31 January 2006
WRN, the London-based international transmission service company, announced the launch of its two Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) services on 30 January. DRM is the digital radio transmission standard for Long, Medium and Short Wave.
The first service is a London-wide 24 hour a day DRM trial broadcast at 26 MHz. The second service offers DRM transmissions that can target any major European radio market via directional antennas. Initially this second service will cover the whole of the UK and Ireland. Both services go live on Monday 6th February with programming from a range of respected international and UK radio broadcasters.
Gary Edgerton, WRNs Managing Director, says, DRM will revitalise AM, LW and Short Wave broadcasting because the next generation of digital radio receivers will contain chip sets that receive both DRM and DAB signals, providing the listener with an exciting choice of domestic and international stations. WRNs DRM services offer stations currently using analogue AM and Short Wave the opportunity to join the digital radio revolution. We also welcome stations who want to test this new transmission technology and stay ahead of their competitors.
26 MHz for London
WRNs test and development trial for London will assess the potential coverage of DRM transmissions at 26MHz. It will generate important data about the penetration of the signals into various types of building and other urban situations as well as gauge audience reaction to the broadcasts.
The transmission site is the world famous Croydon broadcast tower, situated in South London and 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.
Regional DRM Service
WRNs regional DRM service offers broadcasters comprehensive coverage of the UK at 50 kW Average DRM Power. WRN will eventually offer services that can cover Europe using DRM sky-wave transmission and directional antennas that will reach specific European radio markets with frequencies that provide higher reliability in urban areas from the transmitter site located in Bulgaria. Telefunken has supplied the modulator and exciter for the service.
WRN will encode both DRM services at its central London headquarters, providing the flexibility to generate a pre-mixed DRM stream that will then be fed to the respective transmitter sites. WRN will also add data for receiver display utilising custom created software.
31 January 2006
The Al Jazeera TV network has announced the launch of a new channel, Al Jazeera Urdu, targeting over 110m Urdu speakers globally. ‘Initially we are targeting the Urdu-speaking population in Pakistan, then the dubbed service will spread to the Indian subcontinent as well as Urdu speakers in the United States and Europe’, said Hamad Yehya Al Nuaimi, Al Jazeera’s Marketing Director.
The Urdu service in a joint venture with Dubai based ARY Digital Network, the world’s largest Urdu Television Network that has 11 channels covering the Sub Continent, Europe, North America and the Middle East.
The channel will provide Urdu-speaking viewers with hourly news bulletins, breaking news, exclusive programmes and interviews in addition to other contents dubbed into Urdu.
31 January 2006
Al Jazeera International, the 24-hour English-language news and current affairs channel, announced that the well-known producer and presenter Shahnaz Pakravan has joined the channel and revealed plans for their global womans programme. Ms Pakravan is a prominent figure in Middle Eastern and British media circles through her work with the BBC and ITN, including Arab World Direct and Tomorrows World.
Presented twice a week from Doha, Everywoman is the first show of its kind out of the Middle East to put womens issues at its core. The magazine format and global agenda promises an exciting mix of challenging and incisive journalism with stories coming from Al Jazeera Internationals broadcast centres around the world (Doha, Kuala Lumpur, London, Washington D.C).
Speaking on her appointment to Al Jazeera International Shahnaz Pakravan said, I feel privileged to be joining Al Jazeera International at its inception and am both excited and daunted at the challenge facing me. Top marks to the Channel for bringing focus to womens issues.
Director of Programming Paul Gibbs said, Everywoman is an exciting addition to our programming line-up. I am delighted to have Shahnaz Pakravan on board as presenter. The show promises to offer something of interest for all viewers men as well as women. Indeed men shouldnt miss it.
Shahnaz and her team will bring viewers around the world stories that have universal appeal with subjects as diverse and sensitive as religion, society, sex, education and arts, all from womens perspectives.
