5 February 2009
The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) and the Voice of America (VOA) condemn the senseless murder of Said Tahlil Ahmed, Director of HornAfrik, a Somali media network. Mr. Ahmed was gunned down today in Mogadishu’s Bakara market.
“Targeting journalists such as Said Tahlil Ahmed has a disastrous impact on the institution of the press in Somalia,” said Blanquita Cullum of the Broadcasting Board of Governors which oversees the Voice of America. “Free media is one of the building blocks for stability, something greatly needed in Somalia.”
HornAfrik, a longtime VOA affiliate, operates two radio stations and a television station in Somalia. The private network has been an important partner in transmitting VOA’s news and information in both English and Somali to listeners throughout Somalia.
“This is a tragic loss for HornAfrik, VOA and the people of Somalia who suffer the most when they are without reliable and unbiased news and information,” said VOA Director Danforth Austin.
Mr. Ahmed had been director of HornAfrik since 2007 and hosted a popular talk show on the station. No one has claimed responsibility for his death.
Somalia remains one of the most dangerous countries for journalists, a situation that has led many journalists to flee the country or cease their work rather than risk their lives. Mr. Ahmed’s predecessor at HornAfrik, Mohamed Elmi, was killed by a roadside bomb in Mogadishu in 2007, and the network has been attacked and shut down at various times by insurgents or government officials.
27 January 2009
Black Eyed Peas front man, writer and producer, Founder and Chairman, Dipdive, will.i.am will be among the headline speakers at Mobile Backstage, a special one-day Mobile Entertainment focused conference on Thursday 19th February, as part of the worlds leading mobile communications industry event, the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
Two-time Academy Award-winning actor and director Kevin Spacey will host the Mofilm Short Film Festival, and social networking entrepreneur Chris De Wolfe, founder and CEO of MySpace lead the speaker line up for the one-day conference. Mobile Backstage brings together leading music executives, filmmakers, broadcasters and gaming industry insiders in a program that aims to get to the heart of the challenges and opportunities for the mobile phone as a global entertainment medium.
As well as star-powered keynote interviews, Mobile Backstage will feature innovative case studies and panel sessions that explore the role of mobile entertainment within the vision of a mobile lifestyle. Topics will include how to harness the potential of the mobile device as the fourth screen; creating a new mobile gaming experience; the role of mobiles in the changing face of broadcast – chaired by AIB chief executive Simon Spanswick; innovative new business models; social networking on mobile; and the power and potential of Mobile Broadband to deliver multimedia digital entertainment.
27 January 2009
The UK’s Freeview DTT platform has announced that sales of Freeview+ boxes (PVRs) have reached over 900,000, up 118% compared to December last year.
26% of all sales were achieved in a record final quarter, and throughout December, more than two Freeview+ boxes were bought every minute.
Take-up of Freeview, the UKs most popular digital TV service, continues to grow indicating that Freeviews ability to deliver quality, subscription-free TV is of huge value to consumers particularly in the current economic downturn. More than 17.2 million homes are enjoying the benefits of viewing 13 of the 15 most-watched channels without having to pay for them and Freeview+ saves viewers more than £200 in the first year alone compared to the subscription alternatives.
This growth is expected to continue as consumers rein in their expenditure in 2009 – recent research highlighted one in five plans to curtail spending on pay TV channels – and as another five million homes go through digital switchover in the next twelve months, with Freeview+ providing the most cost-effective recording solution for a digital age.
Freeview+ was given a boost with a national TV ad campaign that launched in November 2008. Throughout the campaign period, sales increased by an average of 150% year-on-year and Freeviews website traffic increased by 80% during the first month alone. The ads celebrated the functionality of Freeview+ and featured a host of British TV talent including Coronation Streets Antony Cotton, Jennie McAlpine and Tupele Dorgu, comedian Alan Carr and Chef Gordon Ramsay.
Ilse Howling, Managing Director of Freeview, said: The popularity of Freeview+ isnt surprising given that it offers outstanding value giving the same experience as + recorders from other providers, the only difference is its free from subscription.
During a downturn, TV viewing naturally increases as people choose to stay in and watch TV as a form of free entertainment. We know that Freeview is an extremely compelling proposition of high quality, subscription free, digital TV, but Freeview+ is adding a new dimension to peoples viewing experience, allowing them to take control of what they watch and when they watch it. More than half of Freeview+ users tell us they cant live without it.
With over 60 models to choose from, including boxes with integrated DVD recorders/players and Freeview+ built into digital TVs, Freeview+ offers the biggest range of digital TV recorders available today. Viewers can pause, record and rewind their favourite TV shows without having to pay a monthly subscription.
In the first of Freeviews new channel launches in 2009, CNN International is now available on channel 84 bringing viewers world news, every night from 9pm to 1am. Discovery Networks UK also plans to launch a new channel in the coming months.
Howling concludes, These new additions to the Freeview channel portfolio, coupled with the roll out of Freeview HD across the UK from the end of 2009 is an exciting prospect for Freeview viewers and gives them even more value in the tough climate.
