16 January 2013
South Africa’s leading sports and events city Durban has chosen Eurosport for a European promotional campaign during the forthcoming Africa Cup of Nations football tournament.
The tournament, which kicks off on Saturday 19th January, is being played in stadiums across South Africa as part of the legacy of the 2010 World Cup, with Durban hosting six matches, including one of the semi finals.
Durban Tourism is using the opportunity to promote itself as a business and holiday destination to the millions of European travellers following the tournament via Eurosport’s live coverage of every match.
Durban Tourism is pitching the city as “The warmest place to be” and has scheduled 30-second ad-spots leading up to the tournament as a “Road to..” campaign followed by upweighted commercial activity around thematches played in Durban.
Eurosport’s editorial teams will also be visiting Durban during the tournament to film an edition of its PassSport TM magazine show series. PassSportTM is an original programme which focuses on discovering a city in a unique way. The producers will focus on Durban’s climate, outdoor lifestyle, beach activities, World Cup Moses Mabidha stadium and a range of country escapes only 30 minutes from the City Centre.
Phillip Sithole, Head of Durban Tourism said: “We are delighted to partner with Eurosport during the Africa Cup of Nations 2013 and beyond. The partnership is a strategic fit as Eurosport provides a well established platform in the new markets that Durban has identified to promote and market the destination.
“In combining the strengths of Durban, a world-class City and the warmest place to be, and Eurosport, Europe’s leading sports multimedia platform, we form a powerful alliance to promote and leverage Durban as must-see destination.”
Olivier Fisch, Eurosport’s Global Commercial Director said: “We are excited to kick off our partnership with Durban Tourism around our complete coverage of the Africa Cup of Nations, the perfect event to leverage the city’s many fantastic attributes as a tourist destination.
This opportunity allows Durban Tourism to benefit from Eurosport’s unrivalled expertise in the world of sport and its leadership in reaching millions of travellers in Durban’s identified European markets. Our aim is to showcase engaging and inspiring content about Durban to create memorable standout for South Africa’s most vibrant coastal city.”
16 January 2013
The Broadcasting Board of Governors announced today that distinguished journalist and broadcast executive Kevin Klose will be the Acting President and CEO of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Acting in its capacity as RFE/RL’s corporate board of directors, the Board voted unanimously to ask Klose to take on the position for up to one year, starting January 26.
“As a former chief of both National Public Radio and RFE/RL, Kevin is seasoned at leading broadcasters through critical transitions,” said Michael Lynton, the Board’s presiding governor. “There is no more qualified person to manage this key part of U.S. international broadcasting than Kevin. We are thrilled that he will return to public service as we implement our media strategy in priority countries from Iran to Russia and across Eurasia.”
Klose was president of NPR from 1998 to 2008, and was named President Emeritus in 2008. Before joining NPR, he was president of RFE/RL from 1994 to 1997, overseeing its relocation from Munich to Prague. In 1997-98, he directed the International Broadcasting Bureau at the U.S. Information Agency. Prior to this, he was an editor and reporter for The Washington Post for 25 years, including stints as Moscow bureau chief, city editor and deputy national editor. A tenured professor at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, Klose served as dean of the journalism college from April 2009 to July 2012. He will be on leave from his faculty position while serving at RFE/RL. He earned a B.A. from Harvard and is the author of five books, including Russia and the Russians: Inside the Closed Society.
“I am honored to be offered this opportunity and eager to lend a hand,” Klose said upon accepting the position with RFE/RL. “I look forward to re-connecting with many friends in Prague and Russia and to working with the entire RFE/RL team.”
“We are grateful that Kevin has agreed to take on this task, and we thank University of Maryland President Wallace Loh for the university’s swift response and flexibility,” said Dennis Mulhaupt, chairman of the RFE/RL corporate board. “Kevin understands well from first-hand experience the special challenge and public trust that RFE/RL represents. I’d like to thank my colleagues for their speedy work in addressing RFE/RL’s interim leadership needs – especially Susan McCue, the board’s vice-chair, who has spearheaded the effort to recruit Kevin. We look forward to working with him.”
