Livestation Recent Blog Posts

New blog!

2010-03-01T08:58:34Z

Hello world,

we have a new blog platform and more importantly we have two young, bright journalists who will feed it with interesting posts.

Their main contribution will be around “sightings” of newsworthy ways our partner channels report the news and “upcoming stories” so that you can have an early warning on the important things coming up on the news agenda.

The blog is here blog.livestation.com and will soon replace the current one.

Comments and retweets welcome!

Obama’s State of the Union on Livestation – watch, clip and tweet the news that matters to you

2010-01-27T11:05:56Z

As the world waits to hear President Obama’s first State of the Union address, Livestation viewers worldwide are on standby to be the primary global feed of quotes and images using the player’s unique Twitter tools.

When America’s 44th president gets to his feet you can watch live on the Livestation player, whether you are online or on the move and you can be the news breakers.

As soon as you hear or see anything that you feel is newsworthy you can tweet the quote in an instant AND include an image of President Obama speaking.

Think of it as captioned photographs, created in seconds and disseminated worldwide to your followers and your followers followers in real time.

Those Tweets and TweetPics can also be imported into your blog (download our player here to see to try it for yourself).

While you are selecting the quotes that matter to you, the Livestation player also offers you the chance to join a global debate about what is being said using the Liverstation chatroom functionality – real time, live, instant discussions about what matters most. A global debate, instant, illustrated and informed.

The State of the Union address will take place tonight, Wednesday 27th January at 9pm EST and will be broadcast by the majority of our partner channels (C-Span, CNN International, BBC World News, Al Jazeera English, etc).

Web changes, streaming woes

2010-01-16T12:40:27Z

We released an important update to the website yesterday, which finally unifies the experience of free and premium channels into what we hope is a cleaner, more effective interface.

These changes make it more seamless to move between premium and free channels, and add tweets from our partners in place of the boring channel descriptions.

The Flash player implementation has also been sorted out so premium users do not see the Livestation logo, and it is easier for us to configure. We’ve also increased the streaming buffer size to help iron out the freezing problems some users have reported.

We also added a neat feature for the website, inspired by YouTube and DivX player, called ‘Dim the lights’. This is a nice little effect that reduces the brightness of the website user interface so you can concentrate on the video when watching for long durations. You can find it under all of the partner channels. We hope you like it!

In an unfortunate conjunction with these happy improvements, our content delivery network had a few hiccups yesterday, so we had a few hours where streams were very unreliable. This did not appear to be related to the web deployment. It seems to be more stable now and we wish the CDN the best of luck over the weekend in their debugging.

Christmas and New Year issues

2010-01-04T17:54:21Z

Firstly a happy new year to all our Livestation viewers. The festive season was a little choppy for us here at Livestation towers thanks to a couple of production issues with the web site and services.

I just wanted to say sorry to anyone who had problems with their premium or pro services over the holiday period. This was in part caused by some over-eager caching implemented just before the Christmas break.

Hopefully most issues have now been resolved. The final patch for this will go online tomorrow along with a few more fixes and general updates to pages.

And for those who silently got a few free days free premium services, Happy Christmas.

Intelligence Squared debates from now on live on Livestation

2009-11-25T23:29:12Z

I am delighted to inform you that Livestation has partnered with Intelligence Squared to bring some of the most current and interesting debates straight to your desktop live and with the added ability to cast your vote and ask your own questions.

The first event is this coming Sunday 29th November at 6.45pm GMT and it’s a real gem.

Is atheism the new fundamentalism?

You will be able to watch online as Richard Dawkins, author of ‘The God Delusion’ and Professor A C Grayling, take on Richard Harries, the former bishop of Oxford, and Charles Moore, former editor of The Daily Telegraph, at this sold-out Wellington Squared event held at Wellington College, Berkshire. It will be chaired by the Headmaster of Wellington (and political historian) Anthony Seldon.

Anybody, anywhere will be able to view the debate in real time and participate in a live online discussion through their Twitter profile or the Livestation Live Chat. Just like those actually at the event, the online audience will be able to vote both before and after the debate, and direct questions to the panel.

More information is available at the following links

About the speakers

Intelligence Squared on Livestation

Livestation stream on the Intelligence Squared site

Enjoy the debate!

Livestation 3.0 is out!

2009-11-23T18:23:36Z

Great news! Livestation 3.0 is out.

Get it here before it’s too late!

Not sure where to start as the number of changes is really gigantic.

First, I’d like to thank the tech team who have worked relentlessly for over 8 months to get this amazing release out. A full list of features and changes + screencasts will be on the site soon. If you want to do your own screencasts on specific parts of the player, please feel free and we will link to them from our site with pleasure.

