Posts from ‘July, 2008’

The Epoch Times reports: In 2005, the US Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) signed a contract with European satellite operator Eutelsat to allow Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Asia (RFA), and US-based non-governmental television and radio channels to broadcast to tens of millions of small satellite dishes across China on a long-term, protected basis. One [...]

Toshiba Corp said today it expects to shoulder a one-time loss of about 25 billion yen ($232.7 million) in the current fiscal year from the recently announced closure of its local mobile broadcasting joint venture. Tokyo-based Mobile Broadcasting Corp, in which Toshiba holds the largest stake of 36.9 percent, decided earlier this month to terminate [...]

The Elland Road Pavilion in Leeds, UK was the venue for the inaugural Afro-Brits Awards, put together by Zimbabwean entrepreneur Natty Zvimba this past Friday. At a glittering ceremony attended by the Mayor of Leeds, SW Radio Africa came away with the award for Best Contribution to News Media, beating off competition from Voice of [...]

Real Madrid President Ramon Calderon announced Monday that the football club was on the point of launching its own radio station. Speaking to the club’s official website, Calderon said Realmadrid radio would be on air in September.
“This radio will be a vehicle to transmit information and will form a point of union between all of Real [...]

Radio Voice of the People, which broadcasts to Zimbabwe via the Radio Netherlands Madagascar relay station, will revert to its previous schedule of two transmissions per day as from 1 August. The transmissions at 0400-0500 UTC on 9895 kHz and 1700-1800 UTC on 7120 kHz will continue. The transmission at 1100-1200 UTC on 11695 kHz will [...]

Cuil, a technology company pioneering a new approach to search, has unveiled its innovative search offering, which combines what it claims is the biggest Web index with content-based relevance methods, results organized by ideas, and complete user privacy. Cuil (www.Cuil.com) has indexed 120 billion Web pages, which the company says is three times more than any other [...]

The Swiss mediumwave transmitter at Beromünster on 531 kHz is to close by the end of 2008, as it no longer complies with stringent regulations on electromagnetic radiation. The 600 kW transmitter has in recent years been operated at the reduced power of 180 kW.  In 2003 the antenna feeder cable was damaged by lightning. [...]

The Uganda Broadcasting Council will not renew the licenses of broadcasters who do not stick to the stipulated conditions. In a statement, the chairman of the council, Godfrey Mutabazi, said the penalty was aimed at promoting high quality broadcasting: “If you do not serve the public the way we expect, then there is no reason why [...]

Botswana’s Minister of Communications, Science and Technology, Mrs Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi, says her ministry has put the idea of community radio stations on hold until the nation is ready for them. She told meetings at Mmashoro and Tshimoyapula last week that though the proposal was mooted with good intentions there were indications that it could cause more harm [...]

The Kenyan Government has dropped plans to bar cross-media ownership and to empower the Internal Security Minister to order invasion of broadcasting stations. These clauses that sought to muzzle the media, have been taken away from the Kenya Communications (Amendment) Bill 2008.
Information and Communications Minister Samuel Poghisio published the draft law yesterday. Poghisio’s predecessor Mutahi [...]

Sirius Satellite Radio Inc’s purchase of XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc was finally approved yesterday, but with conditions, by US communications regulators, clearing the way for a deal that will leave just one US satellite radio service. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted 3-2 in favour of a proposal that would allow the deal to [...]

More than 63% of Europe’s television broadcasters’ programming time is devoted to European works and over 36% to works by independent European producers. These new figures come from the European Commission’s eighth report on effectiveness of EU rules on the promotion of European works, which covers the period 2005-2006.
This report which is published every two [...]

At this week’s Lisbon summit of the eight-nation Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP), former Angolan Prime Minister Marcolino Moco, who served as the CPLP’s first executive-secretary between 1996 and 2000, said a greater focus on the language would bring the bloc “more visibility” on the world stage.
Recognising the limitations imposed by CPLP’s geographic dispersion, Moco said [...]

The Lower House of the Polish parliament is in session today to decide, amongst other things, on the presidential veto to the reforms of public media.
President Lech Kaczynski vetoed the legislation in May saying that the document opened possibilities that risk further commercialisation of the area of public media and curtailing the influence ordinary citizens bear [...]

International broadcasts to Zimbabwe are on the agenda of talks between Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu-PF party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change which have begun in Zimbabwe. A report in the pro-government Financial Gazette says that
“those privy to the thinking of the MDC negotiators say they want all repressive laws amended or entirely repealed to allow freedom of [...]