Intelsat S.A. (NYSE: I), the world’s leading provider of satellite services, announced today that Sentech, a leading broadcasting signal distributor in Africa, has extended its contract for multiple years Sentech will continue to leverage Ku-band capacity on Intelsat 20 at 68.5˚E to cost-effectively expand and enhance its Direct-to-Home (DTH) and Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) services in Africa.
The Intelsat 20 satellite will provide Sentech with an expansive selection of nearly 500 channels, 31 of which are High Definition. Leveraging the strength of Intelsat’s leading video neighborhood, Sentech will maximize its efficiency as it distributes DTH as well as national DTT programming to South African viewers using a single, multiplexed transmission.
“Sentech is committed to providing comprehensive digital delivery services to Africa and ensuring that our customers have access to high quality, reliable and differentiated content,” said Leago Takalani, Executive: Technology, Sentech. “As the rest of the continent continues the migration to DTT, the power of Intelsat 20 will enable us to efficiently deliver digital services to the largest number of viewers as well as expand our customer base. Most importantly, it will enable us to enhance our channel selection and deliver more affordable, entertaining programming to viewers across multiple channels throughout South Africa.”
Intelsat currently provides proven DTT solutions in Africa, supported by advanced coding and modulation techniques that enable efficient use of bandwidth and improved reception quality, enabling African audiences to enjoy the benefits of digital television. Intelsat hosts video neighborhoods serving every continent. Supporting media applications such as cable distribution, DTH and DTT, Intelsat’s neighborhoods offer leading viewer penetration, maximizing the potential audience for content.
“Intelsat 20 reaches more viewers in Africa than any other DTH platform, making it an ideal video neighborhood to support Sentech’s growing business needs,” said Rhys Morgan, Interim Sales Manager, Africa, Intelsat. “Our ability to support and deploy both DTH and DTT transmissions will enable Sentech to continue its customers’ seamless migration to DTT. It will also provide Sentech with a greater array of more affordable entertainment options to delight both existing and new customers.”
Alhurra Television launches Delusional Paradise, a ground-breaking documentary series on Sept. 26th, exposing the brutality of extremism and the viciousness of Daesh. The Alhurra-produced program goes beyond the daily death count, to focus on the human stories of the living victims.
Delusional Paradise concentrates on the families and communities who have lost loved ones to Daesh. Through raw and griping firsthand accounts, they express their anger and grief as reluctant witnesses to extremism. The program gives a voice and platform to victims, many of whom are speaking publicly for the first time. It airs every Saturday at 20:00 GMT.
“Alhurra’s team searched the Arab world to bring original human stories about the suffering of extremism victims. This program sheds light on the pain and suffering caused by Daesh in a way not often seen on Arab television,” stated Brian Conniff, President of the Middle East Broadcasting Networks (MBN). MBN manages and oversees Alhurra. “We wanted to share the real stories of the destruction caused by Daesh, not the ones put out by their propaganda.”
The first episodes focus on parents whose sons left to fight with Daesh and were killed. They denounce Daesh’s actions and its claims to represent Islam. Umm Mohamed, a Tunisian mother who is inconsolable due to the loss of her son, heard from strangers that he was killed. “My son is not a martyr,” she says, “martyrs don’t kill their Muslim brothers.” Nevertheless, she lives on the hope of learning the facts about his death. The series continues with stories from Morocco, Algeria, Turkey, Jordan, Syria and other countries.
Alhurra is operated by the non-profit corporation MBN and is financed by the U.S. Government through a grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), an independent federal agency. The BBG serves oversight and as a firewall to protect the professional independence and integrity of the broadcasters. (Source: Alhurra TV press release)
Globecast, the global solutions provider for media, has announced today that it has successfully completed a major project with its customer Lagardère SPORTS to bring comprehensive daily coverage of the 11th All Africa Games to European and African audiences.
The 11th All Africa Games took place from September 4–19 in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo. This edition marked the 50th anniversary of the Games – with over 50 countries involved in 22 sports – as well as their return to the Congo.
Globecast was contracted by sports marketing agency Lagardère SPORTS, leader in the management of marketing and audiovisual rights for sports in Europe and Africa.
Globecast provided two flyaway antennas in Brazzaville with dedicated satellite capacity for four contribution feeds (equivalent to 300 hours of satellite time) from the country to France. These four feeds were received in Globecast’s Paris headquarters with London operating as backup.
