27 March 2007
As reported in RNW’s Weblog, the Uzbek General Prosecutors Office has opened criminal proceedings against a reporter working for German broadcaster Deutsche Welle in the Central Asian state, her lawyer said Monday. Uzbekistan has taken an increasingly tough line with foreign media since they reported eyewitness accounts of troops opening fire on a crowd in the town of Andizhan last year, killing hundreds of civilians.
Natalia Bushuyeva, an Uzbek citizen working for Deutsche Welle, is
accused of operating without a journalistic licence and tax evasion, her lawyer, Sukhrob Ismalov, told Reuters. He said she could face up to
three years in jail.
Following the Andizhan events, which led to European Union sanctions
against Uzbekistan and criticism from former ally Washington, Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty had its permission to operate in Uzbekistan
revoked. The BBC World Service, which has an Uzbek-language service,
also closed its Tashkent bureau, citing official harassment. Last year,
Uzbekistan’s foreign ministry cancelled the accreditation of another
Deutsche Welle reporter in Uzbekistan. Bushuyeva’s own accreditation
expired in 2005.
27 March 2007
Harris Corporation, an international communications and information technology company, has introduced a suite of rich media management solutions optimized for public safety operations. The suite, which will be offered through the newly formed Harris Broadcast Government Solutions Unit, combines individual Harris products into total content delivery solutions – providing interoperability to public safety customers.
The Harris integrated solutions suite addresses requirements such as internal communications within local and state municipalities, traffic management and transit communications, emergency broadcasting, geospatial asset management and video surveillance.
The Harris suite of products also provides industry-leading broadcast solutions to support mission-critical video, audio and data transmission within and among city, county, state and Federal agencies and includes:
— Intraplex(R) NetXpress(TM) IP multiplexer, which features SNMP
management controls for complex audio and data video surveillance
requirements within land mobile radio networks (shipping now).
— Intraplex(R) SynchroCast3(TM) platform, which enables precise time
delay control for applications requiring the simulcast of mobile radio
systems (estimated to begin shipping spring 2007).
— The H-Class(TM) Content Delivery Platform, an integrated approach to
content management at the enterprise level, from ingest to distribution
over a variety of devices or networks; and the H-Class(TM) Digital
Asset Management tool, a core application within the H-Class(TM)
product family that uses metadata, an advanced thesaurus, and
innovative “deep-search” tools such as scene detection and speech
recognition to enable analysts to find exactly what they need in the
required resolution. H-Class(TM) Digital Asset Management now includes
a tool for connecting geospatial intelligence with rich media content
(estimated to begin shipping in July 2007 with Geospatial Media Asset
Management (GMAM) technology, which is a means of tying all media
assets to a geospatial location on a map).
— The AM/FM Radio Flyaway Radio Broadcast System – a completely portable
radio station in a small, ruggedized cargo container, providing
everything that is required to begin broadcasting a signal and
programming in the event of a disaster (shipping now).
— The NEO(R) SuiteView(TM) v.3 multiviewer – a tool for command center
and control room applications that allows a single monitor to act like
many, with the ability to adapt to router changes and display alarm
conditions (estimated to begin shipping spring 2007).
— InfoCaster(TM) digital signage solution, which allows for the creation
and display of information from different sources in a variety of
fields, banners, and crawls and is used to display vital public
information on a daily basis and/or during emergencies over a broadcast
network (shipping now).
“Providing a consolidated suite of products from our commercial Broadcast Communications Division product lines for public safety applications highlights the benefits of our ONE initiative,” said Tim Thorsteinson, president of the Harris Broadcast Communications Division.
“The ONE initiative showcases the company’s unique ability to provide a single choice for entire integrated workflow solutions.
“Government organizations, similar to commercial businesses, need to leverage the benefits of information technology to streamline their everyday operations. By integrating the entire Harris product portfolio, we enable improved organization workflows and enhanced communication to the public,” Thorsteinson continued.
27 March 2007
From April 15 to 19 S4M – Solutions for Media will present its Integrated Broadcast Management Systems in Las Vegas. During the Broadcast fair NAB 2007 the S4M team will show tailor made presentations of S4M’s cutting edge solutions as well as provide intensive workshops for customers and potentials in the Marriott Courtyard Las Vegas Convention Center. Emphasis will be placed on S4Ms integrated solutions for the core business of broadcasters, including program planning, rights- and license management, cross media sales and video content management.
