12 August 2010
On August 4 Egyptian company Nilesat, a leading satellite operator in the Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf, launched the Nilesat 201. The new satellite will transmit 300 additional television channels and bring HDTV and 3D television to the region, as well as carrying IPTV and broadband services.
The Nilesat 201 will allow hundreds of new media channels to be delivered to 40 million households in the region, adding to the existing 560 TV and 100 radio channels already available. Wide coverage is ensured as a result of uplink stations in Cairo, Dubai, Amman, Doha, Riyadh, and Beirut.
Anas El Fekky, Egyptian Minister of Media, said, This new satellite offers a tremendous opportunity to increase the availability on broadcasting and communications services in Egypt. We Egyptians are already proud to have one of the most diverse and vibrant media landscapes in the region, with over 500 independent newspapers, magazines and journals in the printed press alone. The Nilesat 201 will help us to bring even more choice and quality of media to the Egyptian people. This step is important as it shows Egypts ability and desire to lead the entire region in media, as it does in other fields such as information technology, encompassing all new tools of globalisation and communications. Egypt will continue to play a pioneer role to propel the region to greater heights of modernity.
General Ahmed Anis, CEO of Nilesat, added: Nilesat 201 will make a significant contribution to boosting the development of the dynamic broadcasting markets in the Middle East and North Africa.
The Nilesat 201 is the third satellite to be owned by Nilesat and was developed in response to the huge demand and market growth of TV channels in the MENA region. The project cost around US$237m and the satellite has a design life of around 15 years. The Nilesat 201 is launched from Korou, French Guyana, by the Ariane space launcher and was manufactured by French company Thales Alenia Space.
12 August 2010
Pharos announces a major extension of training support at its UK headquarters in Reading. Managed by technology specialist Elaine Jarvis, the expanded resource is geared to providing hands-on training at Pharos offices or at customer sites.
Elaine joined Pharos recently from Viasat Broadcasting. She commenced her broadcast career in 1979 as an on-air assistant at BCTV in Vancouver, progressing in 1983 to senior video tape engineer at TV-AM in London, to IndiEdit as an editor in 1988 and to Viasat in 1994 as a transmission controller.
“Pharos produces a highly coordinated range of broadcast content management control solutions centred on Mediator which allows practically every element of television and radio channel operation to be handled efficiently,” Elaine comments. “I first became familiar with Mediator while working at Viasat. We began using the system in June 2006 and I later ran a three-month training course for the transmission department. Mediator is controlled from networked desktop computers displaying Web-style pages. These give operators the exact information they require to perform each aspect of their duties quickly and confidently. Mediator is very easy to drive whether approached from a task-specific perspective or in total. Once incoming content has been ingested into the system, everything is handled on-screen. A huge improvement on the old days of moving tapes and disks physically to and from a library, and hoping your content arrived in a playable form.”
Also supporting the Pharos training resource is Andy Benning who recently rejoined the company from Miranda. Andy’s focus will be on providing an information bridge between the Pharos development team and colleagues in sales and other departments, ensuring that all Pharos staff have a good understanding of the company’s capabilities.
Founded in 1997, Pharos has pioneered collaborative desktop workflow and integrated third-party infrastructure management. Pharos solutions today handle millions of media assets across hundreds of television channels and an increasing number of new media distribution networks. Pharos is an open company embracing open standards. Pharos software architecture, integration and support services enable disparate broadcast and IT processes to be unified across the enterprise. The unique Mediator content management platform, with its integrated Playtime playout and Pilot control options, provides efficient tools to deliver multi-format content globally.
12 August 2010
RRsat Global Communications Network Ltd. a rapidly growing provider of comprehensive content management and global distribution services to the television and radio broadcasting industries, has launched a new platform on the Galaxy 19 (G-19) satellite that enables the distribution of television and radio channels devoted to religious programming. The new platform, together with RRsat’s three other platforms already operating on this satellite, will broadcast more than 50 religious and ethnic TV and radio channels, reaching millions of homes across the United States, and represents a major step in RRsat’s program to distribute content within the Americas originating in the Americas.
