EU commits to a EU AV sector without frontiers

The film festival of Cannes is over. The Golden Palm went to film maker Cristian Mungiu coming from the European country of Romenia for his movie 4 luni, 3 saptamini si 2 zile (4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days). It must have done the EU Ministers for Culture proud.

They gathered in the past days on Europe Day at the Cannes International Film Festival to pledge their support for Europe's audiovisual industry at a time when it faces unprecedented change, driven largely by the impact of digital technologies and the resulting change in audience behaviour.

"Technological change and convergence is presenting the audiovisual industry with some tough challenges; but real opportunities lie in store for those that can best adapt," said Viviane Reding, EU Media Commissioner. "I feel that the political commitment expressed today will pave the way for the European audiovisual industry to become a powerhouse for Europe."

The EU Ministers' commitment to the audiovisual sector was underlined by their adoption of the Audiovisual Media Services without frontiers directive (see IP/07/706). This will modernise the rules for traditional and emerging audiovisual media services in response to technological change and gives more flexibility to European TV- and filmmakers to produce digital content thanks to more relaxed advertising rules.

Ministers also discussed how audiovisual policy needs to keep up with developments in film making and distribution, and the impact of technology.

Policy initiatives taken by the Commission to support and invigorate Europe's audiovisual sector include:
- The recently-launched MEDIA 2007 programme (see IP/07/169) establishes the move to digital technologies as a horizontal priority and April's call for proposals for Video On Demand and Digital Cinema Distribution projects is an important first step in financially supporting EU players.
- The European Film Online Charter endorsed by major industry players on Europe Day in 2006 (see IP/06/672) to stimulate a vibrant European online film industry.
- Content Online is estimated to grow by over 400% during the next five years (see IP/07/95). To capitalise on this tremendous opportunity for Europe, in July this year, the Commission will publish its Content Online communication.
- Recognising the importance of mobile TV to Europe - by 2009 the worldwide market will worth €11.4 billion - the Commission urged industry and Member States to be more proactive in developing a common Europe strategy (see IP/07/340). In July the Commission's will issue a communication proposing what steps it feels are needed to make will mobile TV a success in Europe.

Evidence that EU support to Europe's film industry is having positive results can be found at major international festivals such as Cannes, Berlin and at the Oscars (see IP/07/677).

While efforts are being made to boost the sector, the Commission also recognises the need for transparency, freedom of expression and diversity in Europe's media landscape. To better understand this and how best to preserve it, the Commission has outlined a three-step approach on safeguarding media pluralism (see IP/07/52).

For more on Europe's audiovisual and media policies: http://ec.europa.eu/avpolicy/
and the latest on the 'Audiovisual Media Services Without Frontiers' Directive MEMO/07/206.

Blog Post Number: 768

Tags: audiovisual industry, European Commission

Bharain eContent Award Competition (5)

This morning I landed at Schiphol Amsterdam Airport at 6.00 am. It was a quiet flight and everything went to schedule, despite the fact that I changed my flight late.

The competition was completed yesterday with the recording of the 24 nominees and 4 special mentions. Having taken a photograph of the group of jurors, we said goodbye to each other. Of course, I hope to be back in Bahrain some day. This morning I received a series of photographs which reflect the jury event of the past days. (Just for contrast, I received today also a group photograph of the CMID07 conference in Lapland; I put them next to each other for contrast).









Reflecting on the content of the entries, it was clear that the category e-Business is the most important category of the competition. It is the only category which has 5 nominations. Followers are e-Culture, e-Entertainment, e-Government. E-Health and e-Inclusion, while in e-Science not one entry was nominated. It says something about the interest of the Bahraini. They are a busy business people and are serious about e-Government (more serious than many a European government). But the categories e-Culture and e-Entertainment do have 4 nominations in each category, but the spread of the subjects is not very strong. E-Culture has of course different entries than for example Egypt, which have the pyramids and the pharaohs, while Bahrain has little history. E-Entertainment has interesting entries, but games are not included. E-Learning has three interesting nominations and this category is improving over BEA 2005. The categories of e-Health and e-Inclusion have only two entries, while the entries in e-Science did not yield one nomination.

I personally conclude that the Bahraini are busy with e-Business and e-Government, in other words transactions and processes. Real content categories like e-Culture, e-Entertainment and e-Learning need improvement as do e-Health and e-Inclusion. The entries in e-Science did not come up to par at all.

In conclusion can be said that there are a few nomination which might be entered into the World Summit Award and will be serious contenders. It can also be said that there is still a lot of room for improvement of content. To raise the level of content some serious development and education is needed. Bahrain has the advantage that the lingo is Arabic; so there is no limit in the size of users (in comparison, the Dutch language limits itself to 22 million people worldwide).

When I left yesterday for the third time, I left very good friends like Waheed, Achmed and Abdullah, but also Leena and her organisation team. The contact with the jurors broadened my scope about life on an island in the Guld region and about ideals for a population. I hope to be back soon.

