VOA launches citizen journalism project in Congo

12 October 2011

One hundred VOA-trained citizen journalists will fan out across the Democratic Republic of Congo in the coming weeks in a pioneering social media project that will enhance news coverage of the November presidential election and provide a grassroots forum for key issues facing the country.

The citizen journalists, who are being trained by VOA project coordinators working throughout the French-speaking country, will use inexpensive mobile phones to post photos, videos and stories directly to special Facebook and Twitter pages set up for the project.

The Chief of VOA’s French to Africa Service, Idrissa S. Dia, says the contributions of the citizen journalists, which are already being posted on the social media sites, will supplement the work of professional reporters to create a vibrant news-gathering and news-sharing community.

Dia says, “These reports and observations from around Congo’s 11 provinces will create a true national conversation about topics that matter most to people, their families and their country, including the electoral campaign, the presidential election on November 28 and the issue of gender violence.”

In addition to providing training and technical assistance to the citizen journalists, VOA’s French to Africa Service will provide professional and editorial guidance and curate the social media sites. The 100 Citizen Journalists project is a partnership between VOA and the U.S. State Department, which funded the program.

VOA French to Africa can be heard on AM and FM affiliate stations around the Democratic Republic of Congo, on shortwave and on the Internet.

Vizrt and Astana Media Centerto Sign Multimillion-Dollar Contract

11 October 2011

Vizrt Ltd., a leading supplier ofproduction tools to the digital media industry, announced today that Astana Media Center (AMC), a state-of-the-art media complex currently being built in Kazakhstan, has entered into a substantial and important multimillion-dollar contract with Vizrt.

Covering 24 floors in the heart of Astana, the country’s second largest city, AMC will serve as a base for numerous TV channels, including all of Kazakhstan’s national TV and radio stations, as well as many other prominent, non-state owned operations.

Martin Burkhalter, CEO of Vizrt, said: “Having built such a visually impressive building, the Astana Media Center naturally wants its TV channels to look just as breathtaking when they go live. The fact that they’ve chosen Vizrt’s broadcast graphics tools to achieve this is a huge compliment.”

Once up and running, numerous Viz Engines will provide the center with a full-scale Vizrt product offering. Viz Content Pilot will deliver graphics to a range of displays within the media center. Viz Artist will enable designers to build complete virtual sets and complex 3D animations. Viz Trio will be used as character generator (CG) for live events. The Astana Media Center will also house a complete Viz Virtual Studio.

The customer is expected to go on-air before the end of the year. Revenues will be recognized for Q3.

Eurosport launches multi-lingual live score and results app for iPhone

10 October 2011

Providing accurate scores, results and goal alerts from live matches across a range of major team and individual sports, the free app is one of the most comprehensive results apps in Europe.

With a fully customizable desktop, the app gives fans a 100 per cent personalized service catering to their every sporting need. Users can choose to follow events from major leagues and competitions around the world, including football, rugby, tennis, volleyball, handball, ice hockey and basketball.

Alternatively, users can follow their favourite European teams or tennis players such as Rafael Nadal or Andy Murray during the entire season.

Simple, fast and functional, LIVESCORE offers purists all the essentials, including goal alerts, profiles, rankings, standings, substitutions, yellow and red cards – all the incidents and talking points available at a glance.

Key features:

– Goal alerts for football, rugby and tennis

– Results, live scores and rankings

– Standings, fixtures and calendars

– Fully customizable desktop

LIVESCORE has been developed to cater for the needs of today’s sports fans, journalists and purists. In a recent survey 89% of users for Eurosport’s news app said their preferred functionality was the live scoring updates, prompting Eurosport to develop a specific app.**

“LIVESCORE enriches and gives a new dimension to our mobile offering as well as taking the Eurosport brand into new and exciting areas,” says Laurent-Eric Le Lay, Eurosport Chairman and CEO. “Fans, journalists and sports fanatics across Europe will love the app which is fully customizable and will cater to their every need.”

The app is the latest innovative multi-lingual app from the Eurosport Group. Others include a news app for iPhone, iPad, Blackberry and Android and the Eurosport Player app, providing streaming access to Eurosport and Eurosport 2 channels.

Dailymotion rolls out services for Microsoft’s Xbox 360

6 October 2011

Leading video file sharing site Dailymotion is part of a select group of entertainment leaders to unveil new services powered by Kinect for Xbox 360. Through this, how users experience TV and entertainment from a single device will transformed in many new ways.

