6 December AIB media briefing

6 December 2007

AIB Media Briefing 6 December 2007 Welcome to the latest global media briefing, published by the Association for International Broadcasting, the industry association and networking organisation that focuses on cross-border media. In this issue, reaching over 20,000 media professionals: AIB rewards excellence with 2007 Awards Vanuatu island gets Australian broadcaster World Service for Trinidad and Tobago New pay-TV platform in France News Safety gains US foothold Our recommendations Hong Kong gets terrestrial HD Cable looks a rosy investment in SE Asia VoA doubles Somali hours New Indian music channel storms charts About the AIB Visit www.aib.org.uk for more news from the media worldwide. AIB members benefit from our specialist member-only market intelligence briefings. Contact us to discuss how membership can help your organisation. The 2007 AIB Media Excellence Awards were presented in London on 20 November at a glittering ceremony attended by more than 150 guests from all over the world. Hosted by BBC World’s Mishal Husain (left), the winners of the 12 AIB Awards categories collected their trophies – and there were some surprised faces among the winners! You can see the complete listing of winners on the AIB website at www.aib.org.uk and see pictures from the evening – which included two special guests: digital media guru Tomi Ahonen and France 24 COO Jean Yves Bonsergent – on Flickr. We’ll be announcing the 2008 AIB Media Excellence Awards in the first quarter of the new year and the Awards dinner will take place in London in early November. Top of page Radio Australia has increased its reach in the Pacific. The international broadcaster has opened a 24 hour-a-day relay on Vanuatu‘s Santo island. Top of page BBC World Service has opened a 24 hour-a-day FM channel in Trinidad and Tobago. BBC 98.7FM carries the World Service in English and the special regional Caribbean programmes. Top of page A new pay-TV platform launches in France on 10 December, with up to 25 channels including most national channels currently available on analogue and DTT in the country. BIS will be carried on two satellites – Eutelsat‘s Hot Bird at 13 degrees east and Atlantic Bird 3 at five degrees west. Consumers will be able to buy a starter kit from retailers on their local high street which will include a Viaccess-enabled decoder and smart card. The basic subscription cost is 4.90 Euro a month. ABSat is providing the service. Top of page The International News Safety Institute, INSI, has gained US charitable status. The non-profit institute now has charitable status under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code which enables INSI to raise money free of tax and for donors to set their contributions against tax. INSI says this is a major move forward for the organisation as it depends entirely on donations for its work to help journalists covering all kinds of dangerous stories, from wars to crime and corruption to natural disasters. The move comes as the death toll for news media staff around the world climbs to record levels. Last year was the worst on record with 168 deaths; this year so far the toll stands at 168, according to INSI’s count. Top of page AIB recommends… DLD (Digital, Life, Design), Munich, January 20-22, 2008 Bringing together digital innovation, gaming, arts, media and science with thought-leaders from the Middle East, America, Asia and Europe. It’s an event by invitation only although you can ask for registration. The AIB recommends DLD as it’s breaking the mould of traditional media-related conferences and it offers a great opportunity to meet key players in emerging digital media sectors. CBA General Assembly, Bahamas, January 23-26, 2008 The meeting of members of the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association, including directors-general and chief technology officers, editors and programme makers from broadcasters across the Commonwealth nations. The AIB recommends this event as it’s one of the best ways to meet and engage with the most senior people in broadcasting organisations from more than 100 countries. Top of page Hong Kong has launched a terrestrial HD service. Asia Television (ATV) inaugurated the HD trial service on 2 December and the South China Morning Post reported that electronics shops in Mong Kok were “swamped” with shoppers wanting to buy the HD DTT boxes. Most, the newspaper said, were put off by the high cost of the boxes – around HK$2,000 (US$260). Around half of the Hong Kong population will be able to receive the new DTT broadcasts by the end of the year and five new transmitting stations are to be built in 2008. Top of page Acquisitive Australian finance house Macquarie has