16 September 2004
SES ASTRA and ORF announced at the International Broadcasting Convention IBC 2004 in Amsterdam the signing of a long-term agreement on the use of additional ASTRA transponder capacity by Austria’s leading public broadcaster.
ORF will start utilizing the additional transmission capacity on ASTRA’s orbital position of 19.2° East in 2004. At the same time, the existing contracts between ORF and SES ASTRA have been extended. The agreement further consolidates a mutually beneficial partnership that has been in place for many years.
Andreas Gall, Technical Director of ORF, commented: “With the extension of our transponder capacity we have, on the one hand, laid the foundation for providing our TV viewers and radio audiences with best-quality programs and improvements to current services for years to come. Furthermore, with these new transmission capacites we can extend our role as a service provider for other TV, radio and data suppliers. With our existing know-how we can provide a full service offer for these clients – from the encryption and the up-linking to the transmission itself.”
Ferdinand Kayser, President and CEO of SES ASTRA, stated: “We are very pleased about this extension of our cooperation with such a renowned public broadcasting company as ORF. The expanded product range offered by our longstanding partner will further enhance the programming choice available from Europe’s most popular orbital position of 19.2°East.”
Also at IBC 2004, SES ASTRA and Clear Television Network from the Netherlands announced a contract for the digital free-to-air satellite distribution of Clear TV, a new Dutch TV channel across Europe. The channel, which primarily serves viewers interested in other cultures, will start on 15 September via the ASTRA Satellite System at 19.2° East. All programmes will be broadcast in the original languages and subtitled in Dutch.
“We believe that the amount of interesting and entertaining programs from other countries and cultures broadcast via the existing Dutch TV networks is rather limited”, says Vanessa Somers, general manager of Clear TV. From 15 September onwards, Clear TV will therefore broadcast free-to-air via ASTRA a broad mix of entertaining and interesting programmes from a variety of countries from all over the world. Somers says: “Clear TV will feature multiple genres: films, series, game shows and lots of sport. We focus on non-mainstream sports, which are currently offered only limited airtime on Dutch television. This means not only sports such as martial arts and water sports, but also squash, rugby and basketball.
Broadcasting free-to-air via ASTRA at 19.2 degrees East, Clear TV can be received by 10,4 million digital DTH homes throughout Europe, of which circa 500.000 are in the Netherlands.
16 September 2004
Nordic Satellite AB and Euro 1080 have signed an agreement to broadcast the HDTV channel HD1 via Sirius to the Nordic and Baltic regions. HD1 is the first European HD channel offering a mix of music, sports, lifestyle, wildlife and soon also fiction. Broadcasts on SIRIUS will begin in October 2004. To receive HD1, viewers need a separate satellite receiver and subscription (as well as a satellite dish aimed at SIRIUS). The receiver costs about SEK 5,000. Viewers will also pay a one-time fee of about SEK 2,000 for a subscription through 2010.
HDTV is the TV format of tomorrow and we want to be among the first to offer people this possibility. That’s why we support industry efforts to find solutions for distribution, compression, and coding that will allow HDTV to rapidly become affordable in a wide market. SES ASTRA has taken the initiative to formulate common specifications for HDTV receiving equipment in Europe. NSAB-SIRIUS is helping to accomplish this in the Nordic countries, says Benny Norling, General Manager, Broadcasting Services at Nordic Satellite AB (NSAB-SIRIUS).
We are very excited about distributing the HD1 HDTV channel on SIRIUS, says Gabriel Fehervari, CEO of Euro 1080. Weve seen interest grow ever since we started transmission this year on the ASTRA satellite. Now that we have a perfect footprint for the Nordic market, we will extend our reach to this region where we see a potential growth for HDTV services due to the high penetration of home theatre systems.
Satellite is currently the best distribution form for HDTV, which requires up to four times more bandwidth than a digital TV channel. The terrestrial network is not built for HDTV and does not have enough bandwidth today for several HDTV channels, though in Finland HD1 is available in one cable network.
Nordic Satellite AB is jointly owned by the Swedisch Space Corporation and SES-Global. NSAB owns and operates the satellites in the SIRIUS system.
16 September 2004
Harris Corporation’s Broadcast Communications Division has won a coveted BIRTV Grand Award at the recent BIRTV2004 convention in Beijing, China. Harris was presented with the Grand Award in the transmission category for its new Atlas Analogue UHF solid-state transmitter range.
