FEB Snippets, April 2011

SNIPPETS
April 2011

• 2012 FEB CONFERENCE TO BE HELD IN DRESDEN, GERMANY
  The next FEB Conference will be held 22nd - 25th March 2012 at the Kim Hotel, Dresden, Germany. The Theme will be: "The Christian Voice in our Society". More information will be available soon but save the dates in your diary.
  Contact Harvey Thomas feb@feb.org
  
  
  
• EUROPEAN COMMISSION
  The European Commission has written to 16 Member States as part of an effort to ensure that the national Media Laws of all Member States correctly implement all aspects of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMS). The Directive aims to ensure "a level playing field" for both broadcast and on-demand audiovisual media services across frontiers, while preserving cultural diversity, protecting children and consumers, safeguarding media pluralism and combating racial and religious hatred.
  Source: European Union
  
  
• UK
  UK Telecommunications regulator OFCOM is to auction off licences for fourth-generation (4G) mobile phone services. The 4G spectrum will deliver the speed and convenience of home and office broadband connections to users of smartphones, laptops and tablet computers and will be suitable for wide bandwidth services such as video streaming, email, messenger services, GPS mapping services and social networking sites. The auction will be in 2012 and 4G services should be available from 2013.
  Source: Broadcast
  
  
  
• AUSTRIA / ITALY
  The Austrian Constitutional Court has announced that the presence of a Christian symbol such as a cross, "did not mean a State preference for a particular religion or religious belief", in the context of the separation of the Church and State. The judges stressed that the law explicitly sets the goal of teaching children tolerance of all religions.
  
  In a similar case, the European Court of Human Rights refused an appeal to enforce secularism and upheld the right to display religious symbols in public in Italy where a lower Court had found in favour of an atheist woman who wanted school authorities to remove a crucifix in her children's classroom on the grounds that it offended their freedom to be protected from religion.  
  Contact Anca Bulica: Anca.Bulica@careforeurope.org
  
  
• UK
  UCB is holding an Event on 26th September 2011 at the De Vere Conference Centre, Crewe, Cheshire. Phil Cooke will be one of the Speakers and Seminars include, "Telling Your Story in Today's Digital Culture"; "The 10 Biggest Mistakes Christians Make in the Media" and "Long-term Media Strategy: Lasting Impact, Enduring Success".
  Contact: Bill Partington bpartington@ucb.co.uk
  
  
• RUSSIA
  Great Commission Media Ministries (GCM) has now held over 50 Mega-City Media Campaigns in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Israel, Palestine, Guyana and Nepal. Two more are currently being planned in India and Finland. There is opposition from the Government to the activities of Russian Evangelical Churches but a recent Campaign in the northern Russian city of Perm, in the Ural Mountains, had over 6,000 responses.
  Contact: Hannu Haukka Hannu@irrtv.fi
  
  
• FRANCE
  Radio Colombe has obtained permission from the CSA (French Governmental Authorities) for a second radio frequency in the city of La Tour du Pin, in southeastern France near Grenoble. Installation will cost about 40,000 Euros. Radio Colombe is part of the PHARE FM Partnership which reaches many parts of France.  
  Contact: Ruth Portin portesdudauphine@pharefm.com
  
  
• UK
  UK's daytime series "Fern" has become the first Channel 4 programme to trial audience interaction as part of wider plans to develop direct relationships with its audience. Viewers can now text in their opinions after the show as well as during the show, in exchange for information such as future guests and topics. A series of trials using different methods of audience interaction will take place with other shows throughout 2011. C4 viewers' Editor Paula Carter said, "The tests will be used to get a better sense of what works for different audiences and what data we can capture from people in a non-intrusive way".
  Source: Broadcast
  
  
• ITALY
  Independent free-to-air broadcaster Switchover Media has recorded its third successive month of growth to maintain its position as Italy's largest Children's broadcaster in the multichannel rankings, mainly from Italy's rapidly growing digital terrestrial TV market. It bettered Rai, Mediaset and International Channel Brands with a combined 8.4% share of 4-14s across its 2 Children's channels, K2 and Frisbee.
  Source: C21Media.net
  
