The winners of the sixth HOT BIRDTM TV AWARDS were announced on Friday at a ceremony in Venice. Organised by Eutelsat and Eurovisioni, and sponsored by Alcatel Space, Arianespace and Astrium, the HOT BIRDTM TV Awards is an annual event to recognise the excellence of satellite broadcasting of thematic television. The winners were selected by a jury* of European television journalists who met last month in Rome to view a record 120 thematic channels broadcasting in 13 languages separated into eight categories: News, Cinema & Fiction, Culture, Documentaries, Kids, Music, Sport, and Various.
The jury rewarded the channels that they consider displayed particular originality and quality in their programming and presentation. The winners for 2003 are:
News: Rai News 24 (Italy)
Cinema & Fiction: Sky Cinema Author (Italy) and TCM (France) – joint winners
Culture: Rai Nettuno Sat (Italy)
Documentary: Grandes Documentaries (Spain) and Voyage (France) – joint winners
Childrens’: Minimax (Poland) and Rai Sat Ragazzi (Italy) – joint winners
Music: Canal Clasico (Spain)
Sport: ESPN Classic Sport (France)
Other: Public Sénat (France)
Special prizes were also awarded by Eutelsat to Euronews that this year celebrated 10 years of broadcasting news, information and current affairs in seven languages, and TPS Star that has merged premium films and sports into one channel offered within the TPS pay-TV package in France. Satexpo, the international conference and exhibition on satellite communications held in Vicenza from October 2 to 4 also gave prizes to Sky Italia and its new sports channel Sky Sport.
“We are very pleased to see the onward growth of thematic satellite television that stands as a rich complement next to general entertainment channels”, said Giuliano Berretta, Eutelsat CEO. “This year has been marked by the arrival of new concepts and talents that illustrate the inherent dynamics of thematic television. I would like to thank and congratulate all the channels that were considered for an Award by the jury for their contribution to a growing store of creativity for the millions of viewers that watch television through Eutelsat satellites”.
* The jury comprised European media journalists from Le Monde (France), La Stampa and Satellite (Italy), The Daily Telegraph (UK), The Echo Of Moscow (Russia), Ta Nea (Greece), TV Sat Magazine (Poland), Milliyet Sanat (Turkey), Suddeutsche Zeitung (Germany) and Agencia EFE (Spain).
For more information please visit www.hotbirdtvawards.com
About Eutelsat
With capacity commercialised on 23 satellites that provide coverage from the Americas to the Pacific, Eutelsat S.A. is one of the world’s leading satellite operators. Eutelsat’s satellite infrastructure gives it the flexibility to offer direct-to-home broadcasting, video distribution and contribution services, corporate network solutions and a portfolio of IP applications including broadband Internet access and Internet backbone connections. From its strategic HOT BIRDÔ orbital position at 13 degrees East and other orbital positions, Eutelsat’s satellites broadcast more than 1300 television and 800 radio stations and reach an overall audience of 107 million cable and satellite homes.
About Eurovisioni
Born in 1987, the Eurovisioni festival has grown as a prestigious event thanks to the participation of professionals and well-known personalities in the audiovisual, cinema and new technology sectors. Every year Eurovisioni deals with several and complex themes about the development of audiovisual industry, that are very deeply taken into consideration by European and National institutions. The subject of this year is “New strategies and new tools for the support to the audiovisual industry: European vs. USA model”.