23 March 2004
Ever sat in front of the TV, shouting the answers to a quiz and swearing you could do better? Come and have a go
if you think youre smart enough offers BBC ONE viewers the chance to take on the studio contestants from the comfort of home and to challenge them for a prize of £30,000 or more.
For the first time, viewers are able to compete against the four studio teams via interactive TV, the internet at www.bbc.co.uk/comeandhaveago, or on a JAVA enabled mobile phone. They will answer exactly the same questions at exactly the same time. To register to play, viewers must call in at a price of 50p. This covers the cost of the call and adds a percentage towards the prize fund, in addition to the £30,000 already guaranteed by the BBC.
The game show is split into two parts. Over the course of the first 50 minutes, the studio teams are whittled down from four to one whilst interactive players compete for the top spot across the nations and regions. The BBC will then whisk a satellite camera to their location, enabling a live head-to-head battle in the second show. At the beginning of the second half, the presenter announces which home team has come top and introduces live pictures from the outside broadcast as they prepare to take on their studio counterparts. Whoever has the highest score over the course of 20 questions will net the cash and with it an invite to the studio for the following week to see if they can continue their winning streak. Even if you don’t qualify for the final, all is not lost as the three remaining studio places will be given to a selection of teams who score 26 or more points.
Jane Lush, Controller, Entertainment Commissioning, says: “We’re always looking to push new interactive formats and now whether you’re at home, in the pub or at a friend’s house, you can take on the teams in the studio. Come and have a go
if you think youre smart enough is a BBC co-production with Tailor-Made Films.
17 March 2004
To mark the first anniversary of the war in Iraq, two major polls have been commissioned by international broadcasters.
The first, by Oxford Research International, is the biggest survey of Iraqis ever undertaken. One year on from the war, more than 2,500 Iraqis were asked about their lives today. Overwhelmingly they say life is good right now, and more of them support than oppose the war.
The second – a poll of British public opinion by ICM for BBC Newsnight – shows a significant level of support for Prime Minister Tony Blair, with a narrow majority in the UK now in favour of the war (48% in favour; 43% against). Of the people who expressed an opinion, it was very close as to whether people thought the war was legal or not (37% thought it was legal; 39% who thought it was illegal).
1. Iraq survey
The poll was jointly sponsored by the BBC, ABC News, German network ARD and NHK in Japan, with field work by Oxford Research International of Oxford, England. The poll consisted of in-person interviews conducted from 10 to 28 February with a random, nationally representative sample of 2,500 Iraqis. Interviews for the survey were conducted from 223 randomly selected sampling points across the country.
The Iraqi people are optimistic about their future with 70% declaring that life today is good.
The poll results show that a majority (57%) of Iraqis think things are better now than before the war.
However, 85% said regaining public security was the major priority and only 25% had confidence in the coalition forces.
More Iraqis (49%) still believe that the coalition invasion was right compared to those (39%) who thought it was wrong.
When asked about what Iraq needs at this time, whilst 86% answered “an Iraqi democracy”, 81% also mentioned “a single strong Iraqi leader”.
The highlights of the Iraq survey are as follows:
Overall, 70% of Iraqis say that their life these days is good, compared with 29% who say their life is bad.
Compared with just before the war in 2003, 57% of Iraqis now say their life is better overall, compared with 19% who say it is worse and 23% who say it is about the same.
71% of Iraqis expect their lives to be better in a year from now, compared with 6% who expect life to be worse and 9% who say life will remain about the same.
Half of Iraqis (49%) believe the invasion of Iraq by the US-led coalition was right, compared with 39% who thought it was wrong.
Opinion was evenly split on whether the invasion humiliated Iraq (41%) or liberated it (42%). Almost one in five respondents (17%) refused to comment.
Asked about conditions where they lived, 69% said the availability of jobs was bad and 64% said the same about the electricity supply. 72% said conditions in local schools were good but respondents were evenly split on the whether the local security situation, supply of clean water and availability of medical care was good or bad.
In terms of the top three priorities in Iraq over the next 12 months, regaining public security rated by far the highest (85%), followed by holding elections for a national government (30%), ensuring the majority of Iraqis can make a decent living (30%) and reviving the economy (28%).
Among those who had heard of them, Iraq’s religious leaders scored the highest level of confidence (70%). But they were closely followed by the police (68%) and then by the new Iraqi army (56%). At the other end of the scale, only 25% expressed confidence in the US/UK occupation forces and 28% in both Iraq’s political parties and the Coalition Provisional Authority.
