15 May 2006
In observance of World Press Freedom Day on May 3, RFE/RL held a roundtable discussion in which three experts gave their assessments of the media in post-Soviet countries. All three agreed that press freedom in this region, with only a few exceptions, has declined in the past year.
Chris Walker, Director of Studies at Freedom House, noted that “independent media [in the former USSR] is under assault.” Press freedoms in this region, in general, have eroded, Walker said, citing the results of a recently-released Freedom House survey that found the media in 10 of 12 countries of the former USSR to be “not free.” Five of these saw further erosions of press freedom in 2005 — and only two, Georgia and Ukraine, improved enough to be categorized as “partly free,” according to the annual “Freedom of the Press” study. Walker called for “keeping lifelines open,” to help journalists who are “under siege” in these countries.
RFE/RL analyst Daniel Kimmage said that the key problem in Central Asia is “distribution and access to information” by non-state media. According to Kimmage, the worst media environments are found in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, where the government controls all local media. The situation is only slightly better in the remaining three countries. In Kazakhstan, independent media exists, but has little penetration outside the capital. In Tajikistan a small group of independent newspapers exists, but the state controls all television broadcasts. In the wake of the Tulip Revolution, Kyrgyzstan’s media experienced a degree of liberalization, Kimmage said, but such freedoms have since eroded.
Robert Orttung, Associate Research Professor at the Transnational Crime and Corruption Center at American University, said that “broadcast media at the national level in Russia shows increasing state control.” Using the state energy monopoly Gazprom, Orttung said, the Russia government is increasingly taking ownership of media outlets. News and information programs have been replaced with entertainment, and Orttung noted that an “informal self-censorship” now exists — “journalists know what the lines are.” Three state-controlled television networks supply the news to 79 percent of the Russian population, according to Orttung, who noted that “A weekly meeting in Moscow provides guidance” to the networks in their coverage and that the “Chechen war is the most sensitive [topic].” The press and radio enjoy “some independence,” said Orttung, who added that there is still a “variety of coverage” by media at the regional level — a situation Orttung expects will change as Russia’s 2007-2008 election cycles approach.
Each of the speakers noted the growing influence of the Internet throughout the post-Sovieet countries. In Russia, “with ten percent of the population on-line,” blogging has opened up new avenues for civic participation at a local level, according to Orttung. Despite the fact that Internet usage remains relatively low, particularly in Central Asia, Kimmage says that the Internet is the “primary alternative media for Central Asia.”
15 May 2006
Worldspace, Inc., one of the world leaders in satellite-based digital radio services, today reported its financial and operating results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2006.
Worldspace finished the first quarter of 2006 with 153,437 subscribers. The Company added 38,131 subscribers in the first quarter of 2006, an increase of 109% over the 18,233 subscribers added in same quarter of 2005. In India, the Company had 111,723 subscribers at the end of the first quarter of 2006, up 50% from 74,574 at the end of the fourth quarter of 2005 and a five-fold increase from 21,730 at the end of the first quarter of 2005.
At the end of the first quarter of 2006, Worldspace had rolled out its satellite radio services in ten cities in India — Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Pune, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, and Kolkata, India’s second largest city, which was launched in February 2006.
WorldSpace’s market distribution is now available to a population of nearly 63 million, including nearly 35 million people in the three market segments targeted by the Company.
“We are continuing to focus very closely on driving subscriber growth, especially in India, as we expand our services to more cities, ensure the availability of our products at more retailers and upgrade our content and products,” said Noah Samara, chairman and chief executive officer, Worldspace. “We are launching more cities and creating innovative special promotions that are driving strong revenue growth. We are confident that we have taken the necessary steps in terms of management changes, enhanced visibility, expanded marketing alliances and improved products that will enable us both to grow and retain subscribers to our ever-expanding unique and exciting content.”
Separately, Worldspace announced today the appointments of Gregory B. Armstrong and Alexander Brown as co-Chief Operating Officers of the Company.
