28 February 2011
The Association for International Broadcasting, the industry association for international TV, radio, mobile and online broadcasting, has expressed its concern at the continuing disruption to transmissions of a number of its members.
Deliberate, harmful Interference has been noted to the satellite transmissions of Alhurra, Al Jazeera and Deutsche Welle since unrest began in a number of North African and Middle Eastern countries. It is believed that much of the current jamming originates from the Tripoli area of Libya where the Gaddafi regime continues to control much broadcasting, intelligence and communications infrastructure.
“Deliberate, harmful interference – or jamming – has been something that international broadcasters have had to contend with for decades,” says Simon Spanswick, AIB CEO. “Today, the jamming signals are being used against satellite TV services from a range of broadcasters serving audiences in the North Africa and Middle East regions. This restricts access to free and unbiased news and information by people who are desperately in need of this. AIB condemns the interference and calls on any agency involved in jamming satellite signals to desist immediately.”
International broadcasters such as Alhurra and Al Jazeera have established additional satellite feeds to ensure continued access to news and current affairs programming across the region:
Alhurra, which has suffered interference to its Nilesat TV channel, has opened a new frequency on Nilesat 7o West on downlink frequency 11.296 MHz, horizontal polarisation, FEC 5/6 and symbol rate 27500.
Al Jazeera English can be seen on Nilesat 7o West on downlink frequency 12015, vertical polarisation, FEC 5/6, symbol rate 27500.
Al Jazeera Channel can be seen on Nilesat 7o West on downlink frequency 11555, vertical polarisation, FEC 3/4, symbol rate 27500.
Jamming has also affected broadcasts to Iran. Deutsche Welle and Voice of America have suffered extensive jamming of satellite programming during February as popular uprisings developed. It is presumed that Iranian authorities are seeking to prevent news of the revolts from international media reaching the country’s citizens.
“AIB will continue to monitor the situation and assist its members to counteract the attempts to block their programmes,” continues Spanswick. “The attempts to silence news broadcasters demonstrate very clearly the impact that international broadcasters have and the fear felt by dictators when uncensored news is available to their citizens.”
23 February 2011
The latest AIB industry briefing has been published. Delivered to the in-boxes of more than 25,000 media leaders globally, the regular industry briefings offer snapshots of developments across the world’s media industry.
23 February 2011
Poland’s TVN Agency is ready to provide services for the first anniversary of the crash of the presidential plane in Smolensk and the Beatification of Pope John Paul II on May 1st, 2011.
Services include: live stand-up positions and multi-format tape playout facilities in Smolensk and Vatican City; services in Poland include: live stand-up positions, studios in Warsaw and regional TVN offices, multi-format tape playout facilities, fully equipped SNG trucks and OB-vans and a wide range of ENG equipment for rent, multi-language speaking ENG crews for hire, production support, editing facilities.
Using the Warsaw Teleport with a connectivity to the global fibre network operated by Genesis Networks/ Global Crossing, TVN Agency is able to offer tailor-made solutions for all kinds of transmissions required.
TVN Agency is a supplier of news and archive video content using the resources of TVN Groups television channels. In the TVN library clients can search for archive footage related to the tragedy in Smolensk as well as to the beatification of Pope John Paul II. Live coverage of particular events will also be available upon request.
21 February 2011
Results of a new poll of Egyptians in Cairo and Alexandria show that 25 percent of respondents tuned into Alhurra to follow the recent uprising in Egypt. The telephone survey was conducted during the networks 18 days of live comprehensive coverage of the historic events in Egypt.
The poll, commissioned by the Broadcasting Board of Governors, focused on how Egyptians in Cairo and Alexandria consumed media during the recent protests in Egypt. Results show that Egyptians turned heavily to satellite television to follow the events in their country during the demonstrations. Although the pan-Arab channel Al Arabiya was the most widely watched, surpassing Egyptian State TV, Alhurra TV reached a large audience during this period, with a quarter of all respondents saying they had used the station to follow the events. The results also showed there was substantial use of communications methods such as text messaging, social networking, or email; in spite of Egyptian authorities attempts to block these technologies.
The survey results confirm what we had been hearing throughout the last three weeks, that Alhurra was a prominent source of news and information for the Egyptian people, stated MBN President Brian Conniff. This is also a testament to Alhurras excellent journalists who covered this story, despite threats against them.
