23 October 2013
BBC Global News announced today a new partnership with Twitter Amplify, the social broadcast network service’s innovative video promotion tool. This is the first Twitter Amplify partnership with a global news broadcaster.
“This new collaboration harnesses our global reach and newsgathering capabilities to bring our advertising partners clever and impressive products,” said James Montgomery, Director of Digital & Technology at BBC Global News Ltd. “Building on the efforts of BBC America’s partnership with Twitter, we’re thrilled to bring our ad partners with us at the cutting edge of news.”
BBC Global News will provide the global Twitter community timely in-Tweet video clips that complement its global newsgathering operation. This partnership offers BBC Global News and its future brand partners an integrated cross-platform tool to reach new audiences on Twitter. BBC Global News operates BBC World Service radio, BBC World News television, and bbc.com/news outside the UK.
“What makes this partnership exciting is the amazing content Twitter users will get from BBC Global News, no matter where they are in the world,” said Glenn Brown, Senior Director of Twitter Amplify. “We look forward to working with BBC Global News to bring these programmes to market.”
BBC.com has already begun production of a new in-Tweet broadcast, #BBCTrending, a new series of innovative short form video broadcasts that will be presented by Anne-Marie Tomchak (@AMTomchak) and will launch later this autumn. The broadcast will give users the inside story behind the latest trending phenomena on social media that day. #BBCTrending is distributed to the 4.8 million followers of the BBC international news Twitter handle, @BBCWorld, and will be enhanced by Twitter Amplify.
#BBCTrending will incorporate three key elements: 1) the BBC’s international social media reach and 24-hour video production operation 2) the BBC’s global newsgathering and monitoring operations, which provide both round the clock news reporting and monitoring of global TV, radio, press, internet and news agency sources, and 3) Twitter Amplify’s innovative real-time video promotion tool.
“Being a part of this new project is thrilling,” said Tomchak. As the face of #BBCTrending, Tomchak will be working with production units across the BBC to identify and build compelling conversations on what’s trending around the world. During Tomchak’s tenure with the BBC, she’s worked on both sides of the camera from producing the flagship interview show HARDtalk to presenting The World’s Newsroom live on the BBC’s international television channel BBC World News. “On Trending, we’re tapping the most powerful internal insight tools and the massive BBC international newsgathering and language operations to decipher why and how trends are happening on social media around the world.”
In April, BBC America signed a similar deal with Twitter Amplify to offer the first in-Tweet branded video synced to hit series, including Top Gear.
18 October 2013
Eurosport Group has agreed a new long term partnership with MotorSport Vision (MSV), rights holders of the MCE British Superbike Championship, to extend their deal past its original 2015 term to the end of the 2020 season. The deal renews exclusive TV and digital worldwide rights for coverage of all rounds of the MCE British Superbike Championship (BSB) live and in HD in all Eurosport’s markets*.
The new agreement increases live coverage of the premier and support classes in the UK specifically, extending to Saturday’s qualifying sessions which will see both the established three stage MCE BSB knockout qualifying and the Motorpoint British Supersport sprint race broadcast live and in HD.
British Eurosport Managing Director David Kerr said, “MCE British Superbikes continues to be one of the strongest set of rights on the channel, so extending the term of the deal and adding even more depth to our coverage is fantastic news.
“Working with a dynamic rights holder like MSV allows us to go beyond the traditional broadcaster relationship and spend time discussing what we can do together in the best interests of BSB.
“Extending the term of our agreement means we can take a much longer term view and invest in more live programming that will deliver premium quality content for our viewers and will raise the profile of BSB and the other series even further.”
Stuart Higgs, Series Director of MCE British Superbikes said, “Eurosport is well known as the Home of Bikes particularly in the UK and MCE BSB has been the cornerstone of that programming for some time. They understand bike racing and the series, have a strong, growing and loyal viewing audience and they understand how we want the series to grow.
“In addition, being part of the Eurosport family means we now have a far wider global distribution, including the USA through Discovery Velocity. Overseas markets are a key consideration for us and it is an area we want to grow over the term of this deal.”
British Eurosport will continue to cover every race of the MCE BSB series live and in HD until the end of the 2020 season, but will now add live HD coverage of MCE BSB qualifying and the Motorpoint British Supersport sprint race on Saturdays (except when races are held on Bank Holiday Monday, in which case qualifying and the sprint race will be on Sunday).
Coverage of the MCE British Superbike Championship continues on British Eurosport this weekend as part of ‘Superbike Sunday’ with nearly nine hours of live motorcycle racing, including coverage from the final rounds at Brands Hatch, with just one point separating leader and reigning champion Shane Byrne from his closest challenger Alex Lowes. Coverage starts at 0915 on British Eurosport 2 HD.
* Eurosport broadcasts in 54 countries in Europe and 17 countries in the Asia-Pacific region
18 October 2013
Kenneth Weinstein was sworn in today as the newest member of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, the independent federal agency that oversees all US government-supported civilian media. On September 23, the Senate unanimously approved the President’s nomination of Weinstein to the board.
“The work of the BBG has never been as important as it is today given the increasingly complex geopolitical climate, multifaceted media environments, and a growing threat to human rights around the world,” Weinstein said shortly after being sworn in. “The work this organization does on a daily basis is impressive, and I am honored and humbled to become a part of such a great operation.”
“We are proud to have Ken Weinstein joining our ranks,” said Jeff Shell, chairman of the BBG Board. “His deep experience in global affairs and public policy will be of great benefit to our oversight of U.S. international media.”
