13 October 2004
BBC Worldwide has announced the creation of BBC Japan. The new BBC wholly owned entertainment channel will bring the best of BBC programming to TV audiences in Japan. BBC Japan will offer viewers a mix of top comedy, drama, factual entertainment, children’s and learning programming, as well as talk shows and documentaries, from Fawlty Towers to The Weakest Link, from Pride and Prejudice to Ready Steady Cook and from Tweenies to Goal.
Set to launch in Japan on December, 1 2004, the channel will offer a selection of programmes subtitled in Japanese.
BBC Japan has been created by BBC Worldwide’s Channels team that is also responsible for the success of BBC Prime, the BBCs international entertainment channel for Europe, Middle East and Africa. Headed up by Wayne Dunsford, BBC Worldwide Director of Channels, Europe, Middle East, India and Africa, the team will manage and oversee the channel with the support of BBC Worldwide Japan Ltd. in Tokyo.
David Vine, BBC Worldwide Managing Director Asia Pacific, said: “Establishing our own BBC channel in Japan is a major step for us. Audiences there associate the BBC name with top quality television and the time has now come to offer them a channel where they can see such programming from the BBC every day.”
Katsuhiko Waza, President of BBC Worldwide Japan Limited, adds: “There is a high positive awareness of the BBC name in Japan. This reputation has paved the way for a channel dedicated to the best of the BBC’s entertainment output. We are looking forward to bringing BBC Japan into homes throughout the country.”
BBC Japan will carry advertising and the channel will be distributed and marketed by media company Japan Mediark Co. Ltd.
13 October 2004
China Radio International (CRI) has signed a contract extension with WRN following a visit by a high-level delegation to the London headquarters of the international broadcaster and transmission service provider. WRN will continue to provide an increasing range of transmission and distribution services to CRI, ensuring that listeners around the world can tune into programmes produced in many languages by Chinas international radio station.
The delegation was led by Mr Xia Jixuan, CRIs Vice-President. Other delegation members included Mr Dong Weimin from the Chinese Ministry of Finance and Mr Zhao Gang from the Chinese State Administration for Radio Film and TV.
WRN has worked closely with CRI for more than five years since signing an initial Collaboration Agreement in Beijing in 1999. WRN works on CRIs behalf distributing its daily programmes to reach both new and existing 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 on behalf of CRI.
Furthermore CRIs daily programmes in English, French, German and Russian can be heard on WRNs international news radio networks distributed around the world via satellite, cable, local FM relays, wireless applications and the Internet.
After the signing ceremony, Mr Karl Miosga, Managing Director, said: I am delighted that CRI continues to place its trust in WRN to distribute its content worldwide giving more listeners the opportunity to easily tune into the important Chinese perspective.
8 October 2004
Leading satellite services company GlobeCast has announced a long-term agreement with Prime TV to deliver 24-hour Pakistani family channel PTV Prime to subscribers in the UK, Ireland and Europe. The deal sees GlobeCast providing an end-to-end distribution service for the subscription channel which will be available on GlobeCasts direct-to-home platforms via Eurobird and Hot Bird. In the UK and Ireland, PTV Prime will reach 7.5m people on Sky Digital.
PTV Prime was the first 24-hour Pakistani channel to launch in Europe and has exclusive rights to broadcast state-owned Pakistan Television (PTV) content outside Asia. Offering a mix of family programming in English and Urdu, it features programmes created specifically for European-based Pakistanis, Urdu and Punjabi families as well as PTV content.
PTV Prime (www.ptv-prime.tv) also airs live news bulletins nine times daily from the PTV News Network in Asia. Simultaneously broadcast in Asia and Europe, the bulletins ensure PTV Prime viewers in Europe receive up-to-the minute information and breaking news as it happens in Pakistan.
To provide the feeds for the European news and programming content, GlobeCast downlinks PTV News and Pakistan TV from AsiaSat 3S in Singapore and backhauls it over its global fibre network to London via America. GlobeCast also provides an end-to-end managed satellite distribution service which includes an uplink from Brookmans Park to Eurobird and Hot Bird, enabling the channel to reach a potential 100 million viewers across the UK and Europe. This is the first time a single company has been able to meet PTV Primes global satellite distribution needs.
7 October 2004
Conditions for journalists in Iraq have deteriorated to the point where they now rely on local stringers and employees for newsgathering.
Reporter P. Mitchell Prothero for Dangerous Assignments, the bi-annual magazine of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)writes in his ‘Letter from Iraq’ article that journalists are now fixated on personal security.
News organizations have established themselves in compounds of private homes surrounded by blast walls, or in large hotel complexes with extensive security checkpoints. Such precautions, though not unique to the media, reflect a change from a year ago, when journalists preferred lower-profile, less-secure accommodations on the theory that it would make them less likely to be targets.
