Digital Broadcasters | Asia | Voom HD 170 hrs in Program Sales

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News notices that the success of 170 hours of program sales in high definition (HDTV)across Asia in the past 12 months from Rainbow Media, a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corporation (NYSE: CVC) indicates the strength and and growth of output in the HD format.

New York based VOOM HD Networks is the largest bouquet of 15 high definition TV channels distributed in the United States through satellite and cable operators. Programming genres include sports, movies, fashion, music and art.

London based, iD Distribution handles the sales effort of high- definition (HD) programming output from Rainbow Media’s VOOM HD TV channels outside the United States.

Simon Nichols, iD Distribution's Sales Executive, attending the Asia Television Forum (Singapore, November 29 - December 1) said Rainbow's broad spectrum of programming, both in its HD catalog and through its general entertainment and informational content are in sync with global demand.

Among the Asian-based digital broadcasters licensing Rainbow's VOOM HD Networks' HDTV programming include:

* China's CCTV HD for 10 hours, including 15 half-hour episodes of 'Reservations Required' (15x30') and five half-hour episodes of Ultra Space.

* Hong Kong's ATV - 'Gallery Tours' and 'Magnificent Obsessions'.

* TVB Hong Kong - 'Reservations Required' and 'Ultra Space'.

* Korea’s OnMedia - 'Reservations Required'.

* Korea's CJ Media - 'Full Frontal Fashion Miami' and a one-hour special entitled 'Swim Suits Secrets Revealed' .

* Thailand's UBC - 'Reservations Required', 'Ultra Space', 'Gallery Tours', 'Art In Unexpected Places' and 'Magnificent Obsessions'.

* Discovery India - 'Full Frontal Fashion London', 'Full Frontal Fashion New York', 'Full Frontal Fashion Milan' and 'Full Frontal Fashion Paris'.

* Discovery Asia - 'Ultra Eye'.

* Singapore’s Media Corp HD - 'Reservations Required' and 'Ultra Space'.

* Singapore's MediaCorp News - 'Behind the Label'.

* Singapore Air - 'Behind the Label' and 'Reservations Required' to entertain its travelers.

* Fox Japan - picked up nearly 40 hours of programming, including 'Full Frontal Fashion London', 'Full Frontal Fashion Milan', 'Full Frontal Fashion Paris', 'Party Flash', 'Beauty Minute Makeover', 'Yoga', 'Style Pulse', 'Where D’ya Get That', 'Reservations Required' and 'Behind The Label'.

Digital Content | Dubai | Media Gateway Appointed by SJU-TV

Digital Broadcasters Vendors News has been informed by Dubai, UAE based, the Media Gateway,an international content/program clearing house for premium content,that it has been appointed by Show Jumping Unplugged! TV to distribute equestrian sports events programs on a worldwide basis outside of the United States.

Show Jumping Unplugged (SJU-TV) produces equestrian program output from its base in California. The deal will enable Media Gateway to provide on-demand TV content/ programming services to mobile telecoms operators, broadband companies, and Internet service providers (“ISPs”) throughout international markets outside the United States. Show jumping is a member of a family of English-discipline equestrian events that includes dressage, eventing, hunters and equitation.

Media Gateway CEO Karri Zaremba said that show jumping enjoys enormous popularity around the world, particularly in Europe and North America.

Paul Petersen, President of Equestrian Sports Media International, the sole owner and producer of SJU-TV, said that in the United States there are about 8 million horses and 27 million riders, and show- jumping has seen an incredible increase in popularity in the US. It is the one true sport where men and women compete equally.

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News based itself in Hong Kong reminds you that the Hong Kong SAR will host the 2008 Summer Olympics Equestrian events, based on practical reasons.

Digital Broadcasters | India | Broadcast India 2006 Features Cisco Systems

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News reminds you that the 16th Broadcast India 2006 Exhibition and Symposium starts October 26 and runs until October 28 aat the World Trade Centre, Mumbai.

The organisors say that more than 400 digital vendors and software companies from 31 countries are showcasing their latest products and services in digital Broadcast, Television, Audio, Radio, Film, Computer Graphics, Satellite, Special Effects and Multimedia.

Industry focus is on IPTV, Mobile TV, Digital Cinema and High Definition (HDTV).

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ NM:CSCO), not known as a mainstream television broadcast industry vendor until the buy out of Scientific Atlanta in November 2005 sponsored Broadcast India's 2006 Symposium that concluded today. The keynote speaker was Dan Scheinman, senior VP for corporate development, Cisco Systems.

Digital Broadcasters | Middle East | JumpTV Adds MBC Group to Arabic Program Line Up

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News can report that JumpTV Inc. (AIM: JTV) (TSX: JTV) the streaming-over-the-Internet broadcaster has signed with Dubai-based MBC Group to broadcast MBC1, the pan-Arab general entertainment channel, and Al Arabiya News Channel, as part of JumpTV's All-Arab programming package. JumpTV also has the rights to stream MBC's flagship radio stations, MBC FM and Panorama.

The deal calls for co-branding of the project and has launched from MBC Group's popular website, mbc.net as well as, alarabiya.net, one of the top portals in the Middle East region with more than one million page views per day.

The agreement with MBC Group, the largest broadcasting company in the Middle East, to broadcast its top-rated television and radio channels represents a very important step forward in JumpTV's Middle Eastern and Northern African business (MENA). MBC's programming appeals to a wide-range of Arabic cultures and has a viewership that has grown to more than 130 million Arabic speaking people worldwide with a market share that exceeds 40% in the Middle East.

Amir Hegazi, general manager of JumpTV's MENA group, commented that by adding the MBC Group as a partner further expands JumpTV's diverse library of exclusive Arab content to 40 channels -the largest amount of Arabic content outside of the Middle East.

Kaleil Isaza CEO, JumpTV International commented that the deal provides a much longer tail for MBC's Arabic news and entertainment than that of the traditional broadcast mediums.

MBC1 and Al Arabiya were signed subsequent to the Company's June 30, 2006 quarter end disclosure. JumpTV now has 227 channels under license.

MBC1 is a pan-Arab news and entertainment television channel, with an estimated audience of more than 130 million Arabic-speaking people around the world.

JumpTV says it is the world's leading subscription-based digital broadcaster of ethnic television over the Internet.

Digital Broadcasters | India | TV Today Reveals Healthy Financials

Digital Broadcasters Vendors News has learned that TV Today Network Limited (BSE:532515,NSE:TVTODAY,Bloomberg:TVTN@IN,TVTO.BO) revealed on October 23 that it earned a profit of 32.8 million Indian Rupees in the Sep 06 quarter, up from Rs 23.7 million in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal period. This represents a growth of 38.39% over the corresponding quarter.

The sales grew to Rs 381.2 million in the quarter compared with Rs 314.5 million in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. The total income of the company stood at Rs 418.6 million in the quarter, compared with Rs 340.7 million in the corresponding quarter last year.

