2 July 2004
The Indian television broadcaster, DOORDARSHAN has chosen Autocues QSeries NRCS and QSeries Automation, in the form of Cap Gen Control, for seven regional newsrooms. The shipments have already taken place and installations shall begin soon.
The regional newsrooms shall be scattered at various places all over the country and each of them shall have remote licenses too since Doordarshans central newsroom has also been Autocues QSeries in recent years. Currently Doordarshans 24 hours News Channel, DD News is using 35 QSeries Licenses.
Autocue now has ten QSeries Newsroom installations in India. Richard K. Dukes, Autocue Executive Sales and Marketing Director, states India is Autocues leading business market in Asia and the subcontinent and everyone is excited by this latest success in this most important market.
2 July 2004
SES Astra has entered into a binding agreement to acquire a 75.2% stake in DPC (Digital Playout Center) from German Pay-TV operator Premiere. The transaction, for a consideration of EUR 41.2 million, is subject to approval by competition authorities.
DPC (Digital Playout Center) operates a teleport facility in Munich and offers services comprising play-out, multiplexing, encryption and satellite uplinks to private as well as public broadcasters. Under SES Astras helmsmanship, DPC will diversify its service offering by launching Germanys first and only open Pay-TV platform using Premiere compatible digital set top boxes.
Dr. Georg Kofler, President and CEO of Premiere, explains: SES Astra and Premiere have concluded an agreement which will allow DPC to offer a wide range of services on a neutral basis. We are convinced that DPC under SES Astra Management will be in an ideal position to grow its business and to establish itself as the leading value-added service provider in the fast developing digital market.
Ferdinand Kayser, President and CEO of SES Astra, concurs: With this transaction, SES Astra is extending its position in the value chain and broadening the scope of its service portfolio with the provision of encryption services. DPC will offer its state-of-the-art services to customers on a non-discriminatory and neutral basis. We are convinced that the creation of the ASTRA/DPC open platform corresponds to a true market demand. Using Premiere compatible set top boxes, of which several dozen models from different manufacturers are readily available in the marketplace, German households wanting to enhance their TV line-up beyond the host of free-to-air channels on ASTRA can subscribe to the Pay-TV offer of their choice. DPCs extended service offering will ultimately enhance freedom of choice in the interest of the consumers and provide another overall boost to ASTRA DTH reception. It will also significantly speed up the uptake of digital and support the German governments proclaimed policy of switching off analogue broadcasts by 2010.
DPC, under its new ownership, will retain its corporate identity, name, Munich premises and headquarters, as well as the existing Management and staff. The company is being acquired debt-free and its results, which generated a turnover of EUR 31.5 million in 2003, will be fully consolidated into the accounts of SES Astras parent company SES GLOBAL.
1 July 2004
The AIB Executive Committee, the governance body that oversees the administration and long-term strategy of the Association for International Broadcasting, has elected Dennis Israel of InterMedia Survey Institute as its Chairman.
Other members of the Executive Committee are Mike Chandler, SES ASTRA; Linden Clark, Radio New Zealand International; Tom Dine, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty; Elzbieta Olechowska, Radio Canada International.
1 July 2004
The AIB’s annual summit of the international broadcasting industry took place in Prague in May 2004.
A report of the event appears in the June edition of the AIB’s quarterly magazine, The Channel, and is available online as a PDF document (600kB) by clicking the link below (right click and “Save Target As” to save to your hard drive, or double click to open the report in a new window).
25 June 2004
Mobile users in Norway can now watch TV on their phones. The service from the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) allows people to watch television on their mobiles 24 hours a day.
Alongside the live streaming, people can pick more specialised content such as a news bulletin every hour and a Top Gear style motoring show.
NRK expects the content to become more tailored as the market picks up.
For the moment it is simply testing whether consumers will want and use
TV on their phones. So far the feedback has been encouraging.
The technology behind the video content has been developed by Norwegian firm RubberDuck Media Lab. The service supports 3GP, which is the
standard for mobile TV. This means that users do not have to download a
media player on to their phones and it will also work on all networks.
At the moment the TV company is offering its content free to operators
but plans to start charging for at least some of the content in the
autumn. Users, however, do have to pay a traffic download fee.
24 June 2004
SES ASTRA, in a concerted effort with more than sixty of its European broadcast customers, hardware manufacturers and other industry partners, at their second European HDTV Forum session held on 17 June at SES ASTRA’s headquarters in Luxembourg, have agreed on the technical aspects and the timetable for the introduction of HDTV (High Definition Television) services in Europe via the ASTRA Satellite System.
Due to the eye-catching higher resolution compared to standard definition broadcasts, HDTV offers a compelling new viewing experience, notably on state-of-the-art flat screen displays and home cinemas, which are being installed at an increasing rate in European homes. HDTV is already a reality in countries like the United States and Japan, where more than 6 million households currently receive HDTV broadcasts and all major broadcasters offer full-fledged HDTV services.
SES ASTRA pioneered the transmission of HDTV services in Europe with EURO 1080. Europe’s first dedicated HDTV offer has been broadcasting via the ASTRA satellite system at 19.2° East since January 1st, 2004. In the meantime, the interest in HDTV has gained considerable momentum in several European countries under the ASTRA footprint. The latest pan-European HDTV initiative undertaken by ASTRA and renowned industry partners is expected to trigger a rapid deployment of the new technology across various European markets, with additional HDTV channels expected to launch as early as this year on the ASTRA Satellite System.
To ensure a uniform roll-out and avoid a fragmentation of the nascent market in Europe, SES ASTRA and its industry partners have agreed on the minimum technical specifications for HDTV broadcasts, based on e.g. the open MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 AVC standards. These technical specifications include:
– HDTV ready displays need a minimum of 720 lines vertical resolution
– Scan formats of 720P50 and 1080i25 for HDTV
– Standard interfaces for peripheral equipment
SES ASTRA and its industry partners have also agreed on the launch of an “HDTV” label which will be deployed to identify future-proof HDTV displays. The label is intended to ensure consumer confidence when acquiring new display devices and will be used in the upcoming HDTV marketing campaigns of the different manufacturers promoting the pan-European HDTV initiative.
Ferdinand Kayser, President and CEO of SES ASTRA, states: “So far, Europe has been trailing countries like the United States with respect to the introduction of HDTV services. At the same time, sales of flat screen displays have been booming. Independent research institutes actually suggest that in a few years tens of millions of HD enabled TV sets will be deployed in the different European countries. By agreeing on minimal technical specifications and building on open standards, SES ASTRA and its partners from the broadcast and hardware industry intend to ensure that the roll-out of HDTV services in Europe kick-starts as early as this year.”
