4 September 2014
Vizrt Ltd. announced today a deal worth USD 470,000 for the implementation of broadcast graphics products with Media Studio Company Ltd. in Thailand. Media Studio Company Ltd. is the news production agency used by Channel 7 Thailand. The new purchase is for the upgrade of their currently used systems to HD in addition to a new HD video wall system.
The deal includes an HD upgrade for their three-camera Viz Virtual Studio system. Designers in the creative department will also get an HD upgrade to their Viz Artist workstations. In the studio, a new video wall control system with multiple HD Viz Engines was purchased. Viz Engine is Vizrt’s real-time rendering engine.
4 September 2014
SES S.A. announces a new cornerstone in its strategic partnership with EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ: SATS) at the orbital position of 105 degrees West with the procurement of the new SES-11 satellite, also to be known as EchoStar 105.
SES-11 will be manufactured by Airbus Defence and Space based on the highly reliable Eurostar E3000 platform. The satellite will be launched into space in Q4 2016.
SES-11 will carry 24 Ku-band transponders as well as 24 C-band transponders (36 MHz equivalent).The spacecraft will have a separated mass of approximately 5,400 kg and an end of life budget for the payloads of approximately 12 kW.
The spacecraft’s Ku-band capacity will replace the existing SES satellite AMC-15 at 105 degrees West, an orbital position where Echostar has been SES’s anchor customer since 2006. The spacecraft’s C-band capacity will also allow SES to provide replacement capacity for AMC-18 at 105 degrees West.
“The market for 50-state transponder capacity in North America has demonstrated significant growth for EchoStar Satellite Services over the past five years – the acquisition of EchoStar 105 renews our commitment to the fixed satellite services market in North America,” EchoStar Satellite Services President Anders Johnson said. “The replacement of AMC-15, with the increased capability offered by EchoStar 105, will allow us to meet the evolving demand from our customers for enterprise, broadcast, and government services applications. We are pleased to work with Airbus Defence and Space to provide our customers with new, high power satellite capacity at this established orbital slot.”
Stated Martin Halliwell, Chief Technology Officer of SES: “SES-11 is the 6th large satellite contract with our longstanding partner EchoStar. The new spacecraft will offer comprehensive coverage of the Americas, including Hawaii, Mexico, and the Caribbean, from a well-established orbital position. Together with EchoStar we look forward to a successful mission in collaboration with our reliable industry partner Airbus Defence.” (Source: SES press release)
4 September 2014
PRESS RELEASE
The Association for International Broadcasting has announced its panel of judges for its tenth annual international broadcasting awards, the AIBs 2014. The senior media executives who make up the independent panel come from all across the world and will judge the best in global factual radio, TV and online broadcasting.
CRANBROOK, UK 04 SEPTEMBER 2014 – The panel of 50 senior international media experts brought together by the AIB (Association for International Broadcasting) to judge the AIBs 2014 represents TV, radio and online broadcasting from all across the globe with in-depth knowledge of commissioning, writing, producing, editing and distribution. They have extensive experience in current affairs, investigative documentaries, short documentaries, children’s programmes, sport, science, transmission and broadcasting technology and will be bringing their insight and extensive knowledge to the judging the record number of entries received for this year’s awards which have come from all over the world.
“We are grateful to our panel of experts for agreeing to give up their time to judge the awards” said Simon Spanswick, CEO of the Association for International Broadcasting. “Their diversity of backgrounds and wide experience, coupled with the fact that they are free to choose the best entries without being influenced by any vested interest, ensures that the AIBs will continue to reward the very best of international broadcasting.”
The AIBs 2014 judges are:
- Faisal Abbas, Editor-in-Chief English online, Al Arabiya MBC
- Neeraj Arora, EVP Head of International Business, MSM Asia Limited/Sony Entertainment Network
- Tim Ayris, Director Channel and OEM sales EMEA, thePlatform
- Amadou Ba, Co-founder and Executive Chairman, All-Africa Global Media Inc.