Throughout the coverage of the events in Egypt, Alhurra correspondents were in the streets of Cairo and Alexandria providing viewers with a firsthand account of the stories of the protesters and their unwavering desire for reform. Alhurra also brought the American perspective on the crisis; both the official Administration position as well as reaction from diverse voices throughout the public policy community. The networks comprehensive coverage culminated in being the first to report that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak would resign and hand over power to the Egyptian Army.
The phone survey, conducted between Feb. 4-10, 2011, consisted of 500 randomly selected adults (age 15+) in the cities of Cairo and Alexandria. A complete copy of the survey can be found here.
Recent surveys by international research companies such as ACNielsen show that Alhurra has consistently averaged approximately 26 million weekly viewers for the last three years. Alhurra 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 (BBG), an independent federal agency. The BBG serves oversight and as a firewall to protect the professional independence and integrity of the broadcasters.
21 February 2011
Voice of Americas popular Farsi language television program Parazit breaks with its satirical and sometimes comic format this week, to discuss the young Iranian pro-democracy demonstrators who died after being shot at Mondays protests in Tehran.
Parazit co-creators Kambiz Hosseini and Saman Arbabi learned Tuesday that one of the pro-democracy protesters who died this week was a Facebook friend and fan of their show, Mohammad Mokhtari.
Kambiz, the host of Parazit, says this weeks show will be different because, we decided that it was impossible to ignore what happened to our friend and there is nothing funny about what happened on Monday. We have lost a member of our family.
The Facebook page of 22-year-old Mohammad Mokhtari shows he was an avid fan of the satirical weekly program, which usually points a comic finger at the dark side of Iranian politics. Just hours after Parazits last show was posted on Facebook, the young man had clicked the like button and shared the program with his friends, who have been leaving expressions of sympathy on his Facebook page.
This weeks program features an exclusive interview with the brother of another young pro-democracy supporter who was shot and killed on Monday. In the interview he tells VOA that his slain brother was a supporter of the pro-democracy movement and opposed the Iranian government.
Also on Fridays Parazit, an interview with exiled former founding father of Irans Revolutionary Guard and now government critic, Mohsen Sazegara, and Newsweek journalist Maziar Bahari, who was trying to cover the Iranian election in 2009 when he was jailed for several months.
Parazit, which is produced at the Washington studios of VOAs Persian News Network (PNN) is webcast and broadcast by satellite to Iran, where it is one of the countrys most popular shows. The title, Parazit, means static in Farsi, a reference to Iranian government efforts to jam VOA broadcasts and websites. Millions of the shows fans use proxy servers to access the program through social media sites like Facebook and YouTube. In the last month, Facebook recorded more than 20 million impressions on Parazit’s page.
21 February 2011
Vizrt Ltd., a world-wide supplier of production tools for the digital media industry, provided a complement of sports graphics solutions to FOX Sports for coverage of the NFLs Super Bowl XLV, held Sunday, February 6th, at Cowboy Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
FOX Sports began using Vizrt at the beginning of the 2010 NFL season and deployed multiple Viz Trio and Viz Engine systems for the Super Bowls expanded coverage. The new system proved a huge score for the broadcaster.
We were given an incredible opportunity to display our graphics throughout one of the most stunning facilities in the world on Super Bowl Sunday. Vizrt enabled us to create elegant graphics, incorporating them into our pre-game by displaying graphics in Jumbotrons outside the stadium, in our booth displayed on an LED backdrop, and of course within our on-air presentation said Zac Fields, Director of Remote Graphics, FOX Sports.
FOX Sports has embraced Vizrt systems based upon the softwares superior capabilities, said David Jorba, Senior Vice President, Operations, Vizrt Americas. The speed with which it can make production changes and its inherent flexibility make the Vizrt system a winner with FOX Sports.
We owe a huge thank you to our Vizrt contacts for their incredible support during the Super Bowl production, said Gary Hartley, Executive Vice President/Creative Director, FOX Sports. The Vizrt presentation was seamless. In all, I believe it was one of the most visually impressive Super Bowls ever.
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 latest addition to its portfolio is Adactus’ software platform enabling delivery and presentation of adapted multimedia content for mobile terminals, such as smart phones, tablet PCs and smart TVs.
Vizrt’s product suite is used by the world’s leading broadcasters, publishing houses and telecom operators, including: CNN, CBS, Fox, BBC, Sky, ITN, ZDF, Star TV, Network 18, TV Today, CCTV, NHK, The Globe and Mail, The Telegraph, Welt Online, Etisalat and Telia Sonera. Furthermore, many world-class production houses and institutions, including both the New York and London Stock Exchanges, utilize Vizrt solutions.
