26 October 2006
Radio Romania International (RRI) has commenced its first ever broadcast using DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale), the international standard for digital Medium Wave, Long Wave and Short Wave, with the assistance of WRN, the London-based digital radio and television transmission provider.
Since 16th October 2006, RRI, the international voice of Romania, has been broadcasting a daily, 30 minute, English language show to Europe from 1400 UTC during the Summer season on 7160 kHz and during the Winter season from 1500 UTC on 7340 kHz at 60kW (RMS DRM power). WRN has organised these DRM broadcasts for RRI using a transmitter site in Germany and is undertaking service monitoring and technical support.
Eugen Cojocariu, Head of Radio Romania International, says, “It is our great pleasure to announce that Radio Romania International is the first Romanian radio station to enter the DRM Club. We are very happy to be there because we are sure that the future is digital with DRM. I hope our European listeners will enjoy the daily half an hour English show coming from Bucharest.
Gary Edgerton, Managing Director of WRN, adds, WRN is delighted to assist Radio Romania International to remain ahead of the changes in digital radio broadcasting. DRM is a vital new digital platform for international radio and WRN is pleased to be providing RRI with a world-class service solution for its digital broadcasting requirements.
18 October 2006
The latest edition of the AIB’s quarterly magazine, The Channel, is out now – and it’s as great a read as ever!
We’re unveiling our opinion on who the world’s media leaders are – and you might find our choices surprising. But we believe that our chosen media leaders are people that you need to watch as they’re making a real impact on electronic media worldwide.
The July edition is also packed with a range of in-depth feature articles, ranging from the way in which the internet is changing the way people consume content through to the role of freelance journalists in US public radio. And of course there’s the usual round-up of news from the international media industry.
If you don’t receive your copy automatically, subscribe today – simply
click
here!
13 October 2006
The World Teleport Association has announced the appointment of Mary Frost, CEO of GlobeCast America, to its Board of Directors effective October 1, 2006. Ms. Frost will complete the three-year term on the Board, representing the Americas region, vacated by David Sprechman, GlobeCast America’s former chief executive, upon his departure from that company in June.
GlobeCast America is the US unit of Paris-based GlobeCast, a subsidiary of France Telecom, and a global provider of broadcast distribution and content management services. As CEO, Frost oversees GlobeCast’s strategy and operations in North and Latin America, based between the company’s sales and marketing offices in Washington D.C. and New York. She joined GlobeCast in 2003 as Sr. Vice President, Sales, and was later named Chief Commercial Officer. Her more than 25-year career in media, entertainment and communications includes key positions as Managing Director at Price WaterhouseCoopers’ Entertainment, Media and Communications practice; Vice President of Network Broadcast Operations and Engineering for Disney and ABC, managing news and technology operations during 11 years at the network in New York; General Manager of ICO Global Communications in America; as well as CEO and President of two interactive and digital asset management ventures.
WTA’s Board is made up of senior representatives of the teleport sector of the satellite industry from around the world, including Olivier Badard, Vice President, Alcatel Alenia Space France; Dr. Gerhard Bommas, CTO of ND SatCom; Gary Hatch, CEO of ATCI; Jon Kirchner, Vice President, Loral Skynet; Michael Noon, Vice President, SES AMERICOM; Nick Thompson, Managing Director of Arqiva Satellite Media Solutions; and Malcolm Warren, Director, Asia-Pacific, ViaSat.
12 October 2006
“File-based asset management is now recognised as the logical way forward for television post-production, archiving and playout,” reports Roger Heath, Commercial Director of Pharos Communications. “The great majority of visitors we spoke with at IBC2006 in September recognise that file storage on disc server arrays makes much greater sense than relying on video tapes. Tapes have to be moved physically from shelf to studio and back again, they can only be in one place at any one time, they degenerate physically whenever they are played, edited or copied, and they are easily mislaid.”
“Our IBC 2006 booth was configured to prove that file-based broadcasting is fast and reliable. It has become the natural path for any business wanting to survive in today’s highly-competitive multi-channel world. And we are not talking about one-off little-box solutions. Our core media management system, Pharos Mediator, delivers the freedom to grow from a small operation up to an
enterprise multi-client, multi-channel network. Expandability is a crucial element of our three-tier message, the other components being precise modelling of each client’s intended workflow and genuinely user-friendly task-based operation.”
“We were able to announce at IBC Channel 4 Television’s decision to deploy Pharos Mediator as the enabling technology behind its own advance into
complete file-based broadcasting and archiving. Channel 4 has long been a
major Pharos customer and we are naturally pleased by the continuing
confidence of its management in our concepts and our technology.”
“I would like to add my thanks to the IBC organisation team for their sustained professionalism which keeps the event head-to-head with the NAB Spring Convention as one of the two must-see shows in the annual broadcast
calendar.”
11 October 2006
BBC World Service is to continue its move into international television. The London-based
broadcaster announced on 10 October that it plans to launch a television news
and information service in Farsi (Persian) for Iran, complementing the broadcaster says – its existing Persian
radio and online services for Iran. The BBC said that it
expected to launch Farsi TV early in 2008 from
London. The new service will initially broadcast for
eight hours a day, seven days a week, from 1700 to 0100 local time in Iran
which, the BBC says, is peak viewing time in Iran, and will be available via
free-to-air satellite and on as yet unnamed cable services.
