CORPORATE MOVES

Harris Corporation to Acquire Leitch Technology Corporation

MELBOURNE, Florida, August 31, 2005 - Harris Corporation (NYSE: HRS) has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire all of the shares of Leitch Technology Corporation (TSX: LTV) at a C$14.00 cash price per share. Total price consideration, net of cash on hand, will be approximately US$450 million. Harris expects the transaction to be neutral to fiscal year 2006 earnings per share, excluding acquisition-related charges. In fiscal year 2007, the transaction is expected to be accretive by $.06 earnings per share.
Leitch is a global leader in providing high-performance video systems for the television broadcast industry, including routers and distribution equipment, signal processing, signal management and monitoring, servers and storage area networks, branding software and post-production editing systems. Harris is the worldwide leader in providing digital broadcast technology solutions for global broadcast media markets, including television and radio transmission systems, networking solutions and enterprise-wide software and media management systems.
"The acquisition further positions our company to lead the broadcast industry's transition to high-definition digital services," said Howard L. Lance, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Harris. "Their broad product portfolio provides an excellent complement to our current products and software, and significantly expands our presence in these fast-growing market segments. Leitch has a veteran management team with strong domain knowledge and has launched important new products to meet the changing needs of the digital marketplace. Our combined products and systems serve every segment of the increasingly complex supply chain that brings digital audio, video, and data content to consumers. The acquisition of Leitch, following our acquisition of Encoda Systems in November 2004, clearly establishes Harris as the company that broadcasters turn to as they upgrade their equipment and software systems to operate in a digital environment."
"The combination of Leitch Technology and Harris Corporation will create a powerful force in the global broadcast industry. We view the opportunity as extremely positive for our employees, customers, and shareholders," said Tim Thorsteinson, president and chief executive officer of Leitch Technology.
The acquisition is to be completed by way of a statutory plan of arrangement and is subject to approval by Leitch shareholders, customary regulatory and court approvals, and other closing conditions. The transaction is expected to close in approximately 60 days.

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CORPORATE MOVES

Dalet Expands Asia-Pacific Presence

Dalet has announced that the Dalet Australian team has expanded their role and presence in the Asia Pacific region. Pierre Henri Humblot has been promoted to General Manager of Asia Pacific, managing Dalet’s business development efforts and operations for all of Asia Pacific. A member of the Dalet team since 2000, Mr Humblot spearheaded the opening of Dalet Australia, driving mass adoption of Dalet’s technology among the Pacific Rim’s leading broadcasters including; ABC, Prime TV and Sky TV. Recently, Mr Humblot broke new market territory by closing a multi-million dollar deal with the Department of Justice and Attorney General in Queensland Australia, equipping the entire Queensland court system with Dalet’s automated recording solution.
“Pierre-Henri Humblot has successfully built the Dalet Australia organization from the ground up. As General Manager of Asia Pacific, I have full confidence that the Asia Pacific team will thrive under his guidance,” comments David Lasry, chief executive officer, Dalet.
Mr Humblot will continue to be based out of the Dalet Sydney office. Under Mr Humblot’s direction, Dalet Singapore will remain front line sales and support for Dalet’s Asian customers.
In addition to the expanded territory responsibilities, the Dalet Asia Pacific team welcomes Pacific Sales Manager, Alan Ropers. With an extensive background in engineering, Mr Ropers joined the Dalet organization in 2002. In 2003, he was stationed at the Dalet Dubai office - successfully deploying Dalet throughout the Middle East broadcast community. Mr Ropers is responsible for the continued expansion of Dalet’s broadcast solutions throughout Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific islands.

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TRAINING

AFTRS Turns LAMP on Digital Content

A stellar lineup of speakers will provide NSW filmmakers with an insight into digital content creation opportunities at an orientation workshop hosted by the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS) on Wednesday September 7.
AFTRS exciting new initiative ­ the Laboratory for Advanced Media Production (LAMP) is a series of cutting edge seminars, workshops and labs with a strong practical production focus. LAMP is designed as a catalyst for the creation of Australian digital content for the global stage. Teams of producers, writers, directors and designers will work to create cross platform projects, guided by industry professionals.
Cross-platform production offers tremendous opportunities for content creators to reach the expanding audiences who spend more time surfing the web or playing games than watching television. Cross platform allows producers to simultaneously create products that can generate alternate income streams from interactive broadband, mobile delivery, value added DVD or games. Creative cross platform production works to the strengths of each platform to deliver a cohesive and dramatically enhanced experience to the viewer. LAMP will help content creators to navigate this complex new world.
Speakers include David Gurney - Blue Rocket, Sohail Dahdal - from 6Moons Interactive, Guy Gadney – GM of Content Programming ,Telstra Bigpond, Tom Kennedy – CEO Zoomedia, Gary Hayes - Founding Director of LAMP and former Senior Producer at BBC New Media, Peter Giles - Head of Digital Media at AFTRS, Jackie Turnure - script editor and writer.

Date: September 7, 2005
Time: 10am to 5pm
Venue: Rehearsal Room 2 and 3, ABC Centre, 700 Harris Street, Ultimo
Course fee: $40
Info: Tel: 02 9805 6444 or email infonsw@aftrs.edu.au
Visit: www.lamp.edu.au

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DISTRIBUTION

Quinto and Wohler Agree Representation

Quinto Communications has been appointed as the distributor for Wohler products throughout Australia. Wohler are the acknowledged world leaders in in-rack audio and video monitoring equipment for broadcast applications. Latest technological innovations from Wohler include an extensive range of multi-channel audio monitoring products that decode complex digital and analogue signals including HD-SDI embedded audio, Dolby Digital AC3 emission coding and Dolby E distribution coding protocols.

For further information, contact Alan McIlwaine on (03) 9558 9377

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CORPORATE MOVES

AAV Sells Digital Media Services to Omnilab

The Chief Executive Officer of AAV Limited, Michael Gardner, announced that the Company has sold its Digital Media Services operations to Omnilab Pty Limited for $5 million. The sale follows the announcement by AAV’s Chairman, Bob Mansfield on 14 June 2005 that AAV would divest its Digital Media Services group to focus on core assets in the area of Event Services via its ownership of Staging Connections and Media Manufacturing via its joint venture vehicle, AAV Regency.
Mr Gardner said that the companies within AAV’s Digital Media Services group that form part of the sale are Digital Pictures Sydney and Melbourne, Iloura Melbourne and Comcopy Imagestream, AAV’s digital media broadcast facility in Auckland, New Zealand as well as AAV’s 50% stake in DubSat which delivers Omnilab full ownership of this unique digital streaming business.
Companies currently housed under the Omnilab banner include; VFX, animation, telecine and design company, The Lab Sydney; Editing house, Island Films; Facilitator of playout and broadcast for the Pay TV industry, The Playroom Sydney; sound and editing business, Cornerpost and film and television production company Ambience Entertainment.
In a joint statement Michael Gardner and Grahame Mapp, Chairman of the Omnilab Group said that the sale of AAV’s Digital Media Services group to Omnilab was an outstanding outcome for all parties and placed the businesses in an environment with a perfect cultural fit.
“The consolidation of AAV’s Digital Pictures Network within the Omnilab Group will create a number of synergistic brands capable of delivering an unparalleled range of services both locally and internationally,” they said.
The Omnilab Group’s Managing Director, Christopher Mapp added “I have long been an admirer of the high calibre of creativity and post production excellence provided by AAV’s Digital Pictures Network and very much look forward to working with the Digital Pictures team in continuing to meet and exceed clients’ expectations.”

