Category: News Broadcasting

Sandy Smith the new editor of BBC’s flagship current affairs show ‘Panorama’

MUMBAI: UK pubcaster the BBC has announced that Sandy Smith is the new editor of Panorama which is BBC One’s flagship current affairs series.

He will take over the post in September. The appointment comes after the former Editor Mike Robinson announced in March this year that he was to step down and retire from the BBC.

Sandy has worked at the BBC since 1988. The majority of that time has been spent producing and directing programmes for the corporation’s current affairs department but since August 2005, he has been editor of the BBC ONE programme Watchdog.

BBC director of news Helen Boaden said, “Sandy has great flair in making creative television that delivers provocative, challenging and serious journalism to wide audiences. His energy and commitment will invigorate and refresh our most important current affairs programme.”

BBC head of current affairs George Entwistle says, “Sandy is an exciting addition to Current Affairs’ strong senior editorial team. His commitment to original journalism and creative programme-making will ensure Panorama tells the biggest and most relevant stories of our time in an accessible and engaging way.”

Smith said, “I am delighted to take over at Panorama which despite its long and illustrious career still has its best years ahead of it. I have enjoyed my time at Watchdog and will be very sad to part company with such a talented, young team but I am very much looking forward to the challenge ahead.”

June 21, 2006
FremantleMedia strengthens biz with promotions

MUMBAI: Format creator and owner FremantleMedia has announced a series of promotions in the UK as part of the continuing evolution of its international business.

Dan Allen has been promoted to Fremantlemedia Enterprises (FME) COO from his current role of Fremantle International Distribution (FID) COO. In this newly created role, Allen will be responsible for all operational departments including marketing, finance, legal, HR and material.

He will be based in London and will report to FME CEO David Ellender.

Bob McCourt, currently FremantleMedia Licensing Worldwide (FLW) VP, finance joins FME as director of finance. In this capacity, McCourt will be responsible for the division’s finance function including management and financial reporting, commercial support, strategic development and management of the FME finance team. McCourt, who has been with the company for eight years, will be based in London and will report to Dan Allen.

Lynne-Mei Lee has been appointed to FME head of publicity, from her current role as FremantleMedia PR manager. Lee, who will be based in London and will report to Ellender, will oversee publicity for the division worldwide, working closely with divisional and territory heads and with local and international press and marketing teams.

Dawn McComish moves up to FME HR head from her role as HR Manager, FremantleMedia. In this new position, McComish will manage the division’s human resources function covering all FME’s global operations. She will be based in London and will report to Dan Allen. McComish joined FremantleMedia in 2005; prior to this, she was head of Human Resources at a private aviation company, Netjets Management and Human Resources manager at the British Chambers of Commerce.

Ellender said, “This is an extremely exciting time for our international commercial team and these promotions are extremely well deserved. I am confident that, with the team’s great talent and wealth of experience, we will rapidly build upon FremantleMedia Enterprises’ existing reputation and strengthen our position even further as a leading player in the industry.”

June 21, 2006
BBC Worldwide looks to expand reach of channels in Latin America

MUMBAI: UK pubcaster the BBC’s commercial arm BBC Worldwide has made an appointment with a view to expanding the reach ot its chanels in Latin America.

Jessica Rodriguez becomes VP, global channels for Latin America and for the Hispanic US Market. She will be responsible for the strategic development and implementation of BBC Worldwide’s channels and will manage the day-to-day activity across the Latin American region and in the US Hispanic market.

BBC Worldwide MD global channels Darren Childs said, “Jessica’s appointment is a commitment from BBC Worldwide to further develop the Latin American and Hispanic North American market for our channels business. Jessica has introduced a number of new channels and we are keen to explore new opportunities for growth.”

Rodriguez says, “In Latin America, BBC Worldwide’s presence is already strong through our programming participation and investment in Animal Planet and People and Arts. Given its rapid growth and strength, the US Hispanic market is critically important to our strategy. BBC America has already successfully demonstrated the power of the BBC’s superlative content in the US, and I am delighted to be developing our new branded channels in this marketplace.”

She has over 16 years of experience in launching and expanding brands such as Travel Channel, National Geographic and USA Network across international markets. She also has an extensive development and management record having worked in business development positions at Discovery Channel and Landmark Communications and having spearheaded several channels in Latin America and Asia.

