REGULATION

New Media Framework for Australia

The Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator the Hon Helen Coonan, has announced that the Australian Government will comprehensively reform the media industry in Australia to create a competitive framework that will deliver consumer choice and a competitive industry in the digital media age.
“This package of reforms will allow the Australian media sector to move from the old analogue-based regime into the dynamic new world of digital content, where traditional media co-exist and compete with new delivery platforms,” Senator Coonan said. “It is clear to the Government and to much of the industry that the media landscape is changing rapidly, and a flexible system is needed to allow media companies to adapt and prosper in the new digital environment.
“A far-sighted approach is needed to meet the needs of consumers now, and to provide the benefits of new technology into the future."
The Senator said the the framework "... will open up opportunities for a range of innovative new services for consumers, while maintaining the existing services that the community already rely on and enjoy, including quality free-to-air television services.
“By allowing new entrants into the Australian media industry, the Government will encourage increased diversity and new sources of information and entertainment.
As part of the framework announced today the Government will:
• Develop a Digital Action Plan to drive the take-up of digital television services and help consumers make the transition from analogue services to the new digital environment;
• Open up two reserved digital channels for new digital services such as mobile television or new in-home services;
• Permit commercial free-to-air television stations to broadcast one standard definition multichannel from 2009, and to allow full multichannelling no later than the time of digital switchover.
• Permit a high definition multichannel by removing the simulcast requirement on high definition television programming;
• Remove the “genre” restrictions on the types of programming which can be shown on ABC and SBS multichannels;
• Reform the anti-siphoning scheme by introducing a “use it or lose it” system for sporting events on the list to commence on 1 January 2007;
• Relax the current restrictions on cross-media ownership subject to safeguards that will ensure no fewer than five independent “voices” remain in metropolitan markets and four in regional markets, upon Proclamation on a date to be determined in 2007; and
• Legislate to retain licence conditions ensuring local content on regional television in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria and extend them to Tasmania;
• Protect local radio content in regional markets by requiring commercial radio licensees seeking mergers in regional markets to meet minimum standards for local content including news, community service announcements and emergency warnings;
• The ACCC will ensure the competition laws are fully complied with under the general mergers provisions of the Trade Practices Act 1974 (TPA), and ACMA will oversee safeguards to ensure diversity and local content, including ensuring transactions comply with the minimum number of media groups requirements.
• Remove the existing foreign ownership restrictions but retain the media industry as a “sensitive sector” under the Government’s Foreign Investment Policy, upon Proclamation on a date to be determined in 2007;
• Give the Australian Communications and Media Authority a range of new powers to regulate broadcasting including power to seek civil penalties and injunctions and to accept enforceable undertakings from broadcasters.

“The proposed reforms will enable existing players to make the most of emerging digital media technologies and give them the flexibility to structure their businesses to be globally competitive media companies,” Senator Coonan said.
“But it is consumers who will be the biggest winners, with access to a range of new services, potentially including several new digital channels, and even more to come in the transition to digital television.
The Senator said the announcement was "... the first step in reforming the media industry, with details of the Digital Action Plan to drive take-up of digital television, and the details for the allocation of the new digital channels, to be released later this year."
Legislation to implement the new framework will be developed this year, to commence in 2007. according to the Senator, the changes announced are the product of extensive consultation with consumers and industry.
“The Government has sought to balance the views and needs of industry, consumers and other stakeholders to develop a comprehensive plan that sets the foundations for a strong media industry, ready to tackle the challenges posed by innovation and technological change in the sector.”

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REGULATION

ACMA’s Broadcasting Powers Strengthened

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) will be given a range of new enforcement powers to strengthen its capacity to effectively regulate the broadcasting industry, said the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan.
“It has been clear for some time that ACMA requires a new range of powers to more effectively enforce broadcasting laws,” Senator Coonan said. “That is why the Government released a discussion paper in November 2005 and consulted widely with industry and consumers on how to best equip ACMA to regulate the broadcasting industry.”
“ACMA’s current broadcasting regulatory powers are generally concentrated at the higher end of the scale. Criminal penalties or the cancellation of a broadcasting licence may not be a workable response when incidents are minor or where the offending behaviour is not repeated.
In most cases, the new powers are similar to those that ACMA already uses in its role as the regulator of telecommunications services.
The additional powers will include:
• the introduction of civil penalties for a range of breaches where only criminal sanctions are currently available, giving ACMA greater flexibility to address non-compliance;
• enabling ACMA to obtain injunctions where commercial broadcasting services are being provided without an appropriate licence;
• allowing ACMA to accept enforceable undertakings from industry in relation to its role in regulating the broadcasting, datacasting and internet content industries; and
• issuing infringement notices for minor breaches of the Broadcasting Services Act related to reporting requirements.
“The Government is introducing these changes to enable ACMA to be more responsive, particularly when it comes to ensuring compliance with broadcasting codes of practice and licensing conditions,” Senator Coonan said. “The changes, which have been in train for some time, will complement and build on the recently announced review of television codes of practice for reality television by ACMA and the Government’s announcement in June this year that content safeguards would be extended to mobile devices and premium Internet services.
“These changes will give ACMA greater options for appropriately dealing with breaches of the Broadcasting Services Act and the power to negotiate enforceable outcomes that will achieve better long-term compliance."

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REGULATION

ABC Welcomes Genre Reforms

ABC Managing Director Mark Scott has welcomed the government's commitment to the removal of genre restrictions on the ABC's digital channel ABC2, announced by the Minister for Communications the Hon. Senator Helen Coonan today.
Mr Scott said the decision affirmed the key role of the ABC in helping to drive the switch to digital television by providing attractive new digital content.
"Fresh new content is an important driver for the take-up of digital television. ABC2 is providing an additional service to our audience who purchase a set top box or who receive the digital channel via a pay platform," Mr Scott said. "It includes new programming from regional Australia where the ABC is a key player in guaranteeing diversity, providing local news and community information, accessing archival content, and bringing stories from outside the capital cities to the whole nation. However the current restrictions on what we can show on ABC2 limit the potential of the channel.
"The ABC welcomes the decision to remove most of the current restrictions and will continue to argue that the most effective option in terms of encouraging consumers to switch to digital TV would be to remove the genre restrictions altogether," Mr Scott said. "The ABC has shown, through initiatives such as ABC2, our broadband content initiatives and our successful podcasting service that we are at the forefront of the digital media changes and we look forward to participating fully in the process of media reform outlined by the Minister."

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COMMUNITY BROADCASTING

CBAA Calls for Digital Action

The Communication Minister’s media reform package must ensure that community television is simulcast on digital and analogue until analogue switch-off, with funding to assist CTV’s digital conversion, said the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA).
"The sector will struggle to survive if it is not available to audiences on both analogue and digital," said Andrew Brine, CBAA Vice President of Television and General Manager of Access 31 Perth.
While the CTV sector is not currently broadcasting on digital, the Government has long been committed to providing the CTV sector with access to a digital channel free-of-charge. The Minister’s Digital Action Plan is expected to reveal how this access will be provided.
If the sector is forced to make a “direct switch” from analogue to digital broadcasting, it will lose access to analogue audiences and struggle to remain viable.
The not-for-profit volunteer-driven community television sector, which commands a cumulative monthly audience of more than 3 million Australians, receives no federal government funding and relies on sponsorship and sale-of-airtime to meet its operating costs.
Because the sector cannot afford to meet the costs of both analogue and digital transmission, the CBAA has asked Government to fund the costs of digital transmission during the simulcast period. The Government currently provides $75 million per year to fund the national and commercial broadcasters’ digital conversion costs.
The CBAA proposes funding be provided using revenue obtained from the sale of the unassigned channels, or by imposing subsidies on the other digital carriers, or in the case of carriage by a datacasting service, offsetting the costs of carriage against the quantum of the licence fee.
“We hope that in light of the large sums the Government stands to receive from the sale of the two extra digital channels, our modest funding request will not be ignored,” said Mr Brine. “By funding digital simulcast of community television, the Government can ensure local programming by local communities will thrive in the digital age.”
According to research data published by the CBAA, the community broadcasting sector is larger, stronger and more diverse than it has ever been. The CBAA says over the next three years implementation of digital terrestrial broadcasting will be a pressing priority for its members.
“Each and every one of the more than 350 independent, volunteer-supported community stations in regional and metropolitan Australia will continue to deliver local information and cater for the diverse needs and interests of more than 7 million Australians,” the General Manager of the CBAA, Barry Melville said.
“Community stations, both radio and television, are individually owned by not-for-profit companies and associations,” he continued, “No community station can be bought or sold and each will retain their autonomy and particular community focus.
“We can’t just stand still and remain analogue broadcasters and we are not just about FM radio,” Mr Melville said, “The community broadcasting sector also includes independent community television services, internet-delivered content and our own satellite delivered Digital Delivery Network, so we have tremendous scope for diversity and strength in digital content production and delivery.”
The CBAA is calling on the Government as it implements its sweeping structural reforms of media to safeguard media diversity by providing additional funding support for digital infrastructure.
"The time has come for the Government to make good its commitment to supporting the digital provisioning costs of the community broadcasting sector. It’s time to ensure that true media diversity is sustained and given a digital future” Mr Melville said.

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INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING

ABC Asia Pacific Becomes Australia Network.

'Australia Network' is the new name of the Australian television service to the Asia Pacific region. The service, currently broadcast as ABC Asia Pacific (ABCAP), will continue to be managed by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation for the five year period 2006-2011.
According to Australia Foreign Affairs Minister, Alexander Downer, "Australia Network will deliver high quality and contemporary programming about Australia and its engagement with the region to more than 40 countries. The Australia Network footprint stretches from French Polynesia in the Pacific, northwards to Japan and west to Pakistan.
"Australia Network will provide a three channel service to meet differing audience and viewing time requirements in the Pacific, east and north Asia and in south Asia. A key requirement of the service is to provide a credible and independent voice through programs that present a 'window' on Australia and Australian perspectives of the world. The service will feature extensive news and current affairs programs, Australian-produced education, drama, entertainment and lifestyle programs.
"The government is committed to seeing Australia Network's service to the region expand and entertain and inform regional audiences by projecting accurate images and information about Australia and its way of life," concluded Mr Downer.
Australia Network plans to launch its new service in early August. According to the network, news and current affairs programs will be the centrepiece of its new schedule with more updates, more regional stories and more live interviews. There will also be four new correspondents reporting exclusively for Australia Network from India, Beijing, Jarkarta and the South Pacific.

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MOBILE TV

Alliance Formed to Promote DVB-H

Broadcast Asia 2006 – Mobile TV is on the move across the region following the inaugural meeting in Singapore of DAPA, an advocacy group established to promote mobile TV through the use of DVB-H (Handheld) - the new technology that delivers multiple channels of television, radio, video, audio and IP data to mobile phones, PDA’s, PC’s and other handheld devices.
The DVB-H Asia-Pacific Alliance (DAPA) has been established by DVB-H stakeholders to promote adoption of Mobile TV throughout the region, as well as to encourage sustainable business and regulatory models for new mobile services.
Foundation mem-bers of the DVB-H Asia-Pacific Alliance include handset giant Nokia, regional broadcasters, MeCA of Indonesia and Malaysia’s MiTV, as well as systems integrator the Bridge Networks, coordinator of Australia’s first DVB-H trial in Sydney. DAPA also has sponsorship support from the likes of chip developer Intel and transmitter manufacturers Harris Broadcast Communications and Radio Frequency Systems (RFS).
DAPA says it welcomes additional member companies to the forum and looks to co-operate with other similar alliances and forums such as MDTV alliance in US, and BMCO in Europe.
“An open and industry-supported stan-dard is expected to foster growth throughout the wireless market with more choices across the value chain. This will expedite the adoption of the service to the mass market at a faster and at lower cost to consumers,” said Darren Kirsop-Frearson, Managing Director, The Bridge Net-works.
“Nokia is com-mitted to the de-ployment of robust, scalable and interoperable DVB-H systems to ensure an exceptional ex-perience with mobile TV and related value-added services,” said Jawahar Kanjilal, Director, Multimedia Experiences, Nokia Asia Pacific. “We are definitely pleased to be a part of this joint initiative to bring together technology, product and service leaders to ensure a common implementation of DVB-H networks and terminals according to open industry standards, and to spearhead discussions with the relevant parties involved.”
There has been several successful DVB-H trials throughout Europe, North America, and the Asia-Pacific regions in recent months. In Southeast Asia, there have been good consumer responses from showcases in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, India and Australia.”
Malaysia’s MiTV has carried out a trial for DVB-H and is looking forward to launching a commercial pilot later this year. MiTV decided on using DVB-H technology following visits to trial sites in Helsinki, Berlin, Sydney and Oxford.
According to Dato Rosman Ridzwan, Chairman of MITV, Malaysia, “We feel there is no need for a technical trial anymore because this has been done and the handheld devices are almost there. We are hoping that other brands will come in with devices for DVB-H.”
According to Fofo Sariaatmadja, Vice Chairman, MECA TV, Indonesia, the geographic nature of the archipelago is not conducive to the widespread rollout of cable television, while the cost of subscription packages for both cable and satellite are prohibitive for much of the Indonesian population. MECA TV has been granted both DVB-T and DVB-H UHF spectrum trial licences.
“In addition to household [DVB-T based] pay TV, we believe that there is a further untapped niche market for mobile pay TV, which can be classified into two broad categories – cars and mobile phones,” said Mr Sariaatmadja. “While the economies of scale for the latter may require another one to two years, pay TV services for cars can be implemented almost instantly along with household pay TV. Arguments for subscribing to pay TV for cars stem from long commuting times, heavy traffic congestion and a small investment requirement to make service available relative to the price of the car.
“We hope that DAPA will have a tremendous impact for all of us so we can exchange our ideas, opinions and experience so we can understand what operators in other countries are doing for the benefit of everyone.”
DVB-H is an open procedure standard developed by the DVB Project and enjoys broad industry support with more than 100 companies working on DVB-H components, devices and ser-vices today. The open approach of the DVB-H standard nurtures flexibility of business models, competition and sales opportunities for the value chain. The DVB-H standard incorporates OFDM air interface technology with good spectral efficiency, immunity to multi-path fading and good mobile performance.
The DVB-H standard is an extension of the widely adopted DVB-T terrestrial broadcast technology. It implements recent technical developments to enhance mobile broadcast reception, optimises hand-set power consumption and provides a quality visual display to maximize the user experience.
The IP-based platform allows the provision of an Electronic Services Guide (ESG), interactive services, and dynamic channel allocation to offer 30-50 mobile TV channels in a single spectrum channel. This opens up a plethora of business possibilities in addition to regular television - advertising channels, subscription based services, interactivity and games.

