20 November 2013
Globecast today announced that it has signed a new contract with longtime customer China Central Television (CCTV), the state broadcaster of China. Under the latest agreement, Globecast will deliver CCTV-français, the network’s French-language channel, on the SES-4 platform to West African viewers as part of Canalsat, a package of more than 130 channels, radio stations, and services. Canalsat is operated by CANAL+ Afrique, the leading pay-TV bouquet for the region. Globecast is providing a complete solution to bring the CCTV channels to the point of uplink, including contribution, encryption, and encoding.
“SES-4 and the Canalsat bouquet are the ideal vehicles for CCTV to reach a large new audience of African viewers in more than 20 countries,” said Philippe Fort, Chief Operating Officer of Globecast. “The new contract builds on our strong and ongoing relationship with CCTV to offer French-speaking viewers in Africa the best in high-quality international content.”
With a global reach of more than a billion viewers, CCTV currently delivers seven of its 30 channels throughout Europe and Africa via Globecast platforms. In addition to CCTV-français, CCTV recently moved four free-to-air channels for the African market to Globecast’s SES-5 platform.
20 November 2013
At an awards ceremony held on the first day of the SATCON 2013 Conference and Exhibition in New York City, the Second Annual Vision Awards announced Arabsat as winner of the “Most Promising Company of the Year” .
The Annual Vision Award was presented by Satellite Markets and Research, Application Technology Strategy LLC and SATCON .”Most Promising Company of the Year” is awarded to the company that has experienced growth in the markets they serve and demonstrated long-term viability of their enterprise.
Eng. Khalid Balkhyour President & CEO of Arabsat stated that ” We are very pleased with this international Award as it comes at the end of a very successful business year for Arabsat on both scales regionally and globally.”
20 November 2013
Nigeria-based TVC News has scooped two (2) major international awards only months after the channel launched.
Reporter Vivienne Irikefe won top prize from over 200 submissions in a competition on the coverage of vaccines & immunisations organised by the International Center for Journalists in Washington DC.
Vivienne’s report focused on Nigeria’s failure to vaccinate all new-born children against polio, the only country in Africa where polio is still endemic, with a troubling increase in recent years. With stirring images and powerful interviews, she drove home the horrors of the disease by profiling a victim who couldn’t get a job because of the stigma of polio. ICFJ President Joyce Barnathan said the coverage “served as a lesson to all on how to conquer devastating yet preventable diseases such as polio.”
In London meanwhile, TVC News was ‘highly commended’ at the 2013 annual awards of the Association for International Broadcasting (AIB) for a report entitled ‘The Accused’ in the Investigative Documentary category. Reporter Katie Mark’s documentary told the harrowing story behind the ritual abuse and even killing of African children accused of being possessed by evil spirits.
TVC News Chief Executive, Nigel Parsons, said: “The awards further prove that the 24-hour pan-African news channel can favourably compete on the global scene. TVC News has come a long way in a short time, and these awards are recognitions of the fantastic achievements of everyone at the channel.”
15 November 2013
Arab Satellite Communications Organization (Arabsat) has announced today that within its strategic plans to support and develop TV broadcasting for its customers, a transition plan will be performed for load distribution between Badr-4, Badr-5 and Badr–6 Satellites, in order to accommodate the growing demand for TV broadcast services on Arabsat exclusive orbital position 26° degree East and to meet the increasing marketing and operational requirements to attract new customers.
