19 December 2006
EuroNews is now available in the “News & International” section of Sky EPG in Italy.
Sky Italia, Italy’s leading pay-TV platform, has boosted its news offer with the addition of EuroNews for their viewers on channel 508.
Nearly four million households in Italy subscribing to Sky Italia now have easy access to EuroNews in all seven language versions: in Italian, in English, French, in German, in Portuguese, in Russian and in Spanish.
Philippe Cayla, Chairman and CEO of EuroNews said: “I am delighted that Sky Italia has added EuroNews to their news line up and we are confident that subscribers will take advantage of our multi-lingual service to watch the channel in either their own language or in the 6 other versions of the channel. EuroNews is the leading PETV News channels, according to the EMS Survey Summer 2006, amongst the Italian upmarket population and thanks to Sky, I am positive the channel will have greater success in Italy”.
19 December 2006
French Foreign Minister, Philippe Douste-Blazy, has called on the UN Security Council to “unanimously” pass a draft
resolution aiming to protect journalists in conflict zones.
“The time has now come to count the votes,” Mr Douste-Blazy said during a
press conference in the presence of well-known journalists, including the
television news presenter Patrick Poivre d’Arvor and the former Iraq hostage
Florence Aubenas.
The minister said he wanted the text, which was tabled by France and Greece
at the beginning of December, to be passed “in a few hours’ or a few days’
time” and “unanimously”.
The draft resolution “condemns all attacks targeting journalists, media
workers and associated staff in situations of armed conflict and calls on
all parties to put an end to these practices”. “I fail to see who could not
vote for it,” Mr Douste-Blazy said.
Robert Menard, the general secretary of Reporters Without Borders (RWB), for
his part stressed that “in Iraq, in less than four years, 139 journalists
and media workers have been killed, twice as many as during the Vietnam war,
which lasted 20 years”. “These figures justify the urgency of the move” at
the UN, he said.
18 December 2006
Romanian President Traian Basescu, in a major speech to the Romanian parliament today, paid official tribute to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty for keeping Romanians informed about developments in their country and in the world during the days of communism.
Basescu said “Radio Free Europe… was the spoken newspaper of all Romanians. I pay homage to former Romanian Service directors Ghita Ionescu, Mihai Cismarescu, Noel Bernard and Vlad Georgescu — men who fought selflessly and passionately for the truth, to uncover it, tell it and make it known.”
Basescu also named former broadcasters Monika Lovinescu and Virgil Ierunca, saying, “they awakened the Romanian people with their unforgettable programs and through Radio Free Europe became the moral conscience of all Romanians.”
He made the statement in an address to a special session of both chambers of the Romanian parliament, convened to adopt the report of a presidential commission on the communist dictatorship in Romania. The commission, led by University of Maryland professor Vladimir Tismaneanu, spent more than a year compiling the report, which condemns the communist regime as “criminal and illegitimate.” It is the first official condemnation of 44 years of communism in Romania, which lasted until 1989. Former Polish president Lech Walesa and Romania’s King Michael attended the parliamentary session.
Ghita Ionescu, who was named in Basescu’s speech, was the first director of RFE broadcasting to Romania when it began in May, 1951. The other named broadcast directors — Mihai Cismarescu, Noel Bernard and Vlad Georgescu — led the service in the 1970s and 1980s, and all died of brain cancer in succession. Allegations have surfaced that all three were targeted by Romanian communist agents.
Today, RFE/RL’s Romania-Moldova Service broadcasts one and one half hours of programming a day Monday through Friday to Moldova and Romania, produced in Prague and in the service’s Chisinau bureau and transmitted to listeners via satellite and shortwave signals and UKV, FM and cable (“tochka”) frequencies provided by local affiliate stations.
8 December 2006
The International News Safety Institute has welcomed a move by the UN Security Council to provide greater protection to journalists and other news media staff in conflict zones.
French UN Ambassador Jean-Marc de la Sabliere, who introduced a resolution on journalist safety on 5 December on behalf of France, Britain, Denmark, Greece and Slovakia, said it was “very important” that journalists can do their job independently and freely and are not attacked.
The measure would condemn all attacks targeting journalists, media professionals and associated personnel covering armed conflicts or otherwise caught up in war. It would urge governments “and all other parties to an armed conflict” to do all they can to prevent crimes against journalists, investigate any crimes that occur and bring the perpetrators to justice.
“Almost 1,000 journalists and other news media staff have died trying to cover dangerous stories around the world over the past 10 years,” said INSI Director Rodney Pinder.
“Most are murdered and few of the perpetrators ever face justice. Press freedom, a cornerstone of democracy, is not possible wherever journalists are killed trying to do their job.
“I hope and trust this resolution will be passed by the Security Council and that all those who have a responsibility for the lives of journalists will take it to heart.”
Concerned by the rising number of news media deaths around the globe, INSI, the International Federation of Journalists and the European Broadcasting Union joined forces more than a year ago to push for the adoption of such a resolution by the Security Council.
“It is extremely heartening that major nations have now taken up the campaign,” Pinder said. “We thank them and wish them all speed in securing passage of the resolution.”
Ambassador de la Sabliere said he hoped the 15-nation Security Council would act swiftly to approve the text.
