networking to source and return regional feeds between the broadcaster’s “hub” in Kingston and the various channels’ transmitters that are dispersed around the island.
TVJ’s terrestrial broadcast television stations cover 95 percent of the island of Jamaica. As TVJ transitions from analog to digital, NetVX and TRuepoint will integrate into the existing infrastructure to provide the station with a digital backbone. The joint solution enables centralized broadcast operations through one stream containing four channels: two radio and two television. The combination of NetVX and TRuepoint provides a cost-efficient, single-vendor solution.
17 November 2004
The BBC has commissioned Teletrax for a special project to help the international broadcaster better understand how it uses news coverage from third party news providers around the globe. Teletrax, a subsidiary of Medialink Worldwide Incorporated, is the first and only global digital video monitoring and media asset management service.
The BBCs special project calls for Teletrax to monitor use by the BBC of video news material that is provided by key selected international news providers. The results of the six-month study will be analyzed by the BBC as part of ongoing internal examination and its contribution to the larger national discussion of how it builds public value as a publicly funded, public service broadcaster in a fully digital world.
The BBC concentrates on providing high quality programmes and services as one of the most creative and trusted organisations in the world, said Adrian van Klaveren, head of newsgathering, BBC News. We constantly strive to improve our public service, and this project will better inform how we operate in an increasingly digital world.
It is a privilege for Teletrax to be selected to provide business information that can aid the BBC in its continuing evaluation of its output, said Andy Nobbs, managing director of Teletrax. We are excited to be supporting the BBC on a project that can assist it in building a bridge to its second century as a world-renowned public broadcaster.
Launched more than two years ago as a service using patented technology developed by a joint venture between Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands and Medialink, Teletraxs technology embeds an imperceptible and indelible digital watermark into video whenever it is edited, transmitted, broadcast or duplicated. The underlying technology is patent protected both by Philips and Digimarc Corp.
The BBC is part of a growing list of leading entertainment, news and media organizations that have contracted with Teletrax to track broadcast video content, either in the United States exclusively or globally. These include: Buena Vista Television, ABC Television Network, Tribune Entertainment, Universal Domestic Television, NBC News Channel, Reuters Television, Medialink and Australian-based Media Review International. A number of other entertainment, news and media companies are also currently testing the Teletrax service.
17 November 2004
The European Audiovisual Observatory has just published the first volume of the 2004 edition of its Yearbook, entitled “Economy of the Radio and Television Industry in Europe”. The European Union audiovisual market (EUR 15) was worth 98.6 billion euros in 2002. Growth in the radio and television sector is flagging, and television companies financed by advertising form the only group to have shown a profit.
DVDs are driving growth in the sector
During the period 1998-2002, the average annual growth rate in the European audiovisual sector was 6.5%. However, growth for the sector as a whole stood still in 2002, with a growth rate of just 0.2%.
Sales and rentals of DVDs showed by far the highest average annual growth over this period (+223%), while sales and rentals of VHS cassettes saw an average annual decline of -6.5%. Sales of records/CDs and entertainment software (including video games) had an average annual growth rate of nil during the reference period. Box-office revenue, however, saw an average annual growth rate of 6.54%.
Radio and television growth is flagging
The radio and television branch as a whole has seen an average annual growth rate of 6.82%, but there are substantial differences among the various groups of operators Home Shopping channels recorded an average annual growth rate of 24.2%, digital TV packagers 20.4%, and thematic channels 16.3%. The crisis in the advertising market was reflected in fairly low average annual growth rates for the television channels financed by advertising (4.5%); the growth rates of 14.4% in 1999 and 12.5% in 2000 took a downward plunge in 2001 (-2.8%) and 2002 (-4.6%). Private radio stations also saw a relatively low average annual growth of 4.5% over the reference period. Public-sector radio and television broadcasting, which at 27% of the European audiovisual market remains the most important group, experienced a similar average annual growth rate of 4.4% over the reference period and a slightly less important downturn (-2.7%) in 2002.
The European television sector has shown a loss for four years running, but the losses are getting smaller.
As in previous years, the Observatory has put a figure on the financial performances of the television companies in the European Union. On the basis of analysis of the accounts of 391 television companies, of all types, the Observatory notes that, in 2002, for the fourth year running, the “television” branch of the audiovisual industry made a loss. With operational income of 59.7 billion euros in 2002, net losses amounted to 2.9 billion in 2002 (compared with 2.6 billion in 2000 and 4 billion in 2001).
Only the group of television channels financed by advertising proved to be profitable, but margins are shrinking.
Television channels financed by advertising constituted the only group to show a profit over the period 1999-2002, although there has been significant shrinkage in profit margins, which fell from 18.9% in 2000 to 10.7% in 2001 and 7.8% in 2002. In contrast, the group to show the biggest losses (net losses of more than 3 billion euros in 2000 and 2001), although there was a move towards improvement in 2002, was that of the companies that compile digital packages (for distribution by satellite or by terrestrially-broadcast digital television), following the disappearance of several platforms as a result of bankruptcy. Companies making available film Pay-TV channels and thematic channels reduced their losses.
The situation of public-sector radio and television broadcasting continues to deteriorate, with net losses almost doubling in 2002; this was a particularly difficult year for public-sector radio and television broadcasting companies in the Spanish Autonomous Communities (losses of 661 million euros), the BBC Home Service (480 million), RTP (Portugal – 228 million), RTE (Ireland – 56 million), ORF (Austria – 40 million), TVE (Spain – 24 million) and ZDF (Germany – 22 million).
Only the German and French television systems were profitable overall.
In 2002, only the television systems in Germany and France were, overall, profitable. The least successful television systems were those of Spain (where both national and Autonomous Community public-sector companies made serious losses), Portugal and Finland.
Will 2003-2004 see a return to break-even point in the European television sector?
“Because a number of major companies are slow in publishing their accounts, it is not yet possible to provide final figures for 2003”, commented André Lange, Head of the Department for Information on Markets and Financing at the Observatory and scientific editor of the Yearbook. “According to the figures already available, however, it is probable that, after the disappearance of bankrupt digital platforms in 2001-2002, after the concentrations that took place in 2003 in Spain and Italy, and after the relative financial recovery of the BBC, ORF and RTE, the European television sector managed to break even in 2003.”
