13 November 2013
Vizrt Ltd. announced today that it has entered into an indicative non-binding term sheet with TV2 Gruppen AS for the purchase of all of the issued share capital of Mosart Medialab AS (“Mosart”), a Norwegian private company active in the field of development and licensing of newscast automation software.
Mosart helps broadcasters streamline their workflow, automating a number of TV production tasks through software. The solution enables the creation of complex production with just a few operators through an easy-to-use software interface. Mosart takes input from the newsroom computer system to control systems and devices, while human resources remain in control and add the human touch.
“I am excited about the possibilities this proposed transaction can bring to Vizrt and our customers. Mosart’s technology is a perfect complement to our smart workflow solutions and will enhance our offering to broadcasters on a global scale. Vizrt continues to innovate and with this acquisition we further strengthen our position as the dominant player in the broadcast software market.” stated Martin Burkhalter, Vizrt’s CEO.
Burkhalter added, “This transaction makes sense for us both strategically and financially. Mosart has shown strong growth and we expect our due diligence to show the acquisition will be accretive.”
“Mosart’s technology will enable us to simplify content production for our current and future customers. The proposed joining of forces will not just add products to our portfolio; it will also enable us to develop new integrated products and workflows that have the potential of being highly disruptive for the broadcast technology market. Integrating Mosart’s technology with Viz Engine, for instance, would offer the market a very powerful and efficient tv-in-a-box-solution,” stated Vizrt’s CTO Petter Ole Jakobsen.
In consideration for the purchase of 100% of the issued share capital of Mosart, VIZRT shall pay, at the closing of the transaction, an amount of NOK 105 million (approximately £10.5 million). In addition, the sellers have an earn-out mechanism should the revenues for the years 2013, 2014 and 2015 exceed certain thresholds.
As part of the transaction, TV2 Gruppen AS shall continue to be granted a license for Mosart’s software, in accordance with the current annual license fee charged by Mosart, of NOK 2.6 million per year for 7 years.
The indicative term sheet entered into is non-binding. The transaction is subject to a legal, financial, technical and operational due diligence review. Assuming the due diligence review is to Vizrt’s satisfaction, subject to board of directors’ approval, agreement on transaction documents, including a final share purchase agreement and receipt of all required approvals, including regulatory approvals, the parties aim to conclude the transaction by December 31, 2013.
1 November 2013
Increased collaboration is at the heart of a new agreement with Radio Netherlands Worldwide, the Broadcasting Board of Governors announced today. The agreement expands on the two global media organizations’ longstanding partnership and enhances their cooperation in the areas of journalism and media training, program distribution, audience and market research, Internet freedom, and others.
“We look forward to developing our relationship further with RNW in support of our shared mission of advancing freedom of information and expression worldwide,” said the BBG’s Director of Strategy and Development, Bruce Sherman. “Wherever we can pursue cost-effective synergies for mutual benefit, we will seek to do so.”
Commenting on the significance of the agreement for RNW, Director General Robert Zaal said, “For an online and social media organization such as ours, an exchange of ideas and cooperation in fields such as distribution and training is crucial. Teaming up is an explicit part of our strategy, and we expect to contribute to and profit from this agreement with BBG.”
The agreement includes a cooperative training program — to build indigenous journalistic capacity and support sustainable independent media — and shared distribution efforts aimed at improving reach to key audiences, particularly young adults.
Projects already in development include an exchange of innovation teams to pursue joint digital media ventures and journalism and media training for an upcoming international security summit.
Sherman and Zaal signed the agreement while attending the annual meeting of the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union in Hanoi, Vietnam.
31 October 2013
Vizrt Ltd. announced today a deal worth worth USD 720,000 for the implementation of broadcast graphics products with a broadcaster in the Middle East. The broadcaster’s parent company has been a Vizrt customer since 2009, and this purchase will allow the customer to share resources, including a common graphics package, templates and image library, with other broadcasters in the group.
The deal includes products for creating a complete news graphics workflow from the newsroom to the control room. In the newsroom, journalists access and edit graphics templates and maps from their native newsroom management system using Viz Content Pilot and the Viz World template-based mapping system. This allows them to easily edit and add graphics and maps to a playlist for a news broadcast. The graphics are then played back in real-time during the broadcast using the playlist control version of Viz Content Pilot in the control room.
Additionally, journalists will also use Viz Ticker3D to create and control messages to be displayed on a live ticker.
