digital broadcast
DESCRIPTION
Digital Broadcast - March 2009 Issue - ITP Business PublishingTRANSCRIPT
VOLUME 2 ISSUE 3 MARCH 2009
THE BUSINESS OF DIGITAL CONTENT DELIVERY An ITP Business Publication
Showcasing the region’s leading broadcast technology innovators
TELEVISIONARIESAb
dulla
tif A
l Say
egh,
CEO,
Ara
b Med
ia G
roup
OUTFOXEDFIC and Rotana take on MBC and Co with Fox TV channels
Hackers prefer a card based
CAS
London – Singapore – Atlanta – Belfast www. latens.com
Latens Software CAS for Cable, DTH, IPTV & DTT:
The hackers No.1 enemy
Latens Systems Ltd. assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or inaccuracies that may appear in this advertisement.
01www.digitalproductionme.com
CONTENTS
MARCH 2009
34OUTFOXEDFox International Channels poised to carve a
profi table niche in the region’s FTA TV sector.
18SELLING SOCIALTailored enterprise social media applications
are being leveraged to create new media assets.
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE...
44BOXED INTh e STB industry is in a state of fl ux as
vendors jostle to uncover a killer app.
THE BRIEFINGNew Iraq DVB-H launch
confi rmed; Al Jazeera English
seeks Nth American carriage.
WEB HIGHLIGHTSSpot poll: Pay TV service
factors; top reader source
markets; editor’s pick.
WORLD DATELINEUS delays analogue switch-off ;
African pay TV operator goes
bust; Endemol expands its
operations in Brazil. COVER STORY: TELEVISIONARIESDigital Broadcast profi les 10 of the
region’s most innovative content
delivery services.
MARKET ANALYSISMENA HD channels on brink of
momentous expansion.
5
10
12
22
56
22
www.draka.com
I N N O V A T I O N
We’re confident that the new Draka SMPTE 311M
with BendBrightXS at its core is simply the
toughest, most versatile, most dependable HD
cable available today. In fact we’re so confident
that we would like to invite you to test it for
yourself, at this year’s CABSAT, from 3rd - 5th
March in Dubai. The secret to the new
Draka SMPTE 311M’s outstanding performance
is the inclusion of our breakthrough BendBrightXS
optical fibre. So what better way to prove its
benefits than by inviting you to put this advanced
Single Mode Fibre through its paces? To bend
it, twist it, pull it – create whatever extreme
conditions you like. See for yourself the benefits
of enhanced macrobending-loss performance
and ‘zero loss’ attenuation* - and compare its
attenuation figures against ordinary Single
Mode Fibre treated the same way, and regular
SMF in a straight run. You’ll be amazed.
* Attenuation 0.5 dB at 1310 nm,
Dispersion 3.5 ps/nm*km at 1310 nm
Draka SMPTE 311M zero loss HD cable for extreme conditions
Find out more at the CABSAT: Hall Zabeel, Stand ZW21
www.digitalproductionme.com
Registered at Dubai Media CityPO Box 500024, Dubai, UAETel: 00 971 4 210 8000, Fax: 00 971 4 210 8080Web: www.itp.comOffices in Dubai & London
ITP BUSINESS PUBLISHING
CEO Walid AkawiManaging Director Neil DaviesDeputy Managing DirectorMatthew SouthwellEditorial Director David InghamPublishing Director Diarmuid O’Malley
EDITORIAL
Senior Group Editor Aaron GreenwoodTel: +971 4 435 6251 email: [email protected] Editor John ParnellTel: +971 4 435 6271 email: [email protected] Editor Patrick ElligettTel: +971 4 435 6181 email: [email protected]
ADVERTISING
Commercial Director Fred DuberyTel: +971 4 435 6339 email: [email protected] Advertising RepresentativeMichael J. Mitchell Tel: + 1 631 673 3199email:[email protected] Advertising RepresentativeMikio Tsuchiya Tel: + 81 354 568230email: [email protected]
STUDIO
Group Art Editor Daniel PrescottArt Editor Simon Cobon
PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography Sevag DavidianChief Photographer Nemanja Seslija, Senior Photographers Valeriano Handumon, Alan Desiderio, Efraim Evidor, Khatuna KhutsishviliStaff Photographers Khaled Termanini,Thanos Lazopoulos, John Pocock, George Dipin, Samin Abarqoi, Leila Cranswick, Rajesh Raghav, Ruel Pableo, Louis Savage
PRODUCTION & DISTRIBUTION
