Broadcast services continue to dominate with consumers - Steve Roberts Blog

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Research and debate around the future of ‘traditional television and radio’ broadcasting continues.

A recent report from Deloittes seems to counter mass thinking that the demise of traditions broadcast is just around the corner.

Throughout this year at least, the report is predicting over 90% of all TV viewing and over 80% of all audio content consumed will be from the traditional TV and radio broadcast systems.

Reason stated for continued use of scheduled programming include the ease of use and inertia of those services - no user intervention or forward planning needed.

The report goes further to suggest that the availability of on-demand content, appropriately supported by the mainstream Broadcasters, can actually increase the demand scheduled programming.

This is a theme the ABC in Australia promoted at the Australian Broadcasting Summit in Sydney last year. Much of their on-line presence was aimed at getting viewers back in front of their television sets enjoying scheduled programming.

There seems to be a small but growing voice of caution around the now widely accepted view that all consumers want to completely control what they watch, when they watch it and where they watch it. Do mass market consumers always embrace the possibilities of new technology like early adopters?

Change is constant, but what of the pace of that change in viewing/listening habits – maybe we need to think about change more in terms of generations than tens of years?

-- Steve Roberts, Kordia

Putting some substance behind customer service

Thursday, January 21, 2010 -- Regan Hughes' blog:

Excellent customer service has become a key differentiator for a lot of new market entrants in the service provider space.  But what does that really mean? And how do you tangibly achieve excellent customer service? 

There's no single answer of course. Any answer has to include process, people and systems. But a big part is having visibility and control across third party access. Without these aspects, the other elements become redundant. 

So how do you get that visibility and control?

A NID is a Network Interface Device - a demarcation device for Carrier Ethernet services that is replacing the familiar terms of NTU, NTE, CPE, etc. 

The big difference between a decent NID and previous incarnations, is that this device gives service providers a set of service management tools.

These tolls let allow service providers to put some substance behind 'excellent customer service' catch phrases that many new entrants put a lot of emphasis on.

The Metro Ethernet Forum has been working with various standards bodies to pull together some of these tools.

These include keep-alives for fault isolation and SLA reporting, loopbacks for throughput and commissioning tests, hierarchical QoS, and features such as dying gasp that send an alarm whenever the power goes down at the customer site. 

These tools finally let service providers deliver end-to-end guarantees and proactive fault response across third party circuits. 

When you match those tools with best of breed wholesale access, good people and process, it can make an environment ripe for some healthy competition in the WAN service provider space, with a genuine capability to provide excellent customer service.

- Regan Hughes, Kordia

Kordia commits to community engagement

Kordia is pleased to announce that it has made a commitment to the "Guidelines for Undertaking Community Engagement for Wireless Telecommunications Facilities", as recently developed by the Telecommunications Carriers Forum.

“These guidelines represent a bold step forward for the telecommunications industry, as they set a standard for the way telecommunications companies consult with local communities when installing wireless telecommunications facilities”, explains Susie Stone, Kordia’s General Manager of Strategic Development.

The guidelines will give New Zealand communities access to plans for new sites at the beginning of the approvals process; rather than at the beginning of the site installation. This empowers the community with information at an earlier stage.

“The inception, consultation and development of these guidelines reflect the desire of participating telecommunications companies to undertake future engagement with local communities in a meaningful way,” says Stone.

“Kordia would like to acknowledge the valuable input of the other members of the working group – namely Vodafone, Telecom and Woosh – in developing these guidelines”.

MORE INFORMATION

The guidelines can be viewed on the TCF website at www.tcf.org.nz

Check out Iggy’s new band

The Orcon ad made by rock legend Iggy Pop and nine Kiwi musicians is online on the company’s website and hitting TV screens today.

Late last month more than 200 New Zealand musos auditioned for the chance to lay down Iggy’s renowned solo track ‘The Passenger’ under the direction of the Godfather of Punk.

The final nine chosen assembled online to hook up with Iggy in Miami live via Orcon broadband and record the track.

Since then the audio and visual feeds has been mixed in Miami by the renowned rocker and his studio team.  It is now an advertising commercial for Orcon as well as a full music video as part of a promotion from the telecommunications company for its next generation broadband.

Orcon CEO Scott Bartlett says, “We set ourselves a goal of really showcasing the amazing things possible online – and the results have outstripped what we thought we would achieve. Iggy, the band, and the team have created a brilliant track that demonstrates the talent lurking behind computer screens throughout New Zealand, and what happens when you link those screens together.”

Visit http://www.orcon.net.nz/lifestyle/page/together_incredible_the_finished_product to see the ad. The ad hits TV screens on November 17th.

Media release date: 17 November 2009

MORE INFORMATION

For more information, please contact:

Angely Grecia,

Pead PR

T: +64 9 918 5576

M: +64 21 303 403

E: angely@peadpr.co.nz

Iggy has his Kiwi band

The auditions have closed and Iggy Pop has his brand new band.

More than 200 New Zealand musicians auditioned for the chance to lay down Iggy’s renowned solo track ‘The Passenger’ online and under the direction of the Godfather of Punk.

It’s all part of a promotion from telecommunications company Orcon for its next generation broadband.

Now the band has been chosen and it assembles on Friday (Oct. 30) to hook up with Iggy in Miami live via Orcon Broadband. They’re spending the day under the maestro’s expert guidance laying down a brand new version of 'The Passenger'.

Iggy’s new band comprises four musicians from Wellington, two from Auckland and one each from Warkworth in Rodney District and Paraparaumu.

