13 September 2005
GlobeCast won a Product of the Year Award at the Cable & Satellite International awards at IBC in Amsterdam. The satellite service provider was handed the award for WING Content Exchange which was named Product of the Year in the category for Best Outside Broadcast Technology or Service GlobeCasts WING Content Exchange beat the BBC Outside Broadcasts Postcam and SISLinks uPod to win the award. GlobeCasts WING delivery system is an IP-based video exchange platform. It works in a very similar way to email and instant messaging, allowing a field journalist to send a video file simultaneously to many recipients over the internet, unlike most FTP-based Store & Forward solutions which are limited to point to point delivery. It can also be used to stream live footage and, because it runs through a main server (based in Paris), it is able to convert incoming signals on the fly to match each recipients requested format, whether that is a Word document or HD video file.
GlobeCast senior vice president marketing and product development David Justin said: It is a fantastic endorsement of WING to have won a Cable & Satellite Product of the Year award and only six months after launching the product. We are very grateful to the judges who have clearly seen the potential of this unique product.
E! Entertainment Television has partnered with GlobeCast to create a customized state of the industry Store & Broadcast channel delivery system designed to centralize and automate six E! International Network feeds across Europe and Asia Pacific. The partnership has allowed E! to tailor GlobeCast’s proprietary Store & Broadcast Content Management Delivery System by incorporating customer specifications necessary to complete an all new digital delivery solution for international channels. In order to meet E! Networks’ delivery specifications and to customize the GlobeCast Store & Broadcast system, E! engineered its own SCTE35 Decoder box. E! Networks’ Jeff Mayzurk, vice president of technology and David Gaudino, vice president of engineering collaborated to build their own proprietary hardware and software to allow the system to send cue triggers via the E! transport stream. By using GlobeCast Store & Broadcast, E! is able to deliver six distinct feeds in an extremely cost effective way. The E! International Network currently requires the ability to distribute six distinct program streams with separate language tracks and subtitling to multiple countries around the world. In the future, E! plans to add localized content to these feeds. E! now has the ability to manage these global transmissions digitally, without the cost of creating and
delivering six separate linear feeds.
GlobeCast will provide the technology and distribution in Europe, while E! will continue to manage and control its networks in real time from a remote location. The new system enables E! to respond to E! International Network’s need for new channels as quickly as it takes to
offer connectivity to new affiliates. GlobeCasts Store & Broadcast proprietary solution automates and significantly streamlines E! Networks international channel management
operations, by providing direct remote control of programming assets stored at GlobeCasts Paris hub. Store & Broadcast allows the channels to be customized and delivered separately
to six satellite bouquets across Europe and Asia (BSkyB, CanalSat, Foxtel Australia, Sky New Zealand, Sky Italia and Hot Bird for Pan-European distribution).
30 August 2005
The Association for International Broadcasting announced the winners of its inaugural international broadcasting awards at the AIB Regional Media Leaders Forum in London on 15 July.
The AIB invited entries in three categories: best radio news or current affairs programme for an international audience; best childrens or youth TV programme for an international audience; and most innovative use of technology for international broadcasting.
More than 60 entries from broadcasters and technology providers in every continent were submitted to the Awards judges who comprised the AIBs Executive Committee together with the Associations Chief Executive, Simon Spanswick. The shortlisted entries were:
Category 1 – radio BBC World Service: Crossing Continents/Assignment – North Caucasus; Radio Australia: Bhutan; Radio Netherlands: In Limbo: Gay Palestinians; Radio France Internationale: Prevention Against Aids in Rwanda; RTHK: Mixed Blessings
Category 2 – television AVRO: Lisa; CBC: nerve: How Bad Do You Want it; Miditech PVT Ltd: The Science of India; UNESCO: The New Beginning; UNICEF: Soul Buddiez
Category 3 – technology APTN: APTN Direct; Discovery Networks: Virtual History; EuroNews: Access to Euronews 7 languages via a custom built interactive application; Globecast: IP Delivery; Teletrax: NBC News Channel deployment of Teletrax for 2004 Olympics
The winners were:
Radio BBC News for Crossing Continents/Assignment
Television UNESCO for The New Beginning
Technology APTN for APTN Direct.
“We were delighted with the response to these inaugural AIB awards,” commented Anver Anderson, AIB Director of Business. “The judges faced an enormous task in evaluating the entries which were all of a tremendously high standard. The awards demonstrate the immense range of programmes broadcast by international television and radio broadcasters every day, and the technology that goes behind them.”
The 2006 AIB International Broadcasting Awards will be announced in December this year, with a closing date of May 2006.
29 August 2005
Intelsat, the Washington-based satellite company that was formed by the privatisation of the intergovernmental satellite organisation, has offered to buy US rival PanAmSat for $25 per share in cash to create the worlds biggest satellite operator. The deal values PanAmSat at around US$3.2bn. The deal could be closed within the next six to 12 months.
The deal, which is reported to have the backing of the boards of both companies, is being seen by analysts as the start of consolidation in the satellite industry. There is currently significant over-capacity in the global satellite industry.
Both Intelsat and PanAmSat are members of the AIB.
19 August 2005
Nigel Milan, managing director of Australia’s multicultural broadcaster, SBS, is stepping down after eight years at its head.
Milan, whose term officially ends in 2006, is leaving to pursue other interests. Shaun Brown, head of television, is acting managing director while the recruitment process for a permanent MD gets underway.
7 July 2005
Max Uechtritz, Director of News and Current Affairs at Australia’s Nine Network, has resigned from his post.
Uechtritz’s resignation comes after the departure of deputy chairman David Gyngell and the appointment of Sam Chisholm as Executive Director of Television at Nine’s parent company, PBL.
Uechtritz joined Nine 13 months ago, after 18 years at the ABC, most recently as the Corporations Director of News and Current Affairs. Citing personal reasons for his departure, Uechtritz’s next career move is unknown at present.