Group Production Manager Kyle SmithProduction Manager Eleanor ZwanepoelManaging Picture Editor Patrick LittlejohnImage Retoucher Emmalyn RoblesDistribution Manager Karima AshwellDistribution Executive Nada Al Alami
CIRCULATION
Head of Circulation & DatabaseGaurav Gulati
MARKETING
Head of Marketing Daniel FewtrellMarketing Executive Masood Ahmad
ITP DIGITAL
Director Peter Conmy
ITP GROUP
Chairman Andrew NeilManaging Director Robert Serafi nFinance Director Toby Jay Spencer-DaviesBoard of Directors K.M. Jamieson, Mike Bayman, Walid Akawi, Neil Davies, Rob Corder, Mary Serafi n
Circulation Customer Service Tel: +971 4 286 8559
Certain images in this issue are available for purchase.Please contact [email protected] for further details or visit www.itpimages.com.
Printed by Color Lines Printing Press
Subscribe online at www.itp.com/subscriptions
The publishers regret that they cannot accept liability for error or omissions contained in this publication, however caused. The opinions and views contained in this publication are not necessarily those of the publishers. Readers are advised to seek specialist advice before acting on information contained in this publication which is provided for general use and may not be appropriate for the reader’s particular circumstances.
The ownership of trademarks is acknowledged. No part of this publication or any part of the contents thereof may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form without the permission of the publishers in writing. An exemption is hereby granted for extracts used for the purpose of fair review.
Published by and Copyright © 2009 ITP Business Publishing, a division of ITP Business Publishing Group Ltd. Registered in the B.V.I. under Company Registration number 1402846.
COMMENT
MARCH 2009 03
SHOW OFSTRENGTHI f trade show attendance can be used as
a barometer of the health of a particular
industry, then the forecast for the
broadcast, media and communications
business is less gloomy than many would have
you believe.
Th e region’s very own CABSAT, the Mobile
World Congress in Barcelona and the behemoth
that is NAB are upon us, and so far the outlook,
for these key events, is genuinely positive.
Some may point to Quantel’s recent decision
to pull out of NAB as an indicator of an
impending collapse.
But in the past year Quantel and high-
profi le end users such as Dreamworks, have
been leveraging 3D technology to great eff ect.
Th is buzz has even been picked up by the
mainstream press creating a self perpetuating
promotional machine. Th is sort of publicity is
priceless and Quantel has done an excellent job
of ensuring that it benefi tted from some of the
spotlight shining on 3D production.
Th e industry had similar doom mongering
when Apple dropped out of NAB 2008 (pre-
economic slowdown). Th is decision was based
less on any perceived failing of NAB, but more
to do with the fact that Apple – as the company
said at the time – had established a chain of
retail stores and a web portal that connected it
with 100 million professionals.
However, Quantel and Apple are special cases,
and the vast majority of exhibitors at any of the
three big shows would not consider missing out.
On the local front, 80 percent of last year’s
CABSAT exhibitors rebooked on site for the
2009 edition. Th e show has also broken its own
record for attracting new exhibitors (there
will be 60 debutants this year) and the 2009
instalment will feature more fl oor space than
last year.
Ultimately, the trade show looks set to remain
a key date on the calendar for most, even if this
year’s event may be a slightly trimmed down
instalment of previous aff airs.
Pessimistic elements within the press have
suggested that reduced corporate travel will
lead to lower footfall at trade shows across all
sectors, as companies ruthlessly cut staff from
their travel plans and opt to take only the most
essential employees.
Th at may sound ominous, however in the run-
up to IBC 2008 I was mistakenly included on the
internal emails of a medium-sized exhibitor. I
was sent the hotel allocation list and there were
more than 50 representatives of that company
in Amsterdam.