As well as the technical infrastructure, Globecast also took the four feeds arriving in its Parisian MCR and created a comprehensive single package for broadcasters. This included three language variants – Arabic, French and English. This was achieved using dedicated commentary facilities within Globecast with the programme broadcast for six hours per day using three satellite feeds for European and African broadcasters to retransmit. On request, the distribution of additional private (unilateral) signals for European and African broadcasters was also made possible.
Michele Gosetti, VP Contribution and Media Services at Globecast, says, “We are very pleased that our contribution expertise – technical, logistical and editorial – has been recognised by Lagardère SPORTS. We have extensive experience of operating across Africa, often in challenging conditions. With three engineers in Brazzaville and a dozen people dedicated to the operation in our Paris MCR during the All Africa Games, the results were great and this was a successful project.” (Source: Globecast press release)
The shortlisting team has been working its way through a record crop of entries to the AIBs 2015. The quality is higher than ever and some really tough decisions have been needed to select the truly outstanding work that is now being passed to our international panel of judges.
Arqiva has today announced the launch of the nostalgic British film channel, Talking Pictures TV – an independent archive film and television company – on Freeview channel 81. Available from 13:00 on Tuesday 22 September 2015, people watching Talking Pictures TV will be able to relax at home and watch vintage and rare films, 24 hours a day, and relive their memories of the ‘Saturday morning pictures’. The channel will broadcast in standard definition nationally in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland with just over 72 per cent population coverage, from the Arqiva Freeview multiplex.
Talking Pictures TV is a family-run business, which first began as a classic films DVD label under Renown Pictures Ltd. With its own large library of rights for UK films and acquired programming from many major broadcasters, Talking Pictures began to see a huge demand for its DVD content, and saw the opportunity to launch a TV channel. Targeted at the mature audience who grew up going to the Saturday Morning Pictures, viewers can now watch vintage films from the 1930s through to the 1960s on TV.
Sarah Cronin-Stanley, Director Talking Pictures TV explained “Talking Pictures TV is the only broadcaster to offer TV viewers the opportunity to watch nostalgic films of this genre for free, on Freeview. By launching on Freeview, we’re excited to be able to deliver such a unique experience to a much broader audience of movie lovers, or those people who may discover a new interest in classic films through channel surfing and discovering Talking Pictures TV! ”
Mike Finchen, Director, DTT MuxCo at Arqiva commented, “It’s great to be able to add another movie channel to Freeview. Freeview gives niche broadcasters, like Talking Pictures TV, the chance to not only air content to an audience who already knows and loves its brand, but to engage and expand its footprint with a broader set of viewers who may enjoy vintage films but weren’t aware of the service.”
If viewers are able to receive BBC News HD on Freeview Channel 107, then subject to rescanning their TV or set top box, they should be able to view Talking Pictures TV on Channel 81 with effect from 13:00 on Tuesday 22 September, 2015.
SES (NYSE Euronext Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SESG), the world-leading satellite operator, today announced the launch of this year’s annual training for the Andean Community as part of the company’s strategy to provide worldwide training, bringing together broadcast communities and growing the future digital ecosystem.
SES-10, the new Ku-band satellite, is expected to launch next year and will use the 67 degrees West orbital slot to provide coverage to Latin America and the Caribbean, including member countries of the Andean Community (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru).
The specifically designed beam of SES-10, combined with its optimum elevation angle, represents a unique proposition for the Andean Community’s telecommunications operators, broadcasters and service providers. A total of 15 delegates from the Community, representing each Member State, and the General Secretariat of the Andean Community, arrived at the SES headquarters in Betzdorf, Luxembourg, today for the five-day training session.
“The training will enable member countries of the Andean Community to optimise SES-10’s coverage,” said Gerhard Bethscheider, Managing Director at SES Techcom Services, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SES which is in charge of the training. “By interacting directly with our experts, the delegates will develop their knowledge and gain a deep insight into the workings of a satellite. These sessions will also open the doors for potential future partnerships between the Andean Community and SES in areas like disaster response communications and e-health.”
As with the first training held last September, the new group of participants will start with an introductory overview of the satellite communications industry and then be taken through a series of sessions that cover the lifecycle of a satellite.
Technical, operational, business and regulatory matters will all be covered. Participants will conclude the training with a hands-on exercise, where they will apply their newly-acquired knowledge to design a value proposition and business model for a satellite network.
“We pride ourselves on going beyond the technical provision of satellite capacity to enable our customers and their end-users to utilize our technology, bringing social and economic benefits to both the Andean Community and Latin America,” added Bethscheider. “This is one of a number of sessions we plan to host in the near future to bring together broadcast communities in different corners of the world and help grow our ecosystem.” (Source : SES press release)