Main things in Livestation 3.0:

Multiview = watch more than one channel at once

Twitter = follow and tweet but more importantly, screen grab what you are watching and attach to your tweet in one click

Better chat (more features)

Better support for cross platform

Breaking news alerts powered by Twitter updates from our partner channels

Support for premium channels

Pro version: no ads, unlimited multiview, more chat features, partner channels delivered over premium network for best performance

Billions of changes under the bonnet (more protocols, more stability, etc)

Let us know what you think! Off to celebrate!

Matteo

A welcome change: Flash streams on the site

2009-11-06T23:46:44Z

I am very pleased to announce that most of the partner channels we offer on our service through our website (as opposed to those available in the desktop player) are now in Flash format.

Some of the channels are still in Windows Media format as they are not acquired by us directly via satellite but are passed to us by our partners in this format. We are looking at ways to convert them to Flash without losing quality but for now we are going to leave them as they are.

But for Al Jazeera, Russia Today, Euronews, etc (and BBC World News and the other channels very soon), the streams are now in Flash.

What does it mean for our viewers?

A couple of things: 1) more people have Flash installed which means that more people will be able to watch our partner channels without having to install any plugin or other software 2) we can lower the data required to offer a quality experience so that viewers on a slower connections will finally be able to enjoy are service which has always been impossible with anyone with a basic ADSL line to enjoy (256kbps).

We hope this is a welcome change and we look forward to hearing your comments on the blog or on the forum.

Happy watching!

Matteo

Live from NewsXchange in Malta

2009-10-15T08:34:59Z

I am in Malta for the yearly NewsXchange gathering of the international news broadcasters and I’ll be tweeting from the floor.

Shame there’s no live feed!

Let’s of good people here from CNN, BBC, Sky, Al Jazeera, Russia Today, Bloomberg, TV2, etc.

Super League Grand Final, Sat 10th Oct KO 19:00 GMT

2009-10-09T13:17:10Z

The Super League Grand Final is the most important game of the engage Super League rugby season.

After the excitement of the weekly rounds and the drama of the play-off series, Leeds Rhinos v St. Helens go head-to-head in a sudden death encounter for the right to be crowned engage Super League Champions.

Live from Old Trafford, you can follow this amazing sporting event here on our site from 17:30 BST (18:30GMT) tomorrow Saturday 10th October.

If you are a Season Pass holder just sit back, relax and enjoy. If you still haven’t bought your online pass for the final, click here and do it now!

You can get a lot of pre-match info on Sky Sports.

Good luck to both teams!

First Wednesday at the Frontline Club: Iran's Nuclear Programme

2009-10-06T08:08:25Z

Live on the Frontline Club channel on Livestation on Wednesday 7 October at 7pm BST (8pm GMT)

With Jon Leyne, the BBC’s Tehran correspondent who is currently in London, Julian Borger, the Guardian’s diplomatic editor, Con Coughlin, executive foreign editor of the Daily Telegraph.

Rest of the panel to be confirmed.

Join us to discuss the state of play following diplomatic talks in Geneva between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. What can be expected of the 25 October talks? Will re-elected president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad respond positively to Barack Obama’s appeal to Tehran that it “unclench its fist” or could we be facing a nuclear arms race that will threaten the future of the Middle East and beyond?

Following the success of September’s First Wednesday discussion on Afghanistan, Paddy O’Connell will be moderating the second of these dynamic debates.

Live football comes to the iPhone

2009-09-22T08:30:38Z

In a break from our more staple news applications, we’ve secured a great deal with Five TV in the UK to bring all their televised matches to the iPhone.

Granted, most people would prefer to watch the game with a cold beer down at the local pub, but this new iPhone app gives those less fortunate the ability to sneak a peek at the action wherever they are.

In addition to the live games, we’ve also hooked up with UEFA to bring you videos of all the key moments of all the UEFA Europa League (formerly the UEFA Cup) games, shortly after they happen.

So if you’re out and about,. but your favourite team is playing, then grab the UEFA Europa League App from Football on Five for just £3.99. It lasts right through until the final in May and there’s no more to pay!

This is the ONLY destination for live football in the UK on the iPhone right now, and we’re even presenting more video clips than UEFA’s own application does.

Join in the action with Football on Five. Only from Livestation

Frontline club events live: On the media: Access denied - Tue 8 September 2009, 2000GMT.

2009-09-08T15:53:24Z

This On the Media event is in association with the BBC College of Journalism

With: Richard Sambrook, director of the BBC’s Global News division: Adrian Wells, head of foreign news, Sky News; Jean Seaton Professor of Media History at the University of Westminster’s Communication and Media Research Institute

Fighting in Gaza and Sri Lanka and the recent unrest in Iran all raised questions about how journalists can do their job when governments deny access.

The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have also provoked concern that the Ministry of Defence is aided in the task of managing the flow of information by the fact that it is frequently impossible for journalists to reach and report from the frontline of the conflict.

What challenges do conflicts such as those in Gaza and Sri Lanka earlier this year throw up, as well as the recent troubles in Iran, where Western journalists have been barred?