Recently, Templeton Mutual Fund sold 930,000 shares of TV Today Network at Rs 75.02 per share.

Summed up in simple terms, Digital Broadcasters Vendor News believes that T V Today Network Limited (TVTN), part of the India Today Group, is in a very healthy financial position. The Group is regarded as one of India`s leading media companies with interests in television, radio, print, publishing, music distribution and the Internet.

Digital Broadcasters | China | Bonanza Expected from DTH Policy Change

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News notes that China is making a significant change in satellite TV broadcasting policy.

Xinhua News Agency is reporting that the PRC's first DTH (direct-to- home) satellite, SinoSat-2 will launch on October 29 from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province.

The wholly-Chinese, SinoSat-2 transponders will offer digital quality, radio, digital films, 'direct TV' and digital broadband.

Here is where the Xinhua statement gets interesting: "The satellite will enable every farming household to receive TV signals using a small dish, thereby bringing educational programs and even remote medical services to farmers, Sun Laiyan, chief of the China National Space Administration, said earlier this month."

This would indicate that the banning of direct satellite TV reception by individuals and work units under the 1993 law known as Decree 129 will need amending. The Decree's original intent was to ban residents viewing foreign TV programs.

A quick straw poll among industry specialists suggest that up to 100 million households could install dishes between now and and 2010 expanding the current national set count from the present 400 million.

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News suggests that the result would be nothing less than a business bonanza for the broadcast industry, not just a boom for the electronics sector.

Digital Vendor | Video Tripod | Sachtler Spares needed

Calling digital broadcast vendor, Sachtler ... video tripods ......

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News saw this plea for help for Video Tripod support.

"Does anyone know of a source for spare parts for the Sachtler DV4II fuid head?

If anyone can help this poor guy who is in need of Video Tripod stuff, please go to the link below. You'll need to click and copy into your browser as the link is too long.

http://groups.google.com/group/alt.video.equipment.broadcast/ browse_thread/thread/eb4838c27140f165 .

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News little quote of its own for the day: "A friend in need is a friend in deed"

Digital Broadcasters | India | Radio One Coming To Chennai with Frequency Hiccups

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News has been following the progress of the roll out of the Government's Phase II, FM radio stations in India. The latest development is for Radio One, the Mid-Day Multimedia and BBC Worldwide venture to open its Chennai broadcast station in a few weeks time.

Radio One has already started its FM station transmissions in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. After Chennai, more digitally-equipped, broadcasts will start in Ahmedabad, Kolkata and Pune bringing the total grouping to seven FM stations. All expected before March 2007.

L V Navaneeth has been appointed as Station Head, Radio One Chennai. He moves from being GM, Marketing The Hindu publication. John Vijay has been hired as Content/Programming Head.

Meanwhile, in Delhi, Mid-Day Multimedia is challenging the decision of TDSAT (Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal) to withdraw Radio One's well known frequency 92.5 FM and awarding it to a new entrant, "Radio Big" that is owned by "Adlabs", a company in the "Anil Ambani Group".

TDSAT had given Mid-Day Multimedia Radio One the frequency 92.3 instead, in a re-alignment of FM frequencies among radio groups.

Radio One is appealing this decision contending the allocation of new frequency 94.3 was not fair as it had become a brand in Mumbai, saying that while allocating the unified frequency of 94.3 to Radio Mid Day to operate in six cities including Mumbai.

Mid-Day Multimedia asserts that the withdrawal of 92.5 FM, a frequency synonymous and identifiable with Radio One was the same as Radio Mirchi being recognised by 98.3 FM in Delhi.

The TDSAT contends that: "FM channels identity means: 'brand name of an FM station' as approved by licensor (the Government) for that particular channel." Meaning the government contends identity is not known by the allocated frequency but the names coined by a station to promote itself.

That definition goes against the grain for almost any FM commercial radio station in the world. Again, this IS INDIA!

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News understands the Delhi court decision is still pending.

Digital Vendors | Thailand | New Scopus Bangkok Office Opened

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News has been informed by Scopus Video Networks (NASDAQ:SCOP), the Israel - based provider of digital video networking products that it has opened a new support and sales center in Bangkok, Thailand.

The Bangkok office of Scopus will serve the region that includes Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand. The head of the operation is Thai national, Puvanai Deekhum.

Scopus says the new office is part of its expansion to better serve to deploy and service digital networking solutions in Southeast Asia and Oceania.

Scopus told Digital Broadcasters Vendor News that the Asian markets are burgeoning for its line of products and services.

Digital Broadcasters | Pacific Radio | Historical archive of American Armed Forces Radio

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News recently covered the passing of the original 'Tokyo Rose' broadcaster who wooed Allied servicemen in the Pacific arena on Radio Japan with dulcit tones and seductive on-air presentation.

A fact not too well known is that is was the success of enemy propaganda radio broadcasts during World War II that led to the formation of American Armed Forces Radio (AFRS) in the Pacific. In the beginning it was known as the AFRS Jungle Network.

An associate website of Digital Broadcasters Vendor News is http:// www.radioheritage.net based in New Zealand which has just posted fascinating facts about the early days of the AFRS Jungle Network and other captivating radio titbits on their site.

There you can see a pin up photo of GI Jill, the answer to "Tokyo Rose", as well as the most detailed list ever assembled of some 50 AFRS radio stations in the broadcast network.

From WVTA Aitape 'Voice of the New Guinea Area', WVTK Leyte 'The Voice of Leyte' (Philippines) to WVTB Nadzab 'The Pioneer Radio Voice of New Guinea', and stations all over the Southwest Pacific, Dutch East Indies and the Philippines.

Today's digital broadcast vendors with turnkey set ups for studios and transmitters will find it fascinating reading: how a typical station was set up then, the programs; the playlists, and how they operated in torrid tropical conditions.

AFRS first, then the "Far East Network" (FEN Japan) later emerged out of the AFRS Jungle Network in 1945.

And exclusively at www.radioheritage.net you can now read 'Jungle Network News', the original 1944 newsletter issued by Jungle Network HQ in Hollandia. Staff movements, the Weekly News Review and orientation programs for the invasion of the Philippines are just some of the highlights. Go for a good read on broadcasting history in Asia-Pacific!

Digital Broadcasters | Jordan | Yarmouk FM 105.7 Community Radio Starts

It is not often that Digital Broadcasters Vendor News hears reports of a new radio station starting in Jordan.

But that is what has just happened.

According to the Jordanian News Agency, Petra, Yarmouk FM, is a community (campus) radio station established at the Yarmouk University, Jordan's second largest campus.

Yarmouk FM has been supported to get ready to go on-air by Western Kentucky University of the United States and Internews network.

Yarmouk FM 105.7 transmits daily from 1100hrs until 0100hrs the next morning.

