The AIB recommends…
events, shows, content
Hometech Middle East
Dubai, UAE
15-16 May 2007
A major conference and exhibition looking at the development in home
entertainment, technology and systems. AIB chief executive Simon Spanswick
will be speaking at the conference.
Al Jazeera is continuing its efforts to gain clarification on the UK Daily Mirror newspaper report of a leaked memo alleging “President Bush planned to bomb Arab TV station Al Jazeera”. The Doha-based broadcaster has repeated its call to see a copy of the relevant section of the memo.
British civil servant David Keogh and parliamentary researcher Leo OConnor were jailed on 10 May for leaking the secret four-page memo. Press and public were banned from the trial which has been heavily criticised by MPs and civil rights groups. The memo is purported to have recorded discussions regarding the events in Falluja between Tony Blair and George Bush in the Oval office in 2004. Former defence minister, Peter Kilfoyle, stated that “There remain unanswered questions about the discussions about the attack on Falluja and subsequent deaths of many hundreds of civilians.”
Al Jazeera submitted a Freedom of Information application early in 2006 requesting the disclosure of the contents of the memo but the request was denied. Any substantiation of the contents of the memo would be extremely serious not only for Al Jazeera but for media organisations across the world. It would cast significant doubts on the US administration’s version of previous incidents involving Al Jazeera’s journalists and offices. Both Al Jazeeras Kabul Bureau and Iraq Bureau were bombed by the US resulting in the death of Al Jazeera journalist Tareq Ayoub.
Al Jazeera has urged Downing Street to clarify the Daily Mirror report on the contents of the memo.
As part of a new series of activities to mark its 60th anniversary, Radio Netherlands Worldwide has embarked on a series of global debates on the future of the media. Why is press freedom important to the public, as well as just those who work in the profession? What can emerging democracies learn from those countries who have emerged from a censored media landscape in the last 20 years?
Radio Netherlands Worldwide’s Arjen de Wolff has been working on a co-production with the Romanian TV news channel Realitatea TV on what turned out to be a unique live two hour debate on the current state of Romanian media. The TV programme was broadcast on the eve of World Press Freedom Day, and opened by RNW Editor-in-Chief, Joop Daalmeijer.
“The media scene is a lot better than in the days of before the 1989 revolution, when the entire media was under the iron grip of a single party,” explains Arjen. “Since the fall of communism, Romanian media has changed drastically, with a large number of stations coming on the air to serve the population of 22 million people.
“Some international broadcasters, such as RFI and the BBC also have FM transmitters in the major Romanian cities. But it’ s only in the last 15 years that monitoring organisations like Freedom House have considered the Romanian press to be free.”
But despite the plurality of media, it is not always clear to everyone who owns what and how those interests affect what the Romanian public get to see and hear. The main conclusion was that Romanian media is developing along the right lines, but unlike in older European democracies, media pluriformity is not based on clearly defined political lines but rather on more obscure short term business and political interests.
The debate erupted when journalists complained about the recent Romanian Constitutional Court’s ruling on the re-criminalisation of slander and insult.
They believe that journalists are being taken to the Prosecutor’s Office as part of a public show trial inspired by the political elite and the media moguls.
“More transparency is needed, perhaps with a public code of ethics which stations and newspapers would publish.
“The media in general are not openly accountable for what they report. If someone feels they have been misrepresented in the media, there is no clear course of action for the right to reply.” The start of the debates has been timed to coincide with World Press Freedom Day. Points from the discussions in Bucharest will be used in Indonesia, Ghana, Benin and Argentina later this year, leading to a major international debate at the Peace Palace in The Hague on 28 November 2007.
Vizrt Ltd. today announced its financial results for the first quarter of 2007 with yet another record revenue quarter reaching USD 19.9M compared to revenues of USD 12.0M in Q1 2006. Revenue increased by 66%, of which 41% was organic growth.