More information on the DVB-H Asia Pacific Alliance can be obtained from www.DAPA.tv

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MOBILE TV

Consumer Interest in Mobile TV

Final results from the unique, high powered Sydney Mobile TV trial of 16 television services to mobile handsets, have revealed a high level of consumer interest in a commercial Mobile TV service in Australia reflected by a significant majority of trial participants expressing an interest in subscribing for such a commercial service.
Eighty percent of trial participants liked the ability to watch TV anytime, anywhere – particularly when waiting, travelling, at home or commuting. Total TV viewing increased during week days as a result of the movemedia service, particularly in the mornings and at lunchtime.
Peak viewing times varied with traditional TV, peaking in the mornings, lunch and evenings, with an afternoon peak on Sundays.
The trial was conducted with 375 participants by partners Broadcast Australia Group and Telstra. It offered 10 Foxtel channels (Channel V, E!, Fox Football, Fox Sports News, Nickelodeon, Sky News, Sky News Business, The History Channel, The Lifestyle Channel and The Weather Channel), along with ABC2, SBS, Channel Nine, CNN, Sky Racing and Boomerang.
Australian usage behaviour showed very similar results to those obtained from overseas market research. The participants representing a wide range of demographics chose to access TV on their Telstra mobiles for an average of 25 minutes per viewing session, with 1 to 2 sessions per day.
The more intensive users were non-Pay TV subscribers and commuters.
Sports channels were the most popular among viewers during their lunch breaks and Sport was also popular on Saturday evenings.
Viewers could choose from a wide selection of content. Overall the most popular content was general entertainment, news and documentaries. The content provided met participant expectations though in the future participants also said they would like to be able download and record programmes to watch later.
Features of the movemedia Mobile TV Trial include:

• Trial commenced July 2005.
• TV channels available in the trial: Channel V, E!, Fox Football, Fox Sports News, Nickelodeon, Sky News, Sky News Business, The History Channel, The Lifestyle Channel and The Weather Channel), Nine, ABC2, SBS, Sky Racing, Boomerang and CNN.
• The technology: The service has been transmitted on channel 29 From BA’s Gore Hill facility using DVB-H (digital video broadcasting – handheld) technology. Trialists received the service via a Nokia 7710 mobile ‘phone handset, turning it into a portable television. The special handset receives 16 broadcast video streams while the telephone utilises the Telstra GSM and GPRS mobile networks.

For the high-powered DVB-H trial in Sydney conducted over the last year, Broadcast Australia selected The Bridge Networks to supply a Harris Atlas Digital DTV660L liquid-cooled DVB-T transmitter (operating in DVB-H mode) for the task. The transmitter provides 3.4kW of power from a single cabinet into an existing multi-coupled UHF antenna system, delivering 80kW effective radiated power (ERP), covering the major part of the Sydney metropolitan area.
Key benefits of the Harris transmitter are its compact design and quiet operation. Being liquid-cooled, it presents a single-cabinet footprint, while the cooling system, pump module and heat exchanger are located conveniently away from the main cabinet. This made it an ideal fit into Broadcast Australia’s newly built transmitter hall at the Gore Hill broadcast site.
Based on these attributes, Broadcast Australia also decided to upgrade the transmission system of its digital datacasting trial. This involved installing an identical Harris 3.4kW liquid-cooled transmitter (operating in DVB-T mode) in the same transmitter hall. Since both systems now use the same model transmitter, Broadcast Australia can employ common spare components across both the DVB-H and datacasting trials, and enjoy streamlined operations and maintenance procedures. The front-access, modular design and redundant amplifier system provide the ability to service the power amplifier modules on-air without service interruption. The transmitter front-end user interface is common for low- and high-power operation.
The transmitter has been readily integrated into Broadcast Australia’s existing 24x7 Network Operations Centre (NOC) for monitoring and forward control purposes. The SNMP, GUI and Web browser interface make it easy for the NOC team to interrogate the transmission system from the NOC or any other location.

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INSTALLATIONS

ABC Goes Interactive with Strategy & Technology

Strategy & Technology Limited (“S&T”), a leading specialist in interactive application playout systems and MHEG middleware for digital TV, has announced an order from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation for S&T’s TSBroadcaster and TSPlayer DSMCC Object Carousel solution.
A fully redundant system will be installed in the ABC’s Ultimo Centre for playout of the ABC’s MHP interactive applications and services and an existing test system will be upgraded. The order has been placed via S&T’s Australian distributor, Magna Systems and Engineering who will handle installation and support.
Colin Prior, Director of International Sales at S&T added, “We are delighted to have received this order from the ABC. They have had a TSBroadcaster system in their test and development area for a couple of years and we are pleased that they have decided to adopt the same solution for their on-air playout."
S&T's TSBroadcaster and TSPlayer systems are used throughout the world for the creation of MHP, MHEG and OCAP interactive TV transmissions. The RedKey MHEG engine is licensed to many digital receiver and set top box manufacturers.

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INSTALLATIONS

SKY Does Chromatec Q-Splits

Australian racing broadcaster Sky Channel has installed 29 Chromatec Q-Split SDI quad splitters in its Sydney headquarters, one of the largest placements worldwide. The company has been finalising a large-scale upgrade of its presentation suites and three control rooms as part of a switch to 16:9 widescreen transmission.
Supplied through The AV Group the Q-Splits enable Sky to deliver four independent 16:9 signal sources into the Sony 32” LCD screens mounted in those rooms.
According to Steve Thompson, Broadcast Engineer, Sky Channel, “We had already made the decision to go with LCD flatscreens with professional inputs rather than glass and we opted for DVI connections. We looked at other quad splits but Chromatec was one of the few with DVI outputs. There were SDI and PAL quad splits but if we used them we would have to use another converter downstream to get a DVI signal - we wanted quad splits that included all those features in one box.”
Q-Split was developed by Chromatec to compliment its established range of colour in-picture audio metering. The hardware comprises a 1U frame into which may be fitted 1, 2, 3 or 4 Q-Split modules. Each module is fitted with 4 x SDI inputs and will simultaneously output SDI, DVI-I, and optionally Composite or S-Video. Q-Split can alternatively be used for source switching, video format conversion and aspect ratio conversion, since any one of the four inputs can be displayed full screen. Video alarm functions are included.
“Using the Q-Splits we can provide an equivalent screen size to what our operators are used to seeing with single 14’’ CRT monitors,” said Thompson. “We also liked the way the Q-Splits interface with the Television Systems Limited Under Monitor Displays – we can plug a keyboard in front of the quad split so the operators can quickly and easily change the monitor setups as required. We can also change resolution to suit various displays.”

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INSTALLATIONS

FSM Debuts Flame on Linux

Autodesk has announced the first site in Asia Pacific for its flagship Discreet Flame on Linux visual effects system, at Frame, Set & Match The news includes the region’s first installation of two Flame Linux platforms, the first three Flame facility and the move to an all Autodesk workflow at FSM.
FSM is a Sydney-based independent Australian post-production facility with 20 years experience in TVCs, feature films, television series and documentaries.
The dual Flame on Linux installation is part of complete upgrade of the company’s Autodesk systems, which form the backbone of its visual effects, compositing and long-form editing services. One of new Linux-based Flames replaces a Flame on Octane system and joins existing custom designed suites that accommodate Flame on SGI Tezro and Fire on SGI Onyx platforms. All have been upgraded with the latest 9.5 and 7 software updates.
“We upgraded to the Linux platform following a trial period when we were convinced it was a stable system and more than the equal of the Tezro,” said FSM Managing Director Rick Schweikert. “Our MXE Octane was getting old and struggled to handle the latest software. With Autodesk’s products moving to Linux we decided to go along for the ride as well. Linux represents a more economical maintenance process.
“Having three compatible Flames, along with Fire, all on current versions of software, makes it incredibly efficient and easy to schedule work. Operationally, our compositors can work in any of the rooms without having to adapt to different systems. We were pleased to be the first in Australia to move to the Linux platform and the first to have two systems on Linux.”
The new FSM Flame systems operate on dual core, dual processor IBM workstations that have been upgraded with 8GB of RAM. This enables Flame to take advantage of more addressable memory on the 64-bit platform to effortlessly handle huge datasets for easier image manipulation and improved stability.
“The real beauty of adding Flame on Linux is that it can handle HD and 2K projects, just as Flame on the Tezro and Fire can,” said Schweikert. “Naturally long-form work is edited in Fire because it has a better editing tool within the timeline and we design and complete selected longform VFX shots in Flame.”

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INSTALLATIONS

OmniBus Automates All Asia Broadcast Centre

OmniBus Systems has announced that leading S.E. Asian regional broadcaster, Astro, is using OmniBus automation at its All Asia Broadcast Centre (AABC), just south of Kuala Lumpur, and at its Cyberjaya Broadcasting facility (CBC), located in the Malaysian Multimedia Super-Corridor, to enable high reliability and streamlined ingest, compliance editing, and playout operations in a completely tapeless environment. The OmniBus Colossus playout automation system and G3 architecture also are being installed to support the broadcasting operation of PT Direct Vision, an Indonesian Direct-To-Home satellite television service offering Astro channels and services, at its broadcast centre in central Jakarta.
"OmniBus Systems proved to be the only automation vendor able to deliver a fully functional and unified network-based automation architecture that covered all of our needs, from production, ingest, and post-production to media management and playout," said Graham Stephens, Astro's Chief Technology Officer. "The system has allowed us to improve our workflow efficiency, and the linear scalability of the OmniBus Colossus automation system and the rich library of broadcast devices supported makes it easy and economical to add further services."
The Astro AABC provides uplink facilities for 54 Malaysian TV channels. An additional 48 channels, originated specifically for Indonesia, are uplinked from PT Direct Vision's new Jakarta broadcast center. The OmniBus network solution currently provides playout automation for a total of 36 channels for Malaysia and Indonesia combined, plus 6 third-party channels for which Astro provides playout under contract.
The Cyberjaya facility, located near the Putrajaya government administration center, boasts a playout capacity of an additional 33 channels from a redundant pair of video servers operating under Colossus control. The system, which was commissioned in December 2005, provided multichannel recording, editing, and playout functions for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino and 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. In June 2006 the system will be used to air eight interactive channels of live and time-shifted coverage of the World Cup in Germany. After the launch of its new satellite, Measat 3, later this year, Astro will bring all of its playout capacity on line, a total of 75 channels all driven from OmniBus Colossus across 3 separate broadcasting centers.
"We began work with Astro in 2003 with a pilot project involving four channels. Since then, the network has demonstrated a strong and continuing commitment to OmniBus solutions for automated multichannel playout," said OmniBus Systems Vice President of Sales Robert Stopford. "As Astro continues to grow its operations, the OmniBus Systems' G3 network architecture already in place will enable the rapid addition of new services and sites without interruption to existing on-air operations."

