3 August 2004
Inmedia is to launch its new Remote Playout & Distribution solution at IBC 2004. This new service uses Inmedia developed technology to dramatically reduce playout and distribution costs and is particularly aimed at channels that want to distribute regionally tailored content.
Targeted Television a commercial reality
Inmedias Remote Playout and Distribution service opens up new markets around the world. In one operation you can select your content, choose the appropriate audio track, add the correct subtitles, upload, and schedule the remote playout of multiple TV channels almost anywhere. The efficiency savings and reduction in access costs to remote markets are dramatic.
Starting from a centrally held pool of digital assets, programming for each remote TV channel is created and scheduled directly from your desktop. Content is delivered in non-real time via satellite multicast or the Internet to remote playout servers for onward local distribution to your precisely targeted audience. So if you only have the rights to programming in certain regions, you can run schedules containing only the content you have purchased.
Inmedias Sales Director for Broadcast Services, Matthew Ivey, says: The Remote Playout and Distribution service is a prime example of Inmedias continuing drive to make running a TV channel more affordable. This innovative application will allow operators to target new customers in new markets and has huge potential to get new TV channels onto platforms that would until now have been too expensive to access. Our calculations show that after a low start up cost, our remote service makes it possible for a content owner to add an additional TV territory for as little as £30K per annum, ideal if you want to target ex-pats in the Algarve or Japanese businessmen in London.
Each Remote Playout & Distribution device can select the correct audio channels for the targeted audience, run individual schedules, insert audience specific subtitles and insert a graphic to help identify the channel. The Remote Playout and Distribution device is located at a cable or satellite head-end.
14 July 2004
ND SatCom, a leading global supplier of satellite-based broadband VSAT, broadcast and military communication network solutions, has been awarded a multi million USD contract to provide the national electric power company in Kazakhstan with a satellite-based communications network to improve its infrastructure. The VSAT network will be financed by a loan from the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development – EBRD.
The turn key solution covers the delivery of more than seventy VSAT stations, a powerful network management system for planning,
controlling and monitoring the overall system as well as various engineering and service packages. A satellite network is ideally suited to provide end to end services with high availability. The complete network, which supports different applications such as voice and data simultaneously, is operated by ND SatComs local partner TNS-Plus, a leading telecommunications operator in Kazakhstan, and will be ready for operation by the end of 2004.
“We strongly believe that the Eastern European Market will continue to grow extensively over the next decade. With our local partner TNS-Plus
we have found a reliable and strategically well positioned partner not only for this but also for future projects in Kazakhstan. Based on our
SkyWAN(R) system using the latest MF-TDMA DAMA technology, the VSAT network allows a very cost effective satellite network solution. Even though SkyWAN(R) offers much higher flexibility, it requires much lower bandwidth capacities compared to other VSAT solutions.”, comments Dr. Karl Classen, CEO ND SatCom AG.
14 July 2004
Ambassador Pascal Fieschi, the Head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, opened the first multi-ethnic private television station in Kosovo, in the municipality of Strpce/Shterpce, on 12 July. The station, TV Herc, brings together Kosovo Serbs and Kosovo Albanians in a joint editorial team.
“Co-operation between Serbs and Albanians within TV Herc will ensure that all inhabitants of Strpce/Shterpce will have access to information on events relevant to the area that they live in,” Ambassador Fieschi said. “We see this as a further step towards improving mutual relations among neighbours.”
Strpce/Shterpce has made great strides in improving relations between communities which was a factor in the decision to support TV Herc. The OSCE Mission’s support, which has taken the form of training sessions and study visits to other Kosovo television stations, as well as purchasing equipment, will help to consolidate and improve upon this progress.
TV Herc’s 12 staff members (three Kosovo Albanians and nine Kosovo Serbs) will produce local news four times a day and live shows featuring prominent figures from the local and international community. The station will also broadcast Voice of America news in both the Serbian and Albanian languages.
Ambassador Fieschi stressed the importance of a truly multi-ethnic, private media in Kosovo: “The tragic events in March again showed that a lack of communication and inability to speak to each other led to biased reporting that produced hysteria and made matters worse. Objective and unbiased reporting rather than deliberate misinformation can help avoid tensions.”
