8 September 2006
GlobeCast has been chosen by the new French international news channel, FRANCE 24, to carry out its broadcast by satellite throughout Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
GlobeCasts satellite platforms, based in key orbital positions, will provide FRANCE 24 with access to several million television households throughout the world.
When it launches, FRANCE 24 will cover these regions with two channels, one entirely in French and the second carrying primarily English-language programming. Programs in Arabic will be added in mid-2007 and in Spanish in 2008.
GlobeCast will supply FRANCE 24 with an end-to-end solution, which will include the reception of programming in Paris, multiplexing, uplink and capacity services on the following platforms:
– ASTRA at 19.2° East (Europe)
– EUROBIRD at 28.5° East (United Kingdom and Ireland)
– NSS7 at 22° West (Africa)
– ArabSat-Badr at 26° East (Middle East)
– Nilesat at 7° West (Middle East)
FRANCE 24 chose GlobeCast for its renowned expertise in the delivery of television channels throughout the world, as well as its presence on five continents. Working independently vis-à-vis satellite operators, GlobeCast is network agnostic and not limited to providing capacity from a single satellite fleet. This permitted GlobeCast to bundle capacities in this first launch phase from five unique satellite operators into a multi-continental delivery platform for FRANCE 24.
FRANCE 24 is scheduled to launch between 25 November and 5 December 2006. The channel represents a 50/50 partnership between the public television group France Televisions and the French commercial channel TF1.
8 September 2006
Asia’s leading satellite operator Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company Limited (AsiaSat) announced that the Arabsat/ASBU Bouquet has commenced broadcasting on AsiaSat 2, joining other Middle Eastern programming for free to air distribution to serve the vast Arab community in Asia and Australasia.
This Arabic-language Bouquet consists of a group of television and radio services from the ASBU (Arab States Broadcasting Union) members including ten television channels from Abu Dhabi TV Europe, Jamahiriya Satellite Channel, Oman TV, Palestinian TV, Qatar TV, Saudi Arabian TV 1, Sharjah TV, Sudan TV, Syria Satellite Channel, Yemen TV and 13 radio channels. These channels, originally broadcasting on AsiaSat 3S, will be dual illuminating on both AsiaSat 2 and AsiaSat 3S satellites till 1st October when they become exclusively available on AsiaSat 2.
This broadcast arrangement is part of the ASBUs global satellite distribution project, in partnership with GlobeCast and Arabsat, initiated for the ASBU members for global programme distribution. AsiaSat 2 carries an established Middle Eastern community of programming from the Arab States. Moving the Arabsat/ASBU Bouquet to AsiaSat 2 is therefore the natural choice for continuing and expanding the broadcast services of our member channels in Asia and Australasia. We appreciate the value of joining Asias most popular multicultural and multilingual broadcast platform, bringing our member channels to wider Arab audiences across the region, said Abdelrahim Suleiman, ASBU Technical Director.
Eng. Khalid Balkhyour, Arabsat President and CEO, welcomed the move of the Bouquet to AsiaSat 2, We are committed to actively support the development and success of the Arabsat/ASBU Bouquet and are glad to see the move to an even stronger neighbourhood of Arabic and foreign
programming on AsiaSat 2. AsiaSat 2 is home to Asias Middle Eastern content that now offers viewers a comprehensive platform of Arabic programming. We are very pleased that we have further expanded the Middle
Eastern neighbourhood on AsiaSat 2, enabling Arabic viewers under our vast coverage to access multiple channels on a powerful satellite, said Peter Jackson, Chief Executive Officer of AsiaSat.
The Arabsat/ASBU Bouquet is available on AsiaSat 2 in C-band with the following reception parameters:
Transponder: 5A
Frequency: 3820 MHz
Polarisation: Vertical
Modulation: QPSK
Symbol Rate: 27.5 Msym/sec
FEC: 3/4
8 September 2006
On 7 September, the Iraqi government ordered Arabic satellite network Al-Arabiya to shut down its Baghdad operations for one month, state television reported. The network said Iraqi police arrived at its offices later on Thursday to enforce the order which apparently was issued by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s cabinet.
In July, al-Maliki warned television stations against broadcasting footage that could undermine the country’s stability. A statement by the prime minister’s office cited news reports that ‘capitalise on the footage of victims of terrorist attacks.’ The statement said television stations should uphold the code of media ethics or else the government will take legal action against them.
The other pan-Arab satellite network, Al-Jazeera, had its office in the capital closed two years ago.
8 September 2006
SW Radio Africa – the Independent Voice of Zimbabwe – is once again being jammed by government authorities. Station Manager Gerry Jackson says recently all medium wave transmissions were jammed and the station returned to shortwave – but after a few weeks this has also been jammed. It would appear that the news bulletin is being specifically targeted.
Jackson says this is clearly because a programme of organised, peaceful resistance has begun in Zimbabwe and is also ahead of the advertised protests by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, scheduled to begin on 13 September.
Jackson deplores the fact that government believes it can hold on to power by blocking access to freedom of information and expression.