- Hannelie Bekker, Founding MD, Wananchi Programming
- Klaus Bergmann, Director of International Relations, Deutsche Welle
- Graeme Blundell, The Australian
- Jenny Buckland, CEO, Australian Children’s TV Foundation
- Fernando Calvino, CEO/Owner, Señal Internacional
- Catherine Cano, Executive Director News Programs CBC/ Radio-Canada
- Rahul Chopra, SVP Global Head of Video, Newscorp
- Eugen Cojocariu, Head of Radio Romania International
- James Cridland, Radio Futurologist
- Verona Duwarkah, GE: Television, SABC
- Anastasia Ellis, Head of Europe TV, Bloomberg
- Géraldine Filiol, Deputy Managing Director, Eurosport
- David Finch, VP Europe, News Republic
- Marco Frazier, Senior Vice President Global Distribution, AMC Networks International (AMCNI)
- Angela Fung, Phoenix Satellite TV
- Mihai Gadea, CEO, Antena 3
- Lee Gal, Chief producer, i24 News
- Sumit Grover, Director, Pixel Party
- Mohamed Ali Harrath, CEO, Islam Channel
- Sven Herold, VP Creative Development, Shell
- Carlson Huang, Vice Manager and English Program Host, RTI
- Richard Jacobs, Business Development Director, Babcock International Group
- Emmanuel Josserand, Marketing Director, Civolution
- Bettina Klauser, Head of Press and PR, N-tv (Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland)
- Cheryl Knapp, Series Producer, Wild Kratts
- Nathalie Lenfant, Marketing Director, France Medias Monde
- Marcus Metzner, Head of Marketing Services and Communication, arvato Sysyems
- John Momoh, CEO, Channels TV
- Alexey Nikolov, Managing Director, RT Channel
- H Nwana, Executive Director, Dynamic Spectrum Alliance
- Lemi Olalemi, Deputy CEO, TVC News
- Lindsey Oliver, International Media Consultant
- John O’Loan, CEO, iO Media Group Europe
- Nenad Pejic, Editor-in-Chief, co CEO, RFE/RL
- Jonathan Perelman, Vice President Motion Pictures, Buzzfeed
- Helen Stehli Pfister, Producer/Editor, Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen
- Tom Porter, Commissioning Editor, Channel 4
- Libby Powell, CEO, Radar
- Paul Robinson, CEO, Creative Media Partners
- Gillian Rose, Managing Director, PBS Distribution
- Alla Salehian, CEO, TIMA
- Vatche Sarkisian, Director of Program Review, MBN (Alhurra/Radio Sawa)
- Ruth Sloss, Director of Programming, Spafax
- Simon Spanswick, CEO, AIB
- Lek Hwa TAN, VP English Current Affairs, Channel NewsAsia
- Htar Swe TIN, Editor South East Asia and Burmese Service, BBC
The list of judges, with links to their biographies of the judges can be found at theaibs.tv/aibs-2014-judges/.
The AIBs are now in their tenth year and are independent of commercial interest. They attract entries from throughout the world, representing the best of international factual broadcasting. The 15 different categories to be judged cover radio, television and online media across a broad spectrum from single news events to long-term investigation with special categories for children’s programmes, for sport and for coverage of science. The categories also include awards for radio and television personalities of the year.
The winners of the AIBs will be announced at the AIB awards gala on Wednesday 5 November 2014 which will be held at LSO St Luke’s in London.
The AIBs 2014 are sponsored by Eutelsat
Contact
For further information please contact
Roger Stone, AIB
roger.stone@aib.org.uk
T +44 (0)20 7993 2557
AIB, PO Box 141, Cranbrook TN17 9AJ, UK
About the AIB
Established in 1993, the AIB is the international industry association and global knowledge network for the international broadcasting industry– cross-media, cross-border, cross-cultural. With a reach of over 25,000 communicators and media professionals, AIB is a unique centre of information about international broadcasting, covering TV, radio, online and mobile. AIB researches regular market intelligence briefings for its members and provides client-specific consultancy and project support. Members receive an extensive package of services throughout the year. AIB publishes the comprehensive Global Broadcasting Sourcebook and the international media magazine, The Channel. AIB hosts the annual AIB International Media Excellence Awards – the “AIBs”. For more information, visit www.aib.org.uk and theaibs.tv or call +44 (0) 20 7993 2557
About Eutelsat
Eutelsat is one of the world’s leading and most experienced operators of communications satellites. The company provides capacity on 36 satellites to clients that include broadcasters and broadcasting associations, pay-TV operators, video, data and internet service providers, enterprises and government agencies. Eutelsat’s satellites provide ubiquitous coverage of Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia-Pacific and the Americas, enabling video, data, broadband and government communications to be established irrespective of a user’s location.