Director of the Station, Ahmad Al Shboul said the establishment of the station will be a catalyst for the university's ambitions to graduate qualified broadcasters and technicians from the university's Journalism and Mass Communications Department.

Shboul added the Yarmouk FM programming would cover issues of concern to the local community in the economic, scientific, sports and youth fields in Jordan's northern governorates served by the transmitter.

Digital Broadcasters | Australia | UHF Channel 27 Re-Aligned

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News has been advised by the Australian Communications and Media Authority that the frequency spectrum in the 518-520 MHz band has been blocked and reserved for the re-planning of UHF Channel 27, to be allocated 520-526 MHz.

The move is to bring Channel 27 in line with all other channels to have a 7 MHz bandwidth, currently it only has 6 MHz.

The frequency range 518-520 MHz is currently used for the land mobile service (two frequency, 25 kHz channelling) and for the land mobile and fixed services (single frequency, 25 kHz channelling).

Expressed another way, Channel 27 is immediately adjacent to land mobile services below 520 MHz and to UHF television channel 28 above 526 MHz.

Channel 28 currently carries SBS-TV analog television in many areas.

The ACMA has informed Digital Broadcasters Vendor News that on present indications, channel 27 is unlikely to be available for mobile television for several years. Nor can ACMA rule out other applications for the channel emerging in the interim.

http://www.acma.gov.au

Digital Broadcasters | Korea | Munhwa TV Criticised, Issues Apology

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News simply cannot believe what can happen on South Korea TV!

In Seoul, a live "Chuseok" Harvest Moon holiday TV special on October 5, produced by digital broadcaster, Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation, (Munhwa-MBC) saw a comedienne take many boxing punches from male hosts of the TV show.

The end result of "live, on-air" a bloodied female, fainting is not funny.

The Korean TV audience watching also agreed and let it be known to the broadcasting authorities.

As a result, Munhwa TV has apologised.

This is not the first time that Korean TV networks have been heavily criticised for handling dangerous on-screen action to gain TV audience share of the ratings.

In 1999, Korean actor, Kim Sung-chan died after being infected with malaria during a show in Laos.

In 2005, Korean radio actor, Jang Jung-jin choked to death on a piece of rice cake while recording a TV entertainment show that included a rice cake eating game.

Also in 2005, female comedian, Chung Jung-ah was bitten by an Anaconda snake while shooting a show for Korean Broadcasting System (KBS TV). It is reported that she was forced to finish filming without treating her wound.

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News believes that while it is important to reign in TV directors and producers that push the limits of acceptability in TV viewing, it will be the audience that will let the networks know what is not liked. Advertisers do not like that, no matter how high the TV ratings.

Munhwa Broadcasting is Korea's second largest terrestrial television network.

Digital Broadcasters | Australia | Aboriginal Radio Licence Revoked

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News has learned that in Perth, Western Australia, a local Aboriginal group is fighting the broadcast regulatory authority, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) over the loss of their community radio station licence.

Iva Hayward Jackson, the chairman of the Western Australian Aboriginal Media Association Aboriginal Corporation (WAAMA) is refusing to give back the station's licence for 6AR Perth, 100.9FM that the ACMA has cancelled.

The saga started when in May the ACMA received several complaints from listeners that Radio Station 6AR was not "Aboriginal" enough. The authority investigated and issued tougher compliance regulations to the broadcaster.

6AR has not broadcast since September 1.

‘ACMA’s decision to cancel the licence is not one that has been taken lightly,’ said Chris Chapman, ACMA Chairman. ‘We had worked very hard with WAAMA to ensure it reflected the listening needs of Perth’s indigenous population. This included our imposing additional licence conditions.’

Nothing more has been heard from Mr Jackson.

The licence has not been surrendered.

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News suggests that ACMA goes on "walkabout"**.

Whatever the reasons for the licence revocation, this is not the way to handle the situation otherwise it will look like the mainly - Caucasian administration is not understanding the ways of the Aboriginals, the indigenous Australians.

Interesting to note that a Sydney court has recently ruled that Australian Aborigines do have some rights to ownership to chunks of that city.

**My understanding is that "Walkabout" is what Aborigines do. They go into the Bush, to confer with the spiritual world - their ancestors. It is a state of mind.

http://www.acma.gov.au

Digital Broadcasters | Israel | Orad TV Discloses High Profile U.S. Sales

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News is alerted that Orad Hi-Tec Systems (LSE:OHT) of Israel in an unusual move in the price sensitive digital TV equipment market has disclosed income directly related to recent sales.

Orad said in a news release of October 5, that it had income of more than USD750,000 for sales in the past quarter from four United States high profile customers.

Three of the four named are: the Center for Disease Control (Atlanta), St. Petersburg College National Terrorism Preparedness Institute (Florida) and the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (Washington).

Orad said it has further established itself as a leading force in the US virtual production market with the 4 major sales to established broadcasting centers and governmental organisations. The HD systems from Orad TV, enable better photorealism and inexpensive production environments.

Prior to purchasing Orad´s virtual studio solutions, all four TV canter, had produced only in conventional studios. Orad´s virtual studio solutions enable them to produce in HD and SD, quickly, captivating programs in real-time.

After carefully evaluation all possible solutions, Orad´s virtual studio solutions were chosen having been regarded as the best in the virtual production market, thanks to their state-of-the-art SD/HD HDVG rendering platform, precise camera tracking technologies, and 3Designer real-time 2D/3D graphics and animations authoring software.

Avi Sharir is CEO and President of Orad, founded in 1993.

Digital Vendor, Orad says it is a world leader in TV production technology and is rapidly increasing its position in the digital "Virtual Reality" industry. Orad’s lines of products include virtual sets, on-air graphics systems, virtual advertising, sports production solutions and hardware for the Virtual Reality industry.

* http://www.orad.tv ; * http://www.cdc.gov ; * http://terrorism.spcollege.edu/ ; * http://www.va.gov

Digital Broadband | Vietnam | Ntegrator Supplies Viettel "IP DSLAM"

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News has been contacted by Singapore- based, Ntegrator International Ltd. (“Ntegrator”), about a deal it has in Vietnam. Ntegrator is a leading regional communications network specialist and systems integrator has secured this, a third contract worth SGD3.12 million (SGD1.588 = USD1.00) from Viettel Corporation to provide broadband access solutions in the country.

Viettel is the second biggest fixed line, ISP and cellular operator in Vietnam.

Under this third contract, Ntegrator will provide Viettel with an Internet protocol digital subscriber line access multiplexer (“IP DSLAM”) infrastructure solution, complete with a network management system.

Earlier, Ntegrator secured two contracts worth SGD4.7 million to provide network infrastructure solutions to Viettel including the provision of an optical backbone from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City to be completed in early November. It will support up to 40 TV Channels, each capable of carrying a transmission bit rate of 2.5 Gbps of traffic.