15 May 2006
RadioScape has used its world-class RF and software expertise to create the first, software-controlled, single chip RF front end that can handle six frequency bands — Band III and L-Band for Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB), medium wave, long wave and short wave for AM and Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM), and Band II for FM. The RF chip combines with a standard DSP chip that runs RadioScapes baseband digital radio software and also controls the RF IC to form a two chip solution, which dramatically reduces the power consumption and size of modules compared with current generation solutions.
This new RF IC is a breakthrough technology for RadioScape that will revolutionise multi-standard, multi-band digital radio, said John Hall, RadioScapes CEO. There is nothing like it in the market and is the result of a major initiative that we started over two years ago to create a technology platform for our next generation consumer radios. The objective was to create a highly flexible RF device that would complement our software-defined radio approach, timed to coincide with the emerging DRM market, and we have done that.
Until now, the only way to create a comparable multi-band digital radio was to create independent RF front ends for each of the different frequency bands each consuming power and adding to the bulk of the product. Our unique partitioning of the radio system allows us maximum re-use of the digital components by loading only the appropriate baseband stack into the DSP as and when required. explained Dave Hawkins, VP of Business Development at RadioScape. We have used the same approach in our RF IC, which reuses internal functionality to best suit the frequency band and standard required at the time. Dynamic configuration of the RF path on the RF IC is controlled by the DSP using software algorithms to ensure the optimisation of both performance and power consumption. The result is a multi-frequency RF device that requires less than half the power used by the equivalent circuits in our current generation of multi-standard modules.
Available only in a RadioScape module offering, the RF IC will be used to create a new range of modules that maintain the size and pin configurations of existing modules to enable manufacturers to quickly take advantage of this latest RadioScape innovation and benefit from the lower power consumption that it offers. RadioScapes RS200 family provide highly optimised DAB and FM reception whilst the RS500 family provides additional features and functionality, such as fully integrated Digital Radio Mondiale and AM reception, in addition to DAB and FM. Full details of the new RF IC-enhanced modules will be available shortly along with samples in June.
This is the first time that a single, front end RF chip has been implemented to handle these six, very different, frequency bands. While this chip uses both zero-IF and super-heterodyne methods to achieve the stringent requirements of the variety of standards and frequencies, RadioScapes pioneering software-controlled approach enables a significant part of the implementation to use common circuitry. A major benefit of this challenging approach is the dramatic reduction of the external component count by over 150 items relative to equivalent designs which implement these standards. The high level of integration of the chip enables the board real estate for the front end RF to be reduced from 30 sq cms (covering both sides of the board) to only 9 sq cms on a single-sided board design for all standards and even smaller if a subset of standards and frequency bands is required.
15 May 2006
Al Arabiya has created another first in pan-Arab news broadcasting by taking the Special Award for its Closer to the Truth TV commercial at the inaugural Djerba Television Festival in Tunisia. This new industry award reconfirms Al Arabiyas increasing recognition as the leading news channel for millions of viewers across the Arab world and beyond.
The jury, chaired by Jean Claude Boulos, former World President of the International Advertising Association (IAA) and General Manager of Al Sumaria TV, awarded Al Arabiya the recognition based on its compelling advertising that powerfully communicates the importance of accurate, balanced and professional investigative reporting.
The winning TV commercial takes the viewer into a Hollywood-style Middle East war zone, which proves to be nothing more than a façade for the real story that reveals the suffering of a mother and her dead child. The message to viewers is that the truth is dramatic enough and needs no manipulation. Sponsored by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Tunisian Ministry of Tourism, the Djerba Television Festival was established in order to further television production in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.
The award is the latest industry accolade for Al Arabiya. At the Fourth Arab Media Festival in Beirut last month, Tahar Barakeh and Najwa Kassem received the awards for best male and female presenters respectively, while Al Arabiyas website, alarabiya.net took the accolade of Best Website of an Arab News Channel. In February, the same commercial ensured that Al Arabiya won the Media Advertisers Cristal at the MENA Cristal Awards ceremony in Casablanca.