The Galaxy 19 satellite, located at 97degreesW, is one of the largest ethnic video platforms in the U.S. offering programmers and content distributors access to millions of homes in the U.S. cable community. RRsat has signed agreements with thirteen TV and radio channels to be broadcast on its new Galaxy 19 platform directly from RRsat’s Hawley Teleport in Pennsylvania. Channels already launched include the Three Angels Broadcasting Network (3ABN), which also use RRsat’s services for global distribution, the three Hope channels: Hope Channel, Esperanza TV, and Hope Church channel; and Loma Linda Broadcasting Networks Inc., which broadcasts on Galaxy 19 in English, Arabic and Chinese and uses RRsat’s distribution services to North America, Asia, Africa and Australia.
3ABN, LLBN and the Adventist Television Network channels are all major Christian television and radio networks in the United States offering a full range of religious content and programming. Their presence on this platform is representative of the increase in content being distributed by RRsat’s Hawley Teleport in which both the source and the destination is North America.
“Interest in religious programming and content is on the rise in the United States,” commented Lior Rival, Vice President, Sales and Marketing of RRsat. “By positioning ourselves as a provider of global distribution for all types of religious content, we believe we can further penetrate this important market and become a leading distribution solution for this programming. Moreover, this launch represents another significant step in our penetration of the America-to-America market.”
12 August 2010
The free app, boasting more LIVE sports content than any other sports app in Europe, has been downloaded 2,518,432 times (and counting!) since its launch last year.
The app leverages Eurosport.com’s ditorial expertise and online excellence, featuring real-time text commentary, live results, breaking sports news, stats, standings and fixtures.
It is the only sports application available in 9 different language versions,* plus an international version available in any country in the world, and has been a resounding success, topping download lists in France, Germany, Italy and the UK.
Laurent-Eric Le Lay, Eurosport Chairman and CEO, said: “Eurosport innovates to provide quality content across all media devices, and mobile is the perfect way to enjoy, share and experience sports news and events. Any first birthday is always a very special time and, together with the 2.5 million downloads, it is proof that we are delivering the global sports fans what he wants, when he wants it and where he wants it.”
Arnaud Maillard, Eurosport’s New Media Director, added: “This is a life-cycle, and though today we celebrate the free app’s first birthday we will continue to innovate and grow our diverse online and mobile offering for the iPhone and iPad.”
Not forgetting the iPad … Since its launch in May of this year, the Europsort.com for iPad sports app, has been downloaded over 118,000 times in two months, making it the most popular iPad sports app across Europe.
All of Eurosport’s apps for iPhone and iPad are available for download on iTunes and the App Store.
12 August 2010
Vizrt, a leading provider of content production tools for the digital media industry, announced today that it has appointed François Laborie as its new Chief Commercial Officer.
François Laborie joined Vizrt at the beginning of 2006 as the Company’s Executive Vice President Marketing. At the beginning of 2010, he took on the additional role of Regional President for the EMEA region. Prior to joining Vizrt, he held senior positions, such as project manager at the EADS Corporate Research Center, division Information Technologies.
Martin Burkhalter, CEO for Vizrt, stated, “We are very happy to have been able to fill the vacant position of CCO internally. François has made a great impact since joining the Company. Together with his team, he positioned Vizrt as one of the major brands of the digital media industry. François also oversaw the establishment of consistent processes and structures to deliver product packages and customer care on par with Vizrt’s ambitions. Both as EVP and then President of Vizrt’s largest territory, François played an active role in Vizrt’s strategy development and implementation to create a unique platform for the media industry.
His leadership has been instrumental in changing the competence of his team from purely marketing to becoming an essential input in all commercial processes, proving that he is ready to take on an even more senior role within the Company.”
François Laborie commented, “I am very enthusiastic to be given the opportunity to build further on our ambitious global commercial strategy at such an exciting time in our industry. In the four years I have been with Vizrt, the Company has continuously evolved, anticipating the great rise and transformation of the digital media landscape. We are now present in all areas from content creation, through media asset management, to publication and delivery over a wide variety of platforms. The position Vizrt has achieved in the market is unique and I am proud to be a part of this. The next challenge will be to convert the great potential that is out there, both in terms of global expansion and product/solution diversification, into growth.”
5 August 2010
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