Europe*Star to beam Mandela’s Aids concert to the world

The SABC will use Europe*Star 1 for local distribution of the four-hour concert. A second feed on the same satellite will simultaneously be sent to Europe and made available on a rights-free basis for redistribution through affiliates of the European Broadcasting Union and Asian Broadcasting Union which have combined membership of more than 100 broadcasters.

Europe*Star will also provide the bandwidth for the later transmission of a three-hour edited video.

Roy Ingle, satellite owner Europe*Star's regional director for Africa, says that "when this concert was originally planned for last year Europe*Star offered satellite capacity to Globecast, which is organising the video distribution from Cape Town.

"When the concert plans were reinstated this year we were delighted to be chosen on merit to carry the broadcast. It is an honour to be able to join the organisations contributing to such a worthwhile cause."

Money raised at the Aids concert will go to the Nelson Mandela Foundation's campaign to combat HIV/Aids. The concert, which will be broadcast internationally through the European Broadcasting Union, is part of the 46664 campaign. This campaign is harnessing the boundary-breaking multi-media technologies of TV, radio, webcast and SMS to raise awareness and generate income from around the world for the foundation's fight against HIV/Aids.