“Kevin Klose’s deep experience in journalism and international broadcasting is unparalleled for this mission,” McCue said. “His leadership and stable hand will build bridges to the future while ensuring that RFE/RL’s long tradition of journalistic integrity and courageous reporting is honored.”
BBG Board member Victor Ashe noted, “Kevin Klose brings years of experience and is the right person to lead the rebuilding. RFE/RL is fortunate to have him as we face and resolve many difficult and serious issues. Thanks to my colleagues for all they have done to bring this about.”
The Board plans to engage a professional search firm during the coming months to identify and hire a successor president.
16 January 2013
beIN SPORT, a global network of sports channels operated by Al Jazeera, launched a Viz Media Engine based workflow for archiving and overall media asset management of its extensive programming content. The system is being used for the launch of two new U.S. channels under the umbrella of beIN SPORT USA – beIN Sport HD, in English and beIN Ñ , in Spanish, both having SAP capabilities.
beIN SPORT USA is a Miami-based 24-hour provider of international sports coverage, currently being carried by Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks, Dish, Comcast, Liberty Cablevision and Direct TV.
The Viz Media Engine selection was made by Unitecnic, a Barcelona-based broadcast and multimedia engineering firm, for beIN SPORT. Unitecnic chose Viz Media Engine based upon the specific technical requirements of beIN SPORT and worked closely with the broadcaster throughout the installation and initial implementation of the system. Unitecnic worked with the Miami-based Imagina U.S., a production and broadcast services provider company, who provided the full operational service for beIN SPORT’s new channels in his own facility.
The Viz Media Engine is integrated with beIN’s Avid Media Composer editing system and its Grass Valley K2 video servers for both import and export. The Viz Media Engine provides access to all media. Using the K2 servers, it manages all of the channel’s playout tasks. WTVision’s Channelmaker playout automation system interfaces with the Viz Media Engine, monitoring playout and triggering transfer request between the Viz Media Engine and K2 servers as needed.
beIN went live with the Viz Media Engine MAM/archiving system at the end of October 2012. The hardware and software installation was completed in just four weeks, making the overall project duration from start to launch just two months. The rapid launch was a critical requirement for beIN SPORT.
Thanks to the Viz Media Engine integration, two new archiving workflows are possible:
From the Avid editing system, content can be manually imported into the Viz Media Engine and then exported (either manually or via an automated request) to the K2 playout server for review before on-air delivery.
- From the K2 server, files can be manually transferred to the Viz Media Engine after broadcast. These files can originate as a direct ingest into the K2 or as a transferred file from Avid.
WTVision, a provider of real-time graphics and channel automation solutions, used the Viz Media Engine APIs, that are REST-based, to integrate the Viz Media Engine with beIN’s traffic and billing software from Broadway Systems.
Critical to beIN’s selection of the Viz Media Engine was the systems’ support of Sony’s XDCAM HD422 and how it handles partial restores. Viz Media Engine include advanced and proven technology to work with partial restore throughout the complete workflow from archiving to restoring media from the LTO tape library.
The storage capacity of the archive system is designed to last beIN well into the future, but the network is already looking into extending the size of the system and adding more groups to the MAM set up.
“The Viz Media Engine had everything we were looking for in a MAM and archive system to launch these important new channels in the U.S. market,” said Marc Andreu, Media Manager, beIN SPORT. “The ease of integration with the other manufacturers, ease of use for our operators and ability to restore XDCAM files were all must-haves to make our facility function as we envisioned. We are so excited to share this way with Vizrt.”
15 January 2013
WRN Broadcast, the international broadcast services company, has today announced the investment of over £1million in its London-based media centre.
The investment, which will be completed by March 2013, includes a dedicated archive environment – with an additional 2 petabytes worth of storage, a new master control room and a significant upgrade to the current MAM and mediator system.
WRN Broadcast regularly evaluates the company’s technology and broadcast practices and the decision was made that certain key areas – including the broadcast data centre and managed services – were strengthened and future proofed. In addition, due to the on-going growth of the business, certain new technologies also warranted investment to increase the company’s future technology capabilities and better support existing clients and the wider broadcast market.