If this number were limited to only essential
sales and marketing staff would the company
have generated less business? Would the
smaller companies that sought to do business
with them, have been unable to garner any
sales? It is doubtful.
TO SUBSCRIBE please visit www.itp.com/subscriptions
JOHN PARNELLDeputy [email protected]
A HIGHLY EVOLVED STRATEGY FOR SURVIVAL Durable technology that exceeds your expectations – by years. Imagine that kind
of return on your investment – and the savings that go straight to your bottom
line. Irdeto creates integrated, end-to-end security solutions for any video
platform, on any device. Ours is the best security record in the industry, with
more piracy-free years and fewer smart card swaps than any other vendor. With
40 years of experience, no wonder more operators worldwide trust their ROI to
Irdeto. Because our goal is to help you monetize your content… both the new
releases and the long tail.
HIGHLY EVOLVED ROI STRATEGY
The iguana is a modern-day descendant of the dinosaur, and has thrived in a variety of hostile environments for millions of years.
CONTENT & BUSINESS MODEL PROTECTION � BUSINESS SUPPORT SYSTEMS � STB SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS � SOFTWARE & DATACENTER SECURITY
www.irdeto.com
www.digitalproductionme.com
Mobision offi cials last month confi rmed that Iraq’s
DVB-H mobile television service would launch on
March 10.
Th e mobile TV rollout was initially postponed in
late-January, when the company cited Iraq’s pro-
vincial elections as the reason behind the delay.
Despite the delay, Alsumaria TV’s 20-channel
Mobision service will still be the fi rst DVB-H-based
mobile TV off ering to launch in the Middle East.
Th e service will be hosted independently by Mo-
bision, without the involvement of a mobile net-
IRAQ DVB-H LAUNCH DATE SET FOLLOWING DELAYMobision service will now boast improved coverage and signal quality
Operator Mobision has used the additional time gained from the delay to extend network coverage and build support infrastructure.
MARCH 2009 05
THE BRIEFING
SATELLITE BROADBAND DETAILS REVEALED
Abu Dhabi based satellite operator Yahsat has revealed pricing details of its YahClick satellite-delivered broadband service to Digital Broadcast.
Scheduled for launch in 2011, once the company’s second satellite, Yahsat 1B is in orbit, YahClick will offer broadband speed internet in areas outside of fi xed networks. The service will be available in more than 20 territories throughout the Middle East and Africa.
“User terminals will cost in the range of US $350 to $400 and service plans will start at $30 per month,” revealed Yahsat CCO, Shawkat Ahmed.
“There will also be other packages available for more demanding consumers and some tailored specifi cally for the needs of enterprise customers,” he added.
“The service has been devel-oped to address the gap in the broadband internet supply in the region. We are witnessing growing demand for broadband internet driven by emerging applications such as YouTube, IP video services. Dial-up simply can’t handle rich web content,” said Ahmed.
Broadband penetration by household in the Middle East and Africa is currently at ap-proximately fi ve percent. This fi gure is 20 percent for the Asia-Pacifi c region and over 50 percent in Western Europe and the US, according to fi gures provided by Yahsat.
An announcement regarding service partners for YahClick is expected soon.
BROA
DCA
ST BYTES
work operator, despite earlier negotiations with
Asiacell and Zain Iraq.
“Mobision has developed its own subscription
management system and scratch cards,” Andre
Abi-Nassif, senior vice president of Mobision re-
vealed exclusively to Digital Broadcast.
“Th e construction of a 40-seat call centre facil-
ity located in Beirut has also recently been com-
pleted,” he added.
Abi-Nassif said the launch delay allowed time for
extra work to be conducted to increase the cover-
age area of the mobile TV service.
“We have improved Mobision’s signal strength
in Kurdistan to the north, and in greater Baghdad.
“Th e delay allowed us to complete the installa-
tion of further repeaters, transmitters and anten-
nae throughout Iraq.”
Abi-Nassif said signifi cant interest in the project
was demonstrated by global service providers at
the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, indicat-
ing a promising future for DVB-H technology.
“Everybody was astonished at the success of our
project,” he claimed.
