Canadian singer Sarah McLachlan brought an abridged version of her world-famous Lilith Fair to Australia in October, the first time the female-only festival tour has been staged outside North America.

The time has come for IBC to open its doors to submissions for the prestigious Innovation Awards. These Awards are presented every September at IBC in recognition of those who push the boundaries of entertainment and media technology and help shape the future of the industry.

 •„ A major industry get-together is scheduled for the 9-12th December in Nairobi's Sarit Centre Expo Hall
 •„ The trade fair is conceived as an interface for the pro audio, live entertainment and sound storage medium industries
 •„ The programme includes showcases and workshops
 •„ Electro-Voice and DYNACORD partner Audio Visual Engineering Ltd (AVE) is one of the sponsors of the fair, where the DYNACORD PowerMate­­3 and Electro-Voice XLC 127DVX will be making their Central African and Kenyan debuts

SALZBRENNER STAGETEC MEDIAGROUP has been appointed as Official Supplier to the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Düsseldorf to be broadcast by Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR), German public TV.

IBC has issued the first call for entries for its 2011 Innovation Awards, the unique programme which recognises that success comes when vendors and users collaborate on perfectly tuned solutions.

There are a lot of exclamations of “OMG” (Oh my God) on Usher’s current OMG Tour, his first big-budget spectacle since 2004. The platinum-selling artist has remarked that he wanted to make sure his show was state of the art and would have fans leaving with an OMG experience. Meanwhile, behind the scenes grandMA2 full-size consoles are generating “OMGs” of their own.

Customers of AJA Video Systems keep finding new ways to use its Ki Pro tapeless recording device. Nyquest Ltd., a company specializing in producing concert footage, recently used the flexible device as an extremely cost-effective solution for converting 20 hours of HDCAM footage into the Apple ProRes format to enable immediate editing in Final Cut Pro. Nyquest discovered the Ki Pro after directing a 10-camera shoot of Alice Cooper live during his “Theatre of Death” tour date at London’s legendary Hammersmith Apollo.

As Deep Purple continue their tour through Germany and France, their long-serving FOH engineer Gert Sanner has taken the opportunity to transfer his show mix from his trusty Soundcraft Vi6 digital console to the smaller footprint of the new Vi1.

The current Kings of Leon world tour features another innovative design by LD Paul Normandale with all lighting controlled by a grandMA full-size console. Normandale specified the grandMA - as he does on many of his shows - for its stability and reliability. The lighting is being operated and looked after on the road by director Ali Bale - using a grandMA for the first time. Another grandMA light is being supplied by XL Video to run the Catalyst media server playing back video content.

New hosts, new look and pure music: “Die Hit Giganten” (The Hit Giants) are back! For the first time ECHO-awarded Jazz singer Roger Cicero and presenter Mirjam Weichselbraun are hosting the chart show of commercial broadcaster SAT.1. The show is recorded at MMC‘s “Coloneum” back lot in Cologne.

Children are not intimidated by trying out the so-called “New Media” especially when unique and new possibilities for communication attract their attention. They discover the Internet without being hampered by preconceived notions and will create their own TV-programme with confidence and a high level of professionalism that is also evident when managing their own radio show. This puts a lot of pressure on adults faced with the task of creating child-oriented multimedia programmes. Children are not interested in boring knowledge transfer and trivial jokes à la “sports-game-excitement”, but rather they demand clear information, cool action and lots of fun.

Telecast Fiber Systems' CopperHead™ 3200 camera-mounted fiber optic transceivers are playing a starring role in the first HD broadcast of the popular U.K.-based television series, "The X Factor." Working in tandem with Telecast Fiber's Python II™ bi-directional transmit/receive systems, the CopperHead 3200 units have enabled "The X Factor" producers to leverage the portability and low cost of fiber for on-location shooting at a variety of outside broadcast locations.

The last notes of A-Ha’s 25-year career have been recorded for a special DVD release by long-time Lawo customer Cinevideogroup, using the mc²66 in its flagship mobile production vehicle, OB14. Ironically, although it is A-Ha’s farewell concert, it is their first-ever live DVD.

The glitz and glamour of the 2010 Strictly Come Dancing season waltzed onto the UK’s televisions in October with a host of new celebrity students, professional dancers and guest stars in anticipation of an exciting 14 weeks of dance entertainment. Coupled with a brand new and critically acclaimed set, courtesy of set designer Patrick Doherty, this year’s Strictly was sure to be a guaranteed success.

A grandMA2 full-size console was chosen by LD Mauritz Jacobs to control all lighting for the 2010 Final of Miss South Africa, staged at Sun City Superbowl. Lighting equipment for the all-action, high-energy show - also a live MNET telecast - was supplied by Johannesburg Dream Sets, who purchased their grandMA2 from MA’s South African distributor DWR earlier in the year. They were one of the first companies in South Africa to run the new grandMA2 with the latest software version.