13 March 2013
arvato Systems, a global IT leader offering integrated software solutions for broadcast management and media asset management, announced it has been selected by Rogers Media to provide a powerful broadcast management solution. Joining the list of arvato Systems’ customers in North America, the company is integrating its rights management, program scheduling and advertising sales processes with arvato Systems’ product suite.
arvato Systems’ powerful broadcast management solution enables broadcast and media companies to integrate rights management, program scheduling, and advertising sales in one IT solution. The professional tools improve the end-to-end workflow and enable departments to work together more effectively, so that they can better serve their clients and take advantage of new opportunities in the changing media landscape.
The decision to use the arvato Systems solutions was made in 2011 after a rigorous and comprehensive evaluation process, which included almost 2,000 individual requirements. Last year, The Biography Channel, FX Canada, OLN and G4 transitioned to the arvato Systems products S4Rights, S4Schedule, and S4AdSales. Further to the successful transition of these specialty channels, Rogers will be rolling out the arvato Systems solutions to OMNI Television, Sportsnet and City in 2013.
“We are delighted that Rogers selected our integrated broadcast management solution,” said Christian Schneider, VP Corporate Sales at arvato Systems S4M. “The benefits offered by our product suite will bring them renewed success and new business opportunities.”
About arvato Systems
arvato Systems is a systems integrator with a solid reputation. We not only implement standard software, but also offer tailor-made, industry-specific and individually developed solutions. More than 2,500 dedicated employees at 25 sites throughout the world are always there for their customers. As part of the arvato network, a leading global BPO provider belonging to Bertelsmann, we have the unique capability to create entire value chains and combine IT with other arvato services to deliver an integrated service offer from one source. The strength of arvato Systems lies in the intelligent combination of systems integration and planning, operation and support.
For the broadcast and new media industry we offer integrated software solutions for broadcast management and media asset management. So far, the systems are being used in more than 30 countries worldwide.
Our customers appreciate the way we bring in-depth industry know-how, cross-platform expertise, a true partnership approach, and genuine entrepreneurial spirit to the table. Our solutions pave the way for your success. www.arvato-systems.com (Source: Press release)
13 March 2013
The World Teleport Association (WTA) announced that Bill Tillson, Co-CEO of Encompass Digital Media, has been named its 2013 Teleport Executive of the Year for the second consecutive year, a first in the 18 year history of the award. Mr. Tillson will be honored during WTA’s Teleport Awards for Excellence luncheon on 19 March during SATELLITE 2013. The Teleport Executive of the Year award is presented to an individual for demonstrated entrepreneurship, leadership and innovation in the development or operation of a teleport-based business.
According to the association’s Awards Committee, Mr. Tillson’s second consecutive award was due to the impressive growth Encompass has achieved through a series of acquisitions and strategic alignments by Mr. Tillson, beginning with the purchase of Andrita Studios in Los Angeles, and continuing through the company’s most recent acquisition, Teleport Internacional Buenos Aires (TIBA), in November of 2012. The Teleport Executive of the Year is determined by the WTA’s board of directors, who evaluate the CEO or leading executive among the associations “Fast 21” group of teleport operators for that year.
With teleport facilities and technical personnel in Atlanta, Buenos Aires, London, Los Angeles Metro, Minneapolis, New York Metro and Singapore, Encompass has succeeded where many other companies have failed: growing from a small teleport operator to a global leader in digital media services.
“Growth by acquisition has a rocky track record in our industry,” said WTA executive director Robert Bell, “with acquirers too often not fully understanding what they are buying and how the pieces being assembled can add up to more than the sum of the parts.”Bell added, “Bill Tillson deeply understands this business and how to apply financial leverage and clear strategic direction for success.”
During the 2013 Teleport Awards for Excellence luncheon ceremony, hosted by SES, WTA will also honor its Independent Teleport of the Year and Teleport Technology of the Year. The three finalists for these two major awards were announced on 27 February. The 18th annual Teleport Awards for Excellence luncheon begins at noon on the 19th of March. WTA’s Director of Development, Lou Zacharilla, will host the event for the 17th time. The luncheon is free to WTA members who register. Attendance is also available for a small cost to non-members. Registration is available online at www.worldteleport.org.
13 March 2013
GlobeCast today announced that it has signed a multiyear contract with Arise News, a newly launched global 24-hour TV network that will deliver news and current events programming to audiences across Africa and Europe. GlobeCast will provide full HD playout, uplink, and satellite capacity for Arise News’ HD channel, Arise News HD, scheduled to launch today.
“For the launch of our HD service, we needed a service provider with global reach that will enable us to distribute to any platform, anywhere, as we continue to grow. We also wanted to work with a single supplier that could provide us with a complete solution rather than a simple service,” said Nduka Obaigbena, Founder of Arise News. “With its unique ability to meet these requirements and world-class reputation for quality of service, GlobeCast is the ideal partner for Arise News.”
GlobeCast will initially provide a full HD service for Arise News HD with uplink to one of its newly acquired fleet of Astra 2G transponders for delivery toU.K.viewers via the Sky platform. Soon, GlobeCast will uplink the service to the Hot Bird satellite for distribution to DTH and cable headends inEurope. Next year, GlobeCast will be working with the channel to facilitate further expansion of the channel in Europe and to audiences in theU.S.andAfrica.
