24 February 2009
euronews confirms its leading position among the international news channels in 17 EU countries and in Norway, Switzerland and Russia. For the 4th consecutive release, euronews ranks number 1 in weekly reach, and for the first time euronews also has a higher daily audience than CNN International.
EMS-C-EMS study, released on February 9th, measures the media consumption of 46 million upmarket viewers in Western and Eastern Europe.
EMS Winter 2008 results show that 17.5% of affluent and influential individuals (more than 8 millions viewers) watch euronews every week.
euronews continues to pull away from the competition in terms of weekly audience. While euronews audience remains stable compared to the previous EMS wave, CNN has lost more than 400,000 weekly viewers during the same period.
euronews also gained audience among its most regular viewers. As it stands, euronews daily reach is now 4.5% compared to 4.4% measured 6 months ago. In contrast, CNN has lost daily audience and the channel now ranks behind euronews.
euronews’ multilingual approach to news broadcasting is to speak directly to Europeans in their preferred language. EMS & C-EMS show that 21% of upmarket Western Europeans and 52% of upmarket Eastern Europeans do not read foreign newspapers or watch foreign news channels in English a figure which represents 11.5 million opinion leaders and decision makers who are not captured by the English-only news programming environment. euronews ranks as number 1 news channel in France, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Russia and Switzerland – countries where euronews broadcasts in the national language.
Credibility, trust, transparency and return on investment are becoming paramount in current difficult times. euronews today is well positioned to face the future. The channels editorial mission presenting facts with complete integrity meets the upmarket Europeans needs for transparency and is truly reflected in the channels core brand equity: pure. Also, the new EMS release clearly demonstrates that euronews offers advertisers the optimum return on investment. said Managing Director of euronews Sales, Olivier de Montchenu.
24 February 2009
Russias English-language TV news channel Russia Today has begun broadcasting in Great Britain on the free to-air digital terrestrial platform, Freeview.
The free digital terrestrial television platform, Freeview is available to 9.7 million households or about 30 million viewers across Great Britain.
Freeview was launched in October 2002 as an alternative to analogue television. It provides TV viewers with more than 40 digital TV, radio and interactive channels, including CNN, BBC, SKY News and others.
From February, Russia Today will be available on Freeview each day for two hours from 6 a.m. until 8 a.m. GMT on channel 85.
On February 5 a series of exclusive direct reports from South Ossetia will be shown in the monthly Close-Up program.
Besides Great Britain, Russia Today is included in the package of major satellite operator BSkyB, which provides services for around 9 mln. householders. The TV channel is also accessible to the more than 200,000 subscribers of satellite platform Freesat.
24 February 2009
Pharos announces a powerful new mechanism to improve graphics workflow and playout for multichannel promotions. Pharos Event Templates tie the graphics preparation workflow to playout and delivery when using Pharos Mediator and Pharos Playtime.
Event Templates simplify the creation and delivery of complex secondary events such as ‘coming up next’ graphics, credit squeezes and promotions. Frame-accurate markers can be added at any stage in the Mediator workflow to assist graphics design and trigger promotions during playout. These are co-ordinated by Pharos Mediator and Playtime into a single business process, greatly reducing the risk of on-screen errors when scaling up for multi-channel and multi-language expansion. Cross-channel promotions can also be managed using Event Templates where both schedules are changing.
Mediator’s powerful transfer management underpins Event Templates by managing all file transfers between central storage and any number of third party graphics playout devices.
“Inefficient graphics workflow can limit a network’s opportunity to develop existing channels and create new programme streams,” Russell Grute of Pharos explains. “Maintaining a channel’s identity and promotional style requires greater use of on-screen graphics. This can seriously increase the daily workload when designing, reviewing, approving and distributing on-screen promotions and graphics for television and new media. Pharos Event Templates are compatible with third-party graphics creation tools and stand-alone server and graphics air-chains as well as the increasing number of channel-in-a-box graphics servers. The Playout system complexity can be reduced and main/backup changeover is greatly simplified.”
Pharos Mediator 4 and Playtime using Pharos Event Templates will be introduced at the 2009 NAB Convention in Las Vegas, 20-23 April (Pharos Booth SU 8902).
Pharos software solutions improve workflow and increase efficiency for broadcasters and service providers in television, radio, VOD and mobile publishing. Since 1997 Pharos has pioneered collaborative desktop workflow and integrated third party infrastructure management. The unique Mediator content management platform, with its integrated Playtime playout and Pilot control options, provides efficient tools to deliver multi-format content globally. Millions of media assets across hundreds of television channels and an increasing number of new media distribution networks, today benefit from the unique Pharos approach to integrating creativity, workflow and media logistics.