The OSCE Mission in Kosovo will continue to support the development of independent and professional media in Kosovo. These efforts are aimed at increasing the capacities of media, particularly those of minority groups, which bring communities together and offer a chance for reconciliation.
14 July 2004
In an historic agreement, the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) signed a contract with Clarity Communications Pakistan that will allow listeners across that country to hear the new Urdu-language Radio Aap ki Dunyaa on the FM 101 Network.
The agreement – signed by BBG Chairman Kenneth Y. Tomlinson and Syed Asif Salahuddin, Clarity’s CEO – means that for the first time millions of Pakistanis will have easier, improved access to Aap ki Dunyaa by listening to FM radio. The new, fast-paced Urdu service of the Voice of America (VOA) first went on the air May 10 on medium wave (AM) 972Hz. Pakistan is a vitally important country and we’re pleased to be able to provide information and programming to so many people,” said Tomlinson, head of the agency that oversees all U.S. nonmilitary international broadcasting.
Under the agreement, Clarity, which leases large blocks of time on the FM 101 Network from Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation, will air Aap ki Dunyaa twice a day in the morning and the evening in cities around the country. The broadcasts begin immediately. Those cities are Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore, Faisalabad, Quetta, Sialkot, Peshawar and Hyderabad. They have a combined population of 23 million, which is about 15 percent of the country’s total population.
The popular FM 101 Network will complement the existing options for listening to Aap ki Dunyaa. Since its launch, the station has been available for 12 hours a day, from 7 p.m.-7 a.m., on a medium wave (AM) signal – 972kHz – that reaches listeners in Pakistan and northeast India. It is also broadcast for three hours on shortwave (7 to 8 p.m., 10 to 11 p.m., and 6 to 7 a.m. Pakistan time). It is also carried for 12 hours on digital audio satellite and via the Internet (www.VOANews.com/urdu). Internet enhancements will be phased in, providing audience interaction through e-mail, and texts of selected feeds, interviews, and other programs of interest to the listening audience.
Aap ki Dunyaa’s regular programming features 10-minute newscasts twice an hour during most of prime time and hourly newscasts throughout the night. The service provides in-depth coverage of events affecting South Asia and the world; features on topics such as health, education, and political issues; call-in shows; roundtable discussions; and a mix of Pakistani, Indian, and Western music. With its combination of news and features, about half of Aap ki Dunyaa’s unique programming consists of information.
Aap ki Dunyaa is staffed by 27 people in Washington as well as a network of more than 15 stringers in Pakistan, India and North America. Dr. Brian Q. Silver is chief of the service. All staffers from the original VOA Urdu Service are now part of the Aap ki Dunyaa team.
14 July 2004
The paneuropean news TV channel, EuroNews, has reached an agreement with Spanish satellite operator, Hispasat, whereby Hispasat 1C will distribute its signal in Spain and all over Europe for a period of six years.
Thanks to the agreement, EuroNews significantly increases its distribution in the Iberian market, adding more than 3 million homes in Spain and Portugal. The channel will be available to all 1.7 million subscribers (400,000 through Hispasat) to Spanish digital satellite platform, Digital Plus.
EuroNews strengthens the free-to-air TV offer distributed by Hispasat to Europe available to all users equiped with a small dish orientated at the Spanish satellite, located at West 30º, and with a digital set-top-box. Today, Hispasat distributes to Europe around 40 free-to-air TV channels.
The President of EuroNews, Philippe Cayla, said that, thanks to this agreement, EuroNews strengthens its presence in the Iberian market and consolidates its leading position in Europe where, as a paneuropean news television, is one of the most widely watched TV channels.
14 July 2004
The Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) transmitters covering Hilversum, Amsterdam, The Hague and Rotterdam were switched on on 19 July. The public channels Radio 1, Radio 2, 3FM, Radio 4, 747 AM and the Concertzender are now available.
By the end of 2004, 70% of the Dutch population will be able to receive DAB. The service will have the capacity to carry 24 national stations, of which eight will be public and sixteen commercial, and 117 regional and local stations.