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INSTALLATIONS

NTT Expands IPTV with Tandberg

TANDBERG Television has announced that On Demand TV - a joint venture of NTT West (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone West Corp.) and Itochu - will expand its deployment of TANDBERG Television's Mediaplex-20-based video headends to support MPEG-4 AVC technology for its nationwide IPTV rollout in Japan.
On Demand TV is planning to deploy TANDBERG Television MPEG-4 AVC transcoding in its Mediaplex-based headends in Tokyo (East) and Osaka (West). Each headend will process transcoded MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 AVC content and deliver it to NTT's Broadband (FTTH and ADSL) customers. On Demand TV also is adding two new Mediaplex headends to its existing installation of Mediaplexes to transcode the MPEG-2 content to MPEG-4 AVC and to provide additional headend redundancy.
On Demand TV will use the MPEG-4 AVC transcoding technology to reduce the bit rate of video delivery over millions of its DSL lines and to offer a new, extensive library of video-on-demand (VOD) movies to NTT's subscribers in both standard definition and MPEG-4 AVC High Definition VOD.
"After one year, our MPEG-2 IPTV service has been completely dependable and is operating well with the Mediaplex. We're getting ready to expand our IPTV offering beyond our fiber networks and make it available to the rest of our subscribers over our ADSL networks, and TANDBERG Television's MPEG-4 advanced compression and transcoding technology enables us to deliver high-quality content regardless of bandwidth constraints or content format", said Yasuyuki Taniguchi, chief manager of engineering for On Demand TV. "The Mediaplex video headend's efficient migration path to MPEG-4 will make it easy for us to upgrade our headends with a minimal amount of resources expended."
NTT West and NTT East provide telephone and broadband services to more than 60 million subscribers across Japan, which has one of the world's highest broadband penetration rates. On Demand TV currently delivers 27 broadcast channels over the NTT West and NTT East IPv6-based fiber networks using MPEG-2 compression. TANDBERG Television's MPEG-4 AVC transcoders let On Demand TV expand its services and deliver MPEG-4 AVC video and content over NTT's widespread DSL networks, through bandwidth efficiency gains of approximately 50% from the MPEG-4 AVC technology. Additionally, by adding transcoders to its SkyStream Mediaplex, On Demand TV can convert its MPEG-2 content into high-quality MPEG-4 AVC while preserving picture quality, teletext, subtitling and audio through one all-digital step - allowing it to leverage its current base of MPEG-2 content for distribution over MPEG-4 AVC. With the addition of MPEG-4 AVC transcoding, NTT will become the world's first carrier to deploy an MPEG-4 AVC IPv6-based television service.
"Now that carriers of all sizes - from the smallest rural telcos to the world's largest providers, like NTT - are successfully delivering IPTV, service providers no longer see video as an option, but as an essential part of their service offerings," said Jim Olson, executive vice president, TANDBERG Television. "The planned expansion of NTT's IPTV service to MPEG-4 AVC is indicative of the growing success and pervasiveness of IPTV worldwide. Our continued work with NTT as their video service evolves is truly a testament to our equipment's ability to grow with providers as their services expand and advance."

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CORPORATE MOVES

Harris to Acquire Aastra Digital Video

Harris Corporation (NYSE: HRS) has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Aastra Digital Video, a business unit of Aastra Technologies Limited (Toronto: AAH). Aastra Digital Video develops and markets video networking, encoding, decoding, and multiplexing technologies used by television broadcasters, telecommunications providers and satellite networks. The heart of their product portfolio is the VideoRunner multi-service video networking system. They have been a supplier to Harris of video networking products for the past eight years, sold under the Flexicoder and NetVX brand names.
Aastra Digital Video is based in Bridgewater, New Jersey, with approximately 35 employees. Aastra's customers also include Turner Broadcasting, the National Football League, DIRECTV, Bell Canada, and the Canadian Television Network (CTV). Revenue for the 12 months ended December 31, 2005, was approximately US$18 million with EBITDA of $5.7 million, which does not include certain corporate allocations. Harris will acquire the assets of Aastra Digital Video for approximately $35 million in cash, subject to customary closing conditions, and the transaction is expected to be accretive to Harris fiscal year 2007 earnings per share, excluding acquisition-related charges.
"This acquisition adds to our Total Content Delivery solutions for the broadcast industry and will enable Harris to offer networking products that transport media content over a variety of broadcast, cable, satellite, and telco networks, including those supporting new services such as IPTV and Mobile TV," said Tim Thorsteinson, president of Harris Broadcast Communications Division. "Harris has had an excellent relationship with Aastra for many years, and we believe this acquisition will broaden our engineering resources to address rapidly emerging markets and new services that require expertise in areas such as the distribution and delivery of MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 program streams. This acquisition is a good technology match that creates significant value for our customers."

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POST-PRODUCTION

First Oz 4K DI for Atlab on Ten Canoes

Due for release in late June, the Rolf de Heer film Ten Canoes was recently awarded the special jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Shot in northern Australia’s Arnhem Land and featuring non-professional Indigenous actors, the film is a tragi-comedy set before the arrival of Europeans with dialogue in the Ganalbingu language of the remote Arafura Swamp region of north-eastern Arnhem Land. Posted at Atlab, it is also Australia's first film to be given a 4K Digital Intermediate treatment.
Rolf de Heer chose Atlab’s 4K Digital Intermediate process for Ten Canoes as part of the end-to-end colour management of the film - from processing the original negative through to making the release prints. In particular, Senior Colourist Olivier Fontenay managed the look of the finished product using Lustre, in Atlab’s Digital Grading suite.
The film is set in a number of styles, each with its own distinctive look. The starting point of the film’s story is based on a series of black and white photographs taken by the 1930s anthropologist Donald Thomson, and so the film’s “present day” is in black and white.
Although the film’s present is not 1930, but perhaps a thousand years ago, the narrative soon moves to a story within a story set in the mythical “dreamtime” past, and shown in full colour. Some so-called “speculative” scenes in the dreamtime are a hybrid colour, with the characters still in full colour but the bush backgrounds drained to a silvery-grey monochrome.
Although shot on film, the rushes – as well as previews of the final cut - had been screened in digital HD, and so the images had never been seen as a film print. The lab started by making a work print of the selected takes, and then scanning and recording some test shots back out to film. This satisfied both de Heer and cinematographer Ian Jones that the “film look” would be maintained, and so colourist Fontenay was able to start grading.
The film was shot entirely on 35mm colour negative in the super 35 format with the DI squeeze to 2.35:1 completing the anamorphic path with no deterioration in the picture quality.
The entire film was scanned at 4K resolution to perfectly preserve the quality of the original negative. DOP Ian Jones was in attendance at the beginning of the grading period, to work with Olivier on the required look of some test scenes, which were then output to film for Rolf de Heer to see. After some further refinements, the look was settled, and Olivier started on the grading in earnest.
The entire DI project took twelve weeks to complete. Atlab used about 12 Terabytes of data to handle the entire project, which is about 4 times more than a standard 2K film, and also completed the video data masters directly from the 4K rendered data, so the quality was maintained without going through a second generation transfer.

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CORPORATE MOVES

Hurdle Cleared for Intelsat-PanAmSat Merger

Intelsat, Ltd. has announced that it has been informed that the United States Department of Justice is closing its antitrust investigation of Intelsat’s proposed merger with PanAmSat Holding Corporation (NYSE: PA). The Justice Department is not seeking any conditions on the proposed merger and is not otherwise commenting on it. The transaction remains under review by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.
“We are gratified that the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, after a comprehensive review, agreed with us that the Intelsat-PanAmSat merger does not pose any threat to competition,” said Phillip Spector, Executive Vice President & General Counsel of Intelsat. “We demonstrated that the combination of Intelsat and PanAmSat will create powerful efficiencies, with complementary fleets assuring enhanced protection and flexibility for our diverse sets of customers.”
The Chief Executive Officer of Intelsat, David McGlade, said: “With the Justice Department’s decision not to challenge our transaction, we are moving full speed ahead with our integration planning and preparations. We will be finalizing our financing over the next few weeks, and should be in a position to close soon after receiving FCC approval. The new Intelsat post-merger will be one, fully-integrated, world-class provider of advanced communications solutions, with an employee team focused on customer service and technical excellence.”
Intelsat and PanAmSat announced their merger agreement on August 29, 2005. Under the agreement, Intelsat will acquire PanAmSat for $25 per share in cash, or $3.2 billion. In addition, approximately $3.2 billion in debt of PanAmSat and its subsidiaries will remain outstanding or be refinanced. Closing of the transaction is subject, among other things, to the receipt of financing by Intelsat and to obtaining regulatory approval from the FCC. All other regulatory approvals required prior to closing have been obtained.

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INSTALLATIONS

Grass Valley Builds for SKY NZ

New Zealand's SKY Network Television Limited has appointed Thomson Grass Valley to undertake the technical design, equipment supply, installation, testing and commissioning for its Broadcast Centre Upgrade project. The project will deliver new facilities at two locations: SKY’s current base at Panorama Road, Mt. Wellington, and at the recently acquired Prime Television site in Albany, which will also provide a secondary broadcast centre in the event that services from their main site are lost.
SKY delivers multi-channel television by satellite to more than 600,000 subscribers, more than 40 percent of all New Zealand homes. One of the fastest-growing pay TV networks in the world, it employs 600 people. The current transmission facilities had been developed on an incremental basis over the years with additional capacity being linked as new channels were added to the service. The resulting configuration could not meet SKY’s required efficiency levels. Further, the age of some of the equipment was causing concerns about reliability.
“The time had certainly arrived to create a tapeless environment which would provide a number of operational efficiencies, transforming our 15-year-old television station to a digital, server-based architecture,” said Derek Greenly, program manager for the SKY Broadcast Centre. “A lengthy evaluation process for the role of prime contactor was undertaken and we are extremely pleased to have Grass Valley on board. Their impressive track record in building facilities on this scale was a very important criterion in our selection process.”
In developing the detailed designs for the project, Grass Valley and SKY will establish workflow specifications that are influenced by both current practices and state-of-the-art operational concepts. Key principles in mind will be the savings and benefits offered by today’s leading production, transmission and asset management products.
Grass Valley will also provide additional sub-systems integration and project management services for integration and commissioning over the period of the entire transformation.

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IPTV

PCCW, STAR Explore IPTV

Hong Kong-based PCCW Limited and STAR have announced they will work together to explore IPTV pay-TV opportunities in overseas markets.
Leveraging PCCW’s expertise in building and operating an IPTV business and STAR’s strength and experience in content creation and distribution and the pay-TV business, the two companies will look into opportunities to work with platform operators and media companies in Asia for the rollout of IPTV services.
PCCW's now TV is the world leader in IPTV with more than 550,000 users, subscribing to the service since its launch in August 2003 and representing over 25% of homes so far in Hong Kong. now TV carries over 110 TV and audio channels including 17 channels provided by STAR and its joint ventures.
According to PCCW Executive Director Alex Arena, "PCCW has a wealth of experience in quickly implementing and operating a successful IPTV pay-TV business. Telecom and broadband companies from around the world visit us regularly, to explore how PCCW can share its experience with them. We are delighted to work together with STAR to develop these opportunities."
STAR distributes 59 channels in nine languages to over 300 million viewers on a variety of platforms in Asia and beyond. It controls over 20,000 hours of Indian and Chinese programming and also owns the world’s largest contemporary Chinese film library.
STAR Chief Executive Officer Michelle Guthrie said "We are excited to expand our working relationship with now TV, a tremendous partner of ours in Hong Kong, to explore opportunities across Asia. It is clear that IPTV will be an exciting distribution platform in the future.”
The STAR/PCCW cooperation will involve full pay-TV operations and will be in addition to worldwide technical and IT solutions provided by CASCADE Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of PCCW. CASCADE has built and installed end-to-end technical IPTV solutions in countries as far afield as Thailand and Morocco. Ongoing discussions are in progress with a number of other overseas operators.
Visit www.pccw.com and www.startv.com

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TRANSMISSION

TV-7 Indonesia DVB-T Ready

Headquartered in Jakarta, and owned and operated by PT Duta Visual Nusantara Tivi Tujuh, TV-7 recently commissioned 14 UHF stations throughout Indonesia with new Jampro JUHD panel antennas. Jampro broadcast engineers supervised the projects and the Company’s technicians completed the turnkey antenna installations, which included Jampro's RCPU patch panels-power splitters and transmission lines.
TV-7 airs 18 UHF channels over its 15 stations. It also offers programming downlinked from the Telkom1 satellite at 4075 MHz. TV-7 chose Jampro's JUHD antennas because of a modular design that could be configured to specific azimuth and elevation patterns, and because beam tilt and null fill could be shaped for maximum coverage.
Depending on the TV-7 tower site, either the JUHD antennas were installed as side-mounts or top mounts. Antennas were delivered DVB-T/DTV ready for UHF bands IV and V with wide bandwidth for multiple channel operations such as TV-7. In a hot, humid climate with heavy tropical rainfalls, the durability of the equipment was an important factor in TV-7's purchase decision. JUHDs are ruggedly built with stainless steel, have fiberglass radomes for protection, and have performed reliably in some of the world's most hostile environments.
The Jampro JUHD broadband panel antenna has a feed system design that provides optimum performance regardless of the station's channel, and pattern variation over the band is minimized. Different configurations will produce various gains, weights and wind loads.

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FUNDING

$249.5 million for world-class ICT centre

The Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan, and the Minister for Education, Science and Training, Julie Bishop MP, have announced the signing of a five-year $249.5 million funding agreement with National ICT Australia (NICTA).
“This substantial and continued funding for NICTA demonstrates the Government’s long-term commitment to enhancing Australia’s information and communications technology innovation system and recognition of ICT’s contribution to broader economic growth,” Senator Coonan said.
“Since it was established in 2002, NICTA has become a magnet for world class researchers, including many of Australia’s best and brightest researchers working overseas, and has enhanced Australia’s research training capacity through a competitive PhD program,” Minister Bishop said. “NICTA’s research program has practical applications in a broad range of industries, wealth creation and benefits for all Australians.”
In the 10-year period to 30 June 2011, the Australian Government will provide $380 million to NICTA as part of its $8.3 billion commitment to innovation — Backing Australia’s Ability.