S4M Solutions for Media
The Cologne based company S4M Solutions for Media, a subsidiary of arvato-systems and RTL Television, develops and distributes software solutions specialized on the broadcast- and newmedia industry. Today, S4M systems are used in 30 countries around the world. Whether commercial air time sales or video content management; whether program planning, rights licensing, ratings evaluation or production planning: S4M has got the solution. Furthermore, the S4M portfolio includes professional consulting services to pass along combined knowledge of media and IT to customers.
27 March 2007
Sending dynamic sales messages to plasma screens across France, content management and delivery company GlobeCast has equipped 113 of France Telecom/Oranges sales boutiques with its digital signage solution GlobeCast Captive Audience. The product will allow France Telecom to remotely aggregate content, create and manage playlists and to broadcast to the network of plasma or LCD screens at their different agencies.
Developed by GlobeCast, Captive Audience is an IP-based digital signage solution that uses the latest technology in content management and delivery to effectively manage in-store displays that inform, entertain and communicate to shoppers. The client uses simple, user friendly software to organize content and playlists of targeted ads, product bulletins and entertaining clips, which are then sent to a Media Server, one of which is located at each agency. This Media Server then uses WiFi to command the ultra-compact Media Player box behind each individual display screen. Captive Audience is a scalable solution that can include content management, transport and playback.
GlobeCast is celebrating its tenth year in 2007 and sees this deployment as an example of how far content management companies have come in the past ten years.
France Telecom/Oranges test run of GlobeCast Captive Audience will allow the telecom company to present new products in a dynamic and targeted way. The content, while stored locally at the various agencies, is also backed-up on GlobeCasts secure content management platform at its Paris technical operations center. The platform used to store and transport this content receives constant supervision and maintenance.
GlobeCast Captive Audience is capable of delivering standard or High Definition (HD) content, and has been shown to reinforce key product information, reduce perceived wait time and increase brand loyalty.
27 March 2007
Pharos Communications announces the appointment of Russell Grute to its senior management. Joining the company on April 10 as Director of Marketing, he will lead the product management and marketing teams in driving the Pharos brand and Pharos’ technology to a wider audience.
“Russell brings a combination of experience in high-profile system sales and international marketing,” comments Roger Heath, Pharos’ Commercial Director. “At TSL he gained a unique perspective on the real-world integration issues that broadcasters face when making the transition to file-based asset management and automated workflow. His experience of broadcast system integration and workflow solutions will really help our customers. He will be working as part of the team at NAB 2007 as we launch the next generation of Mediator and Playtime.”
Russell arrives with over 25 years of industry experience. He joined Sony Broadcast in 1982, working in quality-assurance, international field service, product management and finally in professional audio sales. In 1993 he joined non-linear editing specialist Tyrell Corporation. Progressing to Leitch in 1997 as UK Sales Manager, he gained vital early experience in servers and storage area networks when the company acquired ASC. In 2002 he advanced via Marquis Broadcast to well-known independent systems specialist TSL as Head of Sales. During the last five years at TSL he has worked on a number of leading-edge projects for major broadcasters including TWI Mediahouse, Red Bee Media, CNBC, ProTV, Boom, ESPN Star Sports in Singapore and most recently the NRK Programme Bank Project.
“This is a very exciting time to be joining Pharos,” Russell Grute adds. “Working for a busy independent systems integrator over the last five years gave me a great opportunity to look closely at next-generation technology. I am very impressed with the Pharos enterprise architecture used for Mediator and Playtime. Pharos is an innovative, energetic and responsive company. I am really looking forward to joining the team and developing Pharos’ presence internationally.”
27 March 2007
TVNZ-New Zealand has introduced a new service – and a new revenue stream – that uses the Internet to cater for viewer habits and lifestyles.
One of the main planks of TVNZ’s five-year strategy, “Inspiring New Zealanders on every screen”, the online video-on-demand service offers viewers the ability to watch television on their computer screens, whenever it suits them.
At this stage all the available content is TVNZ-owned, but the broadcaster is in negotiations to include international shows as well, reports The National Business Standard.
Other plans for future developments include “pre-emptive downloading”, where viewers can pre-select material for automatic download overnight, and interactive features such as a rating system and blogs.
These will be rolled out over the next four months. Some of the videos are free, while others are paid for with “PlayPoints” purchased on a credit card.
One of the main challenges the service faces is the lack of broadband penetration in New Zealand, which will impede its popularity. TVNZ expects viewer numbers to rise as broadband infrastructure is developed.
