3 June 2008
Radio Netherlands Training Centre (RNTC), Radio Netherlands Worldwides centre of expertise on media, education and development, is marking its 40th anniversary with the international conference, Media and Development. RNTC will join forces with domestic and international colleagues to discuss the future role of the media in developing countries and the contribution to be made by international organisations.
Those taking part in the conference will include representatives of the Dutch foreign ministry, UNDP, the BBC World Service Trust, Deutsche Welle Akademie and Internews. Partners and former students of RNTC, now occupying senior positions in media organisations in the developing world, will also be attending.
RNTCs general manager, Lem van Eupen, expects the conference to come up with new insights. Were continually aware of the great need of media organisations in developing countries to improve their capabilities through training, advice and co-operation. Naturally, whats required has changed dramatically over the past 40 years, just as has the context in which those requirements exist. How can the international community deal with this need? Thats what well be discussing with the various interested parties in the fields of media, education and development.
RNTC was set up in 1968 by institutions including Radio Netherlands Worldwide and the Dutch foreign ministry as a centre for international education. Its goal is to provide training for media professionals from the developing world and strengthen media organisations in situ abroad. Since its foundation, RNTC has provided training to many tens of thousands of media professionals from developing countries.
RNTCs method of work is tailored to demand. We work pragmatically and aim for sustainable results. Recently published client satisfaction research shows our work is given over nine out of ten by media organisations and programme makers. It goes without saying that were very happy with that result, says Ms van Eupen.
3 June 2008
WRN, the international London-headquartered TV and radio transmission company, has partnered with DX Media, the multimedia music company, to launch NME Radio on Sky.
NME Radio is a new multi-platform radio station featuring the best alternative Indie music and the latest in music related news. The station is currently undergoing test transmissions on Sky and will launch officially on the 24th June on channel 0184.
NME Radio will also launch on additional digital platforms including Virgin Media and NME.com website. Sammy Jacob, founder of Xfm and Managing Director and Co Founder DX Media, will co-ordinate the launches across the various platforms.
The stations move onto digital platforms follows the launch of NME TV in November last year and is being operated under licence by multimedia music company DX Media.
Marina Lois, Product Development Manager at WRN, says: WRN is proud to be partnering with DX Media to launch this fantastic new station and to add the NME brand to WRNs growing portfolio.
Sammy Jacob, Director of DX Media says Working with WRN has been (and is) a real pleasure. They have provided a 360 degree service including all our EPG requirements and dedicated landlines for our online activities.
3 June 2008
Danforth Austin, Director of the Voice of America, called for enhanced legal protections for journalists around the world to complement increased training for international broadcasters.
Austin, who heads the United States’ flagship international broadcaster, said, “there is no longer any technical distinction between a domestic broadcast and a worldwide one.”
Austin’s remarks came at a Global Media Forum here sponsored by Deutsche Welle (German Wave), the German international broadcasting organization. He noted that while technology has offered many more people the ability to communicate across borders, governments also have a growing responsibility to foster the spread of information and empower citizens.
A veteran editor and media executive, Austin said training opportunities for journalists in developing countries need to be expanded. But, he added, “It is simply not enough to train journalists on how to best serve the public. They also need a legal environment that provides a degree of protection for journalists, that allows truth as a defense in civil or criminal defamation prosecutions, which all too often employ courts to do what censors could notput journalists behind bars or out of business.”
“This body of media law should also provide for access to information. That includes open meeting laws, freedom of information statutes, and transparency in the workings of government.”
The growing use of digital media, said Austin, has forced a fundamental change in the way international broadcasters must operate. “The days of short-wave radio broadcasts produced offshore and beamed to information-deprived masses yearning to breathe free are waning.” But the same inexpensive software and hardware that enables citizens to reach across borders, he warned, also “empower those who want to censor content. There’s no need, for example, to invest in expensive jamming equipment if a simple software program launching a denial of service attack will do.”
Austin also warned that governments must respect the dividing line between honest, thorough reporting and attempts to covertly influence public opinion. Most international broadcasters, he said, “recognize that credibility with an audience is the most powerful tool they have, that reporting news accurately and fairly in order to help people reach their own decisions is an end, not a means.”