Mobile phones, Twitter and email have provided invaluable information but their use not only throws up challenges for established practice in newsgathering, it also raises questions about what happens when new media tools aren’t readily available, such as in Sri Lanka when thousands of people fled and many were killed and injured during fighting between government troops and the Tamil Tigers.

With the Israeli government relying more and more on public relations management and an increasingly sophisticated use of new media to get its message across, what is the role of the journalist in 21st century conflicts?

Watch and join the conversation on Livestation on the Frontline Club channel.

Richard Wolffe: Behind the scenes with Barack Obama

2009-09-03T09:25:05Z

Frontline Club Live today, 3 September 2115 GMT.

Richard Wolffe covered the entire length of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign for Newsweek magazine, traveling with the candidate and his inner circle from his announcement through to election day, 21 months later

In Renegade: The Making of a President, award-winning Richard Wolffe exposes what was going on behind the scenes during some of the most dramatic moments of the race, including his response to Bill Clinton’s critical comments and secret meeting with controversial pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright.

The idea for the book came from Barack Obama who the basketball games and conversations over carrot cake have prompted criticism that Richard Wolffe was too close to his subject.

Hear Richard Wolffe talking to Channel 4 News presenter Jon Snow about his behind the scenes access to the man who became President.

Richard Wolffe currently works as a political analyst for MSNBC and as a strategist for business advisory firm Public Strategies and contributes to The Daily Beast.
He previously served as a senior White House correspondent for Newsweek and as deputy bureau chief for the Financial Times’ Washington DC office.

Renegade: The Making of Barack Obama is published by Virgin Books on 27 August

Live Chat from Kabul 1500 GMT 20 August

2009-08-19T20:32:28Z

You can put your questions on the Afghanistan election to Al Jazeera’s Hamish Macdonald in Kabul via Livestation.

Just log on at 1500 GMT on Thursday, August 20 and submit your question via the Al Jazeera channel chat function.

Al Jazeera High Quality now live

2009-08-19T13:36:23Z

After a few months of testing we are pleased to announce that our first premium channel, AL Jazeera English, is available on our website here

http://www.livestation.com/products/32-al_jazeera_english_hq

What is it all about? Why bother paying some money for it?

Here are a few important reasons:

1. You get 2 choices of quality/stream speed to suit your network conditions

2. The high speed stream (800kbps) is in Standard Definition (SD) so that you can watch it on a big plasma and it looks like TV

3. The low speed stream is optimised to work on old connections as it’s using 220kbps making it usable on a basic ADSL line (256kbps). This should prove handy if you are trying to watch Al Jazeera from an Internet cafe’ in a remote part of the world

4. The stream use Flash technology which means you can enjoy them on the website as well as on our desktop player (in the next release due shortly)

5. The streams are delivered via a global content distribution network (CDN) meaning that the quality of service is much higher and problems with stream interruptions should be a lot less likely.

Furthermore, if you buy a premium channel on Livestation you will also help us carrying on supporting free channels like the Democratic Voice of Burma, the United Nation High Commisionner for Refugees while also keeping the basic free service going.

Give it a go as you have a 3 days free trial with no commitment.

As always, let us know what you think.

Chat with Livestation's team

2009-08-18T17:14:59Z

Join us tomorrow, Wednesday 19 August at 4pm BST (5pm CET, 11am EST) for a live chat with the Livestation team.

We can answer all your questions on the service, exchange ideas, get your views and thoughts and talk about how to make Livestation better.

We will be in the Frontline Club chat room from 4pm (UK time).

See you then!

Livestation partners with weComm to deliver live TV news on all smartphones

2009-08-10T13:26:42Z

We have partnered with a very cool UK company called weComm to deliver live TV news on the main smartphones.

weComm have developed a solution that allows developers to create one master application that will work on all smartphones without having to customise it for each individual handset.

Read the press release here.

In case you wondered, no dates for releases yet – sorry!

First Livestation merchandise

2009-08-03T10:41:46Z

Our hard working chat bouncers received a special gift from us recently: A Livestation mug and some chocs to enjoy while they maintain the peace in the Al Jazeera chatrooms. A difficult task and one that requires a sensitive touch. Chat bouncers: we salute you!

Exclusive live chat with Samah El-Shahat, Al Jazeera's resident economist

2009-07-09T10:29:58Z

Join Samah El-Shahat, Al Jazeera’s resident economist today on Livestation in the Al Jazeera English chat room at 1600 GMT (1700BST, 12PM EST, 9AM PST) for a live chat session about the G8 in Italy.

Streaming Media Awards - Vote for Livestation

2009-07-06T14:27:54Z

We have been shortlisted by Streaming Media in Europe as a good company in the space. If you like what we do and want to express your support you can vote for us here:

http://www.streamingmediaglobal.com/Readerschoiceeurope/

Thanks!

Matteo