5 March 2008
RRsat Global Communications Network has announced that SVT (Sveriges Television), Swedens public television broadcasting service, has chosen RRsat to expand its coverage all over Europe.
Over the past three years, RRsat has been distributing the SVT channel over its Global Network to Asia through the Thaicom-5 Satellite. Under the current agreement, RRsat also distributes the SVT channel to Europe, Northern Africa & the Middle East through the Direct-To-Home distribution network, over Eurobird-9 satellite.
After using RRsat´s turnaround services since 2005 for SVT Europa´s Direct-To-Home distribution to Asia, Australia and Africa, we are very pleased to expand our cooperation with RRsat to include Direct-To-Home services through Eurobird-9 satellite to Europe, Northern Africa and the Middle East, said Riffa Hänninen, Head of SVT Europa, the international channel of the Swedish public service broadcaster SVT.
“We are very pleased that SVT, the Swedish national television, has chosen RRsat to expand its channels coverage to be accessible throughout Europe, Northern Africa and the Middle East over the Eurobird-9 satellite, our rapidly expanding Direct-To-Home and cable platform,” commented Lior Rival, VP Sales and Marketing of RRsat. “Once again, RRsat, leveraging its broad global network and leading fiber infrastructure, will enable the channel to be reached by millions of new households.
5 March 2008
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty broadcasts to Armenia went off the air on 2 March while its Internet site has been blocked in a blackout on independent news, imposed as part of a state of emergency that went into effect on March 2.
Under an emergency decree issued by Armenian president Robert Kocharian, media may use only government-sanctioned news for a 20-day period. RFE/RL’s Armenian Service broadcasts to Armenia four hours daily in Armenian on FM frequencies of two local affiliates who, in compliance with the decree, took RFE/RL programs off the air, filling the time slot with music instead. RFE/RL is the only Armenian language foreign radio in the country.
RFE/RL’s main Armenian language website, azatutyun.am has also been blocked, but still managed to register during the first day of March as many unique visitors (23,000) as it averages in an entire month. Two thirds of the visitors are from within Armenia. RFE/RL’s Armenian Service is adding website domains to get around the blockage and continue broadcasting independent news in Armenian for Internet listeners.
In the last RFE/RL broadcast on Saturday 1 March, correspondents in Yerevan reported live from the scene of protest rallies, which were forcefully dispersed by police and Interior Ministry troops. Despite media identification, a driver for RFE/RL was beaten by police. The young female correspondent he was accompanying managed to escape, running from the violence. Another RFE/RL correspondent in the Armenian town of Gumri, covering a similar demonstration, was manhandled and threatened by Interior Ministry troops, but stood her ground. She was pushed around until the troops realized she was broadcasting live and their threats were clearly audible to listeners.
Until the Sunday curfew, protesters in Armenia had held daily rallies since the February 19 presidential election they say was rigged by the government. At least eight people are reported dead in the government’s violent crackdown on the demonstrators over the weekend.
21 February 2008
The Kyrgyz Service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, known locally as Radio Azattyk, in partnership with Kyrgyz state television has launched a new youth programme that aired for the first time on January 16.
Called “Azattyk Plus TV Show,” the 30-minute programme is aimed at young people aged 15 to 29. RFE/RL Acting President Jeff Trimble noted that latest census figures show nearly 30 percent of the Kyrgyz population, or one and a half million people, belong into this age bracket. “We aim to attract these young people to Radio Azattyk and its message of democracy,” Trimble said.
The first Azattyk Plus TV Show aired at 5:30 PM Kyrgyz time (6:30 AM EST) with segments on Internet cafes in Kyrgyzstan, the meaning and practice of flash-mobbing, how the Internet brings families together and other topics. RFE/RL’s partner, the Kyrgyz National Broadcasting Corporation (KTR) is the only nation-wide TV network in the country. It will carry Azattyk Plus TV Show as a weekly, live programme, providing technical support. Under the partnership agreement, RFE/RL has full editorial control. The show is prepared and moderated by broadcasters in RFE/RL’s Bishkek bureau and the audio will be rebroadcast the next day on Radio Azattyk.
Azattyk Plus TV Show is RFE/RL’s second programme on Kyrgyz television. Radio Azattyk’s award-winning talk show, “Inconvenient Questions,” has been on KTR since May 2005. The weekly programme features one guest answering tough questions from an RFE/RL host on business, politics, social problems and the economy. The independent “Zamandash” magazine last month gave “Inconvenient Questions” an award for “the best TV show of 2005.”
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is a private, international communications service to Eastern and Southeastern Europe, Russia, the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Middle East, and Southwest Asia, funded by the U.S. Congress through the Broadcasting Board of Governors.
21 February 2008
Al Jazeera Englishs Hamish MacDonald was recognized as the Young Journalist of the Year by the Royal Television Society at its awards gala in London on 20 February. Hamish was commended by the judges for his confident and unique style, and was praised for his courageous coverage of the street protests in Malaysia.