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SMPTE NEWS - TRAINING

SMPTE Launches Industry Education Initiative

The Australia Section of the Society of Motion Picture & Television Engineers recently corralled a who’s who of broadcast technologists, educators, equipment vendors, recruiters and management at the Australian Film, TV & Radio School to unveil a plan for combating what it sees as an imminent skills shortage which it says will impede the sector’s growth and innovation.
The forum was opened by the Minister for Vocational and Technical Education, Gary Hardgrave, himself a former radio broadcaster, television presenter and journalist, and radio news director.
“Industry and business needs must drive training priorities and delivery to ensure quality training and outcomes,” said Mr Hardgrave.
According to SMPTE Australia Section Chair John Maizels, there are a number of industry ‘pressure points’ which are contributing to a skills shortage. These include staff vanishing through attrition, the fact that nothing has evolved to replace the old BOCP and TVOCP qualifications and that education/training is not interlocking with industry needs.
Targeting engineering technology and para-technical professionals in broadcast and motion imaging industry, Maizels says the aim of the Industry Education Initiative is to:
* Work with industry to define set of industry skill requirements
* Create recognised and transportable certifications matching industry needs
* Work with select providers to create education roadmaps, job assessment and job placement processes, as well as additional life-skill/non-vocational training.
By doing so, the hope is that future workers coming out of TAFE systems, higher education, and those learning on the job can be assessed against a common framework which caters to the needs of the industry. The result would be a training qualification system, augmented by an industry specific, value-add, certification which provides measurement for professional attainment.
One scheme under consideration is the US Society of Broadcast Engineers certification model where qualifications and ongoing industry involvement such as teaching and authoring technical papers are all taken into account.
Following the launch of the Industry Education Initiative, a project steering committee has been formed including industry professionals, vendors, educators and Innovation and Business Skills Australia (IBSA) with the aim of presenting a preliminary scheme by October this year and a final version by July 2007.
“You get what you measure,” says John Maizels. “At moment we're not measuring anything at all. It’s an open loop at the moment and when you have no feedback you get crud. It's no different to designing an amplifier.”

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STANDARDS

SMPTE Releases VC-1 Standard

The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers has announced the release of its Standard for Compressed Video Bitstreams. Release of the VC-1 document, along with supporting Recommended Practices, will guide companies in building interoperable solutions using advanced compression technology.
“Standardization of VC-1 represents over two years of work by more that 120 individuals representing over 75 media and entertainment companies,” says Ingo Höntsch, Chair of SMPTE’s Video Compression Technology Committee, which oversaw development of the VC-1 standard, “and many companies throughout the industry have been promoting VC-1 integration for some time now.”
“Formal standardisation of VC-1 provides stability for manufacturers and allows for a high level of confidence that users can interchange bitstreams between products from different manufacturers,” says Peter Symes who as SMPTE Engineering Vice President oversaw the development of the Standard. “The work was contentious at times, and initially some people thought that SMPTE would just “rubber stamp” the Microsoft document. In fact, many individuals and organizations contributed to the final documents over the two-year development period. Significantly, SMPTE has now been chosen as the organization to standardize two new compression systems.”
Formal standardization was proposed by Microsoft Corporation, who contributed decoder source code and other resources towards development of the process.
“The SMPTE VC-1 standard went through a very rigorous and formal open due process procedure involving committee members from all segments of the Media, Entertainment and Computer industries” says Mike Dolan of Television Broadcast Technology (TBT), who chaired the main ad hoc committee. ”This process has resulted in a clear, comprehensive and completely open standard for development of compressed video bitstreams,” Dolan adds.
SMPTE’s Compression Technology Committee has also formed a new Working Group dedicated to providing maintenance of the test materials and documents, as well as the administration of a bitstream exchange program. Microsoft has contributed source code for an example encoder that is available to committee members participating in this program.
The VC-1 documents are SMPTE 421M-2006, “VC-1 Compressed Video Bitstream Format and Decoding Process” - the Standard itself, as well as two supporting Recommended Practices, SMPTE RP227-2006 “VC-1 Bitstream Transport Encodings” and SMPTE RP228-2006 “VC-1 Decoder and Bitstream Conformance”.

All three documents can be purchased on the SMPTE website at www.smpte.org.

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INSTALLATIONS

WIN Rolls Out Grass Valley Newsroom/K2 servers

WIN Television, Australia’s largest and leading regional television broadcaster has placed a multi-million dollar order with Grass Valley for its Digital News Production (DNP) solution. The major components include a range of Grass Valley’s DNP suite of products for ingest, editing, central storage, browse and playout. Complementing the total system solution is a substantial commitment to the recently released modular K2 Media media server and media client from Grass Valley.
Grass Valley in association with the WIN Television senior technical team will commission a staged roll out of these Digital Newsrooms across all of WIN’s regional TV stations located in the various States across Australia. The project will be managed and supported by the local Grass Valley DNP product specialists and a core crew from the Melbourne and Sydney based Systems team.
WIN Television’s Director of Network Broadcast Engineering, John Smithers commented, “Only the Grass Valley DNP system provided the digital newsroom environment that best suited our needs. It was a great partnership experience to get to the final detail for the system workflow design with WIN Engineering and Operations in conjunction with the Grass Valley team. Working together like that will ensure the progressive roll out will suit our aims and ambitions and provide an easy path to contemplating further expansion in the future”.
A core component of the system is the new K2 Video Server which will provide central and distributed storage architecture in SD and HD formats for all news operations throughout the Network. Linking of the large number of remote sites to the central hubs was a key requirement of the systems design. Smithers added, “We quickly found the flexibility of the K2 architecture could ideally address many of our specific needs”.
“The Grass Valley technology is deliberately designed to help broadcasters from all over the world make the transition to digital as smooth and cost-effectively as possible,” said Marc Valentin, president of the Grass Valley business within Thomson. “We are delighted that WIN has selected our DNP solutions as the standard for their multiple regional sites.
The first major site at Wollongong is expected to be commissioned by the middle 2006 with a progressive roll-out to Ballarat in Victoria, Rockhampton in Queensland and the remainder of WIN Television’s Network studios to follow later.

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CORPORATE MOVES

Avid Acquires Sundance Digital, Inc.

Avid Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVID) has announced that it has acquired Sundance Digital, Inc. for approximately US$12 million in cash. Sundance – which is based in the Dallas, TX area – is a leading developer of automation and device control software for broadcast video servers, tape transports, graphics systems and other broadcast station equipment. The acquisition further widens Avid’s worldwide leadership position as the provider of choice among broadcasters for digital systems to produce, manage, control, and play back television programming.
"For more than a decade, Sundance Digital has been committed to developing leading-edge technologies that automate and control a broad range of playout devices, enabling broadcasters to operate more efficiently and deliver a higher degree of error-free transmissions,” said Chas Smith, vice president and general manager of Avid’s Video division. “Sundance has built a successful business with a family of open solutions that interoperate with major traffic and production systems from many companies. We plan to maintain this distinct advantage while also exploring opportunities to extend the powerful automation capabilities that Sundance already provides for our own transmission products. With Sundance systems in our portfolio, Avid will offer more open and streamlined broadcast production workflows across the entire spectrum of media acquisition, production, and transmission.” Robert C. Johnson, president of Sundance Digital, said, “Sundance and Avid share a common vision: to help broadcasters transition into the world of all-digital production. Our award-winning systems – currently in use by many Avid clients – are the perfect complement to Avid’s news creation tools. Now, broadcasters searching for the most seamless production and automation workflows will be able to rely on a single vendor. With Sundance systems in its mix, Avid will offer more comprehensive automation control over the entire media production process and further empower broadcasters to run their operations with greater precision and agility.”
As a leader in the television automation industry, Sundance Digital has been providing cost-effective, high-performance solutions to public and commercial broadcasters since 1994. The company’s products, which offer software to manage broadcast master control operations, include Titan, FastBreak NXT Automation and FastBreak NXT XPress, Intelli-Sat, Digital Delivery Management System (DDMS), NewsLink, and Sundance Seeker. Sundance automation systems already integrate smoothly with a range of Avid broadcast solutions, including MediaStream, Avid iNEWS, Deko, DekoCast, Thunder, and AirSpeed.

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CORPORATE MOVES

Harris to Acquire Optimal Solutions

Harris Corporation (NYSE: HRS) has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Optimal Solutions, Inc. (OSi),
a privately held provider of air-time sales, traffic and billing software systems to over 350 call-letter broadcast stations in North America. The scalability of OSi's Windows(R)-based platform can support a single call-letter station or scale to support the largest station groups and network/affiliate relationships with one software installation.
"The acquisition of OSi will further strengthen our portfolio and commitment to provide Total Content Delivery solutions to the industry," said Howard Lance, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Harris Corporation. "OSi expands our capabilities in enterprise-wide software for managing and scheduling advertising and programming for broadcasters, and complements the Harris next-generation H-Class platform."
The H-Class platform is designed to serve the diverse business models of broadcast networks, cable networks and media content providers as well as the emergence of new services such as IPTV, mobile TV, and on-demand video delivery.
"The combination of OSi and Harris will offer the industry unprecedented value - across the widest range of customers and business models," said Ed Adams, president of OSi. "We are proud to add our software offering and talent to the Harris team. Both customers and employees will benefit from the size and resources of Harris, and the long-term commitment Harris has made to the media industry."
OSi was founded in 1996 and is based in Kansas City, Missouri. Revenue for the 12 months ended March 31, 2006, was approximately $5 million and the company currently has approximately $27 million in revenue under contract. Harris will acquire OSi for approximately $32 million in cash, subject to customary closing conditions, and OSi's shareholders may receive additional payments over the next three years if certain operating goals are achieved. The transaction is expected to close in early May. The acquisition is expected to be neutral to Harris fiscal year 2006 earnings per share, excluding acquisition-related charges, and accretive in fiscal year 2007.

Thorsteinsen Named President, Broadcast Communications

Harris has also named Timothy E. "Tim" Thorsteinson, 52, president of the company's Broadcast Communications Division. Mr. Thorsteinson, a 15-year veteran of the broadcast industry, had been serving as president of the Leitch
Technology business unit of the Harris Broadcast Communications Division. Harris acquired Leitch in October 2005. He succeeds Jeremy C. Wensinger who is being promoted to a senior leadership position within the Harris Government Communications Systems Division.
"Tim is well known and highly respected within the broadcast industry," said Howard L. Lance, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Harris. "His appointment comes at an exciting time for Harris and the industry as the transition to digital technologies continues to accelerate. He has a proven track record of operational success within the industry and a vision that will keep Harris at the cutting edge of product innovation and customer responsiveness. He inherits a broadcast organization that has achieved excellent forward momentum over the past two years under the leadership of Jeremy Wensinger."
Mr. Thorsteinson joined Leitch Technology Corporation as president and CEO in November 2003. He led the company's financial turnaround and expansion through organic growth and acquisitions. Prior to joining Leitch, Mr. Thorsteinson was vice president of Grass Valley products for Thomson Broadcast & Media Solutions, where he was responsible for a variety of product lines including switchers, server/storage units, digital news production, signal management, film imaging product lines, and TV/film production products. Previously, he served as president and
CEO of the Grass Valley Group.
Prior to joining Thomson/Grass Valley, Mr. Thorsteinson was with Tektronix, Inc., from 1991 to 2001. As president of the Video and Networking Division of Tektronix, he implemented a major R&D program focused on the transition of the worldwide broadcast industry from analog to digital and into the multimedia age. Previously, he served as
president of Tektronix Pacific Operations, one of three units established to accelerate growth in key international markets.
Before joining Tektronix, Mr. Thorsteinson served 12 years with National Semiconductor Corporation where he designed several highly successful programs focused on process re-engineering and total quality management. He received his bachelor's degree from the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California.

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DISTRIBUTION

Harris Takes Inscriber/Leitch Locally

Following Melbourne-based distributor Focal Point Digital being placed in receivership, all Leitch and Inscriber products will now be represented directly in Australia by Harris.
Harris are maintaining the same staff that were in Sydney and Melbourne (Don Dennis, Simon Lockington, Chris Palmer and Craig Stokes).
Craig Stokes moves to the position of Sales Manager, Leitch based at Harris Broadcast Communications Division
Level 1, 14 Rodborough Road, Frenchs Forest, NSW 2086. Tel. (02) 9975 9700. Fax. (02) 9975 3519. Mobile: 0416 210538. Email: Craig.stokes@harris.com
Don Dennis – Sales Director, Simon Lockington – Product Manager Inscriber and Chris Palmer – Technical Sales - remain in Melbourne and are based at Harris Broadcast & Communications Division, Level 1, 72-74 Auburn Pde, Hawthorn East, Victoria 3123. Tel: (03) 9882 9300. Their emails are don.dennis@harris.com, Simon.lockington@harris.com, and christopher.palmer@harris.com respectively.
 
