Intelsat S.A., the world’s leading provider of satellite services, today announced that its Intelsat 34 satellite was launched successfully from French Guiana aboard an Ariane 5 vehicle. Liftoff occurred at 4:34 pm EDT. The Intelsat 34 satellite separated from the rocket’s upper stage 40 minutes after launch, at 5:14 pm EDT, and signal acquisition has been confirmed.
Intelsat 34 is a C- and Ku-band satellite to be placed into service at the 304.5ºE orbital location. It will replace Intelsat 805 and Galaxy 11 as the third in Intelsat’s leading Latin America, pan-regional video distribution neighborhood (which includes Intelsat 11 and Intelsat 21). Intelsat 34 includes a C-band payload which will deliver media distribution services for blue chip media powerhouses including Fox Sports and HBOLA. The satellite also hosts a leading Direct-to-Home (“DTH”) platform in Ku-band as well as a specialized Ku-band payload serving the North Atlantic that will support broadband services for the fast growing aeronautical and maritime mobility sector. Intelsat 34 was built by SSL.
“Intelsat 34 is a great example of the breadth of services that Intelsat’s satellites are able to provide to communities around the world,” said Stephen Spengler, Chief Executive Officer, Intelsat. “With services spanning from DTH and cable programming distribution, to broadband for vessels and planes traversing the North Atlantic, Intelsat 34 demonstrates our role in delivering broadband infrastructure and media distribution with superior reliability. We are thrilled with today’s successful launch and look forward to our next two launches which are scheduled for the first quarter of 2016, including the first of our Intelsat EpicNG® satellites, Intelsat 29e.”
The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), the independent federal government agency that oversees all U.S. civilian international media, today announced the appointment of John Lansing as Chief Executive Officer and Director of the BBG. Lansing will begin his service at the BBG in September.
Lansing joins the BBG with nine years of experience as President of Scripps Networks, where he is credited with guiding the company to become a leading developer of unique content across various media platforms including television, digital, mobile and publishing. As President of Scripps Networks, Lansing was responsible for strategic and operational oversight of the $2.5 billion division of Scripps Networks Interactive, including the company’s portfolio of six cable networks – Food Network, HGTV, Travel Channel, DIY, Cooking Channel and Great American Country – and the $100 million Scripps Networks Digital division. Prior to joining Scripps Networks in 2004, Lansing was Senior Vice President for Television in the broadcasting division of the E.W. Scripps Company, managing the company’s portfolio of 10 network affiliated television stations. Earlier, he held various senior management positions at Scripps-owned affiliates, including WEWS TV in Cleveland, Ohio and WXYZ TV in Detroit, Michigan.
Most recently, Lansing was President and Chief Executive Officer of Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM), a marketing association comprised of 90 of the top U.S. and Canadian cable companies and television programmers. There, Lansing oversaw the development of business strategies and marketing initiatives that position cable television companies for continued growth as they compete with emerging digital content platforms.
Lansing also brings a deep understanding of journalism from roles as an award-winning Photojournalist and Field Producer, Assignment Manager, Managing Editor, and News Director at several television stations earlier in his career.
Lansing is currently Vice Chair of the Bellarmine University Board of Trustees and was named to the Bellarmine Gallery of Distinguished Graduates in 2010. He serves on the National Advisory Board of the Bellarmine University’s Institute for Media, Culture & Ethics; National Council for Media and Public Affairs of George Washington University School of Media & Public Affairs; and, until recently, the Poynter Institute for Media Studies Foundation, one of the nation’s top schools for professional journalists.
“John is a proven executive and a remarkable, transformative leader in multiplatform content strategies, development and distribution,” said BBG Chairman Jeff Shell. “With his journalistic sensibilities and success in leading media companies through periods of challenges and growth, John is the ideal person to lead the BBG as we accelerate efforts to shape a global, world-leading media organization that is up to the challenges of the 21st century.”
“We are very fortunate to have John take on the CEO role at this critical time when U.S. international media is on the front line of the United States’ most important and complicated foreign policy issues,” added Shell. “From eastern Ukraine to China to ISIL and Iran, the programming of the BBG is the most important, and in many cases, the only voice of honest and open journalism. John also understands that conveying and critically assessing official U.S. policy is a key component of BBG’s mission. American leadership in the world depends in part on international audiences knowing where the United States stands with respect to their countries and the issues that affect them.”
“I thank Chairman Shell and the Board for this opportunity to help lead this fantastic organization,” said Lansing. “As one of the world’s largest media enterprises, the BBG provides balanced, reliable and authoritative news in the face of partisan media and heavy propaganda from repressive nations and extremist groups. I am honored to enter into public service and to join a team of world class journalists and media professionals who are dedicated to expanding freedom of information and expression worldwide. I also welcome the opportunity to work with this distinguished Board, which has steadily guided the BBG forward.”