Ntegrator’s operations cover Singapore, Vietnam, Myanmar, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand.

Digital Broadcasters | Taiwan IPTV | "@TV" Launches with 3,000 Subscribers

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News has learnt from the DigiTimes.com web site in Taiwan that the interactive IPTV (Internet Protocol TV) platform "@TV" owned and operated by TDMC (Taiwan Digital Media Center) Technology, has launched its 100 TV channel package.

The interactive IPTV service operates through ADSL networks.

Tatung technology drives "@TV" and Tatung set-top boxes are used by @TV subscribers.

TDMC is contracted with Singapore-based "ANYTIME", Asia's largest video-on-demand (VoD) channel, as the source of movies from Hollywood producers, Fox, Sony, Warner and Universal.

Digitimes.com reported that "@TV" currently has about 3,000 IPTV subscribers and aims to have 5,000 by the end of this year and 60,000 by the end of 2007.

Digital Broadcasters | New Zealand | Government Gouged TVNZ Profit

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News thought that this little digital broadcasting snippet from New Zealand would give an insight into the supposedly squeeky clean image of New Zealand politics.

The references to digital broadcaster, Television New Zealand below are taken from the latest Weekly Report from Murray McCully, Member of Parliament for East Coast Bays constituency.

Television New Zealand while autonomous under "Royal Charter" has, as its main shareholder, the New Zealand Government which has unveiled plans for the introduction of digital terrestrial television broadcasting. Read on....

"The TVNZ Supplicants"

Mr McCully wrote: "The Television New Zealand annual report received scant coverage in the nation’s media last week. Which was remarkable when the report disclosed for the first time that TVNZ’s owners had gouged a NZD70 million (USD46m) special dividend out of the company. And most of it was in borrowed cash.

In earlier times such a revelation would have led to all manner of insinuations; rampant commercialism and asset-stripping, no less. But this Government, of course, promised a TVNZ charter. Complete with charter funding. So just what is going on here?

TVNZ has already announced plans to go digital. Plans are due to go before the Cabinet within weeks. Some tens of millions of dollars have been requested to fund the venture. So the Government has just raided the TVNZ coffers to the extent of NZD70 million. And rumour suggests that another cash grab yet is still on the agenda. The vast bulk to be funded out of borrowings.

The (New Zealand)state broadcaster is now required, in effect, to beg for some of the borrowed cash back in order to fund its technology development. And nervous managers are fretting that any offence taken by Clark and Co (Prime Minister Helen Clark and team) might lead to the requested funding being denied.

Our state broadcaster has been reduced to the position of a "supplicant", begging the Government for the cash it surely needs to undertake its programmed development. After, of course, it has been forced into debt to meet its owner’s demands. A situation that will bear the closest of watching, to be sure."

http://www.mccully.co.nz - 6 October 2006

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News says: "If the Hon. MP has got it all correct, we suggest that TVNZ in its massive digital broadcast equipment purchasing requirements will need to exert huge pressure on vendors to offer lengthy settlement periods for invoices."

OOPs are we too treading on sensitive ground?

Digital Broadcasters | Afghanistan | U.S. "Psych-ops Radio" Woos Taliban

It's not exactly a community radio station, but...

In this case radio broadcasting to the combattants on the other side.

It is called "Psych-ops" - psychological operations.

Thanks to friends at Cr-afghan@comunica.org, they forwarded Digital Broadcasters Vendor News a news story from the Christian Science Monitor how a US-sponsored radio station endears itself to Afghans by broadcasting the "truth" – along with a few good musical hits.

The aim of the Pashto language radio station is to help win support by publicizing the United States Army's local development projects. The programming is diverse: Daily progress reports on US-funded projects; the death tolls of insurgents and US soldiers alike; and a mix of popular music that brings in 40 tune request letters a day from local villages.

But the need for credibility with the radio audience has led to an unlikely departure for the military.

"I want the car bomb effect," says Lt. Col. Michael Howard, commander of the 3-71 Cavalry, describing his first rule for the radio. "As when a car bomb goes off in Iraq, and everyone knows about it, I want everyone in Nuristan to know that we really are building a road, a water pipeline."

Original story is at: http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1004/p06s02-wosc.html?s=hns

Digital Broadcasters | Australia | Sydney DRM Trial on 1701kHz

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News Alert!

The owner of narrowcasting/community broadcast licence, Heart N Soul Productions Pty. Ltd. have received a Scientific Licence for the purposes of conducting a "Digital Radio Mondiale" (DRM) trial run in the area of Sydney, NSW it serves.

The temporary frequency being used is 1701kHz.

The trials will enable Heart N Soul's radio 2ME AM 1638 to begin digital radio transmissions later.

Digital Broadcasters | Singapore | Campus Radio

We at Digital Broadcasters Vendor News are following up on our story on Radio Australia as a DAB service being re-broadcast on Rediffusion Singapore.

In another development, Radio Australia has also equipped and set up a live broadcast studio facility on campus of the Australian International School in Singapore (AISS) as part of Radio Australia's 'Airducation Broadcasting Channel'.

The object of the "Airducation" project is to enable students to learn broadcast skills and broadcast live in digital audio over an education radio channel provided by Rediffusion Singapore.

Head of Radio Australia, Jean-Gabriel Manguy, said that his organisation believes that the availability of Radio Australia will foster greater mutual understanding between Singapore and Australia and significantly enhance the quality and depth of radio programming on offer to Singapore and to Australian expatriate audiences.

“We believe RA's presence will also further strengthen links between Singaporeans and Australians at a cultural and educational level. After all, there is already so much going on between both countries.”

Does anyone know if Singapore's university campuses have campus (community) radio?

Digital Broadcasters | Russia | DTV Trials Near Start Date

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News picked up this gem from the http:// www.rosbalt.ru web site.

Russia's conversion from analog to digital TV terrestrial broadcasting is about to start in the Russian Federation's third largest city, Nizhni Novgorod.

The Russian Federation Government has organized an interagency task force to work out the project conducted for development of a standard DVB System in Russia.

Rosbalt.ru says that it will take ten years for a complete migration from analog TV broadcasting to full digital television.

In the meantime, both analog and digital TV broadcasts will run in parallel.

The Nizhni Novgorod administrative region has been chosen for digital TV trials in the conversion from analog television to digital video broadcasting. The city of 1.5 million inhabitants lies Southeast of Moscow.

The head of the RF government office, Sergey Naryshkin acknowledged this fact in the Duma (Russian Parliament).

The Nizhni Novgorod administration intends to set aside some 1 billion Russian Roubles (USD 38 million) for the digital TV development project planned for 2007 which is being led by the "Federal State Unitary Enterprise".