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FREE TV

Colin Wright Wins Marlan Award

The Seven Network’s Colin Wright has taken out the 2005 Paul Marlan Award, presented at the Annual Engineering Meeting held by the Free TV Australia Engineering Committee in Sydney.
The Paul Marlan Engineering Award recognises a member of the Engineering Department staff of a television station, or a person or organisation, who is judged to have made a significant contribution to commercial television engineering.
In presenting the award, the Nine Network’s Bruce Kruger praised Colin’s strong advocacy of the DVB-T (Digital Video Broadcasting-Terrestrial) transmission system which was the system introduced into Australia. He said, “It is in this area that had it not been for Colin Wright’s singular efforts we would not have the comprehensive Australian DVB-T receiver standard we have today - from the earliest meetings within the Standards Australia forums in 1998 where the framework was established for the development of an Australia digital television receiver.”
Seven Network's Trevor Bird says Colin has played an important role at the Network including:
* In 1983 he led a team to establish the Los Angeles Bureau for the Seven Network and was instrumental in pioneering the delivery of CNN to our region
* In 1992, at the Barcelona Olympic Games, he introduced remote-controlled point of view cameras in venue commentary positions
* In 1996 he was the Chief Engineer for the Atlanta Olympic Games
The Paul Marlan Award is available for annual presentation by Free TV Australia (formerly FACTS) and each year the Free TV Engineering Committee considers nominations for the award. The award commemorates the outstanding contribution made by Paul Marlan up to his unfortunate death while representing FACTS at an international meeting in 1981.

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SPAA 2005

Call for Screen Industry Council

In Vino Veritas – In Wine There is Truth, or so believes a working group headed by veteran producer Hal McElroy which sees lessons for the Australian production sector in the way in which the Australian wine industry reshaped itself to become a leading force internationally and a significant earner of export revenue.
Made up of John Butterworth (Australian Interactive Media Industry Association), Richard Harris (Australian Screen Directors Association), Megan Elliott (Australian Writers Guild), producer Sue Maslin, Lynn Gailey (Media Entertainment & Arts Alliance), and Geoff Brown (Screen Producers Association of Australia), the McElroy working group has sought the guidance of Ian Sutton, Founding CEO of the Winemakers Federation of Australia to formulate a proposal for an umbrella group to provide a unified voice for the entire industry.
Speaking at the SPAA 2005 conference, Sutton outlined a plan for the proposed Australian Screen Council. Representative associations, such as those represented in the working group, would be invited to nominate one industry member to an Executive Council. While each Representative Body (or Electoral College) would represent the interests of its constituency at the Executive Council, all decisions would be made in the best interests of the whole Industry.
This would be conditional on 100 percent consensus agreement to be reached on all issues. An inability to reach consensus would result in the Council having no policy position, but that would not stop the ‘Electoral College’ from pursuing an issue in its own right.
“The objective is to have representation from each of the sectors in the Screen Production chain,” said Sutton. “This does not mean there will not be close formal engagement with other sectors and agencies by the Council.”
Sutton said that, in other cases in which he had been involved, discussions on unity constantly take place when an Industry is in crisis and funds are short. He went on to outline six principles for funding the new organisation.
* Using the example of the Australian Wine Industry being able to gain tax concessions of $900M over 12 years, Sutton said the ASC would require adequate funding to demonstrate to the Industry it is delivering substantial benefits from which the ASC could itself be ultimately funded.
* Electoral Colleges should provide funding to establish formal participation but should be minimal.
* A newly unified Australian Screen Production Industry body would be an exciting marketing proposition and various “hollow logs” would be available to attract Start-Up/Project funding.
* A Cocktail of funding including Government and Institutional funding would be sought.
* Funding thus sought should not be merely a re-distribution of ear-marked Industry funding.
* Ideally the first three years of operations would be underwritten early in the Council’s development.
Sutton said the Council’s first six months would be spent on identifying those major issues that, if delivered, would result in substantial benefit to the whole Industry.
“This period would also establish a long-term, say 15-20 year vision, for the Industry identifying barriers to be removed through Government Policy change and opportunities for development by the Industry for the vision to be achieved.
“Such a Strategic/Issues/Policy orientated approach would announce to all important sectors – government, media, investment, International, general community, that the Industry has set a clear new direction to achieve steady growth and success in a renewed sense of self determination and authority.”

A whitepaper by the working group can be found at www.australianscreencouncil.org

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PRODUCTION

SPAA Elects New President

The Queensland based producer Trish Lake (Freshwater Productions), has been elected President of the Screen Producers Association of Australia for 2005-06 and will take over from the current President, Stephen F. Smith at the SPAA Annual General Meeting on 27 September 2005. Nick McMahon of Crawford Productions has been re-elected as SPAA Vice President.
"Trish's energy and enthusiasm for the role of the producer has inspired her colleagues in SPAA and on SPAA Council (Trish is currently a SPAA Feature Film Councillor) and I believe she will make a tremendous contribution over the next 12 months. This is the first time that the SPAA presidency will be based outside of Sydney or Melbourne. It reflects the changing nature of the industry and in particular, the growth of Queensland as a key production centre," said Stephen Smith.
Trish is developing feature film, television drama and documentary projects. Freshwater co-produced the critically acclaimed feature film, Gettin' Square with Mushroom Pictures and Working Title.
Stephen Smith is stepping down after three years at the helm of SPAA. Stephen has provided leadership and a new sense of direction for the organisation. His experience in running a successful film business (the post-production company Frameworks), has given SPAA a strong commercial focus and a confident voice as the industry's chamber of commerce. Stephen has helped strengthen SPAA and I expect Trish will continue this good work," said SPAA Executive Director, Geoff Brown.

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INSTALLATIONS

Malaysia's TV3/8TV Select Omnibus

Omnibus Systems has announced new Malaysian installations of its newsroom, content management, and playout solutions at commercial channels TV3 and 8TV.
To supplement its existing transmission operations at TV3 and 8TV, OmniBus has installed newsroom solutions based on its Columbus playout system.
OmniBus' ingest tools enable the acquisition of satellite feeds as one-off or scheduled recordings alongside material from field tapes and other sources. Columbus automatically loads the required content from the newsroom system rundown and plays them out under manual control.
This installation now means that both channels run highly efficient, mixed server environments under OmniBus control from the same facility in Kuala Lumpur; OmniBus manages the playout of news from Quantel servers, long-form material from Profiles, and interstitial and commercials from Quantel.
Last year, OmniBus installed a single playout channel for 8TV in a short timeframe to go to air for the Chinese New Year celebrations. Recently, TV3 also migrated to a similar solution that enables compliance editing of drama programs and movies on OmniBus browse technology.
OmniBus carried out specific development work for the channels that included the provision of the browse editor as an ActiveX plug-in inside the subtitling system, allowing multiple operators to view the material simultaneously rather than having to load their own individual copies of all media, saving the broadcasters time and money. OmniBus also provided integration to the existing asset and business management databases to ensure continuity across the systems.

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AWARDS

Digital Pictures Up for Emmy

Digital Pictures’ VFX Supervisor David Booth and Head of 3D, Steve Anderson have both received Emmy award nominations for their outstanding work on the mini series, “Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars" in the category of "Outstanding Special Visual Effects For A Miniseries, Movie Or A Special". The awards will be held on September 18 in Los Angeles.
Digital Pictures Sydney delivered approx 40 VFX shots including the final “hero” shot for the US miniseries, Farscape. Originally commissioned to deliver only 20 VFX shots, Digital Pictures created a combination of 2D and 3D shots so complex that the number of layers exceeded 100 and in many cases some required 180+ layers. In 2000, Digital Pictures (through its totally integrated VFX group, GMD) produced the VFX for the entire first series of Farscape.
David Booth’s career includes an Emmy award for his VFX Supervision work on Hallmark’s Alice in Wonderland for which he also devised proprietary tracking software to enable the integration of live action and 3D animation creature tracking. David’s most recent credits include House of Flying Daggers and he is currently VFX Supervisor on Paramount’s Charlotte’s Web.

