20 October 2015
On the 25th October 2015, Tanzanians will decide the future for their country and BBC Africa will be there with special programming on Radio, TV and online. BBC Africa will present the big national headlines as well as significant local stories throughout the election campaign.
The BBC Swahili audience can enjoy extensive coverage of the election via their mobiles and on social media. The coverage will focus on issues that are at the heart of the Tanzania election: corruption, water, education, health and the rising cost of living. There will be many special features that the audience can share and interact with, such as a look at women’s role in politics, Zanzibar and the state of the Union and the role of young voters.
Caroline Karobia, BBC Swahili Editor says: “This is an historic election for Tanzania. An estimated 23 million voters will be going to the polls to elect a new president and government. It’s perhaps the most competitive election between the ruling party and the opposition. Nobody can predict the outcome – so we will be there at every stage making sure our viewers share in the journey to find out.”
The Africa live page will be an important destination on the big day, Sunday 25th Oct. Throughout the day there will be commentary and analysis from our correspondents across the continent and updates will continue daily as the results come in.
BBCSwahili.com will host profiles of the candidates and articles on the key election issues.
A collection of stories on #Tanzania2015 can be found here: http://www.bbc.com/swahili/habari/uchaguzi_tanzania2015.
On this historic day both East and West Africa – in the Ivory Coast – will be hosting key elections for the continent and the BBC is uniquely placed to keep viewers accurately updated on both these happenings in real time.
18 October 2015
Arab Satellite Communications Organization – Arabsat holds its 8th annual forum for satellite TV broadcasting on 20th – 21st October 2015 at the Savoy Grand Hotel, Marrakech, Morocco, under the auspices of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, King of the Kingdom of Morocco. Arabsat President and CEO Eng. / Khalid bin Ahmed Balkheyour expressed his thanks and respect for His Majesty King Mohammed VI for his generous patronage of the forum.
Balkheyour added that there will be many events and seminars attended by international experts in the field of TV satellite broadcasting , as well as sessions for direct dialogue with the participants.
Arabsat will launch its satellite Badr – 7 at the beginning of November. Badr – 7 is one of the newest satellites in the region, providing new coverage for Arabsat across the Middle East and the whole of Africa, with market specific spot beams across West and South Africa.
14 October 2015
TIMA – The International Media Associates – will be celebrating the third anniversary of its Washington DC offices this week. The global facilities and content services provider launched from the US capital in October 2012, premiering its services in the run up to the re-election of Barack Obama.
Since launching its Washington bureau, TIMA has covered other landmark events from the city, both from the studio – with its roof top view of the White House for live positions – and from key locations across the city. The wide-ranging breaking news and feature stories covered for international clients have included the US presidential elections and the inauguration, Camp David summits, White House press briefings and special events, and state visits to DC.
As well as unrivalled live positions and studios, TIMA’s Washington bureau has 5,500 square metres of fully-equipped workspace for journalists and producers, and editing facilities and a master control room. Satellite and fibre circuits connect TIMA studios across the US to London and to South America – including studio facilities and logistical support, to broadcasters and online publishers. In addition to this, TIMA’s new Flydrive satellite uplink unit can be deployed quickly to breaking news and special events across Central and South America.
Alongside its own global facilities and content services, TIMA also provides enhanced location services in partnership with Reuters – the world’s largest international multimedia news agency. Reuters-TIMA Location Services launched at the 87th Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles in February 2015. As such, TIMA’s Washington bureau is part of a network across the US which includes Reuters bureau in New York’s Times Square and TIMA’s dedicated UN facility, also in New York.
In Washington, the combined forces of Reuters and TIMA provide access to locations that include The Pentagon, Capitol Hill, White House Lawn and Press Briefing Room, IMF and the World Bank. Reuters-TIMA recently covered events for international clients from their Washington and New York offices, including the papal visit to the US and the 70th United Nations General Assembly. Reuters-TIMA are also preparing for 2016, when they will be offering live facilities to broadcasters and online publishers in the run up to and duration of the United States presidential election.
Alla Salehian, CEO of TIMA, says: “With so much activity in North and South America, it’s important that we’re able to offer coverage of key events, from breaking news and special events, to cultural events and features. Our investment in the latest technology shows our commitment to meeting the needs of our global clients and we’re delighted to be marking our third anniversary in Washington DC this week.”
