2 August 2007
The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG)
has renewed a contract for the carriage of Radio Liberty’s Armenian language
service on a private radio network based in the Armenian capital, Yerevan.
The contract with AR Radio Intercontinental
runs from August 15, 2007 until September 14, 2008. The network has 23
transmitters, which cover Yerevan and a number of outlying districts.
"We are pleased that many Armenian listeners
will be able to continue to hear our programming on AR Radio Intercontinental,"
said Jeffrey Gedmin, President and Chief Operating Officer of Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty. However, Gedmin
noted that efforts to renew a contract with Armenian Public Radio, which covers
the entire country, have so far proven unsuccessful.
"We remain deeply committed to nationwide
coverage of Armenia. Hundreds of thousands of listeners rely on Radio Liberty’s
Armenian Service and depend on us for accurate, comprehensive news," said Gedmin,
noting that the latest national surveys indicate 15 percent of Armenians tune in
each week. Armenian Public Radio
announced in mid-July that it would stop carrying Radio Liberty broadcasts on
August 9, 2007 on the 80 transmitters in the network.
"We have worked diligently to settle any legal
and contractual issues, and believe there is no reason the broadcasts shouldn’t
continue," said Gedmin.
RFE/RL Armenian programmes have been aired
on Armenian Public Radio — Armenia’s top radio network — since 1998. Three
days of contract discussions in Yerevan in mid-July ended without resolution.
RFE/RL’s Armenian Service has been on the air
since 1953 and produces more than three and one half hours of Armenian-language
programming daily in Prague and at its Yerevan Bureau. Armenian Service
programming is available via satellite, local affiliates and the Internet, at
the service’s website www.azatutyun.am
and at www.rferl.org; English-language news about events in Armenia can
be found on the RFE/RL website, at www.rferl.org.
1 August 2007
The closing date for the 2007 AIB Media Excellence Awards has been extended to 10 August 2007.
We’ve had many requests from broadcasters, technology companies and presenters who have asked for more time to submit their entry – and so we’ve given everyone an extra week to get their entries in!
Enter today to make sure that your work is recognised by your colleagues around the world.
17 July 2007
ABC Managing Director Mark Scott has announced the appointment of Bruce
Dover as the new Chief Executive of Australia Network, the Corporation’s
international television service to Asia, the Pacific and the Indian
sub-continent.
“We are delighted that Mr Dover with his extensive media experience and
understanding of the region will be leading Australia Network”, Mr Scott
said.
“He joins the network as it continues to grow its audiences in 41 countries
– its mix of news, current affairs, education, lifestyle, drama and sport is
now available in more than 20 million homes across Asia, the Pacific and the
Indian sub-continent.”
Mr Dover’s career as a journalist, editor and business executive has
included senior appointments in print, television and new media. He has been
based in Asia on a number of occasions since the early 1980s whilst working
for Australian and international media companies. His activities in the
region have included executive roles with News Corporation and CNN. In 1986
he received the Graham Perkin Award as Australian Journalist of the Year.
“The ABC takes great pride in the role Australia Network plays in increasing
the awareness of Australia and Australian perspectives across the region”,
Mr Scott said.
“It is doing so in a crowded television landscape, with up to 200 other
satellite and subscription channels on offer and new digital media
technologies making rapid inroads. Mr Dover will bring the required
background experience and regional insights to this highly-competitive and
fast changing environment that will ensure the continued strength of the
network.”
Mr Dover said, “I look forward to building on the extraordinary work done to
date by the ABC in establishing this unique service promoting Australia’s
engagement in the Asia Pacific”.
“Australia Network represents an enormous opportunity to establish a
credible, authoritative Australian voice in the region. With the advent of
new distribution platforms and broadband technologies there is the potential
to bring the very best of Australian television to audiences living and
working in the most dynamic economies of the world today.”
Mr Dover will take up his appointment as Chief Executive of Australia
Network on 6 August and will be based in Sydney.
Mr Dover succeeds Ian Carroll, who was appointed the ABC’s Director of
Innovation earlier this year. He will report to the Director of ABC
International, Murray Green. ABC International brings together Radio
Australia, International Projects and Australia Network.
Australia Network is supported by funds from the Department of Foreign
Affairs and Trade as well as advertising revenue.
12 July 2007
EuroNews, Europe’s leading news TV channel, and Local Media Television, the largest local TV group in Spain, have signed an agreement to distribute one hour of the news TV channel through 191 member local TV stations every day.
From Monday to Thursday, from 0700 to 0800 and on Fridays from 0715 to 0815, Spaniards will be able to watch EuroNews through Local Media TV network stations throughout the country. Every day, EuroNews will broadcast the latest International news from an European perspective, including economy, press review, Europe, sports and a complete meteo info.
With this agreement, EuroNews has fully broken into the local TV market in Spain, where more than 15 million homes already receive the channel’s signal.
The agreement also strengthens Local Media’s position in the Spanish local TV market and its news offer with now more than 2 daily hours of news programmes (EuroNews and Diario Nacional at 1450 and 2150).
Local Media is the first independent local TV group in Spain. Created in 1994, today it has 115 affiliated terrestrial TV channels and another 76 cable stations in the country with a daily reach of more than 1.6 million viewers and 7.5 million on a month basis, according to Sofres.
Local Media is also present in the Spanish DTT market with 22 DTT licences in Galicia, Baleares Islands, Catalonia, Asturias, Aragon, Valencia and Murcia regions.
10 July 2007
We’re delighted that the BBC’s Gaza correspondent, Alan Johnston, has been freed and handed to Hamas officials after 114 days in captivity.
Interviewed immediately after his release, Johnston said he had been in the hands of “dangerous and unpredictable” people.
