24 August 2003
The AIB Global Media Business Conference opened in central London on 29th April with more than 150 people from Europe, North America, Africa, the Middle East and Australasia taking part.
Following a keynote speech from Mark Byford, Director BBC World Service and Global News division, the discussion moved into the business of the first day.
The first topic Defining the audience is of vital concern to international broadcasters, who have difficulty in obtaining accurate research. Expert researchers, including Intermedia, showed how research can be done effectively in international audiences.
Moving on to Global branding in local markets, the question was can global brands work across international frontiers, or should there be local modifications? Speakers included John Begert, Vice President, Content, of Discovery Networks.
A discussion on Partnerships concluded the morning session.
The afternoon was given over to Technology, chaired by Wolfgang Klein of Dalet, with observations from Phil Laven, Director of the Technical Department of the EBU. Subjects covered were Managing Content, Platforms, and Production Systems. Speakers included Christophe Duplay, Vice President Services Development, SES Astra; Ted Taylor, Panasonic Broadcast; Reinhard Penzel, Sony BPE; Anne-Marie Swift, AP ENPS; and Ian Fletcher, Omnibus.
23 August 2003
TV audiences in Washington and its suburbs can now watch lots more Russian and CIS television. The MHC networks are now carrying programmes for free from 1800 to midnight local time, on the MHC networks.
The Russo-US project aims to reach TV audiences in Washington and its suburbs, where around 100,000 Russian-speaking people live at present. Some programmes will have English subtitles, which is expected to broaden the TV audiences by approximately 1.5 million people.
President and chief producer of the Russian World Channel, Vladimir Ananich, emphasised that the financial and editorial politics of the new television project were independent of the state.
The Russian World TV channel has also extended its broadcasts on the MHz Networks free channel from one to six hours a day
23 August 2003
Innovative AIB member You/Com is at the technological forefront again. They are to supply at least 10,000 stand-alone Webradios for a group of the sick and elderly who are unable to attend their local church service on Sundays. The Webradio is based on internet technology, but without the need of a PC. It is as simple to operate as an alarm clock and not much larger. The Webradio is the worlds first stand-alone unit, which can be operated from the armchair by remote control and can also be remotely managed over the telephone network.
An Ethernet port is available to connect to a cable modem, ADSL or wifi. A power supply and telephone connection are required to be able to operate the Webradio. A display indicates the source to which one is connected. Independent of location in the world one can listen to the content selected.
And in another shrewd move, You/Com has produced two new standalone MPEG Audio to DVB-convertors, the XTS and XXTS. The XTS is used for the supply of audio programmes to DVB networks (terrestrial, satellite and CATV). The XTS eliminates the need for a codec, thereby cascading and results in improved sound quality and reduced costs.
23 August 2003
Egypt’s public TV channel ESC has already been attacked for anti-semitism in the programme Horseman without a Horse, which is a serial inspired by The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
The Higher Audiovisual Council (CSA) of France signed a convention some years ago which enables the Egyptian channel to broadcast via satellite in France and in other European Union countries. The watchdog now complains: Despite its fictional nature, this serial could constitute an offence of incitement to racial hatred and would be liable to disturb public order.”
The watchdog adds that at the end of July it sent a letter to the Egyptian authorities in charge of the channel and decided to hear the channel’s representative in France. This hearing will take place at the end of the summer break. The case was put to the CSA in November and December 2002 by several organizations, including the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, private individuals and a deputy.
23 August 2003
The Arabiyah TV channel, run by CNBC, covering the Arab world, the Middle East, Europe, North Africa and the Indian subcontinent, has opened a centre in Dubai Media City
The opening of the centre follows the inauguration of similar centres by other international media houses, which opened their offices in the DMC to benefit from its unique facilities and incentives. There are 650 media establishments currently operating from the city, in addition to 15 satellite TV channels.
CNBC Europe is a member of the AIB
20 August 2003
Embattled French giant Vivendi is trying to sell off its US media assets, but there seems to be an ever-decreasing number of takers.. Liberty Media, NBC, Viacom, and a consortium led by Edgar Bronfman are still in the running, but maybe another way has to be found, perhaps involving NBC.
Vivendi has set out to dispose of $18.3 billion of assets, and aims to raise $8 billion from sales this year, but may be unable to reach its targets. Some kind of merger with NBC might then be devised.
