15 February 2005
On 15 February 2005, the CBA celebrates the first meeting in 1945 which led to its existence.
The CBA was founded in February 1945 as the Commonwealth Broadcasting Conference. The first meeting, held in London, brought together representatives of a number of broadcasting organisations that had co-operated closely in reporting the Second World. It began with six members and is today an association of more than 100 broadcasting organisations in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Australasia, the Pacific, North and South America.
The title “Commonwealth Broadcasting Association” was adopted in Malta in 1974 as well as the CBA charter, which set out the principles and aims of the association stipulating that membership “shall be open to publicly owned national public service broadcasting organisations, or groups of such organisations, which are responsible for the planning, production and presentation of broadcast programmes in Commonwealth countries”. This was modified in 1995 to allow for membership of commercial companies with a commitment to public service broadcasting and to allow for affiliate membership.
Following the first conference in Britain in 1945, a subsequent meeting was again held in Britain in 1952 and then in Australia (1956), India (1960), Canada (1963), Nigeria (1965), New Zealand (1968), and then on a regular basis every two years continuing with Jamaica (1970), Kenya (1972), Malta (1974), Singapore (1976), Mauritius (1978), Australia (1980), Canada (1982), Hong Kong (1984), Britain (1986), The Bahamas (1988) Cyprus (1990), Botswana (1992), Canada (1994), Malaysia (1996), Gibraltar (1998), South Africa (2000), Britain (2002) and Fiji (2004).
The modern CBA is a respected international forum for broadcasters, promoting quality broadcasting through exchange of knowledge and skills, it runs broadcasting conferences, consultancies and training, has a number of broadcasting publications to its credit, helps broadcasters with funds in case of major crises like disasters and has recently made donations to the broadcasting organisations of the Maldives, Seychelles and Sri Lanka to help repair tsunami damage.
The CBA also runs a big bursary programme, and currently spends over £300,000 on bursaries to broadcasters each year.
As part of its 60th anniversary celebrations, the BBC’s Chairman Michael Grade gave the Commonwealth Broadcasting Lecture on 9 February 2005.
CBA will publish a book with the best of the Commonwealth Short Stories and Photographs called “The Spirit of the Commonwealth”.
10 February 2005
Leading satellite services company GlobeCast announced that interactive dating channel Look4Love TV has signed up to its global distribution network. Produced by Television Concepts Limited, Look4Love TV will be available on BSkyBs platform, uplinked via Eurobird 28.5°E from GlobeCasts Brookmans Park teleport. The 24-hour service offers individuals that are looking for love the chance to appear in a short, professionally-made video profile shown on the channel. Viewers can then leave a message, either by phone or text, for those that appeal.
The distribution service includes an online content storage and broadcast system which will enable Look4Love TV to create and manage its own programming schedules remotely via a VPN from its production centre in Basingstoke, Hampshire. Content for the channel is recorded by video crews at specified locations throughout the UK. GlobeCast receives the DigiBeta master copies which they encode to MPEG2 and store on their secure server.
Once content is received and stored, Look4LoveTVs 24/7 programming schedule is automatically broadcast and uplinked to the Sky Digital platform. The television-based introductions service will be available on EPG channel 685 as well as on the internet.
Look4Love TV Director Simon Woolnough said: We chose to launch with GlobeCast for a couple of reasons; not only for their flexible, can-do attitude but also for the quality of their people. Id dealt with them when I was at the BBC and was thoroughly impressed with their service.
GlobeCast head of UK channel distribution Juliet Bayliss said: It is always exciting to be involved in the launch of a new channel such as Look4Love TV. The combination of cost-effective satellite delivery and GlobeCasts remote schedule management system means that we are well-placed to provide the support these new broadcasters need to bring their channels to air.
10 February 2005
The AIB, the industry association for international broadcasting, today announces a major awards programme for the sector.
The AIB International Broadcasting Awards are open to any organisation involved in international television and radio broadcasting, and the awards cover both programmes and technology.
“With the introduction of these awards, the AIB is recognising the work of international broadcasters around the world,” says Simon Spanswick, AIB chief executive. “International television and radio broadcasters produce some remarkable content for audiences worldwide and make innovative use of technology to deliver programming on a global scale. The AIB, as the leading representative of the international broadcasting industry, is delighted to contribute to the promotion of the highest standards in global media.”
There are three categories of awards:
Category One Best radio documentary or current affairs programme for an international audience (30 or less)
Category Two Best childrens or youth TV programme for an international audience (30 or less)
Category Three Most innovative use of technology in international broadcasting
The AIB International Broadcasting Awards will be judged by the AIB’s Executive Committee, elected by the Association’s members, together with the AIB chief executive and an independent industry executive.
Complete details of how to enter are available on the AIB website at https://aib.org.uk. Entries must be received at the AIB’s London headquarters by 21 March 2005.
9 February 2005
Harris Corporation announced on 8 February that Chrysalis Radio, one of the UK’s largest commercial radio networks with more than six million weekly listeners, has migrated its all-E1 star network to a hybrid E1/IP-based MPLS (multi-protocol label switching) platform via an upgrade to its Harris Intraplex CrossConnect Server.
