20 April 2004
A deal has been finalised enabling bilingual Arab and English portal Ajeeb.com to display headlines and news summaries from the BBC’s English and Arabic websites, bbcnews.com and bbcarabic.com.
Ajeeb.com will give priority to the BBC’s news websites amongst all news sources recommended to its visitors and to the users of Johaina, the portal’s automated news monitoring service which collects and categorises online news headlines and summaries in navigable directories around the clock.
Fahad Al Sharekh, Business Development Director of Ajeeb.com, said: “By forging a deal with the BBC, the world’s largest newsgathering operation and the most trustworthy and reputable news source, we are sending a message to all Arab-speakers, particularly those working in international media.” Mr Al Sharekh added that the collaboration with the bbcarabic.com represents an ideal step towards developing mutually beneficial business relationships on the internet. “It sets an example of what can be achieved through co-operative efforts of web portals that truly care about Arab users and improves the services we offer them,” he said.
16 April 2004
Max Uechtritz, Executive Director of News and Current Affairs at ABC, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, is to join commercial broadcaster Nine Network.
The ABC’s Managing Director, Russell Balding, said that he had accepted Max Uechtritz’s resignation with much regret.
“Max has served the national broadcaster with great distinction over the past 18 years, both as a correspondent and more recently as an Executive Director.
“Throughout his outstanding career at the ABC, Max has upheld the highest traditions and unmatched reputation of the Corporation’s news and current affairs reporting.
“His commitment and contribution to public broadcasting and his leadership of the News & Current Affairs Division will be greatly missed.”
Uechtritz said that it had been a great privilege to have been a part of the ABC’s news and current affairs team.
“I will always look back to my years at the ABC with great pride and a sense of real achievement. I would like to pay tribute to Russell Balding for his personal and professional support and encouragement, and also to my News & Current Affairs colleagues for their loyalty and dedication.
“The ABC’s reputation for delivering news and current affairs programmes of quality and relevance to Australian and international audiences has never been higher.
Max Uechtritz has been at the ABC since 1986. Prior to his appointment as Executive Director of the News & Current Affairs Division in 2000, he had served in a number of positions within the Corporation, both in Australia and overseas.
14 April 2004
The AIB Global Media Business Conference – taking place in Prague on 12 and 13 May 2004 – offers a limited number of sponsorship and exhibition opportunities.
Download the sponsorship pack
here, and contact Anver Anderson to discuss the opportunities for your company to raise its brand profile.
7 April 2004
Kabel Deutschland, Germany’s largest cable network operator launched its new digital TV service this week using set-top boxes from Pace Micro Technology. Kabel will use Pace’s DC220* set-top box to provide new digital pay-TV programmes, foreign channel packages and enhanced digital TV services for the first time.
,p>On 6 April it was announced that Kabel Deutschland Group has agreed to buy its three main rivals for a total of E2.7 billion in one of Europe’s largest leveraged buy-outs. KDG connects 10 million households in Germany and is acquiring regional operators in Baden Württemberg, Hessen, and NRW. The combined group will have a customer base of 17 million, the largest in Europe. The deal represents a key step in the consolidation of Germany’s fragmented cable industry. Kabel has been pushing for months to acquire its smaller rivals to gain the critical mass with which to roll out across Europe’s largest TV market. It plans to offer the type of digital television services and multimedia products that are already available in many other European markets. These acquisitions will reunite the cable assets owned until 1999 by Deutsche Telekom. It sold the businesses to meet cartel office objections to its near-monopoly position, and to lower its debt levels.
Roland Steindorf, Kabel’s CEO, said he expected to receive the approval of Germany’s cartel office, in spite of the fact that the office blocked US cable group Liberty Media’s efforts to acquire Deutsche Telekom cable assets in February 2002. The antitrust decision will take at least half a year again leaving the German cable industry’s future uncertain for the time being.
7 April 2004
The British Government announced on 2 April that Michael Grade has been appointed BBC Chairman for four years from 17 May 2004.
Welcoming the appointment Richard Ryder, Acting BBC Chairman, said: “The Board of Governors warmly welcomes the appointment of Michael Grade. We are delighted that he will be the BBC’s new Chairman and we look forward to working closely with him. He will find a united Board which is optimistic about the future. The Board is conscious of the importance of the tasks it will tackle under his leadership, including Charter Review, the appointment of the Director-General, the Graf Review of bbc.co.uk, the first stage of the Ofcom PSB review and the DCMS reviews of new services.
Mark Byford, Acting Director-General, said: “Michael Grade is one of the major world figures in broadcasting and the wider creative industry, with an outstanding record of achievement. He has a deep understanding of broadcasting, and firmly believes in the BBC and its place at the heart of national life. He is passionate about creativity, talent and ambition in programmes. That is why everyone in the BBC will warmly welcome this exciting appointment. It’s great that Michael is coming back to the BBC and he will enjoy the full support of the whole organisation.”
Michael Grade said: “This is quite a day for me. Apart from my obvious pride and delight, I also feel my experience has prepared me to step into the role at a difficult moment in the Corporation’s history. I would like to thank those who appointed me for having the courage to break the mould. I would also like to pay tribute to my predecessor, Gavyn Davies, who gave so much to support the ideals of the Corporation and who showed great courage and dignity in the manner of his departure. The editorial independence of the BBC is paramount in maintaining the support of the viewers and listeners. Without it, there is no point to the BBC. It is my job, and the job of the whole board, to ensure that the BBC can continue to earn public and parliamentary support so that the provision of universally available, value for money, public service broadcasting is neither jeopardised nor marginalised. Nothing must be allowed to deprive our children and our grandchildren of the rich experience we have come to expect and enjoy these past decades from the British Broadcasting Corporation.”
