Afghanistan ‘still dangerous for news media’
Friday October 07 2011
Ten years after the US and its allies invaded Afghanistan, the country remains just as dangerous for news media, the International News Safety Institute (INSI) says.

BBC to cut 2,000 jobs by 2017
Thursday October 06 2011
The BBC is planning to cut 2,000 jobs and radically change programming in order to cut 20 percent from its budget over the next five years.

SBS and ABC to offer content on Xbox Live
Thursday October 06 2011
Australian public broadcasters SBS and ABC have teamed up with Microsoft to offer their content on the popular Xbox Live platform, Inside Film reports.

TVNZ launches online comedy
Wednesday October 05 2011
New Zealand’s public broadcaster TVNZ has launched its newest digital-only series, Auckland Daze.

Thai government looks to restructure NBT TV
Wednesday October 05 2011
Prime Minister’s Office Minister Krissana Seehalak announced on Tuesday plans to reprogramme the National Broadcasting Service of Thailand’s Channel 11, saying there is a chance that contracts with private news producers will not be extended, the Bangkok Post reports.

PNG broadcaster wins award for Journalism education
Wednesday October 05 2011
A senior Papua New Guinean broadcast journalist with a training role for the national broadcaster has won a scholarship to the annual Journalism Education Association of Australia (JEAA) conference in Adelaide in November, according to a Pacific Media Watch press release.

Two more journalists killed in Yemen
Wednesday October 05 2011
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemned the killing of cameraman in a military offensive last night in Taiz province as well as the death of reporter Abdel Majid Al-Samawi on 3 October, from the gunshot wound he received more than a week ago.

Pakistan to give out free radios to flood victims
Wednesday October 05 2011
In the wake of havoc wreaked by torrential rains and floods in most parts of Sindh province, it has been decided that vigorous efforts should be made through broadcast media to disseminate information and highlight plight of displaced people, said Dr Abdul Jabbar, Chairman of Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra), The News reported.

Japan to launch Smartphone-only TV broadcast channel
Wednesday October 05 2011
A television broadcast viewable only on Smartphones and tablets with special tuners will go live across Japan next year, according to a venture funded by the country’s largest television stations and mobile operator, IDG News reports.

IAWRT Awards deadline nears
Tuesday October 04 2011
The International Association of Women in Radio & Television (IAWRT) is still accepting entries for its 2011 IAWRT International Awards for Excellence in Documentary Making.

Caspionet starts broadcasting in North America
Monday October 03 2011
Kazakh national satellite channel Caspionet recently began open transmission to North America via the DTH platform of the Galaxy 19 satellite.

17 Singapore companies head to MIPCOM
Monday October 03 2011
Singapore’s Media Development Authority (MDA) is leading a delegation of 17 Singapore companies to MIPCOM 2011, Channel NewsAsia reports.

NHK Video Bank – NHK’s archive service’s new name
Sunday October 02 2011
NHK is rebranding its archives service as NHK Video Bank and will launch it this week at MIPCOM.

UNICEF announces 2011 ICDB Award nominees
Saturday October 01 2011
UNICEF announced the nominees for the International Children’s Day of Broadcasting (ICDB) Awards yesterday. The awards are given by UNICEF for outstanding commitment to the ICDB by television and radio broadcasters.

General Assembly registration tops 400
Friday September 30 2011
More than 400 people from 42 countries have registered for the ABU General Assembly and associated meetings, which will take place in New Delhi on 2-8 November.

EBU’s David Wood to be honoured
Friday September 30 2011
The ABU is to honour David Wood, the Deputy Director, Technology and Development, European Broadcasting Union (EBU), with a Distinguished Service Award.

North Korea’s KRT to provide AP with HD video
Thursday September 29 2011
Associated Press President and Chief Executive Tom Curley said today that the agency has signed an exclusive deal with North Korean state broadcaster KRT to provide high definition news video from North Korea to broadcasters worldwide, AP reports.

Singapore broadcast veteran Ananda Perera dies
Thursday September 29 2011
Ananda Perera, the former director of News at then-Singapore Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) has died, ChannelNews Asia reports.

The Asian Pitch announces 3 winners
Thursday September 29 2011
MediaCorp-Singapore, NHK-Japan and KBS-Korea have selected three projects to commission after a successful run of their regional pitching event, The Asian Pitch.

Bangkok airport launches TV channel
Thursday September 29 2011
The Airport of Thailand has unofficially launched its own channel produced by World Entertainment Network Ltd and will be broadcasting tourism and news programmes that will cater to air travellers at Suvarnabhumi Airport, Pattaya Mail reports.

MDA revamps funding schemes
Wednesday September 28 2011
Singapore’s Media Development Authority (MDA) has streamlined its funding programmes for the media industry, ChannelNewsAsia reports.

Australian journalist assaulted during drug raids
Wednesday September 28 2011
A man has assaulted an ABC journalist covering a series of drug raids across south-east Queensland today, ABC News reports.

BBC’s global version of iPlayer launches in Australia
Wednesday September 28 2011 The BBC’s iPlayer has launched in Australia, ABC News reports.

NHK wins Emmy for Chilean mine disaster coverage
Tuesday September 27 2011
NHK’s Back from the Brink: Inside the Chilean Mine Disaster has won this year’s International Emmy Award for current affairs. The announcement was made at the 32nd News and Documentary Emmy Awards Gala in New York yesterday.

