20 October 2016
The 9th MENA Broadcast Anti-Piracy Coalition meeting took place in early September gathering stakeholders from the satellite broadcast (Eutelsat, Arabsat, Gulfsat) and content production and distribution industry (MBC, OSN, Rotana, ART, CNE and the MPA) to take stock of the state-of-play of piracy in the region. They agreed that continued effort between all the members remains a key priority to reduce the numbers of infringements and to prevent notoriously rogue pirate channel operators from infringing members’ rights. The coalition members also discussed statistics which clearly indicate that pirate channels are operated by a handful of individuals and agreed on how better to identify and take actions against them.
“Satellite TV piracy has relied upon everyone ignoring or being ignorant of the rules, of the individuals behind the pirate channels and of the major companies who profit by selling services to the pirates. Our coalition is step by step removing the cloak from this murky sector,” stated Sam Barnett, MBC Group CEO.
TV piracy remains an important problem in the region. Statistics show that over the past six months a total of almost 200 Western content infringements and over 4,000 Arabic content infringements occurred.
“We are very encouraged by the progress made so far by this important coalition but it is equally clear that a lot still needs to be done. It has been our experience that progress in this area can only be made when stakeholders constructively work with each other. Curbing TV piracy is essential to keep growing legitimate TV channels thereby enhancing the consumers’ viewing experience, reinvesting money into the creation of new high-quality content and securing millions of jobs worldwide.” stated Okke Delfos Visser, Head of the Legal Department of the MPA in Europe, Middle East and Africa.
The Broadcast Satellite Anti-Piracy Coalition members include Noorsat, Gulfsat, Viewsat, STN, JMC, Etisalat, Du, Nilesat, Arabsat, Eutelsat, Rotana, Art, OSN, MediaGates, Motion Picture Association (MPA members include Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures; Paramount Pictures Corporation; Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc.; Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation; Universal City Studios LLC; and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.), WWE, TNA, Spot2000, Cedars Art, Egyptian Media Production City, Egyptian Chamber of Cinema, Cable Network Egypt, Eagle Films, IAA, Almassa Art Production, Miser International Film, Misr for Sound and Light, and MBC.
The Coalition was formed in March 2014. As major stakeholders in the Middle East Satellite TV industry, the members share information and align strategies to prevent copyright infringement in the Middle East.
(Source: MBC press release)
19 October 2016
Newstag – the award-winning Stockholm-based video news service – has announced at MIPCOM plans to launch a business-to-business news service designed to offer online publishers and telecommunications (TELCOS) companies bespoke, broadcast-quality ready-to-air news programmes.
‘Newsreel’ will provide tailored news bulletins using professionally-produced video content that is curated by audiences. Using big data and machine learning, the result will be to provide top quality news programmes targeted to reflect the interests of viewers in any geographic market or demography.
Newstag co-founder Henrik Eklund, explains: “When you let the crowd curate the news agenda, audiences around the world build a picture of themselves through what they choose to watch and share. By creating packages that reflect these concerns and interests, we put individuals in control of the news they consume. This will create more democratic news programming that has greater relevance for viewers, both on a global and local level.”
Content providers, whether they are online publishers or TELCOS, are set to benefit as much as consumers from this service as the production cost is a fraction of the traditional cost of producing news programming, without any loss of quality or relevance. This will provide a sustainable solution to providers who are looking for news content but unable to fund their own news operation, while also giving existing newsrooms the opportunity to allocate resources to professional journalism, instead of overheads.
The ground-breaking model – which is a world first – is drawn from the Newstag platform, a ‘mobile-first’ news service aimed at consumers that enables users to create their own personalised TV channel or ‘tagtsream’ in seconds, organising, consuming and sharing stories that they find relevant or interesting among their social networks using the latest web and mobile technologies. All the content is drawn from some of the world’s leading professional news producers such as AP, AFP and Bloomberg.
Newstag co-founder Camilla Dahlin-Andersson added: “Audiences want to engage with and understand the world they live in and to provide a balance to videos of cats on skateboards, we want to empower people to engage and make a real difference. Newstag isn’t a shallow ‘light agenda’ platform. Users can explore breaking news topics in greater depth than ever before through personalisable tags, while news from multiple sources gives everyone the opportunity to consume stories from different angles, creating a more nuanced picture of the world.”
The platform’s innovative approach to content distribution has already been globally recognised. It was shortlisted at this year’s Content Innovation Awards hosted by Digital TV Europe and TBI at MIPCOM and is nominated for a TVB Award recognising innovation and outstanding technical achievement later this month. Earlier this year, Newstag was a start-up of the year finalist at the MEG-awards and selected as one the companies best positioned for growth in Asia at Asia Beat. In 2015 Newstag received a bronze award for ‘Best News Website’ at the Asian Digital Media Awards jointly presented by WAN-IFRA and Google. The platform was also selected as a top international start-up by Mobile World Capital Barcelona in a contest to recognise the most innovative use of mobile technology in business and won ‘Best Start-up’ at TVB Europe Awards.
(Source: Newstag press release)
5 October 2016
France 24 has entered the South Korean media landscape thanks to a new distribution agreement recently concluded with Hyundai Cable Networks (HCN). The operator has 1.3 million TV subscribers across the country.
France 24 English version is now available on the channel 446 within the “Gold” package which brings together several foreign channels. In addition to this access via cable, the channel is also available on IPTV and mobile in the “Premium” offer.
