Also noteworthy from the 15 September BBG meeting, as reported on Kim Andrew Elliott’s International Broadcasting website:
–Approval of the merger of BBG and IBB staffs under the IBB director. And approval of revised grant agreements (no specifics given) with the grantee organizations (RFE/RL, RFA, and MBN).
–The BBG has created a Commission on Innovation, with members including James Montgomery of BBC Global News.
–An FM relay (presumably for Radio Sawa) will be set up in Benghazi, Libya, after the transmitter was held up for three weeks by Egyptian customs. An FM relay transmitter in Tripoli, Libya, will follow.
–A “direct-to-home” satellite feed for VOA and RFA Mandarin will be established on Telstar 18, the “number one ranked” satellite in China. The feed will consist of audio and still visuals, some of which will display the URLs of proxy servers to allow access to the VOA and RFA websites.
–USIB news bureaus will be consolidated. This includes VOA and MBN in New York, London, Cairo, and Jerusalem. VOA and RFE/RL “are working towards” co-locating in Moscow in 2012. VOA and RFA “are working towards co-locating in places such as Bangkok.” Governor Victor Ashe mentioned that RFA was subject to a drive-by shooting in Phnom Penh, and the VOA office in Phnom Penh, a mile away, knew nothing about it.
–A consultant will look into the consolidation of USIB.
–MBN president Brian Coniff reported that a new survey in Egypt shows the Alhurra audience has doubled to nearly eight million.
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