Online video platform Dailymotion is among the top 30 most visited websites in the world, reaching a dedicated audience of 114 million monthly unique visitors. It combines the creativity of the internet with the quality of traditional broadcasting to provide an innovative way of watching, publishing and sharing video content online.

The services Dailymotion provides will be rolled at Christmas alongside others from the world’s leading entertainment brands through Xbox 360’s online service, Xbox LIVE. Through Xbox LIVE, users will be able to connect to the vast library of videos on Dailymotion using the Kinect for Xbox 360.

Luc Dumont, Senior Vice President of International Content at Dailymotion, said:

“Dailymotion provides users with the best online viewing experience no matter what digital devices they are using, and enables them to browse through a huge range of free localized and global packages from music, film, news, sports or Dailymotion’s own content. We are confident that this will continue to grow our audience across the globe and proud to bring our unique service to Xbox LIVE members to help usher in a more personal, social and effortless form of experiencing TV and entertainment.”

Vizrt and LiberoVision to Demo Fastest Sports Analysis Tool to Date at Sportel Monaco 2011

6 October 2011

Hailed as a success at IBC in Amsterdam this September, Vizrt and LiberoVision will demonstrate a sports analysis tool with unparalled speed – the Libero Playbook – at the Sportel convention in Monaco (Stand AO5). From October 10th to 13th, LiberoVision will showcase its new Libero Playbook, an ultra-fast version of Libero Highlight, offering 3D game analysis in less than 60 seconds.

Analyze the action as the game unfolds

Depending upon setup, in-game analysis can go live, on-air in as little as 30 seconds. LiberoVision’s powerful 3D annotations work in the same way as Libero Highlight, seamlessly combining live camera feeds. All major annotations are included, such as arrows, areas, player marks, etc.

”Instead of a typical replay, Libero Playbook provides its users with the option of telling the viewer at home exactly why a player’s movement disrupted his team’s entire offensive – or why a tiny movement of the ball prevented his defense from conceeding,” said Stephan Würmling Stadler, CEO at LiberoVision. “The product is our direct response to a huge demand in the market. We feel confident that both new and existing customers will appreciate the extra dimension it adds to in-game analysis.”

Key Features of Libero Playbook:

· In-game 3D replays

· Typical turnaround time of 30-60 seconds

· Fast playbook analysis

· Powerful 3D annotations

All LiberoVision products come as one-box-solutions for easy integration into a production environment. No additional infrastructure is required inside the stadium.

Tighter Integration with Vizrt Workflow

In addition to the new Playbook features, LiberoVision’s incorporation into the Vizrt workflow has been greatly enhanced. Through its Viz Engine real-time renderer and Viz Trio CG software, Vizrt already supports bringing Libero Highlight clips into a Vizrt workflow. With Viz Anchor, on-air talent can start sports analysis from an iPad. And Vizrt now offers an interactive sports studio application, enabling the Viz Engine renderer to smoothly interact with Libero Highlight clips. Analysts and presenters can interact with the Libero clips using a touch screen, for example showing arrows on the field, highlighting certain players, and describing their movement, all in perspective and tied to the field.

With this product integration, sportscasters can deliver Libero clips — with defined starts/stops and annotations—into the Vizrt workflow. They can then control the playback of the clips from any Vizrt control software and play it out, embedded in graphics, through the Viz Engine. Metadata, such as short text, can be exported and then rendered by Viz Engine. LiberoVision analysis can reach videowalls, virtual sets and can be distributed to mobile devices by using the device-optimized delivery of video to all devices.

AIB announces shortlist for 2011 International Media Awards

5 October 2011

The Association for International Broadcasting (AIB) has announced the shortlist for the 2011 AIBs, the seventh annual International Media Excellence Awards, selected from a record number of entries submitted this year from countries as diverse as Australia, France, Germany, India, Japan, Nigeria, Qatar, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, UK and the USA, among others. The AIBs celebrate the best of global broadcasting across 16 different categories for radio and television and cross-media productions, plus creative marketing and innovative technology.

In 2011, the AIBs People’s Choice Award is hosted on Yahoo! Maktoob, harnessing the site’s constantly growing reach of more than 55m unique visitors across the MENA region. This year’s topic for the People’s Choice award is “Best Coverage of Democracy Uprisings” highlighting the impact that traditional and social broadcasting has had in enabling the movements for change. Online users from across the world can view and vote for their favourite entry from the six best shortlisted entries via Yahoo! Maktoob.