Blog Posting Number: 742

Tags: content competition, World Summit Award

Bahrain eContent Award Competition (4)

The free day is over and you could see it on the streets. There were traffic jams again. Today is an important day for the Kingdom of Bahrain. Bahrain will be bustling as the Financial Harbour will be openen offcially. The Financial Harbour (see illustration - click to enlarge) is a spectacular office project for the financial world. With this project Baharain wants to superceed Abu Dabi in the United Arab Emirates, which has traditionally been the financial center of the Middele East. When I was here in 2005 the building of the office blocks had just started. Now the buildings are completed including airplane warning lights. The architecture is spectacular as more buildings show. The two sails building of the Chambers of Commerce are also spectacular. The building is still under construction.

I had a free day also and in the afternoon I had lunch at a tourist side resort, hotel, restaurants, a sand beaches and beautiful turqoise coloured water. We talked about some big plans for Bahrain. In the Gulf region usually Dubai is mentioned in television programs because of the palm tree islands and the many hotels. Dubai is fast becoming a tourist destination. People who have had it with Spain, Greece and Turkey, when they stay in Europe, and Thailand and Indonesia, when they go to Asia, will be happy with Dubai, especially during the European winter time. When I was there in 2003 I noticed especially Germans, well to do people, to be there. This time I even noticed two Dutch couples with kids going to Bahrain and I take it that this is not because Michael Jackson was/is here. So Bahrain might be the next tourist spot.

Today we are in the final stage of the Bahrain eContent competition. The nominations of the Bahrain eContent have been approved been approved: 24 nominations and 4 special mentions. Not all categories have 5 nominations, partly because there were not enough entries, partly because of the lack of quality. But I have seen some nice new sites. The nominations and the special awards will be made known at the Bahrain eContent Award Competition ceremony. A special commiittee will select the entries that will be forwarded to the World Summit Award, to be judged in Croatia coming September.

Tonight I will be flying home to Amsterdam. It will be a night flight.

Blog Posting Number: 741

Tags: content competition, World Summit Award

Bahrain eContent Award Competition (3)

Today there is good and bad news. The bad news is that my Dell Latitude X300 went dead. I can not start it up again. Tomorrow a techie from Dell Bahrain will have a look at it. The good news is that today I celebrate an anniversary of this blog (let there be pomp and ceremony as in the hotel lobby - see illustration). In 2005 I started this blog on Labour Day and have written a posting every day. And as I am enjoying it, I sign for another year.

The jury deliberations yesterday took more than 12 hours. The jurors finished the first round of judging and after the necessary administrative procedures, there were some 50 entries left, which were up for scrutiny. Eventually the jurors have to come up with maximally 5 entries per category. The debate about the nominees started late in the afternoon and continued into the late evening. Our Quwait jury observer Ms Manar Al Hashash (27) has left the competition as she has been asked by her government to be present at a meeting with the Japanese prime minister. Gabi Deek will leave today.

Having finished for the day, I had dinner in the hotel with Gabi Deek, the invited moderator of the Bahrain eContent Award Competition. He was also the moderator of the first BEA competition in 2005. He is a general manager for a computer company in Lebanon and is president of the Lebanese Professional Computer Association. He is a Lebanese and speaks Arabic, English and French. And he does it with a lot of passion. Gabi has also been a juror of the World Summit Award competitions in 2003 and 2005. He is really suited for this job.

So we had a late dinner at the hotel. And as he is a gourmet he could live it up with a grand buffet dinner. We got to talk about the Lebanese-Israeli war. As I have never seen a war nor have been close to a warzone (the closes was most likely driving through Northen Ireland in 1985), I was eager to hear how it influenced his life. For what do you do; where computer centres hit; was the telecom infrastructure paralysed. And of course the question comes up: what do you do while a war is going on; do you have a job; what do you do all day. He told that he had been doing something else than being busy with with computers and computer projects for four months. He had been working for the refugees in his country, housing them in schools and finding funds to provide them with food and shelter. Now he is back in the computer industry and everything is booming again. Computers centres were not really hit; so there is not much of a replacement market as one would think. But business is booming again.

Blog Posting Number: 740

Tags: content competition, World Summit Award

Bahrain eContent Award Competition (2)

So I saw yesterday Bahrain again by daylight and of course by sunshine. I looked around from hotel room facing a busy street crossing (oh, yes they have traffic jams around 19.30h over here) and an imposing mosk (see photograh). But this was all there in 2005. But my friend Waheed told me the story that when the Gulf Hotel was built, it was built on an peninsula. These days it is surrounded by reclaimed land and this reclamation program is still continuing (which is a good thing for the Dutch construction companies working in the Gulf).

In fact I am surprised how much the skyline has changed. Especially the new financial centre is pressing its mark on Manamah, the capital of the kingdom of Bahrain. The peaks of the financial dominate the skyline now; it was still under construction in 2005. But the buildings are now finished and look like sails of ships leaving the harbour.

The ISOC chapter have their own offices. In a residential area they now have a venue with meeting and training rooms. It is a comfortable venue. It is also a sign that ICT is taking a more important place in the country and in the region. I heard that Google had been talking with Bahrain companies in order to establish a data centre for the Middle East; only proble formed the telcom connections due to a monopoly position of the incumbent telco Batelco.