12 October 2015
Infront Sports & Media, the leading international sports marketing company, will collaborate with Vizrt, to jointly launch a cutting-edge virtual overlay solution – to be expected for the 2016/17 season. The fully-fledged version of the Viz Eclipse product will be exclusively distributed by Infront as part of its sports services portfolio, enabling rights holders to regionally tailor and streamline their marketing and commercialisation of sports events on a global basis. Though still in a testing phase, Infront and Vizrt will offer a preview to the Viz Eclipse product at the Sportel exhibition in Monaco as of today.
No board or camera adaptations required
Vizrt, a leading provider of virtual sports production tools, introduced Viz Eclipse at the 2015 International Broadcast Convention (IBC) in Amsterdam. Viz Eclipse is a virtual replacement technology that allows field-side advertising boards to be virtually overlaid with unobtrusive (region-specific) advertising into television feeds of sports events, substituting traditional perimeter advertising. Most innovatively, the solution does not require any physical camera or board installations onsite, and works both on static or LED boards.
Infront will support Vizrt in further developing and refining the technology, based on its substantial experience in the fields of media production and advertising technology – e.g. as long-standing host broadcaster and provider of LED advertising solutions to various major sports properties. Both partners will offer rights holders a game-changing virtual overlay solution that guarantees fully reliable, high-quality performance.
Powerful combination of skills
Working with 170 rights holders in sport as well as hundreds of sponsors and media companies, Infront will contribute its profound market insight and sports marketing know-how to the new partnership. Furthermore, it will provide access to testing environments and leverage its proximity to rights holders, sponsors, broadcasters and media production entities. Vizrt will bring on its superior technical capabilities and production know-how to further drive the engineering process of its in-house product.
Philippe Blatter, President & CEO of Infront, commented: “We have been monitoring the development of virtual overlay technology for many years to ensure we can provide our clients with an effective solution, once technological progress meets their high quality standards. Viz Eclipse is a ground-breaking move forward and we are ready to invest in the refinement of the product. Jointly with Vizrt, we will soon bring a perfected and fully reliable solution to the market, which will allow rights holders to monetise their events on a global basis. Viz Eclipse will open up a new era of sports advertising.”
Primary focus on football
Martin Burkhalter, CEO of Vizrt, added: “Infront has proven its foresightedness in the area of sports advertising and production already in the past and we are glad to partner with a company that is so close to the needs and expectations of the sports industry. Our technology is now ready for the next level and we are convinced that it will transform the marketing capabilities of modern sport. While the initial focus will be on pitch-side advertising in football, this technology has the potential to revolutionise the marketing of many sports disciplines in the long run.”
Viz Eclipse has thus far been tested with licensed footage from national and international football matches, and will soon enter a live-testing phase. Infront and Vizrt expect market entry throughout the 2016/17 season. Based on image-based camera tracking, the solution does not require additional physical installations onsite, which makes it very flexible and easy to implement. It works on multi-colour backgrounds such as LED and static boards, and rendering filters allow for seamless blending of virtual signage with the stadium’s environmental conditions. Using advanced keying techniques, the ads appear natural in the background, allowing freedom of camera movement. Broadcasters will continue to be provided with a ready-made TV-signal, since the virtual advertising will be integrated smoothly and unobtrusively in the production process.
8 October 2015
The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) met today at the Middle East Broadcasting Networks (MBN) headquarters in Springfield, VA to delve into the strategic priorities of the BBG Board and of newly-appointed CEO John Lansing, and to hear a detailed update on MBN operations and programming.
Today’s meeting was the first time a BBG CEO has attended a BBG Board meeting, and represents a major step forward in enacting the Board’s priority to enhance BBG strategic coordination and oversight.
“John has the perfect background to be CEO of the BBG,” said Chairman Jeff Shell while introducing Lansing. “John is an outstanding manager, he started his career as a journalist, and most importantly he is a good and decent man who is doing this for the right reasons.”
Lansing presented five guiding strategic themes which he will focus on in order to improve the impact of U.S. international media around the world: aggressively pursue a shift to digital platforms, enhance the strategic cooperation across BBG network entities, enhance the curation and acquisition of content, target BBG resources to cover key spheres of influence like Russia and violent extremism, and ensure impact by measuring progress and success.
In preparation for assuming the role, Lansing explained, he conducted a “listening tour,” speaking with staff at the networks as well as constituents on Capitol Hill, the State Department and the White House.
Shortly after presenting his report to the board, Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Rick Stengel had a one-on-one interview with Lansing to further discuss his priorities.