With this first distribution agreement in South Korea, France 24 will also enhance its presence throughout the country with screens broadcasting the channel in the Alliances Françaises and at the Institut Français in Seoul (French cultural Institutes).
A few weeks before the 2015-2016 France-Korea year draws to an end (a France Médias Monde group partnership), France 24 will soon propose a special edition of its cultural magazine “Encore!” entirely dedicated to the Korean culture.
For more real-time information on France 24’s distribution worldwide, go to ► http://f24.my/2dMp36i
(Source: France 24 press release)
29 September 2016
The Broadcasting Board of Governors met at its Washington, D.C. headquarters on September 28, 2016 to receive status reports from each of the five BBG networks and to discuss BBG programming in key topic areas.
BBG CEO and Director John Lansing presented his report along with representatives from the International Broadcasting Bureau and network heads of the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Middle East Broadcasting Network, Radio Free Asia and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting.
Lansing updated the Board on agency-wide initiatives to counter violent extremism and on programming for women and girls.
“It’s noted that communities where women and girls participate in civic life are safer, generally more stable, more equal and ultimately are better partners for the United States,” said Lansing. “Unfortunately this sort of equality is difficult in many of the markets where we operate. In many cases we are the only potential platform to give voice to the voiceless women.”
Other agency highlights included OCB Director Malule Gonzalez’s readout of the recent OCB-hosted Cuba Internet Freedom Conference. The conference, which took place during Social Media Week Miami, brought together journalists, innovators and other individuals for talks focused on improving digital rights in the country. The event included a panel discussion featuring Alan Gross, the former U.S. government contractor jailed on the island for attempting to establish Internet access for a minority group.
Additionally, VOA Director Amanda Bennett briefed the Board on a recent town hall meeting which brought together Somali communities in Mogadishu, Somalia and Minneapolis, Minnesota. Bennet showed a clip from the town hall during which Somalia President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud, who took questions from the crowd on topics ranging from terrorism to education, thanked VOA for hosting the event.
The Board was also introduced to Dr. Nnake Nweke, director of its newly created Office of Internet Freedom. Dr. Nweke will lead the development of the BBG’s strategies on combating internet censorship and will study its impact on BBG programming.
Minutes, documents and a video recording are available on the BBG website.
(Source: BBG press release)
28 September 2016
Regional broadcaster Channel NewsAsia and its partners, CSR Asia and Sustainalytics, today announced that technology companies took seven of the top ten spots in the 2016 Channel NewsAsia Sustainability Ranking. Wipro Ltd. was ranked number one for its proactive efforts to reduce its energy use and mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The annual Ranking identifies the top 100 companies in Asia with the highest sustainability performance, measured based on a broad range of environmental, social and governance (ESG) indicators. The partners released the Ranking at the 2016 CSR Asia Summit in Kowloon Shangri-La, Hong Kong.
Key findings of the 2016 Channel NewsAsia Sustainability Ranking
Companies in the technology sector captured the largest proportion of positions (38 of 100) in the Ranking.
Eighty-two percent of companies in the top 100 are from Japan (33), Taiwan (20), India (16) and South Korea (13). Regulatory oversight of corporate sustainability disclosures is likely the reason for companies in these countries to take leading positions.
Five Japanese companies have been placed in the top 20 of this year’s Ranking, up from only one in the 2015 Ranking.
The top five companies in the 2016 Ranking are Wipro Ltd. (India), City Developments Limited (Singapore), Lite-On Technology Corp. (Taiwan), Hankook Tire Co., Ltd. (South Korea) and Qisda Corporation (Taiwan).
The 2016 Channel NewsAsia Sustainability Ranking is generated based on specific ESG indicators and methodology developed by Sustainalytics, a leading global provider of ESG and corporate governance research and ratings. From the full list of 100 companies identified, the Ranking highlights the overall top performing 20 companies and the top three businesses per country. A total of 11 territories are covered in this robust research – China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.
The Channel NewsAsia Sustainability Ranking is part of the channel’s initiative under its larger Corporate Social Responsibility project, Changing Lives. The focus for this year – Business and Philanthropy in Asia – highlights the importance for today’s businesses to take the lead in propelling social change and progress in Asia. The Ranking urges businesses in the region to find the balance among their economic, social and environmental responsibilities in their operations.
Ms Hidayah Ong, Head of Mediacorp’s News Segment, says, “Amidst the competitive and busy corporate climate in Asia, this Ranking serves to help businesses benchmark themselves against some of the best in the industry. It spotlights companies that are successful in corporate sustainability and urges action from others. We hope that such initiatives play a pivotal role in driving change.”
Mr Michael Jantzi, CEO of Sustainalytics, says, “Over the past few years, the consideration of ESG factors has gained significant momentum throughout Asia. This Ranking has added to the dialogue, bringing more attention to the importance of company ESG issues. We congratulate the companies included in this year’s Ranking for providing comprehensive sustainability information to their stakeholders.”
Mr Richard Welford, Chairman, CSR Asia said, “This ranking enables companies and their stakeholders to benchmark performance with respect to sustainability. Bold and effective leadership – from business, government and individuals – is needed to drive the sustainability agenda forward in Asia Pacific. Indices like the Ranking are an important tool to assess which companies are looking to become regional and global leaders”.
The Ranking is available online at http://sustainability-ranking.channelnewsasia.com/
(Source: Channel NewsAsia press release)
