11 October 2005
Arqiva, formerly Inmedia, is to launch the UKs first dedicated Asian shopping channel, Apna Bazaar, on 26 September. Arqivas Satellite Media Solutions division is providing satellite space segment and uplink services for the Bradford -based channel.
Arqivas reliable services are essential for reaching maximum viewers who wish to purchase quality Asian goods and textiles from their armchairs, says co-founding director of Apna Bazaar Nadeem Malik. Arqivas affordability for a start-up channel allows us to help pioneer Bradford as a broadcast district.
Apna Bazaar is an innovative service for UK and South Asian audiences and Arqivas satellite broadcasting is the most cost-effective means of reaching them, says Arqivas head of broadcast sales John Bozza.
Arqiva Satellite Media Solutions has operational bases in London, Gerrards Cross, Winchester, Feltham and Bedford. A diverse range of international customers trust Arqiva Satellite Media Solutions to develop and deliver high quality and flexible solutions that include permanent and occasional broadcast services as well as IP, voice, data and digital media networks.
11 October 2005
Germany’s international broadcaster Deutsche Welle is responding to the natural disaster in Pakistan by extending its Urdu service on DW-RADIO by 30 minutes daily.
Head of the Asia Service of DW-RADIO, Sybille Golte-Schröder, said that DW wants to inform listeners in the affected areas about the situation, and about help on offer. DW targets specifically listeners in Kashmir where many villages are completely cut off from the outside world.
The additional programms in Urdu are broadcast daily in the morning between 5.30 und 6.00 (local time) on 7130, 9505 und 9825 kHz. DW was already broadcasting twice daily news, reports, commentaries and analysis in the region. About one million listeners tune into the DW programmes in Urdu.
11 October 2005
For MIPCOM 2005, the European Audiovisual Observatory has released the latest figures on national television fiction broadcast in the 5 largest territories in Europe, as elaborated by the EUROFICTION network
Production volume grows in Germany, the UK and Italy but declines in France and Spain
Contributions by private broadcasters on the increase and by public broadcasters in decline.
Overall domestic fiction volumes have risen
The supply of first-run domestic drama (co-productions included) on the unencrypted television channels of the five largest European countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom) has slightly increased in 2004 with regards to the previous year. And since in 2003 there was a relevant and generalized quantitative fall in the programming of local fiction across Europe, this means that the downward trend of the European television industry has been halted, if not substantially reversed.
In actual fact, the total amount of 5513 hours broadcast by these 5 countries in 2004 marks an modest rise of just 133 hours (+ 2,5%) in comparison with 2003.
Italy, the UK and Germany on the increase, downswings elsewhere…
The downward trend seems to be halted and even reversed in some territories, but still continuing and even accelerating in others. Far from being homogeneous, the contemporary Eurofiction landscape is divided if not fractured into two main areas comprising Spain and France on the one hand, and Italy, the United Kingdom and Germany on the other.
A downward trend in Spain and France
1. The television industry in the first area is feeling the blow of arrested development. This is the case for Spain and France. Spanish fiction, which reached the peak of over 1300 hours in 2001, has consistently diminished year after year, falling to 932 hours in 2004 (minus 8,6% compared with 2003, and minus 29% compared with 2001). What is more, it is the drama commissioned by the public channels, which turns out to be most affected by the downward trend (155 hours lost from 2003 to 2004). As for France, the ups and downs of the related figures from 2000 on don’t disguise the substantial decrease, which, again in 2004, confirms French fiction as the “last in line” of European production, in terms of broadcast hours.
Germany, the UK and Italy on the up
2. The other territories are experiencing the thrust of renewed development. German fiction, although still remaining below the 1800 hours it was able to reach in 2000-2002, has pulled itself up from the decrease of the previous year thanks to an extra 50 hours. This has been made possible by the advent of domestically produced telenovelas, launched for the first time in 2004 by the public channel ZDF; given their success, the German telenovelas are destined to multiply, further boosting the fiction production of the strongest television industry in Europe.
