20 February 2015
Vizrt Ltd. announced today a deal worth USD 406,000 for services and BG software licenses with a European broadcaster. The system is to be used for news productions, particularly for large broadcast events. The products are further extensions to their existing setup and will largely be supplemental for particular events.
The broadcaster has been a customer for many years, and has chosen Vizrt due to a successful long-time relationship, a trust in Vizrt´s products and the reliable service and support.
About Vizrt:
Vizrt provides real-time 3D graphics, studio automation, sports analysis and asset management tools for the broadcast industry – interactive and virtual solutions, animations, maps, weather, video editing and compositing tools. Vizrt’s products are used by the world’s leading broadcasters, including: CNN, CBS, Fox, the BBC, BSkyB, Al Jazeera, ITN, ZDF, Star TV, Network 18, TV Today, CCTV, and NHK. Furthermore, many world-class production houses and corporate institutions such as the Stock Exchanges in New York and London use Vizrt systems.
19 February 2015
RT’s Arabic-language news channel has higher daily audience in six MENA countries than UK’s BBC Arabic and Sky News Arabia, US’ Al Hurra and China’s CCTV in Arabic, placing it among the top three most watched news channels in the surveyed states. In Egypt, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, UAE and Iraq RT Arabic is watched by 6.7 million viewers every day.
Eighteen percent of all residents in these six countries have watched RT at least once, making up 18.2 million people. Approximately 11.5 million – or 11% – of those are estimated to have watched the channel during the previous month, which puts RT ahead of Deutsche Welle Arabic, CCTV Arabic, France 24 Arabic, Al Alam News, and Sky News Arabia.
Among the surveyed countries, RT demonstrated the best performance in Iraq: its daily viewership there makes up about 44% of the country’s population. Here RT is also ahead of BBC Arabic, Sky News, France 24, Deutsche Welle, CCTV, Al Hurra and Al Alam News. RT’s audience in the country is also the most loyal compared to all competing channels: 98% of weekly viewers watch the channel daily, vs. 93% of Al Arabiya, 85% of Al Jazeera, 66% of Al Hurra and 64% of BBC Arabic viewers. Remarkably, of all Iraqis who have ever watched RT, 100 percent watched it over the past month.
RT also ranks number one in terms of viewer trust. Only three percent of those, who are aware of the channel, but do not watch it, cited mistrust of RT’s news reports as a reason for not watching the channel. This rate was 30% for Al Jazeera, 9% for Al Arabiya, 6% for the BBC Arabic, 8% for Al Hurra, and 6% for Sky News Arabia.
According to the study, 30% of RT Arabic’s monthly audience in Egypt like the channel for its “relevant and reliable news reports,” while 20% in the UAE and 14% in Saudi Arabia like it for its “alternative opinions,” and being “distinct from other networks.”
Another remarkable statistic is that 59% percent of RT Arabic’s audience watch it for more than an hour a day on weekdays, while 38% of its viewers watch the channel for more than an hour a day on weekends. RT is similarly ahead of all its competitors in the region by its daily-to-weekly viewership conversion ratio: 74% percent of RT’s weekly audience watch the channel over last one day.
The study also shows that 57% of RT’s monthly audience in the six surveyed counties are either top managers, mid-level or junior executives of companies and organizations as well as professionals and office workers (according to the social status system NRS corresponds to socio-economic classes A, B and C1). Here RT also leads vis-a-vis the competition: these types of viewers make up 56% of the audience of Sky News, 54% of Al Alam News and 45% of CCTV. RT also boasts the largest share of audience between the ages of 25 and 34 – 30%.
Compared to the Nielsen’s 2010 study, RT’s monthly audience has grown by 2.18 million people across Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the UAE. RT’s monthly viewership in Egypt has shown the largest growth, increasing by 112 percent and surpassing the growth exhibited by Al Hurra, Al Alam News, Al Arabiya, and Al Jazeera over the same period.
