“Satellite broadcasters are scaling new heights of programming quality and innovation,” said Duilio Giammaria, RAI journalist and jury chairman of this year’s Eutelsat TV Awards.
The awards recognise the quality of thematic satellite TV channels and are organised by Eutelsat. His comments came at the end of two days of viewing by a 10-member jury whose combined experience covers the world’s most dynamic broadcasting markets.
The jury that met in Paris debated over content submitted for a Eutelsat TV Award by more than 120 channels from 19 countries, and decided on a shortlist of three channels in nine thematic categories. The winners in each category will be revealed at a gala ceremony in Venice on November 30.
Duilio added: “Considering the originality of the programming we saw, it’s no surprise that satellite TV continues to be the most popular platform for multi-channel viewing. This year’s entries to the Eutelsat TV Awards showed the continuing capacity of powerhouse TV markets like the UK, Russia and Italy to generate content that captured our attention. But we also saw inventive and courageous formats and programming ideas from newer digital entertainment markets, including Madagascar, Afghanistan and Kazakhstan. All in all, we have been impressed by the efforts of satellite broadcasters to give viewers a great TV experience and to leverage new technologies to reach out to a broader audience.”
Now that the jury has done its work, all participating channels can compete for the People’s Choice Award that will be won by the channel generating most votes from viewers. Voting opens on October 10 and will continue until November 22 via participating channel websites as well as the official website for the competition – eutelsattvawards.com – and other popular sites including Broadband TV News.
Children’s channel: Carousel (Russia), Minimini (Poland) and Teletoon+ (Poland);
Cinema: Ale Kino (Poland), Kinowelt (Germany) and Premiera (Russia)
Culture and documentaries: Pashto TV (Afghanistan), Spiegel TV Wissen (Germany) and Top Secret (Russia)
Fiction and general entertainment: Comedy Central Italy (Italy), I Like TV (Italy) and MBC HD 1 (UAE)
Lifestyle: Kuchnia+ (Poland), RAI 5 (Italy), Real Time (Italy)
Music: C Music TV (UK), La Minor (Russia) and Viva Polska (Poland)
News channels: Al Arabya HD (UAE), CCTV News (China) and Sky TG24 (Italy)
Sports channels: Eurosport (France), Sky Sport (Italy) and Sport Plus (Russia)
Best programme: Rapinfo (from One Hip Hop Channel in Russia), Shakespeare from Kabul (BBC Persian, UK) and Raitunes 5 – altri suoni (RAI 5, Italy)
