3 April 2014
AIB has welcomed Mobiles Republic as its latest member.
The company’s vision is for future news consumption to become more and more delinearized. Mobiles Republic’s applications are powered by a multi-lingual semantic engine allowing news services to be customized by selecting from and editing 10,000 articles per day provided by 1000 publishers.
Gilles Raymond, the founder and CEO, is an experienced entrepreneur with a history of successful startups in the mobile sector, and his team have extensive experience in mobile content.
“We are delighted to welcome Mobiles Republic to our international broadcasting family. Their innovative application provides an exciting and powerful way for news to be served and customised for different audiences” said Simon Spanswick, CEO of the Association for International Broadcasting
3 April 2014
“News Team” is a 20-part series directed by Josh Silberman, the award-winning producer from Deadliest Catch, Fear Factor and Dancing with the Stars. Silberman and his crew followed RT correspondents around the clock as they reported on breaking stories, from fighting in Syria to protests in Ukraine.
“News Team”, which offers an unprecedented glimpse into the work of field journalists, was produced by an international team headed up by Josh Silberman. Silberman said that he developed an interest in doing a TV show about correspondents “because it doesn’t get any more real, unpredictable or exciting than news, especially in a warzone.” He added that rather than being a series about television or news, “it’s a TV show about people. People who risk their lives to tell the world about what is happening outside of their living rooms.”
Shot in the documentary reality series format, “News Team” follows the stories of seven RT reporters as they travel from Siberia to Syria and from Germany to Ukraine throughout January and February of 2014: Russians Maria Finoshina, Egor Piskunov and Alexey Yaroshevsky; American Margaret Howell; South Africans Thabang Motsei and Paula Slier; and Peter Oliver, an Englishman. Silberman explained his choice of the Russian network for this project, saying that “RT has unique access due to its political and geographic standing. It is also well known for giving young enthusiastic journalists a shot they might not get elsewhere. These were the stories we were excited to tell.”
RT will screen News Team on April 5, 2014 at MIPDOC, the top documentary screening event and conference, and present it at MIPTV, one of the world’s largest TV markets and the leading television content development event, on April 7-10. The show will debut globally on RT International on April 9th.
News Team promo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFm4-nF5IhQ
Josh Silberman was named the 2011 Producer of the Year by the Producers’ Guild of America (PGA). Prior to executive-producing on News Team, he has worked on more than dozen critically acclaimed and highly popular competition and docu-reality series including Deadliest Catch, Fear Factor, Elite Tactical Unit, Flying Wild Alaska, Dancing with the Stars, Deal or No Deal, Ice Road Truckers and Alaska Wing Men.
RT is a global international news network that broadcasts 24/7 in English, Arabic and Spanish from its studios in Moscow and Washington, DC, and is available to 644 million viewers worldwide. RT is the first TV news channel in history to cross the billion views mark on YouTube. RT is the winner of the Monte Carlo TV Festival Awards for best 24-hr broadcast, and the only Russian TV channel to garner two nominations for the prestigious International Emmy Award in the News category. (Source: Press release)
3 April 2014
Intelsat S.A., the world’s leading provider of satellite services, today announced that it has signed a new multi-year agreement with RRsat Ltd., a leading provider of digital content management and global content distribution services to the broadcasting industry, under which RRsat will utilize Intelsat capacity to facilitate and further enhance RRsat’s penetration in the North American direct-to-home (DTH) market.
RRsat will use the power of the Galaxy 19 video neighborhood. Located at 97°W, Galaxy 19 serves as the premier U.S. neighborhood for free-to-air multicultural programming, distributing content originating from 66 countries around the world in over 40 different languages. The satellite offers a Ku-band DTH platform that services customers in the United States, reaching millions of homes.
“In today’s multicultural society, our customers’ audiences are demanding more diverse and unique programming, regardless of their location,” said Lior Rival, RRsat’s Chief Commercial Officer. “As we continue to enhance our presence in the United States, Intelsat’s Galaxy 19 video neighborhood is a natural choice for RRsat as it will enable us to deliver on that demand and further expand our customer base.”
“RRsat’s renewal and expansion of its relationship with Intelsat reinforces the strength and reach of the Galaxy 19 neighborhood,” said Jean-Philippe Gillet, Intelsat’s Vice President, Europe, Middle East & Africa Sales. “Our coverage and high penetration within North America enables customers, such as RRsat to further expand their network and audience.”
Intelsat will be exhibiting at the NABSHOW 2014, the world’s largest electronic media show covering filmed entertainment and the development, management and delivery of content across all mediums on April 7-10, 2014. You can visit Intelsat at the Las Vegas Convention Center in the South Upper Hall, Booth SU 3110.
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31 March 2014
Regional broadcaster Channel NewsAsia launches an all-new SMS news alert service in Malaysia. Offered in collaboration with mobile telecommunication service provider, U Mobile, the SMS alert allows subscribers to receive timely and accurate news content from Channel NewsAsia.
This new initiative with U Mobile seeks to become a key platform for Malaysians to be updated on regional and breaking news, and to actively engage viewers of Channel NewsAsia in Malaysia.
