31 January 2005
At a signing ceremony in Beijing, China Radio International (CRI) has renewed and extended its agreement with WRN, the London-based international broadcaster and transmission service provider, for the extensive provision of global broadcast services. The new contract was signed by CRI Vice President, Mr Xia Jixuan and WRN Chairman, Mr Karl Miosga, at CRIs headquarters on 9th December 2004.
WRN has worked closely with CRI for more than six years since signing a Collaboration Agreement in Beijing in 1999. WRN works on CRIs behalf, distributing its daily programmes to reach listeners around the world using AM and FM transmissions that augment CRIs traditional Short Wave broadcasting from China. CRIs daily programmes can be heard on FM in Berlin and Moscow and on AM in London, St Petersburg, across Western Europe, South West Russia, Ukraine and Romania. WRN identifies the most appropriate transmitters, undertakes local negotiations and monitors the output for CRI.
Furthermore CRIs daily programmes in English, French, German and Russian can be heard on WRNs international news networks, distributed around the world via satellite, cable, local FM relays, wireless applications and the Internet.
After the signing ceremony, Mr Karl Miosga, WRNs Chairman, said: WRN is honoured to have signed a new agreement expanding its cooperation with CRI. 2004 saw significant growth in both local and new media outlets that carry CRI programmes. WRNs networks distribute CRI on key platforms such as Sirius satellite radio in the USA which has now achieved over 1 million subscribers, and Sky digital which is reaching over 8 million homes in the UK and Ireland. 2005 is going to be an exciting year full of new developments and WRN looks forward to bringing these to CRI. After the signing ceremony WRN met with Mr Wang Gengnian, the new Director General of China Radio International, to discuss issues of mutual interest to the two organisations.
31 January 2005
RadioScape has announced that it is expanding its business to include the direct supply of its award winning DAB modules. Until now, the company licensed the designs for these modules to third party manufacturers who built and supplied the modules to the radio OEMs.
Orders will now be placed directly with RadioScape who will control the supply chain right through to delivery to the customer. This will enable significant savings to be made on the costs of the modules that can be passed on to customers. New modules can also be brought to market far faster. The manufacturing will be done by a subcontractor in China, Nam Tai Electronics Inc, that is a well established, high volume manufacturer for major international consumer electronics companies and listed on the New York Stock Exchange (www.namtai.com ). RadioScape is increasing its investment in its Hong Kong operations with the addition of a new team which will be responsible for local liaison with customers and the manufacturing facility in China. RadioScapes highly successful Customisation Group is also being expanded with new personnel in Hong Kong to create additional facilities for custom software and hardware to provide differentiation and innovation.
This is a strategic change in our business model, said John Hall, RadioScapes CEO. DAB is enjoying a phenomenal growth which is creating a drive for innovation and cost reduction. By extending our product customisation services and having complete control of the supply chain, we can deliver major benefits to customers in both these areas as well as being able to shorten delivery times. Customers want a one stop shop, added Nigel Oakley, RadioScapes VP of Marketing. Now they have one point of contact for custom software, hardware design and ordering goods. This integrated approach will significantly improve the time to market for new radios, make it much easier to innovate and differentiate, as well as simplifying the supply chain and driving down end user prices.
31 January 2005
Intelsat, Ltd., a global satellite communications leader providing services in over 200 countries and territories, announced on 28 January the successful closing of the amalgamation under Bermuda law of Intelsat and a subsidiary of Zeus Holdings Limited.
Zeus is a company formed by a consortium of funds advised by Apax Partners, Apollo Management, Madison Dearborn Partners and Permira. As a result of the closing of the transaction, those organizations and individuals that held shares in Intelsat immediately prior to the closing are entitled to receive $18.75 in exchange for each such share. The total value of the transaction, including approximately $2 billion of existing net debt, was approximately $5 billion.
Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley acted as financial advisors to Intelsat, Ltd. in connection with the transaction. Credit Suisse First Boston, Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Lehman Brothers Inc. acted as financial advisors to Zeus in connection with the transaction.
27 January 2005
The Arab Advisors Group conducted a comprehensive survey of the media and telecom usage habits of the population of Greater Cairo between November 2004 and Jan 2005.