The customer purchased multiple Viz Engines, Vizrt’s powerful 3D rendering platform to render all graphics live on-air and provide the journalism staff preview capabilities in the newsroom.
31 October 2013
Up front, in-depth and in tune, Radio New Zealand’s new online network,
THEWIRELESS, delivers multi-platform public service media to a generation of New
Zealanders who have grown up in a digital age.
THEWIRELESS marks a significant break from the past for public broadcasting in this
country with Radio New Zealand using video, text, and audio content to take its
informative, insightful and entertaining storytelling to a new generation.
The innovative online approach developed from an original concept for a youth radio
network which has been kicked around in New Zealand for the past 20 years. But the
time for a traditional radio network has passed says project leader, Marcus Stickley:
“We live in an age where you can tell a story any way you want on one platform – the
internet. THEWIRELESS is online only and has been designed with mobile phones in
mind, as well as tablets, laptops and desktops with stories told in video, photos, audio and
text. Some will be told in two types of media, some will be told in all four, or maybe
more depending on where technology takes us.” “We’ll be bold and up-front, covering stories that ought to be told not just those that are being told by other media”.
Radio New Zealand CEO, Paul Thompson, has emphasised the importance of providing
high-quality, impartial content targeted to the interests of a youth audience and delivered
in a way they prefer to receive it – on smartphones, tablets, and computers. He says
THEWIRELESS is the most exciting innovation from Radio New Zealand in recent years:
“THEWIRELESS is run by young New Zealanders for young New Zealanders.
“This new service is about informing and empowering young people and providing them
with journalism that cannot be found elsewhere. It’s about encouraging informed debate
and helping them have a say in decisions that affect them.” “This is a concept that will evolve over time but it’s a terrific way of bringing the values and quality of what we produce to an audience that we don’t serve well at present “.
www.thewireless.co.nz
31 October 2013
Deutsche Welle (DW) Director General Peter Limbourg has announced a structural reform aimed at making the broadcaster more internationally competitive. The reform will involve staff changes.
On November 1, 2013, Deutsche Welle will combine its two programming departments in Bonn and Berlin under a single director, a post Gerda Meuer was appointed to fill. Meuer (54) is currently in charge of the DW Akademie, Germany’s leading international media development organization. Current Director of Regionalized Content Christian Gramsch (53) will take over as director of DW Akademie. Director of Global Content Christoph Lanz (53) will be leaving DW on Oktober 31, 2013. In a meeting on Wednesday (30.10.2013), Deutsche Welle’s Administrative Board unanimously approved the structural reforms and personnel appointments in agreement with the chairman of the Broadcasting Board.
Director General Limbourg said that with a view to media convergence and increasing challenges in international media markets, DW must streamline its programming. Structural obstacles have to be set aside “in order to provide the best content for our users worldwide,” he added. “Our goal is to further optimize our journalistic content, to give journalists more creative freedom and flexibility and to bring our two broadcasting centers closer together.”Limbourg also noted that restructuring is part of DW’s implementation of a relevant board decision.
Apart from having extensive experience in international journalism, Limbourg said that Gerda Meuer has showcased her management skills by successfully developing the DW Akademie. Her new challenge will involve coordinating the integration of DW’s two programming departments, while reorganizing journalistic work to span the two broadcasting centers as well as a variety of media formats.
The director general said that Christian Gramsch will draw on his experience as a director of multimedia content in his new position at DW Akademie. Gramsch will increase the institution’s focus on the demands of working with varied types of media, Limbourg said. In the last few years, Gramsch has successfully integrated editorial departments for radio and online content and has promoted the production of television magazines at DW in Bonn. He also has years of experience training young journalists, the director general noted.
Peter Limbourg also thanked outgoing Director of Global Content Christoph Lanz “for his many years of excellent work,” adding that as the head of Deutsche Welle’s television division, Lanz has been instrumental in developing and expanding Germany’s international TV broadcasting since 1992. “Particularly pivotal moments in his work were the introduction of Arabic television programming in 2002, along with the structural reforms of 2012 and the expansion of Spanish-language television programming. These reforms significantly contributed to DW’s successful positioning in international media markets and to perceptions of Germany worldwide,” said Limbourg.
In order to facilitate the merger of DW’s two programming departments, Limbourg has established a Change Team, which, along with Deutsche Welle staff members, will help oversee the changes taking place in the coming months.
24 October 2013
As a new member joined its ranks, the Broadcasting Board of Governors today announced a series of restructuring efforts to improve the way the bipartisan board operates.