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INSTALLATIONS

Euphonix Air at Sky News

SMPTE 2005 - Moving house is a great time to evaluate the furniture. For Sky News Australia, the move from Frenchs Forest to North Ryde presented the perfect opportunity to initiate some hardware upgrades - not least a Euphonix Max Air for on-air audio.
The configuration of the console chosen by Sky is 40 faders with 106 channels, 24 mix busses, 24 clean feeds/group busses and a dedicated mix minus facility.
Sky News Australia commenced its 24-hour news service early in 1996, becoming the first and only Australian produced television news channel. Since that first broadcast, Sky News has become an essential part of the Australian media landscape and is now the number one news channel in Australia, available in more than two million homes and locations across Australia on the FOXTEL, AUSTAR, Optus and Neighbourhood Cable pay television networks and on the Sky pay television network in New Zealand.
Sky’s move to the new custom facilities will be completed in late 2005. The move is being overseen by Mr Steve Ireland whose responsibilities extend to what goes and what stays ‘Obviously one of the main components of our studio is the on air audio console and upgrading to digital was one of higher priorities,’ he said.
David Banks, Sky News Senior Audio Director commented on their choice.
“After extensively evaluating the options a Euphonix Max Air was chosen. It is perfect for the demands of 24 hour live news broadcasting.” he said. “It provides quick access to the main on-air type features including facilitating frequent two-way, off line dialogue between the news host and field reporters to set up the next live story.”

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CORPORATE MOVES

Adimex and Digistor Merge

Adimex Pty Ltd, a specialist digital media production systems supplier, and Digistor Pty Ltd, a leading supplier to the post-production and broadcast markets, have announced that the Adimex business operation has been merged into Digistor. Adimex will now operate as a business unit of Digistor located at Digistor's newly opened Artarmon facility.
Adimex has been operating for over ten years as a specialist supplier of products and systems for video editing, effects, animation and streaming.
With offices in Sydney and Melbourne and a range of products and skills complimentary to Adimex's, Digistor is a company that dovetails perfectly with the Adimex business. For over 15 years, Digistor has provided innovative, professional solutions for storage, editing and post-production while delivering customer service excellence.
By combining Adimex and Digistor, the merged business represents arguably the best team of specialist video post-production hardware and software sales and support people in the industry. Headed by Digistor Managing Director, Andrew Mooney, the merged business will incorporate the Adimex staff, product range, customers and support services significantly strengthening Digistor's leadership position.

Visit www.digistor.com.au

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INSTALLATIONS

ABC Brands with Snell

SMPTE 2005 – The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has purchased a number of Snell & Wilcox IQDLOG Logo Inserters to provide the station's on-air channel identification watermarks.
The Snell and Wilcox IQCSPI customisable serial port interface allows the logo generators to be controlled via the ABC's playout automation so that special program genre specific logos are brought up for particular programming. A specific logo is brought up for identifying the ABC's early morning "ABC Kids" output for example.
In addition, manual override by presentation suite staff will also be possible using Snell and Wilcox Rollpod custom remote control panels in the presentation suite.
IQDLOG is an SDI logo inserter which can insert a channel's or a broadcaster's logo directly from a network file. The unit is capable of adding static or animated, full 8-bit, colour logos at any point in the active picture region of the SDI stream. The logos or animation sequences can be of any size or length, to a total of 250K pixels. Logos are downloaded over the RollCall network. A simple animation control file allows easy creation and manipulation of the animation parameters.

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OUTSIDE BROADCAST

Chyron Spun 180° in City to Surf

Chyron’s Duet HyperX HD character generator was recently used for all on-air graphics at the recent City to Surf outside broadcast managed by 180 Degrees Digital Post.
180 Degrees purchased the two channel Chyron Duet HyperX HD system from Magna Systems and Engineering in December 2004 after a comprehensive evaluation of all the comparable CGs on the market.
180 Degrees Technical Manager Chris Dent says “We looked around and assessed which CGs were available in the market. We eventually chose the Chyron Duet HyperX HD system because of the ease of getting different formats into the unit which is excellent value for money and the fact that we could get two HD channels out of it.”
Chyron’s flagship Duet HyperX HD/SD features up to two software-switchable HD/SD channels, either one of which may integrate a compressed HD/SD clip player. The system’s unique architecture enables effortless switching among HD and SD formats.
Dent continued, “Another key factor in the decision was the Lyric 5.2 software that comes with the Duet HyperX. We found it was very easy to create 2D/3D graphics with Lyric and immediately take them to air without the file conversion required by other CGs.”
When it came to the City to Surf OB, Dent said “The Duet HyperX was used for all the graphics on the day including full page backgrounds on channel two and foreground strips, baselines and supers with backgrounds on channel one. It performed wonderfully in a set up that included our main HD van at Hyde Park, two helicopters, three motorbikes and another OB van at the finish. All the material was sent back to the 180 Degrees OB van, combined, graphics added and then sent to Channel TEN for commentary.”
The 180 Degrees OB truck was the main switching area for the City to Surf outside broadcast and is the first entirely HD truck in Australia.

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DISTRIBUTION

Quinto Signs Pro-Bel

Quinto Communications has been appointed exclusive Australian and NZ distributor for the Pro-Bel range of routing switchers.

The Pro-Bel product range extends from simple low cost 16 x 16 switchers (SD or HD) thru to the most complex switchers ranging to 1024 x 1024 and above. Contact Quinto on +61-(0)3-9558 9377.

Visit www.quinto.com.au

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DISTRIBUTION

The AV Group Returns

The AV Group has returned to the equipment supply market with Peter Rolston expanding his role as Managing Director.
The range of products from the AV Group includes Axon logging systems and Aspect Ratio Converters; Wohler audio monitoring bridges, level meters and LCDs (SD/HD); and Eyeheight SD/HD legalisers and presentation mixers.
Recent sales include Wohler Dolby E audio monitoring systems to the Nine Network, PanaormaDTV LCD displays and additional Axon SDN cards to the WIN network, and Eyeheight keyers to Sky Channel.

Visit www.avgroup.com.au

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INSTALLATIONS

Tandberg Deploys with Prime, Nine, ABC & TEN

Tandberg Television has announced it technology will be used in an upgrade of Prime Television and Nine Network’s existing high definition systems. The company has also confirmed a contract to supply a Digital ENG network to Network Ten, having last year secured deals to provide DENG networks for both ABC and Nine Network.

Tandberg is to also provide Prime New Zealand with a digital distribution system to distribute content across the country.

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SOCIETY NEWS

Bunch, Smart Fellows of SMPTE

Peter Smart, Director of Engineering of FOXTEL, and Roger Bunch, Head of Engineering for industry body Free TV, have been promoted to the grade of SMPTE Fellow, effective immediately. The Fellow Grade of membership is awarded to individuals who have, by proficiency and contributions, attained an outstanding rank among engineers or executives in the motion-picture, television or related industries.
Peter has earned his ranking in a career that has extended through regional TV in South Australia, Imparja in the Centre, Aggregation with Prime, and most recently building one of the largest and most complex subscription TV platforms in the world at FOXTEL, a facility heavily reliant on standards-based technology.
Roger heads Free TV Australia's Engineering Committee which has been a standing committee of the Commercial Television industry's representative body since 1965. Free TV Australia was formerly known as Commercial Television Australia (CTVA) and the Federation of Australian Commercial Television Stations (FACTS) during its long history as part of the Australian television industry.
The committee's major roles are developing common operational practices for the industry; co-ordinating member station input to technical planning and standard setting bodies; participating in national and international negotiations about the development of the broadcasting system; and related technical matters, such as technical and safety standards.
The Free TV Australia Engineering Committee maintains a number of Operational Practices, Engineering Guidelines and Recommended Purchase Specifications relevant to analogue and digital television broadcasting.

For more, click here.