The following table shows the new frequencies for some of these TV channels:
|
Channel
|
Dish
|
Frequency
|
Symbol Rate
|
Polarity
|
Code Rate /FEC
|
|
Russia Today-HD
|
BADR-5
|
10730 MHz
|
27500
|
H
|
3/4
|
|
Tunis 1
|
BADR-4
|
12072 MHz
|
27500
|
H
|
3/4
|
|
Tunis 2
|
BADR-4
|
12072 MHz
|
27500
|
H
|
3/4
|
|
Hannibal
|
BADR-4
|
12072 MHz
|
27500
|
H
|
3/4
|
|
Nessma TV
|
BADR-6
|
11785 MHz
|
27500
|
V
|
3/4
|
|
Nessma K.TV
|
BADR-6
|
11785 MHz
|
27500
|
V
|
3/4
|
|
Algeria A3
|
BADR-6
|
11747 MHz
|
27500
|
V
|
3/4
|
|
Cartoon Network Arabia
|
BADR-6
|
11747 MHz
|
27500
|
V
|
3/4
|
15 November 2013
The Eurosport Group has signed exclusive live TV and digital rights in 36 of its European territories* for the next two editions of the annual FIFA Club World Cup, held on 11-21 December 2013 and 10-20 December 2014 in Morocco.
All matches, of both tournaments, will be broadcast on Eurosport France and Eurosport 2 in 35 northern, eastern and central European territories. Viewers can enjoy the same broadcast on internet and mobile with the Eurosport Player online simulcast TV service.
The annual FIFA Club World Cup pits the club champions from FIFA’s six continental confederations and the host country league against each other for the crown of world football club of the year.
This year the 10th edition in Morocco includes Bayern Munich and South American Champions Atletico Mineiro, and will feature stars such as Frank Ribery, 2013 UEFA Best Player, and Ronaldinho, 1995 Golden Ball winner.
Last year’s tournament was won by Corinthians (1-0 versus Chelsea). Past winners include Barcelona, Inter Milan, Manchester United, AC Milan and Sao Paolo.
15 November 2013
From January 1, 2014, Dr. Alexander Kudascheff will be editor-in-chief of Deutsche Welle (DW). Kudascheff, who currently heads the Berlin studio, will take charge of DW’s television, radio and online content.
Director General Peter Limbourg said: “This is a further step towards streamlining journalistic content across all media, which will strengthen Deutsche Welle’s profile as an information provider in the international media market.” On November 1, DW already merged its two programming departments in Bonn and Berlin into one, which is now managed by a single director of programming.
Since 2007, Kudascheff has been in charge of DW’s Berlin studio and at the same time acted as a deputy editor-in-chief. Born in Buenos Aires to a Russian father and a German mother in 1951, Kudascheff studied philosophy, history, politics and Islamic studies in Munich, Hamburg and Cologne. After completing a journalistic traineeship, he initially worked in the Middle East department at Deutsche Welle. He later was in charge of reporting on domestic policy, then became chief reporter and finally editor-in-chief of the German-language radio programming before being appointed as head of DW’s studio in Brussels in 1998.
Director of Programming Gerda Meuer commented: “I am very much looking forward to working with Alexander Kudascheff, whose extensive experience as a radio, television and online journalist will foster the process of streamlining DW’s content.” Meuer thanked the outgoing Editors-in-Chief Dagmar Engel (53) and Ute Schaeffer (46) for their excellent work.
Dagmar Engel will retain her status as an editor-in-chief in her new position as head of DW’s Berlin studio. Previously, she led Deutsche Welle’s TV news service for 15 years and was editor-in-chief of overall TV programming for 12 years.” Dagmar Engel was instrumental in preparing and carrying out the successful reform of DW’s TV programming. Ever since, DW has been available to viewers around the world in four languages and on six channels. Engel’s biggest achievements also include the expansion of what is now a 24-hour Spanish TV channel,” said Meuer. Before she became editor-in-chief and head of the news service, Engel had worked in DW’s studio in Washington D.C. for two years. In the Berlin studio, Engel is set to expand international reporting on German politics and on the bilateral relationships between Germany and other countries.
According to Meuer, the new position the outgoing Editor-in-Chief Ute Schaeffer will take at DW is still being discussed. Schaeffer has “strengthened DW’s regionalized programming and shaped its multilingual online content journalistically,” Meuer said.