The award was presented at the opening session of the BIRTV conference on August 24, 2004. Dale Mowry, vice president and general manager of Harris Television Broadcast Systems, accepted the award from Mr. Haitao Zhang, Vice Minister of The State Administration of Radio, Film & Television (SARFT).
“The new Atlas transmitter has been designed to incorporate the latest technology in analog television transmission, while presenting broadcasters worldwide with a clear upgrade path to digital and the capability to accommodate any digital standard in the future,” said Mowry. “Harris feels privileged to accept this internationally renowned and highly prestigious industry award.”
The Atlas Series of UHF transmitters is a range of analog and DVB-T solid-state models that share many of the unique features and field-proven benefits that have made Harris transmitters the industry standard. The BIRTV Grand Award-winning Atlas Analogue transmitters, available in models from 2.5kW to 30kW, feature the industry-leading DTV-660 analog/digital exciter to enable a clear digital upgrade path.
13 September 2004
CNBC Europe, the pan-European business and financial TV channel is introducing a number of new ‘live’ data options as part of its new on-air look, which launches on 13th September 2004. The channel believes that its new proprietary graphics system includes ground-breaking options, which, when applied to breaking news stories, will set the channel apart in terms of reporting on the European business and financial markets.
The channel has introduced significantly increased functionality to its signature ‘hotboards’ which illustrate live financial data as it breaks in the European markets. Central to this is a monitoring system which indicates whether an indices or a stock is trading at a ‘day high’ or ‘day low’, which can then be broadcast in real-time via the on-screen graphics. The audience sees this as a flashing symbol alongside the price point. The system also tracks the ‘price range’ a stock has traded at across the day, which is shown as a scale on a graph.
Jeremy Pink, director of news and programming, CNBC Europe says: “Our graphics capability now allows millions of options in terms of how we can present financial information. Financial data is at the heart of the channel and we have created a formula which adds a greater depth of information than we have had before. Each time we have a ‘day high’ or ‘day low’ it becomes a ‘news event’ for our journalists who can then give the viewer the context of the story, on air, in real time. By creating a flashing animation for these elements, we’re providing a visual cue for the viewer, alerting them to a potential story and information that they may act on.”
The new data boards are being introduced as the channel launches its new on-air look, which includes a new studio set using silver and platinum colours to reflect its exclusive and high value audience of business and financial professionals. Its video wall, which is one of the channel’s most recognized features, is being upgraded to take the new graphics. Each of the channel’s programmes will have new branding and identities, using colours reflecting the time of day of the broadcast, with early morning shows being represented by vibrant orange and yellow and evening shows in blue and purple.
13 September 2004
Quantels Paintbox revolutionised broadcast video design when it was first introduced in 1982 and, for over twenty years, set the standard for all other systems to match. Now, as a result of overwhelming demand from the close-to-air design community, Paintbox is back.
Boasting dedicated, rack-mounted Quantel hardware, Paintbox will allow designers to produce better graphics at greater speed than ever before. The true key to Paintbox’s ability, and its lasting reputation, lies in its supremely ergonomic interface that designers find genuinely intuitive. Featuring a UI developed and refined during two decades at the forefront of broadcast graphics, tools are exactly where they’re needed – not hidden behind layers of drop down menus – while a pen, tablet and hand unit interface allows for rapid, two-handed operation. This all means that designers can work the way they want to, instinctively, not simply the way a manufacturer tells them.
Paintbox is available in three versions, all of which feature the same award-winning UI and toolsets: Paintbox itself the SD workhorse; Paintbox gQ featuring additional Quantel hardware for full-on HD; QPaintbox software-only release, ideal for assist stations.
13 September 2004
Software Generation Ltd (SGL), a leadingprovider of video storage management software, and Autocue, a chief supplier of integrated broadcast and newsroom systems, have announced their partnership.
The SGL and Autocue collaboration will see the integration of SGL FlashNet, the company’s leading software storage solution, which provides the link between video stored as files on video servers, editing systems, and the long term archive library, and Autocue’s QNews and QMedia solutions. From the Autocue application interface users will be able to send and retrieve material directly to and from the library. The solution is already being used by a major news channel on the US East Coast.