Chairman Shell also thanked André Mendes for his service as BBG Interim CEO. “On behalf of the entire Board, I would like to express our deep appreciation for the tireless work of André and his dedicated team. During this transition period, André and his colleagues have worked diligently to produce outstanding results and to spur on forward momentum at the BBG.”
BBG’s Critical Importance in a Fragmented World and Rapidly Changing Media Environment
U.S. International Media (USIM) operates today in a challenging environment in which global audiences have vastly increased access to information from both public and private sources and in which modes of communication are changing in fundamental ways.
The global information space has become a battleground, where new international actors have “weaponized” information to try to undermine not only Western values but also Western resolve to confront the challenges of the 21st century. The emergence of well-funded state-sponsored broadcasters have demonstrated how propaganda can directly influence events on the ground. Elsewhere, non-state actors including al-Qaeda, ISIL and Boko Harem are using social media to recruit fighters and sow fear.
The BBG is sparing no effort to bring global audiences alternative narratives – built on accurate, fact-based journalism – to foreign propaganda in Ukraine and across the former Soviet Union as well as in the Middle East, South Asia and the African Sahel. MBN’s Raise Your Voice, an interactive audience engagement initiative on TV and radio in Iraq exemplifies BBG’s response, empowering moderate secular and religious voices to discuss the root causes of ISIL while providing Iraqi leaders with constructive feedback on the lives and hopes of the Iraqi people.
Gallup research underscores impressive results, most notably where extremism is a palpable threat; BBG networks boast weekly adult audiences of 44% in Iraq, 53% in Afghanistan, 28% in Iran, 51% in Somalia, and 18% in Nigeria. Globally, BBG networks increasingly are engaging new audiences, reporting on issues of human rights, government corruption and other issues, which contributes toward an all-time high measured BBG weekly audiences in excess of 215 million and rapid growth across all media platforms including social media and mobile.
Telling America’s story is a significant part of BBG’s statutory mandate. BBG covers the United States in all of its complexity, reflecting the nation’s democratic process, so that the countries that are struggling to nurture their own democratic systems might learn from the American experience.
BBG has also developed a robust portfolio in Internet anti-censorship. The agency focuses not only on disseminating content, but also on expanding access to the Internet, and offering to citizen and professional journalists the tools to report safely without detection by government surveillance. Increasingly, this work is important in countries such as China, Venezuela and Iran that are bolstering their firewalls to stop the free flow of information.
About The Broadcasting Board of Governors
The Broadcasting Board of Governors is the independent federal government agency that oversees all U.S. international media. BBG is also the name of the board that governs the agency.
The BBG Board is focused on how to best leverage the combined power of the five media networks it oversees – Voice of America (VOA), Radio and TV Martí, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), Radio Free Asia (RFA), and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks (MBN) – in countries where vital U.S. interests are at stake and freedom of the press and freedom of expression are under attack.
All current BBG Board members have been confirmed by the U.S. Senate to their positions since August 2013. Board members are well-respected leaders in U.S. foreign policy, media, and government and operate in a collegial bi-partisan manner.
Current Board members include: Jeff Shell, Chairman of Universal Filmed Entertainment; Matthew Armstrong, author and former Executive Director of the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy; Dr. Leon Aron, Resident Scholar and Director of Russian Studies at the American Enterprise Institute; Ambassador Ryan Crocker, Dean of the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University, whose 37-year career in the U.S. Foreign Service included service as U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, Kuwait, and Lebanon; Michael Kempner, founder, president, and CEO of MWW, one of the world’s top five independent public relations agencies; Ambassador Karen Kornbluh, Executive Vice President of External Affairs for Nielsen and former U.S. Ambassador to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD); and Kenneth Weinstein, President and CEO of the Hudson Institute. Secretary of State John Kerry is represented on the Board by Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Richard Stengel, former managing editor of TIME.
Al Jazeera Media Network has appointed Dima Khatib as Managing Director of AJ+.
Dima joined Al Jazeera in 1997 as a broadcast journalist in Al Jazeera’s Doha newsroom where she became a news producer. She participated in managing the coverage of the channel during the Iraq War which brought Al Jazeera international recognition. She also helped launch the first Al Jazeera show dedicated to women in the region, while also setting up bureaus in China and Venezuela for the network. In 18 years, Dima has reported from over thirty countries, interviewing presidents and people from all walks of life. In 2012, Dima was classified as the most connected woman on Twitter in the Middle East.
