2011 Rugby League Challenge Cup Final live across the BBC

The BBC will bring live coverage of the 2011 Challenge Cup Final on TV, HD, radio, online and red button, as Leeds Rhinos take on Wigan Warriors at Wembley Stadium on Saturday 27 August. 

Both teams have had a long wait for this prized piece of silverware in what is Rugby League's oldest and most prestigious knockout competition, with Wigan not having won the cup since 2002 and Leeds not since 1999.

Clare Balding presents the TV coverage with Jonathan Davies, Brian Noble and Justin Morgan, with match commentary from Dave Woods and John Kear. The pitch-side reporting team are Tanya Arnold and Damien Johnson, with Robbie Hunter-Paul. 

Coverage is live on BBC One and BBC One HD, 2.15-5.10pm, and the match will also be live streamed on BBC Sport online and on the BBC Red Button. 

In addition, the TV team bring red button viewers a pre-match warm up programme from 1.30-2.15pm. This 45-minute preview will feature predictions, the latest news and features with both Wigan and Leeds. 

As well as streaming the Challenge Cup Final live, BBC Sport online will offer live text commentary, reports, reaction and a blog. Plus there will be highlights available 24 hours after final whistle. 

BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra will feature live commentary of the match from David Oates and Stuart Pyke at Wembley, 2.15-4.15pm, with Ian Millward as summariser. 

Fridays night's 5 Live Sport includes a Challenge Cup preview (7-9.30pm) and 5 Live Weekend Breakfast (6-9am) on Saturday 27 August will have special guests and all the Challenge Cup build-up.

Notes to Editors

Saturday on BBC Four
8-9pm
Eddie Waring: Mr Rugby League (rpt)

Another chance to see this moving documentary first aired in 2010. Eddie Waring introduced millions of TV viewers to rugby league, but within his own northern heartland he was both loved and loathed. For some he was loveable Uncle Eddie, to others an embarrassing northern caricature who appeared on light entertainment shows and failed to take the game seriously. 

Waring painted a picture of "the north" that caused problems on his home patch. Were people laughing with him, or at him, at the game of rugby league and the wider north? He was also more than a hired voice, he was an expert and an entrepreneur - a fixer and a visionary who entered dangerous territory as he attempted to take the game to new levels. This is the story of his controversial role in the history of rugby league.

Rugby League Four Nations 2011

The BBC will broadcast two live matches from The Four Nations tournament in October and November.

Saturday October 29 – England v Wales
Saturday November 5 – England v Australia

In addition, BBC will show network highlights of each game every Sunday during the tournament. 

(Source : BBC Press Release)

BBC and V&A announce major new year-long partnership, Handmade In Britain

The BBC and V&A today announce Handmade In Britain, a year-long season of programming that will be the most wide-ranging and ambitious exploration of decorative arts ever to be undertaken on British television. 

Ceramics, metalwork, stained glass, textiles and woodwork are some of the most beautiful and treasured objects with pride of place in British palaces, churches, stately houses and family homes. Handmade In Britain brings these fascinating, functional and often forgotten works of art to the fore in a major new season of programming which will explore the history of British artistry and craftsmanship.

Furthering the BBC's commitment to building partnerships with the arts sector that go beyond broadcast, from sharing expertise to widening public engagement in UK arts, from Autumn 2011 to Autumn 2012, Handmade In Britain will present three, three-part series and a selection of individual hour-long films, focusing on a wide variety of art and design disciplines: ceramics, wood, metalwork, textiles, stained glass and paper. 

The programmes will follow the development of each of these media, unveiling stories about the objects that tell us about the social, political and cultural climate of Britain at the time in which they were made. They will also reveal why, throughout the nation's history, makers have created objects that are beautiful as well as functional. 

BBC Four Controller Richard Klein said: "BBC Four is the home of in-depth, expert led content and the channel for arts and culture. Handmade In Britain will provide a new perspective and a deeper understanding of the decorative arts. Our partnership with the V&A will celebrate these often overlooked treasures of British culture, giving viewers access to one of the world's finest art and design collections."