4 December 2006
Pursuant to Articles 21 and 62 of the Broadcasting Law (“Official Gazette of the Republic of Montenegro”, No. 51/02, 62/02, 46/04 and 56/04), Article 25 of the Broadcasting Agency Statute and Article 14 of the Book of Rules on Cable and Wireless Systems for Distribution of Radio and TV Channels to End Users (Official Gazette of the Republic of Montenegro, No 67/06) at the session held on 28th November 2006, the Broadcasting Agency Council adopted the decision to invite
INTERNATIONAL TENDERS
for the awarding the rights to develop and use cable and wireless systems for the distribution of radio and TV channels to end users
1. The subject of this public competition is the awarding of the rights to develop and use cable and wireless systems for the distribution of radio and TV channels to end users (hereinafter referred to as: CDS and wireless systems) on the territory of one or more municipalities in the Republic of Montenegro. The planned number of connections for individual municipalities shall be the number of households in that area in compliance with data published in the The Census of Citizens, Households and Flats in 2005 of the MONSTAT Statistics Bureau of Montenegro.
2. Both domestic and foreign legal persons, with a registered office on the territory of the Republic, registered for the telecommunications field, shall have the right to apply to tender for the awarding of the rights to develop and use CDS and wireless systems (hereinafter referred to as: public tender).
3. The application to tender shall be submitted to the Broadcasting Agency using a special form, provided in Appendix 2 of the Book of Rules on Cable and Wireless Systems for Distribution of Radio and TV Channels to End Users (hereinafter referred to as: the Book of Rules).
4. Technical standards for the development and use of CDS and wireless systems, which shall be an integral part of the application to tender, shall be in line with the technical norms provided in the overview of technical norms for the development of CDS and wireless systems (Appendix 1 of the Book of Rules).
5. Frequency bands 11.7-12.1 GHz, 27.5-28.5 GHz and 40.5-43.5 GHz may be used for the wireless systems for distribution of radio and TV channels to end users.
6. The lowest amount of the annual fee for the development and use of CDS and wireless systems offered by the applicant shall not be lower than 5% of its total annual income based on the provision of service of distribution of radio and TV channels to end users.
7. The Broadcasting Agency Council shall award the right to develop and use CDS and wireless systems to legal persons that have, in compliance with the terms of the public tender, offered the best conditions according to the following criteria:
a) Benefits for the systems users (access fee, monthly fee, possibility of providing/receiving other telecommunication services, benefits for people with disabilities or special needs, etc.) – 25 points
b) Planned number of connections in relation to the population and number of households in the area where the CDS and wireless system is developed, together with the pace of development – 20 points
c) Quality, structure, and number of radio and TV channels to be distributed by the operator – 15 points
d) Quality of technical solution for the development of CDS and wireless system, and its compliance with the norms prescribed by the Book of Rules – 15 points
e) Financial indicators related to the possibility of feasible business operation and possibility of survival on the market, references of the applicant – 15 points
f) Offered amount of annual fee for the development and use of CDS and wireless system – 10 points
8. The Broadcasting Agency shall issue a licence to those legal persons that, in line with the Agency Councils decision, have obtained the right to develop and use CDS and wireless system and met the conditions prescribed by Article 23 of the Book of Rules.
9. The licence for development and use of CDS and wireless systems shall be issued for a period of 10 years, and several licences may be issued for the same area.
10. The applicant to tender obtaining the licence for development and use of CDS and wireless systems for the first time shall start paying the annual fee four months after the issuance of licence.
11. The applicant to tender is obliged to pay, without the possibility of reimbursement, to the bank account of the Broadcasting Agency 510-104-19 with the Crnogorska komercijalna banka, a one-off fee for the processing of application to tender to the amount of:
– 1.000,00 for CDS and wireless system in 1 to 4 municipalities;
– 2.000,00 for CDS and wireless system in 5 to 10 municipalities;
– 4.000,00 for CDS and wireless system in more than 10 municipalities.
Evidence of payment of the tender application fee shall be submitted along with the application to tender.
Payment of this fee shall not be a guarantee that either right or licence application will be awarded.
12. Application to tender shall be submitted as an original and together with five copies in a sealed envelope with the note reading: “Application to tender for the awarding of licences for the development and use of CDS and wireless systems ” and “Do not open until the Agency Council session “, as well as the name and office address of the applicant.
13. Applications shall be submitted in the official language of the Republic of Montenegro or in English with a provided translation in the official language and, in the event of any ambiguities, the relevant interpretation shall be in the official language.
14. The form of the application to tender is available on the web site www.ard.cg.yu and it may be obtained at the premises of the Broadcasting Agency every working day from 8 am. to 4 pm.
15. The applications to tender may be submitted every working day from 8 am. to 4 pm, not later than 12 oclock CET December 29th 2006, by submitting it directly to the Agency archives of by mail to the following address:
9 Bul. Svetog Petra Cetinjskog
81000 Podgorica
Montenegro
16. Late applications shall be rejected without consideration.
17. The opening of applications to tender shall be done at the public session of the Agency Council held on January 5th 2007 at 12 oclock. The authorised representatives of the applicants to tender are entitled to attend the opening of applications.
18. The Broadcasting Agency Council shall adopt, not later than 30 days from the expiry of deadline for submission of applications, the decision on awarding the rights to develop and use CDS and wireless systems and publish it in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Montenegro and on the web site of the Agency.
19. For further information related to this decision or application to tender, please contact the Agency by mail, fax or e-mail (Tel: +381 81 201440, Fax: +381 81 201430, e-mail: ard@mn.yu) not later than 7 days prior to the expiry of deadline for the submission of applications.
20. This decision shall be published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Montenegro, on the web site of the Broadcasting Agency, domestic daily newspapers (Pobjeda, Vijesti, Dan) and one foreign media outlet.
21. This decision shall come into effect on the day of its adoption.
Chairman
of the Broadcasting Agency Council
Jovan Ivanovic, MSc
Contact:
Tel: +381 81 201440,
Fax: +381 81 201430,
e-mail: ard@mn.yu
