25 June 2012
Vizrt Ltd. announced today that the Company has signed a deal worth in excess of USD 500,000 for the implementation of broadcast graphics products with a television network in Australia.
The deal expands the broadcasters’ already significant Vizrt infrastructure by adding channel-branding capabilities for their HD and SD channels. With Viz MultiChannel, the broadcaster can promote commercial messages on multiple channels while having a centralized workflow on a single desktop.
The broadcaster also purchased several Viz Engines, Vizrt’s real-time 3D rendering engine. The combination of Viz MultiChannel and Viz Engine gives the broadcaster an integrated workflow for triggering graphics, video and images in real-time across every channel.
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 in New York and London use Vizrt systems.
www.vizrt.com
25 June 2012
Media must perceive themselves as providers of education”
“Upbringing, culture and education for all are key to peaceful interaction, to sustainable development and to intercultural dialogue.”
This was the message of the Deputy Director General of Deutsche Welle, Reinhard Hartstein, on June 25 at the opening of the Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum inBonn. Through June 27, more than 1,800 participants from around the world will be discussing the subject of “Culture. Education. Media – Shaping a Sustainable World.”
“Education for all is key to a country’s economic progress and prosperity – which in turn drives the growth of the global economy,” Hartstein said. Conversely, educational emergency leads to poverty and social tension. Even many armed conflicts are rooted in lack of education or the poverty and social inequalities it causes. “So our goal must be to better distribute education opportunities around the world. This is a task of global importance,” Hartstein stressed.
He pointed to the importance of the media. Their task is “to get the public involved, create transparency about education shortfalls and raise awareness of the topic.” Moreover, they “must perceive themselves as providers of education and embrace education as their objective.”
Knowledge and education are “an important resource – for developed and less developed countries alike.”
The Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum provides a venue for media professionals to interact with academics and lawmakers, people from the business and cultural sectors, to share and develop ideas about “how to do even more, even better,” Hartstein said.
Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum 2012
Partners for the 2012 international media congress include the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the Confederation of German Employers’ Associations (BDA), the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK), the German Development Institute (DIE), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the World Catholic Association for Communication (SIGNIS), the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), CARE Deutschland Luxemburg, the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the Commonwealth of Learning and many other organizations.
The Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum 2012 takes place under the patronage of the German Commission for UNESCO. The conference is co-hosted by the Foundation for International Dialogue of the Sparkasse in Bonn and also supported by Germany’s Federal Foreign Office, the European Regional Development Fund, the State Chancellery of the State of North-Rhine Westphalia, the City of Bonn, Deutsche Post DHL, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) as well as the Fritz Thyssen Foundation.
Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum:www.dw-gmf.de
22 June 2012
RT’s “Occupy W@ll Street” game for Facebook wins bronze at PromaxBDA Global Excellence Awards 2012 – the most prestigious award in television design and marketing.
The application, which was launched by RT in February 2012, received the bronze award in the Online/Interactive Games/Immerging Platforms category. RT’s main competition came from the projects by Turner Broadcasting System and Warner Bros. Worldwide, and the channel came out ahead of Universal Networks International.
“Occupy W@ll Street” (apps.facebook.com/occupyws) is RT’s first Facebook application, and it was inspired by the global social and political phenomenon which began in the US in 2011. RT became one of the first channels to give thorough coverage to the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement since its inception.
The game has already attracted attention of the prominent global media. “I was fascinated by RT’s description of its game,” – wrote FT’s Gary Silverman. “The app enables people to leave comments and “occupy” property on a virtual map of New York’s financial district. This way they can “take a stand” or “chat with others across the globe, share their Facebook profiles, invite friends, read news and join the Occupy community from the comfort of their homes.””
RT’s Facebook page has already gained more than 500,000 subscribers – more than any other Russian media outlet, and ahead of many of RT’s international competitors including CNBC, Sky News, Bloomberg, Deutsche Welle and Reuters.
In addition to the “Occupy W@ll Street” app, another PromaxBDA-2012 bronze was awarded to RT in the Design category, for the opening credits of RT Sport News. In this contest, RT beat out two entries by the NBC Sports Agency for the prize.
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 530 million viewers worldwide. RT became the first TV news channel in the world to pass 700 million views on YouTube. In 2010, RT became the first ever Russian channel to garner a nomination for the prestigious Emmy International Award, in the News category. RT streams online at RT.com.
