19 November 2012
The Association for International Broadcasting condemns the attack on 18 November on buildings housing international and local media companies. In a series of rocket attacks, the Israeli military caused extensive damage to two buildings and causing injuries – some severe – to journalists working in the targeted properties.
The offices of the Arabic-language channel of AIB member RT were destroyed and damage caused to a number of Middle Eastern and Western news broadcasters and agencies operating in the same building. This office building and another were deliberately targeted by the Israeli military.
“These attacks were clearly directed at civilian-occupied buildings,” said Simon Spanswick, Chief Executive of the Association for International Broadcasting. “Journalists are civilians and are protected under international law. The planning of the attacks must have identified the fact that a range of journalists work there and were likely to be on duty at a time of heightened tension. AIB calls upon Israel to immediately cease attacks on journalists.”
AIB is making representations to the Israeli authorities on behalf of its members and other international news organisations operating in Gaza.
15 November 2012
RRsat Global Communications Network Ltd., a leading provider of comprehensive content management and global distribution services to the television and radio broadcasting industries, today announced that its U.S. subsidiary, RRsat America Global Communications Network Inc. (RRsat America) has acquired the assets and operations of SM2 Sports & Media Solutions, a U.S. based premier provider of occasional-use international sports distribution and syndication services. SM2 works with many of the major international sports agencies and broadcasters around the world, to deliver their content reliably
SM2’s clients include the U.S. National Football League (NFL), USGA, LPGA, ESPN International, IMG Media, B SKY B, Viasat and others. Among other major accomplishments, SM2 assisted the NFL in delivering its initial high definition (HD) broadcast of the Super Bowl to its European broadcast partners.
SM2’s operations will be integrated into RRsat America and Susanna Mandel-Mantello, the founder of SM2, will join RRsat America. Ms. Mantello has worked in the sports broadcasting industry for over sixteen years, including eight years at the National Hockey League as Director of International Broadcasting. Ms. Mantello will further develop RRsat’s sports and special events (Occasional Use – OU) as well as the 24/7 business in the United States, enhancing its reputation in launching and supporting new broadcasting technologies and ensuring that clients receive the highest transmission quality on all feeds, through access to RRsat’s global network. As a result, RRsat America will be able to more aggressively and effectively compete for new and larger contracts.
Avi Cohen, CEO of RRsat commented, “RRsat has taken a bold step and has entered into a lucrative new activity of Occasional Use broadcast and distribution of live sports in the United States. We see tremendous long-term potential in a fast growing market, and the acquisition of SM2 places us in a very strong position to actualize on that opportunity. In the past, we have worked closely with SM2 and we expect to benefit from strong synergies by bringing SM2 under the RRsat umbrella. We are very happy to welcome SM2 and Susanna to the RRsat family, and we look forward to expanding our U.S. activities and winning new clients for our global digital broadcasting services.”
Susanna Mandel-Mantello, Founder and President of SM2, commented, “I am truly excited to be joining the RRsat family and growing its US and OU business. As a person who has been involved in the industry, from both a client and vendor standpoint, I see the occasional use market not only growing, but also offering more challenges in regards to global transmission and the need for high quality and reliability. By joining RRsat, a global leader in digital content management and distribution, we will be in a much stronger position to provide a true global network, as well as improved customer service and advanced technical solutions, two major qualities that SM2 is renowned for.”
15 November 2012
Vizrt Ltd. today signed a deal worth $306,000 for the implementation of media asset management (MAM) products with ORF -Oesterreichischer Rundfunk- in Austria.
The deal is an add-on investment by ORF to their existing MAM system. The deal will provide additional functionality to ORF’s news gathering process, their control room workflow and will allow ORF to use their MAM as the central storage facility for their still images.
About Vizrt: Vizrt provides real-time 3D graphics and asset management tools for the broadcast industry – from award-winning animations & maps to online publishing tools. Vizrt’s products are used by the world’s leading broadcasters and publishing houses, including: CNN, CBS, Fox, the BBC, BSkyB, ITN, ZDF, Star TV, Network 18, TV Today, CCTV, NHK, The Globe and Mail, Times Online, The Telegraph, and Welt Online. Furthermore, many world-class production houses and corporate institutions such as the Stock Exchanges inNew YorkandLondonuse Vizrt systems.
13 November 2012
The Open Media Summit is DW Akademie’s first open online course. Live video discussions, online resources and social media create a shared learning environment for citizen journalists and bloggers from the Arab world.
From now until December 16, participants in the Open Media Summit can take part in interactive online training sessions on topics such as the responsible use of online information sources, the potential of data-driven journalism and Internet censorship. The main language of the course is Arabic and there is also an English website. Participation in the Open Media Summit (#OMS 2012) is free and it is open to anyone interested from North Africa and other Arab countries.
“Aside from on-site workshops,” says Gerda Meuer, Managing Director of DW Akademie, “the Internet – especially Facebook and Twitter – lends itself to training opportunities for bloggers and citizen journalists.” DW Akademie is testing how e-learning and social media outlets can successfully be combined for shared learning and teaching based on the massive open online course (MOOC) concept. MOOCs are a new educational format currently being widely discussed, especially in higher education circles.
DW Akademie’s Open Media Summit has involved experts from the region and developed the course based on their expertise. “We expect the Internet activists to actively contribute to the educational progress of the participants with their input,” says Meuer, describing the idea behind the project. “Our intention is to bring together the knowledge from the region and pass it on.”
