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.“
Euronewscontinues its development in Sub-Saharan Africa thanks to new distribution agreements with DStv Africa andOuest TV, as well as launching for the first time on an African DTT network in Mozambique.
EuronewsPortuguêsnow on DTT in Mozambique
EuronewsandMultiChoice Africa have strengthened their cooperationwhich began in 2004. In the evolving African audiovisuallandscape, theDStv Africa satellite bouquet is showcasing the Portuguese service of Euronews, the only international newschannel broadcasting in that language, by launching EuronewsPortuguêson“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, DStvhas 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 Africaoffers its Sub-Saharan viewers 7out of Euronews’ 13 languages (English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, German, Italian and Russian).
Agreement with the news channel Ouest TV in Senegal
EuronewsandOuest TV, a news channel for West and Central Africa, have signed an agreement allowing the African channel to rebroadcast programmes, live, from EuronewsFrench, every hour between 18:30 and 23:30, in 30-minutesegments.
Based in Senegal, Ouest TV broadcasts in French to 24 countries in West and Central Africa.It is also available unencryptedacross 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. DStvAfrica 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, Euronewswill launchAfricanews, the first multilingual Pan-African news channel.
Reuters and global content service provider TIMA have announced a new global partnership designed to offer location services including studio facilities and logistical support to broadcasters and online media outlets. Reuters-TIMA Location Services combines Reuters global editorial content with TIMA’s technology and experience of service delivery for the international media industry.
The new service, created in response to the increased demand for live content in a shifting media landscape, will form a vast news and editorial network providing every aspect of newsgathering facilities and support services. It will combine invaluable local knowledge with strategically placed broadcast and satellite resources in regional hubs. The service will launch at the 87th Academy Awards ceremony on 22nd February 2015, where live positions overlooking the red carpet will be provided to clients.
Reuters-TIMA Location Services will offer experienced production and editorial staff on the ground at key global events, rapid access to events of regional significance, logistical services and dedicated customer support. The service will also give clients access to high-tech live studio facilities around the world, many with stunning city backdrops.
From New York to Moscow and Rio to Singapore, plus a network of Middle Eastern offices, including TIMA’s facilities in Tehran, Reuters-TIMA Location Services has been set up to cover every major world event, from elections to summits, sports to national celebrations and breaking news such as war, natural disasters and militant attacks.
Tim Santhouse, Reuters Global Head of Video Products, says: “Reuters-TIMA Location Services will support broadcasters and online publishers with editorial, technical and infrastructure support on location. Our service will enable our customers to focus on what they’re good at – telling their story to their audience – while the entire operational side, including technical and local knowledge, is taken care of. This partnership brings together two sets of skills and experience that will create a powerful newsgathering service for the benefit of media companies.”
Alla Salehian, CEO of TIMA, says: “International news stories today have more impact beyond their borders than ever before. Alongside this, there are an increasing number of TV channels across the world and a growing appetite for online video content. The result is a huge demand for live international video news and analysis 24-hours a day. Reuters-TIMA Location Services is uniquely equipped to support this trend in a way that is both affordable and of high quality.”
Reuters-TIMA Location Services will include:
Breaking news facilities: Reuters-TIMA Location Services will provide every aspect of newsgathering facilities and support services on the ground during breaking news stories throughout the year
Event facilities: The partnership will also provide coverage of key global events and unprecedented access to events that are also of regional significance, as well providing logistical and editorial services and dedicated customer support
Studio space: The service will also offer clients access to high-tech live studio facilities around the world, many with stunning city backdrops
This week, AIB is making its first visit to ISE (Integrated Systems Europe) in Amsterdam, a trade show not always at the top of the list for broadcasters. So why are we here? And what is ISE anyway?
ISE is one of the world’s biggest tradeshows serving the installation and AV market. The gear on the tradeshow floor and the seminars held are wide-ranging. Tech companies present everything from touch-screen kiosks and weatherproof 4K monitors to smart home devices and elaborate comms systems. The ISE seminars and conference topics include the smart building tech, immersive audio, home theatre design and, of course, the potential of The Internet of Things.
So what does ISE have to do with broadcast? And why is ISE worth AIB’s notice?
For one, more and more of our broadcast partners are showing at ISE. Avid, Dolby, DPA Microphones, and Sennheiser are all here – as well as the big media tech players like Panasonic.
More importantly, we realise media is no longer bound by conventional distribution channels, a theme that ISE returns to again and again.
In the past couple years, we’ve kept hearing about “The Internet Of Things” and that we have passed a tipping point in its development. Exactly what the Internet Of Things is meant to be is still vague, even to some experts, but at its core is the notion that the devices all around us in our daily lives will be able to communicate with each other and with us.
The ISE keynote address on Monday evening was given by futurist Lars Thomsen of Future Matters, who was a technical adviser on the movie Minority Report. That dystopian sci-fi film famously showed a vision of the future in which media was omnipresent, and highly personalised. As characters walked down the street, advertisements on flat-panel screens would personalise their content as they passed, and the mass manipulation of data was a matter of everyday occurrence.
In his keynote address, Thomsen painted a picture of a future world – one he thought was not too many years away – saturated in the connectivity of IP, one in which virtually everything we own has its own IP address, everything we own is a part of the internet.