On the TV front, despite the relatively wide adoption of Sat TV, terrestrial TV is still ahead with 91% of households in Cairo tuning in to Egypts terrestrial TV channels. Of the Sat TV viewers, 68.3% tune in to news channels. Al Jazeera news channels are the most widely watched (88.4% of households with Sat TV watched it), followed by Al Arabiya (35.1%), Nile News (8.9%), CNN (6.6%), Al Hurra (4.6%), Al Ekhbaryia (3.9%), BBC (3.1%), ANN, Euronews and Manar (each with 0.4%).
The survey also probed the channels watched in the categories of: Music Channels, Entertainment Channels, Sport Channels and Religion Channels. On the GSM front, the survey revealed that some 71% of households in Cairo have a GSM line.
Arab Advisors Groups survey involved face to face interviews with 562 people from different households in the Greater Cairo area selected randomly from different areas in the city in a manner proportionate to the population size of the different areas. Respondents were over 18 years old.
To obtain a copy of the survey questions contact: www.menareport.com
27 January 2005
Faced with a rising number of viewers refusing to pay their licence fees due to embezzlement scandals, Japans public broadcaster NHK’s President Katsuji Ebisawa tendered his resignation on 25 January.
The 2005 budget endorsed by the management committee showed the first decrease in subscription fee income in NHK’s history. The broadcaster has recently also been embroiled in a scandal over claims that it censored a documentary of a mock trial on Japan’s wartime atrocities, bowing to political pressure.
NHK has appointed Gen-ichi Hashimoto as its new President with immediate effect. Mr Hashimoto has been General Managing Director/Executive Director-General for Engineering since September 2004. An engineer by training, he joined NHK in 1968.
27 January 2005
EICTA, the European industry organisation representing the information and communications technology and consumer electronics sectors, has published its Conditions for HD Labelling of Display Devices and associated HD ready label.
The HD ready label is introduced as a quality sign for the differentiation of display equipment, capable of processing and displaying high definition signals, awarded on the basis of minimum functionality requirements detailed in the EICTA conditions for HD Labelling of Display Devices.
The EICTA Conditions for HD Labelling of Display Devices are the result of a concerted effort from the European high technology industry, elaborated in close dialogue with representatives from the European public and private broadcasters,
infrastructure and service providers, as well as national HDTV-related initiatives. The conditions embody a carefully sought after balance between technology and business drivers. I am pleased to announce that EICTA is taking the lead in driving the dynamic changes we are seeing in what is undoubtedly one of Europe’s most exciting and revolutionary industry sectors . Setting the Conditions for HD Labelling of Display Devices marks real progress in the rollout of HDTV in Europe and demonstrates the organisations commitment to actively creating the conditions for the digital economy as well as fully embracing the challenges and benefits of innovation, says Rudy Provoost, CEO Philips Consumer Electronics, as President of EICTA and Chairman of the Executive Board.
In an early response, some of the parties that were involved in the process that led to the definition of the EICTA Conditions for HD Labelling of Display Devices commented: It is critically important that the public is informed about the capabilities of home displays to provide high definition television – and that broadcasters understand what will happen to their content. The HD ready label is fully supported by Europes national broadcasters, the Members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). The EICTA Conditions for HD Labelling of Display Devices offers a well balanced approach which responds to viewers and broadcasters needs for certainty regarding interoperability with future HD receiver products. says Daniel Sauvet-Goichon, Chairman, EBU Technical Committee.
Ferdinand Kayser, President and CEO of SES ASTRA, states: The HD ready label provides consumers with the guarantee that displays from different manufacturers are genuinely future -proof and fully compliant with commonly agreed technical standards for state-of-the-art High Definition broadcasts. In combination with ASTRAs unique 24 hour HD promo channel which is available for live demonstrations on HD displays at points of sales all across Europe, it provides a powerful marketing tool to educate millions of end-consumers about the single most important technological development in broadcasting since the introduction of color TV: HDTV!
The issues addressed by the EICTA HD ready label are critical to fostering growth, guaranteeing confidence in the Consumer Electronics sector, and achieving the goals of putting Europe on the worldwide HDTV map. The EICTA Conditions for HD Labelling of Display Devices offers a carefully balanced approach which preserves the incentives for European innovation in broadcasting technologies, while also responding to the consumers call for certainty and clear messaging regarding interoperability with future HD receiver products. The HD ready label should introduce consumer assurance and confidence when purchasing new display devices assumed to be ready for use with High Definition broadcasts and other HD equipment. The label is awarded within a self-certification regime.