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REGULATION

Appointments for Oz Super-Regulator

The Australian Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan has announced appointments to the Board of the new merged regulator – the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) which came into existence on 1 July 2005 as a result of the merger of the Australian Communications Authority and the Australian Broadcasting Authority.
“The merger of the two regulators recognises the changing nature of the telecommunications, broadcasting and media industries,” said Senator Coonan. “Convergence of technology and new technology developments are challenging the old regulatory structures and ACMA will be well placed to deal with these new challenges in the future.”
The ACMA Board will have seven members - three full-time Board members, including the Chair and Deputy Chair, and four part-time Board members.
Ms Lyn Maddock, Acting Chair of the ABA, has been appointed as the Deputy Chair of ACMA and Mr Chris Cheah, head of the Telecommunications Division of the Department of Communications, has been appointed as a full-time Board member. Former ACCC Commissioner Mr Rod Shogren, Professor Gerard Anderson of the University of Central Queensland’s Melbourne Campus, Executive Director of AFTRS Mr Malcolm Long and former CEO of the Australian Communications Industry Forum Ms Johanna Plante have been appointed as part-time Board members.
“An announcement about the Chair of ACMA will be made shortly, when arrangements concerning the appointment have been finalised,” said Senator Coonan.

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INSTALLATIONS

Imparja Opts for Omneon

Australia’s only Aboriginal-owned and Independent Network, Imparja Television, has installed an Omneon Spectrum media server for assembly and playout of all commercial, promo, and short-form content on the network’s main commercial service. The Omneon server was supplied through Quinto Communications.
“Our foremost concern in replacing our playout systems was to integrate a highly reliable and flexible solution that could grow along with our operations,” said Tim Mason, chief engineer at Imparja Television “Of all the options we evaluated, the Omneon system with NVerzion automation was the standout solution capable of meeting both our financial and operational requirements.”
Imparja’s broadcast area covers six Australian states and territories, comprising five time zones with an overall area of some 4.5 million square kilometers, an area greater than Western Europe. The company’s satellite signal, which includes programming from the Nine and TEN networks and a number of indigenous programs, is rebroadcast via local TV repeaters in more than 250 towns and communities in its broadcast areas.
Installed at Imparja’s studio and transmission center in Alice Springs, the new Omneon server will provide one input channel, one main playout channel, and one preview channel for quality assurance. Used in conjunction with the Omneon Spectrum server system, the Ncontrol automation application from NVerzion interfaces to Imparja’s existing hardware for a facility-wide control solution. Omneon servers are likely to be considered for Imparja’s planned new digital playout centre.

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DIGITAL CINEMA

D-Cinema Crosses Continents with MXF

BroadcastAsia Singapore saw GDC Technology, a provider of digital cinema solutions herald cross-continent transmission of digital cinema content packaged using the MXF standard.
GDC Technology‘s DSR SA1000 Digital Film Servers are the first to be upgraded to MXF which is adopted by the Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI). GDC Technology has remotely upgraded most of its servers deployed in the field to MXF while maintaining backward compatibility with GDC Technology’s proprietary DSR format.
The “Cross-Continent Digital Content Transmission” or CCTx project was spearheaded by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) and Singapore Infocomm Technology Federation (SiTF) Digital Media Chapter (DMC). The CCTx project aims to develop a viable worldwide digital distribution model that can be commercialised in addition to establishing a secure and seamless digital delivery of content to digital cinema theatres in Asia.
Digital content such as DCI StEM (Standard Evaluation Material) and Hollywood feature films were prepared in the MXF format and securely delivered from the US to digital cinema theatres with GDC Technology’s DSR SA1000 Digital Film Servers in Singapore and Thailand, via satellite.
This complete working model allows studios to securely deliver digital content to Singapore, localise it and re-transmit the localised content for regional distribution. Visit www.gdc-tech.com

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CORPORATE MOVES

Accom Cuts Operations

Accom has decided to substantially reduce its operations to only providing technical support for its products effective June 16, 2005.
Junaid Sheikh, Chairman and CEO of Accom, Inc. said, “We intend to continue to provide technical support to our customers for as long as the support revenues justify it.”
As recently as April, the company had introduced two new products, one a server and the other a delay device used in live broadcasts. www.accom.com

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VISUAL FX

Remote Rendering Service Launched

Singapore’s Managed Computing Competency Centre (MC3) used this year’s BroadcastAsia to kick off its virtual Remote Rendering service for commercial pilot by inviting local and international 3D animation companies to test drive its remote rendering services for a minimal cost for a limited period.
MC3 - with the support from SUN Microsystems, Alias, Mental Images and Equinix, has initiated an exclusive promotional "test drive" package designed to enable 3D animation companies to render their commercial projects using MC3's Remote Rendering Service. This is the first ever Remote Rendering Service based in Singapore and is targeted at companies producing 3D animated feature films, TV series, visual effects, games and corporate applications. Local and international players can now tap on this Remote Rendering Service to submit 3D animation jobs for secured remote rendering. Visit www.mc-3.org

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DIGITAL CINEMA

Southeast Asia’s First D-Cinema Encoder

Mega Media, one of Singapore’s leading content producers, used this year's BroadcastAsia to announce the acquisition of a DSR Digital Film Agile Encoder from Singapore-based GDC Technology. The initiative was made with the support of the Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA) and the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore, and makes it the first facility in Southeast Asia and sixth in the world to offer digital cinema encoding for 2K digital films in the GDC format.
The Encoder is housed at Mega Media's campus at the Digital Media Hub, Singapore's first one-stop film production centre. Other complementing facilities at the DMH include a Dolby-approved Motion picture Sound Mixing Stage. The Mega Media Group is also acquiring High Definition Camera and editing facilities in the third quarter of 2005.
During June, first-time feature director, Han Yew Kwang's premiered his film ‘Unarmed Combat’ at the Shanghai International Film Festival in the 2K GDC format. This digital feature is a project of the Film Incubator Programme, and is presented by the Digital Media Academy and Singapore Film Commission, in association with Mega Media. Visit www.megamedia.com.sg

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INSTALLATIONS

CNBC Upgrades with Avid Unity for News

Business news broadcaster CNBC Asia Pacific is undergoing a complete upgrade of its newsrooms and bureaus in Singapore, Hong Kong and Tokyo to a server-based non-linear production environment. Headquartered in Singapore, CNBC Asia Pacific is a business news and information service of NBC Universal and Dow Jones & Company.
CNBC Asia Pacific’s channels, which include CNBC Asia, CNBC-TV18 (India), Nikkei-CNBC (Japan), CNBC Australia, CNBC Singapore and CNBC Hong Kong, are available in over 34 countries across the Asia Pacific region.
Following an extensive review, CNBC has commissioned the Avid Unity for News shared storage media network system by Avid Technology, Inc. as the foundation for its complete end-to-end broadcast environment.
With these technological solutions, CNBC will gain access to a range of new capabilities, including direct media ingest and play-to-air with the Avid AirSpeed system, simultaneous real-time editing with Avid NewsCutter Adrenaline, and the Avid Unity for News system for shared storage. The new workflow will also offer fast access to media material with features such as high-resolution clip browsing in the newsroom as well as segment editing using the soon to be released Avid iNEWS Instinct system designed for journalists as a high resolution story composition tool. The all-digital Avid environment will significantly increase news workflow and production capacity and enable the producers and editors at CNBC to handle breaking business, political and world news stories with greater accuracy and ease.
According to Alexander P Brown, President and CEO of CNBC Asia Pacific, “CNBC's strong reputation has been built on providing the critical tools and information that empower the efforts of successful business leaders. We are confident that the architecture provided by the Avid Unity for News system is solid and reliable and will play a crucial role as CNBC continues to achieve even higher levels of programming excellence.”
Peter Juno, Senior Vice President and Director of Operations, CNBC Asia Pacific, said, “This major systems overhaul is a significant investment for us and will dramatically change the way our high quality business programming is produced. We have been working with Avid for years and are already familiar with the various components and the support we get from them. We look forward to creating a truly digital newsroom environment with the soon-to-be-implemented system.”