Damien Whitmore, V&A Director of Public Affairs and Programming, said: "This is an exciting opportunity to bring the V&A's collections and the stories behind them to a national audience. We are delighted to be collaborating with the BBC on this important partnership."

Handmade In Britain will draw on the collections and expertise of the V&A, one of the world's greatest museums of art and design. V&A objects will be used to tell particular stories, highlight ground-breaking technical innovations and illustrate how the story of artistic development in Britain is one of multiculturalism and globalisation. Contributors to the programmes will include V&A curators as well as collectors such as David Attenborough and contemporary practitioners including Grayson Perry and Edmund de Waal.

The series begins this autumn with a three-part series on ceramics and two single 60-minute programmes on stained glass and Chinese porcelain (1).

To complement the Handmade In Britain season, the V&A will host a series of events and will create online content and an in-gallery mobile experience. Using smart phones, visitors to the Museum will be able to locate and learn more about key objects featured in the programmes that are on display in the V&A's permanent galleries.

Notes to Editors

The V&A is also a partner in the BBC and Public Catalogue Foundation initiative Your Paintings. Contributing art works to help create a complete online catalogue of the nation's oil painting collection.

The V&A is the world's leading museum of art and design with collections unrivalled in their scope and diversity. It was established to make works of art available to all and to inspire British designers and manufacturers. Today, the V&A's collections, which span over 2000 years of human creativity in virtually every medium and from many parts of the world, continue to intrigue, inspire and inform.

BBC Four is the gold card channel for arts, music and culture. It is not just committed to arts coverage but actively celebrates arts, producing content with a broad appeal. From seasons such as Focus On Sculpture to one off programmes like the Beauty Of Books.

(1) The craze for imported Chinese porcelain contributed to an unprecedented demand for high-quality ceramics in Britain, played a significant role in the rise of the British ceramics industry in the 18th century and to the success of makers and entrepreneurs such as Wedgwood. This episode provides an important historical context to the story of the development on ceramics in Britain. 

(Source : BBC Press Release)

ABU Engineering Excellence Awards get good response

The ABU has received over a dozen nominations from members and industry players in 11 countries for this year's ABU Engineering Excellence Awards. 

The Broadcast Engineering Excellence Award recognises outstanding contributions to broadcast engineering and related disciplines. This award is sponsored by Professional Solutions Asia Pacific Company (Hong Kong) (Sony) for the  fifth year running.

The Engineering Industry Excellence Award is given for the most outstanding engineering contribution made by an individual in the broadcasting industry in the region. 

Nominations were received from Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, China, India, Japan, Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Vietnam.

The winners will be chosen by two panels of judges and the results will be announced at the ABU Technical Committee meeting in New Delhi on 3 November.  The awards will be presented on ABU Prizes night on 7 November during the ABU General Assembly in the Indian capital. 

(Source : Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union)

Radio New Zealand International (RNZI) Vacancy - Journalist

Journalist - Radio New Zealand International, Wellington

Job was posted at 2:32 pm on 15 August 2011

Award winning Radio New Zealand International broadcasts in digital and analogue short wave to radio stations and individual listeners across the region. Seventeen Pacific radio stations broadcast our material each day. Our daily current affairs programme Dateline Pacific is widely listened to across the region and is also broadcast by the BBC Pacific Service. The World Radio Network (WRN) - an international broadcaster operating out of London - also broadcasts RNZI material throughout the US, Europe, Africa and Asia.

We have a great opportunity for a talented and experienced journalist to work the afternoon shift in our small, dedicated and multi-skilled team in Wellington to produce stories and features about the Pacific, for the Pacific. You will also be required to read news bulletins and present our flagship daily current affairs programme from time to time.

If you have a proven track record as a journalist then we’re keen to hear from you. You will have a strong interest and understanding of the Pacific region and current affairs; you will be committed to the highest standards of journalism, have a keen news sense, and thrive in the world of radio. You will have a strong broadcast quality voice.

