16 March 2010
RRsat Global Communications Network Ltd., a rapidly growing provider of comprehensive content management and global distribution services to the television and radio broadcasting industries, announced today that it has signed a distribution agreement with FOX Sports, a leading sports channel and a division of the FOX Broadcasting Company. FOX Sports, the flagship network of the FOX Sports Television Group, is Americas top-rated network for sports for 13 straight years (1997-2009), FOX Sports boasts rights agreements with each of the United Statess highest-rated sports.
Distribution of FOX Sports via the Eurobird-9 satellite in MPEG-4 format provides the FOX Sports Television Group with increased, yet cost-effective, coverage within Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, and with the possibility to add HD format in the future.
“We are proud that a major and leading sports channel, such as FOX Sports, chose RRsat to expand its distribution of leading US sports into Europe and the Middle East, commented Lior Rival, Vice President, Sales and Marketing of RRsat. We believe the fact that FOX Sport’s decision to expand their relationship with us, testifies their satisfaction with our existing services. We believe our expanding relationship with FOX could lead to significant additional business with FOX in the future. In addition, with this agreement, RRsat will be increasing the highly successful SD feed already being distributed to Israeli television operators with a parallel HD feed.
As one of the leading providers of sports coverage in the United States, we have a global audience and distribution is a key and an uncompromising undertaking for us, commented Julio R. Sobral, SVP Broadcast Operations of Fox International Channels. In RRsat, we have found a partner that is more than capable, and our work with them so far has met and even exceeded our expectations. We look forward to a long and fruitful relationship with RRsat, as we continually build our global audience of sports enthusiasts through them.
9 March 2010
GlobeCast has signed a deal for an additional full transponder on the AsiaSat 5 100.5°E (formerly AsiaSat 2) satellite for permanent and adhoc clients.
The increased capacity on AsiaSat 5 will first of all serve to meet coverage needs at major live news and sporting events slated in 2010 such as the World Cup in South Africa, Asian Games, G20 Summit in Korea, and Commonwealth Games in India.
The transponder will also be used to launch permanent channels, which will be uplinked from Jordan Media City in Amman and linked to the rest of the world via GlobeCasts worldwide satellite and fiber network.
AsiaSat 5s pan-Asian C-band footprint provides a comprehensive reach to two-thirds of the worlds population spanning across 53 countries in the Asia-Pacific.
In recent months, GlobeCast has also acquired significant additional capacity with global satellite operators Intelsat and Eutelsat.
In addition to content transport, GlobeCast provides broadcasters with a full-range of playout and digital asset management solutions, making GlobeCast a one-stop-shop for top-tier broadcast clientele.
9 March 2010
Vizrt, a provider of content production tools for the digital media industry, today announced that it is integrating Civolutions watermarking solution into its Viz Ardome media asset management software. Using Civolutions NexGuard Pre-release application, users will have the ability to deter potential piracy threat or trace the source of unauthorized copies of a video asset.
Watermarking in the field of media asset management is new, but its a growing market, explained Henrik Nordström, VP MAM Sales, Vizrt. We see more and more requests from customers, including those that handle video archives, to ensure that no media assets can be used without approval or financial compensation. TV networks with program management workflows are also potential customers for this process. They need to export content for dubbing, closed captioning, or promotional purposes before airing, but also need to ensure the latest episode of a major series, for example, is protected and they can offer theft deterrence solution before the air date.
Piracy is still a major issue for the content industry which hinders the distribution and access to content, said Wim Bus, SVP Product Management at Civolution. We are pleased to be working with Vizrt. Working together, we provide a solution to better protect, manage and allow the full exploitation of revenues. This is testament that the NexGuard Forensic Watermarking has developed into a must-have feature in any digital media management workflow.
The integration of Civolutions product with Viz Ardome is currently managed through the Nexguard plug-in for Rhozets Carbon Coder, a standalone transcoder that facilitates the transfer of media between acquisition, editing, playout, archive, Web, and mobile applications.
As Viz Ardome is already integrated with the Carbon Coder, using the Carbon XML API, it was a natural and straightforward process to add support in Viz Ardome for watermarking requests, said Erwan Gilles, System Specialist, Vizrt. The dynamic use of the Carbon XML API to request watermarking allows more flexibility than drop folders.