Based in Miami, Jessica will be working across BBC Worldwide’s content divisions of program sales, new media, magazines, consumer publishing and home entertainment to maximise and consolidate brand exposure in the Latin and US Hispanic markets.

June 21, 2006
CNN launches a suite of free video podcasts

MUMBAI: News broadcaster CNN has announced the launch of six online video podcasts, regularly updated newscasts and programming produced specifically for digital video players.

The video podcasts, in addition to CNN’s audio podcasting products, are available for free at www.CNN.com/podcasting and at iTunes.

CNN.com senior VP, GM David Payne says, “For the most part, the podcasting audience skews much younger than CNN’s television viewers and, perhaps surprisingly, somewhat younger than even users of CNN.com. They were raised during the age of the Internet, not that of the 6 o’clock news. They don’t necessarily want to see polished newscasts, but they want to see the action and make judgments for themselves. So we have produced original podcasts in a format that appeals to their fast-paced lifestyles and varied interests.”

CNN producers designed each of the podcasts specifically for the small digital video player screen, although they may also be played on personal computers and other devices. The format also allowed CNN.com to offer programming with more raw footage, high-impact video, edgy humor and experimental content.

CNN’s video podcasts include All Access – Backstage Pass. This is a behind-the-scenes look at how CNN journalists get their stories. The launch of video podcasting marks the latest digital product from CNN. In June 2005, CNN.com began offering free video to all of its users. In December 2005, the site launched CNN Pipeline, an on-demand broadband video service that puts users in control of multiple live video streams, CNN’s video archives and on-demand news clips from CNN’s unmatched newsgathering operation around the world.

June 21, 2006
Asia-Pac alliance formed for popularizing DVB-H tech

SINAGPORE: Bridge Networks, Indonesia-based MECA , Malaysia’s MiTV, mobile phone giant Nokia and Intel have announced formation of DVB-H Asia Pacific Alliance (DAPA), a mobile TV special interest group.

Formed by potential and key DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting, handheld) industry players in the Asia Pacific region with sponsorship from Harris Broadcast and Radio Frequency Systems, DAPA aims to establish a regional forum to promote sharing of best practices and to keep member companies abreast of new business and technological developments in mobile television.

The group will also support regulatory preparations and discussions to facilitate adoption of DVB-H as the standard for Mobile TV in the Asia Pacific region.

“An open and industry-supported standard is expected to foster growth throughout the wireless market with more choices across the value chain. This will expedite the adoption of the service to the mass market at a faster and at lower cost to consumers,” said Darren Kirsop-Frearson, managing director of the Bridge Networks.

Nokia was committed to the deployment of robust, scalable and interoperable DVB-H systems to ensure an exceptional experience with mobile TV and related value-added services, according to Jawahar Kanjilal, director, multimedia experiences, Nokia Asia Pacific.

“We are definitely pleased to be a part of this joint initiative to bring together technology, product and service leaders to ensure a common implementation of DVB-H networks and terminals according to open industry standards, and to spearhead discussions with the relevant parties involved,” he added.

DAPA is open to additional member-companies and aims at cooperating with other similar alliances and forums such as MDTV alliance in US and BMCO.

DVB-H is an open standard and an extension of the widely adopted DVB-terrestrial broadcast technology. It implements recent technical developments to enhance mobile broadcast reception, optimises hand-set power consumption and provides a quality visual display to maximize user experience.

The IP-based platform allows provision of an electronic services guide (ESG), interactive services, and dynamic channel allocation to offer 30-50 mobile TV channels in a single spectrum channel.

This could open up a plethora of business possibilities — advertising on channels, subscription based services, interactivity, games, etc. — in addition to regular television.

The inaugural meeting of DAPA was held in conjunction with BroadcastAsia 2006 being held in Singapore this week.

There has been several successful DVB-H trials throughout Europe, North America, and the Asia-Pacific regions in recent months. In South East Asia, there have been good consumer responses from showcases in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, India and Australia.

The open approach of the DVB-H standard nurtures flexibility of business models, competition and sales opportunities for the value chain. The DVB-H standard incorporates OFDM air interface technology with good spectral efficiency, immunity to multi-path fading and good mobile performance.