For more information, visit www.eutelsat.com
AIB | PO Box 141 | Cranbrook | TN17 9AJ | United Kingdom
T +44 20 7993 2557
F +44 20 7993 8043
www.aib.org.uk
3 September 2014
The World Teleport Association (WTA) has opened its global email survey for the Top Operators of 2014 rankings. The Top Operator rankings, published annually by WTA since 2004, are the world’s only rankings of top teleport operating companies serving media, data and voice markets.
Rankings are based on total revenue from all sources and on year-over-year growth. They recognize that, to some extent, every teleport operator competes in the same marketplace – the biggest with the smallest – but that like all marketplaces, the teleport sector has segments in which even the smallest players can compete effectively and achieve strong growth.
From the data provided by its members and other operators, WTA publishes an annual ranking of –
- The Global Top Twenty – based on revenue from all sources and including all operators: from uplinkers to satellite carriers, fiber network operators to systems integrators, technology providers to specialized satcom service providers.
- The Independent Top Twenty – based on revenue from all sources but excluding companies whose primary business is satellite fleet operations or terrestrial network services.
- The Fast Twenty – based on year-over-year revenue growth in their most recent complete fiscal years, and including all operators.
The Top Operators announcement receives press coverage within the industry and provides valuable exposure to the operators included in the rankings. In addition, the Independent Top Twenty are automatically placed in nomination for WTA’s Independent Operator and Teleport Executive of the Year awards, presented in March at SATELLITE.
The Top Operators Email Survey is available on the WTA website. Companies wanting to try for a place on the Top Operators of 2014 rankings must download and fill out the survey, emailing the completed survey to TopOps@worldteleport.org by October 31, 2014. Surveys will not be accepted after this date. More information on the submission process can be found on the first page of the survey document.
3 September 2014
The annual general meeting of the Southern Africa Broadcasting Association [SABA] took place in Swaziland on 29 August, following the organisation’s second Digital Broadcasting Summit, hosted by Swazi TV. AIB CEO Simon Spanswick chaired the second day of the Summit.
Gender equality was one of the discussion points and SABA took the lead when it held elections for its board of directors and the appointment of the organisation’s new Secretary-General. Albertus Aochamub, D-G of Namibian Broadcasting Corporation, was appointed SABA President for a third term, while Ellen Nanuses – also from NBC – was appointed Secretary-General, succeeding long-serving Cecil Nguvauva.
The board elections resulted in four women being appointed:
- Ms Marlyn Garises – Chief Accounting Officer
- Ms Elisa Martin – Director of Programmes, Television Mozambique
- Ms Soondaree Devi Soborun – Deputy Director General, Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation
- Ms Thembi Hlope – Radio Programme Manager at Swaziland Broadcasting & Information Services
Appointments to the remaining positions were:
- Bontle Mogotlwane – Director, Broadcasting Services of Botswana
- Ambassador Dr Benson Tembo – Director General, Malawi Broadcasting Corporation
- Antoine Onezime – CEO, Seychelles Broadcasting Corporation
- Clement Mshana – Director General, Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation
“This is the first time that SABA’s membership has elected women to its board,” reports AIB CEO Simon Spanswick from the event just outside the Swazi capital of Mbabane. “It marks a major shift in thinking on the continent that is not known for gender equality. It’s an important, noteworthy step and the SABA membership is to be congratulated for putting gender equality at the very heart of the Association.”
3 September 2014
The Broadcasting Board of Governors strongly condemns the reported beheading of American journalist Steven Joel Sotloff by the extremist group Islamic State, and the threat to murder another hostage, David Cawthorne Haines.
“The kidnapping and murders of Steven Sotloff and James Foley were barbaric and abhorrent acts of violence against innocent Americans who were reporting from Syria,” said Jeff Shell, chairman of the BBG. “Killing journalists will not silence the truth about what is happening now at the hands of the Islamic State. Information warfare should not be fought with innocent lives.”
These videos were released two years after Alhurra TV reporter Bashar Fahmi went missing in Aleppo, Syria. There has been no word regarding his whereabouts or well-being since then. Shell renewed the BBG’s call for anyone with information regarding Fahmi to come forward. (Source: Press release)
