Tag: Genichi Hashimoto

  • AOL, Charter Communications ink broadband marketing partnership

    AOL, Charter Communications ink broadband marketing partnership

    MUMBAI: Reinforcing its commitment to the global HDTV industry, the Banff World Television Festival in Canada has joined forces with NHK, Japans public broadcaster, to offer up the NHK Presidents Prize for the sixth consecutive year.

    NHK will sponsor the special award, which includes a $25,000 cash prize for the best HDTV programme.

    All HD programmes entered into the 2006 Banff World Television Awards will be eligible for nomination. The winner will be announced at the 2006 Banff World Television Awards ceremony during The 27th Banff World Television Festival, from 11 to14 June 2006.

    Banff World Television Festival CEO Robert Montgomery says, As a public broadcaster, NHK is also a leader in advanced HD technology, which is an incredibly important focus for us. We are delighted at the opportunity to work with NHK again in recognizing HDs true visionaries.

    NHK president Genichi Hashimoto says, “NHK always has a keen eye on the potential of new broadcasting technologies, so we’re delighted to encourage producers and directors who are leading the way in HDTV production. Given the increasing global dominance of HDTV and the Banff World Television Awards’ commitment to recognizing excellence, we look forward to seeing outstanding HD work in the competition”.

    The Banff World Television Awards include 18 categories covering the major program genres andnew this yeara category recognising excellence in interactive television. A Banff Rockie will be awarded to the best entry in each of the 18 categories. Entry forms and the detailed regulations for the 2006 Banff World Television Awards international program competition are available at www.banMUMBAI: AOL and Charter Communications, Inc have inked a partnership to offer consumers the AOL service and Charter’s high-speed internet access.

    The combined offer provides AOL members access to the AOL service’s leading security features and exclusive content via Charter’s true high-speed Internet connection at the price of $25.90 per month.

    Beginning on 6 February, AOL members in the Charter footprint will be able to sign-up for the new combined offering, as well as order a cable modem, making it simple and convenient to upgrade from dial up.

    “With the addition of Charter to AOL’s coast-to-coast broadband network, we’re expanding our footprint so that more AOL members around the country are able to take advantage of a competitively-priced high-speed offering. We’re happy to add this major new cable partner to our network of Internet providers as we are entering this new phase for our company,” said AOL Access Business president Joe Redling.

    Charter executive vice president and chief marketing officer Bob Quigley said, “Through this innovative marketing partnership, we’re targeting new high-speed customers and expanding our customer base. Our robust high-speed product makes all aspects of the Internet experience better, and together with AOL’s popular online service, provides a very compelling offer.”

    Key features of the new offering will include:

    Speed: The high speed of broadband makes all aspects of the Internet experience more valuable.
    Fast and Easy Setup: Makes getting up and running quick and easy.
    Customer Service: Help that’s available 24/7, including help via phone, e-mail or instant message.
    Safety: A comprehensive set of safety and security tools available to keep users safer against viruses, spyware, identify theft, and other online threats for no additional charge.
    Content: AOL exclusive and original programming including commercial free radio, streaming video and additional Charter content offerings through charter.net.
    Storage: Additional benefits like unlimited email and picture storage on AOL.
    ff2006.com.

  • CCTV honours AsiaPac broadcasters with ‘ABU prizes awards’

    CCTV honours AsiaPac broadcasters with ‘ABU prizes awards’

    MUMBAI: The annual Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) prizes awards ceremony, hosted by China Central Television (CCTV-China) has presented awards to broadcasters in the Asia-Pacific region in recognition of programming and broadcast engineering excellence.

    The awards were presented by , Radio Film and Television of the People’s Republic of China vice-minister state administration Tian Jin, ABU president Genichi Hashimoto, CCTV president Zhao Huayong, China National Radio president Yang Bo, China Radio international president Wang Gengnian and CCTV vice-president Hu En.

    211 entries were received for the annual award’s radio and TV categories. There were 147 entries for the TV categories, and 64 for radio.

    TV categories included drama, entertainment, children, youth, news, documentary, and sports. Additionally, a special jury prize was also kept for programmes targeting broadcasters from less developed countries which showed creativity despite the limited resources available.

    Categories for radio were drama, infotainment, children and youth, news, documentary, external broadcasts, and the special jury prize.

    “We are most delighted with the quality of entries this year. The interest in the radio programme category has increased over the past year and in particular, there was serious competition for the TV documentary category,” said ABU director of programmes Tatsuya Nakamura.

    ABU Prize for sports programmes chairperson Remesh Kumar added, “It was nice to see a whole range of broadcasters and producers from a variety of nationalities submitting their work. There was also a spectrum of presentations relating to sports from live productions, to studio presentations to documentaries.”

  • ABU slams changes in Beijing 2008 Olympics schedule

    ABU slams changes in Beijing 2008 Olympics schedule

    MUMBAI: The Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) has added its weight to the rising chorus of protests against the recent rescheduling of key events for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

    IOC’s decision, announced last week, to reschedule the swimming and gymnastics finals to the morning, Beijing time, instead of holding them in the evening as is traditional, is seen as being a result of the pressure exerted by the powerful “US lobby”. Television network NBC, which paid $3.55 billion for the US telecast rights for the Olympics, wants to ensure that these events are seen at prime-time in North America.

    ABU President Genichi Hashimoto made the protest call at a news conference in Beijing yesterday on the eve of the ABU’s annual General Assembly.

    “We are very disappointed and strongly regret the changes that have been made to the time schedule for swimming and gymnastics,” said Hashimoto, who is also president of Japan’s public broadcaster NHK.

    “The Olympic Games is a highly-anticipated event which everyone all over the world is looking forward to watching. We have to give serious consideration to this matter so that such a regrettable incident will never happen again in the future,” added Hashimoto.

    Les Murray, ABU Sports Group chairman and editorial supervisor for SBS Sports, Australia, said the majority of the press has described this “as the worst decision by the International Olympic Committee in recent memory and one that is obviously designed to only benefit the giant US television network NBC.”

    The move could cost Asian broadcasters millions of dollars in lost ad revenue, said ABU’s head of Sports John Barton.

    “We want the Olympic family to be strong. We want to see a true partnership of equals regardless of commercial muscle,” ABU secretary-general David Astley said in a speech to the sports group meeting that preceded the general assembly.

    How the IOC responds to the ABU’s protests, which follow those made earlier by the European Broadcasting Union, will be watched closely. Asian broadcasters, which include the host of the 2008 Games, would likely have a more telling influence in the matter.