11 September 2006
Content management and delivery company GlobeCast has expanded its mobile television offer into the United Kingdom and Switzerland, breaking the 100-channel mark for its mobile television offer. GlobeCast was recently chosen by Orange UK and Orange Switzerland (via Alcatel CIT) to deliver channels to their mobile television bouquets, consolidating GlobeCasts position as the worlds leading provider of live television-to-mobile delivery services. GlobeCast will provide both Orange UK and Orange Switzerland with a turnkey solution from channel origination to delivery of the final bouquets via its extensive worldwide satellite and fibre network.
From its technical operations center in central Paris, GlobeCast will be responsible for aggregating and delivering five live channels on Orange UKs Orange TV offering. GlobeCasts solution for Orange UK includes satellite downlink of the channels from the Eurobird satellite, decoding, encrytption and fibre connectivity to Oranges Multimedia Operations (OMO) center in Leeds. The five key channels delivered by GlobeCast CNN, Eurosport, Smash Hits, Kerrang and Kiss will be added to Orange UKs larger bouquet of over 50 channels.
Similarly, GlobeCast is currently responsible for aggregating and operating Orange TV in Switzerland, thanks to a deal with Alcatel. The bouquet offers thirty general and thematic channels, including Eurosport, MTV and BBC World. GlobeCasts solution for Orange Switzerland includes satellite downlink of the channels, delivery of the bouquet via fibre to Orange Switzerlands mobile TV network and 24×7 supervision.
These two offers come in addition to the 77 television and radio channels that GlobeCast currently delivers to Orange France. Orange France launched its direct-to-mobile television and radio service at the end of 2004 as part of its development of broadband mobile services. At launch, only 11 channels were available but since February 2005, when GlobeCast was selected to manage the bouquet, the line-up has tripled to include 61 television and 16 radio channels.
11 September 2006
Harris Corporation announced that it has fulfilled a significant order for a range of Harris broadcast equipment for Jordan Media City Co. (JMC) in Amman, Jordan.
The equipment is being used to support a new multichannel playout facility dedicated to the Arab Satellite Communications Organisation (Arabsat), the leading satellite services company in the Middle East.
The order included nine NEXIO(TM) server platforms, an Integrator(R) Gold wideband digital multi-rate router, an Inscriber(R)G3(TM) HD/SD- selectable character generator (CG) system, Videotek(R) TVM-850 test and measurement instruments, NEO(R) SuiteView(TM) modular multiviewer and a range of infrastructure products.
11 September 2006
The Associated Press (AP) and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) marked the tenth anniversary of the agreement to install ENPS – the electronic news production system – for its global broadcasting operation. Today, ENPS is used in 40% of the world’s newsrooms by more than 40,000 reporters, writers, editors and producers across 48 countries. The ENPS installation at the BBC continues to be the largest broadcast newsroom operation in the world, supporting around 12,000 users responsible for all of the BBCs radio and TV news programmes.
ENPS tracks thousands of words of text, hundreds of hours of audio, and video streaming in and out of the BBC everyday. It feeds online operations and helps the World Service broadcast in more than 30 languages.
ENPS is a vital technological structure which holds together BBC News, from the 24-hour news operations in London, to the smallest regional radio station, to the furthest far-flung foreign correspondent with laptop and modem. This huge global operation gives journalists unparalleled access to networked information and more control from their desktops and in the field.
The BBC – a pioneer in news technology – selected ENPS in 1996 from an original slate of 65 companies. Since then, there has been a revolution in newsroom integration and constant refinement of the system.
“When we started in 1996 with ENPS we had 4,600 work stations, today we have grown to around 7,000 work stations, said Adrian van Klaveren, Deputy Director of BBC News. Throughout, ENPS has been flexible enough to adapt to our growing needs and allowed us to be effective and competitive.”