“If we draw the line between honest, fair reporting and analysis and ‘influence operations’ that are disguised as journalism, we show the world what it means to be responsible. We also give the people of the world, who often know propaganda when they see it, a clear choice of whom to believe, and whom to ignore or reject.”
28 May 2008
VTC Digital Television will start broadcasting EuroNews on the 1st of June. This new distribution agreement brings Europes most watched news channel to more than 2 million homes in Vietnam.
EuroNews will be available in English and French 24 hours a day and broadcast on channel 13 on VTC. Vietnamese viewers will have access to world news with a European perspective, as well as to a wide range of current affairs and lifestyle features including science, space, arts and entertainment.
EuroNews is available throughout the Asian continent via Eutelsat W5 satellite; the channel is currently distributed by operators in Hong Kong, Australia and Japan.
Philippe Cayla, Chairman and CEO of EuroNews said: We are very proud and satisfied to broadcast EuroNews in Vietnam thanks to this agreement with VTC. This collaboration represents a great step forward as EuroNews will be offered to more than two million homes. We hope to forge strong links for the future, bringing European and international perspectives on world events to our Vietnamese viewers.
Nguyen Thi Thu Huong, VTC Director of International Relations and Business Development said: With this launch of EuroNews on VTC, we can now bring one of the worlds top quality international news channels to two million homes in Vietnam. Moreover, viewers in the country will have more opportunities to watch world news through a European window which is different from Asian and American perspectives.
22 May 2008
RRsat Global Communications Network Ltd. (NASDAQ: RRST), a rapidly growing provider of comprehensive content management and global distribution services to the television and radio broadcasting industries, announced today that it has been chosen to distribute AXN SCI-FI, the science fiction channel from Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI) into Russia, over its premier RRsat Global Network.
The new agreement will leverage extensive capabilities of the RRsat Global Network including RRsats fiber optic from the United Kingdom and encrypted satellite distribution services over the ABS-1 Satellite. As part of the agreement, RRsat will also provide value added services such as encryption.
We are proud to expand our relationship with SPTI, taking the channel to new regions by leveraging the advanced capabilities RRsats premier Global Network offers its customers. This agreement further demonstrates the added value RRsats customers gain from our total end-to-end solution, from broadcasting through distribution, while expanding the channels boundaries to reach to new countries, regions and continents, said David Rivel, CEO and Founder of RRsat.
About RRsat Global Communications Network Ltd.
RRsat Global Communications Network Ltd. (NASDAQ: RRST) provides global, comprehensive, content management and distribution services to the rapidly expanding television and radio broadcasting industries. Through its proprietary “RRsat Global Network,” composed of satellite and terrestrial fiber optic transmission capacity and the public Internet, RRsat is able to offer high-quality and flexible global distribution services for content providers. RRsat’s comprehensive content management services include producing and playing out TV content as well as providing satellite newsgathering services (SNG). RRsat concurrently provide these services to more than 425 television and radio channels, covering more than 150 countries.
22 May 2008
Rede Record Internacional extends its relationship with GlobeCast and satellite service provider SatLink to reach out to audiences in Asia
Content management and delivery company GlobeCast has signed a deal with Brazilian television giant Rede Record Internacional TV to launch its exclusive channels across the Asian Continent via SatLinks AsiaSat 2 MCPC (Multiple Channels per Carrier) platform.
Since 2006 GlobeCast, a subsidiary of France Telecom, has provided Rede Record Internacional TV with distribution across Europe on the Astra 1L satellite. The companies have now extended Rede Records reach in Asia by working with SatLink Communications Ltd., the fastest growing teleport in 2007 according to The World Teleport Association.
The international signal will be downlinked by SatLink, for turnaround to its AsiaSat 2 MCPC platform. AsiaSat 2, located at 100.5 degrees East, provides unprecedented regional penetration, covering a total of 53 countries and regions in Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Africa.
Rede Record Internacional, which is available in the United States, Canada, Europe and Africa, produces a wide range of programming aimed at Brazilian expatriates and those interested in Brazilian culture. As demand for global channels continues to grow across Asia, the deal will make Rede Record Internacionals programmes available to audiences throughout the regions major markets including China, Japan and India.