Unlike the Arabic-language TV service that is
due to launch next year that is funded from the existing “grant-in-aid” from the
UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the new Farsi-language service will be
funded from an additional budget announced by UK Chancellor of the Exchequer
Gordon Brown. The operating cost of £15m a year will be funded by the UK
Government. There were protests when funds for the new Arabic-language TV
service were found from BBC World Services existing budget which led to the
closure of some smaller radio language services, including Thai.
BBC World Service Director Nigel
Chapman said: “The BBC’s Persian radio and online services are
well-respected by Iranians, especially by opinion formers. In Iran we are
regarded as the most trusted and objective of all international broadcasters for
the way we provide impartial news and information about the wider world and the
crucial part Iran is playing on the regional and global stage. But television is
increasingly dominating the way that millions of Iranian people receive their
news.
“Therefore the BBC proposed to the Foreign
Office that we launch a television service in Farsi to complement our existing
independent news and information services for Iran on radio and online. Like all
BBC services, the new television service will be editorially independent of the
UK Government. I am delighted the BBC Farsi television service proposal has been
given the go-ahead.”
The BBC’s Farsi television service will draw
upon the BBC’s international newsgathering resources and the organisation says
that it will “showcase accurate, impartial, balanced news and analysis from a
global perspective”. The channel will also show investigative current affairs
programmes, alongside quality BBC factual, cultural and educational
documentaries.
Voice of America TV has run a Farsi-language
TV service for some time read about it in the AIBs magazine, The Channel
(April 2006 edition, pp40-42), which can be downloaded
here. You can find a download library for back issues of The Channel
here, and subscribe to this increasingly influential and important global
media magazine
here.
11 October 2006
Al Jazeera International, the new 24-hour English-language news and current affairs channel, headquartered in Doha, has outlined its full line-up of bureaux and correspondents around the world ahead of its global launch later this year.
In addition to four broadcast centres strategically placed around the world in Doha, Kuala Lumpur, London and Washington DC, Al Jazeera International will have around 20 supporting bureaux which will gather and produce news in the field, giving unprecedented access to a single network – this will be added to with further key bureaux over the coming months. The various bureaux around the world will feed local news on to the international stage through each broadcast centre, enabling Al Jazeera English language channel to seek out and cover different perspectives of news through grassroots reporting wherever news is made, and impartially present these stories to the English speaking world. Through this structure (see more details below) Al Jazeera International will balance the typical information flow, for the first time ever on a global scale.
Al Jazeera International also announced that it has appointed a diverse team of talented and experienced correspondents from around the world who will report from the channels broadcast centres, bureaux and out in the field.
Talking from the channels Doha headquarters, Managing Editor Omar Bec said, Together with the Arabic channel we will have more than 60 bureaux around the world with the majority of these in the Southern Hemisphere ensuring we will balance the information flow from South to North. We will be the channel of reference for the Middle East and Africa. Al Jazeera International will share the resources of Al Jazeera Arabic language Channels 42 bureaux located around the world and is already planning to add further key bureaux to the mix. These will be announced as they open. We will be adding several bureaux to our news gathering offering in the coming months. Were looking at setting up further bureaux in South America, the horn of Africa, the Middle East and Africa, he continued.
Middle East
Al Jazeera is the channel of reference in the Middle East. Al Jazeera International will have unrivalled coverage and unique access – and through its sister channel a 10 year record of uncompromising and award winning journalism.
Broadcast Centre: Doha, Qatar
Correspondents: Hoda Abdel-Hamid, Hashem Ahelbarra, James Bays, John Cookson, Mike Hanna*
Bureaux: Beirut-Lebanon, Jerusalem-Israel, Ramallah and Gaza-Palestinian Territories
Correspondents: Zeina Khodr & Rula Amin, Jacky Rowland, Walid Batrawi*
Africa
Al Jazeera International will have more bureaux and resources dedicated to Africa than any other global broadcaster. Al Jazeera International will give a voice to the unheard by covering every aspect of life from this huge and ever changing continent.
Bureaux: Cairo-Egypt; Abidjan-Ivory Coast; Nairobi-Kenya; Johannesburg-South Africa and Harare-Zimbabwe
Correspondents: Amr El Kahky, Gabi Menezes, Haru Mutasa, Kalay Maistry, Farai Sevenzo*
Asia & Australasia
Al Jazeera International also has a presence at the centre of the worlds largest population and fastest growing economies, with bureaux located across Asia, Australasia and Oceana.
Broadcast Centre: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Correspondents: Tony Birtley*
Bureaux: Beijing-China, Delhi-India, Islamabad-Pakistan, Manila-Philippines and Sydney- Australia
Correspondents: Tony Cheng, Zain Awan & Rajesh Sundaram, Kamal Hyder, Marga Ortigas, Dan Nolan*
The Americas
Al Jazeera Internationals news bureaux across the Americas will reveal the daily developments in political, social, economic and military agendas as they happen across the Caribbean, Latin America, South America, the USA and Canada.
Broadcast Centre: Washington DC, USA
Correspondents: Viviana Hurtado & Rob Reynolds*
Bureaux: Buenos Aires-Argentina, Caracas-Venezuela and New York-USA
Correspondents: Lucia Newman, Mariana Sanchez, Mark Seddon, Kristen Saloomey*
Europe
Al Jazeera Internationals European broadcast centre is situated at the heart of Europe, reporting on activities from the European Union and strategically placed with its bureaux at the most Southern and most Northern gateways of Europe in Moscow and Athens.
Broadcast Centre: London, UK
Correspondents: Alan Fisher*
Bureaux: Athens-Greece and Moscow-Russia.
Correspondents: Barnaby Phillips, Jonah Hull*