Background to Nizhni Novgorod. Apparently, unlike Moscow and St. Petersburg, with their large numbers of Westerners, the Nizhni Novgorod city through its web site says its traditional way of life offers insights into Russia's heartland. In previous centuries, Nizhni Novgorod was a commercial hub, located at the strategic confluence of the Oka and Volga rivers. Today it is the "test site" for democratic reform and free market initiatives. If transition to a peaceful, democratic future is to occur in Russia, Nizhni Novgorod will be the pacesetter - that is what the city fathers say!

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News knows Nizhni Novgorod as the city where Andrei Sakharov was exiled - an image that the city fathers are trying to dust off.

Digital Broadcasters | Singapore DAB | Radio Australia on Rediffusion

Another reminder from Digital Broadcasters Vendor News.

Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) in Singapore is developing strongly with a fair selection of DAB digital audio receivers. In fact Singapore is one of the most advanced countries in the world implementing DAB.

A friend reminded me this week that it is fantastic to hear Radio Australia, the ABC’s international radio and online service on Singapore's digital DAB broadcaster, Rediffusion Singapore. The service just started in September.

The digital broadcasts follow approval from the Media Development Authority of Singapore for Radio Australia to broadcast 24/7 in English and 90 minutes per day in Mandarin on Rediffusion's digital platform.

For the statistics minded, the Refiffusion Singapore service is Radio Australia’s tenth re-broadcaster operation and another round the clock outlet across Asia-Pacific. Other terrestrial re-broadcast radio stations are in the cities of Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Port- Moresby, Dili, Honiara, Suva, Nadi, Port-Vila and Nuku’alofa.

Last June meanwhile, Radio Australia commissioned new digital shortwave transmitters in Brandon, Queensland, to complement its Pacific shortwave service and its growing network of 160 relays and rebroadcasting partners in 40 Asia Pacific countries as those mentioned above.

http://www.abc.net.au/ra/

Digital Broadcasters | Hong Kong | PCCW DVB-H Trial with Motorola

A reminder from Digital Broadcasters Vendor News that PCCW-HKT Telephone Limited, a subsidiary of Hong Kong's leading telecommunications provider, PCCW Limited (SEHK: 0008, NYSE ADR: PCW) has linked with Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT - News) to conduct a six- month DVB-H technical trial using Motorola's end-to-end Mobile TV system in Hong Kong.

The Digital Video Broadcasting - Handheld, DVB-H trial started last month and runs to March 2007 within Hong Kong's Quarry Bay district using Motorola DVB-H enabled mobile devices, network solutions and interactive services. platform. During the course of the trial, PCCW will evaluate the technical capabilities and the operational performance of DVB-H in Hong Kong.

Simon Leung, president of Motorola Asia Pacific said that based on Motorola DVB-H solutions the PCCW trial will become commercially available for Hong Kong subscribers.

Motorola says it is fully committed to delivering the ultimate mobile video entertainment experiences to consumers -- and part of that vision is in "Mobile TV" broadcasting.

http://www.pccw.com

Digital Broadcasters | India | Raghav Digitally Empowered Community Radio

A couple of months ago, Digital Broadcasters Vendor News covered the story of a young entrepreneur, Raghav Mahto, the 21-year-old who had his little community radio station, "FM Mansoorpur" in Bihar state, India shut down a few months ago.

Support poured in from around the world, but so far to no avail of transmitting again.

Well, Raghav has now received an award for his achievement.

The "Manthan-AIF Award" for community broadcasting has been given to Raghav by the "Digital Empowerment Foundation".

The foundation's director, Osama Manzar, said that Raghav was a hero in Indian community radio.

Raghav set up "FM Mansoorpur" in his electronics shop for fun. It quickly became a housewives' favourite radio station in villages within its 15 kilometre radius transmission area. But the state government closed the broadcaster down for operating without a license.

Raghav who could not study because of poverty. Undeterred but he made a livelihood through his electronics workshop and publicity from the radio station.

Ironically, it is the Bihar state government that is trying to help "FM Mansoorpur" get back on air in negotiations with New Delhi authorities.

Under the law, only educational institutions are allowed to run community (campus) radio stations within their campuses.

Watch this space, as they say, to see if Indian bureaucracy has a heart and is sensitive to local community needs and a truly remarkable and innovative local community broadcaster.

Digital Broadcasters | AsiaSat | Renews CBSat TV Channels on AsiaSat3S

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News has learned that Hong Kong - based, Asia Satellite Telecommunications Co Ltd (NYSE:SAT)(1135.HK)has renewed its agreement with China Broadcasting Film Television Satellite Co. Ltd. (CBSat) to lease C-band transponder capacity on the AsiaSat 3S satellite. The 3S footprint covers most of Asia.

The 3S transponder capacity is used for distributing 11 television digital channels from 11 provincial level Radio and Television Bureaux and Television Stations in China including Anhui Radio and Television Transmission-Relay; Fujian Media Group's South East Television Station; Radio, Film & Television Bureau of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region; Heilongjiang Television Station; Henan Television Station; Hubei Television Station; Radio & Television Bureau of Hunan Province; Jiangsu Broadcasting Corporation; Jiangxi Television Station, Radio & Television Bureau of Liaoning Province and Shaanxi Television Station.

CBSat is a wholly-owned company of the China's State Administration of Radio Film & Television (SARFT).

Under separate lease agreements, CBSat also leases AsiaSat 3S C-band capacity for satellite television and radio services of six other provinces and municipalities in China.

In an unrelated renewal, Cosmos Satellite TV Company Limited of Macau SAR of China renewed its C-band transponder lease on the AsiaSat 2 satellite to continue to distribute satellite television services across Asia and Australasia.

The capacity is currently delivering three Cosmos Satellite digital TV channels including the 'East Asia Channel', 'Lotus Satellite Channel' and 'Macau Asia TV Channel' that are all available free to air to viewers across AsiaSat 2's wide C-band coverage footprint.

Digital Broadcasters | Australia | CH31 Adelaide Trial

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News has learned from the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) that the Adelaide community television station issue is being reopened.

Previously in 2004 applications were invited for an operator on UHF Channel 31.Two TV organisations applied: "C31" and "OUR TV" Adelaide Limited applied for the licence. But the service never got off the ground and the authority decided not to go ahead for undisclosed reasons.

The ACMA is now re-opening the application process for a community TV license but this time it is open to groups interested in conducting a community television "trial" in the city of Adelaide and still on UHF TV channel 31.

Simplifying a complex situation, the ACMA wants a winning applicant to carry out a terrestrial TV transmissions and programming "trial" under temporary conditions for just six months.

The service would operate under the open narrowcasting television ‘class licence’ for community and educational non-profit purposes.

Applications may only be lodged by companies formed in Australia or an external Territory (including companies limited by guarantee and incorporated associations) by November 2.

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News suggests anyone interested to view the ACMA site.