Newly appointed CTO, Dave Travis, who oversaw the investment, commented, “We’ve worked closely with our technology partners, including Evertz, Spectra Logic and Bright Media to continually innovate our broadcast services and keep our technology solutions first class. We continue to respond to our clients needs and will always invest in promising new areas of the business.”
This level of investment will enable WRN Broadcast to continue to offer the most comprehensive and up-to-date broadcast solutions to the market, whilst also supporting the existing clients, which include Viacom International Media Networks, NHK World and Wananchi, the East African Broadcaster.
14 January 2013
BSKYB, the largest UK pay-TV provider, began carrying RT in High Definition effective January 2013.
RT, the global international news network, has switched all of its English-language news broadcasting to High Definition format in December 2012, following the network’s move of its studios to a new, state of the art facility in Moscow.
RT was the third most watched news channel overall in the UK in Q3 2012 after BBC News and Sky News according to BARB, reaching 2.5 million viewers*. A survey by Kantar Media showed that UK viewers tune into RT over other channels due to its “different take on news from mainstream media”, “informative news coverage”, and its range of stories of interest to the audience.
BSkyB – British Sky Broadcasting – is the major UK and Ireland satellite platform, and has been carrying RT since 2006. In January 2013 it began carrying RT in HD.
“The switch to HD is an important step for our network, as HD delivery is not yet offered by many other major international news channels. It’s now up to the satellite and cable TV service providers to make the HD signal available to the viewers,” says Margarita Simonyan, RT’s editor in chief. “We’re very happy that thanks to BSkyB our UK audience can now enjoy the best RT programming in HD so soon after we completed the switch.”
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 550 million viewers worldwide. Pew Research Center’s 2012 study named RT, whose YouTube channel has passed 840 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.
BSkyB operates the most comprehensive multi-channel, multi-platform television service in the UK and Ireland. Over 10.3 million households across the UK and Ireland enjoy an unprecedented choice of movies, news, entertainment, arts and sports channels. The Sky platform offers access to over 500 television and radio channels, plus up to 20Mb Broadband and free evening and weekend calls to UK Landlines with Sky Talk. In addition to their choice of Sky TV channels, all customers can receive more than 330 free-to-air television and radio channels and services.
*BARB Quarterly Reach Report- Quarter 3 2012 (BARB weeks 2293-2305) Individuals 4+ ( http://www.barb.co.uk/viewing/quarterly-channel-reach?_s=4 )
Source: RT press release
9 January 2013
The Broadcasting Board of Governors has just launched a transmitter in Misrata, providing Radio Sawa’s latest news and information to citizens in the northwestern Libyan city. The Misrata FM channel marks the third transmitter launched in Libya since the fall of former leader Moammar Gadhafi.
“Getting a clear signal into Libya is critical,” said André Mendes, the BBG’s Chief Information Officer and Chief Technology Officer. “We’re delighted that we’ve been able to complete the installation despite this period of uncertainty in Libya and now can reach a larger audience than ever before in this pivotal country.”
“Radio Sawa is the most popular radio network in the region and we expect that success to continue as the network grows in Libya. Listeners tune into Radio Sawa to hear all sides to the most important news stories of the day,” stated MBN President Brian Conniff. MBN manages and operates Radio Sawa.
The Radio Sawa network can now be heard in the three largest Libyan cities-99.1 FM in Misrata joins 106.6 FM in Tripoli and 88.1 FM in Benghazi.
Radio Sawa’s coverage of the clashes in Libya won a Silver Radio Award in the 2012 New York Festivals Radio Program & Promotion Awards®. The award-winning report covered the violence in Misrata during the fighting that led to the fall of Gadhafi, highlighting the courage and resilience of the city’s inhabitants who continued their fight for democracy in the face of death and destruction.
Recent surveys by international research companies such as ACNielsen show that Radio Sawa has a weekly reach of more than 13 million adults across the Middle East and North Africa. Radio Sawa is operated by the non-profit corporation, the Middle East Broadcasting Networks, Inc. (MBN). MBN is financed by the U.S. government through a grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors, an independent federal agency. The BBG provides oversight and serves as a firewall to protect the professional independence and integrity of the broadcasters.