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CORPORATE MOVES

JDSU to Acquire Test-Um

T&M giant JDSU has announced an agreement to acquire Test-Um Inc., an industry-leading provider of home networking test instruments for the FTTx and digital cable markets. The acquisition, which creates new sales channels for Test-Um’s home networking product portfolio and JDSU’s existing set of field test instruments for broadband access networks, is expected to close in the current quarter. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The rapid adoption of IP-based voice, data and video services makes it a strategic imperative that telecommunications and cable network operators deploy broadband triple-play test solutions that extend from the core network into the home. Test-Um and its 30 employees add to JDSU’s triple-play test expertise and product portfolio, bringing an extensive set of home-wiring test instruments for the verification, installation and maintenance of Category 3, Category 5 and coaxial cables used in home and small office networks for the delivery of VoIP, IPTV and other services. The ability to conduct “three-wire” home network testing is increasingly important as the number of broadband-connected homes and networked devices grows.
By acquiring Test-Um, JDSU expands its channels for the sale of its broad portfolio of test instruments for broadband access networks, including its recently introduced SmartClass line of instruments. JDSU will leverage Test-Um’s network of several hundred distribution partners, making its access test instruments available to the service installation and electrical contractors served by Test-Um today. In addition, the acquisition creates new market opportunities for Test-Um’s products, which will be made available through JDSU’s direct sales and service organization serving the largest telecommunications and cable service providers worldwide.
“The deployment of broadband networks and the widespread availability of affordable broadband Internet access are driving adoption of new video and other advanced communications services for the home,” said John Peeler, executive vice president of JDSU’s Communications Test and Measurement (T&M) Group. “With our acquisition of Test-Um, JDSU will add an important set of test instruments to help our customers quickly, efficiently and reliably deliver the IP-based triple play services consumers are demanding.”
Test-Um’s “three-wire” test instruments verify the ability of home wiring to support the reliable delivery of new, high-bandwidth voice, data and video services throughout the home. Test-Um’s instruments include test sets for verifying line conditions and power-signal levels, wireless testers that facilitate communications on the job, tone tracing and identification to locate and track cable runs, and analyzers for more advanced service troubleshooting and certification. The company is based in Camarillo, California and will be integrated into JDSU’s Communications Test and Measurement Product Group.

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DISTRIBUTION

Vizrt Opens in Australia

Vizrt Ltd, a leading real-time 3D graphics software company, has apponted Glenn Bailey as Sales and Operations Manager to establish its Oceania regional office in Sydney. Glenn comes to Vizrt from local distributor AMtech Australia. While working for AMtech, Glenn established strong market share for the Vizrt brand in the region. With the growing customer base in Australia and New Zealand for Vizrt graphics solutions and the pending acquisition of Ardendo, Vizrt is making a commitment to its customers, both existing and new, in establishing a local regional office.

Joining Glenn is Mark Nijhof, who will be filling the position of Customer Support Manager. Mark is moving to Sydney from his current position in the R&D department of the Vizrt Norwegian office. Mark's previous experience includes customer support along with programming expertise in graphics databases and control applications.

Contact Vizrt Oceania, PO Box 710, Padstow, NSW 2211. Tel: +61-(0)2-972 2233. Email: GBailey@vizrt.com

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DAB

Digital Radio to be introduced by 2009

Digital radio services will commence in Australia by 2009, that is the word from the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan.
“In October 2005 I gave a commitment to Australian radio broadcasters and their listeners to develop the necessary legislative and planning structures to implement digital radio as soon as possible,” Senator Coonan said. “I am pleased to announce the next steps in the implementation process which will result in services commencing in the six state capital cities by 1 January 2009.”
The introduction of digital radio requires amendments to the existing radio broadcasting and transmission legislative and regulatory arrangements.
New licence categories will be defined and legislation will be required to implement the six-year moratorium on the issue of new commercial digital radio licences in the Broadcasting Services Band.
The moratorium will commence from the start date for services in the state capital markets, and the multiplex licensees will need to achieve specified rollout and coverage requirements in these markets by the end of the moratorium period.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority will have the power to plan and licence digital radio services and to oversee digital radio rollout including the development of Digital Radio Introduction Schemes.
The Schemes will set out the technical, and other, requirements broadcasters must meet for the implementation of digital radio.
The commercial broadcasting sector has expressed a desire to control the multiplexes used to deliver commercial digital radio services. The framework includes an option to allow them to do so, in conjunction with community broadcasters should they choose, and the legislative amendments will provide for this.
The introduction of a multiplex for the transmission of radio broadcasting raises unique competition issues that are not present in analogue.
“Accordingly, the legislation must ensure open, efficient and generally give non-discriminatory access to digital radio multiplexes and proposals to achieve this have been developed in consultation with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission,” Senator Coonan said.
“A decision on whether specific funding assistance for the participation of the national and wide-coverage community broadcasters in the initial service rollout is necessary will be considered as part of the 2007-08 budget process.”
“This will provide the opportunity for a number of technical issues relating to their rollout to be considered in more detail and for the scope for them to share facilities with commercial broadcasters to be explored.”
Commercial radio broadcasters said they were pleased the Federal Government has set a start date for digital radio and were on track to launch digital radio services by 2009.
“It’s good to see we have a time frame for the industry to work towards, it is in line with what we expected, and barring any unforeseen hurdles with spectrum planning, we consider it a feasible timeframe,” said Joan Warner, chief executive officer of peak industry body Commercial Radio Australia.
Ms Warner said the industry had commenced business planning for a national rollout beginning in 12 capital cities and major regional areas, and would be making a significant investment in building a digital transmission network.
“Our research shows Australians are extremely interested in digital radio, and we are working towards delivering a lot of exciting new features and content that will allow radio to compete more effectively against new technologies,” Ms Warner said.
Research by Colmar Brunton Media Solutions released by Ms Warner at the Australian Broadcasting Summit today contained good news for digital radio, with 75 per cent of people surveyed and 84 per cent of 18-24-year-olds saying they would be very or quite interested in purchasing a digital radio priced within their budget (up from 68% and 80% respectively in a similar survey undertaken in 2004).
The research, undertaken Australia-wide, showed that a significant majority - 67 per cent - of people surveyed said commercial radio was their primary source of hearing new music and 79 per cent said they listen to commercial radio every week.
Meanwhile, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has released updated policy guidelines for digital radio trials using the broadcasting services bands.
‘The guidelines take account of the government’s digital radio policy framework, broaden the scope of the guidelines to include the MF-AM band and set out a broader range of factors ACMA will take into account in considering whether to approve trials,’ said Chris Chapman, ACMA Chairman.
In a related decision, Mr Chapman announced that ACMA has decided to make spectrum available in the MF AM band on 1386 kHz in the Wollongong region for a digital radio trial. TJH Systems, a broadcasting engineering consultancy firm, will operate a trial of digital radio technology using Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) for a period of six months from 1 April 2006.
‘ACMA’s decision follows consideration of all requests to use the 1386 kHz frequency. There is interest in its use for community radio and open narrowcasting radio broadcasting, and competing applications to trial digital radio technology,’ said Mr Chapman.
ACMA has decided not to re-open the Sydney licence area plan to further consider the use of 1386 kHz at this point in time. Instead, ACMA has exercised its power to make spectrum available on a short term basis for another use while leaving the frequency in the licence area plan for potential use as an analogue community radio service.

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INSTALLATIONS

Globecast Chooses Pro-Bel for Teleport

Located in the heart of Sydney Australia, Globecast Australia’s teleport facility offers broadcasters a wide range of technical services including satellite uplink and receive services to a wide variety of locations in Australia and overseas. The facility acts as a key "nerve centre" for the delivery of the transmission, sports and news feeds throughout Australia.
As part of its ongoing digital infrastructure expansion, Globecast Australia has addressed the growing demand for their signal distribution facilities by selecting a Pro-Bel Sirius digital routing switcher from Quinto Communications.
The Pro-Bel router is capable of supporting up to 256 video inputs and outputs which may be any combination of Standard Definition 270Mbit/s video, High Definition (HDTV) 1.5Gbit/s video signals and DVB-ASI MPEG2 transport streams.
The Sirius routing switcher will be controlled using Pro-Bel’s Procion control system which allows switching of signals to be controlled remotely via Ethernet, using customised application specific control screens.
Globecast Australia’s Head of Engineering, Richard Ward, commented; "Our busy teleport facility handles a diverse range of digital video signal types including MPEG transport streams and SD signals. We also wanted to be future proof, so the product we bought had to be capable of handling HDTV. The Pro-Bel routers’ capability to automatically equalise and re-clock all of these different signal types is therefore essential to us.
“We are also pleased with the versatility of the Procion software. It is capable of being configured to allow our Broadcast customers to remote control the routing of their own signals to and from the facility and to other broadcasters through the central Sirius router".
This latest purchase enables Globecast to join a growing list of Australian Pro-Bel users which now includes the Nine Network and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

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AWARDS

Child Rights Award 2006: a Call to Broadcasters

The Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU), CASBAA and UNICEF are now inviting Asia-Pacific broadcasters and producers to submit entries for the Asia-Pacific Child Rights Award 2006.
The ABU CASBAA UNICEF Child Rights Award, launched in 2001, is given each year in recognition of the best television programming on a child rights issue produced in the Asia-Pacific region. It recognises the efforts of broadcasters in pursuing both the production of top-quality children's programming and news coverage of children's issues.
Programmes both for children and about children are eligible and can cover any child rights issue. Entries can include documentaries that detail the plight of children, dramas that help break down stereotypes and discrimination, or animation that teaches and entertains.
Entries, which are free, must have been broadcast between August 2005 and July 2006, and must be received by 25 August 2006. The Award will be presented at the ABU Annual General Meeting in Beijing in November 2006. The winner will be flown to Beijing for the ceremony.
To obtain further information on the award, please visit www.childrightsaward.org or contact kjirathun@unicef.org.

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Melbourne Tastes DVB-H at Commonwealth Games

Telstra, Microsoft and Broadcast Australia have used the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games to conduct that city’s first live demonstration showcase of mobile TV using Digital Video Broadcasting – Handheld (DVB-H). Part of the DVB suite of standards, DVB-H allows simultaneous transmission of television, radio, video, audio and Internet content to mobile phones, PDAs, PCs and other handheld devices.
The Melbourne showcase service included up to seven channels of live Commonwealth Games coverage including Channel Nine coverage of the Games on specially enabled Windows Mobile handheld devices.
Part of a DVB-H showcase at the Telstra Discovery Centre in Birrarung Marr during the Games, the DVB-H handsets used Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 software while content was broadcast using Windows Media Video 9 compression technology.
Telstra also recently launched the live BigPond mobile 3G and broadband service for the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games.
Broadcast Australia provided the transmission infrastructure for the showcase service.
According to Graeme Barclay, Broadcast Australia Managing Director, “We believe strongly that mobile TV is a product of the future that allows consumers the opportunity to access their favourite television shows via a handheld device—anywhere, at any time. DVB-H is an exciting new mobile television platform that represents a convergence of traditional broadcast and mobile communications technologies. Broadcast Australia is committed to testing mobile television technology.”

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ABC-TV Selects Sony for High Def

Sony Australia has announced it has won major tender contracts with ABC TV for the supply of High Definition cameras and VTRs to the Australian national broadcaster. Sony’s range of HD products was selected after a thorough and exhaustive tender process against tough competition.
The HD camera contract is centred on the multiformat Sony HDC-1500 portable camera, which will be supplied for three years with an option to extend the agreement to five years.
The first orders are for the ABC’s new HD studio in Ultimo, Sydney, and a HD Outside Broadcast van to be built in this calendar year.
The HDC-1500 portable camera incorporates a newly developed CCD imager that creates 1080 line 50 frame progressive images to provide a super-sampled front end that can be converted into any of the HD formats using the latest DSP LSI technology.
The new CCD and DSP LSI are two key devices that create stunning images in a variety of scanning modes. The new camera system accommodates all popular interlace and progressive scan formats including 1080/50 or 60, 1080/24P as well as the highest-quality 720/50P images.
"In this new era of high definition the ABC will be in the forefront of acquisition technology, having chosen the HDC-1500 series camera,” said Charles Montesin, Group Sales and Marketing Manager, Broadcast and Professional Solutions. “The HDC 1500 has been quickly recognised by the ABC as being the most advanced camera available today for it 60 frame progressive CCD and advanced DSP LSI."
The ABC TV contract includes the supply of large-lens adaptor, the HDLA-1500. Unlike traditional lens "build-up kits", the HDLA-1500 provides a very simple one-touch cable-free mounting of the camera so that it can be quickly and easily converted from hand-held to pedestal configuration.
ABC TV joins locals Cutting Edge and the UK’s British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) as leading production groups that have selected Sony HD equipment to take them to the next level of image capture. In the US Times Square Studios is using nine HDC-1500 cameras for ABC's Good Morning America as well as other network news and sports productions.
The second ABC TV contract will see Sony supply HD VTR's for three years with an option to extend to five years.
Under this contract the ABC can call on the whole range of Sony VTR's including the newly released SRW HDCAM decks. As with the HD cameras the first deliveries will be installed in the new studio and OB van.

