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Radio Nationale du Tchad (RNT) lost everything in two days of looting early this month (February 2-3), reported Reuters this week. Gone are the audio archives kept since 1955.
"There's nothing left to be saved," said RNT director Halime Assadia Ali. (JMH)
The BBC, EBU and several universities will develop an open source peer-to-peer TV platform. The EU will provide €13 million of the estimated €18.5 million budget.
The system will not replace BBC’s iPlayer, said a statement from P2P Next.
“Plans are underway to test the system for broadcasting the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest live online," said the statement. (JMH)
Spain’s Antena 3 television reported an ‘uncertain’ ad market in 2008, in a conference call (Thursday February 21). Managing Director Silvio Gonzalez said Antena 3 will have a 17% ad market share. “'It will be tough to get that (in 2008), so we feel we should go for high prices to protect if the audience is not as good as we think,' he added.
Antena 3 revenues grew to €1.015 billion in 2007, a 14% increase over 2006. (JMH)
French president NicholasSarkozy named Alain de Pouzilhac president of France Monde, his proposed umbrella organization for all French external broadcasting. de Pouzilhac is currently board president of France 24.
France 3 journalist Christine Ockrent was named General Director. Ockrent is the wife of French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner.
Rumors of the announcements started last week, stopped and were finally confirmed this morning (Thursday February 21)
Journalist unions have generally objected but their primary concern is for expected budget and staff cuts rather than who tries to lead the parade. (JMH)
German teleshopping channel RTL Shop lost its strategic charm with owner RTL Group. The channel posted a ‘double-digit million euro loss,’ according to Handelsblatt, which also suggested Arcandor might be the buyer.
RTL recently bought 49% of social networking website “Wer kennt wen?” (JMH)
Gazeta Wyborcza, Agora’s main media brand, won last years circulation war with Axel Springer’s Dziennik. The next battle for new Chief Executive Marek Sowa is online.
At a Wednesday (February 20) meeting with analysts, reported by Reuters, Sowa said online will be the company’s majority revenue spinner by 2011.
Sowa joined Agora from Liberty Cable after a two year search for Wanda Rapaczynska’s successor. (JMH)
Everybody involved in media development activities knows at least one outstanding media project. Now is the time to tell that story. One World Broadcast Trust (OWBT) is taking nomination for the annual Special Award for an outstanding, on the ground media project or organization. (See OWBT details here) (JMH)
ABI Research says consumers picked no favorite between HD-DVD / Blu-ray. So, who won? Hollywood, says ABI. (Read ABI release here) (JMH)
IFRA and GIPP, the Russian Guild of Newspaper Publishers, have teamed up to present a networking event in Moscow. (Read IFRA release here) (JMH)
The European Commission (EC), the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Canadian Competition Bureau (CCB) have given the go-ahead for Thomson’s proposed acquisition of Reuters which is scheduled to close the week of April 13.
The pound of flesh required by the regulators was that Thomson must sell at least one copy of its Fundamentals (Worldscope) database and Reuters must sell a copy of Reuters Estimates, Reuters Aftermarket Research and Reuters Economics (EcoWin) databases, but both companies will retain full ownership of the relevant databases. Those sales were required by the EU and the US on concerns about “aftermarket broker research reports", which analyse securities, industries and markets.
The deal has taken longer than first thought to complete. When it was originally announced last May it was worth £8.7 billion, split evenly between cash and shares, but today it is worth only £7.9 billion, primarily because Thomson’s shares have fallen 25% during the period. Apparently for all the high priced banks involved in advising on the deal, there was no protection in the sale documents for Reuters shareholders in the event the Thomson shares would fall as much as they have. Isn’t that why companies hire financial advisers in the first place, to ensure such protections?
Tom Glocer, currently CEO of Reuters and CEO designate of Thomson Reuters, said: “This is an important step toward completing the transaction and creating what we believe will be the leading provider of information and related applications to businesses and professionals around the world.”