taken a major stake in South Korea‘s C&M cable TV company. Working with investment fund MBK Partners, Macquarie Bank has secured 61.17% of the company from its chairman, Lee Min-joo. C and M has annual revenues of around US$343million generated by two million cable TV subscribers. Approval is needed from Korea’s Ministry of Information and Communication and the Korean Broadcasting Commission. Macquarie Bank has been actively pursuing cash-generating businesses in the media and media infrastructure industries. It has bought the UK’s Arqiva transmission company which itself has purchased National Grid Wireless‘s transmission business in the UK. However, the UK Competition Commission has said that this acquisition may not be allowed through as it could reduce competition in the UK broadcasting transmission marketplace. Top of page Voice of America has doubled the output of its Somali-language radio service, just ten months after the service was launched from Washington in February 2007. The new programme is on the air at 1600 local time in the Horn of Africa (1300GMT). Top of page New Indian music TV channel, 9XM, has climbed to the top of Indian TV audience ratings just three weeks after its launch. According to 9XM, quoting TAM ratings, the channel has overtaken MTV and Channel V, the most popular music channels in the country. 9XM is one of a range of new channels being launched by INX led by former Star TV executive, Peter Mukerjea and his wife Indira. Top of page The next edition of the AIB’s quarterly magazine is in preparation. Around 7,000 readers receive The Channel in their offices, and more read the magazine at key media events worldwide. See what they get – click here to see the online version, and subscribe here and benefit from this month’s special offer of six editions of The Channel delivered to your office or home for the price of four. And talk to us about using the AIB’s print and online publications to reach an audience of 25,000 media professionals worldwide…call +44 (0) 1727 739 184 and talk to Ollie Kirkman to see how the AIB can help you. Top of page About the AIB The AIB is the industry association for international broadcasting and a networking organisation of more than 25,000 media professionals. We provide our members with exclusive market-intelligence reports, networking events, relevant tender data, marketing support and lobbying. We celebrate excellence and reward success with our annual Media Excellence Awards. The 2008 AIB Media Excellence Awards will be launched in the first quarter of the new year. Top of page The global media source It’s on the desks of major broadcasters from TV Azteca to the BBC, Bloomberg to Al Jazeera. It’s been ordered by major media companies like Tiscali, Arqiva and Google. It’s bigger, brighter and fuller of intelligent source material than ever before. It’s the AIB Directory of Global Broadcasting. More than 147 countries’ broadcasters and media operators are included in this year’s AIB Directory of Global Broadcasting. This new AIB Directory of Global Broadcasting includes more than 2,500 new names of media executives, compared with last year’s edition From the rapidly expanding Indian media market to neighbouring Nepal, Ghana to Venezuela, the Netherlands to Nigeria – the AIB Directory of Global Broadcasting is the only reference work covering TV and radio, plus emerging platforms. It’s the ultimate sourcebook. Published September 2007 Format A4 perfect-bound, 228 pages, full-colour throughout Price £120/US$200/EUR176 (including standard delivery*) To download PDF sample pages of this new, fully revised Directory, click here. To buy, click here. *We ship via the UK’s Royal Mail – first class for UK orders (taking one to two days) and air mail printed papers for other countries. Transit times vary, but are usually between 6 and 10 working days. We can ship via air courier at extra charge. Contact us for details: +44 (0) 20 7993 2557 Also available from the AIB: Czech-Slovak Market Report. An in-depth analysis of the electronic media industry in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, published by Broadband TV News. See here for details. This electronic news briefing reaches the desktop of more than 20,000 media executives, regulators, journalists, editors, parliamentarians and media experts worldwide. Why not use us to help you reach your clients and potential clients? We offer cost-effective ways to maximise exposure and minimising cost. Talk to Oliver Kirkman today about the AIB and how it can help your business. From electronic to on-the-page advertising to sponsorship of major AIB events, we can help you. Call +44 (0) 1727 739 184, or e-mail ollie (@) centuryonepublishing.ltd.uk to discuss the opportunities.