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Row Brewing Over MHP

A row is threatening to develop over the licensing of MHP (Multimedia Home Platform) technology, particularly in Europe where a tenth of the more than 47 million digital receiver households have MHP-embedded devices.
Via Licensing Corporation, the wholly owned subsidiary of Dolby Laboratories which develops and administers patent licensing programs, recently announced patent licensing terms for interactive television services broadcast free-to-air using the DVB-MHP standard.
Holders of patents essential to the MHP standard that are participating in the formation of the joint-licensing program for MHP include Comcast, Open TV, Panasonic (Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.), Royal Philips Electronics, Samsung Electronics, Thomson, and Time Warner Cable. Via Licensing is acting as the licensing administrator for the pool.
According to Via Licensing, “as the purpose of the pool is to promote wide adoption of MHP by the market, license fees for MHP services broadcasted free-to-air will not be charged by the MHP patent pool before January 1, 2009.”
At the end of this incentive period, the license fees for MHP services provided by free-to-air broadcasters will be assessed on a per-broadcaster basis, and will vary depending on the total number of households within the reach of the MHP services.
Via Licensing says this fee structure simplifies reporting activities for licensees while distinguishing between those free-to-air broadcasters that offer for-fee services and those that do not.
The announced licensing fees for MHP are:
* Consumer devices - US$2.00 per device
* MHP services provided by subscription-based service provider - $0.25 per subscriber (household) per year Option: One-time five-year license for $1.25
* MHP services provided by free-to-air broadcasters that do not offer any for-fee services. From US$25,000/year for 0.1 to 2.5 million household coverage up to $100,000/year for above 7.5 million households.
* MHP services provided by free-to-air broadcasters that also offer for-fee services (including but not limited to pay-per-view services). US$50,000/year for 0.1 to 2.5 million households up to $200,000/year for above 7.5 million households.
However, this announcement has been labelled as “a case of IPR Hijacking that is now endangering the wide adoption of MHP!”
In an open letter to the industry, Anthony Smith-Chaigneau and Paul Bristow of iTV middleware developer Osmosys S.A., claim that the Patent Pool initiative will “only serve to harm the existing market and inhibit any uptake and roll-out of new iTV services and E-Government services. This will create a stagnation effect in the industry including the new IPTV standardisation efforts and will impact other mobile systems such as DVB-H.
“What the MHP Patent Pool members may need reminding of is that the competition for MHP devices is not other devices carrying Interactive TV middleware, be they “Standardised or “Proprietary”, but non-interactive “Zapper” set top boxes.”
The pair claim that the additional costs levied upon from 2009 onwards will “likely to cause them to give up on iTV services altogether concentrating their resources on linear Digital TV only and therefore zero revenue to the Patent Pool.”
They also question whether the Licensing Fees as proposed are fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory. Among the question they ask are, “Is it fair charging for unknown IPR which may cause Content and Service Providers to unwittingly infringe patents? Should IPR Patent Pool costs be more than the Java licensing which is the core of the technology employed in the specification? Is it non-discriminatory when arbitrary fees are set on arbitrary points in the MHP value chain? E.g. FTA - THH covered by the Broadcaster whether or not those people have a device or are actually using the technology.”
The situation, say the Omosys executives is “yet another stealth-like “killer blow” to the hopes of an industry aiming to rectify the middleware problems of yesteryear and the very reason MHP was invented. By this form of Standardisation Hold-Up via IPR Hijacking, the New Television’ landscape of the future cannot flourish! Business growth will be severely affected across the iTV sectors in Europe creating bankruptcies and mass unemployment and the EU’s Information Society goals cannot be achieved with such a convoluted and fragmented/weak Interactive Digital TV landscape. We can only conclude that the Patent Pool members either a) do not understand the interactive television industry or b) are actively trying to kill the MHP standard for other business or financial reasons.”

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DATACASTING

MHP on Sydney Datacast Trial

The Sydney digital terrestrial Datacast trial continues to develop and has launched MHP interactive services on two of the channels. Data services are running on the DIGITAL FORTY FOUR home service on channel 44 and on channel 41, the ABC News Sport and Weather service which is now providing a huge depth and breadth of information. More channels expect to introduce interactive services around the turn of the year. MHP is the acknowledged industry standard for the delivery of interactive television content in Australia. Only digital television receivers with the MHP middleware built into the set top box or digital television can receive the MHP applications currently being broadcast.
Broadcast Australia, which is running the Sydney datacast trial, also reports that the new Federal Parliamentary sitting year will be broadcast in video, in addition to the live audio coverage which has been running to date.

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Indonesia to Trial DVB-H

Global mobility player Nokia and the EMTEK (Elang Mahkota Teknologi) Group, an emerging player in Indonesia's TMT (Telecommunication, Media, and Technology) sector recently unveiled plans to conduct a Mobile TV consumer pilot in Indonesia by the second half of 2006 through EMTEK Group subsidiaries PT Mediatama Citra Abadi (PT MECA) and PT Surya Citra Televisi (SCTV).
The pilot will use Digital Video Broadcast - Handheld (DVB-H) technology.
PT MECA will be the main aggregator of the audio-visual content and the broadcast platform operator, while SCTV will act as broadcast content provider. Nokia will supply the Mobile Broadcast Solution as well as the Nokia N92 DVB-H enabled devices for the consumer pilot. 
The pilot will enable the parties involved to accurately assess the viability of Mobile TV service in Indonesia. It will test the reception quality of the broadcast coverage, as well as explore the options of supporting different service schemes (advertising, subscription-based, and interactive services); and most importantly to gauge consumer expectations of the service going forward - all essential considerations towards bringing the service commercial in the future.
In the Asia Pacific last year, Nokia spearheaded several Mobile TV showcases such as in Singapore (with Mediacorp & M1) and Malaysia (Astro & Maxis), as well as participated in industry-wide events showcasing simulcast Mobile TV content with players in the media and entertainment industry. Nokia is also in the midst of a 12-month DVB-H trial started last July with the Bridge Networks & Telstra in Australia for consumers based in Sydney.
In January 2006, Nokia, along with leading wireless and entertainment companies in the United States, formed the Mobile DTV Alliance - a new organisation created to promote the growth and evolution of Digital Video Broadcasting - Handheld (DVB-H). A similar organisation is being mooted for the Asia-Pacific region.
Visit www.emtek.co.id, www.sctv.co.id and www.nokia-asia.com

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Singapore’s MediaCorp Starts IPTV trial

Singapore’s MediaCorp TV is inviting 2,000 users to be part of the Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) trial group for its new video-on-demand service - MediaCorp Online Broadband TV. This new Internet-delivered service allows subscribers an easy and immediate access to MediaCorp programmes on their PCs and laptops.
Scheduled to be launched in the middle of the year, this new service enables immediate digital streaming of MediaCorp TV Channel 5, Channel 8 and Channel U shows.
Chang Long Jong, Deputy Group Chief Executive Officer, MediaCorp TV, said: “Users will be able to watch their favourite shows again at any time of the day or night and in a format that is most convenient for them.
“We are also exploring the idea to let users catch shows even before they premiere on terrestrial TV,” he added.
MediaCorp said that feedback from trial users will be factored in when determining the pricing packages for the new service.

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DISTRIBUTION

Ambertech/Panasonic Sign Dealer Agreement

Ambertech Limited has announced that it has signed a dealer distribution agreement with Panasonic Australia Pty. Limited. While the dealer agreement covers almost the full range of Panasonic Professional products, Ambertech will primarily focus on Panasonic’s industry-leading Convertible & Broadcast camera systems and accessories – including the revolutionary P2 tapeless recording format and the acclaimed AG-HVX202 multi-format camera.
John Fitzpatrick, Professional Divisional Manager of Ambertech Ltd, said: “We are pleased to add the Panasonic Professional Product range to our portfolio of products. This new dealership will allow the division to further expand sales in the Broadcast production markets and provide a perfect synergy with our existing range of Vinten camera support systems and Videssence studio lighting products.”
Commenting on the appointment of Ambertech, Morris Ueda, Product Manager, Panasonic Australia, said, “We welcome the addition of Ambertech to our Australian dealer network and look forward to a long association with the Ambertech team. With its excellent customer support capabilities and sharp focus on the high-end commercial broadcast equipment market, Ambertech is an ideal fit for Panasonic.”
visit www.ambertech.com.au

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Restructure of ABC Board

The Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan has announced that the Board of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) will be restructured to “improve corporate governance at the national broadcaster”. The staff-elected Director position on the ABC Board will be abolished and legislation to give effect to this change will be introduced as early as possible.
Unlike the other national broadcaster – the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) – the ABC Board includes a director appointed through a staff election process.
This is an anomaly amongst Australian Government agency boards that has given rise to concerns about conflicts of interest and the effective functioning of the ABC Board, including maintaining the confidentiality of Board deliberations.
“As the staff-elected Director has been elected by staff rather than appointed, there have been claims that the position creates uncertainty about accountability.
“However, there is a clear legal requirement on the staff-elected Director that means he or she has the same rights, duties and obligations as the other Directors, including to act in the interests of the ABC as a whole.
“The Government is of the view that there should be no question about the constituency that ABC Directors are accountable to,” Senator Coonan said.
“Therefore, to ensure the efficient functioning of the ABC Board, the staff-elected position will be removed. This change is in line with modern principles of corporate governance and will also provide more consistency in governance arrangements for Australian Government agencies.”
The term of the current staff-elected ABC Director, Ms Ramona Koval, expires on 14 June 2006. The ABC has already commenced arrangements with the Australian Electoral Commission for the election of a new staff-elected Director.
Introduction of legislation as soon as possible will ensure that this change will come into force before the next staff-elected Director takes up their position, should anyone nominate. Until the legislation is passed, the election process must continue.
The Government currently has under consideration candidates to fill the two existing vacancies on the ABC Board.

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REGULATION

Media Reform ‘Reformed’ Again

With the release of a discussion paper entitled Meeting the Digital Challenge: Reforming Australia's media in the digital age, the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan, has once more thrown Federal Parliament’s favourite hot potato into the air for evaluation by the industry. Key points include:

• Switchover - The Government proposes to develop a Digital Action Plan in partnership with stakeholders to expedite digital conversion, bring the simulcast period to an end and achieve analogue switchover. The Digital Action Plan would be released sometime in 2006. It is proposed that the Digital Action Plan aim for an analogue switchover period commencing in 2010 to 2012
  
• Fourth Network - The moratorium on new commercial television licences, which expires on 31 December 2006, would not be extended. The Government will legislate to transfer the decision-making power for the allocation of new commercial FTA television licences from ACMA to the Government. No new licences for commercial FTA services in BSB spectrum will be allocated at the conclusion of the moratorium. The Government will review whether additional FTA commercial television licences should be allocated using BSB spectrum.
  
• New digital services on broadcasting spectrum – Options include two reserved digital channels of terrestrial spectrum allocated in 2007 in markets for new digital services; Options for these services may include subscription TV services, FTA niche ‘narrowcasting' services, as well as interactive and short video or ‘datacasting' services, whether delivered to fixed or mobile television receivers. Commercial and national broadcasters would continue to be permitted to provide datacasting services on their existing digital spectrum. The current prohibition on commercial and national broadcasters being able to control datacasting transmitter licences would be retained.
  
• New services on other platforms - Preferred options include the Government legislating to transfer the decision-making power for the allocation of new commercial FTA television licences delivered outside BSB spectrum (such as wireless, satellite and broadband services) from ACMA to the Government. Commercial FTA broadcasting services operating outside the BSB spectrum would be exempted from media ownership and control provisions.
  
• Multichannelling - current restrictions on commercial television broadcaster full multichannelling would be removed. They would be prohibited from televising sport on the anti-siphoning list on any new digital channel unless the sporting event has already been shown (or is simultaneously shown) on the main service. For National broadcasters, genre restrictions on national broadcaster multichannelling would be removed.
  
• High Definition television - The current HDTV quota of 1040 hours per year would be retained until the end of the simulcast period. From 1 January 2007, the Government could remove the requirement that the HDTV version of a digital television service be a simulcast of the SDTV service effectively allowing FTA TV broadcasters to run one multichannel in HDTV in advance of switch-off.
  
• Foreign ownership - current media-specific foreign ownership rules in the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 would be removed. The current newspaper-specific foreign ownership restrictions in the Foreign Investment Policy under Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act 1975 would be removed. The media would be retained as a ‘sensitive sector' under the Foreign Investment Policy remaining subject to prior approval by the Treasurer.
  
• Cross-media rules would be amended to allow cross-media transactions to proceed, subject to there remaining a minimum number of commercial media groups in the relevant market (four in regional markets, five in mainland state capitals). Existing limits on broadcasting licences would be retained: a maximum of two commercial radio licences in a radio licence area; one television licence in a licence area, and no more than 75 per cent national television reach.
  
• Regional services protections - A legislated requirement would be established for the continued imposition of licence conditions in key regional commercial television markets to provide minimum levels of content on matters of local significance. ACMA would continue to ensure there is genuine competition between regional radio licensees.
  
• Regulation: Australian Competition and Consumer Commission - Media mergers would continue to be subject to the general mergers provisions of the Trade Practices Act 1974. The ACCC would assess the competitive impacts of transactions, in accordance with the requirements of the Trade Practices Act 1974.; the Australian Communications and Media Authority would oversee the operation of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 in relation to media transactions to ensure they comply with the ‘minimum number of media groups' requirement and the licence and reach limits. ACMA's enforcement powers would be enhanced to make it more responsive.
  