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Results of Nielsen Arab Study conducted in July-August 2014. The survey involved more than 5500 Arabic-speaking viewers of news on TV over the age of 18 (male and female, all socio-economic classes). Channels surveyed were RT Arabic, BBC Arabic, Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya, Sky News Arabia, France 24 Arabic, Deutsche Welle Arabic, CCTV in Arabic, Al Hurra and Al Alam News. Countries surveyed were Egypt, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, UAE and Iraq. 2010 Nielsen study surveyed TV audience in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, UAE, Kuwait, Syria and Lebanon.
(Source: RT press release)
17 February 2015
SES S.A. (NYSE Euronext Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SESG) is executing on its pronounced growth strategy with the procurement of three new satellites, SES-14, SES-15 and SES-16/GovSat, all to be launched in 2017.
As announced on 16 February, SES has ordered three next-generation satellites, SES-14, SES-15 and SES-16/GovSat, the latter together with the Luxembourg Government in a new joint venture, LuxGovSat.
The satellites are using the newest spacecraft technologies, leading to optimal performance and highest efficiency and allowing SES to address the accelerating needs of fast growing markets where SES is already well positioned. The satellites will be manufactured by Airbus Space and Defence, Boeing and Orbital AKT, respectively. The new orders bring the total number of SES satellites currently under procurement to seven, out of which six are delivering incremental growth capacity.
“The new spacecraft will support our growth and add significant high-power capacity to all four key strategic business verticals – video, data, mobility and government,” said Karim Michel Sabbagh, President and CEO of SES. “These fleet investments – all delivered within SES’s forecast CapEx envelope – enable us to differentiate our service offering in our target markets and set the foundation for continued growth. They will allow us to capture the significant potential of numerous vibrant regions and market segments, including Direct-to-Home (DTH) in Latin America, and mobility in the aeronautical and maritime sector throughout the Americas and the North Atlantic, as well as powerful end-to-end solutions for governments, defence and security.”
SES-14 and SES-15 are both powerful hybrid satellites, using Ku-, Ka- and – in the case of SES-14 – also C-band in wide-beam and high-throughput (HTS) technology and a purely electric propulsion system that significantly enhances the satellites’ economic efficiency thanks to the enhanced payload that can be carried as a result of the reduction in fuel mass.
SES-16/GovSat is a state-of-the-art multi-mission satellite with high-powered and fully steerable beams for government missions. It will be owned and operated by LuxGovSat, a new joint venture between SES and the Luxembourg Government.
“These fleet investments augment our capacity to address the high demand for connectivity in several key regions and segments,“ continued Karim Michel Sabbagh. “They allow us to launch a full range of attractive offers for video distribution and platforms, and data, mobility and government services, with a focus on SES’s large and world-leading customers in the aeronautical and maritime sectors. They underscore our confidence in the high demand and growth potential in both emerging and mature markets and provide the basis for the creation of a truly unique combination of our geostationary fleet (GEO) with the medium earth orbit (MEO) fleet of O3b, in which we hold a 45 percent stake.“
16 February 2015
The Pacific’s largest media companies, France Télévisions – Overseas Network 1st and ABC International have signed an agreement that will see increased coverage of Pacific events across the two networks.
The Pierre Riant Memorandum of Understanding 2015, named after the recently-deceased French journalist who presented 24 in the Pacific, was signed by representatives of both organisations in Papeete today (Friday, February 6, 2015) as part of the Oceanian International Documentary Film Festival (FIFO).
The MOU aims to build on the relationship between ABC International’s Radio Australia service and France Télévisions that began in 2005. It will see a growing exchange of Pacific content between the two broadcasters to all of the Pacific’s French-speaking territories.
Listeners in New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna and Tahiti will now have access to a weekly seven-minute Pacific roundup 24 Hours in the Pacific as well as a three-and-a-half minute Pacific update produced by Radio Australia. Radio Australia will also produce for France Televisions a weekly three-to-four minute program plus two video reports per month which will be broadcast on the first Outremer Network.
The MOU was signed by the CEO of Outremer 1st Network, Michael Kops and the Head of Pacific and Mekong for ABC International, Domenic Friguglietti.