Everywoman will include material gathered from freelancers and independent companies all across the globe through a unique commissioning site: www.ajicommissioning.net
31 January 2006
RadioScape, a world leader in digital audio and multimedia broadcast technology, is leading the adoption of Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) and Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) in China through the supply of the very latest Professional DMB/DAB Broadcast Systems to a number of major broadcasters. Systems have already been installed at Beijing Jolon Digital Media Broadcasting, Shanghai Oriental Pearl (Group), and Guangdong Yue Guang Digital Multimedia Broadcasting. Further contracts are expected soon from other leading broadcasters. DMB services for both audio and mobile TV will be on air by the second quarter of this year.
John Hall, RadioScapes CEO, said, We have worked closely with the major Chinese broadcasters over the past 2 years in the development of their plans for Digital Multimedia Broadcasting. Our unique expertise in both broadcast and receiver technology for DAB and DMB has been critical. It is very rewarding now to see these efforts come to fruition as China finally switches on live services across several major cities.
Nick Banks, RadioScapes Product Manager for Digital Radio Infrastructure, said, Now these influential broadcasters have selected Terrestrial DMB (T-DMB) over competing technologies such as Satellite DMB (S-DMB), DVB-H and Media FLO, we expect there to be a general adoption of T-DMB technology in China. A key ingredient of our success is our ability to provide both broadcast and network monitoring systems. Our portable Field Monitoring Receiver, which was used in major trials by broadcasters in the three provinces, allowed them to determine the actual performance of their DMB network and compare with the predicted performance to make their network planning significantly easier.
RadioScape has been involved in numerous trials of T-DMB and sending multimedia over Enhanced Packet Mode in both Asia and Europe. Its Professional Broadcast Systems and Research and Test Systems were used in the development of the DMB standard and compatible receiver handsets. T-DMB can provide H.264 QCIF (355 x 288 pixels) at a frame rate of 25 to 30 fps using 384 to 768 Kbps. The DMB broadcasts are anticipated to cover news, music videos, sports, education, movies and simultaneous transmission of terrestrial TV programmes. DAB radio will also be broadcast bringing the benefits of digital clarity and a wide range of content.
The Asia Pacific region is a major growth area for Mobile TV, added Murphy Wu, WorldDABs Asia Pacific Officer.at WorldDAB. We are very excited to see that China has chosen to use DMB, a technology based on the proven DAB standard, for its first commercial services. This is a huge potential market for both broadcast systems and handsets which could dramatically accelerate the global take off of DMB.
31 January 2006
Arqivas Satellite Media Solutions division and the European TV Guild are to provide a free month-long test platform to those considering launching their own new digital TV channels. New Start TV is a digital channel designed to power the introduction of more broadcast services with the free trial to help broadcasters achieve final funding for launch.
New Start TV provides free ingest, playout, compression, satellite uplink and support for content management. It meets the needs of broadcasters seeking a platform to demonstrate their content to potential investors, advertisers, sponsors and various carriers.
In addition, channel owners can monitor their content, trial new ideas and concepts. Arqiva is to broadcast up to four hours per day of each trial channels content from its state-of the art media centre to Eutelsats Eurobird 28.5E, which is also used for Skys digital platform.
Arqivas New Start TV model provides the ideal showcase for people with great ideas that make excellent television, says Graham Pitman of the European TV Guild. It gives the new generation of TV talent a significant step up in creating and launching the latest and most innovative channel businesses.
A major barrier to the launch of a new TV channel can be generating the funding for the launch itself, says Arqivas head of marketing services John Dunlop. New Start TV allows broadcasters to gain a head-start with a tried and tested business model before they become permanent TV fixtures.
31 January 2006
Dubai-based TV channel Al Arabiya has appointed Abdullah Schleifer as its Washington DC bureau chief.
Schleifer has been director of Television Studies at the American University of Cairo, heavily involved with observing and reporting on the electronic media in the Arab World, contributing extensively to Transnational Broadcasting Studies. He was a former NBC bureau chief.