  The Government is seeking comment on the paper via trish.barnes@dcita.gov.au.
  Electronic copies of the paper are available at www.dcita.gov.au

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INDUSTRY MOVES

Action Agenda to Double Digital Content

Australia’s digital content industry is estimated to employ some 300,000 people and contribute $21 billion annually to the economy. That’s almost 3.5 per cent of GDP and it is the aim of an Australian Government sponsored Strategic Industry Leaders Group to double that by the year 2015.
To support that vision, the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Helen Coonan, and the Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources, Ian Macfarlane, launched the Digital Content Industry Action Agenda Report, Unlocking the Potential.
The Action Agenda has been developed by senior members of the digital content industry, in consultation with a wide range of industry members and stakeholders. It identifies strategies to be implemented by industry to make it a major contributor to the Australian economy.
Chaired by Tom Kennedy of Media Zoo, Strategic Industry Leaders Group (SILG) members include Kim Anderson, COO, Southern Star Entertainment; Grant Cameron, Director, Grant Broadcasters Group of commercial radio stations; Terry Cutler, MD, Cutler and Company; Patrick Delaney, Executive Director of Content, Product Development and Delivery, Foxtel; Rachel Dixon, GM, Massive Interactive; Jennifer Hughes, Associate Director, Financial Products division, Macquarie Filmed Investments and Manager, Macquarie Film Corporation; Nic Jones, MD, News Interactive; Susan Mann, CEO, Curriculum Corporation; Lynley Marshall, Director, New Media and Digital Services with the ABC; Zareh Nalbandian, MD, Animal Logic; John Richardson, Cox Richardson Architects; John Rimmer, Chairman, Acuity Venture; Greg Siegele, CEO, Midway Studios Australia; Professor Duane Varan, Director, Interactive Television Research Institute and Chair, New Media, Murdoch University.
Key recommendations of the Action Agenda cover four areas: Investment; Exports; Skills and Training; and Research and Development.
The establishment of an Investment Scoping Forum has been recommended to bring together industry bodies and firms with investors and other investment groups to examine the investment issues, and to help develop mechanisms to support investment, innovation and early stage support in the Digital Content Industry. In order to grow, the SILG say the Digital Content Industry needs regulatory and investment frameworks that operate under technologically neutral principles, and encourage interoperability, innovation, investment and competition.
In the area of exports, the group recommend the establishment of a cross-sectoral Australian Digital Content Industry market intelligence network to build a trade framework and advance firms’ export capacity.
They also urge the definition of an Australian strategic international trade framework for the Digital Content Industry, commencing with mapping key export opportunities, seeking enhanced engagement with existing export support schemes and focusing on all international digital content opportunities, including trade shows and other events.
In the area of skills and training the group recommend greater recognition of, and much faster accreditation for, industry-based training activity including promoting the feasibility of successful industry-based training models or exemplars to the Digital Content Industry, education and government for use nationally and to support employer involvement.
The group also wants to see improved linkages between industry, education, TAFE, universities, Innovation and Business Skills Australia (IBSA) and training providers, commencing with a roundtable discussion on industry-based training models.
In the R&D arena, the group wants to see mechanisms for industry to work with R&D institutions on priority setting, as well as mechanisms to achieve more rapid access by industry to research, for example, through embedding researchers within industry. In collaboration with industry associations, the SILG would like to see raised awareness and increased utilisation of government R&D and non-R&D programs that foster innovation by digital content firms.
Lastly, the group has called for progression of longer term issues relating to intellectual property (IP), statistics and standards.
Visit www.dcita.gov.au

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Digital Planning Underway

Commercial Radio Australia has announced that work on the rollout of a digital radio network across Australia is underway, with comprehensive coverage reports on the first 11 commercial radio licence areas now complete.
The coverage reports, undertaken by consultants Gibson Quai-AAS, were carried out for the five major capital cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, as well as the key population centres of Canberra, Hobart, Darwin, Newcastle, Geelong and Wollongong. A study has also commenced for the Gold Coast licence area and will be completed by April.
The reports identify the planning and transmitter requirements for achieving at least 95 per cent population coverage for digital radio in these areas and will assist in the development of detailed project costing.
“Since the Government announcement in October 2005 of a framework for digital radio policy, the commercial radio industry has moved to commence the massive and expensive business of planning for the rollout of digital radio across Australia,” said Joan Warner, chief executive officer of Commercial Radio Australia.
“Our focus over the next 12 to 18 months will be on four key areas – technical and resource planning for the digital network; investigating a more spectrum efficient audio coding for Australia; cooperating with the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) on spectrum planning; and working with the Federal Government on the development of legislation,” Ms Warner said.
The industry is keen to “future proof” the technology platform and at the request of Federal Communications Minister Helen Coonan has taken a lead role in investigating Advanced Audio Coding (AAC/AAC+), a new compression technology for use with Eureka 147 that will allow more efficient use of public spectrum. If adopted, the new standards would enable the industry to broadcast more and better quality services, such as multilayering and images, using less bandwidth. However, digital radio receivers currently in the market will not be compatible with the new standards.
In January, Commercial Radio Australia, Austereo and the ABC joined an international working party investigating the development of AAC+.
“As Australia is a relatively small market, we need international support for the new coding to ensure there is a large enough market to support the development of a wide range of attractively priced receivers,” Ms Warner said. “Getting the technology platform right will impact on spectrum planning and will be crucial to our ability to deliver value added services to listeners.”
“We remain extremely optimistic about the potential of digital radio and on track with the rollout of metropolitan digital radio networks in two to three years time. The growing popularity of mp3 players, radio podcasts and digital music downloads to personal computers and mobile phones shows that listeners are ready to embrace change in the way they experience entertainment. We’re at the start of this new era, and digital radio will position radio as a key player in the future media environment.”

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POST PRODUCTION

NHNZ Takes eQ for HD

New Zealand television production company NHNZ is in the process of becoming fully HD independent with its latest acquisition of Quantel eQ multi-resolution editing/effects/grading/deliverables system.
The eQ enlarges NHNZ’s existing complement of high-definition equipment, which includes Panasonic Varicam cameras and HD D5 and DVCPro HD video tape recorders. The Company now has the ability to shoot, edit and finish HDTV programmes entirely in-house in Dunedin. This makes NHNZ the only HD-capable production house in the South Island of New Zealand.
NHNZ’s General Manager, John Crawford says the purchase of the Quantel eQ equipment will keep NHNZ at the cutting edge of global television technology.
“While High-Definition television is still in the future for New Zealand viewers, it is becoming more common in many international territories. Many of our off-shore clients are demanding films made in HD and the purchase of the Quantel eQ allows us to complete the entire production process, from filming to post, in-house which will ultimately save on time and budget.”
As well as post-producing its own programmes on the eQ, NHNZ will be able to do post-production work for other clients. For example, commercials shot, edited and finished in high-definition can be printed back to film, or down-sampled to standard-definition PAL with superior results.
NHNZ is one of the world’s leading producers of factual programming embracing the genres of nature, health, science, adventure, and people. With over 70 programmes currently in production, its crews work in locations around the world to produce a diversity of films for international broadcasters including Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, TLC, Discovery Health, National Geographic Channel, France 5, NHK in Japan and NDR in Germany. Based in Dunedin, New Zealand, the company is wholly owned by Fox Television Studios.

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Chiefs Speak Out at Pay-TV Pow-Wow

It wasn’t quite preaching to the converted at this year’s Australian Subscription TV & Radio Association (ASTRA) Conference with Foxtel CEO Kim Williams outlining roadmaps for technology and government legislation while his Austar counterpart, John Porter, spoke about the need for platform providers and content suppliers to work together to grow the pie.
Kim Williams outlined the next iteration of Foxtel’s PVR platform, the iQ2Go which will dock with the main iQ PVR unit providing users with a mobile video player with some 60-80Gb of storage. Foxtel is currently in talks with French and UK-based manufacturers for supply of the devices.
The Foxtel chief also emphasised his organisation’s commitment to 24x7, 1080i high definition channels by 2008 pointing out that a particular terrestrial broadcaster’s “enhanced TV masquerading as HDTV is not nearly good enough.”
On the subject of regulation, Williams said the subscription sector had no problem with free-to-air, digital multi-channel broadcasts after 2008 so long as rules governing the anti-siphoning of sport were scrapped and the ‘use it or lose it’ rule for FTA broadcasters was enforced. Analogue terrestrial broadcasts, he said, should be switched off by 2015 and that current ‘datacasting’ spectrum should be given over to DVB-H style services – “the sooner the better.”
Williams said it was time for recognition of the sector’s innovation and audience size, that the ‘right’ regulatory framework was needed this year and that the “status quo deserves a deep and public burial.”
John Porter, meanwhile, outlined the results of some of Austar’s marketing campaigns pointing to his ambition for the industry of achieving subscription uptake by 30 percent of all Australian TV households. Stating that the sector had three to four years before it faced coherent threats from other platforms such as broadband and IPTV, he said that pay television needed to position itself as a utility rather than a luxury.
A way forward, he said, was a combination of segmented marketing with tailored offering to specific groups – men, women, children, etc – with that of category marketing such as sport, education, etc. To do that, said Porter, channels would have to suspend competition and agree to present themselves as part of a package to lure subscribers.
“No-one makes any extra money unless Kim and I add subscribers,” he said.

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INSTALLATIONS

NZ University Gears Up with Avid

The Victoria University of Wellington’s Faculty of Architecture and Design is set to become New Zealand’s largest Avid-based media production education facility following the University’s purchase of 30 Avid Xpress Pro with Mojo editing systems and an Avid Unity LANshare shared storage solution.
The Avids will be housed in the VUW’s new Digital Media Design Studio. The new equipment will provide the technical foundation for VUW’s Digital Media Design course and the Bachelor of Design degree course. The Digital Media Design specialisation – to be introduced in 2006 – focuses on the creative potential of dynamic media across a range of industries including interactive TV, web-based commerce, digital video and mobile media.
The University chose Avid as its editing and storage systems provider largely because Avid is the industry standard in the media production arena.
“One of our aims in establishing the Digital Media Design course is to give our students the best opportunity for successful careers not only in New Zealand but also internationally, said Marcia Lyons, Program Director Digital Media, School of Design, Victoria University of Wellington. “Avid is the global industry standard when it comes to digital media production; by enabling students to cut their teeth on Avid systems we’re giving them valuable hands-on experience with the same technology they'll inevitably be using after graduating.”
Located in what used to be a cargo warehouse, VUW’s Faculty of Architecture and Design has been converted into an impressive, award-winning space for students of design. With new media technology continuing to open up a plethora of opportunities for expertly trained digital media professionals, it’s not surprising that the University received an abundance of applications from prospective Digital Media Design course students.
“There are very few courses in the world that allow students to explore cinematics, telematics and other experimental new media design in such a rich, technologically-sophisticated learning environment, so competition for places in the course has been fierce”, said Marcia.
According to Marcia, Avid Xpress Pro’s storyboarding capabilities will prove a real asset in the Digital Media and Design course.
“Avid Xpress Pro’s real-time storyboarding functionality is a definite advantage for those who want to learn sound editing practices”, she said. “The traditional method of constructing a storyboard and developing a script is very labour-intensive with lots of lag time between concept and the digital editing phase, however using Xpress Pro a storyboard can be developed quickly in real-time, thereby allowing students to focus more of their time on the creative process while also enabling our educators to more effectively communicate the process of content creation.”
The Digital Media Design course will have a student intake of 35 in its first semester in 2006. All students will have access to an Avid Xpress Pro with Mojo installed on Apple hardware, with each Xpress Pro system connected to the Avid Unity LANshare. This set-up will provide a powerful collaborative learning environment, as Marcia explains.
“Our students need to be able to collaborate with each other on media projects and the Unity LANshare provides the perfect vehicle for this”, said Marcia. “Using Unity LANshare, we can have 20-plus students working on the same piece of footage simultaneously, which is ideal both for learning and teaching. For course leaders it’s very efficient – they capture material once only then make it available to students to work on. And for students the sharing of media greatly enhances the learning experience as it allows them to collaborate, experiment, make editing decisions and enhance their skills more efficiently and creatively on joint projects.
“Unity LANshare will also dramatically streamline the management of data”, added Marcia. “With up to 90 students per semester accessing high volumes of material, data management would be a real challenge in a local computing environment. But with Unity LANshare students can access files from the one system, back up their data and pick up from where they left off using any workstation. This all makes the management of media easy and time-effective.”

