25 November 2004
Negotiators have made progress toward agreeing a new international treaty on broadcasting, helped by a US concession that webcasting need not necessarily be included, UN officials have said.
Members of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) are seeking to update the 1961 Rome Convention on the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organisations, which has been under discussion at the United Nations’ body since 1997.
But many developing countries had been resisting pressure from the United States, and to a lesser extent the European Union, to include at least aspects of webcasting in any pact. “It was a big move to take it (webcasting) out,” said Rita Hayes, deputy WIPO director-general, who is overseeing the work on the new treaty.
25 November 2004
TVNZ, New Zealand’s public service broadcaster, has chosen SysMedia, leading specialist in subtitling solutions and content management and production systems for interactive TV and teletext, to supply its WinCAPS subtitling solutions for both offline programme and live news subtitling.
The contract, which was secured in conjunction with SysMedia’s New Zealand partner Magna Systems and engineering in Auckland, who will also provide ongoing local support, includes licenses for 10 offline workstations and four live workstations as well as two replay/transmission systems.
WinCAPS Multimedia, versatile subtitle preparation software for both live and pre-recorded content that boasts a host of time-saving and accuracy-enhancing features, has been selected to replace an existing WinCAPS Classic system that was installed in 1998. TVNZ has also added additional capacity to the new installation, which will enable them to meet its strategic objectives around enhancements to the captioning service.
25 November 2004
Its been in the pipeline for years; now it’s on the web. The Dutch international broadcaster has cleverly packed a mountain of content into its new web pages, folding pages and entire indexes into collapsible compartments. The subject headings are active links that take you to an index page for that topic.
There is a lot of content you wont easily find anywhere else, e.g. the daily review of the main stories in the Dutch newspapers. Apart from the extensive Current Affairs archive, you can find Dutch Horizons which deals with everything to do with the Netherlands.
Every programme from the past week can be downloaded; every major feature programme is available online indefinitely, connected to a web story. The web site also supports RNs traditional broadcasting role, with details on what programmes are coming up next and how to tune in.
Importantly, there is a Feedback section. And you can even check on the Dutch weather with the webcam perched on the PTT telecommunications tower behind the Radio Netherlands building in Hilversum.
25 November 2004
Al Jazeeras new English-language news channel, Al Jazeera International, will establish its Asian base in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur. The new Qatar-based satellite channel, to be launched next year, will have regional hubs in London and Washington, as well as its Kuala Lumpur base and headquarters in Doha.
The managing director of Al Jazeera International, Nigel Parsons, said that Kuala Lumpur had been chosen as the Asian hub for purely operational reasons: We felt Kuala Lumpur best met our requirements in terms of its geographical location, infrastructure, local labour pool and cost base.
Besides its Arabic-language and English-language news channels, Aljazeera is already broadcasting an Arabic-language sports channel under the Aljazeera banner and intends to launch a children’s channel and a documentary channel during 2005.
18 November 2004
Harris Corporation’s Broadcast Communications Division has been awarded a contract to provide FM radio transmission systems and associated equipment for operation throughout the world under the auspices of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB). The IBB provides engineering support for U.S. government-funded, non-military international broadcast services, including the Voice of America (VOA), Radio Sawa, and Radio and TV Martí (Office of Cuba Broadcasting).
Under the contract, Harris will ship numerous transmission systems, including Harris Quest(R) 1kW FM radio transmitters, Harris Z2CD 2kW FM radio transmitters, Z5CD 5kW FM radio transmitters, Z10CD 10kW FM radio transmitters with accessories, antennas from Shively Labs, and Orban products from CRL Systems Inc. for yet-to-be specified sites around the world.
“We are honored to be chosen, once again, as the International Broadcasting Bureau’s supplier of choice for this important contract,” said Debra Huttenburg, vice president and general manager of the Radio Broadcast Systems business unit of Harris’ Broadcast Communications Division. “Harris is very proud to be playing a key role in bringing uncensored news and information to listeners around the globe.”
Harris Corporation also announced the first Caribbean installation of its NetVX high-speed, integrated networking platform, and TRuepoint, Harris’ next-generation microwave radio, at Television Jamaica Limited (TVJ), the island’s leading broadcast television station. NetVX provides the broadcaster with high-speed IT-based connectivity for video and data distribution, while TRuepoint ensures highly reliable wireless communication links for voice and data transmission. The joint solution supports TVJ’s central-casting model and allows for bidirectional networking to source and return regional feeds between the broadcaster’s “hub” in Kingston and the various channels’ transmitters that are dispersed around the island.
TVJ’s terrestrial broadcast television stations cover 95 percent of the island of Jamaica. As TVJ transitions from analog to digital, NetVX and TRuepoint will integrate into the existing infrastructure to provide the station with a digital backbone. The joint solution enables centralized broadcast operations through one stream containing four channels: two radio and two television. The combination of NetVX and TRuepoint provides a cost-efficient, single-vendor solution.
17 November 2004
The BBC has commissioned Teletrax for a special project to help the international broadcaster better understand how it uses news coverage from third party news providers around the globe. Teletrax, a subsidiary of Medialink Worldwide Incorporated, is the first and only global digital video monitoring and media asset management service.
The BBCs special project calls for Teletrax to monitor use by the BBC of video news material that is provided by key selected international news providers. The results of the six-month study will be analyzed by the BBC as part of ongoing internal examination and its contribution to the larger national discussion of how it builds public value as a publicly funded, public service broadcaster in a fully digital world.
The BBC concentrates on providing high quality programmes and services as one of the most creative and trusted organisations in the world, said Adrian van Klaveren, head of newsgathering, BBC News. We constantly strive to improve our public service, and this project will better inform how we operate in an increasingly digital world.
It is a privilege for Teletrax to be selected to provide business information that can aid the BBC in its continuing evaluation of its output, said Andy Nobbs, managing director of Teletrax. We are excited to be supporting the BBC on a project that can assist it in building a bridge to its second century as a world-renowned public broadcaster.
Launched more than two years ago as a service using patented technology developed by a joint venture between Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands and Medialink, Teletraxs technology embeds an imperceptible and indelible digital watermark into video whenever it is edited, transmitted, broadcast or duplicated. The underlying technology is patent protected both by Philips and Digimarc Corp.
The BBC is part of a growing list of leading entertainment, news and media organizations that have contracted with Teletrax to track broadcast video content, either in the United States exclusively or globally. These include: Buena Vista Television, ABC Television Network, Tribune Entertainment, Universal Domestic Television, NBC News Channel, Reuters Television, Medialink and Australian-based Media Review International. A number of other entertainment, news and media companies are also currently testing the Teletrax service.