Financial highlights for the three months ended March 31, 2007: Consolidated revenues increased by 66% to USD 19.9M compared to USD 12.0M in Q1 2006, and USD 19.0M in Q4 2006. EBIT was USD 3.9M, up 78% compared to EBIT of USD 2.2M in Q1 2006. EBITDA (excluding taxes, interest, depreciation, amortization of intangible assets and deferred stock-based compensation) went up 89% to USD 5.0M compared to USD 2.7M in Q1 2006. USD 3.7M net profit, was up 63% compared to a net profit of USD 2.3M in Q1 2006. Basic earnings per share for Q1 2007 was USD 0.18 compared to USD 0.14 for Q1 2006. Fully diluted earnings per share for Q1 2007 were USD 0.17 compared to USD 0.13 for Q1 2006. Cash and short term deposits increased by USD 2.9M to a total of USD 41.0M.
Mr. Bjarne Berg, President and CEO, commented; “The outlook for Vizrt is dependent on how well we manage to integrate the MAM products
(Ardendo) into the existing salesforce and to get enough specialists hired to answer to the worldwide demand. If we manage to do that, we believe we will continue to grow in an existing pace.
The first integrated products were presented at NAB in Las Vegas in April and were very well accepted. In the future we are looking at both smaller stand alone integrated products and larger enterprise solution that cover all the broadcasters need when it comes to media asset management and handling of digital video.
As we have told the market earlier, we are working on a downscaled version of the Viz|Engine, Multi Platform Solution (MPS), which can accommodate (profiled) 3D-graphics with a nicer look on cell phones and on web-sites. The MPS project is progressing according to plans and received the NAB engineering award at the show in Las Vegas in April. We are expecting to make first deliveries to customers both within and outside the traditional broadcast industry within the coming months. To explore the various options to realize the full potential of the MPS product, including the spin off option, we have decided to engage external advisors.
Viz|World is another newly released integrated product which is a
merger between Curious Maps and Vizrt Graphics. It makes maps, which is a must in every news station, much better than anything on the market and when we add Virtual Live, it is outstanding. It was shown to customers for the first time at NAB and virtually every broadcaster that saw it, said that they would like to have it. The backlog is as of today over USD 22M which is about USD 6M more than in Q4″, concluded Mr. Berg.
A conference call will be held at 10:30 (CEST) today to offer analysts, investors and media the opportunity to directly discuss the results and recent developments with Bjarne Berg, CEO, and Ofra Brown, CFO of the company. Please use one of the following dial-in-numbers: +44 20 7806 1969 (UK), +47 2316 2193 (Norway), +49
69 71044 5506 (Germany), Participant. Pass code: 515488.
The Russia Today TV channel has officially announced an expansion of its coverage in Europe. Starting May 3, more than 750,000 viewers in Belgium and the Netherlands will have an opportunity to watch Russia Today.
Such leading satellite TV operators as CANALDIGITAL (Netherlands) and TV VLAANDEREN (Belgium), which broadcast via Astra 19,2 satellite, became partners of Russia Today.
According to signed agreements, RT news programmes will be included into two packages of CANALDIGITAL and TV VLAANDEREN, broadcasting on the 67th and 62nd channels respectively.
The deal in Belgium and the Netherlands will bring Russia Today’s total audience in Europe closer to a record 16 MLN viewers – more than a 30% growth in less than six months.
“The pay TV market in Western Europe is traditionally highly competitive. TV operators in Europe always choose the most interesting and actual content. The fact that RT is now available both in the Netherlands and in Belgium shows the implicit growth of the Europeans’ interest to the news coming from Russia,” – stressed Sergey Lisnevsky, the Head of RT Distribution Department.
Deutsche Welle director general Erik Bettermann has appointed Rainer Sollich (39) as the new head of the international broadcaster’s Arabic programmes. Sollich took up his new role on 1 May.
The Arabic programme of DW-RADIO can be heard in the Arab world via satellite, FM partner stations and via short wave. It is also available on the internet (www.dw-world.de/arabic).
In the framework of a cooperation agreement with Radio Monte Carlo Doualiya, listeners in eleven capitals in the Arab world have been able to listen to Deutsche Welle programmes in Arabic on Radio Monte Carlo Doualiya’ FM frequencies.