Simon Spanswick, AIB CEO, said “Of course the big stories of 2011 such as the tsunami and the Arab Spring are represented in the AIBs entries, but interestingly many of the entries are follow-up stories and incredible tales of people’s survival. Footage captured by ordinary citizens is woven into intricate story-telling to recreate events and put them in context, demonstrating the power of TV in challenging situations. In the cross-media category too the range of topics that programme makers the world over tackle creatively and skilfully is astounding.”

The shortlist is being judged by an independent panel of respected professionals from the broadcasting and wider media industries, making these awards unique in broadcasting because of their independence from commercial interests.

Full details and how to vote for the winner of “People’s Choice” can be found on the People’s Choice page at theaibs.tv website.

The 2011 AIBs are sponsored by Eurosport, OASYS, Russian Travel Guide TV and Vizrt. The award ceremony takes place at a gala evening attended by media professionals from around the world on Wednesday, 9 November 2011 in London.

Media contact

Gunda Cannon gunda.cannon@aib.org.uk

T +44 (0)20 7993 2557
AIB, PO Box 141, Cranbrook TN17 9AJ, UK

Notes for Editors

Sponsors of the 2011 AIBs

Eurosport are the sponsors of the AIBs category “Best cross-media production”. Eurosport is the leading sports entertainment group in Europe and boasts six TV channels worldwide. The flagship channel Eurosport is the no 1 pan-European TV channel, broadcast in 20 languages and reaching 125 million homes across 59 countries.

OASYS are the sponsors of the AIBs category “Most innovative technology”.
OASYS has been leading the transition to software-based playout solutions for 20 years. The company’s flagship product, OASYS Player, is complemented by straightforward optional OASYS software to provide efficient, high quality, end-to-end playout solutions that are easy-to-use, scalable, flexible and, most importantly, highly reliable.

RTG TV are the sponsors of the AIBs category “Best current affairs documentary”.
Russian Travel Guide TV is an international documentary TV channel focused on the cultural and geographical variety of the world’s largest country. It covers a wide range of topics – from history to culture, cuisine, nature programmes, active holidays, and Russia’s ethnic mix.

Vizrt are the sponsors of the AIBs category “Best live sports coverage”. Vizrt creates leading-edge content production tools for the digital media industry – from award-winning 3D graphics and maps through integrated video workflow solutions and online publishing tools. Vizrt proposes a new vision for content creation, management and delivery with an end-to-end solution from conception to multi-format distribution.

The 2011 AIBs People’s Choice Award will
be hosted on

The judges

The judges for the AIBs have a vast range of experience in different aspects of broadcasting and are drawn from all over the world. The full list is:

Daniel Adams, Head of International Content, Dailymotion, France | Nashwa Al Ruwaini, CEO, Pyramedia, UAE| Salim Amin, Chairman, A24 Media, Kenya | David Astley, Executive Chairman, Asia-Pacific Media Alliance for Social Awareness, Singapore | Nigel Baker, VP Business Operations EMEA and Asia, APTN, UK | Wayne Borg, Deputy CEO and COO, twofour54, UAE | Julian Clover, Editorial Director, Broadband TV News, UK | Eugen Cojocariu, Director, Radio Romania International, Romania | Helle Dale, Senior Fellow for Public Diplomacy, The Heritage Foundation, USA | David Dufresne, Writer/Director, DufLab, Canada | Hosam El Sokkari, Head of Audience, Yahoo! Middle East, UAE | Mark Errington, CEO, OASYS, UK | Adelheid Feilcke-Tiemann, Director International Relations, Deutsche Welle, Germany | Monica Fritz, Producer/Director, 6 news, Turkey | Angela Fung, Deputy Head Phoenix Chinese Channel, Phoenix Satellite TV, Hong Kong | Regina Goh, Executive Editor, Channel NewsAsia, Singapore | Peter Goldstein, Director of Communications, InterMedia, USA | Mohamed Ali Harrath, CEO, Islam Channel, UK | Mondher Kalai, Commissioning Executive, JCC, Qatar | Kim Hyuk-dong, Deputy Director, KBS World Radio, Korea | François Laborie, Chief Commercial Officer, Vizrt, Norway | Paulo Markun, Consultant, TV Escola, Brazil | Chris Maroleng, Africa Editor, e.tv, South Africa | Michael McCluskey, CEO, ABC Radio Australia, Australia | Marcus Metzner, Head of Marketing Services & Communication, arvato systems GmbH, Germany | Olivier de Montchenu, Commercial & Marketing Director, Euronews, France | Dick van Motman, President & CEO, DDB Greater China Group, PR China | Alexey Nikolov, Deputy Editor in Chief, RT Channel, Russia | Ian O’Reilly, Producer/Director, BBC News – TV, UK | Nader Sh. Rad, Director Programmes Department, PressTV, Iran | Julia Ragona, Chief Broadcast Operations Officer, RFE/RL, Czech Republic | Dick Rempt, CEO, TalentsMedia, The Netherlands | Paul Robinson, MD, KidsCo, UK | Karim Sarkis, Executive Director of Broadcast, Abu Dhabi Media Company, UAE | Vatche Sarkisian, Director of Research and Program Review, Middle East Broadcasting Networks, USA | Danny Schechter, Executive Producer, Globalvision, USA | Simon Spanswick, CEO, AIB, UK | Fedor Strizhkov, CEO, Russian Travel Guide TV, Russia | David Treadway, Managing Director, WRN Broadcast, UK | Jeff Trimble, Executive Director, Broadcasting Board of Governors, USA | Laeed Zaghlami, Journalist/Writer, Algeria

