| British TV & Radio News May 2011 |
| Channel 6 has cross-party support |
| Wednesday, May 4 2011 |
A ComRes poll conducted by Channel 6 has revealed that nearly 90% of MPs support plans for more local TV across the UK.
Channel 6, which is led by former Trinity Mirror executive Richard Horwood, recently submitted a bid to culture secretary Jeremy Hunt to take on the new channel, which would have a national schedule with local opt-outs.
Ahead of this week's local elections, the organisation has published results of a poll of local MPs which reveals that there is considerable backing for its proposals. The poll involved 155 MPs and has been weighted to reflect the composition of the House of Commons in terms of party representation and regional constituency representation.
The main findings were that 87% of MPs would support local TV, with support evenly distributed across all parties, while 76% of MPs across all parties appreciated the role of local TV in strengthening local democracy.
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85% of MPs agreed that local TV needs high-quality programmes to compete for viewers with the national channels, with near-unanimity across all three main parties, and 74% of MPs felt that TV news and features tend to be too London-centric.
Richard Horwood, chief executive of Channel 6, said: "The Channel 6 poll shows that the launch of local TV is one of those rare policies on which MPs of all parties agree, as long as its quality is comparable with programming on other channels. This will not only enable local TV to attract viewers, but also justify placing the channel in the number 6 slot.
"The benefits for local democracy are clear: TV has a unique power to engage audiences, shining its spotlight on issues which often concern people most in their neighbourhoods." |
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| Thomson to launch Freeview zapper and PVR |
| Friday, May 6 2011 |
Strong is to release a standard definition Freeview+ PVR and zapper this summer under the Thomson brand name.
The THT115DTR PVR will have two tuners, a 500GB hard disc, a 16-event timer and favourites lists.
The THT105 zapper will offer playback of music and photos from USB drives as well as an 8-event timer, automatic channel list sorting, favourites lists and power saving function.
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| Freesat users to vote on best TV channel |
| Friday, May 13 2011 |
Freesat has asked viewers to vote on the best television channel available on the subscription-free satellite TV service.
Ahead of the third annual Freesat awards in July, consumers can submit their choice for 'TV Channel of the Year' from the more than 150 available networks on the platform.
Voting has now started online at the Freesat website and will remain open until June 17. Viewers can also choose the 'Radio Channel of the Year'.
In March, nominations opened in all 14 categories of the 2011 Freesat awards, including brand new prize 'News Event of the Year', designed to recognise the coverage provided by news channels such as Al Jazeera, NHK World and BBC News.
The judging panel is made up of key individuals from the media industry, including Radio Times editor Ben Preston, Thinkbox chief executive Tess Alps, The Daily Telegraph's Neil Midgley and ex-GMTV chairman Clive Jones. The panel is chaired by media analyst Kate Bulkley.
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Emma Scott, Freesat managing director, said: "It's exciting to now be in our third year, and see how the awards have grown with us. New categories this year include an 'Audience Impact Award' - looking at how channels extend their brand presence through different media, plus the 'Judges' Special Award' for 'Editor/Controller of the Year'.
"This is about us giving something back to our 150-plus channels and services, and the judges will be looking for examples of innovative, original, high-quality programming that has particularly entertained, informed and impressed the Freesat audience." All winners will be announced at a ceremony in London's Soho on July 12. |
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| Technicolor pulls out of YouView |
| Friday, May 13 2011 |
Technicolor has ruled out producing set top box products for YouView, the BBC backed IPTV platform launching next year.
Broadband TV News reported today that the French manufacturer was out of the running to offer YouView-branded devices, despite being one of the original manufacturers attached the venture. No reason has been supplied for the move.
In a statement, a YouView spokesman later confirmed that Technicolor "has decided to withdraw from YouView set top box development".
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He added: "However, they were one of seven manufacturing partners and Youview remains on track for a consumer launch in early 2012."
The spokesman said that YouView will continue to work closely with its other device partners - including Humax and Cisco - towards the aim of having a range of products ready for when the platform goes live.
Last month, YouView published the final core technical specification for its IPTV platform and welcomed four more device partners - Huawei, Pace, Vestel and the Manhattan Technology consortium.
The announcement followed the confirmation of a list of key content partners for YouView, including the surprise addition of Sky after the satellite broadcaster had previously opposed the venture. |
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| Astra 1N Arrives In Kourou |
| Thursday, May 19 2011 |
SES today announced that the ASTRA 1N satellite designed and manufactured by Astrium for SES has arrived at the European space Center in Kourou, French Guiana, in preparation for its launch by an Ariane 5 vehicle early July 2011.
ASTRA 1N will deliver direct-to-home (DTH) services, notably digital and high definition (HD) television with pan-European coverage, and is planned to mainly serve the German, French and Spanish markets.
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The satellite will first provide interim capacity at 28.2° East, and will subsequently be moved to19.2° East, its final orbital position.
