15 November 2004
VT Communications (VTC) has provided part of the vital link to enable the communities all over Afghanistan to receive radio programming produced live from Kabul. Internews Network has been charged with developing indigenous Afghan media with a focus on radio as part of USAID’s Office of Transitional Initiatives efforts to rebuild the country.
Internews Afghanistan approached VTC with a requirement to live feed a network of FM and AM affiliate stations being built in 35 key locations broadcasting the programming of Salaam Watandar. In addition the programming needed to be made available on short wave radio for the rural population and those not yet served by an FM transmitter.
VTC supplied and installed a VSAT uplink to feed programming onto the Europe*Star satellite. Programming is downlinked at VTC’s Woofferton transmitting station in Shropshire, UK before being fed to its Central London Control Room. VTC distribute programming to its transmission sites for short wave coverage and to Eutelsat’s Hotbird 6 satellite to feed the FM and AM rebroadcast transmitters in Afghanistan.
The flexibility provided by passing through the control room allows programming to be backed up or provided from other locations in Afghanistan or the world. The solution ensures that engineers are on hand 24 hours per day to ensure the smooth transmission of this very important community voice.
Richard Hurd, VTC Head of Transmission Services said: “We are delighted to have been able to assist Salaam Watander reach millions of listeners throughout Afghanistan and the region. A free and neutral radio service, that is available to the entire population, can significantly help develop the nation and its identity”.
Christian Quick, Technical Director of Internews Afghanistan said: “VT Communications has been extremely proactive in helping Internews Afghanistan in arriving at flexible and cost-effective solutions for delivering vital radio programming to some of the most underserved radio listeners in the world. The near total absence of existing communications infrastructure in Afghanistan has required an innovative, quickly deployable and user-friendly approach to satellite program distribution. VT Communications’ flexibility coupled with their short wave broadcast services made them a natural and their continued support has been invaluable to our project.”
15 November 2004
WRN has unveiled its first client for On Air, the UK’s first fully serviced stereo radio channel on the Sky digital platform. TotalRock, playing the hardest rock on the planet, will be broadcasting via On Air across the UK on Sky channel 938 from December 1st.
TotalRock has signed up for an initial three month run before the launch of its own channel on Sky digital. TotalRocks Andy King says We at TotalRock immediately recognised the opportunity offered by On Air and WRN and we are delighted to be able to bring TotalRock, the true voice of Rock, to millions of homes ahead of schedule. Richard Jacobs, WRNs Business Development Manager, adds: I am delighted to have TotalRock on board. Its a rocking good start for On Air!
WRNs On Air channel is for stations wanting access to Sky digital but for a limited period only. This includes those, like TotalRock, who wish to be on-air earlier than their official Sky launch date. The On Air channel is also perfect for testing new formats or incubating new stations. Even RSLs covering large sporting or cultural events can book space on WRNs On Air channel for the duration of their broadcast and instantly be available in over 7.4 million homes.
More information about On Air can be obtained from WRNs sales team on +44 (0)20 7896 4020 or sales@wrn.org.
12 November 2004
All four categories in the Rory Peck Awards were announced on 10 November, with a strong emphasis on highlighting the crucial role of freelancers in the television newsgathering industry in a year when, as the agencies and broadcasters are admitting, almost the only news footage coming out of Iraq has been from freelance camera people.
Sony International Impact Award Winner 2004
Philip Cox, Inside Darfur: The First Images of the Crisis, a self-funded piece, Shown by Channel 4 News, February 2004
Philip was the first westerner to film inside the war-torn region of Darfur, reporting on the ethnic cleansing reportedly taking place. His pictures alerted the world to the crisis, and showed a clear link between the barbarity taking place and the Sudanese government. At great risk he interviewed government troops, SLA Rebel Group members and refugees to build up an accurate picture of the events taking place. For four weeks he endured sand storms, gunfights and a starvation diet to film the unfolding events. His footage was subsequently shown to the UN and the European Commission and prompted calls across Europe for immediate action.
Hard News Winner 2004
Martin Adler, On Patrol with Charlie Company, a self-funded piece, shown by Channel 4 News, December 2003
Martins film presented a shocking observational account of the US Armys modus operandi in Samarra, Iraq in late November 2003. Martin Adler was with Charlie Company (1-8 Mechanised Infantry Battalion) whose base was on Highway One, just south of Samarra, in the heart of the Sunni Triangle. Their mission: to secure the highway, now considered to be the most dangerous stretch of road in the world with the constant threat of improvised explosive devices, and combat the insurgency which had broken out in the area. Most of the men had been in the country for 7 or 8 months and were showing signs of fatigue and stress.
