16 November 2016
The BBC’s Thai language service launched today the website – bbcthai.com – to expand on its presence in social media and further strengthen BBC’s news and current-affairs offer to Thai-speaking audience, in Thailand and around the world.
BBC Thai was created in July 2014 as a Facebook service in response to the military coup in Thailand, and is now is in the unique position of moving from being a social only offer to engaging with users directly on a BBC platform.
Via its social-media and new online presence, BBC Thai aims at attracting a digitally savvy and young audience, while continuing to be a source of impartial and independent news for a country were the media still faces restrictions.
The development is a result of the funding boost for the BBC World Service announced by the UK Government last year and is part of the World Service’s biggest expansion since the 1940s. Along with national, regional and international politics, bbcthai.com will cover business, culture, health, technology, science and entertainment – as well as women’s issues and social affairs. It offers free content from BBC Learning English.
During the past two years BBC Thai Facebook page has generated over 1.3 million interactions a month and has 1.65 million fans (November 2016), mostly in Thailand. BBC Thai also uses Facebook Live, Google Hangouts, YouTube and other social media to reach its audience.
BBC Thai has expanded its team in London and its Bangkok office, to enhance its ability to produce original digital content. Its newly appointed Editor, veteran Thai journalist and broadcaster Nopporn Wong-Anan, will lead the teams. He said:
“I am excited and proud to be part of the digital transformation of BBC Thai as it has moved from being a social-only service to its own new platform, bbcthai.com. Via this new, mobile-first website we will serve Thai-speakers looking for independent, accurate and balanced news, information and analysis, for which the BBC is known. BBC Thai’s presence on the social-media scene will continue to expand.”
The service will also bring innovative formats to engage its audience and has partnered up with BBC’s task-forces that drive the organisation’s digital innovation – BBC Connected Studio and BBC News Labs. The team explored themes of participation and interaction with the local Thai creative industry in Bangkok and Chiang Mai this summer.
BBC Thai is part of BBC World Service. (Source: BBC press release)
16 November 2016
The BBC World Service has announced its biggest expansion since the 1940s, in a move designed to bring its independent journalism to millions more people around the world, including in places where media freedom is under threat.
The BBC World Service will also expand its digital services to offer more mobile and video content, a greater social media presence, and new ways of reaching its audience around the globe.
The BBC World Service will launch 11 new services in Afaan Oromo, Amharic, Gujarati, Igbo, Korean, Marathi, Pidgin, Punjabi, Telugu, Tigrinya, and Yoruba. This means the BBC World Service will be available in 40 languages including English. The expansion will also mean more journalists on the ground in locations across the world.
The expansion includes plans for the BBC to:
- Produce extended news bulletins in Russian, with regionalised versions for surrounding countries, a relaunched website, new digital formats and more journalists on the ground
- Enhance its television services across Africa, including over 30 new TV programmes for partner broadcasters across sub-Saharan Africa
- Enhance the BBC Arabic offer by delivering new regional programming across the Arab world
- Broadcast short-wave and medium-wave radio programmes aimed at audiences in the Korean peninsula, supplemented by digital content online and on social media
- Invest in World Service English, with new programmes, more original journalism, and a broader agenda
- Continue with the digital transformation of the BBC World Service, including new TV news bulletins, so that all 40 languages will eventually have a video offer
- Use its global presence to provide an even greater focus on analysis and explanation, or ‘slow news’, helping audiences to make sense of the world by explaining the ‘why’ as well as the ‘what’.
Tony Hall, Director-General of the BBC, said: “This is a historic day for the BBC, as we announce the biggest expansion of the World Service since the 1940s. The BBC World Service is a jewel in the crown – for the BBC and for Britain.
“As we move towards our centenary, my vision is of a confident, outward-looking BBC which brings the best of our independent, impartial journalism and world-class entertainment to half a billion people around the world. Today is a key step towards that aim.”
Francesca Unsworth, BBC World Service Director, said: “Through war, revolution and global change, people around the world have relied on the World Service for independent, trusted, impartial news. As an independent broadcaster, we remain as relevant as ever in the 21st century, when in many places there is not more free expression, but less.
“Today’s announcement is about transforming the World Service by investing for the future. We must follow our audience, who consume the news in changing ways; an increasing number of people are watching the World Service on TV, and many services are now digital-only. We will be able to speed up our digital transformation, especially for younger audiences, and we will continue to invest in video news bulletins. What will not change is our commitment to independent, impartial journalism.”
The BBC World Service will focus particularly on increasing audience reach with younger people and women.
The BBC’s Director-General has set a target for the BBC to reach 500m people worldwide by its centenary in 2022.
This expansion is a result of the funding boost for the BBC World Service announced by the UK Government last year. Further details of the new services will be announced in due course. The first new services are expected to launch in 2017.
15 November 2016
The Broadcasting Board of Governors today released its annual impact numbers which show the agency had its largest ever increase in its weekly worldwide audience to 278 million people, up from 226 million in 2015. These increases occurred across all platforms with digital platforms seeing the largest percentage growth, followed by radio and television.