As prime contractor for ASTRA 1N, Astrium has supplied both the payload and the Eurostar E3000 platform for this satellite equipped with 62 transponders in the Ku frequency band. ASTRA 1N will have a launch mass of 5,350 kg and a spacecraft power of 13 kW at the end of its 15-year design life. Launch and Early Orbit Phase operations will be conducted from the Astrium spacecraft control centre in Toulouse, France.
ASTRA 1N will be the fourth Eurostar satellite in the ASTRA fleet following the successful launch of ASTRA 3B in May 2010. Astrium's Eurostar series has accumulated nearly 400 years of successful in-orbit operations.
Astrium is currently in the process of designing and manufacturing five more satellites for SES based on its Eurostar E3000 platform: ASTRA 2E, ASTRA 2F, ASTRA 2G and ASTRA 5B are all scheduled for launch between 2012 and 2014 and are designed to deliver high quality broadcast, VSAT and broadband services in Europe and Africa for SES; whilst SES-6 will support SES' growth in Latin America, offering 50 percent more C-Band capacity for the cable community, and retaining the unique capability to distribute content between the Americas and Europe on the same high powered beam. |
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| Astra to offer Ka-band broadband for 28E in 2012 |
| Tuesday, May 24th 2011 |
Astra will launch Ka-band high speed satellite broadband when its new satellite fleet arrives at 28E next year.
Astra 2E, 2F and 2G are scheduled to launch to 28E between 2012 and 2014, replacing the current 2A, 2B and 2D satellites. As well as replacing the satellites which carry Sky and Freesat, the new satellites will have Ka-band transponders for high speed two-way broadband.
This will allow the Astra2Connect service to offer speeds of 10Mbit/s or more, compared to the current top speed of 6Mbit/s.
Ferdinand Kayser, chief commercial officer at SES, said: 'We are very proud that ASTRA2Connect has become the largest satellite broadband network in Europe helping to bridge the digital gap in many rural regions. |
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'More than 80,000 end users and a strong network of distribution partners including Deutsche Telekom and Nordnet of France Telecom demonstrate our success.
'I am convinced that our decision to invest into additional capacity and support higher broadband speeds will strengthen our offer and help us to further grow our customer base.'
Astra2Connect is currently supplied across Europe via Astra 3 at 23.5E, and Astra's latest terminals are Ka-band ready.
However, dishes will need to be re-aligned to 28E for most of Europe (which uses 19.2E and 13E for TV) or fitted with a twin-output Ku/Ka-band LNB for the UK or Ireland. The refresh of Astra's decade-old fleet at 28E will begin with the launch of Astra 1N later this year, which will take up a temporary role before moving permanently to 19.2E. The new Astra satellites are configured to serve rapidly-growing markets for satellite TV and broadband in Africa, as well as Astra's traditional customers in Europe. |
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| BBC iPlayer arrives on Humax HD-Fox T2 |
| Tuesday, May 24th 2011 |
Humax has added a beta version of the Humax TV Portal to its Freeview HD set-top box, the HD-Fox T2. The update adds access to the BBC's iPlayer, internet radio, Wikipedia and Flickr through your TV screen.
It also adds WiFi support, trailer booking via the green button, SMS-style text input, and auto-delete for recordings on attached USB memory. There are also bug fixes for audio drop-out on HD programmes, and balanced audio volume between HD and SD channels. The software update is available for download from the Humax UK Beta Portal. |
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| BBC Alba to launch on Freeview in Scotland |
| Tuesday, May 24th 2011 |
BBC Alba - jointly run by the BBC and MG Alba - will officially become available in Scotland on Freeview channel 8 on June 8. This follows the network's launch on channel 188 on Virgin Media's cable TV platform on May 18. However, carriage for BBC Alba on DTT will result in the BBC's main radio networks - Radio 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Live, Radio Scotland and World Service - not being available on Freeview between 5pm and 11pm every night.
The BBC has started an Open Your Eyes campaign, featuring celebrities such as actor Peter Mullan, to raise awareness of BBC Alba's launch on Freeview. The campaign, endorsed by Scotland first minister Alex Salmond, launched yesterday at the Glasgow Gaelic School.
"BBC Alba has captured the interest and imagination of both Gaelic and non-Gaelic speakers alike since its launch in 2008," said Salmond. |
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"The channel's move to Freeview will broaden the reach of BBC Alba, strengthen its role as a national broadcaster, and ensure everyone across the country has access to its quality programmes.
"Increasing access to BBC Alba also supports this government's ongoing work to build a sustainable future for Gaelic as we celebrate its contribution to our culture and society and encourage a new generation of Gaelic speakers across Scotland."
Ken MacQuarrie, the director BBC Scotland, added: "We know that viewers who already tune into BBC Alba really appreciate the variety and quality of the programmes it offers."Making it available on Freeview and cable now means that audiences throughout the whole of Scotland will be able to enjoy these programmes in addition to those already watching on satellite."
BBC Alba, which airs Gaelic-language programming from the BBC, STV and independent production companies, is already available in Scotland on Sky channel 168, Freesat channel 110 and live online via catchup platform BBC iPlayer. |
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