AIB Diner Pensant and Awards, London, 20 November

19 November 2007

AIB Diner Pensant and
Awards 2007
Clothworkers’ Hall, City of London
Tuesday 20 November 2007

Some
cancelled places available

Mishal
Husain, anchor on BBC World – last year’s AIB Channel of the Year
– will host the 2007 AIB Media Excellence Awards in the
wonderful surroundings of Clothworkers’ Hall, one of the City of London’s
ancient livery companies, on Tuesday 20 November.

146 guests from all over the world are attending this
glittering, inspiring occasion where everyone will take something away at the
end of the evening. That’s because instead of simply having a conventional
awards ceremony, the AIB is bringing two inspiring speakers to the event who
will be in conversation during the dinner.

Tomi
Ahonen is a strategy consultant in the mobile space, with an established
career in digital media and communications. A former senior executive at Nokia
where his remit included the company’s 3G research centre, Ahonen is a
best-selling author on media and the digital environment. His latest book,
Digital Korea,
co-authored with Jim O’Reilly, is a study of the most advanced country in
digital convergence, South Korea. While much of the book sounds like science
fiction, it is in fact a portrait of the reality of life in Korea today.

Ahonen will be sharing some of his research
into digital media around the world with the AIB’s guests at its Diner
Pensant, and will be exploring some of the ways in which media owners and
broadcasters need to position themselves for the all-embracing – and rapidly
approaching – digital world.

Our
second speaker is Jean-Yves Bonsergent, Chief Operating Officer at
France 24, the international TV channel operating in French, English and
Arabic that launched in December 2006. Bonsergent will be in conversation with
the AIB, talking about the first 12 months of the channel’s operations, how its
strategy is developing and about its future plans for further language services
for different geographic areas.

As the French government moves its review of
the country’s international broadcasting – which includes Radio France
Internationale, TV5 and France 24 – into its final stages, this is an ideal time
to discuss how France sees itself in the international media marketplace.

On 19
November, we have four cancelled places available so to attend, book now.

Join us for the glamour, fun and insight that the AIB’s
Diner Pensant and Awards provides.

AIB members £90 plus UK VAT @
17.5%
Non members £155 plus UK VAT @ 17.5%

Reserve your place online

here.

Radio Australia in first OB from Cambodia

14 November 2007

Radio Australia is to join in the celebrations and festivities at the annual Water Festival in Cambodia this month.

Radio Australia’s Khmer and English services will broadcast live from Phnom Penh on Friday the 23rd November at King Leper Sculpture.

The broadcast commences at 7am with Breakfast Club program host, Phil Kafcaloudes, sharing a traditional ‘noodle cart’ breakfast with local audiences on the banks of the Mekong River.

Executive Producer of Radio Australia’s Khmer service and Australian of the year finalist, Seda Douglas, will commence Radio Australia’s daily one hour Khmer broadcast at midday, joined by local Cambodian pop star Preap Sovath, as they attract local audiences to explore and uncover what it means to be Cambodian.

Later, the Radio Australia team will join forces with the Phnom Penh International University of Cambodia and popular local identity Khat Sokhim to host a reality style quiz focusing on English learning. This compliments Radio Australia’s bi-lingual English language learning materials available via download from the Radio Australia website.

For three days up to a million Phnom Penh citizens and people from various provinces gather in the capital to celebrate the Water festival on the banks of the Tonle Sap and Mekong rivers.

Participation and attendance at the Water Festival builds on the growing links Radio Australia has established with audiences and partners in Cambodia, and highlights the appeal of Radio Australia’s Khmer service which is broadcast over 90% of the country through a myriad of partner rebroadcasters, as well as the English language service available locally on 101.5FM in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap.

Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum

9 November 2007

Starting in 2008 the Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum will take place annually in Bonn. The main agenda items will change but the event will always address ways to cope with challenges and developments whose course is largely influenced by media worldwide. The target group is both international and inter-disciplinary. Media representative from around the world, high-profile experts of inter-governmental and non-governmental organisations, politicians, artists, entrepreneurs and scientists will sit around the same table at the

DEUTSCHE WELLE GLOBAL MEDIA FORUM
2-4 JUNE, 2008, BONN / GERMANY

A simple philosophy drives the initiative: Those working on the future have to think in networks – and in global dimensions.

Today many post-conflict countries are faced with completely new challenges. Steps to establish media mustn’t shake the already rocky peace and have to achieve hasty success, while at the same time laying the foundation for fundamental reforms. Precisely these challenges are the focus of the Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum. Renowned representatives from the fields of media and politics, culture and economics, development work and science are invited to help shape new solutions for peace and conflict prevention and to turn this conference into an unforgettable exchange of ideas and into an exciting platform for networking and future-oriented problem solving.

Main Topics for the panels:

• Worldwide deployment– What can and must Europe do to prevent conflicts?