Pharos software architecture, integration and post-installation support enable the entire business of broadcasting to be unified across the enterprise.
24 February 2009
As a company developing and marketing integrated software systems for the broadcast industry since 1996, S4M Solutions for Media was accepted by the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) as an affiliate member. With this step, S4M strives to further intensify its business relations in Asia-Pacific.
The ABU is a non-profit, non-government, professional association of broadcasting organisations and aims at facilitating the development of broadcasting in the Asia-Pacific region. It currently has over 194 members in 57 countries, reaching a potential audience of about 3 billion people. Full members must be national free-to-air broadcasting services in the region. S4M was accepted for the affiliate category comprising organisations connected to broadcasting and engaged in the Asia-Pacific media markets.
Membership in the ABU is another important step for the Cologne based company in intensifying its regional presence. Michael Henkel, S4Ms Business Relations Manager Asia-Pacific: We are very excited about the opportunity to participate in the ABU. It will give us a better understanding of the issues our partners and customers face in this diverse region, and we will strive to contribute to finding solutions. The many ABU activities also provide us with excellent opportunities to meet regional industry leaders.
In 2007 S4M opened an office in Malaysias capital Kuala Lumpur. Last year, the companys network in Asia-Pacific was enlarged by winning two new partners: Sales and implementation of S4M systems are now supported by ATP Digital Media in Malaysia and Indonesia and by qasar in Australia and New Zealand.
24 February 2009
In the current economic climate, it’s vital that companies continue to think laterally and develop new ideas and strategies that will serve them through the recession and into the sunlit plains of economic revival.
The AIB – the industry association for cross-border, cross-platform media –
is well positioned to help.
With a broad global membership of leading companies in media and related
industries, plus a network of 25,000 professionals in the media worldwide, the
AIB delivers vital services to companies in the media industry.
Membership brings with it access to the AIB’s exclusive, insightful market
intelligence briefings, as well as money-saving opportunities including
discounts on a wide range of events relevant to the media worldwide. Membership offers access to the AIB’s knowledge network. Membership provides editorial coverage in the AIB’s online and print publications. AIB Membership is an essential springboard for companies involved in international media.
With technology changing so fast, companies face hard decisions about future strategies. It is important though to make those long-term decisions from an informed position. Sometimes that means obtaining additional intelligence beyond what is available in-company. This is where AIB Consulting comes in with its broad expertise base. As international broadcasting is our core business, we can “cut to the chase” for our clients and keep our consulting rates extremely competitive.
The AIB – cross-media, cross-border, cross-cultural.
23 February 2009
Wohler Technologies Inc. today announced the appointment of Jeff McNall as manager of national sales and market development. In his new position with Wohler, McNall will liaise with the company’s engineering and sales teams and work along with its customers to develop specific solutions to their needs, not just in the broadcast realm, but also in the broad range of markets looking to take greater advantage of smart media technologies.
“Over an impressive career to date, Jeff has worked with many of the industry’s leading companies, helping to identify and address both their technical and practical needs,” said Kim Templeman-Holmes, VP of global sales and marketing at Wohler. “As we expand our sales and product development efforts, Jeff’s skill in guiding delivery of the right solutions to the right clients from concept through to product will be key to our continued growth. We are confident that his experience in sales, marketing, technical operations, and product development will further our tradition of providing solid audio and video monitoring solutions.”
Prior to joining Wohler, McNall spent 25 years in the broadcast television industry. His responsibilities included marketing activities for remote monitoring solutions with Sony® Electronics, operations at major market television stations, engineering in live sports production, and technical operations coordination for the Olympics. His most recent work was with Dolby®, where he successfully launched Dolby 3D into more than 500 movie theatres around the world. McNall graduated from San Francisco State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in radio and television.
“Wohler has a long history of getting feet on the ground and figuring out how to provide clients with the tools and functionality they need,” said McNall. “The company builds solid products with great technology, and I look forward to bringing their value not only to users in the broadcast realm, but also in other sectors as we extend awareness and adoption in corporate, worship, government, entertainment, and other facilities.”
While the appointment of McNall further strengthens the company’s sales and market development efforts, two new R&D appointments enhance Wohler’s ability to design and deliver convenient and cost-effective monitoring solutions to its clients. Andrew Hutton has joined the company as FPGA hardware designer and will work primarily on hardware and firmware design. Heading up the TSG (Technical Services Group) department Mark Handa will serve as the liaison between Wohler’s engineering/manufacturing departments and customer service.