Even more remarkable is the growth of Italian domestic drama, which increased by 85 hours (+13%) in 2004. Italy is the only country where all the quantity indicators (hours, titles, episodes) are on the increase, shortening the gap with the more established and mighty fiction factories of Germany and United Kingdom, and diverging by this progressive trend from the Spanish regression. Both Italy and Spain, almost starting from scratch, were the most dynamic television industries in Europe in the late nineties. Whereas Spain is weakening, Italy is still strengthening its production capacities, with the aim of achieving 1000 hours per year in the near future.
In the UK there has been a rise of 100 hours in drama supply (+ 7%), mainly due to the new digital channels BBC3 and BBC4.
Italy, Germany and the United Kingdom are the only countries in which the public channels have increased their programming of home-grown fiction. Even though the public broadcasters remain the principle commissioners and providers of domestic drama in Europe the balance of the share has slightly shifted toward the private channels in 2004: local fiction broadcast by the latter increased by 158 hours (from 39% in 2003 to 41% in 2004), whereas the serious decreases in the volume broadcast by the Spanish channels and other minor decreases in the UK traditional public channels and in France, together with the growth in volume broadcast by the private channels, have lowered the share of the public broadcasters from 61% to 59% of the whole output.
7 October 2005
The latest edition of the twice-annual AIB Directory of Global Broadcasting has been published.
Completely revised and updated and including more information than previous editions, the new AIB Directory of Global Broadcasting provides an unrivalled range of information about the world’s leading international and national broadcasters, including key contacts in each organisation.
From the VP of Transmissions and Systems at Televisa in Mexico to the director of news at Jordan Radio and TV, from the programming director at VT4 in Belgium to the general manager of Show TV in Turkey, the AIB Directory of Global Broadcasting has the contacts you need to do business.
Updated twice every year, the Directory is published by the industry association for the international broadcasting industry. Compiled from constant research that feeds into the AIB’s database of more than 23,000 contacts in broadcasting worldwide, the AIB Directory of Global Broadcasting is an essential reference work for everyone who works in broadcasting or provides services to the broadcasting industry.
With more than 140 pages of data, including a world map section the AIB Directory of Global Broadcasting provides the information you need whether you’re at your office or travelling.
Download sample pages
here.
Order today – an annual subscription that will provide this edition (August 2005) and the updated issue to be published in January 2005 costs just £75 (that’s around 107 or around US$140).
Click here to order via the secure AIB web shop.
Alternatively, download a fax-back order form
here.
7 October 2005
After rumours in the television industry, Al Jazeera International – the new English-language news channel launching in 2006 – has confirmed that television host, author and producer Sir David Frost, the only person to have interviewed the last seven Presidents of the United States and the last six Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom, has joined the line-up of key on-air talent at the new 24-hour English-language news and current affairs channel.
“We are thrilled to have Sir David Frost join Al Jazeera International,” said Managing Director Nigel Parsons. “Hes a one-man international broadcasting phenomenon and our viewers can look forward to the substance and quality that have marked his distinguished career.”
Sir David said: “This is a great adventure the first and perhaps the only brand-new international TV news network for the 21st Century. Most of the television I have done over the years has been aimed at British and American audiences. This time, while our target is still Britain and America, the excitement is that it is also the 6 billion other inhabitants of the globe. As someone said, a new show for a new channel for the new century.”
Sir David will also continue with his BBC work, the upcoming Frost Interview specials as well as Through the Keyhole.
Landmark interviews have always been a feature of Sir Davids career. Among the many world figures that he has interviewed are the six most recent British Prime Ministers (Harold Wilson, James Callaghan, Edward Heath, Margaret Thatcher, John Major and Tony Blair), Prince Charles, The Duke of York, the Duchess of York and The Princess Royal in the United Kingdom; the seven most recent Presidents of the United States. His Nixon Interviews achieved “the largest audience for a news interview in history” (New York Times). In addition to their unprecedented impact in the United States, the interviews were also seen – either in English or dubbed into local languages – in almost every television nation in the world. Other notable interviews include Colin Powell, Henry Kissinger, Robert F Kennedy, Pierre Trudeau and Brian Mulroney in North America; John Howard, Robert Hawke, Malcolm Fraser and Gough Whitlam in Australia; Indira Gandhi, Benazir Bhutto and President Musharraf in Asia; King Hussein, Golda Meir, Moshe Dayan, Menachem Begin, Yasser Arafat, Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres and Benjamin Netanyahu in the Middle East. Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki and F.W. de Klerk in South Africa, and President Putin in Russia. Outside the field of world affairs, the roster is equally impressive – from Orson Welles, Tennessee Williams, Noel Coward and Peter Ustinov, to Artur Rubinstein, Woody Allen, Muhammad Ali and the Beatles.
