18 May 2012
The Broadcasting Board of Governors has launched an FM radio transmitter in Tripoli that covers the Libyan capital and its suburbs, home to about two million people.
The new transmitter broadcasts a 24/7 stream from Radio Sawa, with a signature mix of more than six hours of daily news combined with popular Arabic and Western music.
“This is a country in turmoil, seeking a foothold in democracy,” said Brian Conniff, president of the Middle East Broadcasting Networks, Inc., home to Radio Sawa. “We offer a reliable source of news and information essential as the people of Libya strive to shape their future. We are proud to support free media in Libya, most especially during its political transition.”
The BBG, which provides and maintains technology around the world to support its broadcasters, had been working non-stop since mid-2011 to get the new transmitter in place.
Compact enough to fit in a refrigerator box, the equipment enables programming on 106.6 FM, an easy-to-find frequency.
“It’s crucial that we reach audiences via the media that they prefer,” said André Mendes, the BBG’s Chief information Officer and Chief Technology Officer. “In this region, at this time, that means FM radio. And we’re delighted to be able to use a frequency with such a good signal, so people will hear our programs loud and clear.”
Audiences in Benghazi have heard Radio Sawa programming around the clock on the locally well-known 88.1 since October 2011. A major Libyan city, Benghazi was the stronghold of Libyan rebel forces.
As the protests of the Arab Spring swept across the Middle East in 2011, correspondents for Radio Sawa and its sister station, Alhurra Television, reported on the wave of uprisings in Libya by traveling from Benghazi to Tripoli. Their on-air and online reporting tackled the news from the front lines as well as the challenges facing Libya during its transition to a new government.
Radio Sawa has a weekly reach of 14 million listeners, according to international research firms such as ACNielsen. In addition to Libya, Radio Sawa broadcasts on FM in Morocco, Jordan, the Palestinian Territories, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, U.A.E., Lebanon, Iraq, Sudan and Djibouti. Radio Sawa also broadcasts on medium wave to Egypt, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Syria and online at www.RadioSawa.com.
17 May 2012
Eurosport will broadcast the 2012 French Open – Roland Garros Live, in 3D, via Sky in the UK market.
The Global sports channel will broadcast a Live 3D feed from Centre Court at Roland Garros from Monday May 28th to June 10th and it will be available to UK sports fans, non exclusively, via Sky’s 3D channel.
It will be the third consecutive French Open tournament to be produced and available for fans in 3D.
Jean Thierry Augustin, Eurosport’s Managing Director of Rights Acquisition, Distribution & Development said: “Eurosport was the first broadcaster to present live tennis in 3D with the French Open in 2010 and this agreements with Sky will give the British public an opportunity to experience live Grand Slam tennis in 3D. Eurosport has already committed to broadcast over 100 hours of 3D content from the London Olympic Games this summer ensuring an even wider variety of sports can also be viewed in this innovative way. In January 2012 Eurosport extended its relationship with the French Tennis Federation for a further three years to reinforce its position as the leading live tennis channel in Europe.”
John Cassy, Director of Sky 3D, comments: “We’re delighted to be partnering with Eurosport and bringing our customers live action from the French Open, as well as the first 3D Olympics this summer. By working with channel partners and continuing to invest heavily in our own 3D sports coverage, we’re able to offer our customers a fantastic array of sport in 3D this summer, with football, rugby, cricket and tennis all available in immersive 3D over the next few months. Thanks to our ongoing commitment to 3D, Sky 3D customers can look forward to a monumental summer of sport.”
www.eurosport.com
16 May 2012
New figures show that BBC World News has burst through the 300million distribution mark– increasing the number of households it broadcasts in by more than 40 million over the past year.
Total distribution of the BBC’s international news channel now stands at more than 330 million households following recent deals with Comcast in the US, TV4 in Sweden, ERT S.A. in Greece and D life, a major distribution deal with Disney in Japan.
BBC World News is expected to receive a further boost when it moves into state-of-the-art new broadcasting studios in London later this year, improving the look and feel of its international news output for audiences.
BBC World News Commercial Director Colin Lawrence called it evidence of both ‘a breakthrough year’ for the channel and ‘our audiences increasing hunger for global news they can trust in very turbulent times’.
Full-time 24/7 distribution of the channel has also risen from 179 million to more than 200 million households, making it one of the biggest international news channels in the world.
Amongst the biggest increases in distribution included:
- The US, where distribution rose by over 100%, largely as a result of a new deal with US cable provider Comcast, who are distributing the channel in Washington DC, Philadelphia, Chicago, Boston, Northern California, Michigan and elsewhere
- 15% increase in Europe including France, where distribution rose by 119% and Greece where distribution rose by 549%
- Former Eastern Bloc countries Georgia (101%), Russia (+19%), Kazakhstan (+43%), and Estonia (+85%)
- Rises in Latin America including Panama (+45%), Ecuador (+25%), Paraguay (+40%), Argentina (+7%) and Chile (+16%)
- Increases in Asia including Indonesia (+35%)
Colin Lawrence said: “It has been a breakthrough year for the BBC’s international channel and we are determined to build on it. We have focused on building deeper and stronger relationships with MSOs, as well as creating new partnerships which may build the BBC World News brand footprint in strategic markets.