The CrossConnect Server, which combines E1 multiplexing and cross connect capabilities in a single compact unit, improves Chrysalis’ ability to manage critical network traffic between its network hub in London and additional broadcast sites in Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle and Birmingham. The Chrysalis move to hybrid switching reduces transmission costs with the bonus of being able to prioritize radio programming over other IP data.
To achieve this functionality, CrossConnect was upgraded with the Harris Intraplex IntraLink(TM)-IP streaming multiplexer, which manages the encoding and transport of programme audio, voice and data channels over Ethernet networks while ensuring the most efficient use of available transmission capacity. The simple upgrade has the benefit of adding a superior level of flexibility and cost control to the distribution of programme channels within existing LAN, WAN and corporate Intranets.
Bruce Davidson, group technical director, Chrysalis Radio, said, “The goal was not to fix something that wasn’t broken, but to expand and enhance data connectivity within the group. However, since our business is to maintain a broadcast radio network, we had to ensure we didn’t make any changes that could jeopardize our core operation, which is providing uninterrupted, high-quality radio.”
Prior to making the switch to an MPLS platform – designed and provided by UK IT giant THUS – Chrysalis wanted to be certain that the new platform would be fully compatible with existing Harris equipment and retain all current functionality. Extensive tests last year proved that to be the case.
“We did two full days of lab testing and the results were excellent,” said Davidson. “We wanted to link our sites with a flexible, cost-effective, converged system that could be developed to incorporate new technologies, which is precisely what has happened. Now that the upgrade is complete, I’m extremely pleased with the flexibility and robust performance of the Harris system. The transition has been painless and we now have the functionality, reliability and excellent support that give us all the confidence we need to operate 24/7/365.”
9 February 2005
The Voice of America, which reaches listeners in northern Nigeria through its Hausa language service, is officially launching a new Kano Reporting Center (KRC) in conjunction with a health reporting workshop for women journalists. The KRC, funded through an agreement with the U.S. Agency for International Developments (USAID) Nigeria mission, is a digital broadcasting facility that allows VOAs Hausa Service to broadcast a weekly, health-oriented youth radio program, Karamin Sani Kukumi Ne (Little Knowledge is a Danger), from the largest city in the region. Reporters can also file news and information from the KRC with state-of-the-art equipment.
The KRC will be opened officially at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on 16 February. Officials from VOA, USAID and the Kano government are expected to attend. “Were very excited about this new center, which will help us provide important and timely information about health issues and other topics to our Hausa-speaking audiences,” said David S. Jackson, the VOA director. “We want the KRC to be a beehive of activity for both broadcasting and training.”
The official opening coincides with a workshop for female journalists focusing on health, including HIV/AIDS, polio, tuberculosis, leprosy, malaria and other epidemics. More than a dozen Nigerian women journalists are participating in the workshop. Doctors and health officials will brief the journalists at the workshop in sessions which will also feature practical advice on issues such as finding the human angle and myths and misconceptions about reporting disease. Among the trainers are Hajia Bilkisu Yusuf, a leading journalist and the president of the Federation of Muslim Women Association in Nigeria; Akin Jimoh, program director for Development Communications Network and Cece Fadope, country coordinator for Internews. Also present will be Sunday Dare, chief of VOAs Hausa Service.
Under an Inter-Agency Agreement, USAID/Nigeria provided VOA/IBB (through its parent agency, the Broadcasting Board of Governors) $310,000 in FY 2003-2004 to support health and educational programming for VOAs Hausa service. Besides the KRC, the VOA has conducted reporting on numerous health issues, including HIV/AIDS and polio, and conducted call-in programs and general health forums.
VOAs Hausa Service, which began in 1979, has a strong presence in northern Nigeria where millions of people listen to the program weekly. Some 50 million people, predominantly in Nigeria but also in Niger, Ghana and Cameroon, speak Hausa. The service broadcasts 90 minutes daily, Monday through Friday, and one-hour on Saturdays and Sundays.
The Voice of America, which first went on the air in 1942, is a multimedia international broadcasting service funded by the U.S. government through the Broadcasting Board of Governors. VOA broadcasts more than 1,000 hours of news, information, educational, and cultural programming every week to an estimated worldwide audience of more than 100 million people. Programs are produced in 44 languages, including English.
8 February 2005
As the AIBs Regional Representative for Pakistan and the Middle East, Tariq Bhatty, reports, Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) recently held a public hearing and granted 8 new satellite television licenses. There are 24 applications pending from cross media companies and they will be considered after cross media restrictions are waved through legislation.
Presently most of the private television stations in Pakistan are broadcasting from outside of Pakistan. 8 companies who are awarded the licences are required to set up the facilities in Pakistan within a certain period of time. This is the first time in the history of Pakistan that private parties are allowed to set up satellite TV stations.
In addition, 21 FM radio licences were awarded. Complete details are available on the PEMRA web site.
NEW CHAIRMAN AT PEMRA
Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) has appointed Mr. Iftikhar Rashid as the new Chairman. Since the retirement of Mr. Mian Shaib the authority was run my Mr. Noor Dastagir.