< http://www.acma.gov.au/ACMAINTER:STANDARD::pc=PC_100834 >

Digital Broadcasters | Australia | New Digital Radio Interactive Tool Buzz

The launch of digital radio broadcasting in Australia in 2009, could well see digital radio stations following their counterparts in Britain to offer consumers to download music tracks from radio stations as they hear them played using new 3G mobile technology from Unique Interactive, a division of UK broadcasting and media conglomerate, UBC Media Group plc (LSE:UBC).

The recent United Kingdom trial in Birmingham offered listeners to Chrysalis Radio's 100.7 Heart digital service the chance to download tracks as they heard them on air.

Some one hundred listeners purchased an average of seven tracks per week at a price of £1.25 (equivalent to about AUD3.00 or USD2.35). Tracks were downloaded and purchased on impulse as the songs were broadcast. This triggered a high download rate of both classic tracks and new releases. The trial achieved an 83 per cent listener approval rating with the ability to download the music, appealing strongly to women listeners.

Joan Warner, CEO of industry body Commercial Radio Australia deemed the UK trial as "very successful and exciting development" (for Australian broadcasters and listeners).

Ms Warner noted that being able to download favourite tracks instantly is 'convenient' to radio listeners and could have a lot of appeal as radio station airtime is the first place people usually hear new music.

Matthew Honey, the MD of Digital vendor, Unique Interactive will be presenting the UK research findings to the industry at the Australian Radio Conference being held in Sydney on October 13.

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News understands that the UBC Media Group is expected to announce the full consumer launch of the unique 3G digital radio music download service in the UK later this year. < http://www.digitalradioaustralia.com.au >

Digital Broadcasters | Sri Lanka | Dialog Telekom Digital TV License

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News notes that "Dialog Telekom" has been awarded a broadcast "quadruple play" licence covering radio and television frequencies that will permit digital terrestrial broadcasting, direct to home or DTH and mobile television services. The report was made in Lankabusinessonline.

A unit of Telekom Malaysia, Dialog picked up the frequency by acquiring a 90 percent stake in Asset Media (Pvt) Ltd for 325 million Sri Lanka rupees.

Asset Media already owns TV production facilities; as well as a free- to-air and a pay tv license.

Ten months earlier, Dialog moved into the broadband market by taking control of a network operator, MTT. The company also has a CDMA (code division multiple access) license, which allows Dialog to offer fixed line telephone services using cheaper mobile technologies.

Dialog's CDMA operation, through its fully owned subsidiary – Dialog Broadband Networks – is due to start next January.

In August, Dialog became the first in South Asia to commercially launch third generation mobile services or 3G.

Dialog Telekom, dominates the Sri Lanka telecoms market with over 2.75 million subscribers, followed by Mobitel Lanka, Celltel Lanka Ltd and Hutchinson.

<http://www.lankabusinessonline.com>

Digital Broadcasters | China | CCTV6 Restores Old TV Shows with da Vinci

The China Movie Channel Group including CCTV6 based at China Central Television in Beijing, has recently installed da Vinci's Revival color image system to restore films and old TV shows to be upgraded for transmission over five standard definition (SD) TV channels and one HDTV channel reaching a potential 800 million viewers across China.

Wang Shaoqing, director of the technical department and senior engineer at the China Movie Channel operation explains some of the difficulties: "Many of our older film and television programs contain dirt, spots, scratches, flickering, and other defects which affects the viewing quality for our audience. "We felt it necessary to purchase a high-quality, comprehensive restoration system to meet our growing needs".

The China Movie Channel group, including CCTV6, transmits programming 24/7 hours across six different channels: "CHC Home Theatre," "CMC Chinese Movie Channel," "CMC Hong Kong Channel," "CMC Animation Movie Channel," and "CHC High Definition Movie Channel."

Peter Glassberg, VP, worldwide sales and service at da Vinci said that The China Movie Channel group will take advantage of all elements of revival, from heavy-duty restoration to digital remastering. Revival offers complete functionality, including deFlicker, dust, stain, dirt, grain, and noise removal. An automatic mode analyzes and processes images without operator assistance, while an interactive mode enables manual restoration of individual sequences, allowing operators to achieve high-quality results at optimized speed.

Digital Broadcasters | India | Doordarshan DTH Losing to Rivals

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News spotted in the Indian Financial Times newspaper a story about Doorarshan's free DTH venture, "Direct Plus".

Essentially the story suggested that at least 10 private channels will soon move off "Direct Plus" leaving just 23 channels of which 19 are DD’s own regional television channels.

The reason for the migration by the channels to other distribution methods was the demand by Doordarshan to charge an annual 'carriage' fee of Rs 1 crore (10 million Rupees) from private TV channels.

As a result, DD is struggling to add new subscribers to its DTH platform. Sources in the industry said DD Direct was able to add just 200-250 subscribers a day, against 2,000-3,500 new subscribers every day being added by private DTH channel packages from rivals, "Tata Sky" and "Dish TV" India.

DD Direct is currently being hosted on satellite NSS-6 and uses 5 transponders, each for an annual rent of Rs 5-6 crore (50-60 million Rupees). Analysts say the five transponders can show up to 80 channels, whereas DD Direct currently has 33 channels, a bulk of which are DD’s own.

DD Direct was launched in 2004 with a budget of Rs 165 crore (1.65 billion Rupees) allocated by India's Information and Broadcast Ministry.

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News questions whether the Doordarshan DTH service is fast becoming a white elephant.

Digital Broadcasters | Pakistan | Christian TV Broadcasts Planned

As earlier reported in Digital Broadcasters Vendor News, the Catholic Church in Pakistan is planning both a radio and television station.

The Archdiocese of Karachi has advanced plans for an Urdu version of its English language weekly, "The Christian Voice".

With plans for radio and TV broadcast facility under way, Father Arthur Charles, vicar general of the archdiocese and director of its Catechetical Centre, said the Christian TV station, the "Good News Channel", and an archdiocesan radio station, "FM 777" has gathered "a human resource pool" of more than 400 young Christians through various talent search programs. "What I am lacking at the moment are trained technical personnel in this field," he said, adding that he expects his plans to gain speed "soon".

<http://www.theindiancatholic.com/newsread.asp?nid=3712>

Digital Broadcasters | Singapore | ESPN STAR Sports Converts to Omneon

Digital broadcaster, ESPN STAR Sports (ESS) Singapore, in its move from a totally tape-based production environment to a fully server- based one has purchased an Omneon MediaGrid active storage system and Omneon Spectrum media server systems.

The project will serve the production and play out of all of ESPN STAR Sports 13 television sports networks across Asia Pacific distributed from its TV production center in Singapore.

The Omneon software is to serve as the core of a new production system capable of handling 2,000 hours of media at 50 MB/s. The storage and server implementation, which is being designed and supplied by U.K.-based systems integrator "TSL", will support a new file-based environment and a much more flexible and collaborative production workflow for the network’s live TV sports and sports news coverage.

