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Kevin Klose Receives 2009 NABA International Achievement Award

May 28, 2009 / TORONTO, Canada - Kevin Klose will be honoured by the North American Broadcasters Association (NABA) in recognition of his outstanding leadership in the broadcasting industry at a luncheon during its Conference & Annual General Meeting in Washington, D.C. on Thursday June 4, 2009.

The NABA International Achievement Award is presented annually and recognizes individuals who have demonstrated extraordinary leadership in broadcasting and commitment to the organization’s goals and principles.

A former editor, and national and foreign correspondent with The Washington Post, Klose is an award-winning author and international broadcasting executive. Prior to joining NPR in December 1998, Klose served successively as Director of U.S. International Broadcasting, overseeing the U.S. Government's global radio and television news services (1997-98); and President of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), broadcasting to Central Europe and the former Soviet Union (1994-97). Klose first joined RFE/RL in 1992 as Director of Radio Liberty, broadcasting to the former Soviet Union in its national languages.

Under Klose, NPR became the United State’s premier non-profit source of fact-based, contextual journalism for radio, the internet, cell phone, and satellite delivery systems. NPR’s national radio audience doubled from 13 million weekly listeners in 1998 to 26 million weekly listeners today, a growth rate unmatched by any U.S. broadcast or cable network.

Klose is also the author of Russia and the Russians: Inside the Closed Society, winner of the Overseas Press Club's Cornelius Ryan Award; and co-author of four other books. Since April of this year, Klose has assumed the position of Dean of the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism.

Mr. Klose’s focus on the value of international broadcasting news and information has been in the best tradition of NABA, whose mission is to promote the interests of North American Broadcasters internationally through cooperation and coordination with the world’s broadcasters as well as international regulatory and policy bodies.

The 2009 NABA Conference & Annual General Meeting (AGM) being held in Washington, DC from June 3-5th, and provides an excellent forum to recognize Mr. Klose’s many accomplishments as broadcast industry leaders from Canada, Mexico and the United States gather for this important conference. The award will be presented during the International Achievement Award Luncheon on June 4th from 12:30 – 14:30 EDT at the historic Willard Intercontinental Hotel.

About NABA

NABA is a non-profit union of the most influential broadcasting organizations throughout North America committed to advancing the interests of broadcasters at home and internationally. As a member of the World Broadcasting Unions (WBU), NABA creates the opportunity for North American broadcasters to share information, identify common interests and reach consensus on issues o an international nature. NABA provides representation for North American broadcasters in global forums on topics including journalism issues, protection of content, spectrum related concerns, the territorial integrity of broadcasters’ signals, and digital transmission issues.

NABA’s members represent some of the most successful broadcasters in North America. Public and private network broadcasters in the United States, Mexico and Canada working together to provide a common voice for the North American broadcast community.

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For further information, contact Jason Paris (+1-416-598-9877 / jparis@nabanet.com)

For more information on the 2009 NABA Conference & AGM, please visit www.nabanet.com.

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Super Hi-vision on Show at WBU-ISOG

The ABU President, Yoshinori Imai, addresses WBU-ISOG participants at an NHK reception. Photo by Alan Williams (Asiavision, ABU).

Tokyo, JAPAN (May 15, 2009) – The latest high-definition technologies were on show when broadcasters, satellite operators and service providers from around the world met in Tokyo in May.

Japan’s public broadcaster, NHK, hosted the meeting of the World Broadcasting Unions International Satellite Operations Group (WBU-ISOG) on 13-15 May. It brought together nearly 100 people.

The meeting focused on the latest in newsgathering technologies. It included a visit to NHK’s Science and Technical Research Laboratories for a look at Super Hi-vision, an experimental digital video format under development by NHK.

With 4,000 scanning lines, the format offers large, wide-screen images that make viewers feel as if they were at the broadcast site.

Participants visit NHK’s Science and Technical Research Laboratories. Photo by Alan Williams (Asiavision, ABU).

The meeting also looked at the challenges facing broadcasters in the digital age, including the problem of interference to their satellite signals. WBU-ISOG’s Chairman, Dick Tauber of CNN, said the problem was continuing to get worse.