Features Award Winner 2004
James Miller, Death in Gaza, made by Frostbite Films for HBO, Shown on
Channel 4
Filmed in Rafah, the footage, shot by James Miller, was for an HBO documentary showing the effect of war on the lives of Palestinian children. The main character, Ahmed, had begun working with the paramilitaries after he witnessed an older friend being shot by the Israelis. The film ends with the devastating footage showing how James Miller was killed. Ironically, it was not a war film. It centred on the lives of ordinary children, such as Ahmed, trying to grow up in an extraordinary environment. The night before the crew were due to leave Rafah, James was killed by an Israeli soldier despite the fact that he was wearing a helmet with TV on it, and carrying a white flag.
Freelancers Choice Winner 2004
Ron McCullagh has been chosen by the freelance community for the role he has played in supporting and enabling freelancers to develop their work. As Managing Director of Insight News Television Ltd he has ensured that the company remains focussed on in-depth international current affairs programming. McCullagh has made hundreds of documentary films and news features and the majority have involved the use of freelancers. This award is made via a vote amongst freelancers it honours individuals that have had a significant, positive impact upon the freelance community.
The Rory Peck Awards is an annual ceremony held by the Rory Peck Trust. As well as acting as a major fundraising event, is the only ceremony that highlights and celebrates freelance achievement in television newsgathering around the world. For the last four years, Sony has been the sponsor of this event.
11 November 2004
SES ASTRAs TechCom unit and HELLAS SAT S.A. announced on 9 November that the control of the Hellas-Sat 2 satellite has been successfully handed over from the SES ASTRA control center in Betzdorf, Luxembourg, to the HELLAS SAT control center in Athens, Greece.
SES ASTRA had been contracted by HELLAS SAT on 30th April 2003, to provide satellite control services for the Hellas-Sat 2 satellite, launched on 12th May 2003, after completion of its launch and early-orbit phase. For a period of 16 months since 20th June 2003, SES ASTRAs TechCom unit had been ensuring full control of the satellite from its headquarters in Luxembourg, using Thermopylae Earth Station, Greece, which is owned and operated by OTE, and had been in charge of the continuous operation of the satellite on-station, including spacecraft bus, payload and orbital control management.
Since 26th October 2004, HELLAS SAT now assumes full control of the Hellas-Sat 2 satellite from its spacecraft control center in Athens, Greece, which has been installed turn-key by SES ASTRA as part of another contract. In addition, SES ASTRA has provided spacecraft operations training to the Hellas Sat technical personnel in all domains of spacecraft operations and flight dynamics management.
Christodoulos Protopapas, Managing Director and Chairman of the Board of Directors of HELLAS SAT S.A., stated: We are very proud that the Hellas-Sat 2 satellite is now being operated by Greek Engineers and Scientists. From this moment, Greece really enters to the club of countries which have access to space. We want to thank SES ASTRA for the cooperation and the first class services they provided during the last 16 months and I congratulate the technical teams of both companies for the successful hand-over.
Pascal Rogiest, in charge of SES ASTRAs TechCom unit, added: During 16 months, SES ASTRA has been committed to provide top-quality satellite operations services for the Hellas-Sat 2 satellite. We are glad that HELLAS SAT is now in a position to assume those services on its own, based on the extensive training, and using the spacecraft control centers that SES ASTRAs engineers have successfully provided. We are satisfied that the quality of our services has been recognised by HELLAS SAT all along the project. Our objective is that SES ASTRAs TechCom Unit continues to share its technical expertise in the same way with many other satellite operators.
10 November 2004
Leaders and experts of journalists’ unions and associations from over 20 countries, who met at the beginning of November in Tallinn, Estonia, condemned poor social standards in the media sector in Central and Eastern Europe. Now journalists’ unions are planning to challenge media companies, many of them foreign-owned, over what they perceive to be unacceptable “double standards” of wages and conditions applied at home and abroad, such as non payment for overtime, refusal to provide journalists with access to professional education, and sacking trade unionist activists and those who seek to organize European Works Councils. Participants of the “East Meets West: Social Dialogue in the Media Sector” Conference, organised by the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), noted that “The process of EU enlargement is strengthening European democracy, but also carries some threats to fundamental rights, as set out in the new European constitution, including freedom of the press”.