Staff and leadership from MBN then presented a “deep dive” to the Board on its latest efforts to engage audiences throughout the Middle East and specifically in Iraq.
“Daesh [ISIL] is using the extreme conditions in Iraq to offer an appealing alternative to the current life many are living,” explained Brian Conniff, President of MBN. “MBN’s strategy has been to create the Raise Your Voice campaign, a multimedia platform that will enable a broader Iraqi population to voice their opinions and provide a platform for moderate voices, disavow extremism, and discuss solutions to the problems Iraq is facing.”
New programs such as Delusional Paradise, From Erbil, Your Question, What’s Your Opinion, and Light Among Us were introduced as part of the Raise Your Voice Campaign.
“Our strategy addresses the root causes of Daesh’s ideology and includes issues such as good governance, inclusiveness, education and the creation of jobs,” Conniff concluded. “MBN does this by asking Iraqi’s to ‘raise their voice.’”
Videos from today’s meeting are available online here.
8 October 2015
DISTINCTIVE, INDEPENDENT, & UNIVERSAL – AN OPEN BBC
The BBC has today published its submission to the Government’s consultation on the future of the corporation.
The document sets out the case for a new Charter allowing the BBC to continue to serve all audiences, focus investment on British content, and act as the cornerstone of Britain’s creative industries. It also sets out how the BBC will become more open, with more partnerships and collaborative working on everything from the arts to local news provision.
The evidence-based response, which runs to over a hundred pages, makes clear the BBC’s commitment to reform, as well as outlining what the corporation can do in the interests of Britain. It also sets out proposals to protect the BBC’s independence.
The response shows that the BBC is working well today and helping to grow the creative industries, while acknowledging the need to modernise to respond to changing lifestyles, technology and the media landscape. To that end, we are proposing a radical programme of reform including:
- Increasing competition from two thirds to eighty per cent of our cost base – one of the best in the public sector;
- Planning to save almost twenty per cent over the first five years of the next Charter, having already saved more than forty per cent of our addressable cost base in this Charter period – with greater levels of efficiency savings than the public sector/government average;
- Getting our overheads to less than seven per cent, inside the top twenty-five per cent of private regulated companies, having already got to less than eight per cent this year;
- Growing our overall commercial return in the first five years of the next Charter to a cumulative £1.2billion, up fifteen per cent, with Worldwide maintained as an integral part of the BBC;
- Buttressing the BBC’s independence by having an eleven year charter and stopping top slicing or contestable funding;
- Removing key guarantees and quotas for BBC programmes, but setting up BBC Studios to maintain the BBC’s tradition of programme making;
- Reform to the BBC’s system of governance and regulation, to provide greater clarity and improved accountability; and,
- Transforming the BBC’s services to be internet fit, on the way to them being ready for an internet-only world whenever it comes.
BBC Director-General Tony Hall said:
“Every week the BBC informs, educates and entertains almost everyone in Britain. As the cornerstone of the UK’s creative industries, the BBC is also an engine for growth, supporting jobs and businesses in the wider economy.
“The public wants a strong – and independent – BBC that produces great programmes, gives them impartial news and ensures Britain’s voice is heard abroad.
“Our programme of reform will ensure the BBC is fit for the internet age, focused on the things that matter to audiences, continues to support the economy and is an unashamed champion of British talent, content and creativity.
“We look forward to working constructively with the Government in the months ahead to ensure the British public continues to have a BBC they are proud of.”
Today’s submission responds to each of the 19 questions posed by the Government on the BBC’s future. It argues there should be no changes to the purposes or scope of the BBC that undermine the BBC’s ability to serve everyone with public service content.
It sets out the distinctiveness of BBC output and how the corporation is an asset to Britain – culturally, economically, and globally. Far from having a negative impact on competition, the BBC is in fact an engine for growth and is the foundation for the best broadcasting system – along with the likes of ITV, Channel 4, Sky and others – anywhere in the world. Rather than crowding others out, the BBC attracts investment in and raises standards.
The document also argues that for the BBC to continue to serve everyone it should carry on offering high quality programmes across a broad range of genres. This is what the public wants and is in the best interests of the wider industry.
The submission also calls for the Budget funding agreement for the next Charter to be implemented, with no return to top-slicing the licence fee or introducing contestable funding for other Government policy projects. And it proposes an eleven year Charter which would provide long-term security and decouple decisions about the BBC’s future from the electoral cycle.
Full details of the submission can be found here. (Source: BBC press release)