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DISTRIBUTION

Leitch Announces New Australian Distributor

Leitch Technology Corporation has appointed Focal Point Computing Pty Ltd. as its distributor for video processing and distribution and server products in Australia.
"Focal Point has been in the graphics and video business for 12 years and is already the valued Australian distributor for Inscriber, Leitch's recent acquisition," said Stephen Wong, vice president of Asia-Pacific operations. "We look forward to expanding our relationship with Focal Point and working closely with them to increase business across all Leitch product lines throughout Australia."
An Australian technology distribution and video/broadcast systems integration company, Focal Point specializes in distributing IT products used to digitally create, edit and distribute multimedia content. Expertise gained in this market has seen Focal Point grow its business into other related areas: medical imaging, multi screen financial and trading room display solutions, digital video editing, multimedia content creation and in particular providing solutions to the cable/network TV broadcasters.
As a distributor, Focal Point has well-established relationships in Australia with vertical market dealers that specialize in the video and content creation markets. These are companies that typically target their business at areas like post production facilities, corporate and government communication departments, schools and universities, event videographers and video hobbyists.

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INSTALLATIONS

Prime NZ Picks XDCAM for Holmes

When Paul Holmes, one of New Zealand's best known ‘celebrities’, moved his current affairs show to the Prime Network, the station took the opportunity to improve its programme production workflow.
“The Holmes programme, News and Getaway needed an acquisition format that added speed and flexibility to the process,” said Denis Harvey, Prime’s Station Manager. “The PDW-510P XDCAM camera became our obvious choice. We use the units for quick turn around. Field crews shoot on XDCAM and the journalists then return with discs to the edit suite where they view, ingest and edit stories using the PDW-1500 recorder/player.
Prime Television NZ was also comforted by the fact that Prime Television Australia had recently purchased XDCAM and their opinion of the product was very positive.
“Prime Television did not want to introduce another tape based format,” explained Harvey “We considered the solid state storage format but it was not at a mature enough stage. XDCAM was the best and arguably most logical option when partnered with our non-linear editing systems. It was fully featured and well received by our Australian colleagues - nobody ever gets fired for buying Sony!”

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CONTENT PROTECTION

Public Digital Content Platform

A Unified Digital Asset Management platform has been launched for the Hong Kong Creative Industries in Cyberport. The iResource Centre (iRC) at Cyberport, Hong Kong's IT flagship campus, has launched a public digital content protection platform - DigitalCopyright.hk - for the creative industries in HK to protect and distribute digital content.
Two main services will be provided on the unified platform: Digital Rights Management (DRM) and Digital Safe. The DRM service will be based on International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) approved system for interoperability. With this platform, content creators can use the latest international-standard DRM solutions with minimum effort and investment to distribute content. In the near future, this platform will also provide a ‘Digital Safe’ service for content creators to archive their works safely, permanently and easily.
To promote public awareness of intellectual property protection, Radio-Televison Hong Kong (RTHK) has announced it will provide the highlights of a radio drama, 'Solar Project Surround 5.1’ for legitimate free public download on the DigitalCopyright.hk platform. Content can be freely shared and distributed on peer-to-peer networks. Users must provide a valid email address to acquire a license from the platform to enjoy the Surround 5.1 Radio Drama.
Digitalcopyright.hk will further provide content protection service for various kinds of digital content, in particular the audiovisual content. Digital content purchase and content upload service for SMEs will be provided from July 2005. Visit www.digitalcopyright.hk

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TRIPLE-PLAY

Alcatel Accelerates IPTV in HK

SuperSUN, the pay TV Service of Galaxy Satellite Broadcasting Limited, one of Asia’s leading pay TV service providers, headquartered in Hong Kong SAR, will use Alcatel to deliver an Internet Protocol-based television (IPTV) service to residential broadband users in Hong Kong.
Alcatel will provide a fully integrated end-to-end video solution to enable SuperSUN to cost-effectively manage and deliver its satellite TV content over the broadband network of Hutchison Global Communications. With an open and non-proprietary architecture, the Alcatel solution uses industry-standard interfaces that allow for seamless integration with existing infrastructure and systems from different equipment vendors. As the project integrator, Alcatel will also take responsibility for the end-to-end integration with SuperSUN’s set-top box and subscriber authentication suppliers.
At present, SuperSUN’s satellite TV services cover 600,000 homes in Hong Kong. The service provider expects to launch its IPTV services in June 2005 and immediately expand its reach to 2 million households by leveraging the coverage of its broadband network partner. As a result, Hong Kong consumers will have a wider choice of entertainment programs delivered to their home television sets.
Alcatel recently launched an IPTV Solution Centre for the Asia Pacific region in Shanghai, China.

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INSTALLATIONS

Sydney International Film School Trains with Avid

Avid Australia has announced that the Sydney International Film School will equip its state-of-the-art post-production training facility with a variety of media production systems from Avid. The new School – at which the first courses commence in August 2005 – has purchased ten Avid Xpress Pro systems, an Avid Unity LANshare shared storage solution and an Avid Media Composer Adrenaline HD system. The School has also purchased a Digidesign ProTools digital audio workstation.
According to Charlie Doane, Director of SIFS and its Head of Teaching, “One of our objectives is to give students comprehensive hands-on training with the same technology that's being used by professional filmmakers. In the world of media production, Avid is the clear industry standard. By giving our aspiring filmmakers a solid grounding with Avid systems such as Xpress Pro and Media Composer Adrenaline they'll be ideally prepared for a successful career in film or television.”
SIFS is also offering short courses that will introduce non-professionals to the craft of digital editing. These will be conducted by Jeff McDonald, Managing Director of Sydney-based post-production company Magnet Post, and will be held at the School’s dedicated Editing Lab, which is in the process of becoming an authorised Avid training centre.

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INSTALLATIONS

HK’s Cyberport Expands with Arrilaser

The Digital Media Centre (DMC) at Cyberport, Hong Kong’s IT flagship development has installed its first Arrilaser for shared use by the film and digital entertainment industries in Hong Kong.
The Arrilaser is the first cine film recorder to use three solid state lasers as light source, outputs in a speed of 1:1.85 at 1.7 sec per frame in 2K resolution. It offers outstanding laser-based 35mm film recording capability to facilitate images and content in various format and types of media to be converted to 35mm celluloid film output.
According to Ms. Subrina Chow, HK Assistant Government Chief Information Officer, “The mission of the Digital Media Centre is to support the development of the local digital entertainment industry, providing state-of-the-art facilities and equipment at affordable costs to local companies, especially our SMEs. With the addition of ARRILASER, the Digital Media Centre will enable local digital effect and post-production companies to provide a complete Digital Intermediate service right here in Hong Kong. We believe the launch of this service will significantly enhance our competitiveness as a film and digital entertainment production centre in Asia.”
The first content creator to make use of the ARRILASER at DMC is going to output a-90-min animation feature film.

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CORPORATE MOVES

Peter Gabriel Buys SSL

The assets of high-end console manufacturer Solid State Logic have been acquired by a joint venture company established by musician and technologist, Peter Gabriel, and broadcast industry entrepreneur, David Engelke. The company, which will trade as Solid State Logic, will continue to design and manufacture mixing consoles and related audio technology at its Begbroke, Oxford headquarters.
In addition to his musical background, Peter Gabriel co-founded Syco Systems which developed the ‘Tablet’, one of the world’s first purpose-built digital audio workstations. More recently, he has had success with OD2 (On Demand Distribution), now the leading European platform provider for the distribution of on-line music.
American David Engelke has been involved with production and broadcast companies including Pinnacle Systems, Montage Group, and Digital Editing Services and invented several widely adopted technologies. He has received three Technical Emmy Awards and a technical Oscar. Engelke currently heads up Broadcast Devices LLC.
Peter Gabriel and David Engelke have recruited an experienced management team for their joint venture. Antony David, SSL’s Sales Director in the 80s and early 90s, then head of Pro Audio at Sony Broadcast & Professional Europe, is Managing Director; Piers Plaskitt, previously President of SSL Inc and President Sales & Marketing at Euphonix, is Group Commercial Director; and Chris Smith is Group Finance Director.

