S4M media sales system live in New Zealand

18 September 2009

New Zealand’s TV public service broadcaster TVNZ and German systems and consulting company S4M – Solutions for Media have successfully concluded the implementation of S4M’s “S4AdSales” system.

S4AdSales is a sophisticated airtime sales system that supports both local as well as global advertising campaigns, thereby connecting different channels, countries, languages, currencies and media. As TVNZ’s business system to sell and manage the broadcaster’s advertising inventory, either directly or through advertising agencies, S4AdSales is responsible for a core process within the enterprise. “It is the engine room for the business, analogous to airline inventory management or hotel inventory (room) management. It is the guts of how we manage our $300 million revenue stream,” says Damian Swaffield, TVNZ’s General Manager Technology.

Dr. Manfred Heinen, S4M’s CEO, adds: “Long distance projects of course are always a challenge. It is especially important to establish channels that enable real team play. This was possible with TVNZ and we are happy that S4M was able to support TVNZ in such an important area as media sales.”

S4AdSales is used by private and public service broadcasters in Europe, Asia and North America.

India's Doordarshan turns 50

18 September 2009

From the ABU website:

India’s national television service, Doordarshan (DDI), has turned 50 with a call to win a bigger share of the cable and satellite market, Indiantelevision.com reports.

Its Director General, Aruna Sharma, said the 50th anniversary was a time for introspection to examine the role of the public broadcaster.

It was also a time to consider how DDI could penetrate the cable and satellite sector in a big way, as it had done in terrestrial TV, she said.

DDI was established on 15 September 1959 with an hour-long daily telecast from a studio in Delhi but began regular telecasts only in the 1970s.

It now operates 19 channels, accessible to more than 90 percent of people in India via more than 1,400 transmitters.

On the eve of its anniversary, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said the government was contemplating using ex-servicemen from the army and former policemen for the work of running television transmitters in the border areas.

She said it was important that Indian broadcasting signals should be stronger than those coming from China or Pakistan.

BBC Trust announces changes to BBC Worldwide governance

18 September 2009

The BBC Trust today announced a series of changes to the governance arrangements for BBC Worldwide. As part of its review of the BBC’s commercial activities the Trust has agreed a revised governance framework within which the BBC must operate its commercial activities.
These changes are designed to strengthen the oversight of the BBC’s commercial operation and ensure even greater clarity and confidence in the separation of the BBC’s public service and commercial activities.

Among the changes agreed are: – the BBC Worldwide Board, which is a subsidiary board of the BBC’s Executive Board, will become smaller and more focussed on the delivery of a rolling three year commercial strategy agreed by the Trust; – the new chairman of the BBC Worldwide board must be a non-executive director from the BBC’s Executive Board – thereby strengthening the link between the two boards and the role of the BBC’s public service arm as the shareholder in the company; – there will be changes to the membership of both the BBC’s Executive Board and the Worldwide Board in order to reduce the potential for conflicts of interest. Specifically, the Chief Executive Officer of BBC Worldwide will no longer be a member of the BBC’s Executive Board and staff from BBC Vision (who produce most of the BBC content subsequently sold by Worldwide) will not be eligible to be members of the Worldwide Board. This will result in Jana Bennett stepping down from the BBC Worldwide Board.

These changes will bring the business further in line with the Combined Code on Corporate Governance. The Trust has also stipulated that it expects BBC Worldwide to operate as far as possible within the principles set by the Code, and any deviation from it needs to be agreed by the BBC Trust.
This new governance framework for BBC Worldwide, proposed by the Executive Board, will be stipulated in the Trust’s protocols. The BBC’s Executive Board, led by Director-General Mark Thompson, will be responsible for ensuring compliance with it. The changes will come into effect from 1 October 2009.

In addition to the above changes, the Trust has decided that the financial threshold for referral of transactions for Trust approval should be lowered from £50m to £30m and the Trust will retain the ability to scrutinise any activity that it believes is not consistent with the strategy it has agreed.

Sir Michael Lyons, Chairman of the BBC Trust, said:
“The BBC Trust believes that these changes will strengthen the ability of BBC Worldwide to deliver value to licence fee payers through the return it makes on content owned and paid for by licence fee payers. The changes also respond to concerns raised by commercial competitors and others.
“These changes build on the principles set out in the interim conclusions of the Trust’s commercial review, in which we set out our vision for a focussed BBC Worldwide that is more closely aligned with the BBC’s public purposes. There will be no delay in progressing that objective although we must await the outcome of Government’s Digital Britain review.
“Mark Thompson is right to say that in the longer term the BBC will look at whether Worldwide needs to be 100 per cent owned by the Corporation. However, the Trust won’t contemplate any loss of direct control over BBC rights created as result of investment from the licence fee payer.”

The appointment of a new Chairman of the BBC Worldwide Board will be for the BBC’s Executive Board to make; the current Chairman’s term ends on 30 September.

This concludes the governance aspects of the Trust’s review. The Trust aims to report on the remaining elements of the review following clarification of the outcome of the Digital Britain consultations.

Enhanced entry for your company

8 September 2009

The AIB is pleased to announce that companies can now book enhanced entries in the
2009 Global Broadcasting Sourcebook.

For just £295 (plus UK VAT at 15%), companies can have an enhanced entry that includes their
logo in full colour, plus a description of up to 120 words – all set in an eye-catching
coloured box.

You can see an example of the enhanced listing
here.

To reserve your enhanced listing in the new edition of the
Global Broadcasting Sourcebook that
will be published in September 2009, use our online shop
here. We will then contact you to obtain your logo and listing.

Alternatively, download the booking form
here, or talk to Alison
Seary on
+44 (0) 20 7993 2557.

You can also book advertising in the Sourcebook – look through the
media pack
here.

Meet us at IBC

8 September 2009

The AIB will be on stand 11.F02 at IBC from 11th September to 15th September. Please drop by to meet us and update us about your activities. We can also give you a first view of the AIB 2009 Global Broadcasting Sourcebook.

Check your company data for the 2009 Sourcebook

8 September 2009

We would like to include your company in the 2009 edition of the AIB Global Broadcasting Sourcebook and want to make sure that your company data is correct and complete.

The AIB Sourcebook is an invaluable reference book for the international broadcasting industry and will be used by key executives in broadcasters, Internet companies, mobile operators, regulators, cable operators and satellite companies throughout the world.

________PLEASE EMAIL YOUR DETAILS TO________

______________________________

Company name……….