Civolutions Nexguard plug-in embeds a unique virtual barcode in each copy of the content. The watermark is imperceptible to the human eye and, being part of the content, remains even if the content is modified. This content serial numbering process is versatile, fully automated and scalable – all driven by the central NexGuard management server, which hosts a database of copies and corresponding recipients. By cross referencing the database with the watermarks discovered in pirated copies, the NexGuard forensic marking solution can locate the source of piracy. Rightful owners can then implement a graduated response to piracy.
5 March 2010
Many radio stations and newspapers in Haiti are unable to operate at capacity because of technical and financial problems caused by Januarys devastating earthquake, according to experts appearing at the Voice of America (VOA) Thursday.
Sinclair Cornell, senior media adviser at USAIDs Office of Transition Initiatives, said the destruction was so complete that the national radio station was knocked off the air and a TV station operated under a tent. USAID is providing a range of assistance to help improve communication, allowing people to get vital information, he said.
The VOA event, Rebuilding Haitis Media: The Lifeline of Development, brought government, media and non-government organizations together to examine the current state of media in Haiti and its future after the earthquake. The conference was webcast at http://author.voanews.com/english/About/2010-03-01-haiti-discussion.cfm.
P.P. Youri Emmanuel, an alternate representative at Haitis mission to the Organization of American States (OAS), said there has been an outpouring of support for Haiti since the earthquake. While the destruction is tragic, he said the rebuilding process offers hope for the future.
Ronald Cesar, chief of VOAs Creole Service, recently surveyed the media in Haiti. More than 12 stations in the Port-au-Prince area had their buildings either collapse or damaged by the quake, he said. Although most are back on the air, they are not able to resume their full programming because they lack the resources and equipment.
Moreover, he said, advertising revenues have dropped off across the country, forcing some media companies to lay off staff. VOAs Creole Service (www.voanews.com/Creole) is the largest international broadcaster to Haiti. It produces 10.5 hours of programming a day during the week, and 9.5 hours on the weekends.
Marjorie Rouse, a vice president at Internews (www.internews.org), a non-profit that focuses on media development, said an Internews team created a 15-minute daily show now broadcast on 27 stations in Haiti.
Shanthi Kalathil, a consultant at the World Banks CommGap, urged donors to conduct long-range planning to rebuild the media and prevent distortions in the media market. She also said new media present an opportunity to give Haitians a voice in the rebuilding of their country.
5 March 2010
RRsat Global Communications Network Ltd.,provider of comprehensive content management and global distribution services to the television and radio broadcasting industries, announced today that it has signed an agreement with ISG Media, one of the largest distribution companies for Indian movies and entertainment content in the Middle East. RRsat will provide fiber connectivity, playout and distribution for the first high definition Indian movie channel, for distribution to the Israeli market. RRsat and ISG Media are working together to offer the channel to other multichannel platforms in Europe and North America.
Bollywood film and television industry has grown tremendously in the past few years and it is now producing movies which are watched throughout the world and not just in India, commented Lior Rival, Vice President, Sales and Marketing of RRsat. By cementing ourselves as an enabler of global distribution for high definition Indian movies and content, we believe we can further penetrate this important market. We look forward to working with ISG Media in helping grow their Bollywood distribution franchise.
We are very pleased to be working with RRsat to distribute our Bollywood franchise. This enables us to focus on what we do best- that of sourcing the best Bollywood content for a global audience, while RRsat takes care of all the technical aspects of distribution, commented Shai S Sampson, VP Content and Marketing of ISG Media. Time and again, RRsat has proven their ability to distribute value-added content throughout the globe, and we look forward to growing and expanding our business with them over the coming years.
5 March 2010
The AIB is in touch with 25,000 professionals in broadcasting and related industries including key players in TV, radio, satellite, online and mobile.
As a result, we have built up a huge library of information based on interviews and discussions with leading figures in broadcasters, suppliers, regulators and researchers. We are pleased to annnounce that much of this is being made available online.
The initial collection is now available in the new Resources section of the website.
While AIB members will continue to have first access to all information, and exclusive access to certain key data, we will be publishing more articles on the Resources section on a regular basis so keep a watch for the updates.