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CORPORATE MOVES

Tom Misner Buys AMS Neve

Leading console manufacturer AMS Neve is to be acquired by the multi-national SAE Group of audio and multimedia colleges headed by Tom Misner.
AMS Neve Ltd Managing Director Mark Crabtree said “We are very happy to now be part of such a strong global organisation. With the full support of the SAE Group it will enable us to increase our market share and above all accelerate the introduction of our new product range.”
SAE Institute will now be providing through its network in over 45 colleges in 20 countries AMS Neve broadcast/music/film and post seminars for past and new clients. This will be a first of a kind service only AMS Neve is now able to offer.
Romy Hawatt, SAE’s Strategic Business Development advisor said, “the coming together of AMS Neve & SAE is a unique strategic alliance of two of the world’s leading audio industry organisations - one in audio technology and manufacturing, and the other in audio education and training. Both the AMS Neve and SAE brands have a very strong global synergy.”
According to Tom Misner, “The feedback we have attained over the years from our large international student network has provided us with valuable information and insight that is now being applied by AMS Neve in the development of the soon to be released range of new products.”

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INSTALLATIONS

WIN TV Picks Masstech MassLogger

WIN Television, a leading Australian regional broadcaster has taken delivery of a 36-channel MassLogger version 2.2 from the Masstech Group Inc. for its digital compliance logging requirements. For Masstech, this brings to over 70 the number of channels in Australia using the company’s compliance broadcast logging solution.
Used in conjunction with Masstech’s asset management system, MassStore and MassMedia box, (the Digital Media Gateway protocols) Masstech’s logger provides a practical logging solution that will significantly cut costs for broadcasters while streamlining processes for greater workflow efficiency. In addition to its ability to capture incoming audio/video content to local or network storage, the MassLogger system provides a live, low bit rate stream of the incoming content. As content is captured in the system it is immediately available for viewing with a Web browser.
“The MassLogger Web interface allows us to simply click on the as-run list to view any specific logged event. As well as providing our legal compliance recordings the MassLogger allows our sales teams to quickly access a particular channel/date or time reference point and extract the content to a DVD if required. The live streaming view is a bonus that provides confidence monitoring for all our channels” said John Smithers, Director of Engineering WIN-Television.
Visit www.masstechgroup.com.

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INSTALLATIONS

Ascent Streamlines Singapore with Omneon

Ascent Media Network Services Asia (AMNSA) is now using eight Omneon Spectrum media server systems in its Singapore facility, enabling a digital workflow for the origination of 30 channels and delivery of continuous multi-language programming - sometimes in as many as 16 different languages - for broadcast to Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East, and Asia.
The Omneon systems, which consists of two ingest servers and six transmission servers, allow operators to work with video and audio files independently and with greater flexibility, resulting in more efficient quality control monitoring, along with more streamlined and accurate playout in this complex playout environment.
"We selected the Omneon server for several reasons, including the ease with which the system can be expanded, the readiness of the Omneon Spectrum solution to meet our needs, and the strength of the system's underlying technology," said Tan Yee Tiang, vice president of operations and engineering, AMNSA. "Omneon's active participation in broadcast technology development and its open APIs allow for smooth integration with many other automation and software vendors."
Within Ascent Media's state-of-the-art cable and satellite broadcasting center in Singapore, all inbound tapes are ingested into the Omneon ingest server in MPEG-2 I-frame format, subsequently passed through quality control monitoring and then stored in deep archive for future production needs. The same copy is also transcoded to a MPEG-2 long GOP digital file and archived for transmission. Media is retrieved from deep archive and stored in the Omneon on-air server for playout as called for in the broadcast schedule.
Because the Omneon server handles video and audio files independently, operators managing multi-language broadcasts can match video files to corresponding audio in any number of languages. As a result, fewer copies of media are needed, and media storage requirements are reduced. Quality control is also simplified, as audio files are only checked once, after they are staged and language tracks have been tagged, where previously they were checked once after layback to tape and a second time after ingest.
By handling ingest of various formats, the Omneon system facilitates recording and event cutting for rapid program turnaround. The server system's support for the QuickTime wrapper makes it easy to interface the server systems with other equipment for file transfer in a tapeless environment. OmniBus automation controls the Omneon servers through an IP network connection. This configuration simplified installation and enables ease of remote monitoring and diagnosis. In the event that a disaster should occur, AMNSA can easily commence remote control of play-out from a separate location.
The AMNSA installation follows that of the Philippines' GMA Network which recently installed an Omneon Spectrum media server system within its technical facility to support post-production requirements for the network's Final Cut Pro editing platforms. The Omneon server ingests live studio content, acts as the main storage hub for post-production, and provides a seamless link for exporting files to Final Cut Pro for editing or repurposing prior to play-out.

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CORPORATE MOVES

NTL Asia-Pacific is now ‘on’

BroadcastAsia 2005 – Following last year’s management buy-out, NTL Asia Pacific has been renamed ‘on ’. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, will be on’s operations centre given the already advanced state of the transmission outsource business in Malaysia. The company also has offices Singapore and Thailand. on has now doubled the manpower directly supporting the Network Operations Centre and upgraded its facilities in KL to provide increased monitoring capabilities for both TV and Radio transmission. This move has enabled the localisation of some functions that had previously been supported by Broadcast Australia.
The new name is designed to reflect on’s core competencies and supports its message that the business is about keeping broadcasters on-air.
According to Patrick Duffy, Managing Director, on, “The name 'on' clearly describes the company we are today, and evokes a vivid image of our commitment to world-class broadcast outsourced managed services. on carries a close universal meaning and message which encompasses the core activity of keeping our customers on air…guaranteed,” said Duffy.
“The name change coincides with the increase in focus on services we deliver best, namely consultancy, propagation planning, digital migration management and outsourced network operations and maintenance for regional broadcasters and governments here in the region. We are of course not involved in content provision itself but delivering our customers’ content is our business,” he added.
The company has recently been selected to provide Digital Terrestrial Television (DTTV) consultancy services for a DVB-T project for Singapore pay operator StarHub. The project is designed to deliver StarHub’s DTTV platform to over 1500 commercial locations throughout, including clubs and pubs, where cable is not an option. As an extension to StarHub’s roll out of Digital Cable, it is the world’s first such 'hybrid platform'. The system will be available to StarHub subscribers with decoders, conditional access smart cards and approved antenna installations.
Reach ‘on’ in Singapore on +65-6332 6938, in Thailand on +66-2-343 1627 and in Malaysia on +60-3-2273 3378. Visit www.on-ap.com