The effect on ESPN STAR Sports production output will be to allow the network to establish far more rapid turnaround of sports content, enhancing on air production content and production values.

Tom McVeigh, Senior Vice President, Operations and Technology, at ESPN STAR Sports said that Omneon’s storage solutions are flexible, scalable, and future-proof systems which can be relied upon to deliver cost-effective storage for ESS's production environment.

McVeigh added that "MediaGrid" will integrate well with ESS's existing systems and with other new gear to enable a complete overhaul of production workflow at ESS's Singapore digital TV production center. "It is one of the more critical pieces in this puzzle, and it will play a key role in enabling us to achieve our overall project objectives,” he said.

The ESS tape-to-server project, has been dubbed “Home Run” by ESS.

“Home Run” will incorporate the Omneon MediaGrid system and four Omneon Spectrum media servers equipped with 50 I/O ports and linked directly to 25 Apple Creative Studio systems, equipped with Final Cut Pro nonlinear edit systems, to enable immediate edit-in-place capability at multiple workstations simultaneously. Within this collaborative workflow, production staff will not only gain faster access to media, but also gain the ability to view and work with other packages under production.

The Omneon - based storage system will be managed overall by an "OmniBus" OPUS News & Sports Logging system and deliver archive content to a new "Front Porch Digital" DIVArchive system.

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News understands that the initial system build and test of the overall production system at ESPN STAR Sports is scheduled for January 2007. No value for the Omneon deal was disclosed.

ESPNSTAR Sports networks comprise ESPN Asia, ESPN India, ESPN Taiwan, ESPN Singapore, ESPN Philippines, MBC-ESPN (Korea), ESPN Hong Kong, STAR Sports Hong Kong, Xing Kong Sports, STAR Sports India, STAR Sports Taiwan, STAR Sports S.E.A and STAR Sports Singapore. All feeds are customised to deliver premier sport yet tailor made to local TV audience preferences.

Digital Radio | Australian Youth Tuning in More to Overnight Radio

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News wonders why more than one in ten Australians are tuning in to commercial radio between midnight and dawn each week – and they’re younger and listening for longer than ever before. Those are the findings of the latest, annual Midnight to Dawn survey conducted by Nielsen Media for Commercial Radio Australia.

The fastest trend in audience growth is the 10 -17 age group. More than six per cent up on last year to nine per cent of total radio listeners today. On average, this age group listened to commercial radio for four and a half hours between midnight and dawn each week – over an hour longer than the average across all groups.

The next fastest trend is the 18-24 years group. One in five tune into commercial radio between midnight and dawn, for an average of almost three hours a week. That is 30 mins more than last year's survey showed.

Is Australia becoming the land of young insomniacs?

Commercial Radio Australia CEO, Joan Warner, said the notion that only the elderly and the lonely listened to radio between midnight and 5.30am was being turned on its head.

“This latest survey shows that radio has increased its relevancy to young people despite the presence of other media and technology such as the internet, iPods and interactive television,” Ms Warner said.

“This is good news for radio stations across Australia and reflects the general trend of young people listening more to radio and for longer periods of time,” Ms Warner said.

Ms Warner said analysis of the research shows that time spent listening for both age groups (10-17 years and 18-24 years) between midnight to dawn is at it highest level in three years.

The largest listening group between midnight and dawn remains the 55+ age group, with 522,000 people tuning in each week, accounting for 31 per cent of the audience. The next largest group of listeners in this timeslot is the 25-39 years old who account for 25 per cent of the audience and 422,000 people.

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News notes that the midnight to dawn shift attracts more than 1.7 million people per week with the average time spent listening of three hours and 22 minutes. Of those people listening to radio at this time 62 per cent listen at home, 20 per cent at work, 16 per cent in their car and two per cent elsewhere.

The Nielsen media survey did not answer the question of "why" more youngsters were listening to overnight radio other than by CRA saying it was more relevant. Could it be that youngsters were plain bored and couldn't sleep or worried or a host of other reasons? None the less, it is good news for the commercial radio broadcasters.

Digital Broadcasters | CASBAA 2006 | Speakers Confirmed

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News has received the confirmed speaker list for the CASBAA Convention 2006, Asia's foremost broadcast industry event, will take place in Hong Kong on October 24-27.

Branded: "From Bandwidth to Brandwidth", the Convention marks CASBAA's 15th anniversary.

It will highlight how increased bandwidth and the "new media" revolution are opening up new opportunities across the region.

Speakers Confirmed:

Michael Fries CEO of multi-national pay-TV operator Liberty Global;

Ho-Chen Tan Chairman of Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom;

Kip Meek Chief Policy Partner of trend-setting UK regulator OFCOM;

Ou Yangchanglin President of Hunan TV Station;

Irwin Gotlieb Global CEO of WPP media investment arm, GroupM;

Sofyan Djalil Minister of State for Information & Communications, Indonesia;

Mir Ibrahim Rahman CEO, Geo TV (Pakistan); Raghav Bahl CEO, TV18 (India);

Charlie Ergen Chairman & Founder of US DTH pioneer Echostar;

Randall Dark President, HD Vision Studios;

and

Tony Kata Director & GM of Service Strategy, J:COM (Japan).

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News will publish any changes as we receive them.

Digital Vendors | China | Telecom Appoints Acterna for Shanghai IPTV

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News has been notified that Shanghai China Telecommunications Corporation (part of China Telecom)(NYSE:CHA, 0728.HK) the incumbent telecommunications carrier for China has appoints JDSU - Acterna Test & Measurement Solutions to provide the installation, maintenance and monitoring of its IPTV services.

China Telecom purchased multiple units of JDSU’s HST-3000 IP Video test suite with ADSL2+ options and the JDSU QT-200 xDSL and Triple- Play Probe.

Both products were featured at the IPTV World Forum Asia 06 in Shanghai, September 27-29.

Digital Broadcasters | India FM Radio | FM94.3 Hits Delhi

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News has been notified that Radio One FM 94.3 owned by publicly-listed, Mid-Day Multimedia (BSE:532416) hit the airwaves on September 23 in New Delhi. Labelling itself, as a young, fun and local, the FM station offers ‘No 1 Hits’ Hindi film music as the staple program genre.

With all the right industry jargon, Rajesh Tahil, CEO, Radio One said “ Our value proposition is: ‘No. 1 Hits’ and nothing else but the hits.”

Radio One says that it researched over 3,000 songs to arrive at the playlist that it believes would work well with the Delhi audience. The Radio One research also suggests that Delhi is getting younger both demographically and in attitude. Accordingly, the station is young, vibrant and full of energy in its radio jockeys and its packaging.

In support of the ‘Hit pe Hit’ wall-to-wall Hindi film music playlist, Radio One is using BBC produced segments that cover the world of Indian entertainment, business and sports. “It’s a great advantage to have programming from the BBC. It gives us access to information and programming resources that offers us definite competitive benefit,” Tahil was quoted as saying in the Indian media.

