13 January 2012
A hard-hitting documentary about the last remaining Westerner in Guantanamo Bay, Omar Khadr, will get its first global airing on Al Jazeera English next week. The channel made the announcement today on the tenth anniversary of the prisons establishment.
Four Days in Guantanamo is based on CCTV footage of Canadian agents interrogating their citizen Khadr, who has been imprisoned since July 2002 when he was just 15 years old. The film features interviews with US military personnel, the Canadian journalist who pushed for the release of the footage, as well as Khadrs family and legal counsel.
The film led to criticism of Canada, who has hitherto refused to seek Khadrs repatriation. The film airs on 18th January, almost three years to the day of President Obamas promise to shut Guantanamo within a year.
Paul Eedle, director of programmes at Al Jazeera English, said:
This is a very strong film that we are pleased to bring to our viewers. The raw, split-screen CCTV material together with supporting interviews makes for a disturbing insight into way intelligence agents from a Western democracy behaved in Guantanamo.
Four Days in Guantanamo will be broadcast on Al Jazeera English from 18th January 2012 on television and online (www.ajazeera.com/watch_now).
13 January 2012
euronews has hit the ground running with the launch of DTT broadcasting in Greece and Cyprus. The channel targets full nationwide coverage in both countries by the end of 2012.
In Greece, euronews English is already available to 4,000,000 people in the region of Attica, which includes the capital Athens, and in Thessaloniki. More precisely, the DTT coverage reaches 75% of homes in Attica and the whole population in Thessaloniki.
Before the end of this year, euronews aims to extend its reach all over the country. ERT, the Greek public broadcaster, will offer the free-to-air DTT transmission of euronews English, as part of the digital technology deployment offer at a national scale.
In Cyprus, euronews English is available on a 24/7 basis on digital terrestrial TV since July 2011 and covers currently 95% of the population.
euronews is available on Cyprus DTT through the CYBC platform, the public broadcaster, among CYBC-1, CYBC-2, CYBC-HD and ERT-World channels.
The CYBC digital platform will cover 99% of the population by March 2012.
Michael Peters, CEO of euronews, said: “The move on Greek and Cyprus DTT is a huge step forward for euronews. Our close partnerships with ERT and CYBC enable us to be watched by a large audience and places euronews as premium international news channel at a country level. We are very proud to announce those two important agreements.”
13 January 2012
More than 2,600 Cubans contacted Radio Martí for a chance to win one of six mopeds in a listener contest sponsored by the station.
The contest, which ran from Dec. 19 to Jan. 5, raffled off six mopeds donated by Cuban-Americans and provided important insight into the Cuban audiences use of shortwave and AM radio as well as social media. Martí asked Cubans to call, e-mail, Twitter or subscribe to Facebook for a chance to win.
The positive audience feedback for this moped raffle and our new forward-leaning programming reinforces our program choices, said Carlos García Pérez, Director of Radio and TV Martí. It is compelling to hear from Cubans about attitudinal changes on the island, incremental changes underway, and how closely connected they continue to feel to the U.S. and Cuban-American community in particular.
The listener contest is part of a year-long effort by Radio and TV Martí to reshape programming to better match the interests of young Cubans who face economic hardships as well as ongoing political restrictions. Through numerous focus groups with Cubans who have recently arrived in the U.S., as well as daily call-in programs and contests like these, Cubans consistently express their interests in technology, economic opportunities, entertainment and connecting with Americans.
The Martís have responded with a series of program initiatives to make programming relevant to the day-to-day lives of young people on the island. Shows like Avanza Cuba (Cuba Forward), look at the incremental changes underway in Cuba and future opportunities in technology and business; while El Revotillo (The Scramble) provides an on-air market for trading goods and services; and other news and entertainment programs foster enhanced audience participations through mobile, online and social media tools.
9 January 2012
Following continued interferences to its satellite transmissions, Al Jazeera has announced a new frequency for Arabsat viewers: 11334V.
Al Jazeera has faced a series of satellite interference events over the past twelve months. These sustained interferences have been an attempt to disrupt the Network’s broadcasts across the Middle East and North Africa.
“We would like to inform our viewers of the new satellite frequency on Arabsat,” said Saeed Bawazir, Director of Technology at Al Jazeera Network. “Over the last few months, Al Jazeera has faced sustained interference to our satellite transmissions. These occurrences will only strengthen our commitment to continue providing our award-winning coverage across the region 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We urge our viewers on Arabsat to tune to this new frequency for uninterrupted coverage.”
In February 2011, Al Jazeera’s satellite services were jammed and an attempt was made to disrupt our services. Al Jazeera responded by launching its channels across various satellites, allowing viewers to receive continuous coverage.
9 January 2012
euronews, the international news channel, announces its first agreement with HOT, the leading cable operator in Israel, for the distribution of the channel all over the country.
Since 30 November 2011, 800,000 digital subscribers have full access to euronews. This deal enables euronews to broadcast 24/7 two of the channel’s eleven services(1) : euronews English and euronews Russian on channel 142.
“We are extremely pleased to have secured the broadcast of euronews in Israel thanks to our cooperation with HOT”, said Sylvie Paulin, Regional Distribution Manager for euronews. This launch is a huge step forward, reinforcing euronews’ presence in the Middle East, where the channel is already available(2) free-to-air in more than 16 million homes. We know that euronews has a role to play in this region. I am sure that the independence of our editorial line will allow us to attract many Israelis viewers as an alternative way to figure out world news”, she added.
5 January 2012
GlobeCast and ARABSAT announced today that the Global Arabic Bouquet (GAB), a grouping of premium Arabic channels from the Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU) available anywhere in the world, is now located on the 5C satellite over Africa. This satellite, ARABSAT’s newest, was launched in September 2011.
GlobeCast ARABSAT and ASBU’s partner for the worldwide distribution of the GAB is providing all the technical services required for end-to-end delivery. The terrestrial delivery is done from Amman by Jordan Media City. This service via ARABSAT replaces the bouquet’s previous distribution.
Since the launch of their partnership in 2004, GlobeCast, ARABSAT and ASBU have expanded the Global Arabic Bouquet’s potential viewership and footprint, offering a single global coverage to ASBU members.
Philippe Fort, Chief Operating Officer of GlobeCast says, “We are pleased to work with our long-time partners ARABSAT and ASBU on optimizing the delivery of this bouquet of premium Arab content to households across Africa. We’re looking forward to the bouquet’s success in this growing market.”
Khaled Balkheyour, ARABSAT President and CEO, said “Our partnership with GlobeCast has been strengthened with the successful launch of ARABSAT 5C as our fleet is becoming part of the global distribution network of Free-to-Air Arabic channels managed by GlobeCast, specifically the ARABSAT/ASBU Global Bouquet.”
Commenting on the new development, Salaheddine Maaoui, ASBU Director General, said, “ARABSAT 5C will give the Arab broadcasters an opportunity to reach the Arab viewers in the African continent, where C-band still plays an important role. This means that Arab broadcasters can now reach African viewers more easily.”
