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MEDIA MARKETS
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THE CHANNEL
THE CHANNEL
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ISSUE 2 2014
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07
IN BRIEF
PAY-TV
RESILIENT IN US
Pay-TV subscriber numbers
in the US remain relatively
resilient despite rising costs
to customers and the growth
of alternative online video
subscription services. The
informitv Multiscreen Index,
which tracks trends in TV
services, shows that the top
10 pay-TV services reporting
figures lost 165,500 digital TV
customers in the seasonally
weak Q2 ‘14. This represents
just 0.2% of their combined
subscriber base of more than
87m homes. The longer-
term trend is that satellite
and telco providers have
been gaining customers,
generally at the expense of
cable companies.
INTERMEDIA CEO
Independent global consult-
ancy firm InterMedia has
appointed Dr Christopher
Fleury as CEO. Fleury is a
seasoned research executive
who worked most recently
with the global market and
opinion research firm GfK.
InterMedia specialises in
strategic research and
evaluation, with projects in
more than 100 countries,
including many of the world’s
most challenging places.
TELEPORT
CERTIFICATION
World Teleport Association
is developing a Teleport
Certification Programme to
create an objective, transparent,
and internationally accepted
method for documenting the
quality of teleport operations.
It also aims to provide ameans
for customers to select
teleport vendors delivering
the price-performance level
that is appropriate for their
applications. Certification
standards for facilities,
technology and operating
procedures are being
developed by a volunteer
committee of teleport,
satellite and technology
executives as well as
representatives of end-user
customers.
Intelsat
deals
Intelsat S.A.has signed a 15-year
agreement with Encompass
Digital Media, a global leader in
mission-critical media capture,
management and distribution
services, for capacity on Intelsat
34, one of the three satellites
comprising Intelsat’s premier
video neighbourhoods serving
Latin America. Encompass will
transition from Intelsat 805 at
304.5˚ East to its replacement
satellite, Intelsat 34, in late 2015,
and lease additional C-band
capacity to expand its SD and HD
video distribution feeds
throughout Latin America.
Also in June, Intelsat
announced a 15-year service
agreement with leading African
pay-TV provider MultiChoice, on
the new Intelsat 36 satellite
expected to launch in late 2016.
This satellite will be co-located
with Intelsat 20 at 68.5˚E,
Intelsat’s premier DTH
neighbourhood in Africa where
MultiChoice has been the anchor
customer since 1995. Intelsat’s
SVP of Global Sales, Kurt
Riegelman (left), said that Intelsat
has committed to and invested in
Africa’s communications and
broadcast infrastructure since
1965. The Intelsat 36 design will
feature Ku- and C-band services.
The MultiChoice DTH services
will utilize the Ku-band payload.
The C-band payload will provide
services to other customers
using the premier Intelsat 68.5˚E
video neighbourhood, which also
distributes content to South
Asian cable communities.
In Europe, Slovak Telekom
a.s. is using Intelsat to expand its
DTH services in Central Eastern
Europe, operating multiple
transponders at the Intelsat 1˚
West premier video neighbour-
hood. In addition, Intelsat’s
terrestrial network, IntelsatOne,
is providing an uplink from
Intelsat’s Fuchsstadt, Germany
Teleport with fibre contribution
from Bratislava and a provision
for disaster recovery uplink
services. With the potential to
reach 17m households across 17
Northern, Central and Eastern
European countries, Intelsat 1˚
West is a leading neighbourhood
for CEE media platforms.
#FreeAJStaff
Speaking at the US-Africa
summit in Washington DC, US
President Obama once again
called for the release of Al
Jazeera English journalists Peter
Greste, Mohamed Fahmy and
Baher Mohamed, jailed in Cairo
on 23 June this year. MD of Al
Jazeera English, Al Anstey,
welcomed the President’s
comments and renewed the call
for the journalists’ immediate
release, saying that their
continuing detention is a
challenge to media freedom as
“not a shred of evidence was
presented against them in the
trial”. Charged with aiding the
Muslim Brotherhood and
reporting false news, Greste and
Fahmy were sentenced to seven
years in prison, while Baher
Mohamed was sentenced to a
total of ten years in prison.
Following the shock verdicts
and sentencing, global support
for the release of the Al Jazeera
journalists has grown, with
politicians and governments
adding their voice to that of over
150 rights groups, global
petitions, protests by media
outlets across the globe, and
social media campaigns to
#FreeAJStaff.
TVC News
distribution
TVC News, the first pan African
24-hour TV news channel, has
concluded deals with CONSAT
(West Africa), Zuku TV (East
Africa), Montage pay-tv (Nigeria)
and TV Africa (Ohio, USA) to
increase distribution to its growing
audience. TVC News’ existing
agreement for carriage on
StarTimes is to be extended to
include a further 12 African
countries. Household reach is
now more than 15m, and TVC
News is working to grow that
number across Europe and the US.
Based in Lagos, TVC News
covers the major news stories
from around the continent of
Africa. Some have been on its
own doorstep in Nigeria – such
as Boko Haram's abduction of
more than 200 schoolgirls –
while its correspondents have
filed from Kenya, Central African
Republic, South Africa or Tunisia
with breaking news.
Q4 of 2014 will see the launch
of three new programmes:
The
Scoop
– a weekly interview with a
leading African personality;
Africa Correspondent
– a monthly
showcase for human interest
stories/social issues; and
The
World This Week
– a longer look
at stories making the news.
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