26 September 2007
The BBC has expanded its availability in Korea with the launch of BBC World Service English language radio programmes on SkyLife digital channel. It is the first international radio broadcaster on Koreas first and only multi-channel digital satellite platform.
Subscribers can access BBC radio programmes 24 hours a day, 7 days a week including BBC World television which launched on SkyLife last year.
Neil Curry, BBC Head of Business Development for the Asia and Pacific Region, said: We are delighted to be partnering with the first digital satellite broadcaster in Korea and to be providing quality BBC radio programmes to its many listeners.
Raymond Li, BBC Business Development Manager for China and North Asia added: We are also thrilled to be joining BBC World Television on Skylife digital platform. Subscribers can now enjoy a range of BBC programmes, including news and analysis, and be kept up to date with the latest developments in global affairs and events.
Dongkoo Surh, President of Skylife, says: It is truly meaningful that SkyLife came to have all the major BBC channels for overseas audiences, with the addition of BBC World Service to our channel lineup. It would also be good news for the opinion leaders of Korean society who know the BBCs reputation and credibility for its impartiality, accurate news reporting and analysis. They must be holding high hopes, I believe, that the BBC could help Korean audiences widen their understanding of the changing world.
26 September 2007
British media regulator Ofcom has fined morning TV programme contractor GMTV £2 million for letting viewers enter competitions they had no chance of winning, the regulator said today.
Ofcom said GMTV had breached rules relating to fair conduct and its responsibility to control service arrangements. It said GMTV had picked competition finalists before phone lines closed and selected some finalists only between certain times.
On Monday, Opera Telecom, the company that ran competitions for GMTV, was fined £250,000 by regulator Icstis after viewers lost an estimated £20 million in the phone-in scandal over almost four years. GMTV said in July its managing director would stand down over the problem. Opera Telecom has already been sacked by GMTV.
A row over the deliberate deception of viewers has engulfed all major UK broadcasters this year but Icstis described the GMTV case as the worst it had seen in terms of the number of consumers affected and the amount of money at stake. GMTV is 75 percent owned by commercial broadcaster ITV and 25 percent by Walt Disney Co.
26 September 2007
Figures released by the DRDB (Digital Radio Development Bureau) show household penetration of DAB digital radio in the UK is set to reach 58.5% by the end of 2011. The DRDBs new five-year forecast puts household penetration at 21% by the end of 2007, and 30% by the end of 2008, rising to 40% in 2009, 50% in 2010, and 58.5% by the end of 2011.
DAB sales success will continue in the key sectors of domestic portables and audio systems, while significant growth is already happening in clock radios. The DRDB estimates that by the end of 2008: DABs share of domestic portables will grow to around 69% of all sales by volume and 90% by value. DABs share of personal stereos will grow to around 40% of all sales by volume and nearly 70% by value. DABs share of audio systems will grow to around 27% of all sales by volume and 32% by value. DABs share of clock radios will grow to around 28% of all sales by volume and over 50% by value.
The DRDB says these figures represent a base case scenario, but could increase significantly if DAB finds a good foothold in new form factors such as MP3/MP4 devices, adaptors, docking stations and, especially, mobile phones.
Says DRDB chief executive, Ian Dickens: A number of manufacturers are already starting to see the value of adding DAB digital radio to some of these new form factors. While it is important to continue to see successful growth in traditional radio products, DABs longer-term future lies in the penetration of these new products, along with in-car and mobile phones. Over the coming months, the DRDB will be changing its shape and focus to ensure that radio moves swiftly down this road.
Listening to DAB digital radio in the UK is growing fast. The latest Rajar report (Q2 07) proved that DAB is rapidly moving from a fringe listening platform of under a million listeners in 2003, to a mass market proposition with 6.1 million listeners in 2007. The same report showed that over 20% of adults live in a DAB household and 74 million hours a week are spent listening to DAB digital radio. Eight new national DAB services from 4 Digital Group are expected to launch in 2008, along with a dozen new local and regional multiplexes.
26 September 2007
Cerify Developer Community Award for Cologne based Solutions for Media
At IBC 2007 German systems and consulting company S4M Solutions for Media has received the Cerify Developer Community Award. With it Tektronix appreciates S4Ms successful integration of its VPMS software into the Tektronix Cerify System providing technical quality control for digital video.
VPMS stands for Video Production Management System. It supports the management of digital video assets and is, amongst others, deployed by Tagesschau, the most popular and longest running news program in German TV.
For the new playout center of the European TV network SBS (Scandinavian Broadcasting System) in London, S4M integrated Tektronix quality control system Cerify by means of a webservice interface. VPMS automatically activates quality control by Cerify for every video within the system. The test result is shown via VPMS. In addition, VPMS offers a link to the detailed error report: Thus, users get exact information via their webbrowser as to the errors detected by Tektronix Cerify.
The award ceremony at IBC 2007 was at the same time the official kickoff for
the Cerify Developer Community a group of companies that are working together to provide file-based quality control for content stored on servers.
26 September 2007
Germany’s public broadcasters won a case in constitutional court Tuesday against the 16 state governments, which had attempted to limit the radio and TV corporations’ taxation powers.
The ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio corporations are mainly funded from a tax on television sets and personal computers.
The Constitutional Court ruled that the states had no power to overrule a 2005 hike in the tax. Known as the broadcasting licence fee, it is modelled on a similar tax imposed in Britain by the British Broadcasting Corporation and is collected by a Cologne agency, with investigators checking homes for evaders.
The unpopular tax has been attacked as unfair by commercial broadcasters, who fund their operations from advertising income. Everyone owning a set or a computer with an internet connection must pay the tax, even if they never watch public channels. The court based the ruling on the constitutional right of the media to resist government interference.
26 September 2007
The Azerbaijani National TV and Radio Council approved a radio licence to be used jointly by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and Voice of America (VOA) on Friday. The one-year licence for FM broadcast will be subject to annual renewal.
Broadcasting from Baku, the station carries 67 hours of Radio Liberty Azerbaijani programming per week (which consists of 40 hours of original programming and 27 hours of repeated programming) and about eight hours per week of programming from VOA’s Azerbaijani service (which consists of about four and a half hours of original programming and three and a half hours of repeated programming). The remaining hours feature VOA’s Music Mix program.
Broadcasting Board of Governors Chairman James Glassman said of the licence approval, “We are glad to have a home for VOA and RFE/RL on the airwaves in Baku. We look forward to continuing this fruitful partnership.”
RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service also broadcasts via satellite and AM signals. Azerbaijani Service programming is available via the Internet, at the service’s website www.azadliq.org and at www.rferl.org; English-language news about events in Azerbaijan can be found on the RFE/RL website, at www.rferl.org/featuresarchive/country/azerbaijan.html.
VOA also broadcasts via shortwave and television. VOA’s Azerbaijani Service maintains two separate websites; www.VOANews.com/azerbaijani in Latin script and www.VOANews.com/azeri in Persian-Arabic script. All VOA Azerbaijani radio and television programs are streamed for on-demand listening and viewing