Shortlisted entries for the 2011 AIBs – by category

Organisation – Entry title

Current Affairs Documentary – radio

KBS, South Korea – A Special Journey to the DMZ

Radio Taiwan International, ROC Taiwan – Freeing Taiwan’s Slaves

CTVC, UK – Haiti One Year On

BBC World Service, UK – Africa Mass Rapes in Fizi, Eastern DR Congo

DR (The Danish Broadcasting Corporation), Denmark – Sold to Prostitution

ABC Radio, Australia – Sustainable Sounds

Current Affairs Documentary (domestic) – TV

VRT, Belgium – Children of the Church

Current TV, UK – Gail Porter on Prostitution

INX News Pvt Ltd, India – India Endangered

NHK, Japan – Surviving the Tsunami

SABC, South Africa – Thug-ocracy

SRF Swiss Television, Switzerland – Two Women – One Journey

Antena 3, Romania – Wandering for a piece of bread

Current Affairs Documentary (international) – TV

Channel 4, UK – Dispatches: City of Fear

Channel 4, UK – Dispatches: The Battle for Haiti

BBC Scotland, UK – Eorpa Belarus

Aljazeera English, Qatar – People & Power: Blood and Dust

British Sky Broadcasting, UK – Ross Kemp: Extreme World

True Vision, UK – Zimbabwe’s Forgotten Children

Current Affairs Documentary (Middle East) – TV

BBC Arabic, UK – Egypt – Revolution Diary

BBC, UK – Panorama: Fighting Gaddafi

BBC Arabic, UK – Revolution Uploaded

Aljazeera English, Qatar – The Death of Fear

Press TV, Iran – The Distorted Lens: The Media and the MIddle East

NDTV, India – The Women of Tahrir Square

Most creative marketing strategy

Shree FM, Sri Lanka – Shree Reload Wasanawa

Star News, India – Star News Anchor Hunt

France 24, France – The Birds

Most creative feature – radio

RTE, Ireland – Don’t go Far

Voice of Nigeria, Nigeria – Early Marriage – The bane of the girl child

RTHK, Hong Kong – Mandela and South Africa

VRT, Belgium – The America Watcher

Voice of America, USA – The Making of a Nation: D Day invasion at Normandy

Société Radio Canada, Canada – The Spirit of Places

Best investigative documentary – radio

Czech Radio, Czech Republic – Pilot and death

Radio Free Asia, USA – Staring Down the Muzzle

RFE/RL, Czech Republic – The Invisible Women of Osh

Clearest coverage of a single news event – radio

BBC Radio 5 Live, UK – AV: Mock Election

Voice of America, USA – Cairo Protesters in jubilant mood

ABC Radio, Australia – Cyclone Yasi

Radio Free Asia, USA – Nuclear leak at Daya Bay

BBC Burmese Service, UK – Release of Pro Democracy Leader Aung San Suu Kyi

Clearest coverage of a single news event – TV

CBS, USA – 60 Minutes: A Relentless Enemy

NHK, Japan – Departing in Dignity

Sky News, UK – Egypt Crisis

VRT, Belgium – Floods in Pakistan

NDTV, India – Japan Tsunami

BBC World News, UK – Japanese Earthquake & Tsunami

Aljazeera English, Qatar – Osama Bin Ladan Death

Antena 3, Romania – Tragedy at the Giulesti Maternity Hospital

Best children’s factual programme or series

BBC Newsround, UK – Growing up in a war zone

BBC Newsround, UK – Living with Alcohol

BBC Newsround, UK – Living with Cancer

BBC Children’s, UK – Serious Explorers: Livingstone

Best financial or business programme

CBS, USA – 60 Minutes: Hard Times Generation

Société Radio Canada, Canada – Meltdown

RT News Channel, Russia – On the money

CBS, USA – 60 Minutes: The 99ers