KBS launches K-Player
Tuesday September 27 2011
KBS-Korea recently launched K-Player, a digital media platform that allows the audience to watch KBS programmes on smart phones, PCs, tablet PCs and any Internet-enabled device.

Sniper fire claims life of Yemeni cameraman
Monday September 26 2011
A Yemeni cameraman died in a Sana’a hospital on Saturday, five days after being struck by sniper fire while covering an anti-government protest in the capital, the Committee to Protect Journalists reports.

Call for entries for Prix Jeunesse
Monday September 26 2011
Prix Jeunesse has sounded the call for entries for the next Prix Jeunesse International which will be held on 1-6 June in Munich, Germany.

India working to speed up digitalisation
Monday September 26 2011
The Indian government is working on an ordinance to speed up digitalisation of the cable and satellite television industry worth 200 billion rupees (US$4.09 billion), Indian Television reports.

ABS-CBN: More Philippine households keen to go digital
Sunday September 25 2011
The number of Philippine households willing to switch to digital TV has increased after a broadcast giant held a two-week trial period, Business Mirror reports.

ABU Prizes nominees announced
Friday September 23 2011
The finalists for the ABU Prizes have been announced and competition for the awards promises to be stiff this year.

Talking set-top box released in Australia
Friday September 23 2011
The Australian government has announced the first Australian release of talking set-top boxes to help people who are vision impaired make the switch to digital-only television, The Australian reports.

Two secondees join ABU Technology
Thursday September 22 2011
The ABU Technology Department has been strengthened by the arrival on secondment of engineers from two ABU Members, Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) and Forever Group of Myanmar.

New rules tipped for Australian TV content
Wednesday September 21 2011
The Australian government’s review of media rules for the digital age is looking at entirely dropping Australian quotas for television and radio, or making them apply to websites, too, if it decides they should be kept, The Age reports.

Australia’s Ten announces news shake-up
Wednesday September 21 2011
Australia’s Ten Network has dumped The Late News and Sports Tonight in another major restructure of its news schedule, the Herald Sun reports.

China’s CCTV ‘to revamp news programmes’
Wednesday September 21 2011
National broadcaster China Central Television will radically revamp its flagship news programmes from next year, AFP quotes Chinese media reports as saying.

Fiji’s FBC helps save turtle
Tuesday September 20 2011
The Fiji Broadcasting Corporation has been hailed for helping save a turtle in waters off Vatoa Island.

Al-Jazeera head resigns
Tuesday September 20 2011
Al-Jazeera’s top executive, Wadah Khanfar, resigned today after eight years as the head of the satellite news channel and was replaced by a member of the Qatari ruling family, the company said, AFP reports.

Asianews workshop opens in Dhaka
Monday September 19 2011
A regional news training programme run by the ABU and its partners entered a new stage today when a weeklong workshop kicked off in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Media urged to highlight children’s views on disasters
Monday September 19 2011
The news media have been urged to raise disaster awareness among children to mark the UN International Day for Disaster Reduction on 13 October.

All India Radio stumped by shabby treatment
Sunday September 18 2011
All India Radio commentators say they got shabby treatment from the organisers during the fifth one-day cricket international between India and England in Cardiff on Friday, The Times of India reports.

PTV and PBC staff to help Pakistan flood victims
Saturday September 17 2011
Senior staff of Pakistan’s national broadcasters, PTV and PBC, will donate three days’ salary to help flood victims in Sindh province, Associated Press of Pakistan reports.

NHK to broadcast ultra-high sensitivity camera footage
Friday September 16 2011
Japanese public broadcaster, NHK, is set to break new ground on Sunday with its live broadcast of a special programme shot with an ultra-high sensitivity camera. This will be the first time in TV history that such footage will be broadcast.

Australian kids ‘not watching age-suitable shows’
Friday September 16 2011
Since the arrival of new digital channels, Australian children as young as one are watching TV programmes that may not be appropriate for their age, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Legal dispute over broadcasts to smart devices
Thursday September 15 2011
A major dispute is looming between Australian telecommunication companies Optus and Telstra over broadcasts to smart devices and the Internet, ABC News reports.

NHK World named ‘Broadcaster of the Year’
Wednesday September 14 2011
NHK World TV, an English-language international service of NHK-Japan, was named the Broadcaster of the Year during the inaugural ConnectedWorld.TV Awards.

AsiaSat named best regional satellite operator
Wednesday September 14 2011
Hong Kong-based satellite operator AsiaSat has been named ‘Regional Satellite Operator of the Year’ at Euroconsult’s 8th Annual Awards for Excellence in Satellite Management.

ABU to play greater role in BroadcastAsia
Wednesday September 14 2011
Singapore Exhibition Services (SES) will be collaborating with the ABU in preparation for the BroadcastAsia 2012 International Conference that will take place at Suntec Centre in Singapore from 19 to 22 June.

Papuan TV journalist allegedly beaten by local chief
Tuesday September 13 2011
A television journalist working for Top TV has allegedly been severely beaten by a district chief in West Papua New Guinea, Scoop reports.

New 24-hour international news channel planned
Tuesday September 13 2011
In a press release, Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud announced today that Alarab will be the name of his new international news channel scheduled to be launched in 2012.