Mobile TV enables consumers to watch their favorite TV programmes on handheld devises while on the move. The service works by receiving a special digital TV broadcast signal from the air in much the same way as a stationary TV set at home.

A channel guide will also be broadcast allowing users to keep abreast of the latest programmes on air. However, mobile TV is not the same as streaming video over 3G or GPRS phones.

June 21, 2006
Online channel MediaZone to provide coverage of Wimbledon

MUMBAI: Online broadcaster MediaZone, has announced a partnership with the All England Lawn Tennis Club to provide live and on-demand broadband video coverage of Wimbledon.

The new service, Wimbledon Live, is available globally at www.wimbledon.org/live, and will include live and on-demand broadband broadcasts of more than 250 matches from up to nine concurrent courts — an unprecedented depth of coverage for this world-class event.

MediaZone CEO Michelle Wu says, “It is an incredible opportunity to serve as the Worldwide Broadband Partner to the Wimbledon Championships and provide the most in-depth tournament coverage available via the internet to date. The Wimbledon Live service we’ve developed with the Club provides an intimate feel for the atmosphere at Wimbledon 2006 to tennis and sports enthusiasts around the world, allowing them to share the experience at their leisure throughout the championships.”

From the first round through the finals, Wimbledon Live will feature the most comprehensive full match coverage available, as well as three free Radio Wimbledon channels of live commentary and 10 hours of classic archive footage showcasing rallies and matches that have taken place throughout the history of the tournament. To better serve the international community, the entire site will be localized in Chinese and an overview of the subscription will be available in French, Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Korean and Japanese.

Wimbledon Live will be integrated with the official Wimbledon website, www.wimbledon.org, which allows viewers to combine video coverage with player information as well as live scoring and statistics from all matches at the championships.

All England Lawn Tennis Club CEO Ian Ritchie says, “We are thrilled by the relationship forged with MediaZone to offer, for the first time in the 120 year history of Lawn Tennis Championships at Wimbledon, daily live online coverage of the tournament to tennis fans around the globe.

“Given MediaZone’s extensive experience successfully broadcasting live sporting events globally via the Internet, we feel they are the ideal partner to distribute the tournament to audiences worldwide.”

A special advance order All Access Pass for Wimbledon Live is available for GBP 9.95 in the UK and $19.95 in the US and the rest of the world prior to the first day of competition.

June 21, 2006
Dan Rather to leave CBS News after four decades

MUMBAI: News veteran Dan Rather will leave US broadcaster CBS News after 44 years.

CBS News and Sports president Sean McManus said, “Of all the famous names associated with CBS News, the biggest and brightest on the marquee are Murrow, Cronkite and Rather. With the utmost respect, we mark the extraordinary and singular role Dan has played in writing the script of not only CBS News, but of broadcast journalism. There will always be a part of Dan Rather at CBS News. He is truly a ‘reporter’s reporter,’ and he has helped to train several generations of broadcast journalists. His legacy cannot be replicated.”

CBS president and CEO Leslie Moonves says, “For more than four decades, Dan Rather has approached the job of broadcast journalist with a singular passion, dedication and, always, an unwavering desire to tell the story to the American public. The unique mark he has left on his craft is indelible.”

CBS News is currently finalising plans for a primetime special on the newsman’s legendary career at CBS News. It is scheduled to be broadcast sometime this yea. CBS News also will make a contribution to Rather’s alma mater, now called Sam Houston State University.

Rather joined CBS News in 1962. He covered virtually every major event in the world for CBS News in the past 44 years. Rather regularly landed the biggest interviews with the world’s most important and compelling figures, from the famous to the infamous. CBS says that his passion for the news, for getting the story and for taking on the most challenging assignments in journalism is unmatchedsomething his competitors knew only too well–and he has dedicated himself to delivering to the American public coverage that is fair and accurate, no matter the size and scope of the story. Rather has interviewed every US president from Dwight D. Eisenhower to Bill Clinton and virtually every major international leader of the past 30 years. He landed two news-breaking interviews with Saddam Hussein. The first occurred in 1990 after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait.

