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French reporters infiltrate Foxconn iPhone 5 factory, find few of the vaunted changes (updated)
Envoyé Spécial, a 60 Minutes-like program from public TV station France 2, went undercover at the Zhengzhou iPhone 5 Foxconn factory recently (within the past two months) and reported many of the same problems the Chinese manufacturer and Apple promised to fix earlier this year. According to the story that aired last night, dorms at the new factory were occupied by workers despite the fact that many were still under construction and had no elevators, electricity or running water -- apparently because builders focused on the production lines at the expense of housing. A Foxconn manager even warned employees on hidden camera not to plug devices into dorms that did have electricity, saying that eight workers were killed in a fire after overloading circuits.
Four French national channels going HD over-the-air this month
Apparently all that's necessary to get a lagging country to hop on the high-def bandwagon is to talk bad about 'em, or at least that's the case here with France. After we heard that the nation wasn't exactly rushing out to adopt HD, in comes word that four major French channels will soon be available in high-definition on digital terrestrial TV (DTT). TF1 HD, France 2 HD, M6 HD and Arte HD will all begin broadcasting OTA in HD on October 30th, and while all of these are already available on other platforms, we can only imagine that beaming 'em out gratis will greatly increase HD awareness. Any other nations want to follow suit? Oh, and France, way to be a role model out there.
European broadcasters rushing to add HD ahead of the Olympics
Despite word from France Television's director of sports programming that HD wouldn't be available for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, France 2 HD has already launched on CanalSat DTH and Numéricable. Unlike the Versus broadcast here, French viewers are also getting the Tour de France in HD and can expect the same from their Olympic coverage. Meanwhile Belgians can thank TV Vlaanderen for adding VRT's Eén HD temporarily to its DTH platform, delivering both events in HD, along with Belgacom TV adding Eén HD, France 2 HD, Eurosport HD and TF1 HD for a total of 13 high definition channels. Really, we can't see watching the Olympics any other way.Read - Belgacom TVRead - France 2Read - VRT Eén HD
France not exactly rushing to adopt HD
Talk about a let down. According to a new report from Variety, Daniel Bilalian -- France Televisions' director of sports programming -- has announced that "HD transmissions would not be available for this summer's Olympic Games on any of the pubcaster's channels." The article also notes that French networks in general have been slow to move towards high-definition, with only Canal Plus putting forth a proposal for premium HD transmissions (from pay-TV providers). Still, it's noted that private networks TF1 and M6 have "committed to airing at least 80-percent of their content in HD by the end of 2012," but it's not like we're really down with twiddling our thumbs for four more years waiting for it to happen.
France 2 getting new $3.1 million HD studio in Paris
Though quite a bit of broadcast news is flowing from the States right about now, Thomson is out boasting of its involvement with France 2's forthcoming HD upgrades. The "first public television broadcaster" in France has indeed chosen Thomson to construct a new high-definition facility (studio and control room) in Paris, which will set the network back a cool $3.1 million. Reportedly, the new France 2 HD project will include system design, installation, staff training and around the clock customer service. Among the new equipment is a pair of Kayak HD video production switchers and a Trinix HD router -- both of which should be well-oiled and ready to rock when the studio goes on-air by late August.
