The international TV service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, ABC Asia Pacific Television has been launched on cable in Hong Kong as part of the premium package of the region’s largest cable operator, Hong Kong Cable Television Limited.
The Japanese Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Post and Telecommunications says in a draft report that the country’s broadband market will grow five-fold over the coming five years. That puts the number of broadband users up to 60 million in 2007 – up from around 20 million currently – and make the market worth some Yen10.2 trillion.
A weekly 15-minute programme in English from Radio Guangdong is being broadcast by AIB-member World Radio Network.
The radio station is based in Guangzhou, the capital of the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, which borders Hong Kong and Macao. It is one of Chinas the leading media groups with eight radio channels broadcasting to a potential audience of 100 million people, two newspapers, one of Chinas top advertising company and Pacific Audio & Visual Company, one of the countrys leading audio-visual companies.
VT Merlin Communications, a member of the AIB, will participate in the world’s first, daily
Digital Radio Mondiale* (DRM*) broadcasts on June 16th, 2003.
VT Merlin will be providing the DRM transmission platform for a number of international broadcasters, including BBC World Service, Wales Radio International and Christian Vision as part of DRM’s Inaugural Broadcasts event in Geneva during the International Telecommunications Union’s (ITU) World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC 2003).
VT Merlin has two high
power short wave transmitters converted to DRM capability, which will deliver digital AM transmissions for Geneva and Western Europe. In addition, they will also be using their new DRM capable high power medium wave transmitter at their MF site in Orfordness, Suffolk, UK to carry BBC World Service DRM programming. The precise moment of the world’s first DRM broadcasts will be marked at a spectacular reception at Geneva’s Château de Penthes.
Peter Gordon, VT Merlin’s Programme Manager, Digitalisation said: “As a founder member of the DRM consortium, VT Merlin is very proud to be playing a high profile role in these inaugural DRM broadcasts. It marks the beginning of what we expect to be a revolutionary new technology for AM broadcasting. VT Merlin has made significant investment in its DRM platform and we look forward to demonstrating the full range of DRM’s capabilities in Geneva, including AM transmissions in near FM quality.”
Millbank Studios in London, a stone’s throw from the British Parliament, have taken delivery of a Geevs Broadcast Video Server from Gee Broadcast to service the digital channel BBC Parliament, transmitting 24 hours a day from Millbank’s Studio in Westminster. BBC Parliament is a UK domestic television channel, broadcast on Cable, Satellite
and Freeview.
The Geevs, which can play out four independent channels while recording a fifth, is used to transmit promos, stings and highlights during live Parliamentary broadcasts, and programmes such as The Record, the review of the day in Parliament, and Politique, an in depth look at the politics of Europe.
Millbank Studios’ application utilises Geevs Autorun Automation software to compile playlists which can be activated at a preset time or by an
external trigger.
“We had seen the Geevs in operation before,” says Nick Hattingh, Chief Engineer at Millbank, “and were impressed by its simplicity of operation.”
The project was on a tight timescale and had to be completed before Parliament reconvened after the Easter recess. “The box was delivered on Thursday and we were on air Saturday,” says Hattingh, “almost a week early.”
The annual meeting of international broadcasting audience researchers, known as CIBAR will take place in Moscow, Russia from 27th to 29th October.
Subjects to be covered by this two day event, that brings together research managers from the world’s major international radio broadcasters, includes:
Designing a multi-media presence – how research helps in balancing resources between radio, TV, online etc.
Demographic divides – do different media serve different people?
International broadcasting to, from (and within?) the CIS
When international stations go local: how best to measure and understand impact?
The limits of ‘researchability’ – are there places and topics which go beyond our ability to research?
Deconstructing international TV numbers – is there a consensus on what’s being measured?
Does the market really care about the mission? How can research help broadcasters to get their message across?
Whose objectivity? What has the Iraq war told us about patterns of information need in crisis situations?
The meeting is open to all organisations involved in the field of international broadcasting research.