2010 to boost mobile TV

More than 10 mobile television broadcasting networks will be opened in Africa in time for the 2010 Fifa World Cup to be held in SA, says Guardian.co.uk.

Stefan Schneiders, the head of business development for mobile TV at Nokia Siemens, says he expects many African countries to shortly follow Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Namibia, who have launched mobile TV broadcasts.

Fifa would be also offering live coverage specifically produced for mobile phones for the first time.

President Barrack Obama has asked the US congress to provide $502 million for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, states The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Included in that total is a $440 million two-year advance appropriation for the 2012 fiscal year, a $10 million increase from the amount the organisation will now receive for 2011 programmes.

Additionally, $36 million would support efforts to help public television and radio broadcasters convert from an analogue to a digital signal.

The future of English language TV broadcasting in Wales looks bleak, says communications regulator Ofcom director in Wales, Rhodri Williams, reports BBC news.

Williams told the committee that producing content exclusively for Wales on television and radio was under threat as funding sources were "disappearing quickly".

The committee was gathering evidence about the future of English language broadcasting in Wales, and interviewed several leading figures at the BBC, ITV and Welsh language channel S4C. Asked about what audiences can expect in the future, Williams says: "(Audiences) will receive less than they have in the past.”