23 November 2006
The Association for International Broadcasting announced the winners of its second annual global awards at a glamorous gala event in London on 22 November, 2006. Attended by senior executives, producers and journalists from TV and radio channels from five continents, the AIB Awards event rewarded the very best programmes and channels for international audiences across television and radio.
The Awards event was hosted by Barbara Serra, one of the London anchors of newly-launched Al Jazeera English and more than 100 guests celebrated the success of their colleagues from around the world.
There were nine categories in the 2006 AIB Awards, covering television, radio and technology; over 100 entries were received from international broadcasters in 20 countries, as well as a number of innovative technology suppliers who support international TV and radio stations.
The Award winners were:
Best coverage of a single news event radio
BBC World Service for South Asian Earthquake
described by the judges as most impressive in every respect
Best coverage of a single news event television
Sky News for London bombings
good content with excellent context for cross-border
viewers
Best magazine or documentary programme television
Al Jazeera Channel for Prisoner 345
content, suitability for international audience and
production values all very high
Best magazine or documentary programme radio
BBC World Service for Assignment Return to Sarajevo
stunningly vivid, extraordinarily powerful, impeccably
produced
Most innovative use of technology
Link Research for Link HD
the future for news and sports coverage
International channel of the year – television
BBC World
excellent coverage of stories, high presentation values
International station of the year – radio
SW Radio Africa
brave, an excellent independent alternative to Zimbabwes
state media
International presenter of the year – television
Simon Hobbs of CNBC Europe
polished, passionate, enthused
International presenter of the year – radio
Doug Bernard of Voice of Americas Talk to America
intelligent presentation and questioning, very polished,
with a smile in his voice
The AIB Awards were judged by international panels drawn from the broadcasting
industry ensuring peer review of programming as well as radio and TV
critics, representing the audiences perspective. Completely non-commercial, the
AIB Awards are the only celebration of success that exclusively focuses on
international, cross-border broadcasting.
The AIB Awards provide a fantastic opportunity for the Association to provide a
platform not only to celebrate success but also to share ideas, said Simon
Spanswick, AIB chief executive. The international broadcasting industry is
often more innovative and fleet of foot than its domestic counterparts, and the
Awards demonstrate the breadth of superb content thats on offer to viewers and
listeners throughout the world. We were delighted with the range and quality of
the entries which made judging extremely tough. Our judges are to be
congratulated on all their work, as are the winners and finalists tonight.
The AIB International Broadcasting Awards 2007 will be announced in January.
22 November 2006
LAST OPPORTUNITY TO REGISTER
The AIB holds its prestigious
Diner Pensant and AIB Awards
evening on Wednesday 22 November 2006 – and we’re almost at capacity,
so now is the last chance to reserve your place..
We’re holding an evening
of celebration in London on 22 November at which you’ll be able to
see some of the remarkably high-quality work that has been submitted to the
AIB’s second international broadcasting Awards and to meet the programme makers responsible from all over
the world.
The event has senior
representatives from Al Arabiya, Al Jazeera, BBC World, Sky News, Romanian
Broadcasting, Channel News Asia, Voice of America, BBC World Service, EuroNews,
EuroSport, Russia Today AT, VT Communications, the Broadcasting Agency of
Montenegro, Radio Netherlands Worldwide, CNBC Europe, BFBS, Quantel, Autocue,
NDTV, Zee TV and many others.
MORE THAN JUST AWARDS –
IT’S A SHARING OF IDEAS
And in addition to the celebration of success,
we’re helping to share ideas and
start conversations during the evening. We’ve
invited two experts from broadcasting and new media to talk about their visions
and strategies between courses of Dinner. Joanna Shields
is Managing Director, Strategic Partnerships & Syndication at Google
and as Google’s European Director of Partnerships, she is responsible for the
syndication of Google’s products to telecom, publishing and media partners
throughout Europe, Russia, the Middle East and Africa. She oversees content
acquisition for the entire range of Google products, including Google Video,
Google Print, Google Local and Commerce products. Joanna is on the look out for
good content and new partnerships – you should meet her.
Guido
Baumhauer is Director of Distribution at
Deutsche Welle and has been responsible for leading Germany’s
international broadcaster – which runs radio, TV and online services – from the
analogue “appointment-based” viewing and listening world to a multi-media,
multi-platform environment. He’s overseen the availability of DW on multiple
IPTV and mobile platforms around the world. He’s got lots to share with
broadcasters and content owners.
LAST OPPORTUNITY TO REGISTER
The AIB Diner Pensant
and Awards evening starts at 7.30 p.m. with a champagne reception,
followed by a fantastic dinner in the Riverside Room,
Savoy Place, London WC2, which enjoys stunning views along the River
Thames to Parliament in the west and St Paul’s Cathedral in the east, and across
to the South Bank and the London Eye. The Awards will be presented at the end of
this glamorous, exciting and stimulating evening.
