DISTRIBUTION
August 2016
whoBuyswhat
■ Broadcast Australia updates
multiple sites with Nautel
transmitters
Broadcast Australia has placed an order for four Nautel NX50 50kW
AM transmitters, as part of a country-wide upgrade of legacy 50kW
transmitters.
Offering 90% efficiency at 50kW operation, the NX50 transmitter
“dramatically reduces” the amount of input power needed for transmission and facility cooling. Collectively, the NX series transmitters
are designed for “extreme reliability” and are engineered to withstand
the harsh environmental conditions that exist at many broadcast sites
throughout countries such as Australia, according to Nautel.
The first four NX50 transmitters will be deployed to metropolitan
and regional sites in New South Wales and Victoria, replacing ageing
Nautel Ampfet series installed since the 1980s. Nautel also worked
with in-country partner Sonifex in delivering the NX50 transmitters
to Broadcast Australia.
Karen Olliver, Sonifex’s general manager, said: “We’re pleased to
work with Broadcast Australia on a project of this
magnitude. We have supplied
Broadcast Australia with Nautel
transmitters for other, lowerpower AM sites and many FM
sites across Australia. Nautel’s
reputation for reliability, support
and advanced instrumentation
for monitoring and control is
first class.”
The order for the NX50 transmitters follows the recent deployment of four NX10 10kW MWAM models, as well as four NV20lt
20kW FM transmitters.
John Abdnour, regional sales
manager for Nautel, added:
“Broadcast Australia has long
used Nautel transmitters beginning in the 1980s, and is a valued
partner. Upgrading to the highly
efficient, feature-rich NX series
will serve Broadcast Australia stations for decades. We’re proud to
continue our work together.”
As part of a nationwide upgrade of
legacy 50kW transmitters, Broadcast
Australia has purchased four Nautel
NX50 50kW AM transmitters.
25
Live sports: Rooting for
goal with linear TV
by deepak mathur
There is a certain magic and allure to watching live sports, and
this sporting season — just after
Euro 2016 and with the Olympics
around the corner — is a clear reminder of the enduring appeal of
linear TV. In the past few years or
so, where viewers’ media consumption habits have changed for many
programme genres, a whopping
95% of TV sports viewing still happens live, a sure sign that live sports
on linear TV is here to stay.
While live sports streaming has
become an option in recent years,
it has met with stumbling blocks
even in advanced markets such as
the US. Underlining the shortfalls
of live streaming, the recent Super
Bowl 50 live stream attempted by
CBS experienced technical glitches
with interruptions that lingered
through the game’s first quarter.
Online video distribution architecture is simply not equipped for
the demands of streaming a live
game to millions of viewers. For
those living in areas with poor or
unreliable broadband connectivity,
a problem that many countries in
Asia face, one can only imagine
how much more frustrating live
streaming would be for viewers.
Video streaming cannot replace live TV broadcast at the
Video streaming cannot
replace live TV broadcast
at the same picture
quality, reliability or
scale.
same picture quality, reliability
or scale. This is why linear TV remains the ideal option for live
sports. The beauty of a live game
delivered by satellite is that it can
be viewed from almost anywhere
and everywhere, a seamless and
near-instantaneous experience,
regardless of the speed of the Internet connection or extensiveness
of terrestrial networks.
Audiences worldwide appreciate the linear TV experience and, as
a result, live sports on TV is in fact
flourishing. In May this year, 210
million viewers in China stayed up
to watch CCTV5’s live broadcast of
the World Snooker Championship
finals, where history was made as
the first Asian player reached the
tournament’s final stage.
More than a billion fans tuned
in to the final of the 2014 FIFA
World Cup, and the competition
reached a global in-home TV audience of 3.2 billion people — almost
half of the world’s population. SES
partnered with Eurovision then to
broadcast the World Cup to audi-
AsiaSat and JIB expand partnership
As a major expansion of an existing partnership, Japan International
Broadcasting (JIB) is using the AsiaSat 7 satellite to broadcast NHK World
TV, an English-language news and lifestyle TV network. The agreement
also sees JIB continuing to distribute its SD channel in Asia-Pacific via
AsiaSat 7.
Yoshihiko Shimizu, president and CEO of JIB, explained: “Since our
SD service launch on AsiaSat in 2009, AsiaSat has proved to be our
insightful and dependable partner in Asia, and has done an excellent
job in helping us to expand our penetration.
“Our new HD service will bring a brand-new viewing experience
of high-quality news and entertainment content to home viewers and
travellers in Asia.”
AsiaSat 7 is broadcasting NHK WORLD TV HD’s 24-hour programming, including
its signature news show, NHK NEWSLINE, in the Asia-Pacific.
ences throughout North America,
Latin America, Europe and Asia.
This year, we are teaming up with
Eurovision again to enable broadcasters to provide extensive co