Commenting on her new role as MD, Dima said:
“I’m very honoured to step into the role of Managing Director of AJ+. It is an exciting and enriching challenge for me to work on pushing this amazing project forward. We’re experiencing an era of rapid change in the news industry, where digital platforms require a new form of communication from within the digital world. Through AJ+, Al Jazeera has pioneered a world of digital storytelling that encourages its young audience to engage in conversations, build communities and challenge everything they see and hear”.
“It is time for AJ+ to be taken to the next level of success. I feel fortunate to be part of that”.
AJ+ was launched as a digital-only news platform from Al Jazeera in 2014, highlighting the stories that matter to people through innovative and informative ways. The goal of AJ+ is to meet its audience in every digital space by creating custom content for online social communities, which include Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and the AJ+ mobile app.
According to Facebook data, since the end of June 2015, videos from AJ+ have been viewed more than 430 million times. In June AJ+ became the ninth biggest video publisher on the social network, according to video sharing data aggregated by NewsWhip, which lists AJ+ as second only to “Nowthis” among news publishers. And growth seems to be accelerating as AJ+ videos have made it into the feeds of 153 million Facebook users, and more than 24 million people engaged with posts from AJ+.
The US State Department has honoured CNN International Executive Vice President and Managing Director Tony Maddox and the CNN Freedom Project as a 2015 Trafficking in Persons Report Hero. The eight Trafficking In Persons (TIP) Report Heroes are announced in conjunction with the annual TIP Report by the State Department, which assesses the response of 188 countries and territories to the crime of human slavery.
“I am humbled by this recognition,” said Maddox. “And I am proud of CNN using the full range of our international resources to track and highlight this important story.”
Spearheaded by Maddox, CNN International launched the CNN Freedom Project in 2011 to shine a spotlight on modern slavery. The project has sought to amplify the voices of survivors, highlight effective prevention and victim assistance efforts, and investigate the criminal enterprises involved. Now in its fifth year, the CNN Freedom Project is among the most successful and highly visible programming initiatives on CNN International. Under Maddox’s leadership, it has also become the longest running awareness and investigative campaign on modern slavery on television news.
Under Maddox’s leadership, CNN International has enlisted dozens of correspondents and crews around the world, and has published more than 400 investigative stories. Various NGOs report that CNN Freedom Project stories have contributed to changing laws and corporate policies, led to more than 1,000 survivors receiving assistance and sparked over $24 million in donations to anti-trafficking organisation. Additionally, the CNN Freedom Project has inspired new NGOs and grassroots campaigns around the world.
Premiering on Al Jazeera English on 24 August 2015, My Nigeria is a series of six half-hour documentaries that pulse with the energy of Africa’s leading economy telling the human story.
From stand up-comedian Basketmouth to Nollywood star turned politician Kate Henshaw, from ICT expert Gbenga Sesan to fashion designer Deola Sagoe, from football coach Femi Bamigboye to female mechanic Sandra Aguebor, each film focuses on one central character, who invites us into their world, sharing their story in their own words.
“The series was commissioned specifically to support Al Jazeera English’s brand ‘Hear the human story,’ to bring people’s stories directly to our screens, told in in a first-person style without mediation, offering a range of authentic views,” says Ingrid Falck (left),head of documentaries at Al Jazeera English.
Award-winning South Africans directors Brian Tilley and Clifford Bestall shot the series across Nigeria, which is home to one in five Africans.
“To get beyond the clichés of Africa, there isn’t a better place than Nigeria,” says Ingrid. “For every stereotype of corruption or extremism, there are millions of ordinary Nigerians making this African powerhouse tick. Our series focuses on these individuals to see firsthand how Nigerians are busy making a difference.”
BASKETMOUTH: TRASH TALKING, premiering 24 August 2015
Basketmouth (real name Bright Okpocha) is arguably Nigeria’s most successful stand-up comic. Born and bred in the notorious Lagos slum Ajegunle, he discovered his gift for comedy by chance and has never looked back. His take on the Lagos elite is upbeat, irreverent and challenging.
KATE HENSHAW: PLAYING A PART, premiering 31 August 2015
Kate Henshaw has always been known as one of the Nollywood stars with integrity. Having made over 70 Nollywood films, Kate decides to leave the fictional world and run for a seat in Nigeria’s House of Representatives. Kate wants to change how people are represented in her hometown of Calabar in Southern Nigeria, but politics in Nigeria is not for the timid…
GBENGA SESAN: CONNECTING A MILLION, premiering 7 September 2015
As a school student, Gbenga Sesan was denied access to the computer room at his Nigerian school and told he was not clever enough to operate one. Years later, Gbenga is an Information and Communications Technology (ICT) expert, with international awards and a successful consultancy business. He’s spreading his good fortune by teaching ICT and life-skills to young adults in Nigeria’s poorest neighbourhoods.