Applications close 5 pm Friday 9 September 2011

Please note: A complete application includes your covering letter, CV and a completed Radio New Zealand application form.

Radio New Zealand warmly welcomes applicants who will help us reflect New Zealand’s cultural and ethnic diversity. 

For a position description and application form please contact Human Resources by e-mail on hr@radionz.co.nz

(Source : Radio New Zealand International)

Rampisham transmitter site to close by Christmas

Members of the Media & Entertainment union at the Rampisham shortwave transmitter site in Dorset run by Babcock Engineering were shocked to learn of plans to close the facility by Christmas with the loss of 19 jobs. Staff across the UK had been expecting bad news after the decision by BBC World Service in January this year to sharply reduce the number of hours of shortwave broadcasting and to end it altogether by 2014.

Despite this advance warning, the announcement still came as a shock to staff. The company also plans to close three posts at the Woofferton site in Shropshire with four at Orfordness in Suffolk also at risk of closure.

An initial meeting between BECTU representatives and management took place on Wednesday; the consultation period is due to end on 19 September.

BRCTU Assistant general secretary Luke Crawley said: “The loss of 19 jobs at Rampisham and seven elsewhere in the network will come as a terrible blow to our members. We have already pressed the management to do everything they can to minimise the impact including offering redeployment and retraining where appropriate. Transmission members will note with regret that this announcement will also end seventy years of shortwave broadcasting from Rampisham.”

BECTU has strongly criticised the coalition government for pushing through a 16 per cent cut in the grant provided to the World Service from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). This was considerably higher than the 10 per cent cut in the FCO budget for other areas. It was this disproportionate reduction which lead the BBC to decide to reduce shortwave broadcasts immediately and end them by 2014.

BECTU’s campaign against the unfair settlement included giving evidence to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee in Parliament. The highly critical report which followed led to some funds being restored to the World Service. However the representations did not persuade the BBC to change its mind about ending shortwave transmission despite the fact that, according to BECTU, listeners to shortwave make up half of the World Service audience.

(Source: BECTU via Media Network Weblog)

Russia loses contact with $265 million satellite

Russia said it had lost track of a newly-launched, multi-million-dollar telecommunications satellite on Thursday, the latest in a series of setbacks that have dogged its space industry. The $265-million Express AM-4 satellite, described by its makers as the most powerful satellite ever built in Europe, launched late on Wednesday aboard a Proton-M rocket from the Russian-leased launchpad in Kazakhstan.

The Russian space agency said the first stages of the launch went smoothly but communication with the satellite was lost due to a failure of the Briz-M upper stage. It said experts were working to re-establish contact with the craft, built by Astrium, a unit of European aerospace group EADS, to provide digital TV, Internet and telecoms services for Russia over the next 15 years.

The spacecraft was fully insured for 7.5 billion roubles ($264.5 million) with Russian Ingosstrakh insurance company. Judging by early efforts, officials have a roughly 75 percent chance of linking back to the satellite and manoeuvring it into the correct orbit, space industry expert Igor Lissov told Reuters. Its loss would be a “nightmare” for Russia’s industry, he said, delaying key commercial projects by three to four years and embarrassing Moscow at a time when it hopes to showcase its technology at this week’s MAKS airshow outside the capital.

(Source: Reuters via Media Network Weblog)

Channel Africa's Journalist on a Mercy Mission

“Devastating, unbearable, the worst case of human suffering”, these are the words by Jenine Coetzer, one of Channel Africa’s journalists who for nine days got to experience and witness firsthand what the Somali nation is going through. 

Jenine formed part of the 32 member team that comprised of medical specialists, dieticians an expert on hydrology and 12 members of the media, under the banner of the South African humanitarian organization – GIFT OF THE GIVERS. The team was to deliver some 41 tons of emergency food relief and medicines to camps for the drought-displaced around the capital Mogadishu.