6195, 7325, 9410.12095,15070 – what do those numbers have in common? They were all shortwave transmission frequencies to listen to the BBC World Service Radio in Europe. But no more, for the BBC has stopped European shortwave transmissions.
Not that one can’t listen to the BBC World Service any more in Europe. It’s on the Internet and on many local AM or FM transmitters throughout the continent delivered with satellite quality. Here in Geneva, FTM’s hometown, BBC hourly news bulletins are part of World Radio Switzerland on FM and on DAB throughout the rest of the country (not that we know anyone in Switzerland who owns a DAB radio)
For the older generation (that means pre-Internet) the World Service and Voice of America on shortwave were about the only way to listen to English speaking voices and keep up with world affairs no matter where you were in Europe. And ftm’s Philip Stone recalls that when he transferred from Europe to Indianapolis (real culture shock!) in 1979 he found that neither the local newspaper nor broadcasters catered to his thirst for international news so out came the trusty Panasonic shortwave radio bought in a hard currency shop in Moscow in 1974 at a real bargain and he was up to date with the chimes of Big Ben. Couldn’t do that now, of course, since BBC shortwave transmissions to North America ended in 2001.
The BBC will continue with shortwave to parts of Africa and Asia where listeners can truly enjoy what sun spots can do to those transmission bands.
Ad Age reports that newspapers are responsible for the loss of 50% of all US media jobs lost since 2000. It said that one in four newspaper jobs have disappeared since the 1990 employment peak.
It said last year was particularly bad with newspapers, TV and radio all cutting back. Magazines actually added 400 jobs but the real winners were Internet media companies that increased employment by 9,200.
Internet media companies that includes search engines and web portals saw employment jump 13.4% but, still, internet-media employment remains 31% below its dot-com-bubble peak.
Malaysia’s largest media company Astro All Asia Networks has placed a bid for UK national radio network Virgin Radio, according to the Sunday Times (UK) (February 17).
Virgin Radio’s current owner, SMG, wants to off-load the broadcaster to “concentrate on core businesses.” Other bidders reportedly include Global Radio, Absolute Radio and UTV.
If successful, Astro will join CanWest (Canada) and H Bauer (Germany) as foreign operators of UK radio stations. The Absolute Radio bid for Virgin Radio is backed by Irish real estate developers.
SMG paid £225 million for Virgin Radio in 2000 and current bids are running about 30% of that figure. (JMH)
State TV in Bosnia Herzegovina is, like the country, divided. RTRS broadcasts for the Bosnian Serbs, BHT for the Bosnian Muslims. Respective coverage of events surrounding the Kosovo independence announcements (February 17) was equally split.
BHT broadcast the celebrations from the Kosovo parliament. RTRS covered statements of the Serbian president.
Bosnian Serb parliament member Mladen Ivanic called BHT’s coverage an “open insult,” reported AFP. (Read background on media in Bosnia Herzegovina) (JMH)
French President Sarkozy’s forging ahead with plans to kill advertising on public TV. (Read background here) The broadcasting unions shut down French public broadcasting for one day, fearing budget and job cuts. The French public isn’t pleased with the idea, either.
Pollster IPSOS/Télé found 50% of French people against dropping ads versus 45% ‘reasonably favorable.’ According to the survey, people expect the costs to go up, 32% expect no improvement to public TV and 70% expect more ads on commercial channels. (JMH)
The automobile may be media’s final frontier, coat pockets filled with iPods and mobile phones and living rooms filled with big screens. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the motor sport governing body Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) will peer into the crystal ball during the annual Geneva Auto Show with a special exhibition.
Honda Racing F1 Team will display its new 2008 Formula-1 ‘Earthdreams car.’
Of course, we’re interested in safety and the environment. The exhibition will also show all the new media information and entertainment features available sometime in the future. (Read ITU presser here) (JMH)
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