• Crisis prevention via media intervention

• Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon – Economic Development, Political Stability and the role of the Media in Asia

• How can the Truth Survive? In Africa Journalists are often between the fronts

• Reading Between the Lies – Perception and Prejudice in the Middle East

Other subjects include the following:

• Improve what’s there or build from scratch?

• Raison d’état versus media freedom

• From government-controlled to public broadcasting

• Freedom of the media and expression in the socio-cultural context

• Journalism training in post-conflict states

This is a conference you cannot afford to miss – so register before 31st of March 2008 to take advantage of the early bird registartion fee.

Leading New Zealand facility delivers clients “better, faster, cheaper” results with Quantel

9 November 2007

Peter Jackson’s Park Road Post Production, the leading New Zealand post production facility, has purchased a second Quantel Pablo 4K non-linear color correction system as well as Quantel’s revolutionary Genetic Engineering teamworking infrastructure. The new set-up will enable Park Road to work simultaneously on several projects, dramatically improving workflow, and deliver sparkling results to clients in much shorter timescales.

“Double handling big data files is slow work and inefficient – and time equals money,” says Adam Scott, Park Road’s Head of DI. “By installing a second Pablo and Genetic Engineering, we can share jobs between suites – perhaps conforming in one, doing the grade in the theatre then finishing back in the original suite. With Genetic Engineering, all the media is available instantly to every connected suite; it’s a much more elegant approach. Clients are a lot more techno-savvy nowadays and demand a better, faster and cheaper result. That’s just what we’re giving them.”

Park Road has also purchased the Sam data server as part of the Genetic Engineering set-up, which will allow its Shake, Combustion and After Effects suites open access to all stored media, further improving workflow. “We are also looking at scanning direct into the GenePool from our Spirit datacine,” Scott continues, “and early next year may also hook it all up to the ARRI scanner and recorders at (sister company) Weta Digital via a dark fibre link.”

Park Road recently completed its first 4K project on Pablo, grading Peter Jackson’s ‘Crossing the Line’ short film, which was shot on the Red camera. The speed of Pablo impressed everyone. “Operationally in the color grade session it could have been 2K – nobody could tell. In fact there were comments about how fast it was at 4K,” recalls Scott. “There really isn’t anything as fast and complete as Pablo. Now with Genetic Engineering, it’s a no-brainer; it’s a great addition to our world-class DI infrastructure.”

Thomson introduces new Grass Valley Pegasus

9 November 2007

Looking to help video professionals easily capture high-quality digital images from either standard- or high-definition video footage, Thomson has announced a low-cost PCI-Express card for PC workstations. The new Grass Valley Pegasus PCI-Express card offers real-time capture of SD and HD video, as well as VGA screen playback. This is made possible because for the first time the powerful Grass Valley HQ software codec from Thomson is now available as a hardware encoder, enabling HD capture to be performed in real-time.

The Pegasus card is perfect for anyone creating or repurposing high quality video content for corporate presentations, or distribution via the Internet or mobile applications. It comes complete with image capture software and a Software Developer’s Kit (SDK) for system integrators.

“This Pegasus card offers HD quality video capture, but without the prohibitively high storage overhead,” said Jeff Rosica, Senior Vice President of Thomson’s Broadcast & Professional Solutions business unit. “This new capture card will enable a broad range of professionals to produce the quality they need to satisfy their clients’ demands while allowing them to work with both SD and HD source material.”

Capturing HD video is very data-intensive, requiring expensive RAID storage. The Pegasus card uses the HQ codec, with its sophisticated compression algorithms, to provide huge storage savings without sacrificing picture quality. The Pegasus PCI-Express card leverages a specially designed HQ-based hardware encoder chip to capture images natively at up to 1920 x 1080/60i and 1280 x 720/60p resolutions. It can also natively display digital signals on a PC at up to 1280 x 1024/60p without down converting the image, and capture video from HDMI, DVI, S-video, and component sources.

In addition, because Pegasus can capture the PC screen display in HD quality, the Grass Valley Pegasus card is the perfect tool for creating training videos and instructional DVDs. The input quality is so clean that subsequent conversions to other distribution formats – for example, to mobile phones or the web – are cleaner too; and created much more efficiently.