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Mixed Responses to Analogue Switch-Off

Submissions to the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts review of the duration of the analogue/digital television simulcast period have been mixed, but mostly cautious. The current switch-off date is 2008.
In its submission, commercial free-to-air TV body Free TV Australia urged that “Analogue switch-off needs to be comprehensively planned and carefully managed to ensure that the transition is as smooth as possible for Australian viewers, and that they do not lose access to free-to-air services.”
Free TV recommends that switch-off be planned on a licence area-by-licence area basis and should be tested in one or more appropriate markets, followed by switch-off in less populated and discrete areas, progressing to metropolitan-regional overlap areas and the most heavily populated metropolitan areas last.
The ABC, for its part, does not propose a particular date for analogue switch-off, as it believes that responsibility for setting that date for analogue should rest with a new digital transition agency. The new agency should also determine whether a timely transition will be better achieved if switch-off occurs in accordance with a single, national timetable or on a region-by-region basis, leading to a total digital transition by a fixed final date.
Meanwhile, multi-cultural broadcaster SBS contends that intervention will be necessary to achieve analogue switch-off.
“Evidence to date,” it says, “suggests that, given current policy settings, the market itself will not sufficiently drive uptake to achieve switch-off within a reasonable period. A definite switch-off date should be implemented following industry and stakeholder consultation: Determining and publicising a certain date for analogue switch-off will strongly encourage digital conversion.”
SBS says new content and services are the key drivers of digital and must be encouraged. It says this can be achieved through relaxation or removal of the genre rules and funding support for public broadcaster multi-channelling.
“This should include industry wide support for an interactive standard, return channel standard and a true electronic program guide.”
Meanwhile, transmission services provider Broadcast Australia claims “There is a compelling argument that the certainty of a fixed switch-off date will drive consumer behaviour. Switch-off should commence from a hard date of 31 December 2012 on an area-by-area basis over a four year period.
A submission made by a digital receiver suppliers group also agrees with the 2012 switch over date. Members of the group include Legend Corporation, Topfield Australia, Buffalo Technology Solutions, QualiFi, NDS-UK, Sony, Rohde & Schwarz, DGTEC, Panasonic, LG Electronics, and Samsung Electronics.
The Suppliers say the Government must mandate the inclusion of digital tuners in new technology screen displays and televisions sold in the Australian market, along with consumer labelling of Cathode-Ray Tube (CRT) televisions to ensure consumers are made aware of analogue switch-off.
The group also says broadcasters must be provided with increased flexibility to provide additional or extended service offerings to further differentiate the digital terrestrial television from its analogue predecessor and increase the value proposition to Australian consumers.
It also advocated the funding of an independent Test and Conformance Centre for digital terrestrial television to test the compatibility between broadcast streams and digital television receivers, and to establish a mechanism for over the air downloads.

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AWARDS

Technical Oscars Announced

From the simple to the sublime, the 17 winning innovations of the recent US Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Scientific and Technical Academy Awards are all responsible for improving the process of film and TV production.
According to Awards Administration Director Rich Miller, unlike other Academy Awards, achievements receiving Scientific and Technical Awards, "are only considered by the Scientific and Technical Awards Committee if they have a proven track record of continued successful use in the film industry."
Receiving Technical Achievement Awards (Academy Certificate) for 2005 were:
* Gary Thieltges for the design and development of the remotely-operated, lightweight camera head known as the Sparrow Head. This well-integrated remote system enables filmmakers to remotely pan and tilt their camera from virtually any moving vehicle, giving the opportunity for unprecedented dynamic camera angles.
* Frank Fletcher and Dave Sherwin for the development of the Power Pod modular camera head system. The Power Pod system enables filmmakers to configure a remote controlled head to meet their own unique requirements.
* Alvah Miller, Michael Sorensen and J. Walt Adamczyk for the design and development of the Aerohead motion control camera head and the J-Viz Pre-Visualization system. This remote head not only serves the needs of the live-action filmmaker, but also provides the functionality of a motion-controlled head, allowing for sophisticated tiling and pre-visualization techniques.
* Scott Leva for the design and development of the Precision Stunt Airbag for motion picture stunt falls.
* Lev Yevstratov, George Peters and Vasiliy Orlov for the development of the Ultimate Arm Camera Crane System for specialised vehicle photography. This remotely-controlled, gyro-stabilised and flexible camera crane offers a highly stable platform for high-speed, rough terrain action shots. It solves many of the problems inherent in chase vehicle filming.
* James Rodnunsky, Alex MacDonald and Mark Chapman for the development of the Cablecam 3-D volumetric suspended cable camera technologies. Cablecam technology has made it possible to move a camera safely and accurately anywhere through a three-dimensional space.
* Tim Drnec, Ben Britten Smith and Matt Davis for the development of the Spydercam 3-D volumetric suspended cable camera technologies. Spydercam technology has also made it possible to move a camera through a three-dimensional space.
* John Platt and Demetri Terzopoulos for their work in physically-based computer-generated techniques used to simulate realistic cloth in motion pictures. Their 1987 paper, “Elastically Deformable Models,” was a milestone in computer graphics, introducing the concept of physically-based techniques to simulate moving, deforming objects.
* Ed Catmull, for the original concept, and Tony DeRose and Jos Stam for their scientific and practical implementation of subdivision surfaces as a modelling technique in motion picture production. Sub-division surfaces has become a preferred modelling primitive for many types of motion picture computer graphics.
* Harold Rattray, Terry Claborn, Steve Garlick, Bill Hogue and Tim Reynolds for the design, engineering and implementation of the Technicolor Real Time Answer Print System. This system provides a method by which filmmakers can preview real-time color corrections using actual film prints, reducing both the turn-around time and the number of reprints required.
* Udo Schauss and Hildegard Ebbesmeier for the optical design and Nicole Wemken and Michael Anderer for the mechanical design of the Cinelux Premiere Cinema Projection Lenses.
Those receiving Scientific and Engineering Awards (Academy Plaque) included:
* David Grober for the concept and mechanical design and Scott Lewallen for the electronic and software design of the Perfect Horizon camera stabilisation head. Perfect Horizon effectively neutralises the extraneous motion encountered in boats, camera cars, snowmobiles or other vehicles, leaving the pan/tilt head and camera stable and level with the horizon.
* Anatoliy Kokush, Yuriy Popovsky and Oleksiy Zolotarov for the concept and development of the Russian Arm gyro-stabilised camera crane and the Flight Head. With the ability to be mounted on the roof of almost any car, this remotely-operated crane and camera head can move smoothly in a 360 degree circle around the car, even while it is being driven at high speeds by actors.
* Anatoliy Kokush, again, for the concept and development of the Cascade series of motion picture cranes. The lightweight structure of the Cascade and Traveling Cascade Cranes enables the filmmaker to achieve heights of up to 70 feet.
* Garrett Brown for the original concept of the Skycam flying camera system – the first use of 3D volumetric cable technology for motion picture cinematography. In creating the first remote controlled, cable supported flying camera system, Garrett Brown’s pioneering efforts have influenced all subsequent development in this area of technology.
* David Baraff, Michael Kass and Andrew Witkin for their pioneering work in physically-based computer-generated techniques used to simulate realistic cloth in motion pictures. Their 1998 paper titled “Large Steps in Cloth Simulation” was a seminal work, providing the key in demonstrating to the industry that the calculations necessary to simulate realistic, complex cloth could be achieved efficiently and robustly.
* Laurie Frost, Peter Hannan and Richard Loncraine for the development of the remote camera head known as the Hot-Head. In use for over a quarter of a century, the Hot-Head has brought the possibility of safe, remotely-operated shots to every filmmaker.

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TCN-9 Switches to Clean and Quiet

TCN-9 recently completed installation and commissioning of four Leitch “Panacea” Clean/Quiet Switches from Focal Point Digital for both Station “on air” and Network Feed applications. Supporting both SD and HD requirements the Clean/Quiet Panacea switcher is used as a protection switcher connected downstream from the main on-air switcher. In the event of a failure of the main on air switcher the Panacea can be controlled manually to keep the station on air. The Leitch Panacea used in the Network Feed switching application is controlled by Nine’s Louth Network Automation.
The Clean/Quiet Switch is the latest addition to Leitch’s family of Panacea small routing switchers, offering a 32 x 2 Clean/Quiet matrix with an additional six non Clean/Quiet Aux bus outputs. Video and Audio transitions can be achieved with varying audio and video delay. The unit provides a continuous, error-free digital video signal output with “pop”- free audio when switching between sources.
According to Craig Stokes, Focal Point Digital’s Broadcast Engineer, the Panacea Clean/Quiet Switch which TCN9 selected performs buffered switching on HD/SDI and SDI video signals with embedded audio to two dedicated clean/quiet outputs. The buffering of the signals ensures that the switch between the two input signals is perfectly timed to be on a frame boundary, thereby removing video bounce, glitches, and the audio pops and clicks associated with vertical interval routing. Both the Panacea Quiet Switch and the Panacea Clean/Quiet Switch provide additional audio-level ramping with a cross-fade mix to guarantee that there are no residual pops or thuds occurring when switching between loud and soft audio content.

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SATELLITE TV

ABC Maintains Asia-Pac Service

The ABC will continue to be the preferred provider to continue to operate Australia's Asia Pacific television service.
ABC Asia Pacific is Australia's international satellite television and online service, which is funded separately under a contract with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. This service currently broadcasts into 41 countries through 158 re-broadcasting partners and into 200,000 hotel rooms in the Asia-Pacific region. ABC Asia Pacific has an annual audience growth rate of 54 percent.
The Chief Executive of ABC Asia Pacific Ian Carroll said, "The reengagement of the ABC as the preferred supplier of this service is further testament to the professionalism of our team.
"The ABC's thanks must go also to SOUL Converged Media for their support in the bid process and assistance with running of the service," Mr Carroll said.

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Narnia in D-Cinema First

In an Australian first, Atlab Image and Sound Technology (AI&ST) has integrated a Dolby Digital Cinema playback system and Christie CP2K D Cinema projector into a commercial cinema space.
Brisbane exhibitor Leo Catalano, who operates fourteen screens throughout the metropolitan area, has had the hardware installed at Hawthorne Cinemas in Catalano’s largest auditorium at this site. The installation spearheaded by AI&ST’s Queensland Technical Manager, Mark Smith also called on assistance from Dolby Laboratories’ UK based engineer, Graham Carter and Christie Digital’s Singapore based engineer, Noel Henry.
The first digital images were projected to Catalano’s audiences on December 26 with the opening of Disney’s Narnia. Disney, Australia, have confirmed that the majority of their 2006 releases will be available in the Dolby Digital Cinema System.
Narnia was also the D-cinema focus with a premiere at Hong Kong Disneyland. A SA1000 DSR 2K Digital Film Server equipped with DCI-MXF capability from Singapore’s GDC Technology was used to show the movie.

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Upgrade for HK’s Star TV

Hong Kong-based Star TV recently embarked on an upgrade of its facilities including the selection of Sundance Digital’s Titan automation systems at STAR's Harbourfront broadcast centre in Kowloon and at a nearby Disaster Recovery site. The configurations will include TitanSync auto-failover redundancy, Intelli-Sat Record Manager, and Sundance Archive Manager in conjunction with Masstech "MassStore" storage. The Sundance automation will control an Omneon "Spectrum" video server, Evertz branding devices, and Quartz routing/switching.
The 12-TB Omneon Video Networks Spectrum system will support ingest, storage, and playout for STAR broadcasts, which include more than 50 television services in eight languages, transmitted to more than 300 million viewers across 53 Asian countries.
The fully redundant Spectrum media server system ordered for STAR's headquarters office in Hung Hom will be capable of delivering 1,193 hours of play-out with an initial configuration of 25 I/O ports. In addition to primary and backup servers, Omneon also will be supplying a third system that will be installed off-site to ensure continued play-out in the event of disaster.

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IBC Intros 2006 Innovation Awards

This year IBC will be introducing four new awards for the innovative use of technology. The awards will be presented to broadcasters and the technology companies involved.
“IBC’s aim is to celebrate the high level of successful innovation and expertise created through the partnerships between technology suppliers and users. All the key players attend IBC and so this is a special opportunity to bring the stakeholders together for a top class ceremony, which will undoubtedly add to the considerable ‘buzz’ that IBC generates,” said chairman of the jury, IBC’s Mike Lumley.
There are four Awards categories covering the innovative application of technology in content creation, content management and content delivery and a Judges award for an outstanding contribution to any combination of content creation, management and delivery.
IBC are inviting entries from everyone involved in the creation, management or delivery of entertainment and news content. Entries should be for technology applications that are currently in use and should be endorsed by both the technology supplier and user. The deadline for entries is 17 March 2006.
The international panel of judges is drawn mainly from the editors of renowned industry publications and will include Content + Technology’s own Phil Sandberg. The judges will announce a shortlist prior to IBC. The innovation awards will be presented together with IBC’s existing awards during IBC2006 on Sunday, 10 September, at the IBC Awards ceremony.
“With 45,000 attendees at IBC including 1500 press, we anticipate a very high profile for these Awards. We will be ensuring the nominees and winners receive maximum publicity for their achievements, before, during and after IBC2006. I would urge all marketing folk in this business to check out our website and get their entries in as soon as possible. The competition will certainly be hot”, said IBC’s Marketing and Business Development Director Mike Crimp.
To find out more and to submit your entry see www.ibc.org/awards/innovation.

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SelecTV Launches with Magna/Harmonic

Australia has a new satellite broadcaster in the form of SelecTV, which offers a subscription TV package consisting of non-English and English language channels aimed at ethnic communities in Australia.
Magna Systems and Engineering helped SelecTV to establish a state-of-the-art satellite Head-End, distributed over multiple uplink locations which was made possible by using Harmonic’s ION series of Encoders.
The Harmonic Electra series of M-PEG Encoder was chosen as one of its main features is the ability to operate a Statistical Multiplex over a distributed IP Network located in two countries. The deployment of a third site will be on-line early this year completing SelecTV’s 40-channel offering.
Harmonic Electra encoders make it possible for operators to deliver high definition (HD) and standard definition (SD) video services across different networks – including satellite, HFC, fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) and broadband IP. Harmonic’s multi-service solutions also enable video to be simultaneously delivered to multiple devices, including the TV, PC and mobile phones.
The DiviCom Electra 1000 optimises compression efficiency with up to four variable bitrate (VBR) encoders and ten stereo audio pairs in a 1-RU chassis and can be easily incorporated into Harmonic’s DiviTrackIP closed-loop statistical multiplexing solution.

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