Another wait for new channel

AUSTRALIA is in the midst of a digital TV revolution but Tasmania is going to have to wait again to join the party. Liberal Senator Guy Barnett said he was disappointed that while the rest of Australia was switching on Seven's new digital channel on Sunday, Tasmania would have to wait until December 1.
The free channel 7TWO will show via Southern Cross in Tasmania.
"I call it a mini-snub," he said. "It's very disappointing and I'd like to know the reason why Tasmania is receiving this later than the rest of Australia."
The channel is part of the Freeview Digital TV service.
The "mini-snub" comes after the delay of sports channel OneHD in the state, which began broadcasting in Tasmania in July -- only after a campaign by residents.
As part of the TV revolution, Channels 7, 9 and 10, ABC1 and SBS1 have been bolstered by five free-to-air digital channels -- OneHD, GO!, ABC2, SBS2 and 7TWO.
The ABC is set to launch new kids' channel ABC3 in December and the commercial networks could add another three channels by mid-2010.
Foxtel, meanwhile, has announced its Next Generation campaign: a $50 million overhaul that will include 30 new channels. Chief Kim Williams described this as "the biggest change to Australian TV since the advent of Foxtel Digital in March 2004".



TVNZ news turns 40
TVNZ is about to celebrate 40 years of televised network news bulletins.
Dougal Stevenson read the first bulletin, which was a live broadcast by the NZBC (now TVNZ), simultaneously transmitted on a series of microwave links around New Zealand on November 3, 1969 at 7.35pm.
However, it has never been seen again as it wasn't recorded. Bulletins were not routinely recorded until the mid 1980s.
Stevenson, Philip Sherry and the late Bill Toft were the first network news readers and shared the nightly presenting role equally on a rotating roster.
"In the early days the small amounts of actual footage in the news was often days old before it arrived in New Zealand," said TVNZ's head of news and current affairs Anthony Flannery.
"There were no satellite feeds, little agility to include breaking news, no technology to report live from the scene, and there were no cameras in court or Parliament."
Until 1969 television broadcasts were regional. Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington and Dunedin had their own TV channels that broadcast between two and seven hours a day and often included regional news bulletins.
It was also widely believed the first colour broadcast was of the 1974 Commonwealth Games in Christchurch even though television was first broadcast in colour on October 31, 1973.
Continuity announcer and weekend news presenter Marama Martin presented the broadcast wearing a purple dress.
It was undeniable that television news had an impact, Mr Flannery said, and he cited many television news images that would be burned on our memories -- the Flight 90 wreckage strewn across Mt Erebus, the Springbok tour, the underarm incident and Lorraine Downes being crowned Miss Universe.
Former prime time network news presenters and news bosses and have been invited to the Auckland Television Centre on November 25 so TVNZ can recognise the contribution they have made to the country's news heritage, Mr Flannery said.

TANDBERG Television Powers New ‘CASPA’ TiVo Video On-Demand Service from Hybrid TV

Award-winning WatchPoint® CMS and OpenStream® VOD back-office will enable New Zealand and Australian customers to enjoy VOD on the TV

