31 May 2007
Arqiva and Intelsat have signed a multi-year renewal and expansion contract to distribute content to the French territories of the Caribbean. Under the terms of the new contract, Arqiva will provide uplink services and space capacity on Intelsat satellite IS-903 at 325.5ºE, enabling direct-to-home (DTH) operator Media Overseas a wholly owned subsidiary of the CANAL+ France Group to increase its programme offering for its Caribbean viewers via its subsidiary CANALSAT CARAIBES.
Intelsat has adjusted its satellites to re-point the beams and provide dedicated streams to give optimal support to its customers. We are pleased to be able to help Media Overseas increase its regional broadcasting offering, said Stephen Spengler, Intelsats Senior Vice President, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific Sales. Intelsat prides itself on being able to adjust its fleet in order to work with its customers to support their growth and performance requirements.
We needed a supplier that could match the scope of our wider distribution services for Media Overseas, added Denis Chambon, General Manager of Arqiva France. This new deal offers us greater capacity on IS-903, increasing the number of channels we uplink for distribution to the French West Indies. With Intelsats wider coverage and Media Overseas distribution services, we are delighted to play a part in improving the range of programming across the Caribbean.
This expansion in capacity will help us to improve our programming capabilities and therefore increase our customer base. Moreover this should significantly improve the quality of service delivered to our customers and result in higher overall satisfaction levels, said Dominique Fagot, Media Overseas Chairman and CEO.
Through its flexible satellite network, Intelsat delivers more than 500 DTH television and audio channels via 27 DTH platforms worldwide.
29 May 2007
Jean-Luc Maertens has joined the EuroNews team in the newly created position of Distribution Manager for Africa. A journalist specialising in Africa and former manager of the Africa and Indian Ocean desk for Canal France International, 55-year old Jean-Luc will be in charge of boosting EuroNews presence in Sub-Saharan Africa through distribution on all broadcasting media.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, EuroNews is the only international news channel distributed via all satellite platforms. The channel currently reaches more than 3 million households. It is also the only international news channel broadcasting around the clock in Africa via direct terrestrial distribution (in Kinshasa since 2004).
Philippe Cayla, Chairman and CEO of EuroNews, explained that “EuroNews is the top international news channel in Europe and we want to become the leading international channel in Africa. I am convinced that Jean-Luc Maertens, thanks to his experience, knowledge and relations, will enable us to reach our strategic targets on this continent. I am confident that he will develop the presence and renown of the channel in Africa.
Jean-Luc Maertens, Head of Distribution for Africa, added: “I am delighted to join EuroNews, a channel which enjoys an excellent image in Africa. I have seen that the rigor of the channels editorial line, its independence and European perspective are considered important qualities by the television audience. Africans are genuinely interested in Europe, as they themselves work towards the construction of regional political and economic cooperation.”
29 May 2007
The BBCs combined international news services attracted a record global weekly audience of over 233 million during 2006/7, according to independent surveys.
The global audience figure for the combined services of BBC World Service radio, BBC World television and the BBCs international online news service bbcnews.com is up 23 million from 210 million last year. Many people used more than one service.
o BBC World Services weekly radio audience estimate is a record 183 million, up 20 million on last year.
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o BBC World – the commercially-funded international English language news and information television channel now has estimated record audiences of 76 million viewers a week; up from 65 million in 2005/6.
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o The BBCs international facing online news sites attracted a record 763 million page impressions in March 2007, up from 546 million compared to March 2006. There were a record 38.5 million unique online users across the globe during March 2007, up from 32.8 million a year ago.
BBC Global News Director Richard Sambrook said: This is a strong and welcome indication that the BBCs news services are strengthening their impact with audiences around the globe in the highly competitive multimedia age. People around the world are increasingly turning to the BBC when they need quality news and information that is independent and trusted, he said.
There were large BBC radio audience increases in Bangladesh (up 8.3 million). Increased survey coverage added 7.5 million to the estimate in Democratic Republic of Congo and 7.0 million in Afghanistan. Weekly audiences in radio markets in India, Nigeria, Pakistan and Rwanda all grew by a million or more during the year.
BBC World saw substantial growth in audiences in the Africa, Canada, Egypt, India, Pakistan and the USA.
24 May 2007
Iranian authorities are refusing to return the passport of Radio Farda correspondent Parnaz Azima and allow her to leave Iran, even though Azima and her family have posted a bail bond worth approximately US$440,000. Azima’s lawyer, Mohammad-Hossain Aghasi told Radio Farda in an exclusive interview yesterday that the bond amount set by the court was “unprecedented” in Iranian jurisprudence. Aghasi also asserted that the entire case against Azima has no basis in Iranian law, as the prosecutor’s office cannot cite a single clause that would support the charges prosecutors plan to bring against Azima.
RFE/RL President Jeffrey Gedmin drew attention to what appear to be stalling tactics on the part of the Iranian Judiciary, saying “There is absolutely no reason for Iranian authorities to be treating Ms. Azima in this way. She was traveling to Iran on private business when her passport was seized. I find it ludicrous that Iranian authorities feel the need to criminalize a daughter’s desire to visit her severely ill mother.” Gedmin also expressed his appreciation for the efforts of U.S. diplomats, and their Swiss colleagues in Tehran, to resolve all issues that are keeping Azima from leaving Iran.