The OMS 2012 is part of a larger project to provide support and training to social media activists from the region and is conducted jointly with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) with funding by Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). It is the first project of its kind inmedia development activities for the Arab world and ties into Deutsche Welle’s longstanding commitment to online activists and citizen journalists. In 2004, Deutsche Welle initiated the annual Deutsche Welle Blog Awards – The BOBs – and was the first broadcaster in the country to launch its own YouTube channels and Facebook pages.
The virtual OMS campus is online at dw-akademie.de/oms2012. In addition, there is a dedicated Facebook group as well as Twitter feed. Reporters Without Borders supports the online event on topics related to Internet censorship.
http://specials.dw.de/oms-en/
http://specials.dw.de/oms-ar/
Join the Open Media Summit on Twitter: #oms2012
13 November 2012
OASYS, the leading developer of IT-based automated playout solutions, has appointed James Ng as Sales Director for the Asia Pacific region. Based inSingapore, he is responsible for strengthening the company’s regional focus by providing OASYS’ local partners and resellers with commercial support directly from within the Asia-Pacific region.
James Ng joins OASYS with 23 years of experience in digital media and production, technical sales, pre-sales and business development roles. He has built a wealth of expertise in system design, high speed storage architecture and converged workflow environment, having led and managed Technical Media Services, a system integration company based in Singapore, for over 10 years.
OASYS has also appointed Mike Kenna as Sales Director for EMEA to oversee commercial operations in the region. As the company extends and deepens its global operations, his role will include managing OASYS direct sales, while also building on the existing network of resellers to maximize sales in EMEA.
Mike Kenna brings 25 years’ experience in technical sales, pre-sales and business development roles with major professional video equipment manufacturers including Quantel, the Softelgroup and Ericsson Television. He is renowned for his strong engineering and technical background coupled with sound business development and technical sales skills.
About OASYS OASYS has been leading the transition to software-based playout solutions for over 20 years. We realised the benefits of using IT and the latest video card technology early, implementing powerful playout software solutions that were easily scaled, maintained and flexible. Our software incorporates the benefits of extensive experience in delivering reliable on-air operation using IT broadcast technology. Our references span the world, and our customers tell us that our software and support really make the difference in their operations. www.oasys.com
13 November 2012
RRsat Global Communications Network Ltd., a leading provider of comprehensive digital content management and global content distribution services to the television and radio broadcasting industries, announced today that it was selected by European Broadcasting Union Network (EBU) to provide digital media content delivery services and be their main hub between Asia andEurope for the coming years. Sports, news and special events, broadcast in both standard and high definition, will be delivered through RRsat’s teleports for the EBU Network.
The EBU Network is a world leading alliance of public service media organizations, with members in 56 countries inEuropeand beyond. The EBU Network operates Eurovision, the media industry’s premier distributor and producer of entertainment, culture and music content as well as top quality live sport and news events such as the Eurovision Song Contest, the UEFA cup, national elections and other major European events.
RRsat will establish bi-directional fiber connectivity between RRsat’s teleport inIsraeland EBU Network’s headquarters inGeneva,Switzerland, and will provide all broadcast services for EBU Network to and fromAsia. Furthermore, RRsat will be responsible for EBU Networks’ occasional use of satellite to satellite transmissions and traffic monitoring utilizing EBU capacity on three different satellites.
Avi Cohen, RRsat’s Chief Executive Officer, commented: “We are honored to have been selected by EBU Network as the main partner for their Asia-Europe digital media content management and distribution. Over the past couple of years, we have invested in our infrastructure in order to provide broadcasting services for sports and other special events (OU services) and this selection is an important recognition of RRsat’s consistent high level of service. It positions RRsat among the leading OU service providers around the globe.”
Paolo Pusterla, Head of Procurement, EBU Network commented: “We have selected RRsat after carefully evaluating all their capabilities, including their teleport services, fiber network, master control room (MCR), engineering team and coordination/booking skills. Our recent visit to RRsat’s new state of the art teleport inIsrael, established our confidence that we have a partner that can address our needs for the long term.”
About the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) Network
The EBU network is the world’s foremost alliance of public service media organizations, serving 85 national media organizations in 56 countries inEurope and beyond. Its mission is to defend the interests of public service media and to promote their indispensable contribution to modern society. It is the point of reference for industry knowledge and expertise. The EBU operates Eurovision, the media industry’s premier distributor and producer of top quality live sport and news, as well as entertainment, culture and music content. The Eurovision satellite and fibre network is the largest and most reliable in the world directly plugged in to public service media everywhere. Visit the website www.ebu.ch
About RRsat Global Communications Network Ltd.
RRsat Global Communications Network Ltd. (NASDAQ: RRST) provides global, end-to-end, content management and distribution services to the rapidly expanding television and radio broadcasting industries, covering more than 150 countries. Through its RRsat Global Network, composed of satellite and terrestrial fiber optic capacity and the public Internet, RRsat provides high-quality and flexible global distribution services 24/7 to more than 630 channels reaching multiplatform operators, Internet TV and direct-to-home viewers worldwide and also offers occasional use services for sports, news and events with a fleet of flyaways and over 10 transportable satellite news gathering services (SNG) units. More than 130 television and radio channels use RRsat’s advanced production and playout centers comprising comprehensive media asset management services.
www.rrsat.com
