23 July 2012
Vizrt will supply BBC Sport with their HD graphics engines to deliver the broadcaster’s live television graphics for the London 2012 Olympic Games. Working in conjunction with Vizrt are two London-based graphics providers – Mammoth Graphics and deltatre. The two firms will use their Vizrt expertise to design, operate and manage the delivery of the live HD graphics operation, which will be based within the broadcaster’s studio at the International Broadcast Centre (IBC) in London.
The graphics suite will be equipped with 12 Viz Trio character generator (CG) systems, with each of six Trio live graphics systems paired with six Viz Engine HD/SD rendering systems for realtime compositing of HD video and graphics.
Two Trio/Engine combinations will be dedicated to graphics creation for BBC-1, while two more combos will support different events being carried on BBC-3, a channel targeted to a relatively younger demographic. The remaining two Trio/Engine combos will serve as spares for failsafe redundancy. All of the Vizrt systems will have access to all live video feeds coming into the IBC from all the venues, and many live graphics will integrate live video.
“All graphics and templates will have a unique BBC style created in advance using Viz Artist design software including full-screens, lower thirds, and side panels, as well as a visually riveting 3D ‘medals table’ that illustrates the medals count by nation,” said Phil Long, managing director of Mammoth Graphics. “Most of the graphics for nearly three dozen sports—roughly 2,500 events—will be live and coming from the Vizrt boxes.”
Long agrees that a key strength of the Vizrt graphics platform for high-profile events like the London Summer Games is the ability to customize it to support specific applications. For example, Mammoth Graphics collaborated with another live graphics vendor, Kenziko, to create a bespoke device called KineTrak, which will debut on the London Summer Games. KineTrak detects and interprets human movements to allow on-camera presenters to control and manipulate the presentation of live graphics.
“We’re pleased that Mammoth Graphics and deltatre have expressed confidence in our live graphics workflow for the BBC’s multichannel coverage of the Summer Games,” said Petter Ole Jakobsen, CTO of Vizrt. “We take pride in providing a powerful, integrated live graphics workflow that meets whatever graphics needs sport producers and broadcasters may have when covering such demanding live events. We can’t wait to see the graphics innovations they bring to the coverage of the Games.”
16 July 2012
Satellite operator ARABSAT is partnering with Dubai Media Inc. to carry six free-to-air sports channels to broadcast live from July 27 to 12 August during the 2012 Olympic Games inLondon.
Rashed Al Amiri, Director of Dubai Sports Channel, stated that the channel’s viewers across the five continents will be able to enjoy a variety of sports including basketball, handball, gymnastics and other competitions during the London Games.
Eng. / Khaled bin Ahmed Balkheyour President & CEO of ARABSAT, said “We are pleased to develop our partnership with Dubai Media Inc. and to watch its continuous development, and we assure them of our commitment to provide them with the best services available.”
Viewers can watch Dubai Sports channels on the following frequency: –
Satellite: Arabsat Badr – 4 Frequency: 12130 MHz – Polar: Vertical
FEC: ¾ – 27.5 Mb / s
www.arabsat.com
12 July 2012
1106 GMT, Thursday 12 July – the end of an era. That’s when Bush House, home to BBC World Service for the last 70 years, will cease to be its home, the place from where the strains of Lilliburlero have been broadcast on the global English-language service to listeners around the world on the hour, every hour.
The final broadcast will be an English-language news bulletin starting after the 1100GMT time signal. Then, as the transmission light goes out for the last time, the final members of staff will decamp to the brand new extension to Broadcasting House a couple of miles away from Bush where the rest of the World Service is now located.
And if you’re hungry for a piece of nostalgia – or need a good, albeit heavily-used, radio studio, you can bid on the first phase of the technical equipment that World Service is leaving behind. An online auction is being run that will see all the broadcasting kit, plus a good deal of somewhat scuffed office furniture as well as a couple of pianos, disposed of.
Take a look at The Guardian‘s pictorial tribute to Bush House, and take a trip down memory lane on the Bush House Memories Facebook group.
And from everyone at the AIB who has worked at Bush, we say thank you for having us and farewell.