“In a digital world, it doesn’t take much to mess up your signal,” he said. “Broadcasters need to act in unison on this. We need to keep doing what we can.”

Participants heard that causes of satellite inference included Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) systems, poor equipment standards, improper installation and a lack of incident coordination.

Representatives of major satellite companies Intelsat and SES said they were working together to fight the problem. Patty Constantino of Intelsat said it was important for the industry as a whole – satellite operators, their customers and broadcasters – to join the fight.

NHK staff with the broadcaster’s latest satellite newsgathering vehicle. Photo by Alan Williams (Asiavision, ABU).

Among the steps needed to combat satellite interference were better training and certification for uplink operators and more effective ways of tracing the source of interference, the meeting heard.

On the cost of leasing satellite space, representatives of three satellite operators predicted that C-band capacity would cost more over the next few years because of high demand.

Other topics covered at the meeting included mobile video applications, portable satellite broadband, digital broadcast systems and new developments in fibre optic services. The BBC and CNN were among the presenters.

To the envy of many, NHK presented its latest satellite newsgathering (SNG) vehicle for high-definition television. A smart four wheel drive topped with a mini antenna and packed with equipment, it weighs only half a traditional SNG truck and is much easier to manoeuvre.

[Article and photos by Alan Williams (Asiavision, ABU)]

ABOUT WBU

The World Broadcasting Unions (WBU) is the coordinating body for broadcasting unions who represent broadcaster networks across the globe. It was established in 1992 as a coordinating body at the international broadcasting level. Since then, the WBU has provided global solutions on key issues for its member unions. The North American Broadcasters Association (NABA) acts as secretariat for the WBU.

The broadcasting unions who belong to the WBU are the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU), the Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU), the International Association of Broadcasting (IAB/AIR), the Caribbean Broadcasting Union (CBU), the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the North American Broadcasters Association (NABA), the Organización de la Televisión Iberoamericana (OTI), and the Union des radiodiffusions et télévisions nationales d'Afrique (URTNA).

For further information contact:
WBU Secretariat
+1 (416) 598-9877
info@worldbroadcastingunions.org

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NABA’s 2009 Conference & Annual General Meeting (AGM)
 Confirmed for June 3-5, 2009 in Washington, DC

Toronto, Ontario, Canada (February 20th, 2009) – The North American Broadcasters Association (NABA) is pleased to announce that their 2009 Conference & Annual General Meeting will be held in Washington, DC this June 3-5, 2009 at the historic Willard InterContinental Hotel.

Forward-thinking industry leaders will tackle the timely theme of “Harmonization in the Digital Age” via insightful panels and exciting presentations that get to the core issues affecting the future of broadcasting. Some of the topics to be discussed include:

• New Technology: new platforms/new devices, which add value to broadcasters and consumers, which do not?


• The Regulators Speak: North American harmonization, what are the key issues and how are they prioritized?


• Satellite Interference Threats to Services


• Terrestrial Broadcasting & Spectrum Issues


• Radio Issues & Opportunities: Integration and harmonization in the multimedia space


• WIPO, Intellectual Property, Watermarking & Fingerprinting


• Mobile Handhelds: Where are we headed?

For registration details, please go to www.nabanet.com. For sponsorship opportunities, please contact Anh Ngo at: +1-416-598-9877, x225 (ango@nabanet.com).

ABOUT NABA

NABA is a non-profit union of the most influential broadcasting organizations throughout North America committed to advancing the interests of broadcasters at home and internationally. Network broadcasters, both public and private, in the United States, Mexico and Canada, work together to provide a common voice for the North American broadcast community. As a member of the World Broadcasting Unions (WBU), NABA creates the opportunity for North American broadcasters to share information, identify common interests and reach consensus on issues of an international nature. NABA provides representation for North American broadcasters in global forums on topics including journalism issues, protection of content, spectrum related concerns, the territorial integrity of broadcasters’ signals, and digital transmission issues.

For further information contact:
Jason Paris, NABA
+1 (416) 598-9877, jparis@nabanet.com

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