Tables seat ten people and we’ve kept the cost as
low as possible to ensure as many people as possible can come and network, share
ideas and celebrate with us. The cost of attending is just £155 plus VAT per
seat for non-members, while AIB members benefit from a price of only £95 plus
VAT per seat. AIB Members attending the Diner
Pensant can also participate in,
at no additional charge, a special members-only
briefing covering the media markets of
India and
China . This
will take place immediately before the Dinner.
LAST OPPORTUNITY TO REGISTER
Book online by clicking
here, or download the brochure
here and fax it back to us to reserve your places at the
AIB Diner Pensant and Awards on Wednesday 22
November 2006.
We look forward to
seeing you in London to celebrate and share with the AIB.
20 November 2006
China Radio International (CRI) has begun a continuous local DRM service to London on its own dedicated channel via the trial 26 MHz service operated by WRN, the London-based broadcast and transmission services company. This collaboration follows a recent visit by the President of CRI, Mr Wang Gengnian to WRN.
CRIs DRM service to London is broadcasting a mix of English and Chinese programming that comes live from its studios in Beijing. WRNs 26MHz service provides CRI with complete DRM broadcast coverage of Greater London and it is being transmitted from the well known Croydon transmission tower, situated in South London and which is operated by Arqiva, WRNs DRM transmission partner for this project. Arqiva provides transmission services for most UK commercial radio stations. Croatias RIZ-Transmitters has supplied the Yagi antenna and transmitter for the duration of the project.
DRM is the international standard for digital Medium Wave, Long Wave and Short Wave broadcasting. This new digital radio standard is exciting broadcasters around the world and with over 750 hours of DRM broadcasts already on air today, DRM is set to revitalise radio markets across the globe for local, national and international transmissions.
Mr Xia Jixuan, Vice-President of CRI says, We are very excited that CRI is now broadcasting its programming on the new medium of DRM in London. The goal of CRI is to inform the world about China and we are pleased to offer the people of London a wide range of our programming. Beijing and London will both host future Olympic Games and it will be very interesting for there to be a mutual dialogue conducted through CRI”.
Gary Edgerton, Managing Director of WRN, adds, WRN is delighted that CRI has chosen WRNs local DRM solution for London. It is part of WRNs portfolio of products that is actively assisting broadcasters to take advantage of the exciting transmission and distribution opportunities that digital radio offers.
20 November 2006
Harris Corporation demonstrated the enhanced capabilities of a prototype of its Intraplex® NetXpress IP network gateway device, which has been optimized for tactical surveillance in a sensor network, at GEOINT 2006 in Orlando, Florida.
The NetXpress prototype demonstrates how ObjectVideo® analytic software can be embedded in a network edge device to significantly improve sensor capabilities and network performance, and automatically produce actionable metadata from its analysis of a video. At the GEOINT exhibition, Harris is demonstrating how ObjectVideo® intelligent video analytics on the new PC board within the NetXpress prototype is used to detect, track and classify objects within a video in real time.
This rules-based video content analysis system can be set to recognize preprogrammed characteristics, such as a vehicle, person, or other object of interest, and automatically generate alert data and metadata in real time. This information, along with the encoded video stream, can be transmitted across a local- or wide-area network or stored locally. The video itself and the video metadata also can be fed into centralized systems such as the Harris® H-Class Content Delivery Platform along with meaningful intelligence about the video content, and the results are immediately searchable. The ability to place additional software processes at the network collection site can reduce the strain on limited network resources and allow the sensors to operate with autonomy.
“This combination of features provides a powerful platform to automate sensor data and metadata collection in any network environment even constrained networks,” explained Lucius Stone, director of sales, Government Solutions, Harris Broadcast Communications Division. “The expanded capability allows users to push intelligence, processing and automated decision-making to the network edge, or collection site, which conserves both network and human bandwidth.”
Current content collection solutions at a network edge are often manually integrated with a separate personal computer, router and other components. The NetXpress system combines all components into one small frame, which can take in multiple sources of content, including sensors, and still host multiple applications.
“This is especially important in applications such as border security and tactical surveillance where having a smaller footprint, using less power and having less weight provide a huge advantage for automated tactical surveillance,” said Stone.
20 November 2006
£25 million cash deal agreed, subject to regulatory approval
Arqiva to acquire customers and operations in France and the USA
Long-term security for customers and staff alike
Arqiva has today announced the signing of a Sale & Purchase Agreement (SPA) with BT to acquire the full-time service components of BTs Satellite Broadcast Services business for £25 million in cash. The deal will include long-term customer contracts, operations and personnel located in the USA, France, Italy and the Netherlands, as well as the UK. Deal completion is subject to regulatory approval in the UK and Germany.
