12 June 2003
Dutch television news programme Nova broadcast throughout the Netherlands on Wednesday 11 June caused uproar at the Hilversum headquarters of Radio Netherlands.
A statement issued by Radio Netherlands said that the station’s management reacted angrily to the item in the Dutch current affairs TV programme Nova. The item was based on a leaked copy of the McKinsey report into the efficiency of public broadcasting that was jointly commissioned by the Dutch Ministry of Culture and the broadcasters themselves. Nova seized on one section of the report, suggesting drastic budget cuts of up to 83% for Radio Netherlands. Under this scenario, everything except the station’s broadcasts to the Netherlands Antilles and Surinam would be scrapped. The programme interviewed a representative of the Dutch Association of Journalists, who said this would effectively mean the end of Radio Netherlands.
In a press statement, Radio Netherlands management pointed out that the purpose of the report was to identify different scenarios where cost savings could be made, of which the example quoted by Nova was just one. They point out that Radio Netherlands, on its own intiative, has already embarked on a major reorganisation based on budget cuts already planned for the next few years. Decisions on the mission of Radio Netherlands are made by politicians in The Hague, not by other public broadcasters or McKinsey.
RN management also said that a motion was to have been put to the lower house of the Dutch parliament last year, specifically ruling out further cuts to Radio Netherlands within the overall budget for public broadcasting. The fall of the government prevented that motion from being discussed or voted upon, but Radio Netherlands has been told that a similar motion could still be on the cards. In a personal message to staff, Radio Netherlands Director General Lodewijk Bouwens said that he is no more pessimistic about the future of Radio Netherlands than he was before the Nova broadcast.
Radio Netherlands’ Financial Director Jan Hoek and Editor-in-chief Freek Eland addressed a meeting of staff about the Nova broadcast this afternoon. In answer to a question about why the programme did not contain any official reaction from Radio Netherlands, it was explained that Nova had contacted a number of individuals at Radio Netherlands prior to the programme, but had given the impression that it would be a general item dealing with cuts across the whole of public broadcasting. Given that the McKinsey report has not been officially published, the consensus was that Radio Netherlands should wait until it is in the public domain before commenting. The fact the the item actually broadcast was only about Radio Netherlands came as a surprise.
9 June 2003
The Japanese Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Post and Telecommunications says in a draft report that the country’s broadband market will grow five-fold over the coming five years. That puts the number of broadband users up to 60 million in 2007 – up from around 20 million currently – and make the market worth some Yen10.2 trillion.
9 June 2003
A weekly 15-minute programme in English from Radio Guangdong is being broadcast by AIB-member World Radio Network.
The radio station is based in Guangzhou, the capital of the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, which borders Hong Kong and Macao. It is one of Chinas the leading media groups with eight radio channels broadcasting to a potential audience of 100 million people, two newspapers, one of Chinas top advertising company and Pacific Audio & Visual Company, one of the countrys leading audio-visual companies.
9 June 2003
VT Merlin Communications, a member of the AIB, will participate in the world’s first, daily
Digital Radio Mondiale* (DRM*) broadcasts on June 16th, 2003.
VT Merlin will be providing the DRM transmission platform for a number of international broadcasters, including BBC World Service, Wales Radio International and Christian Vision as part of DRM’s Inaugural Broadcasts event in Geneva during the International Telecommunications Union’s (ITU) World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC 2003).
VT Merlin has two high
power short wave transmitters converted to DRM capability, which will deliver digital AM transmissions for Geneva and Western Europe. In addition, they will also be using their new DRM capable high power medium wave transmitter at their MF site in Orfordness, Suffolk, UK to carry BBC World Service DRM programming. The precise moment of the world’s first DRM broadcasts will be marked at a spectacular reception at Geneva’s Château de Penthes.
Peter Gordon, VT Merlin’s Programme Manager, Digitalisation said: “As a founder member of the DRM consortium, VT Merlin is very proud to be playing a high profile role in these inaugural DRM broadcasts. It marks the beginning of what we expect to be a revolutionary new technology for AM broadcasting. VT Merlin has made significant investment in its DRM platform and we look forward to demonstrating the full range of DRM’s capabilities in Geneva, including AM transmissions in near FM quality.”
9 June 2003
Millbank Studios in London, a stone’s throw from the British Parliament, have taken delivery of a Geevs Broadcast Video Server from Gee Broadcast to service the digital channel BBC Parliament, transmitting 24 hours a day from Millbank’s Studio in Westminster. BBC Parliament is a UK domestic television channel, broadcast on Cable, Satellite
and Freeview.
The Geevs, which can play out four independent channels while recording a fifth, is used to transmit promos, stings and highlights during live Parliamentary broadcasts, and programmes such as The Record, the review of the day in Parliament, and Politique, an in depth look at the politics of Europe.
Millbank Studios’ application utilises Geevs Autorun Automation software to compile playlists which can be activated at a preset time or by an
external trigger.
“We had seen the Geevs in operation before,” says Nick Hattingh, Chief Engineer at Millbank, “and were impressed by its simplicity of operation.”
The project was on a tight timescale and had to be completed before Parliament reconvened after the Easter recess. “The box was delivered on Thursday and we were on air Saturday,” says Hattingh, “almost a week early.”