The group comprises:

• Tia Beaufort (Pukerua Bay, Wellington) & Stephanie Engelbrecht (Evans Bay, Wellington), drums
• Charley Davenport (Paraparaumu), cello
• Ben Jurisich (Warkworth) & Sam Logan (Karori, Wellington), guitars
• Takumi Motokawa (Brooklyn, Wellington), xylophone
• Daniel Tate (Onehunga, Auckland), bass
• Miho Wada (Remuera, Auckland), flute

The recording session is being streamed live at www.facebook.com/Orcon from around 1pm (NZST) and the finished track is being turned in to a television ad for the company. It will be available for viewing from November 17.

Orcon CEO Scott Bartlett says he’s amazed at the quality and number of musicians who jumped at the chance to audition for the band.

“Iggy obviously has huge pulling power in the global music community. We were expecting around 50 New Zealand musos to audition but in the end we had more than 200.

“It was a pretty tough job screening them down to eight but with Iggy’s help I think we have unearthed some awesome talent.

Mr Bartlett says it looks like it is going to be a pretty incredible re-make of 'The Passenger' and not just a re-hash of the original.

“We are really excited about what is going to come out of this.”

On Friday, the New Zealand band members connect to Iggy’s Miami studio via the Internet with everyone in the band laying down their tracks and Iggy singing the vocals.

The studio is going to capture all the audio and visual feeds and create a unique musical and video rendition of ‘The Passenger’. The music and footage is then going to be used to create commercials and a full music video.

“The internet is enabling Kiwis to do incredible things each day and this helps us prove that,” Mr Bartlett says.

The Iggy Pop ‘Together Incredible’ auditions were viewed online more than 65,000 times on Facebook and the site attracted close to 4,000 fans.

Media release date: 29 October 2009

MORE INFORMATION

For more information, please contact:

Quentin Reade

Pead PR

T: +64 9 918 5552

M: +64 21 847 908

E: quentin@peadpr.co.nz

About Kordia

Kordia is an experienced and stable trans-Tasman business that powers some of the most significant communications technologies in this part of the world.

Kordia has a team of over 700 talented people who build, manage and maintain telecommunications, broadcast and a range of other specialised networks in New Zealand, Australia, South-East Asia and the Pacific.  Kordia’s shareholder is the New Zealand government – the company has been around for about 60 years.  

Kordia’s heritage is in broadcast.  When New Zealanders watch TV or listen to the radio, it is likely that the programme is carried over Kordia’s broadcast analogue or digital network. 

But Kordia’s business is changing.  Now many long distance phone calls are carried up and down the country on Kordia’s next generation network.  It also owns Orcon, and delivers world-class broadband, down-under, through them.

Kordia’s satellite and radio technologies monitor the safety of boats and shipping crews across a territory than covers 50 million square kilometres of the world’s oceans.

Kordia is also looking to massively improve the cost and performance of New Zealand’s connection to the world by building a new data cable to Australia – OptiKor™.

Kordia has undergone a significant transformation in the past few years.  It has spent $170m to shift from ‘broadcast-only’ to being a lead player in the technology, media and telecommunications space. 

The acquisition of AAPCS in Australia (2005), Orcon (2007) and iServe (2009) in New Zealand has established the framework for change, with revenue from the telecommunications sector increasing eight-fold over that period.  Total revenue for the Kordia Group has doubled since 2005 - from $130m to just under $260m. 

Revenue: NZ$254 million, FY09, ended June 2009.

Key customers: TVNZ, MediaWorks, SKY Television, Vodafone Hutchison Australia, Ericsson, NokiaSiemens Networks.

Employees: 856 (includes Kordia in New Zealand and Australia, Orcon and its subsidiaries, part time staff and contract workers).

Take a ride with Iggy and Orcon

Iggy Pop is making a new band – and plans to fill it with Kiwis he meets online.

The Godfather of Punk is inviting Kiwi musicians to help him re-record ‘The Passenger’, one of his best known solo tracks.

It’s all part of a promotion from telecommunications company Orcon for its next generation broadband.

Orcon CEO Scott Bartlett says Iggy is going to be in the driving seat, reproducing his hit with Kiwi talent.

"If you’d like to sing lead vocals, backing vocals, harmonise, play guitar, bass, drums...or anything with Iggy Pop, register with us at www.facebook.com/orcon.

“We’re looking for eight talented Kiwis who have the right credentials to help Iggy lay down a new version of probably his most classic song. But instead of going in to the studio with him, it’s all going to happen over the internet with the magic of Orcon broadband.

“Iggy’s in charge and he will select the musicians to join his band from video auditions they upload to our website. It’s powered by Orcon and it’s going to be huge.”

On 30 October, the selected New Zealand band members will connect to Iggy’s Miami studio via the internet, with everyone in the band laying down their tracks and Iggy singing the vocals.

The studio is going to capture all the audio and vocal feeds and create a unique musical and video rendition of ‘The Passenger’. The music and footage is then going to be used to create commercials and a full music video.

“As far as we know, nothing like this has been done before, certainly not in New Zealand and not globally as we understand,” Bartlett says. “So it’s ground–breaking stuff and also a great way for us to showcase the power of Orcon broadband and what can be done with it by talented New Zealanders.

“The internet is enabling Kiwis to do incredible things each day and this helps us prove that.”

The call for musicians kicks off today (7 Oct.) and entries close at noon on 22 October. The final ad will to be available for viewing on the Orcon website and on TV on the week commencing 16 November.

New Zealanders can follow the search from now and watch the ad being made via live stream on 30 October at www.facebook.com/orcon.

Media release: 7 October 2009

MORE INFORMATION

For more information, please contact:

Quentin Reade

Pead PR

T: +64 9 918 5552

M: +64 21 847 908

E: quentin@peadpr.co.nz