The Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU), formed in 1964, is a non-profit, professional association of broadcasting organisations. It currently has over 280 members in 57 countries and regions, reaching a potential audience of about 3 billion people. The ABU's role is to help the development of broadcasting in the Asia-Pacific region and to promote the collective interests of its members. The ABU covers an area stretching from Turkey in the west to Samoa in the east, and from Mongolia in the north to New Zealand in the south. Its secretariat is located in Angkasapuri, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, its secretary-general, currently Dr Javad Mottaghi.
One of the ABU's activities is Asiavision, a daily exchange of news feeds by satellite among television stations in 20 countries in Asia. The ABU also negotiates coverage rights to major sports events for its members collectively, and carries out a wide range of activities in the programme and technical areas. The ABU provides a forum for promoting the collective interests of television and radio broadcasters, and encourages regional and international co-operation between broadcasters.
Full members must be national free-to-air broadcasters in the Asia-Pacific region, but there is an associate membership category that is open to provincial broadcasters, subscription broadcasters and national broadcasters in other parts of the world, and an affiliate category that is open to organisations connected to broadcasting.
Contents
Overview
The ABU's activities include:
a daily satellite TV news exchange (Asiavision)
co-production and exchange of programmes
negotiating rights for major sports events and organising coverage
technical, programming and management consultancy services
advising members on copyright and legal matters
rights-free content acquisition for developing countries
representing members in international forums
international frequency planning and coordination
organising seminars, workshops and training courses
annual competition for radio and television programmes (ABU Prizes)
a robot competition for engineering students (Robocon)
publication of ABU News and Technical Review
ABU Popular Song Contest (1985–1987)
ABU Golden Kite World Song Festival (1989–1991)
ABU TV and Radio Song Festivals (2012)
The ABU works closely with the regional broadcasting. in other parts of the world on matters of common concern, and with many other international organisations, to exchange information on the latest developments in broadcasting, undertake activities to improve the skills and technologies of its members, and encourage harmonisation of operating and technical broadcasting standards and systems in the region. The ABU is funded primarily by annual subscriptions from members. The Union has an elected President and three Vice-Presidents, who serve three-year terms. The current President is Yoshinori Imai of NHK-Japan.
Membership
A number of different membership types are available to national broadcasters and national broadcasting organisations. These include full, additional full, associate, affiliate and institutional memberships.
Full members
Below is a list of full members of the ABU. These are members who are independent nations within the ABU broadcasting region, and consist of two members per country. Broadcasters have the option to change between full and additional full membership.
Additional full members
Below is a list of additional full members of the ABU. These are members who already have 2 full member organisations, and for countries in non-independent area.
Associate members
Below is a list of associate members of the ABU. These are international broadcasters beyond the ABU region, and national broadcasting associations.
Other activities
Emergency Warning Broadcasting System (EWBS) for the Asia-Pacific region
EWBS development work has focused on identifying a suitable country code methodology. This system of codes has now been standardised by ITU-R. The General Assembly in Beijing endorsed the work carried out by the TC and issued an ABU Declaration calling all members to encourage their respective governments to implement an EWBS system.
ABU Engineering Excellence Awards
ABU Engineering Industry Excellence Award and ABU Broadcast Engineering Excellence Award are presented annually to broadcast personalities who have made significant contributions respectively to their organisations and to the industry as a whole. They are selected from nominations made by ABU members and followed by an evaluation process by a panel of judges. The Broadcast Engineering Excellence Award is being sponsored by Broadcast and Professional Pacific Asia Company (BPPA). The award includes a study tour of Sony research facilities.
Publications
The ABU publishes the ABU News magazine while the Technical Department publishes the Technical Review. Both publications are published quarterly. They are sent free to members and non-affiliates and published in print version, downloadable in PDF format through the ABU's Publications area of the ABU's website and on ABU's app on Android. The ABU also publishes books related to broadcasting which is available in print.
Inter-union activities
The World Broadcasting Unions (WBU) brings together eight unions including the ABU. The WBU has a number of specialised forums, including the International Satellite Operations Group (WBU-ISOG) and the Technical Committee (WBU-TC). The ABU is an active member of both.