7 March 2017
NewTek™ today announces Celebro Media has expanded its Central London studio facilities with a significant investment in the NewTek IP Series. The NewTek IP Series will become the heart of Celebro Media’s operations in Oxford Circus and will be extended to its four new studios at the facility.
Celebro Media has five studios at its central London location with further facilities in Moscow. By Autumn 2017, Celebro Media will have completed works on an additional five studios in London and two in New York. Also, Celebro Media has recently begun trials of a new OB service that allows multi camera switching down a single transmission line. The service is currently being offered to international broadcaster on a trial basis.
Celebro Media specialises in live production, providing studio space, galleries, uplink facilities, staff and everything required producing and transmitting live content. Global broadcasters such as BBC World Service, MTV and TRT World all use Celebro Media’s studios.
Offering unparalleled efficiency and flexibility, the NewTek IP Series will allow Celebro Media to usher in a new paradigm of production workflow, based upon NewTek’s software-driven live production technology. IP Series’ modular approach to production systems delivers virtually limitless access to video sources and video mixing possibilities.
The NewTek IP Series is one of the first large production systems designed from the ground up for IP video, whilst providing full backwards compatibility with traditional SDI equipment. Video, audio and control signals are transferred digitally using NewTek’s NDI™ technology resulting in a fully customisable IP workflow solution with the flexibility to handle the most demanding production needs.
Jahlene Joseph, Head of Studios at Celebro Media Group, said; “The extraordinary flexibility of NewTek IP Series means we can push video content around our building using NDI – giving us unparalleled control over how our clients can view, ingest and manage live video streams. We’re looking to further invest in NewTek IP Series over the next 12 months to grow our services.”
(Source: Celebro press release)
2 March 2017
The World Teleport Association (WTA) today announced that Arqiva Satellite & Media’s Chalfont Grove Teleport (London) has achieved Tier 4 Full Certification under WTA’s Teleport Certification Program. Tier 4 is the highest level of certification available under the program.
The program proceeds through two phases. Teleport operators apply for provisional certification by completing a +170-item questionnaire and submitting this self-reported data to WTA. The Association analyzes the data based on standards established by its Certification Committee and issues a Provisional Certification. The teleport then has six months to achieve Full Certification, which requires a thorough site inspection by a WTA auditor to validate the information in the questionnaire and identify additional factors that may positively or negatively affect the score. Full Certification is issued at a Tier number from 1 through 4, of which 4 represents the highest degree of excellence, and remains in effect for 3 years. The auditor also provides a report recommending additional improvements that can maintain or raise the facility’s performance.
“Arqiva Satellite & Media benchmarks itself against the highest international standards ranging from Safety, Health, Environment, Quality, Energy and Security,” said David Crawford, Managing Director, Satellite & Media, Arqiva. “Our customers expect the best so it was an easy decision to begin the WTA teleport accreditation process starting at the Chalfont Grove facility. Chalfont is home to our play out operations, part of our vast uplink and data centre resources as well as being a key node on our multi Tb fibre network.
“Achieving a Tier 4 rating, the highest of four quality tiers, is a terrific endorsement of our ongoing investment in service excellence, infrastructure, technology, people and process. This is a significant accolade but we continue to invest in those areas to ensure that we remain the industry leader – by any benchmark.”
“The Arqiva name has long been synonymous with the highest quality of teleport operation,” said WTA executive director Robert Bell. “The value of Certification is in providing independent, third-party confirmation of the engineering and operational factors that contribute to that quality.”
WTA’s Teleport Certification Program serves both teleport operators and their customers by creating an objective, transparent, and internationally accepted method for teleport operators to document the quality of their operations for customers and strategic partners. It also provides a means for customers to select teleport vendors delivering the price-performance level that is appropriate for their applications.
2 March 2017
Arabsat, a leading satellite services provider in the Arab world, has been selected by global media solutions provider Globecast to broadcast TRT World, the international news platform of Turkey, in high definition over the MENA region on Arabsat’s Badr-6 satellite at 26°E. Globecast is the worldwide distributor of the TRT news platform.
Building on its existing relationship with Arabsat, Globecast is supplying global packaged services to TRT World for this project. The company is providing connectivity through its fully redundant fibre network and its Paris NOC, which enables the uplinking of the channel to Arabsat’s Badr-6 satellite.
“This new HD channel will further grow our HD neighbourhood and reinforce our HD dominance in MENA. We are grateful to once again be working with our long-term partner Globecast for the distribution of a premium channel, which will undoubtedly attract a wide range of viewers,” said Khalid Balkheyour, President & CEO of Arabsat.
The cooperation means TRT World will be available to viewers in the Middle East and North Africa.
“We’re delighted to once again be teaming with Arabsat, our trusted partner in the Arab region, for this important project. We’re seeing a lot of growth in the 26° neighbourhood lately, especially in terms of exclusive content. This region is perfectly suited to our customer, TRT World,” commented Philippe Bernard, Globecast Group CEO.
(Source: Arabsat press release)
28 February 2017
From Monday 6 March, the Revolution-100 season of content on BBC Russian will connect audiences with the events of 1917 that led to the seizure of power by Bolsheviks and the birth of the Soviet Russia.