“The encounter was humbling”, said Jenine as she described her experience. “I witnessed people who were severely malnourished and dehydrated, people who have gone for ages without seeing a doctor”. “The experience made me realize just how blessed I was to have food and water in abundance, health and a roof over my head. “It is funny how we often complain over small things instead of counting our blessings”.

“Somalis are wonderful people, friendly and they laugh easily despite their horrible situation”, she said and paused as if to reflect. “It was amazing just how much a touch meant to them, they were receptive to people who cared for them”.

She reserved her last words to encourage the world to forget about politics and yield to the humanitarian crisis in Somalia. “Realize that it was not by their own doing that they are in the situation they find themselves, they are victims of natural and political misfortunes”.

(Source: Channel Africa)

31 want Wales and SW community licences

More than 30 groups have put in applications to Ofcom for the first area being looked at under round three of community radio licensing.

They include nine organisations wanting licences in Devon and Conrnwall and six applications for the whole of Wales.

The closing date for applications for Wales and South West England was last month. Groups with an interested in providing community radio for North Devon, however, still have another month to apply as the deadline for that area has been extended to 21 September following the decision to renew the commercial radio licence owned by Heart and provide the station on DAB in North Devon. As part of the DAB multiplex extension consultation there was demand shown for an alternative local radio service so the regulator decided to allow such groups to have more time to put together plans for a community radio station.

Ofcom hasn’t indicated the timescale for announcing which groups from Wales and the South West have been successful in their applications, although it could be before the end of the year. By December 2011 Ofcom is expected to open applications for round three of community radio in Scotland.

Applicants to Ofcom for community radio licences for South West England under round 3 of licensing:
Access FM (Bridgwater, Somerset)
Air (Weymouth and Portland, Dorset)
Apple FM (Taunton, Somerset)
Blandford Garrison FM (Blandford Camp, Blandford Forum, Dorset)
Bay FM Radio (Exmouth, Devon)
Bradley Stoke Radio (Bradley Stoke, South Gloucestershire)
CHBN (Truro, Cornwall)
Ethnic Minority Radio FM (EMR FM), (Swindon, Wiltshire)
Fantasy Radio (Devizes, Wiltshire)
FromeFM (Frome, Somerset)
GLOSS FM (Thornbury, S. Gloucestershire)
Newquay Sound (Newquay, Cornwall)
Penwith Radio (Penwith, Cornwall)
Plymouth Community Radio (Plymouth, Devon)
Pulse Radio (Cheddar, Somerset)
Q-mmunity Radio (Crediton, Devon)
Radio Sherborne (Sherborne, Dorset)
Radio Winchcombe (Winchcombe, Gloucestershire)
Redruth Radio (Redruth, Cornwall)
Riviera FM (Torbay, Devon)
The Beach (Christchurch, Dorset)
The Hub (central South Cornwall)
Tone FM (Taunton, Somerset)
Totnes FM (Totnes, Devon)
WCR (Warminster, Wiltshire)

Applicants to Ofcom for community radio licences for Wales under round 3 of licensing:
Community Radio Wales FM (St Asaph and Denbigh, North Wales)
Glan Clwyd AM (Abergele and St Asaph, North Wales)
Harlech FM (Harlech, Gwynedd)
MonFM (Isle of Anglesey)
Radio Beca (Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and north Pembrokeshire)
Radio FAM (Prestatyn, North Wales)

(Source : Radio Today, UK)

Liam Neeson and Helena Bonham Carter join cast of BBC Two's Life's Too Short

Liam Neeson and Helena Bonham Carter join the cast of BBC Two's Life's Too Short.

Life's Too Short is a fake documentary from the creators of The Office and Extras, made by BBC Two/HBO for transmission in autumn this year. 

Written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, the seven-part sitcom follows the life and times of showbiz dwarf Warwick Davis. With his career on the slide, a massive tax bill caused by his useless accountant, and a wife who's divorcing him, Warwick has no choice but to open his doors to a film crew 24/7. Maybe living his life like an open wound will get him back on top... 

