4 December 2006
Intelsat today announced that China Central Television (CCTV), the national broadcaster of the Peoples Republic of China, renewed a multi-year contract for the global distribution of its programming. CCTV is also utilizing Intelsat for its international backhaul transmission of the Asian Games from Doha, Qatar, back to Beijing, which start today and run through December 15.
A long-standing customer since the launch of PAS-2 in 1994, CCTV became the worlds first global Mandarin Chinese television service when it expanded its services internationally via the PAS-3 satellite in 1995.
Intelsat currently provides full-time program distribution services for CCTV via its PAS-1R Atlantic Ocean Region satellite, PAS-9 Atlantic Ocean Region satellite and PAS-10 Indian Ocean Region satellite. Intelsat also provides CCTV with capacity on its Galaxy 3C satellite for direct-to-home (DTH) services in the United States. This renewal contract also expands CCTVs C- and Ku-band capacity agreement.
With the increased demand for regional programming distribution, CCTV is pleased to continue growing its relationship with Intelsat, said He Zongjiu, Vice President of CCTV. Intelsat has long partnered with us in the expansion of our services, and we are confident that its network will continue to support us as we develop programming platforms.
David Ball, Regional Vice President, Asia-Pacific Sales, said, We are proud that CCTV has continued to entrust us with the global distribution of its programming, and the Asian Games. As Intelsat expands its global services, we are strategically situated to provide greater power and coverage for Chinas preeminent national broadcaster. Likewise, Intelsat will be well positioned to offer broadcasters of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing a complete suite of global transmission services.
As of 1 February 2007, Intelsat will change the names of 16 of its 51 satellites. The name change is part of the integration process, following the recent merger with PanAmSat. The changes being implemented are the following:
Galaxy (G) replaces the Intelsat Americas (IA) brand
Intelsat (IS) replaces the PanAmSat brand (PAS)
Unique or joint venture satellites, such as SBS-6, Horizons or APR, will retain the same name.
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
4 December 2006
The Arab Satellite Communications Organization (ARABSAT), and the Egyptian Satellite Company (Nilesat) signed a strategic partnership agreement enabling ARABSAT to establish a new “ARABSAT Media Gateway” (“AMG”) from Cairo, located in Nilesat’s 6th of October City free zone area premises.
Engineer Khalid Ahmed Balkheyour, ARABSAT’s President and Chief Executive Officer, and Mr. Amin Basyouni, Nilesat’s Chairman, have expressed their great mutual satisfaction and happiness towards having reached this key agreement in the satellite broadcasting field which will benefit millions of Arab viewers, considering it as a critical first step towards a further constructive and mutually beneficial cooperation.
This new Media Gateway will enable ARABSAT to provide the Egypt-based Broadcasters with direct access to a comprehensive range of video services such as Uplink and turnaround onto Arabsat’s 26°East 130Mn viewers neighborhood, full digital platform management, as well as extensive content processing such as playout, store and forward, transcoding, etc.
As part of its strategic move towards getting closer to its customers’ locations, this 9th AMG from ARABSAT will complement the ones already serving the MENA region from Amman-Jordan, Beirut-Lebanon, Bonn-Germany, Dubai-UAE, Madrid-Spain, Riyadh-KSA, Sharjah-UAE and Tunis-Tunisia.
4 December 2006
Autocue, the leading provider of prompting and newsroom automation solutions, has further strengthened its dedication to the Asian market with the announcement that it has partnered with major systems integrator Ideal Systems Asia Pacific Ltd in the Indian and Thailand territories. Ideal Systems, founded in 1989, has grown from a single representative in Asia to one of the region’s leading systems integrators and distributors.
This key partnership will see Ideal Systems promoting Autocues Professional Series Prompter range and QSeries Newsroom applications. As a result of this new relationship, Autocues product portfolio will play a major role on the Ideal Systems booth (C 25) at the BES Expo 2007 from the 1st 3rd February 2007 in New Delhi, India.
Mala Mathur, Ideal Systems Director in India commented, Autocue is the acknowledged technology leader in teleprompting and newsroom applications worldwide. In a vast market like India where there are multiple languages to support Autocue has proven its capabilities. Ideal Systems as pioneers and leaders in the systems integration arena will synergise its technical and marketing strength with those of Autocue. This will lead to further opportunities in the Indian subcontinent market.
