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FREE DTH FOR RURAL AUSTRALIA Australia has planned its Viewer Access Satellite Television (VAST) service to provide digital free-to-air DTH in remote areas of Australia. It is expected to cost the government A $375.4 million over the next 12 years. "For many years, poor television reception has troubled some residents in regional and remote areas of Australia," Senator Conroy said. "The new satellite service will bring to those viewers the range of television services long enjoyed by Australians in capital cities. It will ensure that viewers who are unable to receive terrestrial television services are not left behind in the coming switchover to digital," Conroy added.
REUTERS LAUNCHES NEWS CHANNEL Reuters is launching a virtual TV channel, Reuters Insider, with the aim of delivering breaking news and analysis. Reuters said Insider will have "exclusive multimedia programming from Reuters including live, uninterrupted coverage of breaking news, interviews with key newsmakers, in-depth analysis and insightful commentary on important market issues." The service will be available for no extra charge to Reuters existing subscribers. There will also be third party content from financial institutions and other news providers including CNBC. The channel will be operated from the UK and
AUGUST
US and Reuters has set up a studio outside Canary Wharf, in the heart of London's financial district. Reuters has dabbled with TV before although Reuters Financial TV news channel, which launched in 1993, was wound up in 2001 with the company citing the high cost of distribution.
DISCOVERY GROWS INDIAN PRESENCE Discovery Networks has been quietly but consistently growing its presence in India. Its flagship - Discovery Channel now claims 14th rank amongst all channels in India. It is number one in the non-fiction genre, and is behind only Hindi general entertainment, movie channels and sports channels. Currently, Discovery Networks offers a bouquet six channels: Discovery Channel, Discovery Travel & Living, Animal Planet, Discovery Science, Discovery Turbo and Discovery HD World. In January 2010, Discovery Channel had started its Tamil service. "The 24-hour parallel Tamil feed led to an eight-fold increase in viewership in Tamil Nadu. Our programming is more about commentary. And commentary in a local language makes all the difference," says Johri. Based on this success, the channel is also considering feeds in other Indian regional languages. In January Discovery also launched 2 new channels, Discovery Science and Discovery Turbo. However, these 2 new channels, reportedly have only 1 million viewers. In March this year, Discovery launched India's first high definition channel, Discovery HD World. However, Cable networks and consumers have been slow to embrace HD channels, and pay premiums for them. The industry hopes that the Oct 2010 Commonwealth Games will catapult HD into focus, rapidly spurring viewers to spend more to HD content.
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The Highly Circulated Satellite Magazine
2010