27 June 2005
Harris Corporation announced on 21 June that Cordillera Communications, the owner of 11 television stations throughout the United States, has selected Harris automation solutions for a centralization project in Montana and for stations in California and Colorado. Among reasons Harris was selected, Cordillera Communications cited Harris’ strong after-sales support and its ability to provide scalable and cost-effective systems that can meet the needs of medium- to smaller-market broadcasters.
To increase operational efficiency among three Montana stations, Cordillera is establishing a central “hub” at KXLF, a full-power station in Butte. At the hub, content will be ingested, prepared and distributed to another full-power station, KBZK in Bozeman, and a low-power station, KXLH in Helena. Harris will provide ADC playout automation, digital ingest and satellite ingest solutions. At KOAA in Colorado Springs, Harris will upgrade an existing ADC system to automate playout of an independent weather channel that is operated by the station as well as regular programming. The upgraded ADC system is being configured so that Cordillera can add new revenue streams in the future. At KSBY in San Luis Obispo, California, Cordillera has selected Harris to provide a new ADC-100 system to replace an antiquated manual system. Harris also will provide on-site installation and training.
“Cordillera works in very small to medium-size markets, and because budgets are not what they are in larger markets, we are forced to stretch our dollars and require that new products, such as our automation system, work with legacy systems,” said Andy Suk, Cordillera’s director of broadcast engineering. “With Harris, that is possible. It is proven technology, and we know going in that the support we’ll need is available. Harris’ innovation with digital ingest is also very important to our operations. We looked at other suppliers and found Harris was willing to tailor a solution for smaller markets and make it cost-effective for us. It is an exceptional system architecture.”
The relationship between Harris Corporation and Cordillera Communications dates back several decades and has included the purchase and installation of transmitters and other broadcast products. Suk views the strength of Harris as its willingness to take responsibility for seeing system issues through to resolution. “I like having a single point of accountability as there is with Harris,” he said. “If there is an issue, I know Harris will be an active part of the solution.”
Harris is the world’s leader in playout automation, with its systems controlling more than 7,000 channels. Among other benefits, Harris automation gives broadcasters a smooth and cost-effective path to total content delivery systems – the key to being able to deliver multiple channels of programming over any network to any type of receiver with maximum efficiency in the future.
21 June 2005
People in Britain watch more television and read fewer books than in any other European country. A poll of 30,000 people found that the typical Briton spends 18 hours in front of the television set every week. He or she spends only 5.3 hours reading books, magazines or newspapers.
The French watch just over 17 hours of television but read for nearly seven hours a week, while Swedes watch for 12 hours and read for 6.9 hours. The Spanish watch 15.9 hours of television, the Germans 15.2 hours and Italians 14.9 hours.
These are some of the results of a survey of 30 countries conducted by research company NOP World.
21 June 2005
Harris Corporation announced that Macmillan Media, the multimedia production, media training and broadcast services provider in Northern Ireland, has installed an innovative networking system that connects its new broadcast center in Belfast with Ulster Television (UTV), the Independent Television franchise holder for Northern Ireland. The system, which combines digital microwave radio technology from Harris’ Microwave Communications Division and NetVX(TM), an award-winning, high-speed, integrated networking platform from Harris’ Broadcast Communications Division, is far more cost effective than the leased fibre connection alternative. Macmillan Media’s studios produce regional news output for Good Morning Television (GMTV) and other British broadcasters.
Owner and founder Michael Macmillan said, “It is essential that we present news bulletins which reflect GMTV’s highly successful national program content. The combined expertise of Harris Corporation’s Broadcast and Microwave Communications Divisions offered an opportunity to install a compelling blend of modern technologies. The capabilities we now have in our new broadcast centre enable us to meet the high standards set by our clients.”
Macmillan wanted a wireless connection between its new facility and UTV to take advantage of its line-of-sight proximity. Macmillan approached Charlie Day, managing director of UK-based broadcast equipment supplier “The UK Office,” who recommended Harris’ microwave radios. Macmillan now uses the microwave link to deliver two channels of television programming to UTV, including live contribution services for GMTV each morning.
Harris’ Microwave Communication Division has a wide range of point-to-point digital microwave radios designed for rapid, easy deployment of short, medium and long links. A wide range of frequency bands and protection configurations also are available for voice and data applications. At the hub of Macmillan’s system is Harris’ NetVX, which is equipped with two MPEG-2 codecs configured to deliver two channels of 4:2:2 contribution quality video over ATM on the E3 link. “Part of Harris’ value proposition is its ability to draw upon products from any of Harris’ four divisions and combine them in ways that provide exceptional long-term value and innovation for our customers,” said Jim Denny, vice president and general manager of Harris Broadcast Communications Division’s Networking & Government Solutions business unit. The Broadcast Communications Division has installed more than 100 NetVX systems worldwide, proving the platform’s flexibility, ability to evolve to support new services, and cost-savings potential.
Harris leads the wireless backhaul industry with its newest product family, Truepoint(TM), the first universal platform for point-to-point digital communications. TRuepoint’s modular, software-selectable architecture supports both PDH and SDH applications, enabling service providers to address multiple applications and deliver multiple services throughout their networks.
21 June 2005
On 16 June, the US House Appropriations Committee approved a bill that would cut funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting by 82 million, or 25%, starting in October.
Ralph Regula, an Ohio Republican who crafted the legislation, said 49 federal programmes were being eliminated and other funding reduced because of tight spending limits.
Regula’s original bill would have eliminated funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in 2008, but a Democratic amendment earmarked $330 million so that public broadcasting could use the money in the future.
US media watchdog Accuracy in Media hailed the proposed cuts as a step in the right direction. Cliff Kincaid, editor of AIM, said: “But Congress must go further and completely de-fund public TV and radio. All $400 million a year should be terminated.”
20 June 2005
The AIB Industry Events Calendar on the AIB website has been updated to include broadcasting industry conferences and exhibitions taking place during the second half of 2005.
Click
here
to visit the Calendar.
20 June 2005
Governmental over-regulation and content censorship are common in Central Asian countries and pose a serious danger to new media in the emerging internet scene, according to OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Miklos Haraszti. Speaking after the Third Amsterdam Internet Conference, organized by his office from 17 to 18 June, he said: “Online information is the most important source of pluralistic information in the countries of Central Asia. Any over-regulation, filtering or censorship by governments is unacceptable. Citizens should have the right to decide what they wish to access and view on the Internet.”
The conference brought together leading international experts on human rights and the Internet from Western and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia and North America. The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media and the Paris-based NGO Reporters sans frontieres issued a joint declaration on guaranteeing media freedom on the Internet. It lists six main principles for protecting online media freedom and stresses that in a democratic and open society citizens should decide what they wish to access and view on the Internet. Any filtering or rating of online content by governments is unacceptable and websites should not be required to register with governmental authorities, the declaration states.
Freedom of the Internet will be the focus of a media conference in the South Caucasus and in Central Asia later this autumn.