“It’s no coincidence we’ve made this progress in what has been a year of huge international news and events. In turbulent times, international audiences increasingly turn to the BBC and want news that they can trust. It reflects growing evidence that audiences may be growing tired of more slanted broadcast news and value our intelligent and un-spun global perspective.
“In another defining year for news – including major elections in the US, China, Russia, France and elsewhere – we expect the hunger for fair and accurate international news to grow. Alongside our move to state-of-the-art new studios in London, this should provide another lift in our performance.”
www.bbc.co.uk
16 May 2012
Slovenian playout centre STN has ordered three new OASYS Automated Playout channels, adding to the six HD channels installed in 2011, making OASYS a key part of the STN controlled and operated playout centre. Systems integrator RoBaGo will install the systems in the coming weeks.
STN is one of the most innovative playout providers in the industry, offering a variety of playout options for clients to choose from. The new and existing OASYS systems work alongside STN’s iTX systems in a complementary way, with both systems built around Isilon IQ X-Series scalable nodes; this enables STN to seamlessly scale the capacity from a few terabytes to multiple petabytes and over 45 gigabytes per second (GBps) of throughput.
Tomaz Lovsin, Managing Director, STN, said, “STN has used OASYS software since its very beginning, when IT-based playout was in its infancy, and thefact that we still use it many years later – albeit with many more sophisticated features and functions – shows that there are many benefits that OASYS offers. Today’s OASYS Player is supplied with a richly featured, broadcast quality branding and graphics display management toolkit, and its handling of live events is astonishing; not only can the system literally replace a video console, but it can also handle all the graphic challenges that may arise during the live transmission. No other IT-based playout can achieve what the OASYS system can achieve; it is a very powerful playout system that is nevertheless logical and easy for our operators to work with.”
Mark Errington, CEO, OASYS, said, “We have worked with STN for many years, and they have benefitted from our feature developments as their requirements have changed. Sharing the central infrastructure with other playout technologies is an example of the flexibility of the OASYS solution, and adding new channels is quick and easy.”
www.oasys.com
15 May 2012
SatLink Communications Ltd., a leading teleport delivering content to every corner of the world, has announced it is enhancing its service and product offering with the opening of a new HD Playout Centre in the heart of the broadcast district in Tel Aviv, Israel. The Playout centre strengthens SatLink’s provision of global satellite transmission services by offering content management, digital archival, content localisation, disaster recovery and OTT services to their existing and acquired customer base.
The Playout centre has been purchased from MTVS Studios, one of Israel’s leading television production facilities providers. It delivers playout and content management services to Israeli and international customers such as Disney, NTV-MIR, ESPN and others. The HD Playout centre is connected to SatLink’s state-of-the-art teleport facilities via fully redundant SDH based fibres from two different suppliers using different routes to offer global content distribution over satellite, fibre or IP communication channels.
SatLink is making a significant investment in upgrading the facility and installing the latest technology, hardware and infrastructure to provide reliable and cost effective playout, content management, digital archival and over the top solutions. The new centre is located underground to ensure maximum disaster recovery capabilities. It will offer a gateway to Asia, Africa, The Middle East, Europe and the Americas for worldwide broadcasters looking to extend their international audience reach. Customers will also have the choice of opting for a fully managed, remotely controlled, hosted, or co-located service to manage the playout and distribution of content.
David Hochner, SatLink’s CEO commented: “The new HD playout centre complements our current offerings and is part of our ongoing strategy to provide a ‘one stop shop’ for international broadcasters requiring high quality end-to-end production, content management, transmission and distribution solutions. The centre will allow both international and local broadcasters to reach viewers using a fast, reliable and proven solution and help channels entering new markets, such as the rapidly growing African, Eastern European and Asian regions, to create regionalised feeds and content. This is another demonstration of the continued growth of SatLink and how we are taking proactive steps in providing the most up to date facilities, services and solutions to broadcasters across the globe.”
www.satlink.tv
14 May 2012
“[North Korea] has changed a lot. The level of consciousness has increased, about everything from what we eat to what we think….Media from outside is definitely causing things to change.”
-26-year-old female from Pyongyang who left North Korea in January 2010, quoted in “A Quiet Opening”
InterMedia has released “A quiet opening: North Koreans in a changing media environment”, a groundbreaking report which shows that North Koreans can access far more news and information from abroad than commonly assumed, posing a challenge to the state’s control over what its citizens see, hear, know – and believe.
View the Webcast Video from the Quite Opening Launch on AudienceScapes
While there is no indication that new North Korean leader Kim Jong Un plans to loosen official state control of media and information, the reach of unsanctioned foreign content is expanding nonetheless and providing alternatives to domestic propaganda messages.
The report is based on research among refugees, travelers and d
efectors who recently left North Korea, providing a rare glimpse on their lives when they were in their home country. Below is a quote in the report from one North Korean:
“I think now, almost all citizens listen to or watch [foreign media]. You can tell when you talk to them…they will use [South] Korean words. In North Korea there is no such phrase as ‘no doubt.’ When they use a word like that, you think, ‘that person watches [foreign media] too.‘”
– 45-year-old female from Hamkyongnamdo who left North Korea in May 2010
www.intermedia.org