HONG KONG--(BUSINESS WIRE)--TANDBERG Television, part of the Ericsson Group (NASDAQ:ERIC), today announced Hybrid Television Services (ANZ) Pty Limited, the exclusive licensee of TiVo® products in Australia and New Zealand, is deploying a complete suite of TANDBERG Television software solutions to enable carrier class Video On-Demand to the television via broadband Internet.
Hybrid TV will give New Zealand customers access to a wide range of On-Demand movies and TV programming via their TiVo media device from November. CASPA On-Demand is the brand name for this world of broadband entertainment including new release movies, hit TV shows for the whole family as well as free music videos, artist interviews and music concerts. CASPA represents one of the first and largest implementations of true On-Demand to the television in Australasia.
“People want to watch television on the television. This is not only broadcast TV – but also includes TV content delivered over broadband. By enabling VOD movies and television content within the TiVo service we are giving our customers more than free-to-air television…we are providing it all without any late fees or trips to the video store,” comments Robbee Minicola, CEO at Hybrid TV.
“We needed a strategic partner that shared our vision for a personalized, multi-screen TV future. What we did not expect, but experienced first hand, was their professional approach and their willingness to stand, side-by-side with us through the entire process…which often resulted in us all working until the wee hours of the morning,” she added.
As part of a centralized, multi-territory VOD service, Hybrid TV is using TANDBERG Television’s new, award-winning WatchPoint® Content Management System (CMS), OpenStream® Digital Services Platform on-demand back-office solution, AdPoint® Advanced Advertising Platform and Xport® Producer storage encoding solution.
The CASPA On-Demand service will be delivered using progressive download over a subscriber’s existing broadband connection and complements the free-to-air digital terrestrial television (DTT) services available via TiVo receivers in New Zealand and Australia. TANDBERG Television and Ericsson played a critical role in helping Hybrid TV meet its ambitious New Zealand launch deadline, creating a working beta solution within two months and enabling commercial roll-out a month later.
Dario Choi, Executive VP & General Manager, Asia Pacific, TANDBERG Television, part of the Ericsson group, comments: “Hybrid TV is an innovative service provider that is changing the way people watch television. We are proud to be involved in this landmark project and to provide Hybrid TV with our complete suite of software products, which enable efficient VOD management and are designed to deliver the highest quality experience to every device, across every platform. We are really pleased with how fast and painless our integration with TiVo applications and content discovery processes has been. That is a tribute to our open architecture solutions and our professional services.”

Two ESA Satellites Launch Successfully
Last night at 2:50 am Central European Time, two European Space Agency (ESA) satellites were successfully launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Northern Russia. The Rockot launch vehicle was carrying both the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) satellite, and the Proba-2 satellite. SMOS will monitor the moisture exchange of the Earth between the ocean, air and land as well as the salinity of the oceans and the moisture of the soil in an effort to better understand how these factors influence the climate of our planet. Proba-2 will test out various instruments, including a small wide angle optical camera, and instruments for monitoring the plasma environment in orbit and the Sun's corona. SMOS is part of the ESA's Earth Observation Envelope Program, an initiative to study in scientific detail from space the ongoing changes of the Earth. The GOCE satellite launched earlier this year to study the Earth's gravity field and ocean circulation is another part of this program.
SMOS is the first satellite designed with the intent of measuring ocean salinity from space. To do this, it will implement a multi-part microwave antenna to monitor the oceans at a wavelength of about 23cm. At this frequency, an antenna of 5-10 meters (15-30 feet) is needed to make the measurements. This is too large to fit into a standard rocket payload bay, so the mission engineers employed what is called 'synthetic aperture synthesis'. This is a technique used in radio astronomy that strings together separate antennae in different places, allowing the antennae to act as one larger antenna. A perfect example of this is the Very Large Array in New Mexico. The SMOS antenna has three foldable arms that are 3 meters (6 feet) long apiece, and extend to form a Y shape. Along the arms are 69 small antennae that all act together to take measurements as if they were one larger antenna.
Volker Liebig, ESA’s Director of Earth Observation Programs said in an ESA press release:
"The data collected by SMOS will complement measurements already performed on the ground and at sea to monitor water exchanges on a global scale. Since these exchanges – most of which occur in remote areas – directly affect the weather, they are of paramount importance to meteorologists. Moreover, salinity is one of the drivers for the Thermohaline Circulation, the large network of currents that steers heat exchanges within the oceans on a global scale, and its survey has long been awaited by climatologists who try to predict the long-term effects of today’s climate change."
The other satellite piggybacking on the SMOS mission launch is the suitcase-sized Proba-2, part of a series of missions in the ESA's General Support Technology Program to test out new technology in space for further development on other ESA missions. Proba-2 is carrying a digital sun sensor, a high-precision magnetometer, and dual frequency GPS space receiver among other instruments for a Belgian study of solar physics and Czech study of plasma physics.
Both satellites arrived in their sun-synchronous orbits, and initial systems checks indicate that both are operating as expected. SMOS will orbit at 760 km (472 miles) above the Earth, and Proba-2 at 725 km (450 miles). SMOS, once calibrated, will reach full operational status in about six months, and Proba-2 will become fully operation in two months.