BTs Satellite Broadcast Services business currently provides both full-time and occasional-use satellite services from six teleports, three of which are in the UK, two in the US and one in France. Arqiva will acquire the full-time business, including the US and French teleports and one in the UK, while BT will retain the occasional-use part of the business.
Nick Thompson, managing director of Arqivas Satellite Media Solutions division, said: This acquisition gives us an international footprint with a significant presence in France and the US as well as increasing the scale of our activities in the UK. It will give us improved satellite reach and the ability to serve customers on a world-wide basis. It is an important strategic step for Arqiva.
Barry Bonnett, CEO of BT Media & Broadcast, added: Were delighted to have reached this agreement with Arqiva and believe its an excellent outcome for customers and staff alike. This is core business for Arqiva and they have previously demonstrated successful integration capabilities. A feature of the deal is that Arqiva will become a partner to BT in providing Satellite Broadcast Services to integrate into media solutions for our customers. We expect a smooth transition with no disruption for customers and excellent prospects for staff transferring.
15 November 2006
World Teleport Association (WTA) announced today its rankings of the Top Teleport Operators of 2006 in three categories: the Global Top Twenty including satellite and fiber carriers that operate teleports; the Independent Top Twenty consisting of ground segment operators only; and the Fast Twenty, which ranks all companies based on year-over-year revenue growth. The rankings are based on information submitted by companies as well as the published accounts of publicly-held corporations. The rankings include only companies that own and operate teleports and that generate at least 60% of revenues from satellite applications, unless those companies provided a breakout of satellite-related revenues to WTA, in which case its ranking is based on the reported satellite-related revenue.
The 2006 rankings represent a doubling in the number of companies covered, based on significant growth in the companies submitting data for the rankings. The complete rankings are available on WTA’s Web site by going to www.worldteleport.org and clicking on the Top Operators link on the home page.
The Global Top Twenty
The Global Top Twenty ranks companies based on revenues from all satellite-related sources and includes independents, satellite carriers, fiber carriers, and technology providers. The total revenues of the Global Top Twenty exceed US$7.8 billion, with individual companies ranging from over $2 billion to under $100 million. In order from largest to smallest, the Global Top Twenty of 2006 are: 1. Intelsat (Bermuda); 2. SES Global (Luxembourg); 3. Eutelsat (France); 4. GlobeCast (France); 5. Telesat Canada (Canada); 6. Stratos Global (USA); 7. JSAT Corporation (Japan); 8. Shin Satellite (Thailand); 9. Space Communications Corp. (Japan); 10. Loral Skynet (USA); 11. Arqiva Satellite Media Solutions (UK); 12. Arabsat (Saudi Arabia); 13. Globecomm Systems (USA); 14. Hispasat (Spain); 15. Asiasat (China); 16. Caprock Communications (USA); 17. ND SatCom AG (Germany); 18. Telenor Satellite Broadcasting (Norway); 19. Vyvx (USA); 20. Ascent Media Network Services (USA).
The Independent Top Twenty
The Independent Top Twenty ranks companies based on revenue from all satellite-related sources, but excludes companies whose primary business is satellite fleet operations. The total revenues of the Independent Top Twenty exceed $1.6 billion, with individual companies ranging from nearly a half billion dollars to under $20 million. In order from largest to smallest, the Independent Top Twenty of 2006 are: 1. GlobeCast, France; Stratos Global, USA; 3. Arqiva Satellite Satellite Media Solutions, UK; 4. Globecomm Systems, USA; 5. Caprock Communications, USA; 6. ND SatCom AG, Germany; 7. Vyvx, USA; 8. Ascent Media Network Services, USA; 9. RR Sat Global Communications, Israel; 10. Uplit/Petrocom, USA; 11. Globalsat, USA; 12. TIBA, Argentina; 13. Samacom, UAE; 14. Essel Shyam Communications, India; 15. Skyport International, USA; 16. ATCi, USA; 17. Datasat Communications, USA; 18. Emerging Markets Communications, USA; 19. TeleCommunication Systems, USA; 20. NewCom International, USA.
The Fast Twenty
The Fast Twenty ranks all teleport-operating companies based on year-over-year revenue growth in their most recent fiscal years. (For individual growth rates, see the WTA Web site.) Revenues of the Fast Twenty are nearly $4.8 billion. This year, the Fast Twenty includes the world’s two top satellite carriers – Intelsat and SES Global – whose acquisition-driven growth vaulted them into the top tier. Revenue growth averaged 70% among the Fast Twenty and ranged from a phenomenal 380% for Skyport International of Houston, Texas, USA to under 20%. From the fastest of the fast, the five first of the Fast Twenty of 2006 are: 1. Skyport International, USA; 2. NewCom International, USA; 3. Arqiva Satellite Media Solutions, UK; 4. Protel, USA; 5. Intelsat, Bermuda.