This bunker mentality has taken hold among the press corps in Iraq for a few reasons. Insurgents have attacked less-secure hotels once used by Westerners, including journalists. The U.S.-led coalition is largely indifferent to journalist safety, and Iraqi authorities and the public are openly hostile.
For the full article visit:
www.cpj.org/Briefings/2004/DA_fall04/Iraq_Prothero_DA_fall04.html
7 October 2004
Harris Corporation has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Encoda Systems Holdings, Inc., a leading global supplier of software and service solutions for the broadcast media industry, including television, radio, cable, satellite, and advertising agency customers around the world. Encoda’s end-to-end workflow solutions include traffic and billing and program-scheduling systems that are broadcast industry standards, and their automation and media asset management solutions are very complementary to Harris’ existing automation business.
Encoda Systems is a privately held company, owned by Thomas H. Lee Partners, Blackstone Capital Partners, Evercore Capital Partners, and others, that resulted from a combination of Enterprise Software, Columbine JDS Systems, and Drake Automation. Today, the company has approximately 700 employees with operations in the U.S., Canada, the UK, and Australia. It serves more than 600 customers in 34 countries. Encoda revenue for the 12 months ended June 30, 2004, was $124 million. Harris will acquire Encoda Systems for approximately $340 million in cash, subject to post-closing adjustments, customary closing conditions, and regulatory approvals. The transaction is expected to close in early November, and the acquisition is expected to be immediately accretive to Harris earnings in fiscal year 2005 at approximately $0.12 per diluted share. This excludes the write-off of in-process R&D and one-time integration costs, which cannot be determined at this time without unreasonable efforts.
“Encoda Systems is an outstanding strategic fit with Harris’ industry-leading Broadcast Communications business,” said Howard L. Lance, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Harris Corporation. “Encoda’s enterprise software solutions will significantly expand Harris’ existing product offering to the global broadcast media market. Encoda will also give Harris market reach beyond our existing customer base into new cable and satellite markets.
“As digital content continues to move center stage in the media industry, Harris will be leading with solutions for our customers that automate workflow, improve efficiency, and reduce costs,” Lance continued. “With this acquisition, Harris can now truly offer end-to-end workflow solutions – software, hardware, and services – for customers worldwide. Clearly, the combination of Harris and Encoda solutions will create a powerful resource that can address all phases of the complex transition of technology to modernize and streamline operations.”
“The Harris-Encoda combination is a solid partnership between two leaders in the broadcast media industry,” said Don Doctor, chairman of Encoda Systems. “It is good news for our customers and good news for our employees. Harris has made a long-term commitment to the broadcast media industry and has the size and resources to insure continuing investments in technology.”
6 October 2004
As a sign of the explosive growth in the Eureka 147 digital audio broadcasting (DAB) market, Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) announced that it is has shipped one million digital radio basebands for receivers in the DAB market. Spurred by the launch of the first TI digital signal processor (DSP)-based RadioScape module in September of 2003, TI continues the pace it set in this market by outgrowing competition over the past year.
We are very excited to get to the one million milestone in such a short space of time, said Nigel Oakley, vice president of Marketing at RadioScape. The release of our range of modules has really accelerated the adoption of DAB and contributed to the record time of reaching one million units shipped. Our modules combination of RadioScapes Software Defined Digital Radio approach and TIs powerful DSPs meets manufacturers needs perfectly by providing tremendous scope for rapid innovation and product customization as well as being highly cost effective. This has resulted in milestones such as the first MP3 and DAB player, the first FM/RDS DAB radio and the first tri-band DAB receiver. In addition, this software approach has enabled us to pioneer innovative features such as pause, rewind, record, Electronic Program Guide, 5.1 surround sound and video that can be implemented for nominal additional costs as these are done via software.”
Many of the leading digital radio manufacturers have built radios around TIs analog and digital radio basebands, including Acoustic Solutions Limited, Cambridge Audio, Hitachi, Intempo, LG Electronics, Morphy Richards, Perstel and Roberts Radio Limited. In addition, module makers leveraging TIs digital radio solution have played an important role in the growth of this market, including GyroSignal, KwangSung Electronics and TBK Electronics, by enabling manufacturers to get DAB radios to market more quickly and cost effectively.
We would like to thank RadioScape and all of our customers and technology partners for the tremendous success we have seen so far in the DAB market, said Les Mable, business development manager for Digital Radio, Texas Instruments. TIs Digital Radio business has experienced exceptional growth over the last two years and will continue to drive this market by pioneering innovations that will enable the technology and features of tomorrow.
RadioScape is one of the world leaders in Software Defined Digital Radio solutions and provides not only DAB broadcast infrastructure but also the software used on these TI chips and designs DAB modules based on these same chips.