21 June 2012
RRsat Global Communications Network Ltd, a leading provider of comprehensive content management and global distribution services to the television and radio broadcasting industry, announced today the launch of two new Ku-Band MCPC Platforms on Spacecom’s AMOS-5 Satellite at 17East. These two MCPC platforms, Ku-1 (West Central Africa) and Ku-3 (East West Africa), will complement RRsat’s existing focus on providing Direct To Home (DTH) content to Sub-Saharan Africa.
“The African market for broadcast television is growing rapidly,” said Lior Rival, VP Sales & Marketing at RRsat. “Together with AMOS, we believe that with these platforms we will be able to provide leading TV and radio channels the opportunity to reach a continent demanding new television viewing. RRsat is able to cost-effectively bring content from Europe, Asia and the Americas for DTH distribution
“AMOS-5 was designed and built specifically for the African market with powerful beams and superior coverage of Africa’s largest markets. We are excited that RRsat has chosen to bring their MCPC platforms to our Ku-1 and Ku-3 beams,” remarked Eyal Copitt, Spacecom’s Sr. VP Sales, Africa, “DTH has tremendous potential in Africa. These platforms on AMOS-5 represent an important element of Spacecom’s vision as we transform into a multi-regional satellite operator.”
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. Visit the company’s website www.rrsat.com
19 June 2012
Radio New Zealand’s Christchurch earthquake documentary, Broken River, has won a
gold medal in the prestigious New York Festival Radio Awards.
Broken River, received the 2012 award for best social issues or current affairs programme
at a ceremony last night in Manhattan. Produced and presented by Simon Morton and
Richard Scott, the programme included audio recordings made less than a week after the
city of Christchurch was devastated by a 6.3 magnitude earthquake in February 2011.
Simon Morton traversed the city using the Avon river as his route, travelling on a bicycle
from the source of the Avon in the West to Heathcote Estuary, where the river meets the
Pacific east coast, stopping to talk to people along the way and recording their reactions
to the earthquake.
The New York Festival Awards recognise the world’s best radio programmes. Judges
commented that, with entries from radio stations, networks and independent producers
from twenty seven countries, the 2012 awards provided exceptionally strong competition.
The remarkable thing about Broken River, according to Paul Bushnell, Radio New
Zealand’s Spoken Features Manager, is its formal elegance:
“Given the constraints of the recording, which gathered material entirely by chance, the
programme takes the audience through an emotional as well as a geographical journey
through the heart of a city in a time of upheaval. With only a bike and a microphone, and
working alone, Simon gets an extraordinarily frank and open response from many people
who want to talk, who want to have their experiences captured.”
Broken River was a finalist in the recent 2012 New Zealand Radio Awards and was first
broadcast in 2011 on Radio New Zealand National, the top ranking radio station in New
Zealand. *
Simon Morton’s original broadcast version of Broken River can be heard on the Radio
New Zealand website: http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/documentaries/brokenriver
Simon Morton can be contacted at Radio New Zealand:
Simon.morton@radionz.co.nz
Phone: 027 224 5403
18 June 2012
GlobeCast was chosen this month for one of the biggest moments in French television this year — the launch in France of new sport channels beIN Sport 1 and beIN Sport 2. GlobeCast built a comprehensive solution for the channels, including coordinating the various satellite capacities, providing fiber contribution links, and running an IPTV headend for the channels’ distribution.
BeIN Sport 1, which launched June 1, and beIN Sport 2, which will launch at the end of July, are being delivered by GlobeCast in SD and HD to reach satellite, cable and IPTV homes throughout France.
The agreement involves terrestrial contribution links to bring content to the channels’ Paris-area control center, as well as distribution links from the IPTV headend at GlobeCast’s facility in central Paris to all the major French ISPs.
GlobeCast also provides satellite distribution, handling the uplink of the channels and offering a simulcrypt encryption solution, which allows the client to directly monitor the quality of its feeds.
BeIN Sport 1 and beIN Sport 2 are being distributed through GlobeCast on the Astra satellite operated by SES at 19.2ºE and through Eutelsat on Eutelsat Hotbird 13 and Eutelsat 5 West A. The new channels will be carried by the largest pay TV operators in France.
www.globecast.com