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INSTALLATIONS

Prime NZ Picks Harris for Sales, Programme Mgt, Automation & MAM

Prime New Zealand has announced it had purchased a complete airtime sales, programme management, automation and digital asset management system from Harris Software Systems Asia Pacific. The end-to-end solution is made up of the Harris Landmark airtime sales system, Vision Programme Management system, H-Class Automation system and Invenio Digital Asset Management system.
Prime Television New Zealand Ltd is a national, free-to-air network, which began broadcasting in New Zealand on 30 August 1998 transmitting a UHF signal, and are also available on Sky Satellite.
Prime's head offices are based in a purpose-built broadcasting facility in Albany, North Auckland and they also have sales offices in Hamilton, Tauranga, Hawkes Bay, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin.
In February 2002, Prime entered into a joint venture with Australia's leading broadcaster, the Nine Network. The joint venture enabled Prime to access Nine's own programming, and to gain leverage from Nine's positioning in the international television market. Prime began to offer first-run movies and series from the USA with programmes from Australia. In a determined demographic broadening strategy Prime provided ample new opportunities to viewers and advertisers alike which lead to large expansion for the broadcaster and the outgrowing of their existing Equinox sales and management system eventually starting the search for a new complete solution mid-2003.
“We needed a system that would allow us to manage our sales and On Air operation more dynamically and make us even more competitive in the New Zealand market” said Gerry Smith, General Manager Engineering and IT for the Prime Group. “It became very clear that we needed a complete system that was powerful in its functionality for sales and flexible for programme management. That’s when we approached Harris with a view to the Landmark Vision solution. Once we were happy with these two components we began negotiations with Harris’ distributor Magna Systems for an automation and digital asset management solution. After careful review we committed to a migration path initially using the Harris ADC 100 automation system and then moving to a full H-Class Automation system with Invenio digital asset management to complete our requirements.”
Landmark is the advanced and established total solution for the management and execution of complex media, airtime and sponsorships campaigns and also allows the management of annual airtime client contracts. With a proven history of solving the needs of multi-channel operators, networks and regional sales houses, Landmark provides total control over the available inventory to ensure effective break utilisation to fulfill advertising agency targets whilst maximising revenue.
The Vision programme management system combines planning, rights management and scheduling within one workflow-orientated solution. The comprehensive scheduling engine provides the tools to create single or multi-channel presentation schedules combining programme content, interstitials, commercials and promotions into a single frame accurate playlist. The interactive graphical user interface uses drag and drop techniques to rapidly create and replicate schedules and has in-built wizards for the generation of complex templates and presentation structures.
The ADC automation system fully automates the dubbing, management and playout of program material from video disks and VTRs, and supports a full range of GPI controlled devices with a sophisticated suite of features that automatically manages difficult, complex tasks permitting new revenue and additional operations savings. ADC provides a rich feature set including resource allocation and serial communication modules to maximize resources.
H-Class Automation is a powerful workflow management solution designed by broadcasters for broadcasters to streamline ingest–to–air operations throughout the broadcaster’s enterprise. H-Class brings together everything needed to automate labor–intensive processes, eliminate duplication, originate live productions outside of Master Control, and share media seamlessly. H-Class automation also offers powerful new capabilities as digital media ingest and gives the interconnections needed to link local or remote news, production and traffic departments with ingest–to–air operations.
Invenio media asset management MAM is comprised of media management and content management product suites. The media management products form an intuitive bridge between the H-Class™ automation and MAM, specializing on ingest that can be customized to suit dynamic workflows. The content management products focus on the traditional approach to MAM, which enables the search and browse, cataloging and archiving of rich media.
Smith continues “Landmark, Vision, H-Class and Invenio present a strong integration and migration path to Prime and Harris offered us an established headquarters in Sydney, localized support, more resources and a big commitment to customer service.”
Joe Khodeir, President of Harris Software Systems Asia Pacific said, “We have been working alongside Prime since the business was launched in 1998. Their decision to select us to continue to work with them as they develop and grow their business is very gratifying and a great example of Prime's faith in our commitment to their business. It is also a great example of the Harris commitment, since its acquisition of Encoda, to integrate all of its products more tightly.”
Prime currently employs approximately 80 people in New Zealand.

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INSTALLATIONS

Prime NZ Delivers News with Dalet

Dalet Digital Media Systems, and Australian/NZ distibutor AmTech, have announced that Prime TV New Zealand (Prime TV) is using DaletPlus News Suite to produce and broadcast their new and widely popular current affairs program; “Paul Holmes”. The DaletPlus installation offers Prime TV an end-to-end news production and playout workflow that integrates industry leading technology including Sony's XDCAM, Omneon video servers, Avid editors, Chyron character generators and BDL Autoscript.
“Prime Television extended their partnership with Dalet by deploying a DaletPlus News Suite system in New Zealand. The Dalet solution was rolled out across Australia in 2004 at four of our news centers, with another one under completion and one more to go this year. The order for the New Zealand project was placed early December 2004 and we were pleased to see Dalet’s ability to deploy the system in a very short timeframe, which enabled us to commission the system and go on air as planned,” says Gerry Smith, Director of Engineering for Prime Television.
“DaletPlus is truly a unique end-to-end newsroom solution. It is one of the only products on the market today that offers broadcasters the ability to manage their entire newsroom production and playout process without the pitfalls associated with implementing a proprietary solution,” comments Pierre-Henri Humblot, general manager, Dalet Australia. “DaletPlus News Suite enables Prime TV to integrate the newsroom components they want, customize a workflow that fits their environment; cutting down on maintenance, training and overall costs of their newsroom operation.”
DaletPlus streamlines the entire newsroom workflow by managing content and metadata from ingest to archive. User-friendly tools allow Prime TV journalists to easily access content, make shot selections, assemble stories and send to Avid editors for finishing - all from their desktop. The show producer can review and approve news packages and stories in progress at any point during the production process. Upon approval, DaletPlus transfers show material to the Omneon Spectrum video server for playout. DaletPlus converts broadcasted material into low-resolution proxies and migrates to on-line storage for efficient archiving and easy re-use.
Prime TV Australia has also implemented the DaletPlus News Suite for end-to-end news production and playout. The DaletPlus News Suite solution is currently used by the Prime TV Australia teams in Orange, Albury, Wagga Wagga, Canberra as well as the Tamworth and Northern NSW coastal offices which were recently installed. There, Prime TV journalists and editors, including those of the coastal news gathering offices, prepare complete packages – script, video and voice-overs – using simple editing tools, and submit them to the Tamworth-based producer for review. Materials submitted for review are automatically converted to low resolution proxies by DaletPlus for quick and easy access of media files. Once approved, DaletPlus automatically compresses and transfers the digital video packages across Prime’s wide area network to the Tamworth center, where the DaletPlus system automates the news playout.
Future plans include expansion of the Dalet system to support Bunbury and all regional Western Australia offices.

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BROADCASTASIA 2005

DVB-H Signal to Cover Singapore During BroadcastAsia

For the very first time at Broadcast Asia (14 – 17 June 2005, Singapore Expo, Booth No. 2E2-07), the DVB Pavilion will host live DVB-H demonstrations conducted by DVB member Nokia. The live demo will showcase content supplied by MediaCorp Singapore (Channel News Asia, and TV Mobile). Nokia 7710 handheld communication devices will receive the content, which will also be shown in simulcast on conventional TV screens. Nokia representatives will be on hand to provide in-depth information. During the week of 13 – 17 June, the live DVB-H signal will also be transmitted to provide nationwide coverage in Singapore.
Also participating in the DVB Pavilion is Advanced Digital Broadcast (ADB) a provider of a diverse range of high quality products and services to the digital broadcast and broadband markets world-wide. ADB will showcase their range of digital set-top boxes and IDTVs incorporating the latest DVB and MHP technologies.
On hand will be DVB representatives and technology experts to answer queries and provide information on the world’s leading family of technical standards for digital broadcasting that are already in use for the deployment of over 110 million receivers globally.
On Wednesday 15 June, DVB will present ‘Broadcasting to Handhelds – An International Review’ as part of the official Broadcast Asia conference programme. Peter MacAvock, Executive Director of the DVB Project will chair the session and provide the opening remarks. The session will include presentations by Nokia’s Richard Sharp, Teamcast’s Gerard Faria, Nagisa Oyoshi of TBS in Japan, and Kyuheon Kim from Korea’s Electronics & Telecommunications Research Institute. Andrew Wajs of Irdeto Access will join the other speakers for a round table discussion to wrap-up the event.
Visit http://www.broadcast-asia.com/

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DTV REGULATION

Review of HDTV Quotas

Organisations and individuals with an interest in the future of high definition television (HDTV) are being asked to make a submission to an issues paper released on quota requirements by the Australian Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan. The Australian Government is conducting a series of reviews to shape a suitable regulatory framework for digital broadcasting, including HDTV.
The paper, A review into high definition television quota arrangements, sets out the context for assessing the provision of digital HDTV broadcast services in metropolitan, regional and remote areas of Australia.
“Free-to-air broadcasters in metropolitan and regional licence areas are currently required to provide at least 1040 hours of HDTV programs each year, which is monitored by the Australian Broadcasting Authority,” Senator Coonan said. “The Australian Government has set up this review to consider issues such as whether HDTV quotas are still necessary and, if so, whether any changes should be made to the quota levels, obligations and reporting requirements.
“More broadly, it will provide an opportunity to assess the need for changes in the regulation of HDTV transmissions.”
So that a wide range of views and interests will be taken into account, stakeholders and interested members of the community are invited to participate in the digital TV reviews by responding to the issues paper.
The issues paper is available online by following the link under ‘key issues’ at www.dcita.gov.au
The website provides advice on how to make submissions in response to the issues paper, which should be forwarded to the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts by 24 June 2005.

