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

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.

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!

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.

More from the Frontline Club site here

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.

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

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.

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.

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!

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!

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.

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

Those currently watching the Iranian election through the eyes of Western media now have an alternative perspective that offers a unique insight into the significance of the historic event.

Press TV, broadcast live from Tehran, is now streamed 24 hours a day and seven days a week on Livestation, the destination for live TV over broadband.

With a couple of clicks you can download the Livestation player, absolutely free of charge and totally safe, and be watching the election from an Iranian point of view.

Not only that, but the Livestation player comes packed with a host of interactive features which enables any viewer to engage in real-time live chat about the TV output and take part in instant polls.

Livestation has already streamed the key Iranian presidential debates when hundreds packed the chat room and were polled on who they thought had fared the best.

The Livestation player can be minimised in widget form to sit neatly in the corner of your computer screen set to always on top to enable you to get on with other stuff while you keep an eye on the news.

And you can flick through the current Livestation channel list of official partner channels, such as BBC World, Al Jazeera, Bloomberg, France 24, Russia Today, and of course, Press TV, or one of the hundreds of user-added channels that pop up in the player. And yes, you can add any of your favourite legal web streams for your own personal use.

So download now and watch this internationally-significant election from a wide range of perspectives.

On Friday, Iran’s 46 million voters go to the polls to choose their next president. Will the incumbent, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, remain in office or be pushed out by one of three other contenders? Former Prime Minister Mirhossein Mousavi is running a close race and has surged in popularity during the two-week official campaign period – but will it be enough for him to win?

What are the issues facing the country? And what is at stake for the rest of the world?

On Thursday 11 June 2009, Riz discusses the potential scenarios with Hooman Majd, President Ahmadinejad’s former translator and author of the book, “The Ayatollah Begs To Differ.”

You can join the conversation on Livestation. Watch the show live at 2030gmt, with repeats the next day at 0030gmt, 0530gmt and 1130gmt.

I am very pleased to announce that Press TV has joined Livestation as of yesterday 2 June 2009.

Press TV offers a very distinctive view of international news and it broadcasts from Tehran in English 24/7.

Tonight we have the exclusive opportunity to bring you the first ever Iranian presidential debate live between Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (profile here) and his challenger in the forthcoming election Mir-Hossein Mousavi (profile here).

You can read more on the elections on the Press TV site here

The debate will be translated live and the chat room on the Press TV channel on the Livestation player will be available for viewers who want to share their views. We are hoping to have someone from Press TV in the room as well.

Press TV’s producer, Alireza Hajhosseini, will be on location getting firsthand reactions from Iranian Candidates’ advisors and forwarding them to Press TV’s Election Blogger, Farhod Family, during the exclusive live chat at Press TV on Livestation.com.

Join the conversation tonight at 1800GMT (2130 Tehran time) on the Livestation player on Press TV or watch on the website.

Which way will Lebanon turn as the country heads into critical elections this weekend? Deeply divided along familial and sectarian lines, political allegiances change frequently in Lebanon leaving this election much too close to call. However, many analysts believe that Hezbollah’s opposition March 8 Alliance may be poised to take a slight majority in the parliament – a result that would almost certainly mean an end to U.S. military support and other forms of Western aid to Lebanon. To counter this any sort of international backlash Hezbollah has floated the idea of a unity government – including the leader of the Western leaning March 14 coalition, Saad Hariri, as Prime Minister. But Mr. Hariri flatly rejects the notion of a unity government saying that he won’t be a front for a Hezbollah-led government.


On Tuesday’s “Riz Khan” we speak to Ibrahim Moussawi, Hezbollah’s media relations officer and Richard Koyomjian, spokesperson for the Lebanese Forces electoral campaign – a part of the March 14 alliance and ask, how will Lebanon hold together after the election?

Join the conversation on Livestation/Al Jazeera English at 2030GMT.

Al Jazeera English, 2030GMT

The leaders of the world’s 20 biggest economies have gathered in London today to fix the world’s broken economy and pull it out of recession.

The leaders want to show that they are cooperating to solve the economic crisis, but many of them disagree on how to go forward. The U.S., Japan and U.K. argue for more government spending (stimulus packages, etc), while France and Germany say more regulation is what’s needed. China has questioned whether the dollar should be the de facto global currency.

Perhaps the only thing that the governments agree on is that more money should be channeled to developing countries, which will continue to feel the affects of this downturn long after it has passed.

As the economic skies darken, protesters have taken to the streets of London, violently clashing with police at times. They demanded that jobs be the top priority for the world’s leaders, and attacked banks for being “thieves.”

Today, the Riz Khan Show asks just how much can be achieved by the G-20. We’ll speak with Tony Benn, a former minister in Britain; and Stephen Timms, a top official in the U.K. Treasury.

You can join the conversation on Livestation. Watch the show live at 2030gmt, with repeats the next day at 0030gmt, 0530gmt and 1130gmt.

Al Jazeera English, Wednesday 25 March 2009, 2030GMT

As global economic woes continue, world leaders are divided over whether to provide more economic stimulus or to tighten regulation of the system. The Group of 20 major economies meets on April 2nd in London to discuss the global crisis and there have been signs that the United States and major European countries were at odds about the agenda. The U.S. is emphasizing more public spending to stimulate the economy and several European countries are calling for implementing new regulations.

“We are living through a time of global economic challenges that cannot be met by half measures or the isolated efforts of any nation,” U.S. President Obama wrote in a commentary published in more than 30 newspapers around the world on Tuesday. “Now, the leaders of the Group of 20 have a responsibility to take bold, comprehensive and coordinated action that not only jump-starts recovery, but also launches a new era of economic engagement to prevent a crisis like this from ever happening again.”

On Wednesday’s the Riz Khan Show examines the implications of financial intervention with Alexander Mirtchev, the former premiere of Bulgaria during the Soviet era, who went on to become a successful businessman in the United States. He warns that the U.S. administration plans to save the economy reflects a failed socialist model.

You can join the conversation on Al Jazeera English on Livestation. Watch the show Live at 2030gmt, with repeats the next day at 0030gmt and 0530gmt.

Al Jazeera English

Tuesday, 17 March 2009, 2030GMT

Sir Richard Branson is one of the most recognizable businessmen in the world today and he’s been called everything from flamboyant to philanthropic.

A self made millionaire, Branson has backed state bail-outs for failing banks but says similar rescues should not be offered to other industries. He has a strong entrepreneurial sprit – even in these times of recession.

Among his latest ventures is Virgin Galactic, a space tourism initiative, a new airline and promoting a health care plan. His empire embraces trains, planes, media, mobile phones, the internet and music….and he’s also been busy burnishing his green credentials.

Riz Khan speaks to Richard Branson about how the economic crisis is affecting global business.

You can join the conversation on Al Jazeera English on Livestation. Watch the show Live at 2030GMT, with repeats the next day at 0030GMT and 0530GMT.

Monday, 16 March 2009
(Anand Naidoo sits in for Riz Khan this week).

How long will the “war on terror” last? Will this war define relationships between countries throughout the 21st century?

Phillip Bobbitt, who has advised six U.S. administrations going back to the Carter administration in the 1970s, says that all the ideas that American officials hold true about “terrorism” today are wrong. His latest book, “Terror and Consent,” talks about war powers for the U.S. government, pre-emption, torture, and international treaties.

On Monday 16 March 2009, the Riz Khan Show interviews Bobbitt about the upcoming threats to world stability and how to face them.

You can join the conversation on Al Jazeera English on Livestation. Watch the show live at 2030gmt, with repeats the next day at 0030gmt and 0530gmt.