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Kenneth Weinstein
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Weinstein has served as President and CEO of the Hudson Institute since 2011 and has held several other positions in the organization since 1999, including Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Senior Fellow, and Director of the Washington office. He also served as the Director of the Government Reform Project at the Heritage Foundation from 1996 to 1998. From 1994 to 1996, he was Director of Research at the New Citizenship Project. He served on the National Council of the Humanities from 2006 to 2012 and was appointed to the D.C. Advisory Board to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights in 2010. Weinstein received a B.A. from the University of Chicago, an M.Phil. from the Institut d’ Études Politiques de Paris and a Ph.D. from Harvard University.
Weinstein succeeds former Governor Dennis Mulhaupt. He joins Shell and fellow board members Ryan Crocker, Matt Armstrong, Susan McCue, and Michael Meehan.
he Broadcasting Board of Governors is a bipartisan board appointed by the President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate; the Secretary of State serves ex officio. The Board’s next public meeting is scheduled for October 23.
16 October 2013
FRANCE 24 has concluded a new distribution agreement in India and will be available on free-to-air Direct-To-Home service (DTH) DD DIRECT +. Owned by public broadcaster Prasar Bharati, the platform will begin broadcasting FRANCE 24 English version on November 1st.
Thanks to this agreement, FRANCE 24 will also be available on DISH TV basic offer, the n°1 private satellite operator in the country.
Thanks to this new agreement, which represents the most important deployment for the channel on the Asian market, FRANCE 24 will now be available 24/7 to 31 million additional households across the country. These will be in addition to the 7 million households that already receive the channel via cable.
One in every four Indian televised households can now access FRANCE 24 and a special operation will take place in New Delhi in November to mark this major agreement.
For more real time information on FRANCE 24’s distribution worldwide, go to: http://f24.my/ijOOim
9 October 2013
Director General of Deutsche Welle (DW) Peter Limbourg has issued an appeal to the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani “to take serious action on internet freedom.”
Limbourg urges Iran’s leaders to “immediately take steps towards more transparency and put an end to censorship.” The country stands only to benefit, he said, if its people were given a greater chance to express themselves freely and without fearing repression by the state. “Particularly for Iran’s young people, who form the country’s majority, social media are an important instrument for social dialogue and the formation of personal beliefs and opinions.”
Despite the cautious tendency toward greater political and social openness, internet censorship remains on the agenda for Iran, Limbourg pointed out. Deutsche Welle’s website in Persian has been blocked in Iran since 2009. Thanks to the anti-censorship tool Psiphon provided by DW, Iranian users have a chance to bypass the internet blockades.
DW Director General Limbourg noted that website hits in September rose significantly once again. “Over two million users from Iran used the Psiphon software last month to access DW content in Persian, thus getting informed about what’s going on in their own country,” Limbourg said.
If President Rouhani were to end the blockade against dw.de/persian, Limbourg believes it would “send a clear political signal.” Putting an end to the disruption of DW’s TV and radio satellite signals should also be part of the measures to be taken, said Limbourg.
DW Persian homepage: dw.de/persian
(Source: DW press release)
1 October 2013
Regional broadcaster Channel NewsAsia has launched a leading multi-platform
project that would be a foremost reference and solution for aspiring entrepreneurs, fledgling innovators and business owners.
Called Start-UP, the project will see a TV series of four episodes of factual entertainment that tracks the journey of 8 finalists with start-up ideas for businesses. They would pitch for seed funding worth more than S$2 million. Two illustrious Venture Capitalists, Mr Leslie Loh of Red Dot Ventures, and Mr Eddie Chau of TNF Ventures , would take them through the processes of seeking private capital, traps and pitfalls, and also other dynamics of the deal making world. The finalists would be mentored and their ideas tested and incubated over 8 weeks. Mr Loh once said, “Unless your idea or product delivers significantly better value propositions than the leading competitor in your space, you will not win.” Original web content will also be produced and showcased on the Start-UP website, www.thestartup.asia. This web content will capture intriguing insights and unique perspectives of the start up and venture capitalist landscape. This digital site, launched on 1st October 2013, is a long-term feature that serves the community of start-ups and investor to engage likeminded people for every question and answer. It provides
exciting new information, innovation trends, articles, resources and activities for this group of entrepreneurs. Many potential partners have already shown interest in working with the channel on this digital website.
Mr Yong Chung Jin, Assistant Vice President, Channel NewsAsia Marketing, says, “Channel NewsAsia is pushing boundaries in its engagement of viewers and partners. With its established editorial business content on TV and online, the channel is looking to further build on this environment by launching a project that spots and nurtures budding businessmen and innovators, and also inspires business owners and investor. We have
the platforms, including the “go-to” website which aggregates information and activities for the whole spectrum of entrepreneurship, and to make it a systematic and convenient stop for networking and matching of needs.” This project is founded on a comprehensive survey designed and implemented in partnership with the channel’s knowledge partner, Deloitte, over a period of two months. It essentially established the notion of “What do you
think it takes to be an entrepreneur?” – the profile of the would-be or current businessmen, what are their priorities in their ventures, their background traits and their specific outlook on businesses. The analytics helped shaped the direction and emphasis of the project to make it relevant and useful for the participants and the Venture Capitalists.
Mr Philip Yuen, CEO, Deloitte Singapore said, “We see Start-UP as a bold and dynamic long-term project based on a firm foundation of market survey of practitioners and anyone looking for a break to do business. Channel NewsAsia has applied the complete treatment, starting with a serious basic first step of researching on the background, the hopes and psyche of entrepreneurs, and generating a multi-pronged outreach via TV and online. We certainly look forward to seeing startup seekers, investors and venture capitalists using this valuable resource to help address business challenges, or just to network.”
Start-UP is now calling for entries for its TV series. The details are on the website www.thestartup.asia.