“The unprecedented growth we’ve seen this year further illustrates the need for U.S. international media particularly in parts of the world where access to balanced, impartial news is severely limited or non-existent,” said BBG CEO and Director John Lansing. “In media markets increasingly dominated by disinformation and propaganda, more and more people are turning to BBG networks for fair, accurate, fact-based reporting.”
The increases include gains in highly competitive media markets that are of strategic importance to the United States. Digital audiences increased from 32 million to 45 million while those for radio rose by 27% to 130 million. Television audience also grew, increasing 23% to 174 million.
In addition to weekly audience size, the BBG measures its impact using quantitative, qualitative, digital and anecdotal data on a wide range of factors including program quality and credibility, engagement with the news process, and audience understanding of current events. Key accomplishments include:
- MBN’s Raise Your Voice-Iraq developed new television programs encouraging Iraqis to share their thoughts and opinions on extremism and the underlying causes of terrorism. This programming provides firsthand accounts of the realities of life under ISIL, including the pain and suffering of families and communities.
- RFE/RL and VOA actively engaged online in providing alternatives to Russian disinformation. In FY 2016, RFE/RL’s DIGIM, the social media arm of Current Time, received 120,000 average weekly engagement actions on Facebook and VOA Russian averaged 45,000 per week.
- VOA and RFA increased their social media outreach in Southeast Asia with huge gains in video viewing and engagement on Facebook and YouTube. VOA Vietnamese averaged 2.7 million video views weekly on YouTube, and RFA averaged over 600,000.
- OCB hosted a two-day conference on internet freedom in Cuba. The event convened a broad spectrum of digital innovators and independent journalists from Cuba and elsewhere to exchange ideas and provide important information about the state of the internet in Cuba.
To learn more about the BBG’s performance measures, the 2016 Performance and Accountability Report, along with the BBG’s 2016 audience overview and explanation of research methodology are available here.
(Source: BBG press release)
15 November 2016
Intelsat S.A. (NYSE: I), operator of the world’s first Globalized Network, powered by its leading satellite backbone, tonight was named “Satellite Operator of the Year” during the 2016 Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU) presents BroadcastPro Selevision Awards. The result was announced during a ceremony in Dubai.
Nominees were judged by a panel of experts across the MENA region on their work toward improving communications in the Middle East and North Africa and the lives of the people living there. Intelsat, as well as other operators in the region, enable voice communication, provide Internet access to fiber-lacking areas and give access to education or healthcare to those in remote locations.
“This award recognizes Intelsat’s continuing leadership as the innovator in space-based communications. In 2016, Intelsat delivered on the promise of high throughput satellite (HTS) technology when it launched the first two satellites in the Intelsat EpicNG network, providing immediate benefits to users,” said Shahrokh Khanzadeh-Amiri, Managing Director, MENA, Intelsat. “The launches established Intelsat as the first operator to implement a backward-compatible, open architecture HTS platform. Intelsat EpicNG will support the growth of telecom operators, service providers and media organizations with higher performance, improved economics and simplified access.”
Intelsat has also continued to give communities access to affordable, high-quality and reliable television/video programming. Intelsat 36, which has now entered service, bolsters the penetration of high definition programming for viewers in the broader Middle East and Africa regions.
The ASBU presents BroadcastPro Selevision Awards cover a broad range of categories to reward excellence in various fields across the broadcast workflow, from production and post-production to traditional broadcast and new media platforms.
(Source: Intelsat press release)
15 November 2016
The AIBs 2016 were attended by guests from all over the world – Argentina to Australia, Qatar to the UAE, the USA to Norway.
A selection of pictures taken by our regular photographer Alex Beaton at the event appear below. Click on a picture to see it at full size.
Find out who won and who received commendations in our Winners Book here.
The AIBs 2017 will open for entry in April.
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14 November 2016
Arab Satellite Communications Organization – Arabsat – participates in AFRICACOM Conference & Exhibition held in Cape Town, South Africa, from 15-17 November 2016.
Eng. Khalid bin Ahmed Balkhyour, President & CEO of Arabsat, stated that “Through our participation in this show, we are looking forward to presenting our services provided to the African continent, as our 5th generation satellites are covering the entire African continent broadcasting TV, telecommunications and Internet satellite services. Arabsat satellites also broadcast dedicated bouquets over North Africa and other dedicated bouquets over the whole African continent including TV & telecom broadcast, in addition to the existence of several ground satellite stations inside Africa connected to the European and the Asian satellite ground stations to provide Internet services and mobile networking. ARABSAT will also showcase the capabilities of its 6th generation satellites, scheduled to be launched next year which will provide extra massive satellite capacities covering the whole African continent and its potential market with full in Orbit – back up.”
Balkhyour concluded that “We are currently working hard on several important strategic projects to operate many of our new orbital positions and keep up with our customers increasing needs, maintaining Arabsat status as the best choice to provide customers’ needs in satellite broadcasting & Telecommunication services.”
(Source: Arabsat press release)