We know that the bulk of web traffic in the world is dominated by video – and that percentage is only going to grow. As IP connectivity between everyday objects – phones, fridges, bathtubs, TV’s, cars, air conditioners, roofs, sidewalks – becomes more ubiquitious, the opportunity for delivering content to consumers – for broadcasting – extends beyond the “internet” to potentially every device we own. The potential reach of a piece of content in that scenario in which everything is a receiver of informations is nearly infinite. Imagine being able to transmit your content to a display (and one not necessarily confined in size and shape) that is part of your audience’s fridge, or bed, or bathroom, or car, or workplace wall, or…you name it. The Minority Report vision of hyper-hyper-targeted content seemed like a sci-fi dream when the movie was released in 2002. Looking at this year’s ISE, it’s apparent we’re not too far away from it.
Broadcasters – those who want to survive into the next century – are leaving behind the definition of broadcast as a linear one-to-many proposition. The new generation of broadcasters understands that broadcasting is no more or less than the delivery of relevant timely content – through whatever means is best suited to its audience. From the discussion at ISE, we can see that the future holds an endless variety of ways in which a broadcaster can contact its audience, where reaching the audience no longer even depends on a consumer’s access to a screen. In the ultimate vision of The Internet Of Things, every thing that a consumer owns is a connected opportunity for messaging and for communication, and a chance for the consumer to participate in a truly universal conversation that will makes today’s communications web look like 1930’s radio.
Understanding and awareness of the possibilities of this new world of hyper-broadcast is essential for both media companies and consumers alike. The latest scare that Samsung TV’s may be registering and relaying living room conversations without viewers’ consent is one issue that will have to be resolved to consumers’ satisfaction, along the way. If you thought issues of privacy, content ownership, and the borderlines between public and private life were complicated now…
Some say we still have a way to go before the full implications of an IP addressed life becomes accepted. Even many of the vendors at ISE think we’re going to be stuck with hardware and cables for a while. But the connected future will be a present reality soon, and AIB is preparing broadcasters to be a leading part of it.
Deutsche Welle will launch its new English TV channel on June 22. The news and information channel will officially go on air during DW’s annual media conference, Global Media Forum.
The global competition of values plays out primarily in the English language, says DW Director General Peter Limbourg. “Germany is highly regarded around the world, and on the international stage many look to Germany to orient themselves. Therefore, we want to meet this demand in the English language,” says Limbourg, stressing that international media coverage of German perspectives should not be left solely to other international broadcasters.
“Deutsche Welle expects more than 2000 international guests from politics, media and other areas of public life – among them numerous partners who will rebroadcast DW’s flagship programs via their platforms – to attend the Global Media Forum,” says Limbourg. “They will all be able to witness the launch of our new channel, live.”
DW, the new 24-hour TV channel in English, with hourly news as well as magazine programs and documentaries, will be broadcast around the world. In Europe it will be available via the Astra satellite, among others.
Starting June 22, Deutsche Welle will offer four additional 24-hour TV channels for various parts of the world.
DW (Amerika) can be received across the entire American continent and offers 20 hours of German and 4 hours of English programming;
DW (Latinoamérica) informs people in Latin America in Spanish around the clock;
DW (Asien) broadcasts in German 24 hours a day;
DW (Arabia) targets viewers from the Arab world – 17 hours in Arabic and 7 hours in English.
The regional TV channels will remain unchanged in their respective languages, complementing the 24-hour English channel. Only DW (Europe), with its English-German programming via Hotbird, will be discontinued.
“By the time we launch the new English TV channel we will have optimized the new technical components and processes to the point that we can confidently go on air,” says Limbourg.
Newstag Users Will Be Able to Share Bloomberg’s Business Videos Across Social Networks
Newstag, the Stockholm-based, crowd-curated news service – has today announced an agreement with global business news and information provider Bloomberg. This new deal grants Newstag worldwide rights to Bloomberg’s business and features video news packages for use on their mobile and web platforms.
Newstag CEO and Founder, Henrik Eklund, says: “Bloomberg is a world leader and innovator in the arena of international business and financial news. Having an opportunity to work with them to revolutionise the way in which audiences consume news is both inspiring and exciting.”
Newstag is designed to enable users to create their own personalised ‘tagstream’ – or TV Channel – sharing the stories that they care about among their social networks.
“Bloomberg’s premium-quality video content brings business news, and the people behind it, to life,” said Josh Rucci, Global Head of Sales for the Bloomberg Content Service. “We are delighted to partner with Newstag. They offer an interesting and dynamic platform to distribute our award-winning, global business and features video which covers subjects from technology to innovation in the energy, transportation and luxury goods sectors, to a broader audience.”
Bloomberg’s media operation includes more than 2,400 news professionals working from 154 bureaux around the world who publish stories across the web, connected and mobile devices, television, radio and print magazines.
In recent months, Newstag has rapidly expanded its network of commercial and content partners as it gears up to launch its application. Newstag recently opened a Cairo bureau and received a $1.3m investment from a group of private and institutional investors. Newstag, currently in a private-beta stage, is taking pre-registrations and bringing new users onboard continuously. To sign up visit www.newstag.com and pre-register.
CEO and Founder, Henrik Eklund, was AP’s Director of Digital Partnerships and Distribution in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Asia. Before joining AP, Henrik was the founder and CEO of Kamera – one of the world’s leading mobile and online distributors. Prior to Kamera, Eklund founded PAN Interactive, one of Europe’s leading game publishers and distributors. Chairman and Founder, Camilla Dahlin-Andersson has been a member of parliament and served on several boards for large institutions. She is currently completing her doctorate in Innovation Management at Stockholm School of Economics and Mälardalens University.