Hamish, who is based in Kuala Lumpur, faced tough competition from his colleague Al Jazeeras Haru Mutasa and Channel 4s Nima Elbagir, but impressed the judges with his distinctive coverage of events. Commenting on the award, Hamish stated, “Al Jazeera really does try to bring a fresh perspective to the news, not just in words, but in the very nature of their coverage. Im thankful to Al Jazeera for giving me a chance to work with them.”
Al Jazeera Englishs Managing Director Nigel Parsons added, “We are very proud of Hamish who has worked extremely hard and deserves this award. He and Haru Mutasa, who was also nominated for the Young Journalist of the Year award, truly represent the Al Jazeera spirit. For me, they exemplify what the whole team at Al Jazeera is all about: the willingness to take risks to bring people the real story as it is happening on the ground.”
Al Jazeera English was also nominated for News Channel of the Year, Young Journalist of the Year for Haru Mutusa and for James Bays Taliban Embedded, which provided groundbreaking insights into the lives of a Taliban cell in Afghanistan.
21 February 2008
Alain de Pouzilhac, CEO of France 24, has been named by French President Nikolas Sarkozy as the Chairman of the new France Monde organisation that will oversee all French international broadcasting.
The move by Sarkozy may indicate a change in heart by the French President who had called into question the future of France 24’s English- and Arabic-language services, saying in January that he did not see a need for France to spend taxpayers’ money broadcasting TV services in languages other than French.
The new France Monde grouping will bring together Radio France Internationale and France 24. Its CEO will be French journalist Christine Ockrent.
21 February 2008
RadioScape plc has announced that following a number of recent contract awards it has now delivered its 100th DAB Broadcast System for live service transmission.
The Company has additionally sold over 40 broadcast and test systems to DAB receiver manufacturers across Europe and Asia building radios for this expanding market.
2008 will be a year of increasing activity in the international radio market as more countries roll-out DAB and DAB+ services, commented John Hall, CEO, RadioScape. With new contracts in China, Indonesia and Belgium we now have DAB installations in 14 countries and we see demand continuing to increase on the back of further successful field trials in recent months.
RadioScapes announcement comes at a time when the UK commercial broadcast industry is debating the economic viability of DAB. Hall commented: Broadcasters realise they must take advantage of the opportunities afforded by digital if they are to make DAB economic. We are increasingly working in close cooperation with broadcasters to enable new types of digital content and services, leveraging our significant DAB receiver expertise to create end to end solutions. Most of these engagements are overseas at present, but we see real opportunity to assist UK broadcasters encourage more rapid consumer take-up.
In China, where RadioScape is already the primary supplier of DAB broadcast systems, the Company has recently expanded its installed base of DAB broadcast and monitoring systems, and is now enabling services in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Yunnan. Chinas media ministry, the State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television (SARFT), has already endorsed DAB as the industrial standard for digital audio broadcasting in China. DAB transmissions will be a major feature of the 2008 Olympics with 14 services being planned for live transmission during the Games.
In Indonesia, a Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) cooperation project, between South Koreas Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) and DMB Nusantara, a Jakarta-based DMB service provider, recently selected RadioScapes DAB Broadcast System for its nationwide DMB infrastructure across Indonesia. This will enable access to mobile broadcasting services for up to 40 million Indonesians including radio, TV programs, movies and other entertainment content on mobile devices.
In Belgium, RadioScape has recently been awarded a contract by the state broadcaster, RTBF, to provide its latest fusion broadcast systems and field monitoring equipment to enable the roll-out of DAB services to the French speaking area of Belgium.
Many countries are also in the process of concluding DAB trials using RadioScapes broadcast and field monitoring systems: In Australia, RadioScapes field monitor and fusion broadcast systems have recently been used to undertake DAB+ network tests in Sydney. The tests were coordinated by Commercial Radio Australia, the national industry body representing Australia’s commercial radio broadcasters. The Australian Government requires the commercial DAB+ network rollout, for metropolitan areas, to be operational by 1st January 2009.
France also recently announced that all of its radio services will be digitised in the near future. As part of that process, RadioScapes portable field monitors were deployed in the trials in Nantes, while Digital Radio France deployed field monitors in its Paris trial.
Germany has invested in a significant number of RadioScapes latest range of field monitors to assist regional engineers in maintaining the national DAB transmitter network. Recently, both commercial and public broadcasters released statements of support for a re-launch of digital radio in Germany based on the Eureka 147 family of standards.
Quentin Howard, President WorldDMB, commented: Todays announcement by RadioScape is further evidence that the DAB family of standards continues to gain momentum around the world, becoming the system of choice for European and Asian broadcasters. No other system offers the variety and range of consumer devices, nor matches DABs low network costs, making it the worlds leading terrestrial digital radio and mobile multimedia solution.