Then, in February 2003, with coalition forces poised to invade the country, Rather secured the most sought-after interview in the world, an exclusive one-on-one with Saddam in Baghdad, the first the Iraqi leader had conducted with a Western journalist since 1991. Rather and his team at 60 MINUTES II also broke, arguably, the biggest story of the year–the abuse of prisoners at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison–in April 2004.

June 21, 2006
The human side of business

SINGAPORE: While the talk of High Definition and digital training remained the buzzword for the major part of the day, there were also a few presentations that focussed on people who make these changes possible. Though, not too many attended these sessions, a few who made it added the human dimension to it.

So how can broadcasters survive in the rapidly changing world where they can perish at the very next moment? How do managers, policy makers, programmers understand the real needs of people in the developing nations? Also, the huge media boom in the Asia Pacific region has brought in certain manpower and human resource issues which were discussed.

In all, the afternoon session on the training needs of the media and entertainment industry across the world emphasised the need of training individuals to deal with change. Moving away from traditional methods of face-to-face training, the experts present offered many solutions – like distance or e-learning with the help of CDRoms, training by societies and engineers, self training for broadcasters. The session also turned out to be pretty interesting with live demonstrations.

Broadcast Electronics Inc, USA’s Charles W Kelly, set the tone when he said, “If we ask the viewer what do they want – more resolution on the TV screens or better writers, the answer is obviously better writers who can write newer concepts and bring in fresh programming.” So, if there are 100 channels why do they all look the same? The answer perhaps lies in capacity building of people involved in the industry and training them.

Here the panelists discussed the need of training writers who can change the face of television. This is again related to the lack of trained human resources, because of which channels have to bank on amateurs; which in the long run takes a toll on the business.

There are training needs to be met at the senior level. Say for example, how does an executive from the radio industry make a transition to the television industry or the other way round.

Drawing on his experiences from the Philippines, SBETP president Armand Ursal said, “It is very essential to train broadcast engineers to adapt to the changing technology needs. Also, when they have to deal with things like digital radio, and TV, it can take its toll.”

I think engineer training is very important for the coming of age of the broadcast industries in all countries. Also, the manufacturers have to be brought into the loop to understand consumer demands.”

Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia programme officer Rukmini Vemraju emphasised the need for face-to-face training along with interactive. Marcel Gomez, Programme Manager, AIBD, Malaysia said, “We can help TV professionals across the world transit to the interactive world with the help of CDs.”

Gomez, who has been involved in the project of developing such CDs gave live demonstrations to the people present. He said, “We develop instructional, interactive CDs on topics like how to develop your writing skills, learn news reporting etc. A rather expensiive exercise wherein we get experts from across the world to develop such content.”

The final word came from Charles W Kelly, who summed up the whole session. “TV is not just an investment but also a responsibility, and we as an industry have to continue to keep learning to adapt to the rules, so that we are able to address the real needs of the people.”

June 21, 2006
Animation & Visual Effects seminar discusses industry challenges

SINGAPORE: There’s an animated atmosphere here at the third day of BroadcastAsia 2006. Besides sessions on the new broadcasting technologies, Day 3 saw a special session on animation called – Animation and Visual Effects seminar.

The speakers for the morning session comprised Crest Animation Studios CEO A K Madhavan, Blackmagic Design Singapore director of creative services Peter Barber, Rhythm & Hues USA visual effects supervisor Bill Westenhofer and Intense Animation Studio managing director Tony Sealy. Throwing light on the success of Crest Animation Studios in the last four years or so in the space, Madhavan said, “We began as a production house for TV commercials 14 years ago, and then moved on to providing post production facility. Four years back, we decided to get into animation; acquired an American company – Rich Animation and I think we have done a fairly decent job.”

What’s more, Crest has progressed from providing animation content on the television platform, to the DVD platform and now is moving on to the theatrical space. One of it’s 3D show, Arthur, is going to release in the US next month as a DVD feature. The company has also signed a deal with renowned French producer Marathon for a new 3D animated series and it’s DVD feature Casper is also due to launch. Crest also inked a deal with Lion’s Gate International for Silvester and the Magic Pebble, which will hit the screens in the summer of 2008.
“One needs to understand the sensibilities, likes and dislikes of various markets to create a show for them. There is a lot of background research that goes behind making shows for various international markets,” Madhavan said.

