29 September 2004
Radio New Zealand has signed a contract with Thales for a new digital capable (DRM) short-wave transmitter for its international broadcaster Radio New Zealand International (RNZI). The new 100 kW short-wave transmitter will be operational in early 2006.
RNZI’s current analogue short-wave transmitter (also from Thales) is nearing the end of its serviceable life. The new Thales transmitter will work alongside it and then replace it completely as RNZI’s transmission mode into the Pacific.
Radio New Zealand Chief Executive and Editor in Chief Peter Cavanagh says the decision to purchase from Thales recognizes the very significant contribution the company has made towards the DRM system. They have the largest number of transmitters in service carrying a DRM signal and they offer an excellent product.
The contract follows an announcement earlier this year by the New Zealand Government about a funding boost for RNZI to move to digital short-wave technology. RNZI Manager Linden Clark says DRM offers an ideal solution for a service like RNZI. The new transmitter will transmit a digital (DRM) signal for rebroadcast across the Pacific on our 14 Pacific partner radio stations. The current analogue transmitter will continue to deliver an analogue short-wave signal to individual Pacific listeners.
RNZI is New Zealand’s international broadcaster, on air 24 hours a day with a service to the Pacific which reaches from Papua New Guinea in the west to French Polynesia in the east and covers all the Pacific region in-between. While broadcasting mainly in English, RNZI also carries news in Pacific languages, making it one of the most listened to, and respected, stations in the Pacific. The service was set up in 1990 with one analogue short-wave transmitter.
Peter Cavanagh says the new transmitter secures the future of what has become a vitally important service for the people of the Pacific region. Radio New Zealand International plays a significant part in increasing an understanding and awareness of New Zealands role in the Pacific.
29 September 2004
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29 September 2004
SES ASTRA and 1-2-3.TV GmbH have announced the launch of a new concept in home shopping. On 1-2-3.TV, it is the customers who decide the price of each product by making an offer for each item by telephone. If that offer is one of the highest received for the items being presented, the purchase then takes place.
Managing Director Dr. Andreas Büchelhofer explains, “1-2-3.TV is the first of a new generation of home shopping services and as it is the customer themselves who determine what they pay for an item, they have the opportunity to buy items at very favourable prices indeed. We can afford to do this, as we exercise strict cost controls in all areas and are achieving even greater efficiencies in all our divisions – from purchasing to production to administration – than had ever been possible before.”
Alexander Oudendijk, Senior Vice President Sales and Marketing at SES ASTRA, believes that this innovative TV format is a welcome new addition to ASTRA: “1-2-3.TV has filled yet another niche within the range of free-to-air television channels we offer, further enhancing the attractiveness of satellite television in the eyes of the public. We are hoping that this unique new service will achieve the same degree of success as that enjoyed by internet-based auction houses. ”
The new channel is available throughout Europe via ASTRA 19.2° East (transponder 47; downlink frequency 11170.75 MHz; horizontal polarisation) and in digital (frequency 12.46050 GHz; horizontal polarisation, symbol rate 27.5; FEC 3/4).
About 1-2-3.TV GmbH:
The companys registered offices are located in Unterföhring near Munich. In addition to managing directors Dr. Andreas Büchelhofer and Henning Schnepper, the company’s shareholders include the venture capital companies Wellington Partners, 3i, Target Partners and Cuneo AG. Managing Director Henning Schnepper explains: “With its financing package of up to EUR 20 million, 1-2-3.TV GmbH is the first media company to be set up with major venture capital backing since the end of the New Market here in Germany. Working together with our partners, we have been successful both in developing the concept for our new channel and in agreeing the financial backing for the project.” 1-2-3.TV GmbH is hoping to break even in its third financial year, by which time it expects to have achieved approximately half a million registered customers.
27 September 2004
Free-to-air broadcasters can help meet the fierce competition from satellite and cable television by relying on the quality of their content and the trust they have built up with viewers over the years, the ABU annual General Assembly in Almaty, Kazakhstan, has heard.