“The work this agency does is vital, and we must do everything in our power to make sure we as a Board are doing the best we can – not only for our employees, but for the millions of people who depend on the news and information our networks provide,” said the Board’s chair, Jeff Shell.
Shell introduced and welcomed to the Board Kenneth Weinstein, who was confirmed by the Senate in September and sworn in on October 18. He also welcomed Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Douglas Frantz, who was designated by Secretary of State John Kerry – a BBG board member – to represent him at today’s meeting.
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| Governors Weinstein and Crocker at the Oct 23 meeting of the BBG |
Among the changes that the Board adopted is a simplified structure that includes an Advisory Committee and special committees focused on specific strategic issues. Two such special committees were immediately established – one dedicated to defining the responsibilities of and initiating a search for a Chief Executive Officer of U.S. international broadcasting and another to examining the efficacy of shortwave radio transmissions. The Advisory Committee is made up of Governors Shell, Armstrong, Meehan and Weinstein. Governors Shell, Armstrong, McCue, and Weinstein will serve on the Special Committee on the Creation of a CEO, while Governors Armstrong, Crocker, Meehan, and Weinstein now constitute the Special Committee on Shortwave Broadcasting.
With this meeting, the Board began using a consent agenda to adopt items of business that are non-controversial or routine. From now on, Board members will consider and vote on items of business as a group, though any member can request that an agenda item be considered separately. The use of the consent agenda, as well as a revised Board travel policy that was also adopted, were among the recommendations of the Office of Inspector General in its January 2013 inspection report.
The Board also announced the selection of Paul Kollmer-Dorsey as the agency’s General Counsel. Kollmer-Dorsey joined the BBG as Deputy General Counsel and Acting General Counsel in June 2009. Prior to joining BBG, he served as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Global Relief Technologies and worked for a dozen years in the international satellite communications industry. He earned his law degree from the Stanford School of Law.
And after three years with the BBG and decades of distinguished public and private sector service, International Broadcasting Bureau Director Richard Lobo announced his retirement, effective on November 30. Board members expressed their gratitude for his service and leadership during a period of budgetary challenges.
“The agency and, in fact, the country owes Dick a debt of gratitude for what he did at the IBB,” Shell said. “Dick was instrumental in developing the proposal for establishing a CEO to streamline the agency as well as leadership of the IBB during a challenging period of uncertainty and tightening budgets.”
Lobo thanked Shell and the other Board members and read from the letter he had just sent to President Barack Obama: “The proposed implementation of the plan, which I helped formulate, to create the position of CEO and to subsequently abolish the IBB Director’s position creates the ideal time for me to step aside. After more than five decades in broadcasting, I intend to retire and return to my native state of Florida.”
Turning to the latest events affecting U.S. international media, Shell acknowledged the hard work and sacrifice required of BBG employees during the partial government shutdown that ended on Oct. 17. Despite the furloughing of approximately 40 percent of the agency’s federal workforce, programs were produced and distributed around the world uninterrupted.
In addition to the administrative challenges of operating during the shutdown, Shell took time to acknowledge how in recent months, journalists across the BBG’s broadcast regions have been harassed, threatened, and wrongly detained as a result of their work.
The simple act of reporting on public demonstrations or events has brought physical attacks on a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reporter and a Voice of America (VOA) reporter in Herat province of Afghanistan, the detainment and release of correspondents for RFE/RL in Astana and in Minsk, and the arrest and beating of a VOA correspondent in Angola.
In Iran, officials have continued harassment against VOA and Radio Farda journalists and their families, and in an attempt to intimidate the press and control coverage of elections, Azerbaijan’s ruling political party has targeted RFE/RL and VOA broadcasts with complaints of illegal electioneering.
The Board also called for the immediate release of Alhurra TV reporter Bashar Fahmi as well as other journalists being held incommunicado in Syria. Fahmi has not been seen or heard from since he went missing while reporting in Aleppo, Syria in August 2012.
“The people who make up this agency are some of the most dedicated, courageous and selfless people I have ever known,” Shell concluded. “No hardship, whether it is a partial government shutdown, or unjust incarceration can stop the good work of our workforce. And for that we thank you.”
The Board paused to pay tribute to two distinguished colleagues who recently passed away – Jack Payton, an esteemed and accomplished newsman and senior editor at VOA, and Dave Strawman, recently retired manager of the BBG transmitting station in Tinang, the Philippines.