When queried as to whether the company was doing enough more for the local Indian market, he said, “We are providing some amount of content locally but the market has not yet developed. Apart from that, the budgets are very low and the animation industry still hasn’t got the push. But, I see the Indian animation industry exploding in the next 10 years’ time.”

Over the last three years, Crest Animation Studios has delivered over 126 series to broadcasters like PBS, Fox and Cartoon Network. Some of the series that Madhavan spoke about were – Jakers, Pet Alien and Bratz.

Rhythm & Hues’ Westenhofer explained in detail the process of the making of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. “It was a huge challenge especially where hybrid characters like the Centaurs were concerned. We extensively used pre-visualisation in this. It took us six months of motion capture, which included eight weeks of horse capture as every creature has it’s own unique fighting style,” he said.

“With all the new technology coming in, it becomes imperative for filmmakers to know what the tools are. Digital photography is going to change the paradigm of how we do things,” he added.

Intense Animation Studio managing director Tony Sealy, whose company has conceptualised -11 – an animation soccer comedy show for broadband television, threw light on the various challenges that the animation industry faces in Singapore.

“Originally, Intense Animation Studio was intended to be a creative agency, but there was a serious lack of talent in Singapore. So, I first opened a training center and we were the first company in Singapore to teach Maya. We also conduct seminars and workshops to teach people more about computer animation,” Sealy said.

The show 11 was pitched to M2B World, which is a leader in broadband media entertainment business, and a major provider of interactive entertainment-on-demand, education-on-demand and e-commerce streaming over broadband channels, internet portals, and 3G devices. “With M2B, we had a far wider reach over broadband on-demand, 3G and internet. Broadband TV provides a great diversity of delivery,” Sealy said.

Pointing out the difficulties that the animation industry in Singapore faces, Sealy said, “One needs to address the lack of private investment in the creative projects and educate the investors about the scope of animation. We also need to lift the training standards and address the current subsidies for training and internships. Apart from this, studios must develop their own IP.”

June 21, 2006
Europe leads the world in the interactive TV trial

SINGAPORE: While some parts of the world are still trying to understand what interactive TV means, and some other markets are still in its infancy as in the Asia Pacific region; it looks like Europe will set the rules of the new game. With more than 380 interactive services on air in 2006, Europe clearly leads the way.

As of now there are more than 50 million digital households across Europe and experts predict the number will go up to 125 million by 2010. Also, with growing consumer spend the gross margins (not turnover) is expected to cross 700 million Euros by 2010 with growing consumer spend.

Quoting from a study conducted by AFDESI (The French professional organization for interactive television), delegate Jean Dacie said, “Europe is definitely leading the way on the ITV market with most of the technologies developed there since the first trials which started in the UK in 1994/95 and first commercial ITV services which began in France in 97.

Just a look the figures reveals that UK is the largest market with 17.8 million subscribers followed by Germany, 11.2 million and France with about 8.7 million. In recent times, France has recorded the fastest ever technology adoption by users, with about 2 million DTT households one year after its launch. While BSkyB is the most profitable platform in the world for interactive services (660 million Euros in 2005) and UK is the country that has generated the highest revenues from interactivity yet.

The study reveals that with the analog switch-off planned by national governments by around 2010, UK will perhaps emerge as the only country with the near objective with 69 per cent of digital homes, which means 125 million households in western Europe will have digital TV.

With the standalone and enhanced TV services offered by ITV, consumers are already benefiting with the use of interactive services via TV like messaging, video conferencing, on demand extension of linear advertising breaks, betting live on broadcast sports and participating in quiz shows live apart from using utilities like bank services and shopping. The study says that there are more than 150 interactive services available in the UK. While advertisers are benefiting through well-executed interactive advertisements that can deliver benefits for brands.

So, what are the business models that are driving the European digital market.

“Premium calls (calls via the return path line of the set top box are charged a premium rate)
” Subscription (users contract a monthly subscription to services)
” advertisement and sponsorship
” Indirect profitability (the service cost is entirely supported by the operator)

In the UK, with more than 8 million set top boxes at the beginning of 2006, BSkyB records an average annual revenue per user of 33 Euros for its interactive services with a long term objective of 70 euros. With the growing number of digital TV homes, this is bound to go up by leaps and bounds

June 21, 2006