NATAS fetes tech Emmys
The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences honored winners of 2001-02 Scientific Development and Technological Achievement Emmy Awards last Wednesday night in New York. “This year’s recipients exemplify the close bond between television and technological advancements,” said NATAS President Peter Price. “Many of these recipients’ technological advancements have not only helped meet consumers’ growing demand for higher-quality television but also have fostered the wide consumer adoption of technologies, including digital cable and plasma screens.”
Emmys went to: CBS, for development and standardization of the alignment color bar test signal for television picture monitors; Panasonic-Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd., for development of a practical variable-frame-rate video-acquisition camera system that enables under- and over-cranking; Fujitsu General America, Donald L. Bitzer, H. Gene Slottow and Robert Willson for development of plasma displays; Royal Philips Electronic and Thomson, for development and/or commercialization of the 16:9 aspect ratio; Garrett Brown and CF InFlight LLP, for development of remote-controlled cable-suspended moving camera-platform technology; Proximity Corp., for software for managing graphic assets for broadcast; and Motorola-Broadband Communication Sector and Thomson, for development of the consumer digital set-top box for satellite and/or cable.
Advertisers sign on for Discovery Kids block
Kraft, McDonald’s and Procter & Gamble are the three charter launch advertisers for Discovery Kids on NBC, the three-hour block debuting Saturday, Oct. 5. Each company has signed a one-year advertising deal and each has bought additional advertising time on the Discovery Kids Channel, where all are first-time advertisers. MediaVest is Kraft and P&G’s agency of record, and Starcom is the agency of record for McDonald’s kids advertising. As part of the deals, Kraft, McDonald’s and P&G will be included in all promotional materials for the Discovery Kids on NBC launch, with their logos featured in print advertising, in-cinema advertising, radio, spot television and cross-channel promotions. In all, 25 advertisers have signed on for the Discovery Kids on NBC block.
CNBC Europe to lay off London staffers
CNBC Europe is restructuring its London business operations, a move that will result in the loss of some 25 jobs, or about 15 percent of its staff, because of redundancies. Rick Cotton, president of CNBC Europe, said in a statement, “We are operating in an extremely difficult economic climate and we have had to make difficult decisions regarding the business.” At the same time, he said, the operating requirements of the expanding financial and business news channel have changed with its focus on “real-time markets coverage,” changes in presentation, technical upgrades and access to nearly 300 Dow Jones news staffers throughout Europe.
Station groups, TVB cooperate on meeting setup
Five major broadcast station groups have committed to holding management meetings in tandem with the Television Bureau of Advertising’s 2003 annual marketing conference, to be held in New York next April, and TVB is in discussion with several other groups as well. Executives from ABC, Hearst-Argyle Television, LIN Television, Scripps Howard Broadcasting and Tribune Broadcasting will gather in company-specific meetings during the week that TVB holds its conference, which is set for April 15 at the Jacob Javits Convention Center. The TVB conference once again will be held in partnership with the New York Auto Show.
Goldberg joins WCBS-TV
WCBS-TV, New York, has made another raid on WNBC-TV, this one to get Joel Goldberg, who will be director of station operations, overseeing news operations, programming and creative services. At WNBC, Mr. Goldberg was assistant news director to Dianne Doctor, who recently became VP and news director at WCBS. Over the course of 19 years with NBC he was a producer for “The George Michael Sports Machine,” the supervisor of Olympics coverage for NBC-owned stations and executive producer of key newscasts at WNBC before being named assistant news director in 2000.