Posts from ‘January, 2007’

Since Jan 26, 2007, India has started testing Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) transmissions from its Khampur, Delhi, transmitter site. The Director (Eng) of All India Radio, Yogendra Pal, told the Hindustan Times that “In the Eleventh Plan the government has proposed to go in for digital . We have given the government the proposal to first start [...]

BBC Monitoring observed a station identifying as “Radio Bana” on 5100 kHz shortwave at 1455 gmt on 30 January 2007. Vernacular-language programming was observed at tune-in, followed at 1458 gmt by an English programme titled ‘Academia’, which was a profile of Nelson Mandela. The programme concluded with the following announcement:
“Radio Bana is set to announce [...]

Following application of its first Public Value Test (PVT), the BBC Trust has today published its provisional conclusions on the BBC Executive’s new on-demand services and opened a period of consultation. The Trust’s provisional conclusion is to give the BBC Executive the go ahead for the new on-demand services, but subject to certain conditions and [...]

Burkina Faso’s public radio station Radio Burkina cancelled its lunchtime news broadcast yesterday because it had run out of practically everything needed to make the programme. “We are unable to give you the news because of a lack of petrol, meaning we were unable to make a single report,” the programme’s presenter told listeners. The [...]

As a result of the consolidation of operations following its 2006 acquisition of PanAmSat, Intelsat has announced the upcoming sale of its Silver Spring, Maryland Teleport. The complete transaction will include the assignment of the land and adjacent warehouse-office leases, plus the sale of all the Silver Spring teleport assets. These assets include six antennas [...]

TheUS Embassy in Nicaragua has sent out a press release announcing that, since December 2006, the cable company Estesa has been carrying Voice of America TV programming on channel 71. The same company already carries Telesur, the TV channel backed by President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, a close ally of Fidel Castro. The new President [...]

SES New Skies has announced the failure of the launch of NSS-8, the sixth satellite in its fleet, onboard a Zenith-3SL launch vehicle, and the resulting total loss of the satellite. SES New Skies says it is currently not in a position to comment on the possible causes of the mission failure and is awaiting [...]

British pay-TV firm BSkyB just missed analysts’ forecasts for net TV sign-ups in the second-quarter of its financial year, but said on Wednesday it was on track to hit its full-year performance targets. The firm said it had added 183,000 net TV subscribers in the three months to 31 December, below the average forecast of 190,000, [...]

UK electronic communications regulator Ofcom today published a draft Code of Practice in preparation for the transitional work necessary for digital switchover. The draft Code sets out what steps broadcasters should take to ensure maximum protection to existing viewers of analogue and digital terrestrial television services whilst enabling them to implement digital switchover in a [...]

Text of report in English by official Chinese news agency Xinhua (New China News Agency)
Beijing, 30 January: China will launch two satellites dedicated to radio and TV relay services for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in June and October this year, the China Satellite Communications Corporation (CSCC) said Tuesday [30 January]. Manufacturing of the [...]

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz is likely to approve the launch of a new Pushto TV channel soon.  A feasibility report regarding the Pushto channel – Abaseen - has already been moved to the Prime Minister’s Secretariat from the Ministry of Information, The Dawn has reported.
The government had taken notice of the delay regarding the [...]

UK commercial radio group GMG Radio is to re-brand the Saga radio stations it recently acquired as Smooth Radio, and change the name of the existing Smooth FM stations to Smooth Radio. The re-branding will take place in March. With the launch of a new station in northeast England in the autumn, there will be six [...]

XM Satellite Radio has announced that XM Radio Online will be included in the US version of Microsoft’s new operating system, Windows Vista, which becomes generally available today. Windows Vista will offer XM Radio Online as part of its digital music hub. XM Radio Online delivers more than 80 radio channels, including commercial-free music, the Oprah & Friends [...]

Three months after filing for bankruptcy, liberal talk-radio network Air America said yesterday that a New York real estate investor has offered to buy the company, but its best-known host, Al Franken, will deliver his last broadcast next month. The tentative deal, outlined in a letter of intent by Air America to sell its business to [...]

The Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC) says it will switch off Top TV for illegally installing studio transmission equipment in UBC’s Kololo Hill transmission room. Musinguzi Mugasa, the UBC managing director, yesterday said the Broadcasting Council had recommended that all TV stations that transferred their studio equipment to Kololo Hill be barred from broadcasting.
He clarified that [...]