But it is not only the waterfront that has changed. But also Manamah has changed. I saw more security on the streets and in shops. And this is not surprising in 2005, when I was here for the first time, and later uproars and riots have been seen by the Bahraini. The cause of the uproars and riots are not completely clear, but they have to do with poverty and employment and religious factions (Shi'ites mainly from Iranian origine and Sunites; in fact I saw a taxi carrying a Hezbollah logo).

The Bahrain society exists of poles: from the very liberal to the dogmatic. Kids can be clothed like youths in Amsterdam, London or Paris: sexy and provoking. But on the other hand you may see women with burqas, with a slit giving way to the eyes too look around in society like a periscope.

The jury deliberations will continue today. The jurors will finish the first round of eliminating the projects which scored low. When that process is finished we will have a plenary, discussing the results of the first selection. We also will have the panels changing to other categories and another set of projects. Once that is done the jurors will concentrate on the new set of projects. Advantage is that they can spend more time on the projects.

Blog Posting Number: 739

Tags: content competition, World Summit Award

Bahrain eContent Award Competition (1)

Today I am in Bahrain. Yesterday I flew from Amsterdam to Manama. It was a nice flight, especially over Europe, going over Germany, Czech Republic and Hungary. Especially Rumenia was great. I flew over Cluj (the flight navigator told me so) and I had a great look at Bucharest, especially the city lay-out with half circles endind in the river; some day I must go there to have a look on the ground and talk with my friends there.

At the Gulf Hotel I met Waheed and Abdullah from Bahrain. Waheed has been a jury member for the World Summit Award in 2003 and 2005 and has become a very good friend of mine; Abdullah was in the team of the first winning Bahrain project and has been a supporter eversince of the World Summit Award. (Of course the ISOC chapter in Bahrain has shown it self to be very committed.) And at last I met Gabi Deek again, my Lebanese friend, who will be the moderator of the Bahrain eContent Award. In the night Ms Manar Al Hashash, the 2005 WSA jury member from Quwait arrived.

So this morning we were all set to go for the jury deliberations for the Bahrain eContent Awards (BEA). For the second time they now have organised the competition. In 2005 they had about 150 entries; this time they doubled the entries to 300 registered entries. (I can not believe this; in The Netherlands we can not organise a content competition yielding more than 60 entries and the last two years we had to call the editions of the Europrix.nl off due to a lack of entries). eCommerce is way ahead of all the categories; it is followed by e-Government, e-Entertainment and Culture. They jury consists of civil servants working for government administrations, teaching staff and students at the University of Bahrain and people working in computing and technology. The venue for the jury deliberations are held in the ISOC House.

It took a while this morning to get the circus going. With some 300 entries and 13 jurors, the organisation of panels had to be taken care off. Once that was decided, technical issues had to be taken care off. I had an opportunity in order to go through some of the websites and get a discussion going on the criteria to be used such as content, accessibility, value added, attractiveness of design, quality of craftsmanship and strategic importance. After lunch the real work of sifting started and the first results started to be entered.

Blog Posting Number: 738

Tags: content competition, World Summit Award

Bahrain: GP and eContent

The GP Formula 1 race is on today in Bahrain. With sentiment I look back at my visit in 2005 to the race circuit where the Grand Jury of the World Summit Award (WSA) spent some time. We were allowed to cruise around the circuit with some Land Rovers at a speed of maximally 180 kilometres an hour. Of course this is a far cry of the speed of 300+ kilometres. But it was a great experience to be on the track. Now sitting in front of the television, I recognised the paddocks, the press centre, the control centre (see photograph with me in front of the screen tableau) and of course the royal tower.

Bahrain wanted to have this competition as a tourist attraction. The weather is nice at the moment and for the races people fly in and spend a few days on the island. This touristy attraction will have to compensate the loss of oil in the future. And the kingdom was anted this race by the F1 organisation above Libanon. They also were pushing to get the race to Libanon, but they lost. That is what my Lebanese friend Gaby Deek, one of the people involved in the competition to land the race, told me. So when he visited the circuit it was a homecoming, although he would have loved to have it in Lebanon.

But the Bahraini are also working on less tangable assets. In 2005 I was twice in Bahrain. In the spring I was there to help the local jury in the process of selecting the winners of the Bahrain eConent Award (BEA) and the entries for the WSA. The second time I was there for the Grand Jury of the WSA, which was sponsored by the Bahrain government. It is remarkable that such a small country with 600.000+ inhabitants can be so active in e-culture, e-government, e-business, e-health and e-inclusion. I personally think that the country is further in e-government and e-business than many a European country.

Again this year the ministry of Commerce and the local ISOC chapter are organising the BEA. And again the BEA jury will select the winners in eight categories and offer the winners as entries for the WSA to the organising committee. The jury BEA jury deliberations will held in Manama from April 29 till May 3, 2007.

The Grand Prix of the Formula 1 race will have been handed out by that time. But the awards still have to be selected. Bahrain will be one of the 168+ countries having a pre-selection for the best content products. By September the entries will be judged by a WSA Grand Jury in Brijuni in Croatia.

Blog Posting Number: 724

Tags: World Summit Award, WSA, Bahrain eContent Award, BEA