Satellite Industry Interference Groups Merge
Douglas, Isle of Man, January 23, 2014 – The Radio Frequency Interference – End Users Initiative (RFI-EUI) and the Satellite Interference Reduction Group (IRG) today announced a merger, helping the two groups to better serve the industry and combat satellite interference together.
The merger sees IRG creating an umbrella over RFI-EUI, forming two advisory committees/working groups. The first will be the EUI, covering training, best practices and documentation. The second will deal with Carrier ID and will merge the two existing Carrier ID working groups of IRG and RFI-EUI. The joined working groups will be chaired by Roger Franklin, CEO, Crystal Solutions and George Melton, Director of Engineering - Teleport, Turner Broadcasting Systems, Inc.
The newly formed EUI advisory committee will keep its remit of addressing the concerns and interests of the end user community, helping bolster their interests within IRG, as well as continuing to work closely with the Global VSAT Forum (GVF) and ITU. EUI will also bring a stronger emphasis on the end users to the newly formed Carrier ID group, especially towards the support, adoption and institution of Carrier ID activation over the next few years for all video transmissions.
“We are delighted to be joining forces with IRG,” commented Rich Wolf, Co-chair, RFI-EUI. “This merger will give us much needed access to IRG’s resources and enable us to better represent the needs and responsibilities of the user community within the group”
“Satellite interference continues to be an issue for the entire industry,” commented Dick Tauber, Co-chair, RFI-EUI. “We have been working closely with other groups, such as IRG, for over a decade and this merger makes our shared co-operation official, helping us conduct a more focused, spearheaded and definitely a more coordinated approach to mitigating satellite interference.”
“RFI-EUI has an extremely important role to play in mitigating satellite interference, with its unique position of representing in particular the media end users,” commented Martin Coleman, Executive Director, IRG, “Having worked with them for many years, making our relationship official in this way was a natural step for us, and will ensure both groups have full visibility of our joint initiatives.”
About the Radio Frequency Interference – End Users Initiative
The Radio Frequency Interference - End Users Initiative (RFI-EUI) is a voluntary group composed of media companies, equipment manufacturers, industry groups, satellite system operators and satellite service providers from around the world. It was founded in February 2011 primarily to give voice to customers, clients and essentially all end users of satellite capacity regarding RFI. RFI-EUI has been established to work in concert and in conjunction with the satellite operators to identify, mitigate and prevent – ultimately to stop – satellite interference. For more information, please visit www.rfi-eui.org.
About the Satellite Interference Reduction Group
The Satellite Interference Reduction Group (IRG) is a leading organization working to reduce satellite frequency interference. It comprises three main working groups, covering Carrier ID, Intentional Interference, and VSAT interference. The Group’s membership is comprised of satellite operators, users, uplinkers, service providers, equipment vendors and other organizations with a stake in combating radio frequency interference. For more information, please visit www.satirg.org
