29 January 2007
GlobeCast WorldTV the leading aggregator and distributor of international television and radio programming in America has announced the launch of ARTN, the first 24-hour Armenian and Russian language television network in the United States.
The new channel will be distributed directly to consumers throughout the United States as part of GlobeCast WorldTVs European bouquet which also includes channels from 14 European countries including Italy, Poland and Romania. Produced live from ARTNs Los Angeles studio, the free-to-air service will offer the rapidly expanding Russian and Armenian communities in the United States a wide variety of cultural and entertainment programs including travel, fashion, food, childrens programs, game shows and an every day broadcast of soap operas.
Due to Russias recent economic resurgence, there has been an increased global demand for Russian-speaking channels. However, in addition to Russian and Armenian, ARTN reaches a host of communities originating from neighbouring Eastern European countries, such as Belarus and the Ukraine.
GlobeCast WorldTV is the leading source of international programming via satellite in the United States, now offering in excess of 200 global TV and radio channels, in more than 35 languages to 42 countries worldwide. ARTN is available free of charge to GlobeCast WorldTV subscribers.
29 January 2007
The ABU is pushing for more of its members to join the Asian Monitoring Network (AMN), to monitor collisions in frequency usage among shortwave broadcasters in a move which could save millions of dollars in wastage. Through its ABU-High Frequency Coordination (HFC) Committee, the ABU is hoping to establish the network to cut costs arising from wastage, said the ABU-HFC Steering Committee Chairman, IRIB Irans Yousef Ghadaksaz. Currently, DW-Germany, IRIB-Iran and TRT-Turkey have already installed the software. PBC-Pakistan, AIR-India and RTPRC-China have expressed interest in becoming a part of the network.
Mr Ghadaksaz said monitoring reports were important to alert frequency managers in various organisations of collisions and help them work out an interference-free solution. He said all broadcasters needed to set up a simple monitoring system are a radio receiver, a schedule recording software and Internet access. The SIOFT software can be downloaded free at www.Nschall.de.
We need to promote shortwave monitoring among our members. It is desirable to involve as many ABU-HFC organisations in the monitoring process as possible so that they put in place their own bilateral monitoring arrangements, he said during the ABU-HFC (High Frequency Coordination) Conference in Kuala Lumpur, which ended today.
The five-day coordination conference organised by the ABU was held to enable shortwave broadcasters in the Asia-Pacific region and other parts of the world to coordinate frequency channels on a seasonal basis. This is done with a view to reducing interference in their services caused by clashing frequency usage. The ABU-HFC group includes some 40 shortwave broadcasters who broadcast some 5,000 shortwave services every day, totaling over 10,000 hours of transmissions.
29 January 2007
Booth no: SU14612
Autocue, a leading provider of newsroom automation and teleprompting solutions is showcasing a number of new and existing products at NAB 2007.
* US LAUNCH – QNxt: Making its debut in the US, Autocue launches the first IP-based, networked prompting system. The prompting application on the PC connects to a hardware component – the QBox – over an Ethernet link, which can be wired or wireless. This means that the QBox can be controlled locally, or remotely, by the PC over an unlimited distance. In this way, QNxt moves the level of intelligence away from the central control system, and out to the prompter itself, unlocking a host of benefits for the end user, both in the studio and in the field.
*US LAUNCH – MSP08: Autocues Master Series is designed to meet the demanding real-time requirements of the top-end broadcast studios. The MSP08 is the newest addition to the Master Series family, and is the smallest daylight-readable prompter in the world. In combination with QNxt, the MSP08 delivers significant benefits for the end user, especially in more challenging field environments. QNxt un-tethers the lightweight MSP08 from the control PC, and the camera, enabling the camera operator to get the best shots, while the presenter looks more professional and fluent thanks to the prompter.
Also on display:
*Master and Professional Series Prompters: The Master Series is designed to meet the demanding real-time requirements of the top-end broadcast studios. Autocue boasts three unique products in this range: the smallest and largest daylight-readable prompters in the world, and the only top-mounted prompter. The Professional Series is an affordable range of prompters designed for the emerging or non-traditional broadcast markets, including smaller stations, corporate, religious and educational broadcasters.
Company contact:
Frank Hyman, Sales & Marketing Director
Tel: +44 (0)20 8665 2992
Fax: +44 (0)20 8687 4869
E-mail: frank.hyman@autocue.co.uk
25 January 2007
Viacom Germany is the new name for MTV Networks in Europe’s German-speaking territories. The name change reflects the increasingly diverse on-air brands operated by the company, which now includes VH1, Nick, Comedy Central and VIVA.
Contact details for the company remain the same – they can be found on page 56 of the current edition of the
AIB Directory of Global Broadcasting, available to purchase by clicking
here.
23 January 2007
Vizrt Ltd.,provider of real-time 2D and 3D broadcast graphics solutions, has begun supplying the BBC with a USD 0.5 million graphics system as the first part of a four-year nationwide framework agreement signed between the two parties in 2006.
The first live implementation is BBC World and News 24. From the beginning of this week both stations use Vizrt to produce on-screen graphics and captions.
BBC London is also piloting Vizrt software on behalf of regional stations and will be conducting a soft launch later this month. The roll-out continues during 2007. The framework agreement is designed to facilitate purchasing from a tested and approved supplier and although created primarily for News departments throughout the country, any department or region can take advantage of it.
Vizrt’s software suite provides a complete graphics solution including caption generation, content management and newsroom integration, template graphics, 3D tickers, virtual studio sets, weather forecasts, virtual sports graphics, SMS interactivity and large-scale displays. All Vizrt’s graphics products are powered by a single core renderer, the Viz|Engine, and include highly-customised user interfaces for the designer, operator, journalist and engineer.
As part of the framework agreement, Vizrt UK is also assisting with training and support to help BBC staff adapt to the new software.
23 January 2007
Harris Corporation, an international communications and information technology company, will provide its premier traffic application, OSi-Traffic, to CN8, The Comcast Network. CN8, the nations largest and most diverse multiregional cable network reaching more than nine million cable homes in 20 television markets, chose OSi-Traffic for its real-time network and zone capabilities.
Harris® OSi-Traffic gives us real-time, cutting-edge tools and responses with minimal wait time, said Ellen Aulson, director of Special Operations at CN8. This, combined with the softwares ability to handle our zone and network requirements, was the primary reason we chose OSi.
CN8s ability to manage its mission-critical operations will be enhanced by OSi-Traffics real-time traffic, accounting and yield management tools. The multizone, multinetwork functionalities of OSi-Traffic application facilitate CN8s delivery of customized programming to its different zones. The scheduling component of OSi-Traffic ensures that broadcast schedules need only to be entered one time and will immediately filter to all zones. The system provides each zone with the ability to override the network log at anytime to accommodate local spot insertion. This will enable CN8 to further streamline its operations, eliminate redundant data-entry of information and increase revenue by maximizing station inventory.
CN8 joins a growing number of cable providers that have selected Harris® OSi Sales, Traffic and Research Solutions for the systems agility in catering to a wide variety of media operations. Designed for multi-environment solutions, OSi-Traffic ensures that clients have a cost-effective business environment that provides efficiencies of scale and growth.
With OSi-Traffic, clients receive an innovative solution that gives them a high level of functionality customized to their individual needs, said Tim Thorsteinson, president of the Harris Broadcast Communications Division.
