Posts from ‘March, 2007’

The commercial radio industry in Australia is furious about new licence conditions which have been imposed on its regional stations by the Australian Communications and Media Authority. The changes mean that if a regional radio station is sold or merged into another media group, staff numbers at the station cannot be cut and the size of [...]

Germany’s ProSiebenSat.1 got the go-ahead from its supervisory board to evaluate a takeover of Luxembourg-based SBS Broadcasting, through which it wants to create a pan-European broadcaster. “After a comprehensive due diligence and on the basis of a fairness opinion by investment bank Citigroup, as well as an independent company valuation by audit firm Susat, a [...]

New Australian media laws expected to spark a wave of takeovers, mergers and foreign investment will come into effect next week, the government announced Thursday.  The changes reform Australia’s restrictive media ownership laws while ensuring a diverse and vibrant media sector, Communications Minister Helen Coonan said in a statement.
Opponents of the reforms say they will instead [...]

The BBC today announced, at the Broadcast Mobile TV Congress, the start of a trial to syndicate a range of its television channels and radio networks via 3G to mobile phones with mobile operators Orange, Vodafone and 3. The trial, which will last up to 12 months, will allow subscribers to Orange, Vodafone and 3’s TV [...]

Text of report by Namibian newspaper The Namibian website on 28 March
The Media Institute of Southern Africa and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation yesterday signed an agreement to pave the way for a series of in-country self-assessment exercises on media freedom in Africa.
Around 20 African countries will be monitored on how they deal with free, independent, [...]

The Israeli Communications Ministry has approved two new regional radio stations; one for the political party Shas called Sephardic-Torah radio, and the other for settlers in the West Bank called West Bank radio, Ynetnews reported. According to the Communications Ministry spokesman, Dr. Yechiel Shabi, the channels will be directed towards the two groups that do [...]

BSkyB and Chrysalis Radio have today announced plans to form a joint venture to launch a 24-hour news radio service on the soon to be awarded second commercial national digital multiplex in the UK, as part of the consortium bid for that licence headed by Channel 4. The service, to be known as “Sky News [...]

The Vatican Television Centre will begin broadcasts in high definition and its first venture into the medium will be Benedict XVI’s 80th birthday Mass. Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Television Centre, made the announcement today in a press conference from the offices of Vatican Radio.
“We are preparing to be ready and the first [...]

The Bill providing for the broadcasting of RTÉ outside of Ireland was passed by the Irish Government last Thursday, and at the same time the Irish in Britain and around the world were given access to free live RTÉ news bulletins on the Internet. The free simulcasts of RTE news television bulletins, including the 6pm and 9pm [...]

Cable TV firms joined the row of anti-free trade protestors along with rice farmers and Uri Party leaders, asking the government  of South Korea not to open the broadcasting industry to foreigners in their ongoing free trading agreement (FTA) talks with the United States. A group of cable TV broadcasters and content providers held a [...]

The Australian Federal Government says that digital radio broadcasts should start in the state capitals by the end of next year. Introducing  legislation covering the licensing, planning and regulation of the new services into the House of Representatives, Veterans’ Affairs Minister Bruce Billson said that they should include national, commercial and community radio from the beginning.
Mr Billson [...]

STMicroelectronics, a leader in technologies for digital radio, today announced the signing of an agreement with the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS to jointly develop a dedicated low-power Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) for Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) applications such as fixed and portable radios, car receivers, software receivers, and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs). [...]

Text of report by Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) news agency
Islamabad, 28 March: Pakistan Television (PTV) will launch its PTV Global channel from UK on 2 April with an aim to project soft image of the country and promote cultural life of Pakistan.
The channel would telecast variety of programmes including entertainment, infotainment, news, current affairs, [...]

A 78-year-old Hong Kong broadcaster modelled in part on the BBC should be scrapped, a government-appointed panel said today, sparking fears that the freedom of the press was under attack. The fate of Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) , arguably the most liberal and critical public broadcaster operating on Chinese soil today, had hinged on a [...]

In 2006, the number of DSL subscribers worldwide grew by more than 30% to reach close to 185 million at 31 December 2006. In the year, global broadband subscribers increased to more than 281 million, according to the latest statistics prepared for the international DSL Forum by industry analyst Point Topic.
Worldwide, DSL remains by far the most popular [...]