When asked about what Iraq needs at this time, whilst 86% answered “an Iraqi democracy”, 81% also mentioned “a single strong Iraqi leader”.
In terms of the future structure of Iraq, 79% wanted “one unified Iraq with central government in Baghdad”, compared with 14% who wanted regional governments with a federal government in Baghdad. Only 4% favoured dividing Iraq into separate independent states.
When asked what political actions by other people would be acceptable, whilst the overwhelming majority of respondents thought any violence was unacceptable, some 17% said attacks on coalition forces would be acceptable, 14% said the same about attacks on the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) and 10% thought attacks on foreigners working alongside the CPA would be acceptable.
In terms of the continuing presence of the coalition forces in Iraq, 39% of respondents supported their presence, compared with 51% who were opposed to it.
As for what would be most effective in improving security in Iraq, 96% said that creating jobs would be most effective, 93% said training and hiring more Iraqi local police and 87% said transferring all political authority to an Iraqi government.
Whilst 15% said the coalition forces should leave Iraq immediately, 36% said they should remain until an Iraqi government was in place and a further 18% said “until security is restored”.
2. BBC poll of British public opinion
Iraq war right or wrong
“Thinking about the build-up to the Iraq war and everything that has happened since, do you think that taking military action was the right thing to do, or the wrong thing to do?”
Right 48%
Wrong 43%
Don’t Know 9%
Did the Government lie about WMD?
“In the run up to the war with Iraq, do you think Tony Blair and his Government
”
Told the truth about WMD 29%
Exaggerated but did not lie about WMD 40%
Lied about WMD 22%
Source: BBC/ICM, 10-12 March 2004, sample 1,014
17 March 2004
Destination, a Prague-based travel agency, has been appointed by the AIB to handle hotel reservations for delegates attending the Global Media Business Conference 2004.
A range of hotels to suit delegates’ budgets has been secured, with the Prague Holiday Inn as the main conference hotel. You can only reserve the Holiday Inn through Destination Travel.
We recommend that delegates make their hotel reservations as early as possible as Prague is a very busy destination, particularly in May. Our travel agency can also handle delegates’ requirements for sightseeing, golfing and other recreational activities and with Prague a major tourist city, you may wish to extend your stay to include the weekend following the Conference.
Download the hotel reservation form
here
and fax to +420 222 210 553.
16 March 2004
Eutelsats W3A communications satellite was successfully launched on 15 March by a Proton rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
Eutelsat will bring its new satellite into service at 7 degrees East in May. It will replace W3 and substantially increase the business potential at a strategic orbital location in Eutelsat’s system, able to serve Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
“W3A has been designed to optimise the business potential at one of our longstanding orbital locations that already serves blue chip clients such as the EBU, Reuters, Digiturk and Hughes Network Systems,” said Giuliano Berretta, Eutelsat CEO. “In addition to supporting delivery of a full range of services to Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, this new satellite almost doubles our capacity over sub-Saharan Africa, thereby increasing our ability to serve users for business networks and for broadband services such as voice over IP, Internet access and distance-learning services.”
W3A’s full payload of 58 transponders (of which 50 can be simultaneously operated) is divided into four missions:
– 35 Ku-band transponders for Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, which will assume the full range of services currently carried by W3. This capacity can also be used in conjunction with Eutelsat’s Skyplex on-board processing facility which enables individual digital carriers to be uplinked to the satellite and multiplexed on-board. Up to eleven of the 35 transponders can be connected on the downlink into the widebeam over Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, or into a high-power beam optimised for south-east Europe and Turkey and reaching south into Ethiopia and Somalia.
– Up to 12 new Ku-band transponders over Europe, the Middle East and North Africa that will provide additional capacity for broadband services and can also be used with Eutelsat’s Skyplex on-board processing facility.
– Up to eight transponders for two-way communications between Europe and Africa. Six are forward-link transponders providing communications from Europe to Africa and two are return link transponders for communications from Africa to Europe. Communications over Africa are in the Ku-band and over Europe in Ka-band, with switching managed by the satellite. This is ideally suited for access networks with hub stations in Europe and terminals in Africa. Applications for this capacity include broadband Internet access, WAN/LAN interconnection, voice over IP, distance-learning and other videoconferencing services for businesses, government and aid agencies.
– Up to 3 Ku-band transponders for regional telecommunications in sub-Saharan Africa, also with possible access to Skyplex.