Radio Australia’s French content is produced by Caroline Lafargue and can be heard on RA’s partner rebroadcasters in the Pacific and online at www.radioaustralia.net.au/french. France Télévisions – Network Overseas 1st is available in the Pacific on multi platforms across satellite and terrestrial television, radio and online.
16 February 2015
Globecast has today announced that it has completed a company-wide reorganisation in order to enhance its position as a fully integrated media solutions provider, operating in a truly unified manner across all its territories and addressing the changing needs of its customers.
Olivier Barberot, Globecast CEO, said, “Globecast has expanded tremendously since its inception, and seen enormous success with its satellite and fibre services. We have listened to our customers and closely examined the next phase of our development using their responses and our market expertise.”
This is an important milestone in the move from the largest independent teleport operator and satellite services provider to an integrated, global media solutions company. Powered by the ongoing launch of Media Factories around the world, Globecast is building on these strong foundations to deliver an end-to-end solution offering.
With Media Factory, Globecast has rationalised existing workflows to create a single, efficient process; the company can handle everything from content preparation, formatting, quality control, to creative services and compliance review and editing, in addition to existing contribution, playout and distribution services.
Broadcasters and media companies – whatever their size – are having to respond to evolving consumer viewing habits, and Globecast is perfectly positioned to help them take advantage of new market opportunities. Globecast continues to supply market-leading contribution and distribution services, using its unrivalled global connectivity – be that satellite or fibre – easy-to-access PoPs that are strategically positioned, as well as channel packaging and marketing services via its strong relationships with TV platforms around the world.
Barberot added, “The primary concern for our customers is how to generate new revenue opportunities from their existing content or channels or drive new channel launches – it’s all about the bottom line. This is something that we have always understood and we will keep providing customers with greater access to our expertise.“
16 February 2015
Euronews continues its development in Sub-Saharan Africa thanks to new distribution agreements with DStv Africa and Ouest TV, as well as launching for the first time on an African DTT network in Mozambique.
Euronews Português now on DTT in Mozambique
Euronews and MultiChoice Africa have strengthened their cooperation which began in 2004. In the evolving African audiovisual landscape, the DStv Africa satellite bouquet is showcasing the Portuguese service of Euronews, the only international news channel broadcasting in that language, by launching Euronews Português on “GoTV+”, its DTT service in Mozambique.
Allocation of an additional channel on the Portuguese language satellite bouquet
To meet the growing demand of viewers on its satellite platform in Portuguese-speaking countries, DStv has also decided to allocate a specific channel to Euronews Portuguese for its customers in Mozambique and Angola, giving them prime access to an international news source in their language.
DStv Africa offers its Sub-Saharan viewers 7 out of Euronews’ 13 languages (English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, German, Italian and Russian).
Agreement with the news channel Ouest TV in Senegal
Euronews and Ouest TV, a news channel for West and Central Africa, have signed an agreement allowing the African channel to rebroadcast programmes, live, from Euronews French, every hour between 18:30 and 23:30, in 30-minute segments.
Based in Senegal, Ouest TV broadcasts in French to 24 countries in West and Central Africa. It is also available unencrypted across Sub-Saharan Africa via the AMOS 5 satellite.
Arnaud Verlhac, Euronews’ Director of International Distribution: “Africa has been a key focus of our development for many years. Currently, 18 million viewers in Sub-Saharan Africa receive Euronews. And, as we prepare for the launch of its sister channel, Africanews,* our strengthened relations with the biggest TV operators on the continent is a very positive sign for our development in the future.”
Jean-Luc Maertens, Head of Distribution Africa and the Middle-East: “Reinforcing our presence in Portuguese-speaking Africa proves that the multilingualism of Euronews is a determining factor in our development in emerging markets such as this one. DStv Africa wisely chose to create a dedicated channel for Euronews in Portuguese for its satellite line-up and to include our channel on its brand new DTT bouquet, GO TV+ in Mozambique.”
* In 2015, Euronews will launch Africanews, the first multilingual Pan-African news channel.