8 September 2006
Cambridge trial delivers multimedia mobile broadcasting over DAB and DVB-H standards
Trial to evaluate datacasting applications and complementary 3G delivery services
Penthera Technologies provides solution to utilise Microsofts Windows Media Encoding and Digital Rights Management Technology
Arqiva today announced that it has partnered with Microsoft Corp. to trial datacasting applications over DAB and DVB-H mobile broadcasting standards. The technical trial will test the integration of live multi-channel Mobile TV with two datacasting applications: clip and share and augmenting live events. Clip and share enables viewers to capture segments of live broadcasts and share the file with friends. Augmenting live events will use 3G services, widely seen as a complementary technology to mobile broadcasting, to deliver additional clips linked to the live broadcasts. This technology will enable viewers to tailor the Mobile TV viewing experience to their individual preferences: when watching a live broadcast of a football match the 3G return path can be used to access further information such as individual player profiles, match statistics or goal replays.
Arqivas partnership with Microsoft is part of the long-term industry trial of broadcast multimedia delivery using DVB and DAB taking place in Cambridge. Begun in June 2004, the companies are trialling the capabilities of terrestrial DAB and DVB broadcasting platforms for delivering video, audio and text-based information services to mobile devices.
Penthera Technologies has come on board for the latest stage of the trial to provide its newly launched Penthera Broadcast FoundationTM. A mobile broadcast test and demonstration environment, the Penthera Broadcast FoundationTM enables DVB-H mobile broadcasting in a test environment, from the first step of encoding video and audio content to receiving, selecting and viewing content on mobile devices a mobile-broadcast-in-a-boxTM solution. The Penthera Broadcast Foundation version being used in the trial utilises Microsofts Window Media Encoding and Digital Rights Management (DRM) Technology. Enabling content to be delivered securely to mobile devices, Microsofts DRM technology guards against revenue leakage and protects content rights.
Hyacinth Nwana, Arqivas managing director for Mobile Media Solutions, commented: By evaluating DRM options for mobile broadcasting, the industry can not only investigate how to secure its content and revenues, but also encourage the development of new business models and content distribution mechanisms. This trial gives us the opportunity to further investigate the services that can be delivered over DAB and DVB-H and how 3G can be used to complement these services. Were delighted to be continuing our work with Microsoft and Penthera and to be further developing our expertise in all aspects of mobile broadcasting technology.
Sam Leinhardt, CEO of Penthera, added, Penthera is pleased to work with Arqiva and Microsoft for this mobile broadcast trial of leading technology and services. As a leading global mobile broadcast software provider, our goal is to work with broadcasters, manufacturers and operators to create the most compelling services and applications that will drive mobile broadcast adoption.
8 September 2006
RadioScape, a world leader in digital multimedia head-end and receiver technology, is launching the latest version of its Professional Broadcast System at IBC 2006 on stand 353 in hall 8. RadioScapes market-leading, broadcast solution for DAB and Mobile TV (MTV) has been installed around the world with over 75 live systems and has been used in numerous broadcast trials. Version 5.1 has a new suite of functionality to directly address the latest Mobile TV and advanced data transmission requirements enabling DAB technologies to form the basis for new and exciting business opportunities, capitalising on the availability of suitable spectrum in many countries.
Powering new Mobile TV and Digital Radio broadcasts in Beijing
On the 6th of September 2006, Beijing Radio Stations and its affiliated company, Beijing Jolon Media Broadcasting Co., Ltd. officially launched full digital multi-media broadcasting services powered by RadioScapes Professional Broadcast System. This provides digital audio and video programs for mobile devices such as cellular phones, PDAs, and MP4s (advanced video players). The station has been offering DAB (Digital Audio Broadcast) from April 2006 and now adds multimedia information on government affairs, daily life, the city and real-time traffic news and weather.
China is becoming a real success story for RadioScape, said John Hall, RadioScapes CEO. The broadcasters want to have systems in place and working for the 2008 Olympic Games and so we have been working closely with them for the past three years to achieve this. To date, we have thirteen installations up and running in China covering all the major conurbations. We are working closely with other broadcasters and industry partners to support the adoption of this technology in China.
The success of Mobile TV in China is, in part, due to the adoption of Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) as a delivery technology. This uses the well-proven, Eureka 147 Digital Audio Broadcast (DAB) standard with additional forward error correction to ensure robust video reception in both fixed and mobile environments. One of key advantages of DMB is that the required spectrum is already available in many countries unlike other systems that have spectrum allocation issues that may take several years to resolve. This technology enables both digital audio and Mobile TV to be received on the same mobile device, which has proved a very popular feature according to users in trials.
New features of RadioScapes Professional Broadcast System Version 5.1
These include Enhanced Packet Mode data used to deliver DAB-IP services, the enabling of integration of third-party Conditional Access systems, advanced Electronic Programme Guide (EPG) features and the ability to support Asian language labels, DLS and data carousels.
Nick Banks, Product Manager for Digital Broadcasting Infrastructure, added, We have worked very closely with customers to ensure that we are first to deliver support for all of the functionality that they need to deliver when rolling-out the next-generation of Mobile TV services. In particular, the inclusion of support for secure Conditional Access to content has been identified as a key requirement for viable and successful business models. Naturally, we have also included features to enhance the user experience such as support for multi-byte character sets and EPGs. The result is a state-of-the-art Mobile TV broadcasting using technologies that have already been proven in the worlds largest DAB network in the UK and is being successfully deployed using existing, available spectrum.
Live Mobile TV demos
RadioScape will be showing Mobile TV broadcasts using DAB IP (Enhanced Packet mode) to BT Movio terminals and DMB to portable DMB devices. The flexibility of RadioScapes new Integra family of single-box solutions for DAB/DMB broadcasting can be clearly seen as one unit will be used for both broadcasts simultaneously.
