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MITIL, a New Rendez-vous!
MITIL, the first edition of which was held in the tranquil and verdant Swiss town of Vevey, took the form of an impressive platform of get-togethers and exchanges of points of view. Certainly, not everything was perfect, a fact recognised by the organisers, and the number of visitors has still to increase. However, it is important that MITIL exists! This event offers a platform to the players active in European local broadcasting who have, at last, their own rendez-vous which meets their needs. Some 280 visitors from 30 countries participated in this first edition. The aim is to double the number of visitors at the next edition, which will take place, in Vevey, from June 12 – 15, 2002.
The mission of local broadcasters varies from one country to the next ; active representatives of democracy, protection of culture, proximity of the viewers. But they all share one thing in common and that is the chronic lack of money; the proportions, of course, vary if one compares, for example, a Serbian television station and its Swiss counterpart.
All the stations make an effort to guarantee the technical quality of their programmes and their broadcasts. What is also significant is that the producers and broadcasters work differently. With little money at their disposal, the stations do not spend a lot on the purchasing of programmes: it is, therefore, logical that producers and broadcasters be able to co-operate fully in planning ahead. It is also fundamental to build up relations between local television stations with a view to programme syndication.
The different conferences and round-tables which took place from June 20 – 23 highlighted the fact that France is lagging behind, particularly in the area of partnerships and the exchange of content between different television stations. It is quite another story in, for example, Yugoslavia, Hungary or even in Spain. In Catalonia, 35 local stations have become members of TLC (Catalonia local television stations), an association supported by the public authorities. The different stations are linked by satellite to a technical centre located in Barcelona. The information is prepared by a press agency and sent to the various local stations twice per day, at the beginning and at the end of the afternoon. The programmes broadcast are produced by the stations themselves or external producers. They are viewed and selected by a board of representatives of local stations.
The MITIL participants appreciated particularly the outstanding on-line Videokiosk, installed by avision ag. More than 80 hours of Mpeg1 digitised programmes could be accessed from various computer posts. The software used was VideoClick, produced by the company, Vsoft. The programmes, from many countries, were rarely presented by producers – the majority came directly from broadcasters.
MITIL organised, in parallel to the many conferences, a technical exhibition, small in size, but which made it possible for all present to take the time to discuss and find solutions to the problems and demands particular to each station.
The European subsidiary of PVI was present to exhibit its different tools. This world leader of virtual imaging solutions has successfully developed a system of video insertion in real-time (L-Vis). Thanks to a patented technology of computer vision, the system inserts electronically generated images into television broadcasts or video streams. These images can range from simple logos to sophisticated 3D animation. One of the many advantages of virtual imaging lies in the multiple transmission of one and the same event or spectacle. It is possible to insert different publicity depending on the countries which broadcast the event.
Local television stations, without compromising on quality, must find solutions to broadcast better and, at the best cost. Original and adapted tools exist. In Belgium, the station, «No Télé» (Our Television), is one of the 12 stations in the French-speaking area of the country. It broadcasts programmes round the clock and claims a potential audience of 320'000 homes. Two-thirds of the viewers watch once a week at least and the rest every day.
The following are examples of low-cost but still effective developments:
The Yugoslav company, String, has developed cheap software solutions for broadcasters,
in particular, the ASTV Prompter, which, as its name implies, is destined for
the making of computer-based video prompters. The software is basic but practical.
Local television stations can stimulate their audiences with easy-to-use interactive games which are cheap and do not require much in the way of sophisticated technology. The Swiss company, Cocktail Media, has developed interactive game units for television stations which, «wholly packaged», can be installed in either a PC or a Mac: they do not require complex technical means (a transcoding computer/video card and a telephone insert).
EUREKA - An Active Partner
EUREKA was an active partner on the occasion of the first edition of MITIL.
EUREKA made it possible to invite a number of independent television stations from Eastern, Central and Southern Europe. These stations, the majority of which operate on an almost non-existent budget, are extremely resourceful when it comes to inventing, producing and broadcasting with «light» equipment.
Audiovisual EUREKA is a pan-European inter-governmenal association which has 35 member countries plus, as associate members, the European Commission and the Council of Europe. The main objective of Audiovisual EUREKA, an initiative launched in Paris in 1989 at the European Audiovisual Conference, is to contribute to the development of a wide-ranging European field for co-operation and exchanges in the audiovisual sector.