Starring Warwick Davis, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, the cast includes Johnny Depp, Sting, Liam Neeson, Helena Bonham Carter, Steve Carell, Cat Deeley, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Les Dennis, Keith Chegwin and Shaun Williamson. 

(Source : BBC Press Release)

Wikipedia founder leads line-up of prominent thinkers tackling subject of "change" at BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival 2011

Wikipedia founder and internet entrepreneur Jimmy Wales comes to Gateshead this November as the keynote speaker at BBC Radio 3's festival of ideas, the Free Thinking Festival, where high-profile figures from politics, literature, science and the arts will be debating the ideas shaping the modern world.

This year the theme is Change: exploring the mania for change sweeping the globe. Speakers on the theme of Change include the Foreign Secretary Rt Hon William Hague MP, Germaine Greer, Skins writer Jack Thorne, the Rev Canon Dr Giles Fraser, historian Linda Colley, designer and architect Charles Jencks and psychotherapist Susie Orbach. 

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, who has created one of the most referenced sources of knowledge on the planet, will be giving his vision on how the internet will continue to radically alter the world. 

Now in its sixth year, Free Thinking takes place at The Sage Gateshead from 4-6 November and is a platform for today's innovative thinkers, who examine the world of ideas through talks, interviews, debates, original drama, essays and performance. All events are free and the festival is produced and broadcast by Radio 3. 

Events are hosted by Radio 3's presenters including Anne McElvoy, Ian McMillan, Philip Dodd, Matthew Sweet, Tom Service and Rana Mitter. 

Roger Wright, Controller of BBC Radio 3, said: "Free Thinking has become a vital part of Radio 3's distinctive festival output. As ever, the wide-ranging events will be led by some of today's leading thinkers. I am delighted that we are continuing our collaboration with The Sage Gateshead and offering audiences in the North East a chance to attend free events as well as giving our broadcast audience the opportunity to hear them on Radio 3." 

Anthony Sargent, General Director of The Sage Gateshead, said: "All our collaborations with Radio 3 have been enjoyable and rewarding, but we're particularly happy to host Free Thinking for another year, emphasising as it does The Sage Gateshead's broader role as a national cultural centre beyond the confines of our acclaimed music programmes." 

Highlights:

• Foreign Secretary, Rt Hon William Hague MP, will be discussing the dramatic political changes taking place throughout the globe, and Britain's role in this transforming world order.
• Skins and This Is England 86 writer Jack Thorne is creating a cutting-edge new drama especially for the Festival, which will be performed and broadcast live on Radio 3 from the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art on Sunday 6 November.
• Leading thinker Germaine Greer will question the idea of freedom, arguing that the pursuit of freedom has caused havoc throughout the world and calling for a new version of liberation.
• Academic Julian Savulescu will be arguing the case for human enhancement – why new technologies such as genetic manipulation and selection should be embraced, and why drugs should be legal in sport.
• Rev Canon Dr Giles Fraser, Canon Chancellor of St Paul's Cathedral and regular contributor to BBC Radio 4's Thought For The Day, is this year's Thinker-in-Residence. Following on from screen-writer Frank Cottrell Boyce last year, Giles Fraser will put his stamp on several events at the Festival.
• Susie Orbach, Britain's most high-profile psychotherapist, will challenge society's obsession with personal change and physical perfection.
• Visionary architect and designer Charles Jencks will discuss his new work, Northumberlandia, the world's largest sculpture of a human form, currently being created near Cramlington.
• The winners of Radio 3's New Generation Thinkers Scheme – the search to find the brightest new academic voices with a talent for broadcasting – will join in debates, discussing their research and taking part in Speed Dating with a New Generation Thinker, where the public will have the chance to meet them face to face and test them on their ideas.

Radio 3's programmes Music Matters, Words and Music, Between the Ears, The Verb, Night Waves and The Essay will all be recorded in front of the live audience at the festival. 

Read More from BBC Press Release

(Source : BBC Press Release)