5 August 2004
Software Generation Ltd (SGL), a leading provider of video storage management software, has announced its partnership with Autocue, a chief supplier of integrated broadcast and newsroom systems.
The SGL and Autocue collaboration will see the integration of SGL FlashNet, the company’s leading software storage solution, which provides the link between video stored as files on video servers, editing systems, and the long term archive library, and Autocue’s QNews and QMedia solutions. From the Autocue application interface users will be able to send and retrieve material directly to and from the library. The solution is already being used by a major news channel on the US East Coast.
SGL FlashNet will be exhibited on Autocue’s stand 7.329 throughout IBC2004.
3 August 2004
OmniBus Systems, provider of comprehensive automation and asset management solutions to the broadcast industry, has released a major new version of its leading large-scale, multichannel, multidelivery automation and control system. The new Colossus Version 3 combines the proven multichannel architecture of the core Colossus automation system with the modular flexibility of OmniBus G3 technology. The result is a system able to control an unlimited number of channels, items, or devices — all through customizable desktop-based user interfaces — to provide new levels of efficiency and flexibility to today’s large-scale broadcast operations.
“Colossus Version 3 bridges the gap between video, audio, Internet, and
data-streaming applications, just as earlier Colossus systems have, while
also providing broadcasters with flexible user interface and device control options that bring greater functionality to facilities of all types and sizes,” said Mike Oldham, CEO of OmniBus. “Through the use of modular control components that address virtually every device and process involved in media ingest, monitoring, playout, and management, Colossus gives operators precise access to and control over the specific areas of media and data necessary to perform their jobs efficiently.”
Colossus’ customizable G3 Desktop component features a highly intuitive
user interface with a timeline-based display that allows a single operator
to monitor the status of all channels at a glance and to focus in on any
single stream, confirm its data, and drive it in the traditional manner
should the schedule require it. Operators also have the ability to preview and adjust programme junctions ahead of time, inserting sophisticated visual and audio effects where necessary. Dynamic master control elements reflect the properties of each scheduled event. New revenue opportunities for OmniBus’ customers can be developed thanks to the flexibility and expandability built into Colossus Version 3.
3 August 2004
GlobeCast, a leading global satellite services company, has begun distributing Algerian television station Canal Algerie as well as radio stations Chaîne 1 and Chaîne 3 via multiple satellites, expanding the networks coverage over Africa and the Middle East via GlobeCasts C-band Direct-to-Home and cable distribution platform on NSS-7, and over North America via the GlobeCast WorldTV DTH platform on Intelsat Americas 5 (IA-5).
Originating in Algiers, Canal Algérie, Chaîne 1 and Chaîne 3 currently broadcast on NSS-7 Ku-band through Télédiffusion d’Algérie. GlobeCasts C-band platform offers expanded coverage of the entire African Continent as well as the Middle East and allows the Algerian broadcaster to reach not only additional DTH viewers, but also cable headends across the region. GlobeCast receives the Canal Algerie feed at its technical operations center in Paris where it integrates the channel into GlobeCasts NSS-7 multiplex.
Simultaneously, GlobeCast feeds the signal via fiber to its New York teleport for insertion into the GlobeCast WorldTV DTH platform on Intelsat Americas 5. This Ku-band service allows Canal Algérie, Chaîne 1 and Chaîne 3 to reach homes across the continent, as part of the fastest-growing international broadcasting community on American satellite.
Canal Algérie, Chaîne 1 and Chaîne 3 are owned by Algerias national television group, ENTV. Launched in 1994, Canal Algérie is a general programming channel, offering a range of programming that brings together news, culture, sports and entertainment for Algerian communities worldwide. Canal Algérie also makes a particular effort to reach out to viewers abroad who are interested in the current political and economic situation in Algeria.
3 August 2004
Inmedia is to launch its new Remote Playout & Distribution solution at IBC 2004. This new service uses Inmedia developed technology to dramatically reduce playout and distribution costs and is particularly aimed at channels that want to distribute regionally tailored content.
Targeted Television a commercial reality
Inmedias Remote Playout and Distribution service opens up new markets around the world. In one operation you can select your content, choose the appropriate audio track, add the correct subtitles, upload, and schedule the remote playout of multiple TV channels almost anywhere. The efficiency savings and reduction in access costs to remote markets are dramatic.