AP led the development of the MOS protocol introduced in 1998 which has been crucial to the development of the integrated newsroom. It has enabled journalists to access multiple third-party applications through the ENPS window. This means ENPS can integrate a range of production functions including video servers and editors, audio servers and editors, still stores, character generators, and special effects devices. MOS is used by more than 50 manufacturers in development of interfaces for easily connecting and integrating newsroom computer systems and broadcast production equipment.
“ENPS sits at the heart of our domestic and international news output and a complex matrix of broadcast systems. MOS is the communication path that holds this matrix together, linking our core news production system with the necessary video and audio servers to get our programmes to air,” said Julie Foster, the BBCs ENPS Project Director. “It’s a very stable and resilient broadcast environment.”
ENPS is designed for multi-language use and operates in over 40 languages. Different scripts can be selected e.g. Arabic, Greek, simplified and traditional Chinese and the Indian language scripts. In addition, on-screen commands and other text can be modified to native language and even local dialects.
Looking to the future, the BBC and Associated Press have joined forces with the UK’s leading broadcast journalism courses to provide a major free training initiative for the next generation of TV and radio journalists.
Today, all journalism courses accredited by the Broadcast Journalism Training Council (BJTC) can install the ENPS news production system free of charge enabling undergraduate and postgraduate students to gain practical experience of work in a newsroom environment.
11 September 2006
Al Jazeera International, the 24-hour English-language news and current affairs channel, headquartered in Doha, announced that they have appointed renowned factual broadcaster Nick Clark as presenter at their London broadcast centre. Nick will present the news at weekends alongside Barbara Serra who joined Al Jazeera International from Channel Five News. He will report from across Europe during the week.
Royal Television Society award winner, Nick Clark has a diverse background in news journalism. He has worked at the BBC, ITV News, Discovery Channel and the UKs ITV London Weekend Television (LWT) plus Carlton TV.
Speaking on Nicks appointment from the channels headquarters in Doha, Director of News, Steve Clark said, I am delighted to confirm that Nick Clark has joined the line-up of presenters at our London broadcast centre. He brings a wealth of expertise and experience to the channel. Al Jazeera Internationals London bureau chief, Sue Phillips said, Nick Clark is a fantastic addition to our team of talented presenters. I am thrilled to welcome him on board.
Confirming the news that he has joined the channel, Nick Clark said “Im thrilled to be joining Al Jazeera right at the start of a whole new era for global news. Everything about the set-up appeals to my news sensibilities its going to be quite an adventure.
11 September 2006
Arab television network Al Jazeera International has become the first international news channel in more than three years to be allowed to set up a permanent base in Zimbabwe after President Robert Mugabe’s government chased away mostly Western television and radio broadcasters such as the BBC.
Al Jazeera International, a subsidiary of the Qatar-based Arabic television channel Al Jazeera, has opened a two-man bureau in Zimbabwes capital, Harare, the ZimOnline internet site reported.
The two journalists hired by al-Jazeera, Cyrus Nhara and Farai Sevenzo, are said to have already started work. Nhara is a cameraman and producer who has done work for Reuters television in Harare. Sevenzo is a news reporter who has done work for Britains Channel 4.
11 September 2006
The name of the new digital satellite infrastructure of SES ASTRA, an SES GLOBAL company, is entavio.
With the brand entavio, we will offer an infrastructure providing high-performance TV for everyone, said CEO Wolfgang Keuntje at the start of the international Consumer Electronics trade fair IFA in Berlin. For the new digital satellite access, consumers will need a receiver as well as a smartcard. We want to provide all TV households in cities and in the countryside with access to the whole range of digital offers at a low and affordable price, said Keuntje.
With entavio, the viewers will benefit from a broader variety in TV. The offer will enable broadcasters to provide a comprehensive digital programme, additional service packages and value-added services. The offer will include interactive TV and electronic programme guides as well as an easy combination of Free-TV with Pay-TV, Video-On-Demand (VOD), Pay-Per-View (PPV) and a Personal Video Recorder (PVR).
Furthermore, entavio will enable TV reception with a future-proof receiver.
The company offering the new digital satellite infrastructure is also called entavio and is located in Unterföhring near Munich.(www.entavio.com).