Declan Coleman, Ideal Systems Director in Thailand added, Autocue is ubiquitous in the teleprompting arena. The company has a unique and ground-breaking network based architecture and a very strong brand name in the broadcast market. I am looking forward to further developing our relationship in the coming months.
We are delighted to announce this partnership with Ideal Systems in Asia. Autocue has strong ties with broadcasters worldwide and we are excited at the prospect of further enhancing the companys presence in the Asia-Pacific region. Ideal Systems is very highly regarded across the globe as a leader in systems integration and we look forward to a long and successful partnership. This extension of our global reach comes at an opportune moment, enabling us to fully exploit the introduction of our groundbreaking IP-based, networked prompting solution, QNxt. We will be making further announcements in the New Year as we continue to grow our partner base, concluded Frank Hyman, Autocues Sales & Marketing Director.
4 December 2006
From 2nd December, listeners to WRNs English language international news and current affairs satellite radio networks in North America, Europe, Africa and the Asia Pacific region will be tuning into Podcasting Week which is profiling the rapid rise of podcasting as an important method of content distribution and the benefits it brings to listeners.
During Podcasting Week, WRNs English networks will broadcast a series of specially produced programmes and trailers featuring interviews with podcasting experts and pioneers from Virgin Radio, Radio Sweden, top British production company Something Else and Hive Networks as well as WRN. These interviews will examine all aspects of podcasting, from its origins to its future and will be available in their entirety on the WRN podcasting page: www.wrn.org/podcasting. The Week follows the very successful first phase for the WRN podcasting service which was launched in May 2006.
Harry Holgate, a Network Producer at WRN who is overseeing the Week, says, With Podcasting Week we want to bring the concept of podcasting to all our listeners around the world so they understand what it is and how they begin using the WRN podcasting service to download and listen again to their favourite shows at times that suit them.
WRN aggregates, schedules and broadcasts daily and weekly shows from many international public radio stations on its networks which, in turn, are distributed to listeners on market-leading and innovative digital platforms around the world such as Sirius Satellite Radio in the USA and Canada, via mobile phones in the US with UpSnap, Sky digital in the UK and WorldSpace Satellite Radio across Europe, Africa and Asia.
WRNs Podcasting Week finishes on 10th December.
4 December 2006
Building on the success of its award-winning DAB/FM modules, RadioScape has announced the RSC03 clock radio subsystem. It is the first of a new family of DAB subsystems and provides an even higher level of system integration for manufacturers. This reduces costs, design complexity, and, most significantly, can substantially cut time-to-market for radio manufacturers in this product category.
Phil Smith, RadioScapes Senior VP for Sales and Operations, said, Increasing the level of integration has proved very popular with our customers, allowing them to fully evaluate the product on day one. Another first for RadioScape is being able to offer a custom display to complement the subsystem. Clock radios require something different to the LCDs commonly used on other DAB products and we have invested to support our customers with a large, easy to read display that is specially designed for clock radio applications.
The RadioScape RSC03 is a complete DAB/FM clock radio subsystem that only requires an external DC power supply, speaker, LCD display, button board, and enclosure to complete the product. The need for a motherboard is eliminated as the power supply and audio amplifiers are fully integrated into the subsystem. This reduces the manufacturing steps to just one assembly run. Its construction and compact form factor makes it suitable for many enclosure designs.
The subsystem approach once again leverages RadioScapes flexible software defined radio architecture, which enables customers to easily create product differentiation by changing and adding features via software as required. This combination is unique to RadioScape and will allow our customers to bring products to market in less than 100 days, added Smith.
If you do seek out in the internet market, messaging apps are the most downloaded apps on the Android platform, BBM for Androidand it has taken the Short Messaging System to a whole new level. The BBM is one of the most downloaded and used messaging apps by the users all over the world.
The clock radio features that have been incorporated include an auto back light dimming option, off-air time update, automatic daylight saving, 3 programmable alarms, five presets, Sleep and Snooze. The individual alarm volumes can be programmed to rise to specific levels, independently of the main volume. RadioScape can also supply a large character custom LCD that is ideal for this application with a choice of blue STN and blue or amber TN. The LCD and subsystem form a single unit measuring only 109mm by 50mm by 32 mm.
A number of customers have already started production of DAB clock radios using the RSC03, which will be in the shops soon.
Simon Parslow, Director of New Product Development and Marketing at Acoustic Solutions, said, “Using the RSC03 meant we had something to demonstrate to the retailers right at the start of the project. Designing in the RSC03 was very simple and enabled us to get the first products rolling off the production line in just 90 days.”