9 July 2012
Adelheid Feilcke was appointed by Director General Erik Bettermann to head of Deutsche Welle’s Culture Department, effective July 1, 2012. Her successor as head of International Relations is Klaus Bergmann.
Adelheid Feilcke (50) joined Deutsche Welle in 1992 and became the founding head of the Albanian Service. She has worked as a trainer for DW Akademie since 1995. She studied cultural anthropology and has been involved in media since 1981. After obtaining her high school diploma, she was an intern at the Schleswig-Holsteinischer Zeitungsverlag and then worked until 1984 as an editor in Flensburg and on the island of Sylt. She subsequently studied music, theater, film and television as well as anthropology in Cologne and as a DAAD scholar in Tirana, Albania. She obtained her master’s degree in ethnomusicology in 1990 and a second degree in cultural management at Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg in 1993. During her time as a student, she worked as a freelance journalist and cultural manager for regional and national radio stations such as WDR and for the State Music Council of Schleswig-Holstein.
Klaus Bergmann (58) has been the head of DW’s EU representative office in Brussels since 2009. He will continue to serve in that function as part of his new assignment as head of International Relations. After studying law at Münster University, he first worked as a lawyer and then as a human resources officer for the American international broadcaster Radio Free Europe in Munich. In 1991, he became head of the Human Resources Department for DW in Cologne and two years later took charge of administration at DW’s production facilities in Berlin.
9 July 2012
Radio Australia – the international radio and multiplatform service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation – is now available 24 hours a day in Fiji on local FM frequencies.
Through Radio Australia, the ABC can now be heard via locally based transmitters in Suva, Nadi and Labassa on 106.6FM, and in the coming weeks on 106.4FM in Ba.
Mike McCluskey, CEO of Radio Australia, said people in Fiji will have access to Radio Australia’s high quality news and talk content from across Asia, the Pacific, Australia and the world. They will also be able to hear some of the best radio content produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. He said the focus of the service to Fiji would be clearly on the Pacific, looking at events, issues and the people of the region.
The availability of these frequencies in Fiji complements existing ABC Radio Australia FM services located in 12 other Pacific and 5 South-East Asia locations.
Radio Australia’s FM transmitters in Suva and Nadi were switched off on April 2009 and since that time Radio Australia has been accessible to audiences in Fiji via Shortwave radio broadcasts and online.
Through dialogue with the Fiji Broadcasting Corporation and the Fijian Ministry of Information Radio Australia’s FM services have resumed.
www.abc.net.au
6 July 2012
– Mike Lattin retained as advisor to the company and the CEO –
– Simon Farnsworth appointed CEO –
GlobeCast Australia today announced the retirement of its Chief Executive Officer, Mike Lattin, who will continue with the company in an important advisory role. The company also announced the appointment of Simon Farnsworth as Chief Executive Officer. The changes have immediate effect.
Farnsworth has worked for 10 years with the GlobeCast Group, most recently as Global Head of the GlobeCast Group’s Broadcast Contribution services.
“This is an excellent growth path for GlobeCast Australia and our customers,” said GlobeCast Australia Chairman Peter Cosgrove. “Simon brings outstanding new knowledge and leadership skills, and we retain the benefit of Mike’s unique expertise, earned over more than 45 years in international broadcasting. Mike has led GlobeCast Australia over the past nine years to become the leading broadcast services provider covering Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands with a relentless focus on our customers that will continue. Mike is a legend.”
“I am delighted to continue with GlobeCast Australia in my new capacity and to assist Simon and his team,” said Lattin. “He is a talented executive with a talented team delivering at the leading edge of global broadcasting.”
“I am very excited about growing our business and building on Mike’s extraordinary achievements,” said Farnsworth. “In the past 10 years, I’ve worked in the United Kingdom and held board roles in Hong Kong, India, and Singapore, and my new home base — covering Australasia and the Pacific Islands — is one of the most dynamic broadcasting markets in the world. I am completely committed to continuing to deliver the excellent service levels that our customers demand.”
Lattin has held senior management and programming roles at each of Australia’s commercial TV networks, held similar roles internationally, and was Head of the Optus Television subscription TV platform. In 2001 he became a Director and CEO of MediaSat, which later merged with GlobeCast Australia. Lattin was appointed CEO of the newly merged company in 2003.
www.globecast.com