Other ways to maintain their edge include offering their material on a wide range of platforms, providing fast, accurate news and making good use of their archival material, senior broadcasters told the assembly.
The three-day assembly closed today, ending eight days of meetings attended by more than 300 participants from 94 organisations.
In a wide-ranging discussion on the growing challenges facing free-to-air broadcasters, participants noted that young people were showing a strong preference for the Internet over television.
Providing interactive content and making it available on several platforms would help address this issue, the assembly heard. There was widespread agreement that quality programming remained essential in the new media environment.
K S Sarma, the Chief Executive Officer of Indias national broadcasting corporation, Prasar Bharati, described the trust of the audience as a valuable asset.
Other speakers urged free-to-air broadcasters to make full use of new technologies and platforms, using the best possible content, rather than becoming passive players while pay-TV channels seized the initiative.
The ABU President, Katsuji Ebisawa, who is also president of Japans national Broadcaster NHK, said that in the face of increasing competition, the ABU could help minimise the information gap among its members by exchanging information and conducting other joint activities.
On another issue, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) announced plans for cooperation with the ABU through the establishment of an Asia-Pacific Broadcast Initiative. The two organisations have agreed to explore the feasibility of a competition in the region for broadcasters to produce documentaries on development issues.
27 September 2004
BBC World Service has won the Localisation Research Centre (LRC) 2004 Best Global Website Award for its Your Voice interactive websites. The award recognises the most innovative multilingual and multicultural website on the internet.
The Your Voice websites were launched in Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Persian and Urdu in October 2003 with the objective of making online debates between people in different countries possible throughout the world. The personal voices and topics emerging from these debates have since enriched BBC World Service news content in English and other languages.
LRC director Reinhard Schäler said: “The judging panel was impressed by the clear and user friendly design, respect for native language and success in promoting and creating cross cultural dialogue.”
Myra Hunt, Head of BBC World Service New Media, commented: “It is an honour to receive recognition for the skills and expertise of the Your Voices online team and to be able to play a vital role in bringing different voices across the world together to debate the issues that affect all our lives.”
23 September 2004
WRN, the London-based international transmission and broadcast specialist, has unveiled its new corporate identity with a new name, new brand and a new claim to support its expansion plans into new areas of media activity.
The company, formerly known as World Radio Network, engaged Brandhouse WTS to create its new brand and supporting collateral. Karl Miosga, WRNs Managing Director, explains that the new look underlines WRNs expansion from its roots in radio to other broadcast media: This change allows us to extend the brand across any media platform; TV, Internet, radio or mobile telephony. WRN becomes a brand with multimedia potential.
The brief to Brandhouse WTS was to bring together the many unique services the company provides to broadcasters from around the world under one identity, which in itself could be adapted flexibly as the company enters a sustained period of growth. Mark Wickens, Creative Partner at Brandhouse WTS, explains: At the core of the brand is the idea that WRN brings together and channels different media into a defined, quality offering. The graphic identity tells this story through the depiction of streaming, digital information on a global scale.
Simultaneously WRN is introducing a new brand claim. Transmitting Success, Tim Ayris, WRNs Marketing Manager, says is a positive, forward-looking support message that allows people to fully access the brand and expresses the companys values and aims.
WRN works with a number of top radio and TV brands, distributing their output domestically and international. Clients include FCUK FM, talkSPORT, top French station NRJ, Americas flagship speech station NPR, and VOA TV. In addition, WRN is well known for its own-branded international news and current affairs networks, broadcasting radio programmes from around the world, which are available on market-leading distribution platforms including Sky digital, Frances Canal Satellite, Sirius Satellite Radio in the US, the WorldSpace satellite radio service across Africa and Asia, mobile telephony portal MBN and mp3 download site AudioFeast. The company is actively developing a number of new project offerings including a TV channel.