France 24, France – The new Irish exodus

Best investigative documentary – TV

Aljazeera English, Qatar – On a wing and a prayer

BBC London, UK – Project Prevention

DR (The Danish Broadcasting Corporation), Denmark – The Man who lied the World into War

Antena 3, Romania – The Poison on our homes

Channel News Asia, Mediacorp, Singapore – Unbroken Faith

CNN International, USA – World’s Untold Stories: Locked up and Forgotten

Best science programme or series

KBS, South Korea – Exploring Human – Memory

British Sky Broadcasting, UK – Flying Monsters 3D

Deutsche Welle, Germany – Future Now Series

TGA Production, France – Is the magnetic pole about to flip?

Russian Travel Guide TV, Russia – Volcanoes of Kamchatka

Best coverage of a live sports event

Nine Network, Australia – 2010 State of Origin – NSW v QLD Game 1

Russian Travel Guide TV, Russia – Khanty-Mansiysk World Chess Olympiad

BBC Birmingham, UK – Stoke City in the FA Cup Final

Eurosport, France – IRC SimulCam Coverage

NDTV, India – The World Cup of Joy

Sony Professional & Others, UK – Wimbledon in 3D

Best cross-media production

KBS, South Korea – Korean Cuisine

Czech Radio, Czech Republic – Secret defence of the iron curtain

Radio Free Asia, USA – The Lives of Vietnamese Women….

BBC, UK – Eight Weeks to face the Taliban

BBC, UK – Arabic-Persian Special on the 30th Anniversary of Iran-

Iraq War

BBC, UK – 24 Hour Panel People

DR (The Danish Broadcasting Corporation), Denmark – 1864

Most innovative technology

Radio Taiwan International, ROC Taiwan – Establish KPI with cloud computing

France 24, France – HBB TV Applications

Thomson Reuters, USA – Reuters Insider Promo

Ideal Shopping Direct Limited, UK – USA Live

International Radio Personality of the Year

RFE/RL, Czech Republic – Farshid Manafi

Radio Sawa, USA – Mohamed Moawad

Voice of America, USA – Steve Ember

International TV Personality of the Year

NDTV, India – Barkha Dutt

British Sky Broadcasting, UK – Sir David Attenborough

BBC World News, UK – Mishal Husain

The Doha Debates, Qatar – Tim Sebastian

British Sky Broadcasting, UK – Ross Kemp

“People’s Choice: “Best Coverage of Democracy Uprisings”

Aljazeera English, Qatar – Arab Awakening

Press TV, Iran – Battle for Bahrain

NDTV, India – Battle for Libya

France24, France – Reporters: Tunisia after Ben Ali

Alhurra TV, USA – Protests in Egypt

Deutsche Welle, Germany – Journal: Million Man March

About the AIB

Established in 1993, the AIB is the international industry association and global knowledge network for the international broadcasting industry – cross-media, cross-border, cross-cultural. With a reach of over 25,000 communicators and media professionals, AIB is a unique centre of information about international broadcasting, covering TV, radio, online and mobile. AIB researches regular market intelligence briefings for its members and provides client-specific consultancy and project support. Members receive an extensive package of services throughout the year. AIB publishes the comprehensive AIB Global Broadcasting Sourcebook and the international media magazine, The Channel. AIB hosts the annual AIB International Media Excellence Awards – the “AIBs”. For more information, visit www.aib.org.uk and theaibs.tv or call +44 (0) 20 7993 2557