12 October 2003
The French TF1 group is to buy up 49 per cent of the Italian company Europa TV for approximately 35m euros [approx 41m dollars]. The plan is to launch the national sports channel “Sport Italia” at the end of the year, in partnership with the financier Tarek Ben Ammar.
Holland Coordinator and Services B.V., Ammars company, is acquiring 100 per cent of the capital of Europa TV for a global price of 70m euros. TF1, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Eurosport, has reached an agreement with Holland Coordinator and Services to acquire 49 per cent of the capital of Europa TV.
Europa TV has coverage rights for 83 per cent of Italy. If the agreements get official approval, the partners plan to launch in time for this year’s Christmas and New Year periods on an unscrambled basis.
12 October 2003
The UK and Ireland will gain greater choice of satellite broadband services following the launch of e-BIRD, Europe’s first satellite specially designed for the provision of 2-way broadband communications.
The satellite will enter service in November at 33 degrees East. The launch of e-BIRD boosts Eutelsat’s commitment to developing resources and technology in Europe that enable satellites to be key players in bridging the digital divide by reaching regions not served by
ADSL and other terrestrial broadband technologies.
6 October 2003
AIB Member VT Merlin Communications took a major step in the development of Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) services by switching on the UKs first medium wave transmitter at Orfordness in East Anglia at the end of September. The transmitter and encoding equipment were supplied by Canadian manufacturer, Nautel and German companies Telefunken and Fraunhofer Institute.
The highlight of the inauguration “pressing the big red button” was performed by Benny Ammar, Head of Go Digital, BBC World Service and Simon Tarrant, Managing Director, VT Support Services, at a ceremony attended by some 60 international guests.
The DRM service will carry BBC World Service programming into the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Northern France on 1296KHz during the day, and may extend into Germany and Poland during the hours of darkness. The digital DRM signal will show a marked improvement in the audio quality and the perennial problems of fading and interference associated with short, medium and long wave transmissions.
“This represents a significant investment in DRM technology,” said Peter Gordon, VT Merlin’s Programme Manager, Digitalisation, “and we’re delighted to be at the forefront of the technology’s introduction.”
2 October 2003
AsiaSat is making steady progress with the finishing works and pre-opening testing and commissioning of its new Tai Po earth station. Operation is expected to start in January next
year.
The new Satellite Control Centre will be manned 24/7. Duplicating many of the circuits and facilities currently provided by the Tracking, Telemetry & Control station in Stanley, the new earth station will strengthen AsiaSats service integrity and reinforce the companys commitment to service reliability and quality.
With the new facility and the new satellite AsiaSat 4 in place, AsiaSat will be able to offer customers a range of additional value-added services including uplink and back up.
2 October 2003
More moves from the Murdoch empire. US entertainment group Liberty Media is using its right to buy $500 million of stock in The News Corporation.
This is good for News Corp, which now can finance its aim of getting a controlling interest in US satellite TV broadcaster DirectTV.
And Liberty benefits, as the group will now have a stake in News Corporation of nearly 20%, and is buying the shares at a discount.
News Corps earnings are expected to rise by 8 to 12 per cent, because of advertising growth.
1 October 2003
The AIB is pleased to announce that it is introducing a White Papers Library, powered by BroadcastPapers.com.
This new service will be available late in 2003.