Subscribers can receive three categories of news – World, Business and Asia Pacific – in compact 152-character text messages. A much touted feature is a shortened link which directs subscribers to the full news article on Channel NewsAsia’s website. This is a new element that is not known to be currently offered by other SMS news alert providers in Malaysia.
Mr Woon Chuk Chan, Vice President of Channel NewsAsia’s Distribution and Marketing says, “We are delighted to have a vibrant partner in U Mobile for this SMS news alert service. We now live in a dynamic Asia, where the political and economic landscape is fast evolving. Channel NewsAsia has been providing quick, accurate and in-depth reports for the past 15 years in the region, and this new service is a must-have add-on for the modern business and decision makers who are constantly on-the-go.”
Commenting on the collaboration, Ms. Jasmine Lee, U Mobile’s Director of Marketing says, “Enriching interactive content for mobile platforms is the way to go to better engage today’s consumers, in-line with the exponential increase of smartphone penetration and adoption in Malaysia. Our partnership with Channel NewsAsia will provide our customers the latest news updates within the region from a different perspective, which will add value to their mobile experience with U Mobile, aside from the high quality mobile services priced at market-best rates.”
First-time subscribers can enjoy a free first month trial. Users can dial *118*4*1# to find out more about the service, or log on to the following websites for more details: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/mobilenews/sms
https://www.facebook.com/ChannelNewsAsia
Channel NewsAsia has been providing an English SMS news alert service in Singapore for over a decade since 2003. It also launched a Mandarin SMS news alert service just three months ago in December 2013. (Source: Press release)
31 March 2014
Intelsat S.A. (NYSE: I), the world’s leading provider of satellite services, and telecommunications group, Vodacom (JSE: VOD), today announced an agreement under which Intelsat will provide a managed broadband service to Vodacom. The solution will strongly position Vodacom to offer a differentiated broadband service targeting the small office/home office (SOHO) and small/medium enterprise (SME) users across sub-Saharan Africa.
The growth of SMEs in Africa is viewed as a critical component in driving the continent’s further economic development, job creation and increase in GDP. In order to support that growth, SMEs will need consistent broadband connectivity to help ensure that their businesses thrive in an already complex and competitive landscape.
“Our agreement with Intelsat will enable Vodacom to provide our SME and enterprise customers with high quality, reliable, secure and cost-effective connectivity,” stated Vuyani Jarana, Chief Officer of Vodacom Business.
Under the agreement, Intelsat will provide Ku-band satellite broadband capacity to Vodacom on Intelsat 28 at 32.8ºE and deliver a fully integrated and managed solution, powered by Hughes broadband satellite technology. The solution will enable Vodacom to manage its service platform and determine the service levels while maintaining direct engagement with their SOHO and SME customer base. In addition, the scalability of the platform supports Vodacom’s plan to offer broadband service to millions of potential customers across Africa.
When the Intelsat 33e satellite enters service, scheduled for 2016, Vodacom will be able to seamlessly access a high performance overlay that will provide additional throughput for its busiest regions. The Intelsat EpicNG open architecture and flexible broadband platform will enable Vodacom to leverage its existing infrastructure and enhance Vodacom’s Satellite Connect (VSC) product line. This will result in the delivery of more reliable, secure and cost efficient broadband connectivity to the SOHO/SME market across sub-Saharan Africa, Nigeria, Zambia, Kenya, Tanzania and the DRC.
Grant Marais, Intelsat’s Regional Vice President, Africa, stated, “This new and innovative solution demonstrates Intelsat’s leadership in satellite broadband connectivity. We worked closely with Vodacom to address their future business demands, providing capacity through traditional wide and high-throughput satellite spot beams to locations where our customers need it most. It also reinforces our ability to work with our customers such as Vodacom to anticipate their emerging business demands and tailor our broadband solutions to best fit their business needs and economic model. We look forward to working closely with Vodacom and Hughes to bring the next generation of satellite broadband solutions to the African SME market.”
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31 March 2014
Japanese architect Shigeru Ban won the 2014 Pritzker Architecture Prize in March. He is the second Japanese architect in a row, after Toyo Ito, to win. To mark the occasion, NHK WORLD TV’s “J-Architect” in April features the two laureates.
J-Architect – Shigeru Ban
Shigeru Ban has won the 2014 Pritzker Architecture Prize. While known for innovative architecture, such as the Centre Pompidou-Metz, since the 1990’s he has also devised a model of temporary architecture for disaster victims worldwide. His system of using cardboard tubes of recycled paper has been lauded for being inexpensive and quick to assemble. In the summer of 2013 he used these tubes to erect a temporary church in Christchurch, New Zealand. 30 April, 28 minutes
J-Architect – Toyo Ito
Toyo Ito claimed 2013 Pritzker Architecture Prize. He graduated from the University of Tokyo’s Department of Architecture in 1965 and established his own firm in 1971. Known for his iconoclastic buildings such as the Sendai Mediatheque and TOD’S in Tokyo, he is recently making headlines with new works, such as National Taiwan University and Taichung Metropolitan Opera House. 23 April, 28 minutes
(Source: Press release)