Radio One FM 94.3 kicked off most recently in Bangalore from August 1 and the first FM radio station to offer a mix of Kannada and Hindi music, with the entire programming package celebrating the spirit of young Bangalore with Kannada roots. The branding move has gone down well with local radio audiences.

What we at Digital Broadcasters Vendor News find curious is the lack of mention to the fact that Radio One is a "Mid-Day Multimedia" (BSE: 532416) and "BBC Worldwide" business venture. The j-v company has licenses to operate and is rolling out seven FM stations across India – Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Pune.

Digital Mobile TV | Vietnam | Multimedia Signs Nokia DVB-H

Vietnam Multimedia Corporation (VTC) has informed Digital Broadcasters Vendor News that it has asked Nokia to help jointly launch its commercial Mobile broadcast TV services based on the Digital Video Broadcast-Handheld (DVB-H) standard in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City a few weeks hence.

The VTC agreement marks digital vendor, Nokia's first commercial mobile TV service start in Asia-Pacific.

VTC, Vietnam's leading national broadcaster and operator in digital broadcasting, will make available its mobile PayTV package of seven digital TV channels as well as a video-on-demand service from a catalog of selected titles offered by VTC. Nokia's N-series DVB-H enabled Nokia N92 will be the hand held multimedia computer offered for the package.

Le Doan Quan, Director, VTC mobile TV company commented that Nokia's concepts resonate with VTC's vision of increasing choice and participation for consumers and other technology providers. Nokia implementation uses the OMA DRM approach for services and content delivery protection thus enabling many additional possibilities such as delivery of ringtones, logos, music, videoclips, games and large file applications, in addition to the ordinary TV programs. This equips VTC with a cost-effective and future-proof platform for driving the development of the vibrant multimedia ecosystem in Vietnam.

Jawahar Kanjilal, Director, Experiences, Nokia Multimedia Asia Pacific considers the Vietnam DVB-H service as marking the beginning of exciting times in the Asia Pacific broadcasting industry, bringing digital TV to consumers' pockets and ushering in a new era of personal interactive TV based, entertainment.

The agreement requires Nokia and VTC to jointly propel the consumer adoption of mobile entertainment services in Vietnam.

VTC said it plans to extend the coverage to a nationally within two years.

Nokia is currently spearheading several mobile TV technology activities in Asia-Pacific, notably in Singapore with Mediacorp & M1; Malaysia partnering Astro & Maxis, as well as in India and Taiwan.

In Australia, since July 2005, Nokia is well into a DVB-H trial with the Bridge Networks & Telstra consumers in Sydney.

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News notices that Nokia is strongly pushing the DVB-H message. That this technology is 'regular broadcast TV' that is receivable while on the move. Just like on a home TV set, the excellent pictures give superior end-user experience in the mobile environment on reduced battery consumption. DVB-H can off up to 50 TV channels with low cost, over one network.

Digital Broadcasters | Radio Japan | "Tokyo Rose" Dies at Age 90

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News has learned of the death of "Tokyo Rose", better known as "Iva Toguri D'Aquino" on September 26 at the age of 90.

This was the Japanese-American lady most identified as "Tokyo Rose", a nickname given by Allied forces in the South Pacific during World War II to any one of approximately a dozen English-speaking women broadcasters on Radio Japan who read out propaganda on air.

Labeled as the "Tokyo Rose" by the press after the war, she was detained for a year by the U.S. military before they decided she had not committed a crime worth prosecuting.

Upon return to the U.S., the Federal Bureau of Investigation charged her with eight counts of treason. Her 1949 trial resulted in a conviction on one count, making her the seventh American to be convicted of treason.

In 1974, investigative journalists found that key witnesses had lied during testimony and other serious problems with the conduct of the trial. She was later exonerated by U.S. President Gerald Ford.

Iva, is the only US citizen convicted of treason to have been pardoned.

What a coincidence, Iva Toguri D'Aquino was born on July 4, 1916 American Independence Day that year.

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News sends condolences to the family.

Digital Broadcasters | Afghan | VOA Deewa Radio Targets Afghan-Pak Border

For the moment it seems all the news in Digital Broadcasters Vendor News is of the Middle East.

We mentioned two days ago of Voice of America expanding TV service in Dari and Pashto, the national languages of Afghanistan across the country.

Now VOA reports that it has launched the first full news hour of a new radio broadcasting service that targets the Afghan-Pakistan border region using VOA Deewa (Light) Radio. In coming weeks VOA Deewa Radio will expand to 6 hours of daily news airtime. The language used is Pashto.

VOA Deewa Radio programs can be heard in select Afghan cities on FM 100.5 and on shortwave from 1300-1400 UTC on 11510 kHz (26.06 meters) and 15645 kHz (19.18 meters). Deewa's News Hour runs from 1300-1400 UTC (6:00-7:00 p.m. local time) with 10-minute news bulletins at the top of the hours between 1400-1700 UTC (7:00-10:00 p.m. local time).

Remember, The Voice of America is funded by the U.S. tax payers through the government - agency, Broadcasting Board of Governors in Washington.

http://www.voadeewaradio.com

Digital Broadcast | Lebanon - Israel | Targeted By New Line Media TV Producers

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News received an email announcement from Florida - based, "New Line Media", the educational television producer and program distributor to the United States and International terrestrial TV and cable TV markets, of its new devotion to the Middle East.

The release dated September 30 wrote about the TV programming focus will be on Beirut and other parts of Lebanon and Israel, with "live coverage from the hot spots". This will be possible by the also just announced, "plans to establish a multi-million dollar TV studio in the Middle East".

The release is typical of an American-based, TV company, full of bluster but lean on facts.

No mention was made of 'where' the multi - million dollar production studio was to be located.

I tried to enter New Line Media's web site at [ http:// www.newlinemediatv.com/ ]just before posting this message, but that failed according to my Firefox browser.

Not very encouraging for a company making big claims, I would have thought.

In the same release, we at Digital Broadcasters Vendor News noticed a comment from CEO and president Doug Scott about the new studios. He said “that will make our company a household name, where we will continue to be known for innovative ways to use the media to produce high-quality educational shows.” Wow!

Apparently, according to this program originator and vendor, New Line Media "has made their reputation by delivering the full scope of their featured guests’ messages to audiences for more than eight years through its innovative half-hour programs, which delve into many popular areas of interest for viewers".

(That was a gobbledygook paragraph. Why can't publicists write in more simple English like: "We are known for always giving extensive airtime to our guests to fully explore interesting topics with TV viewers.")

New Line Media said the shows are aired on targeted national and international cable networks, as well as on regional broadcast stations.

Now you know.

Watch out for the credits on programs on an Arab TV channel near you and see if they are those of "New Line Media".