DEOLA SAGOE: TOP DRAWER, premiering 14 September 2015
Nigerian fashion has broken out, gracing the catwalks of New York, Johannesburg and Monaco. Deola Sagoe was one of the designers who led this Nigerian fashion expansion. The House Of Deola Sagoe is on Lagos’ Victoria Island and caters for Nigeria’s who’s who. Deola’s father, prominent Nigerian businessman Chief Ade Ojo, never wanted his daughter to go into fashion. He actively discouraged her,
wanting her to take over his lucrative business. But Deola had other ideas…
FEMI BAMIGBOYE – LOCAL MAN, premiering 21 September 2015
Femi Bamigboye is the coach and founder of the Remo Football Academy in the small Nigerian town of Iperu. You have to really look for Iperu on the map, but Femi has managed to produce a line of young players who represent Nigeria at age group level, including two players who will represent Nigeria at the under 17 World Cup at the end of the year. This is some achievement in a country of over 180 million people. Femi is not just a football coach: he is a pastor with a loyal congregation who worship every Sunday in a lean-to church in the middle of the thick forest that surrounds Iperu. Femi feels his job is not just to teach football; he wants to develop world-class young men.
SANDRA AGUEBOR: LADY MECHANIC, premiering 28 September 2015
Sandra Aguebor is Nigeria’s first Lady Mechanic. Growing up in Benin City in a polygamous family, Sandra’s mother actively discouraged her from following her dream, sometimes beating her when she would be out tinkering in an engine instead of doing her kitchen chores. But Sandra is the sort of woman who responds well to adversity. She has built a network of lady mechanics that is spreading from city to city in Nigeria by training ex-sex workers, orphans, and victims of trafficking to be mechanics. Sandra’s Lady Mechanic Initiative has now spread to the north with its first project in Kano City, where the response from Muslim women has been unprecedented.
German broadcaster expands internationally by delivering two channels using ASTRA 4A, ASTRA 5B and SES-5 SES S.A. (NYSE Euronext Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SESG) announced today that German broadcaster Deutsche Welle has signed a new long-term capacity agreement on three SES satellites to broadcast two channels in Eastern Europe and Africa.
Deutsche Welle will be broadcasting its German-language TV channel DW via the ASTRA 4A satellite, allowing more than six million direct-to-home households in Eastern Europe and 40 million cable and IPTV households in Europe to receive the channel directly and indirectly.
Deutsche Welle will also broadcast its new English-language channel across Eastern Europe and Africa via the ASTRA 4B and SES-5 satellites. The 24-hour news and information channel, which broadcasts events from Germany and around the world, was already launched on 22 June via ASTRA 19.2 degrees East.
Guido Baumhauer, Director of Distribution and Technology at Deutsche Welle (pictured right), said, “Deutsche Welle produces high-quality content in 30 languages for the whole world. We are very pleased that we have found, in SES, a reliable technical partner that complements our global satellite portfolio and helps us to broadcast news and information to two of the most important regions in the world.”
“We are very pleased that Deutsche Welle is once again relying on SES to expand its coverage. The latest agreement with Deutsche Welle is an example of how our global satellite network can enable broadcasters to expand beyond their domestic markets to reach international audiences on all continents,” said Norbert Hoelzle, Senior Vice President, Commercial, Europe at SES.
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Watch the interview with DW Director General Peter Limbourg here.
Dima joined Al Jazeera in 1997 as a broadcast journalist in Al Jazeera’s Doha newsroom where she became a news producer. She participated in managing the coverage of the channel during the Iraq War which brought Al Jazeera international recognition. She also helped launch the first Al Jazeera show dedicated to women in the region, while also setting up bureaus in China and Venezuela for the network. In 18 years, Dima has reported from over thirty countries, interviewing presidents and people from all walks of life. In 2012, Dima was classified as the most connected woman on Twitter in the Middle East.
The US State Department has honoured CNN International Executive Vice President and Managing Director 
“The series was commissioned specifically to support Al Jazeera English’s brand ‘Hear the human story,’ to bring people’s stories directly to our screens, told in in a first-person style without mediation, offering a range of authentic views,” says Ingrid Falck (left), head of documentaries at Al Jazeera English.
Guido Baumhauer, Director of Distribution and Technology at Deutsche Welle (pictured right), said, “Deutsche Welle produces high-quality content in 30 languages for the whole world. We are very pleased that we have found, in SES, a reliable technical partner that complements our global satellite portfolio and helps us to broadcast news and information to two of the most important regions in the world.”