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DISTRIBUTION

Amber Dedicated to EVS

EVS Broadcast Equipment has renewed his distribution agreement with Amber Technology for the Australian market.
As part of the new agreement, Steve Wakeford has been appointed in Amber as EVS Operation Manager. Steve, former EVS support, operational and training specialist has been working as a freelance in Australia for the last two years, he will now be fully dedicated to the promotion, training and support of the EVS technology in Australia. This will definitely enhance the presence and the service provided by EVS & Amber to Australian broadcast industry.
Contact Steve Wakeford,
EVS Operation Manager,
Tel: +61 2 9452 8600
Mobile: +61 404 281 966
Email: australia@evs.tv

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INTERACTIVE TV

Two Way TV Partners on Gambling, Gaming

Zone4Play, Inc., a US-based developer of interactive game technology, has entered into a long term agreement with Two Way TV Australia Limited, a leading provider of live, competitive, enhanced TV entertainment and interactive TV applications and technology to the Australian market, under which it is acquiring exclusive rights to distribute Zone4Play's advanced SMS-TV solution, iTV solutions and mobile gaming and gambling products in Australia, New Zealand and 26 Asian territories.
Under the terms of the five-year agreement, Two Way TV Australia (TWTVA) will pay US$1.75M to become the exclusive distributor of both Zone4Play play for real and play for fun gambling solutions in the mammoth Asian and Pacific markets. The fee is recoupable from significant revenue shares payable to Zone4Play from any deal that is signed in these territories.
The live gambling products including Texas Hold'em poker, blackjack, roulette, lotteries, sports betting and racing packages will be offered to license gaming operators wherever regulations permit. Zone4Play's gaming products have been selected by the largest licensed gaming operators in the UK and Europe.
Zone4Play will be in charge for all integration with gaming and wagering operators and aligned broadcasters and mobile operators throughout the Asia Pacific region. Leveraging on its leading position in these territories, Two Way TV Australia will be in charge of promoting, distributing, and operating all Zone4Play's services in these regions.
Idan Miller, Zone4Play Senior VP Marketing and Sales said, "We are proud to have been selected by TWTVA, a highly respected local partner, as the leading provider of play for real and play for fun solutions to these markets. This opens the door to an entirely new arena for doing business that we haven't had the opportunity to compete in yet. Since establishing our solid positioning in the UK interactive gaming market, we plan to get into any market that will be open and regulated for offering these services."
Two Way's Managing Director, Mr. Jim McKay commented, "Two Way TV now has an entire range of the most popular gambling and gaming products, both for real and for fun, which we can make available to gaming organizations and mobile carriers throughout the Asia Pacific region. Zone4Play products had been successfully deployed by pay television operators, mobile phone providers, and licensed gaming operators around the world."
The deal is subject to final technical due diligence by Two Way TV Australia.

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PIRACY

Unauthorised Pay TV Use Under Review

Australian Attorney-General Philip Ruddock has announced that the Government is reviewing the laws relating to the use of unauthorised equipment to access pay TV signals without paying subscription fees.
Mr Ruddock has released a discussion paper as part of a Government policy review concerning subscription broadcasts.
“Subscription broadcasts are currently protected by provisions in the Copyright Act 1968 and many unauthorised activities involving subscription broadcasts are already criminal offences,” Mr Ruddock said.
However, it is not an offence under Commonwealth law if a person receives a subscription broadcast without the broadcaster’s authorisation and watches it in their own home.
“The Government does not condone this activity and is examining whether the law should be stricter in this area to make some activities offences under Commonwealth law,” Mr Ruddock said.
The review is being conducted by the Attorney-General’s Department.
The discussion paper, and information on how to make a submission, is available at www.ag.gov.au/broadcastreview or by calling (02) 6250 6608.
Submissions are due by 17 June 2005.

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BROADBAND

Optimal Supplies WA Fibre Network

OPTIMAL Cable Services has been announced as a key supplier in Broadcast Engineering Services’ (BES) 2000 fibre to the home (FTTH) project in Western Australia with its Alloptic range.
Optimal, a major supplier of fibre optic cable and accessories, is the Australian and New Zealand distributor of Alloptic fibre to the home product solutions and BES announced Optimal and Alloptic to be the preferred supplier and product range for its FTTH network.
Optimal Director and Marketing Manager, Mr Paul Cross, said the company’s involvement in the BES fibre network was a substantial project and Optimal was looking forward to playing a major part in new estate development around Perth as a result. “We are delighted to be announced as BES preferred supplier for the project,” Mr Cross said. “The BES fibre network will serve new estate developments in and around Perth and is expected to attract more than 2000 customers on-line by the end of 2006.”
BES Chief Technology Officer, Geoff Aldridge said Alloptic was the clear choice for the performance and reliability required for the FTTH project.
“After reviewing our options, we choose Alloptic for its superior performance and proven ability to deliver,” Mr Aldridge said. “Alloptic’s standards based PON architecture and Ethernet based transport protocol, make it the ideal technology for Greenfield deployments.”
Alloptic is an access network equipment provider, offering an IEEE Ethernet Passive Optical Network (ePON) solution and Mr Cross said Alloptic provided the industry’s most efficient optical access network solution.
“Alloptic provides voice, video and data services to the customer with a gigabit of bandwidth, a proven ability to support 32 splits per PON, and a reach capability of 20km. The product enables service providers to bring true broadband services to all of its customers efficiently and affordably.
“We are pleased to be working with BES as they build their state-of-the-art fibre network,” Mr Cross said. “Service providers around the globe realise today’s digital lifestyle requires greater bandwidth, and with a gigabit of bandwidth, Alloptic’s customers are able to provide the most advanced level of services through a state-of-the-art network.
“Not only do the subscribers benefit from a network that can seamlessly provide enhanced services, but communities also reap the benefits of a system with the capacity to totally support telecommuting and work-at-home options.”

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POLICY

Coonan Sets Up ICT Advisory Board

The Australian Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan has announced the members of an ICT Advisory Board that will provide strategic advice on key issues affecting the development of the information and communications technology (ICT) sector in Australia.
“The ICT sector is a vital part of the Australian economy and the Australian Government is committed to positioning Australia to meet the challenges of the highly competitive global ICT market, and the opportunities from new developments in ICT.”
The Advisory Board members include eminent individuals from small-to-medium sized ICT firms, multinational companies, the research, training and education sectors and ICT users.
The members of the Advisory Board are Mr Grame Barty (CEO of HarvestRoad Limited), Mr Ric Clark (Chief Operating Officer of National ICT Australia), Ms Dominique Fisher (MD of EC Strategies Pty Ltd), Mr John Grant (MD of Data#3 Limited), Ms Sheryle Moon (Director, Manpower Services Australia), Mr Dan Phillips (Executive Director, Macquarie Bank; Head of technology investment banking business), Dr Phil Robertson (Director, Canon Information Systems Research Australia), Prof John Rosenberg (Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic), Deakin University) and Dr Alex Zelinsky (Director of the CSIRO ICT Centre).
“The members of the ICT Advisory Board have a strong interest in ICT and are well positioned to advise the Government. I am confident that their outstanding talent and expertise will be invaluable in informing the policy development process,” Senator Coonan said.
The Board will focus on strategic policy issues for the Australian ICT industry. Its first task will be to assist in the ICT Priority Setting process to identify key priority areas for researchers and industry to better focus our development activities across Government and industry.
The Board is an additional source of advice to Government – that will complement the valuable contributions of other key sources – including advice from industry associations, individual firms and other stakeholder groups.
“The exercise to identify ICT priorities will be an inclusive process and I will be consulting closely with all relevant stakeholders including industry associations and representative bodies such as the AIIA, the ACS and AEEMA,” said Senator Coonan.
“Setting priorities for ICT is the start of a process of broader engagement with the ICT sector – to ensure that our efforts in supporting the industry