On May 15, during an appearance at the “Special Security Bureau of the Revolutionary Court’s Public Prosecutor’s office” Azima and Aghasi were told that she would be charged with working for Radio Farda, an organization that prosecutors claim is “an institution that spreads propaganda against the Islamic Republic.” Based on these charges, bail was set at 400 million tooman — an amount prosecutors based on an estimate of the salary Azima earned during her nine years of employment with RFE/RL; the prosecutor’s office claims this money was earned in an “illegitimate” way. Azima was given until May 20 to secure the bail.
When, on May 20, her lawyer reported back to the “Special Security Bureau of the Revolutionary Court’s Public Prosecutor’s office” with bail, in the form of the deed to her mother’s home in Tehran, prosecutors claimed that a “technicality” prevented them from accepting the proffered bail. When asked, prosecutors said the passport would not be returned immediately upon receipt of the bail, due to “sensitivities” linked to interest on the part of Iran’s Information Ministry in the case. On May 21 Aghasi was again at the “Special Security Bureau,” where the bail was accepted — but the passport was not returned.
Azima’s passport was confiscated upon her arrival at Tehran’s airport in February 2007 to visit her ailing mother. She holds U.S. as well as Iranian citizenship.
Azima is a broadcaster with Radio Farda, the joint RFE/RL-Voice of America 24-hour, seven-day-a-week Persian-language broadcast service to Iran. She joined RFE/RL in 1998 and is based at RFE/RL’s broadcast headquarters in Prague, Czech Republic. Azima endured a similar situation in Iran during the spring of 2006, when her Iranian passport was seized and held for several weeks before being returned to her.
24 May 2007
An Uzbek reporter for Deutsche Welle faces up to 10 years in prison after being accused of defaming President Islam Karimov. Yuri Chernogayev is accused of defaming President Islam Karimov.
The DW correspondent said Tashkent prosecutors also charged him with tax evasion and “illegal dissemination of information threatening public security and order.”
“This is a provocation with many episodes,” he told The Associated Press by telephone from the Uzbek capital. “They want other journalists to watch out and shut up.”
Authorities in the tightly controlled ex-Soviet republic have stepped up pressure on Western and independent journalists since after the bloody crackdown in 2005 on an uprising in the eastern city of Andijan; survivors and human rights groups say hundreds were killed by government troops, while the government insists fewer than 200 died.
In the months following the Andijan uprising, Karimov’s government shut down the local offices of the BBC, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and a dozen US-funded aid groups, two of which worked to promote free media.
Several journalists working for foreign media have also been jailed or beaten. In March, Chernogayev and his colleague, Natalya Bushuyeva, were accused of tax evasion. After Bushuyeva left Uzbekistan, Chernogayev was accused of aiding her escape, but after several interrogations he said he was left alone by authorities.
Chernogayev said he was told to stay in his apartment until the trial begins next week.
Last year, Deutsche Welle’s two Uzbek reporters were stripped of their media accreditation after reporting that 30 people had frozen to death on a stranded bus en route to Russia. Authorities denied the incident happened.
“This is a travesty of justice designed to silence those working for foreign media,” Reporters Without Borders said in a statement posted on its Web site.
Uzbek media are strictly monitored and censored, and the independent online publications are filtered by government-controlled Internet service providers.
24 May 2007
Mr Hanh Tran has been selected as the new Chief Executive of Radio Australia.
Hanh is currently Executive Producer of Vietnamese content for Radio Australia and was, from 1997 until 2001, Head of the Vietnamese Service at the BBC World Service. Hanh has led the Vietnamese content team at Radio Australia in response to new media opportunities. The Vietnamese service of RA is built around online content on radioaustralia.net.au.
Having worked as a radio commentator, producer, reporter and presenter, Hahn has over 10 years experience in international broadcasting.
Hanh came to Australia in the late seventies as a Colombo Plan student and studied forestry at the Australian National University and media at the University of Canberra. Hanh is a recognised photographer with work in the Parliament House Art Collection. He lectured in photomedia at both the Canberra Institute of the Arts and at the Australian Centre for Photography.
“I am pleased to announce the appointment of Hanh Tran as Chief Executive of Radio Australia,” ABC Managing Director Mark Scott said today.
“I am delighted that from a very strong field of internal and external applicants that the next person to lead Radio Australia has come from our own team of managers and executive producers.
“He will bring a wealth of expertise in radio and digital media that will contribute to enhancing the services provided by Radio Australia, while exploring opportunities to expand the service into new markets.
“Radio Australia, together with the Australia Network, International Projects and International Relations, is part of the new entity I announced in February. ABC International provides an opportunity for cross platform production in an area of core ABC activity: producing content for international audiences, particularly in the Asia Pacific.”
Mr Tran will begin in the role of Chief Executive immediately.