Starting from a centrally held pool of digital assets, programming for each remote TV channel is created and scheduled directly from your desktop. Content is delivered in non-real time via satellite multicast or the Internet to remote playout servers for onward local distribution to your precisely targeted audience. So if you only have the rights to programming in certain regions, you can run schedules containing only the content you have purchased.
Inmedias Sales Director for Broadcast Services, Matthew Ivey, says: The Remote Playout and Distribution service is a prime example of Inmedias continuing drive to make running a TV channel more affordable. This innovative application will allow operators to target new customers in new markets and has huge potential to get new TV channels onto platforms that would until now have been too expensive to access. Our calculations show that after a low start up cost, our remote service makes it possible for a content owner to add an additional TV territory for as little as £30K per annum, ideal if you want to target ex-pats in the Algarve or Japanese businessmen in London.
Each Remote Playout & Distribution device can select the correct audio channels for the targeted audience, run individual schedules, insert audience specific subtitles and insert a graphic to help identify the channel. The Remote Playout and Distribution device is located at a cable or satellite head-end.
14 July 2004
In an historic agreement, the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) signed a contract with Clarity Communications Pakistan that will allow listeners across that country to hear the new Urdu-language Radio Aap ki Dunyaa on the FM 101 Network.
The agreement – signed by BBG Chairman Kenneth Y. Tomlinson and Syed Asif Salahuddin, Clarity’s CEO – means that for the first time millions of Pakistanis will have easier, improved access to Aap ki Dunyaa by listening to FM radio. The new, fast-paced Urdu service of the Voice of America (VOA) first went on the air May 10 on medium wave (AM) 972Hz. Pakistan is a vitally important country and we’re pleased to be able to provide information and programming to so many people,” said Tomlinson, head of the agency that oversees all U.S. nonmilitary international broadcasting.
Under the agreement, Clarity, which leases large blocks of time on the FM 101 Network from Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation, will air Aap ki Dunyaa twice a day in the morning and the evening in cities around the country. The broadcasts begin immediately. Those cities are Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore, Faisalabad, Quetta, Sialkot, Peshawar and Hyderabad. They have a combined population of 23 million, which is about 15 percent of the country’s total population.
The popular FM 101 Network will complement the existing options for listening to Aap ki Dunyaa. Since its launch, the station has been available for 12 hours a day, from 7 p.m.-7 a.m., on a medium wave (AM) signal – 972kHz – that reaches listeners in Pakistan and northeast India. It is also broadcast for three hours on shortwave (7 to 8 p.m., 10 to 11 p.m., and 6 to 7 a.m. Pakistan time). It is also carried for 12 hours on digital audio satellite and via the Internet (www.VOANews.com/urdu). Internet enhancements will be phased in, providing audience interaction through e-mail, and texts of selected feeds, interviews, and other programs of interest to the listening audience.
Aap ki Dunyaa’s regular programming features 10-minute newscasts twice an hour during most of prime time and hourly newscasts throughout the night. The service provides in-depth coverage of events affecting South Asia and the world; features on topics such as health, education, and political issues; call-in shows; roundtable discussions; and a mix of Pakistani, Indian, and Western music. With its combination of news and features, about half of Aap ki Dunyaa’s unique programming consists of information.
Aap ki Dunyaa is staffed by 27 people in Washington as well as a network of more than 15 stringers in Pakistan, India and North America. Dr. Brian Q. Silver is chief of the service. All staffers from the original VOA Urdu Service are now part of the Aap ki Dunyaa team.
14 July 2004
The paneuropean news TV channel, EuroNews, has reached an agreement with Spanish satellite operator, Hispasat, whereby Hispasat 1C will distribute its signal in Spain and all over Europe for a period of six years.
Thanks to the agreement, EuroNews significantly increases its distribution in the Iberian market, adding more than 3 million homes in Spain and Portugal. The channel will be available to all 1.7 million subscribers (400,000 through Hispasat) to Spanish digital satellite platform, Digital Plus.
EuroNews strengthens the free-to-air TV offer distributed by Hispasat to Europe available to all users equiped with a small dish orientated at the Spanish satellite, located at West 30º, and with a digital set-top-box. Today, Hispasat distributes to Europe around 40 free-to-air TV channels.
The President of EuroNews, Philippe Cayla, said that, thanks to this agreement, EuroNews strengthens its presence in the Iberian market and consolidates its leading position in Europe where, as a paneuropean news television, is one of the most widely watched TV channels.
