12 August 2003
With opposition media daily risking government wrath in Iran, the war of the Internet sites in Iran has reached a critical point, says Iranian newspaper Jomhuri-ye Eslami.
The war was launched unilaterally by the extremist elements of the Two Khordad Front.Their opponents set up numerous Internet sites, and it turned into a real, bilateral propaganda war, so that the initiators of this propaganda war now feel great pressure from their rivals. A characteristic of Internet sites, because no regulations have yet been specified for them, is that they are capable of providing a platform for spreading rumours and falsehoods. This situation not only escalates the propaganda war between the factions, but also creates problems for the country, which can be very dangerous.
At present, dozens of Internet sites affiliated to rival political factions are in operation. As we approach the advent of the seventh parliamentary elections, the war of the websites is on the rise.
(BBC Monitoring)
12 August 2003
Large numbers of Burmese, hungry for news and entertainment are tuning in to Rangoon’s City FM and several foreign broadcasts available via shortwave radio, reports exiles newspaper Irrawaddy.
Since the 30 May ambush on Aung San Suu Kyi and the subsequent detention of opposition leaders, many Burmese want to know what’s going on in the country and the whereabouts of Suu Kyi. Burmese citizens want to know how the international community is reacting to Burma.
Stories by overseas Burmese and regional experts on the impact of US sanctions, Asean’s concern over Suu Kyi and the ongoing debate on factionalism within the regime draw many grateful listeners.
Former opposition party member Myo Myint said, “When I stroll down the street in Rangoon in the early morning I can hear news because almost every house is listening to the BBC or RFA.” However, he said, tea shops in Rangoon usually feature TV and radio cassette players but do not dare play news aloud, fearing a reaction from authorities. Listening to shortwave radio is not illegal in Burma but citizens know that the government does not approve of the activity.
11 August 2003
Britain’s Independent Television News (ITN), the provider of TV news to Britain’s commercial terrestrial channels, has chosen BDL-Autoscript ControlNet for control of presenters’ teleprompters.
ITN moved to a single wire BDL control system, as it needed a method of allowing any one of three studios to work with any one of three galleries. ControlNet was installed between the main three studios and the adjacent galleries with a control matrix between them.
Each Gallery has its own prompter and hand controller, allowing local script downloads and emergency control, while each studio floor has single wire controllers for prompter speed and control.
Remote switching of the matrix allows the foot and hand controllers to attach to an individual gallery prompter, reverse prompt video is then fed back through the matrix to the relevant floor.
By using the routing matrix and the ControlNet Solution, ITN has made substantial savings on prompt operator and equipment costs.
Paul Flook, Head of Engineering Broadcast, ITN, said: “The hand and foot control gives the presenter complete control of the teleprompter. The ability to switch the control signal in sympathy with the prompt video was a significant advantage. We are pleased at the way the system interacts with each studio and may continue to convert our other studios, although there are no immediate plans to do so.”
8 August 2003
The subtitling preparation and transmission package supplied by Screen includes a fully redundant DVB subtitling transmission system. The preparation of the subtitles will be through the Poliscript 3000 preparation software and the transmission modules include a Polistream MSX software package for comprehensive monitoring of the subtitle and data streams.
Kaare Fagerli, Head of Continuity and Head of subtitling projects for NRK says: NRK purchased the first Screen Subtitling System in 1982 and have continued to upgrade with Screen equipment to date. Two years ago the NRK translators’ area was equipped with the new Poliscript preparation software, therefore a natural continuation to meet the requirements for DVB subtitling (in addition to the analogue network) was to modernise the subtitle transmission equipment and install the new Polistream system.
He added, We have equipment purchased from Screen over 20 years ago that works as efficiently as the day it was installed, to us Screen Subtitling Systems represent reliability, quality and good service.
Subtitling has always been a very important part of the activity for NRK Television. 60% of all transmitted material is subtitled, this includes all foreign content, and own language subtitles required for the hard of hearing. The subtitle formats transmitted are a mixture of Teletext, and open captioning.
The Polistream system is designed to provide the broadcaster with the ability to implement, control and monitor the transmission of subtitles in a simple, cost effective and flexible manner. Developed with the careful use of proven technologies, combined with advanced new encoding, streaming, and distribution techniques, Polistream has already proved a must for broadcasters starting a new subtitling transmission path or simply upgrading their older modules.
8 August 2003
TANDBERG Television, a leading supplier of open solutions for digital broadcasting and broadband, will launch a high-density Edge QAM solution, the EQ6800, at IBC. Designed to provide unrivalled density and flexibility, the EQ6800 completes TANDBERG Television’s end-to-end solution for cable video-on-demand (VoD), which is rapidly becoming recognised as the industry’s highest performance and lowest cost per stream solution. The system integrates a number of third party solutions with TANDBERG products and also includes the Mindhouse OpenTV EPG and VoD Client, a content ingest solution for high quality video at very low bit rates and the industry’s most scalable VoD video server from Entone Technologies. TANDBERG Television’s VoD system is currently being piloted by a number of cable operators in Europe.
“Video-on-demand services are absolutely vital to the future prosperity of cable operators as they strive to expand their digital customer base, increase subscriber revenues and reduce churn. US Cable operators have recognised the benefits of a successful VoD offering and are aggressively deploying it throughout their networks. By minimising both initial investment and life-time operating costs, our complete VoD offering enables operators around the world to rapidly meet their financial objectives,” says Eric Cooney, President and CEO of TANDBERG Television.
www.tandbergtv.com
7 August 2003
The Japan Broadcasting Corp (NHK), private TV broadcasters and the telecom ministry have adopted a policy of bringing forward the start of terrestrial digital TV broadcasts in the nation’s non-metropolitan districts from late 2006. The three metropolitan areas surrounding Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya have agreed to start full broadcasts in December this year.
In districts other than those three areas, the broadcasters and ministry agreed to start, in fiscal 2004 in principle, the process of adjusting the antenna mechanisms of existing TV sets in households to avert interference of broadcast signals, which would otherwise occur after the start of digital broadcasts.
BBC Monitoring)