Arise News aims to become a global media organization reflecting the experiences of underserved communities, championing the voices of the African diaspora across all continents, and engaging citizens of the world. In addition to the U.K., Arise News will operate bureaus in New York;Lagos,Nigeria; and Johannesburg,South Africa; the network has plans to roll out additional news bureaus in Washington,D.C.; Dakar,Senegal; Nairobi,Kenya; Dubai,United Arab Emirates; Rio de Janeiro; Beijing; New Delhi; and Los Angeles.
“Arise News is poised to fulfill a vital role in the international broadcasting community by reporting global news and current affairs through the eyes of communities that are often ignored by the mainstream media,” said Juliet Bayliss, Sales Director at GlobeCast U.K. “We are very pleased to be a key part of this effort, and we look forward to working with Arise News as it builds a foundation for continued expansion.”
6 March 2013
Access to arabic.rt.com, the site of Rusiya Al-Yaum, RT’s Arabic channel, has been restricted in Libya. As a result, online traffic coming from Libya has dropped by 98%.
“We are addressing the situation in the most urgent manner possible. We have sent inquiries to all government agencies in Libya to find out the reasons why the site is being blocked. RT is doing everything it can to restore full accessibility to what is one of the main news resources in the country and the region,” said Margarita Simonyan (left), RT’s editor in chief.
In December 2012 Rusiya Al-Yaum’s website was ranked in the top three online TV channels in the Arab world by Forbes Middle East. The site, arabic.rt.com, recorded more than 50 million visitors in a year and the highest new visit rate amongst the top three channels. Forbes used data from Google Analytics in its rankings.
Rusiya Al-Yaum is an award-winning news channel that began broadcasting from Moscow in 2007. As of December 2013, Rusiya Al-Yaum, alongside all of RT’s other channels, has been available in the HD format. The channel is available to more than 350 million viewers across Middle East, North Africa and Europe. According to a Nielsen study, more than 5 million people watch Rusiya Al-Yaum in Syrian, Lebanon, Kuwait, UAE, Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia*.
RT is a global international news network that broadcasts in English, Arabic and Spanish from its studios in Moscow and Washington, DC, and is available to 630 million viewers worldwide. Pew Research Center’s 2012 study named RT, whose YouTube channel has passed 940 million views, as the largest provider of news video footage on the world’s largest video sharing platform. RT is the only Russian TV channel to garner two nominations for the prestigious Emmy International Award.
*Monthly audience
6 March 2013
The Association for International Broadcasting (AIB) today condemned attempts that are being made to interfere with the broadcasts of international broadcasters on short wave in the Asia region.
English-language broadcasts from the BBC World Service, Radio Australia and Voice of America beamed towards China are being deliberately interfered with by the jamming of a number of frequencies. Such jamming makes it difficult or sometimes impossible to listen to the broadcasts that include news, current affairs, science and entertainment.
Research undertaken by the broadcasters and by independent monitors in the Asia region indicate that the source of the jamming is within the People’s Republic of China.
“AIB condemns this latest interference to the broadcasts of the BBC, ABC Radio Australia and Voice of America,” said Simon Spanswick, chief executive of the Association for International Broadcasting. “Free access to information is a universal human right, and this interference is preventing audiences based within China to hear news from outside the country. It comes at a time when China’s own international broadcasters – on radio and television – are expanding rapidly around the world. They do not suffer from attempts by other nations to silence them. AIB calls on China to cease its jamming activities.”
Broadcasts in Mandarin from broadcasters including the BBC, Radio Free Asia and Voice of America have been interfered with for many years. This is the first time that English-language services have been targeted in such a widespread way.
AIB is lodging protests with the Chinese Foreign Ministry and its Missions in Canberra, London and Washington DC.
Read the press release here.
21 February 2013
RT’s footage of the Siberian meteor blast became the most watched video of the phenomenon on YouTube.
The blast, which hit Russia’s Chelyabinsk region on the morning of February 15, became the most watched video event of all time with 138 million views, and the fastest video event ever to hit 100 million views, according to VideoMeasures, an online measurement company. More than 400 videos across several online platforms were tracked in this calculation.
RT’s montage of several eyewitness videos attracted a record-breaking 28+ million views in just five days on the news network’s YouTube channel. Overall, RT’s videos of the meteor event have already collected more than 45 million views, bringing its YouTube channel within a striking distance of the 1 billion total views mark.
RT has previously set a YouTube record for the most watched news event video of 2011 with footage of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. Pew Research Center’s 2012 study named RT as the largest provider of news video footage on YouTube, the world’s largest video sharing platform.
The New York Times noted that “thanks to YouTube and sites like it, viewers around the world could see the meteor from dozens of angles,” particularly highlighting “the most-viewed of all the videos, uploaded by the cable channel Russia Today”. Mashable, a technology- and social media-focused news blog, dubbed RT’s “stunning and terrifying” video “the clear winner” among the meteor event footage. Mashable also noted that all the combined meteor videos exhibited “the vastest rate of viral growth ever seen for an online video event” – beating such phenomena as PSY’s “Gangnam Style,” Kony 2012 and Susan Boyle’s “I dreamed a dream.”
RT is a global international news network that broadcasts in English, Arabic and Spanish from its studios in Moscow and Washington, DC, and is available to 630 million viewers worldwide. RT is the only Russian TV channel to garner two nominations for the prestigious Emmy International Award.
