21 April 2003
The UKs BBC Broadcast Limited has confirmed ambitious plans for its new London based headquarters, The Broadcast Centre, which will be the most advanced of its type in the world. It will retain broadcast automation solutions provider, OmniBus Systems to help develop extended playout automation functionality.
OmniBus will develop software by expanding its Colossus multi-channel, multi-delivery control system. The OmniBus new G3 technology, unveiled at NAB2003 will be at the heart of the project.
From the Broadcast Centre it will provide playout, promotion and media access for all BBC public service channels and in addition, BBC Broadcast will offer its considerable range of skills and services to commercial broadcasters. Its 1,000 employees will migrate to the new facility, with plans for first services out during spring, 2004.
17 April 2003
CNBC Asia Pacific is to announce a strategic partnership with Shanghai Media Group (SMG), a deal intended to give the US-owned business news broadcaster a foothold in the fast developing but tightly controlled Chinese television market. For SMG, a state-owned media conglomerate with interests ranging from TV and radio stations to art troupes and football clubs, the link is expected to offer access to CNBC programming and international experience.
The two groups are expected to initially share footage and financial information, with CNBC likely to make content available for SMG to edit into a daily programme to be broadcast on the group’s own business news channel.
CNBC Asia Pacific, which is jointly owned by Dow Jones and General Electric subsidiary NBC, has been keen to build a presence in China, where rapid economic growth and integration with global markets has created strong demand for business information.
16 April 2003
BBC Post Production is working closely with Quantel to finalise a proposal towards tapeless post production. The aim of the partnership is to introduce a digital server based solution that will be phased in to service BBC Post Production’s customers including BBC Sport.
BBC Post Production is working with Quantel to develop a tailored digital server-based solution that will be suitable for modern digital widescreen production. It is aimed to maximise work efficiencies, allow better browse and media selection facilities and improve work flow solutions in fast turn-round activities such as sport and events.
BBC Post Production will begin with a combination of linear and non-linear editing and move towards a complete tapeless post production solution within three to five years. In the short term, there will be a reduction in tape-based working although archive capture will still take place on tape for the immediate future.
25 March 2003
The AIB Global Media Business Conference 2003 offers an unique opportunity for companies working in, or seeking to enter, the billion-dollar international broadcasting sector to raise their brand profile.
The AIB is offering a limited number of sponsorship opportunities. Details are in the brochure that can be downloaded by clicking on the link below.
An Exhibition running thoughout the Conference also provides excellent profile-raising, with one-on-one discussions in your own branded area of the event.
Please contact us to discuss how you can use the AIB Global Media Business conference to raise your market profile. Talk to Kerry Stevenson on +44 (0) 20 8992 7073, or e-mail kerry.stevenson@aib.org.uk
Follow the link below to access our Sponsorship and Exhibition brochure.
14 March 2003
The AIB has formed an Advisory Board to guide the conference agenda and themes.
Members of the Board are
John Begert, Vice President Content EMEA, Discovery Networks Europe
Alan Booth, Controller of Marketing, BBC World Service
Gary Champion, Manager Europe News, GlobeCast
Allen Cooper, Director, InterMedia
Rick Cotton, CEO, CNBC Europe
Toby Hartwell, Director of Marketing, APTN
Adrian Scott, Principal, The Bakewellhouse Consultancy
Rick Thompson, Principal, T-Media
Tom Wragg, Director, Autocue Systems
12 March 2003
Gee Broadcast, the UK company that has been supplying the broadcast industry for more than 16 years, has introduced a new entry level server solution, Geevs Lite.
Geevs Lite provides full clip capture, management and playout functions. These can be under control from the standard Geevs V4 Windows UI, via network control, triggered by GPIs or using Sony RS-422 VTR protocol.
Built on the success of the Geevs V4 multichannel Server technology Geevs Lite provides a single channel solution at a lower cost but still with all the resilience and facilities offered by the underlying Geevs V4 technology.
Geevs Lite is a single channel solution which can insert logos over clips or provide a simultaneous picture and key out.
The Windows User Interface provides clip capture either with VTR control or with simple crash record. Recording can be for a fixed duration or open ended. The network control feature allows the User Interface to be run on a remote PC over a standard ethernet network.
Playback of selected clips can also be controlled by GPI. For example, one GPI will load and cue a clip and another GPI will play it. This allows clip playback to be simply integrated with other events such as Vision Mixer transitions. The Grass Valley Peripheral Bus protocol is also supported for direct Vision Mixer control.
In addition, according to the manufacturer, Geevs Lite provides a virtual tape mode for VTR play back emulation. Clips can be dragged and dropped into a “virtual tape”, time codes within the tape can be adjusted and the tape then “loaded”. Sony RS-422 protocol VTR control of the playback is then available with all the advantages of a disk based system with very fast cues to any point.
Clips can consist of Picture or Picture and Key with up to 4 audio tracks. Signal I/O can be Analogue Composite or Component video and Analogue audio or optionally SDI video and AES/EBU audio.
Media is stored with MJPEG compression at quality levels up to 1.4:1 or DV25/50 or MPEG2 at up to 50 mbits. Storage is provided with standard SCSI drives providing from 30 minutes to over 100 hours capacity. Clips may also be imported by network transfer from compatible systems.
Typical applications for Geevs Lite are VTR replacement, Automated or Remote Controlled Clip Playout, Live Clip Playout, Time delay etc.