BBC Russian takes a new look at the crucial episodes between the two Russian revolutions – in February and October 1917 – often challenging conventional knowledge. Through documentaries, animation, infographics, picture galleries and stories on bbcrussian.com, TV, and via digital and mobile platforms, BBC Russian connects the events of 1917 with the world of today.
Between March and November 2017, Revolution-100 will feature a wide range of content including:
- A four-part video series, The Train from Zurich to the Revolution, tracing Lenin’s train journey from Zurich to Petrograd, which put him in the centre of the struggle for power in the Russian capital. Starring the popular Russian actor, Mikhail Yefremov, the documentary asks why Germany had facilitated that momentous journey.
- A special video feature filmed at the Russian Duma, re-enacting the drama of the political struggle of 100 years ago. The country’s budding legislative organ of the time – set up to establish democratic governance in Russia – was soon obliterated by the Bolsheviks.
- Research into the economic situation in the country as the February Revolution was largely triggered by bread riots and strikes in Petrograd – asking what an average worker could buy and if hunger was really widespread.
- Research into the social layout of the country whose monarch abdicated after centuries of absolute rule.
- Letters from the frontline: a personalised look at the role of the First World War in the disaffection that brought the soldiers – and their families – into the ranks of the protesters.
- Faces of the revolution: portraits of seven key members of the Provisional Government – Mikhail Rodzyanko, Alexandr Protopopov, Pavel Milyukov, Vasiliy Shulgin, Prince Georgiy Lvov, Generals Nikolai Ruzsky and Mikhail Alekseev.
- The world press reaction to the revolution as it unfolded.
- The story of three brothers from Nizhniy Novgorod, whose different political choices and resulting lives reflect the trials and tribulations of 20th century Russians.
Throughout the season, BBC Russian will report the centenary of the Russian revolution as it is reflected in Britain’s cultural scene.
BBC Russian brings global stories to the Russian-speaking audience and puts Russian and regional stories in a global context. The website bbcrussian.com offers a rich content of international and national news and analysis, video news bulletins and pieces, live and on-demand audio, interactivity and reports. BBC Russian connects with its audiences via Facebook, VKontakte, Instagram, Twitter, Telegram, YouTube and Google+. BBC Russian TV news bulletins broadcast on Dozhd TV in Russia Monday to Friday and are available on bbcrussian.com. Twice a week, BBC Russian delivers news updates on the Russian TV channel, RBK.
27 February 2017
Latest Africascope results confirm Africanews’ strong reputation in French-speaking Africa with 6.3 million people aware of the news channel across seven countries surveyed*, and boasting a healthy weekly audience of 2 million viewers.
Africanews is a leading multilingual, Pan-African news outlet. Africanews is available in sub-Saharan Africa via its complete offering (TV + digital: website, social media,mobile applications).
According to the latest Africascope 2016 survey, conducted by Kantar TNS in seven French-speaking African countries, Africanews has created an awareness of 38%, which represents 6.3 million people aware of Africanews. Less than one year after launching the channel it has also earned a weekly audience of 2 million viewers.
Africascope survey results show Africanews’ audience is young and more affluent than the average of the target population. The majority of its audience are men who account for 64% of Africanews’ weekly viewership.
Africascope also highlights the strength of TV in all countries surveyed, with an average 90% of people aged 15 and over watching television daily, which amounts to 15.1 million viewers.
Africanews, the key Pan-African media in Gabon, Cameroon and The Democratic Republic of Congo
Less than a few months after launching, Africanews is already exceptionally well-known in Gabon, where 2 out of every 3 respondents are aware of Africanews (65%).
Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo have also proven receptive to the new Africanews TV channel, where awareness levels for 2016 stand at 42% and 41% respectively.
Elsewhere across French-speaking Africa, the channel is known by 1 in 3 respondents, with 37% in Ivory Coast and 30% in both Senegal and Burkina Faso stating their awareness of the news channel.
Michael Peters, CEO of Euronews and President of Africanews said: “On January 6th, Africanews celebrated the first anniversary of its digital launch. The increase of the channel’s awareness ratings in just one year is a strong and deep source of motivation for our team in Pointe-Noire and its network of correspondents that extends throughout the world. These results confirms the relevance of our vision and our strategic project, an editorial choice made in Africa by Africans, with factual information dedicated to Africans.
These audience’s results confirm the growing ascendancy of the news outlet in Sub-Saharan Africa which also witnesses an ever-increasing number of leading advertisers and partners which choose Africanews as a channel for their communications.”
KANTAR TNS and its Africascope media survey
Kantar TNS has been measuring the audiences of national and international television channels and radio stations since 2008. Africascope is the essential survey for measuring audience and awareness, and for understanding target groups’ profiles and consumer habits.
Africascope is conducted in the capitals of seven countries in French-speaking Africa, on a sample of nearly 16,000 people aged 15 and over, representative of the survey areas population of 16.8 million people. The surveys were carried out face-to-face in interviewees’ homes, using the quota method (gender, age, education and profession of the respondent).
* Countries surveyed: Burkina Faso (Ouagadougou), Cameroon (Douala and Yaoundé), Democratic Republic of Congo (Kinshasa), Gabon (Libreville), Ivory Coast (Abidjan), Mali (Bamako) and Senegal (Dakar).
(Source: Euronews press release)