  
• BULGARIA
  The TV show "Christianity" is being broadcast on "Europe" cable TV each Sunday at 1430. The programme has studio conversations and videos analysing public events from a protestant point of view. On National State Radio Evangelical Sermons are now broadcast each Sunday morning at 7.15am on the radio programme "Horisont", followed by one hour of orthodox conversation on the "Hristo Botev" programme at 8.00am.
  Contact: rumi865@abv.bg
  
  
• CROATIA
  Croatian Christian Programmes "Radosna Vijest" and "Dolina Blagoslova" are broadcast over 11 local FM radio stations, and Radio Tirana, an AM Station, in co-operation with TWR. Vladimir Psenko and Mladen Jovanovic produce the 3-minute Bible-based messages, and listeners are offered the opportunity to sign up for correspondence courses. CDs of the programmes are also available.
  Contact Vladimi Psenko: vpsenko@gmail.com
  
  
• UK
  Catch-up TV viewing using Personal Video Recorders (PVR) is becoming popular in the UK, with viewing increasing by 7% this year. Deloitte predict that by the end of 2011 nearly 5% of UK households will use a PVR, compared with 2006, when the figure was less than 2%.
  Source: Broadcast
  

• ECUADOR
  HJCB Global Hands recently launched a Clean Water Project reaching 500 families in Carabuela in Ecuador's Andean corridor. According to Ecuadorian Government studies, only 13% of Rural Water Systems are in good condition and as a result, 55,000 people die annually from preventable infectious diseases due to unclean water. HCJB Global Hands are facilitating construction or rehabilitation of six projects per year and are expanding their medical ministries in Latin America.
  Contact Rachel Baker: rbaker@hcjb.org
  

• SAT-7
  SAT-7 has launched a new resource "Wazala" at www.wazala.org. "Wazala" is the Arabic word meaning "to connect" and it will provide in-depth information and features on the Middle East and North Africa, written by experts on the Region.
  Contact Rachel Fadipe newsletter@sat7trust.org
  
  
  
• NORTH AFRICA
  The Middle East and North Africa includes 20 countries and 383 million people. The Region is widely covered by TWR Broadcasts in Arabic and Berber, Assyrian, Farsi, Hebrew, Iraqi, Sous-Tachelhit and Turkish. The "Oasis of Hope" programmes vary in style and format and provide practical, biblical insights.
  Contact hcombe@twr.org.uk
  
  
• CYPRUS
  
  

  Official Country Name	Republic of Cyprus
  Region	Middle East
  Population	762,887
  Languages	Greek, Turkish, English
  Literacy Rate	94%
  Size	9,240 sq. km
  Religion	94.4% Christian  4.5% non-religious; 0.7% Muslim
  Number of TV Stations	8
  Number of TV sets	300,300
  TV Sets per 1,000	393.6
  Number of Radio Stations	90
  Number of Radio receivers	366,450
  Radio Receivers per 1,000	480.3
  Number of individuals with computers	150,000
  Number of individuals with Internet access	120,000
  Internet access per 1,000	157.3

• JOHN MILTON PROJECT FOR RELIGIOUS FREE SPEECH
  NRB has set up the "John Milton Project for Religious Free Speech" to study the issue of potential anti-Christian censorship over new media platforms. Apple Inc. recently shut down an app belonging to Exodus International from its iTunes App Store because it deemed the group's biblical position as "offensive to large groups of people". Last autumn, Apple also blocked the Manhattan Declaration app because of its traditional orthodox Christian view of marriage.
  Contact today@nrb.org
  
  
  
• NRB INTERNATIONAL AWARDS
  NRB presented the "2011 International Radio Ministry Award" to FEB Member Radio Shema at the recent NRB Convention. Radio Shema is one of two Christian radio stations in Turkey, a 98% Muslim country. Radio Shema reaches close to 7 million people via FM and Internet broadcasts. UK's Whistling Frog Productions received NRB's "International Innovation Award". Whistling Frog Productions produce "God spots" and Features for commercial radio that tackle the questions of life with Christian themes.
  Contact Soner Tufan at Radio Shema: sonertufan@gmail.com
  Contact Colin Lowther at Whistling Frog: airwave@hcjb.org.uk 

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