27 January 2009
Lyon-based international news broadcaster Euronews has a new single operating company, Euronews SA. Agreed by the general shareholders’ meeting in December, Euronews SA is formed by the merger of SECEMIE SA and SOCEMIE SA, respectively the former publishing and operating companies.
The merger has also brought with it a new governance organisation, comprising a Supervisory Board and an Executive Committee.
Three individuals and nine shareholding public television channels sit on the Supervisory Board:
- Mr. Pier Luigi Malesani (President of NewCo Rai International)
- Mr. Andrey Bystritsky (Chairman of the Broadcasting Company “The Voice of Russia” and Advisor of the Director General of VGTRK)
- Ms. Stéphanie Martin (Director of diversification and thematic channels at France Télévisions)
FRANCE TELEVISIONS (France), represented by Ms. Laurence Schwob - RAI (Italy), represented by Mr. Stefano Luppi
- RTR (Russia), represented by Mr. Oleg Kuprianov
- SSR (Switzerland), represented by Mr. Willi Burkhalter
- RTP (Portugal), represented by Mr. José Lopes de Araujo
- RTBF (Belgium), represented by Mr. Pierre Couchard
- ERT (Greece), represented by Ms. Fotini Yiannoulatou
- TV4 (Sweden), represented by Ms. Kajsa Stål
- NTU (Ukraine), represented by Mr. Vladimir Nora
Mr. Pier Luigi Malesani is President of the Supervisory Board and Mr. Andrey Bystritsky is the Vice-president.
The Executive Committee has two members: the President is Mr. Philippe Cayla, the former Chairman and CEO of SOCEMIE, and the Director General is Mr. Michael Peters, the former Director General of SOCEMIE.
27 January 2009
Russia Today is spreading its network of correspondent bureaux and is the first of Russian and international TV channels to open a correspondent bureau in South Ossetia.
Russia Todays bureau is located in Tskhinval. Its journalists have mobile satellite equipment, BGAN at their disposal to organise live broadcasting and feeds. It provides an opportunity to efficiently put news on air and broadcast live reports from South Ossetia and neighbouring republics: North Ossetia, Ingushetia, Chechnya and Dagestan.
The chief of the bureau is Naida Azizova, a journalist with extensive professional experience.. For more than a year Naida has been working as a military correspondent for Russia Today. Naida speaks English, Arabic, Hebrew, French and Persian.
It was decided to open Russia Todays bureau in South Ossetia soon after military action ended in the region.
Russia Today provided the most extensive coverage by an international TV station of the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict in August of 2008 on air, becoming the main source of information about the situation in South Ossetia for viewers and media across the world. It was possible to see the biggest world broadcasters such as CNN and others use Russia Todays video footage on air. Russia Todays correspondents provided interviews and commentaries for the BBC World Service and many other media.
During the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict Russia Today was the fourth Most Viewed among Global Partners on You Tube. In comparison the BÂÑ was at 21 for the same period.
At present Russia Today and Russia Al-Yaums correspondent offices and bureaux are situated in Washington, London, Dehli, Paris, Damascus, Baghdad and Jerusalem and other cities around the world.
27 January 2009
RRsat Global Communications Network Ltd. (NASDAQ: RRST), a rapidly growing provider of comprehensive content management and global distribution services to the television and radio broadcasting industries, announced today that it has been chosen to distribute two additional Russian-speaking channels, Smile of Child and Bridge TV, over Russia via Gascom’s Yamal 201 Satellite at 90° East.
RRsat has already started to distribute the channels from its teleport in Israel via Gascoms Yamal-201 Satellite, which will broadcast these channels over all of the CIS.
Smile of Child is an international, Russian-speaking channel broadcasting 24-7, targeting 4-12 year olds, which is currently viewed in 160 countries, and is retransmitted by over 450 cable networks in Russia alone. Bridge TV is a Russian satellite music channel presenting a modern and positive view on life and music. The channel targets young and active individuals.
These two channels join three additional Russian-speaking channels, CNL Siberia, CNL Europe and TBN, which are already distributed by RRsat via the Yamal-201 Satellite.
Gascom has always viewed its TV business sector to be of first priority: this is further visible by the fact that, despite the very high satellite utilization, we nevertheless managed to accommodate these two new channels, said Igor Kot, Deputy Director General of Gascom. We believe that our cooperation with such an advanced teleport such as RRSat, in itself increases Gascom’s ranking as a global satellite operator. We look forward to further developing this partnership over the future Yamal Satellites which optimally target the needs of a major client such as RRsat.
“Through our long standing working relationship with Gascom, and the Yamal-201 Satellite, we have been able to offer our customers access to almost the entire Russian territory, bringing the channels to millions of households through DBS and Cable headends,” commented Lior Rival, Deputy CEO and VP Sales & Marketing of RRsat. “RRsat, through its ever growing and expanding global network, is constantly seeking to enhance its offering to its customers, and we look forward to further strengthening our cooperation with Gascom through the future Yamal satellites.”