Al Jazeera International, headquartered in Qatar, will launch in the Spring of 2006. With broadcasting centres strategically placed across the world in Doha, Kuala Lumpur, London, and Washington D.C. and dozens of news bureaux worldwide, the channel will bring English speakers across the world a fresh perspective on world news and current affairs. Sir David Frost will broadcast from Al Jazeera Internationals London broadcast centre. Details of his onscreen work with the channel will be revealed closer to launch.
6 October 2005
Harris Corporation’s Broadcast Communications Division announced on 5 October that three Brazilian radio broadcasters have selected Harris as the exclusive digital transmission vendor for their HD Radio(tm) launches.
The country’s three largest radio broadcasters, Radio Bandeirantes, Radio Globo and RBS Group recently announced plans to launch HD Radio broadcasts on September 26, commemorating the 70th anniversary of AESP, a radio and television emissions association based in Sao Paolo, and Brazil’s National Day of Radio. The HD Radio standard will allow all three broadcasters to simulcast analog and digital broadcasts over the same band, ensuring their listeners a choice to go digital or continue receiving analog broadcasts. By selecting Harris, all three radio groups have also ensured enhanced business models for their AM stations, enhanced audio quality and data capability for their FM stations, and a reduction in monthly operating costs due to intelligent combining techniques.
A total of six stations – one FM and one AM from each group – are now transmitting in HD Radio:
* Radio Bandeirantes selected a Harris Z-Series(tm) Z16HDs FM transmitter for Band News FM, and an IBOC equipment rack to upgrade an existing Harris DXD100 AM transmitter to HD Radio. Both stations are located in Sao Paulo, the largest city of Brazil.
* Radio Globo purchased a Harris Mini-HD(tm) 600 Watt FM transmitter for CBN Radio in Sao Paulo, and an IBOC equipment rack to upgrade an existing Harris 3DX-50 AM transmitter for Radio Tiradentes in Belo Horizonte.
* RBS Group purchased a Harris Mini-HD(tm) 600 Watt FM transmitter for Itapema FM, and an IBOC equipment rack to upgrade an existing Harris DXD100 AM transmitter to HD Radio for the Radio Gaucha AM station. Both stations are located in Porto Alegre, in the southern portion of Brazil.
“Harris has been actively working with Latin American radio broadcasters and government officials on digital radio since we held the first international on-air HD Radio demonstration ever in Porto Alegre in March 2003,” said Nahuel Villegas, Caribbean and Latin America regional director for Harris Broadcast Communications Division. “The more than 100 Latin American broadcasters who attended that first event experienced a demonstration that showed the vastly improved audio quality and compelling business case afforded by digital radio. The selection of Harris as the exclusive transmission provider for Brazil’s maiden HD Radio launch is a result of our efforts over the past several years, and we are privileged to be at the technological center of this enormous radio event for Latin America.”
Harris provided all three groups with FM combining methods that reduce monthly transmission-related operational costs. Radio Bandeirantes has employed Harris’ exclusive Split-Level(tm) combining method, which can reduce operational costs by up to 10 percent over the traditional method of high-level combining FM and HD Radio transmitters using a 10dB coupler. Radio Globo and RBS Group are employing separate amplification, a feature of the Mini-HD(tm) Series. Mini-HD Series transmitters greatly reduce the power reject load that is common with high-level combining. By transmitting over two separate antennas, broadcasters use only 10 percent of the digital wattage output compared to high-level combining. Transmitter power, initial capital investment and overall power consumption are greatly reduced as a result.
