29 September 2003
According to the London-based newspaper Al-Zaman there is to be a television and radio Iraq Broadcasting Corporation (IBC).
The programmes will be available locally and via satellite. A number of Iraqi businessmen and media experts are behind the project.
The IBC aims to stay above any political obedience to a group, a party, a category, a faction, a religion or an individual. The corporation will be open to all prevailing cultures, religions. It will also endeavour to “introduce cheerfulness after years of gloom and isolation”.
The project, which has 10 millions dollars of finance but needs more, will start experimental transmissions within the next six months. The IBC will be administered by a board of governors and an executive. It will work under the supervision of a council of trustees.
29 September 2003
Chris Cramer becomes the new Managing Director of CNN International, as part of a move to bring together the programming and newsgathering parts of the organisation.
Cramer will continue to oversee the international editorial and programming side, with extra responsibility for the worldwide newsgathering operation of 28 bureaus outside the USA.
The new CNN International directorate now includes the five flagship CNN International services: in English, CNN en Espanol, CNNj (Japan) and joint ventures such as n-tv, CNN+ and CNN Turk, in addition to the international newsgathering operation
26 September 2003
Vivendi Universal, in half-yearly figures, is showing progress in its battle to turn the business around as net losses and debt narrow, but revealed little further detail of the $40bn merger of its US entertainment assets with NBC.
The French media and telecommunications group said net losses in the first half of 2003 narrowed to 632m ($724m) compared with 12.3bn last year, while net debt dropped to 13.7bn from 35bn. The figures were slightly better than expected.
Vivendi repeated its guidance for the full year saying it expected further growth in operating income and cash flow and predicted a return to profit excluding non-recurring items and goodwill. It added that following the NBC merger, net debt at the end of 2003 would be about 13bn, falling to below 5bn at the end of 2004.
26 September 2003
Its not exactly broadcasting, but many larger broadcasters and companies should find it interesting.
20,000 BBC staff in London no longer have to key in numbers on their phones, they just have to say the name of the person they want to talk to. Telephonetics has set up one of their ContactPortal systems at the BBCs Television Centre, and the advanced telephony speech
recognition business solution should soon be available to BBC staff nationwide.
ContactPortals 98% accuracy on speech recognition and its ease of use and scalability has impressed BBc management. Feedback from staff so far has been excellent, with employees enjoying improved communications
24 September 2003
Viacom, the world’s largest media group, has cut back its estimates for the full year. The group says that national advertising in the US is strong, but local advertising is not up to expectations.
The New York-based company,owner of CBS and MTV, now expects single digit growth in revenues and operating income for the full year.
But Viacom still hopes for record revenues, operating income and earnings per share as well as strong growth during 2004, when it hopes to gain from the improved US economy, presidential election advertising and Super Bowl ads.
24 September 2003
Tony Ball, CEO of the UKs BSkyB, has said that he will certainly go as soon as a successor can be found. He expects that this will be long before the end of his contract next May.
Will the successor be young James Murdoch, currently running STAR TV in Asia? A nomination committee chaired by Lord St John of Fawsley, a non-executive director, will immediately initiate a search for a successor to Mr Ball. And will Rupert Murdoch remain as BSkyB chairman?
In the meantime Tony Ball has signed an agreement that will prevent him working for any other UK television company in the UK. He is expected to become a consultant for News Corporation, perhaps advising on plans for DirecTV in the United States, Sky Italia and developing News Corps satellite business in Latin America.