15 May 2006
Dr. Abdullah Schleifer, the renowned US journalist and one of the Middle Easts most influential media figures, is named Al Arabiya News Channels Washington D.C. Bureau Chief.
Celebrated as a commentator and pioneer of journalism, Schleifer has been part of the Middle Easts media landscape for nearly three decades, covering major political, cultural, religious and economic events for Arab and American media. His extensive knowledge of the regions political news history, positions him among the most recognizable media voices today and he regularly appears on domestic and international news networks.
Former founder and director of the Adham Center for Television Journalism at the American University in Cairo, Abdullah Schleifer also co-founded the Transnational Broadcasting Studies journal. Prior to that, Schleifer served as NBC News Cairo Bureau Chief and Middle East producer/reporter based in Beirut.
He is currently professor emeritus at the American University of Cairo (AUC) and honorary and former chairman of the Foreign Press Association in Cairo.
15 May 2006
Making its UK debut at Broadcast Live, Pharos Mediator Enterprise is one of the most innovative new developments in broadcasting. Developed from the field-proven Mediator media management system, Mediator Enterprise enables television network staff to concentrate on content rather than kit. It automatically tracks content flow from initial acquisition to playout and post-transmission storage. Configurable for large or small networks, Mediator Enterprise includes ingest tools, browsing, quality-control processing and management of tape, near-online and archive libraries. On signing in to the system, individual operators are presented with a familiar web-based control screen matching the specific roles they perform within the organisation. As content progresses towards and beyond transmission, it is automatically presented to the appropriate user. Combining media asset management and workflow management, Mediator Enterprise offers a step-change increase in the efficiency of broadcast network operation.
Pharos Mobile Content Transcoder enables rich media files to be converted quickly and easily from a wide range of telco-specific formats such as the 3GPP and 3GPP2 standards used in high-speed wireless networks. Source files are displayed on a browser-driven control screen. Transcoding is activated by dragging and dropping files between source and destination format folders. Files can be converted in any order between MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4, DV, 4:2:2, 4:2:0 and uncompressed. Output bit-rate is user-assignable. Applications of Pharos Mobile Content Transcoder include downconverting broadcast-quality content for internet-based distribution, upconverting internet-delivered ENG feeds, and a wide variety of file-format interchange tasks in programme production, post-production and playout. The unit occupies a compact 1U x 600 mm chassis and is controlled via a standard browser.
Pharos will also be demonstrating a new MPEG4-based browse system, Pharos Reflection, which allows incoming video to be viewed by up to 20 users simultaneously on existing PC or Mac desktop PCs. Reflection is compatible with video servers handling MPEG2, DV25, DV50 and uncompressed signal formats. Source material can be accessed via FTP or file sharing.
A powerful update to the Pilot Ria web-based intranet control system will be introduced by Pharos at Broadcast Live. When launched at IBC2004, Pilot Ria set new levels of operational flexibility for broadcast staff by enabling full reactive control of routing equipment from any web browser via local or secure-coupled intranet. It can be deployed quickly and easily throughout a single-site or multi-site facility and, when necessary, enables engineering staff to reconfigure a system from home or while travelling. Pharos Pilot Ria 2 adds to the existing feature-set major enhancements including salvo/macro functions, destination locking, and destination grouping. Full details will be released at the exhibition.
Pharos will exhibit a major innovation in Media Asset Management at Broadcast Live, being the first to implement Isilon intelligent clustered storage into a MAM system. This enables broadcasters to benefit from Isilon’s ‘pay as you grow’ storage solutions, expandable up to 528 terabytes of capacity and 7 gigabyte/s data speeds.
Pharos offers modular broadcast process control ensuring efficient media asset management and workflow, enabling broadcasters to expand their business horizon whilst containing costs. Users interact via web pages and can control and manage end to end, from ingest through playout to archiving. Applications include presentation, asset-management, interactive broadcasting and preservation. Pharos will be on Stand F74, Broadcast Live, Earls Court 2, London, June 20-22.