JCC INVESTS IN BTS MANAGEMENT SYSTEMBroadcast Traffi c Systems (BTS) has implement-
ed its Enterprise Broadcast Management system
at the Al Jazeera Children’s Channel (JCC), where
it is being used to manage the both JCC channel
and the newly launched Baraem channel for pre-
school children.
Th e BTS system manages activities such as
programme rights, long term planning and frame
accurate transmission scheduling for the chan-
nels. Th e system has been fully integrated with an
automation solution to provide a fully integrated
broadcast management solution.
Speaking about the deal, Craig Buckland, tech-
nical director at BTS said: “We are pleased that JCC
selected BTS for its traffi c operation. Th e system we
have installed at JCC is our very latest Enterprise
application. We have worked in partnership with
JCC to introduce a range of features that make the
JCC system a model for other broadcasters.”
The BTS system is being used for both JCC and new channel, Baraem.
06
SHOWTIME ADDS BBC PRIME TO SCHEDULEPay TV operator Showtime Arabia will add BBC Prime to its broadcast slate on March 1.
The addition of BBC Prime to Showtime’s bouquet follows on from the inclusion of the BBC Lifestyle channel in December. Both channels are properties of the British broadcaster’s BBC Worldwide arm.
The channel, which broad-casts popular BBC series in-cluding Eastenders, Spooks and Waking the Dead, rounds out Showtime’s TV serial offering, will be available free-of-charge to the operator’s Showtime Family, Movies, Premier and Platinum subscribers.
Showtime president and CEO Marc Antoine d’Halluin said the pay TV operator was looking forward to “extending its rela-tionship” with BBC Worldwide.
“The new channel will complement the wide range of British programming avail-able on Showtime including Sky News, BBC Lifestyle, and the English Premier League,” d’Halluin added.
www.digitalproductionme.comMARCH 2009
CITY 7’S BIN HENDI EXPLAINS JOB CUTSFTA channel cancels three in-house productions; denies ad sales falling
Ninety staff have been retrenched by Dubai-
based television station, City 7 TV, as part of a
‘lean and mean’ approach by management to cut
operating costs.
Th ree of the Bin Hendi Enterprises-owned sta-
tion’s regular programmes were also axed, as part
of the company’s strategy to remain fi nancially vi-
able during the global economic downturn.
Total staff numbers at City 7 have been reduced
to 44, and the channel’s planned expansion into
Dubai Studio City has also been stalled, revealed
Mohiuddin Bin Hendi, chief executive of Bin Hendi
Enterprises during an exclusive interview with
Digital Broadcast.
“We need to be lean and mean and keep our staff
The RMPC will face competition from across the GCC once it is complete.
numbers as low as possible in order to aff ord to keep
the television station running,” said Bin Hendi.
“Firms all around the world are cutting their
costs and laying off staff , so it’s not something new
to City 7 TV,” he said.
“We have also cancelled three programmes [City
Woman, In Gear and Kids Club]. Th ese shows were
not fi nancially viable and they were costing the sta-
tion a lot of money with no return on that invest-
ment so we had no choice but to shut them down.”
Bin Hendi also denied reports that the television
station’s remaining staff had been asked to accept
a 20 percent salary reduction.
“Th at’s not true, it is simply a rumour. We haven’t
made pay cuts yet, but obviously if the fi nancial sit-
uation stays the way it is currently, then there will
be discussions of that nature,” he admitted.
But despite the drastic cost-cutting measures,
Bin Hendi maintained that City 7 was still in a fi -
nancially stable position, and not suff ering from
low advertising revenue.
“Sometimes sales have been low here and there,
but since Dubai has been so progressive, we had
become accustomed to 40 and 50 percent annual
increases in business, but now we have reverted
back to what is probably a more normal growth
fi gure of about 10 or 15 percent.”
THE BRIEFING
BROA
DCA
ST BYTES
SAUDI MEDIA CLUSTER GETS THE GO AHEADTh e planned Riyadh Media Production City (RMPC)
has been approved by the Municipality of Riyadh
and master plans are currently being drawn up.
Th e 80,000 sqm development will be located on
the outskirts of the city off the King Fahad Road.
RMPC will compete with a host of similar
media focused clusters in the region including
Dubai’s existing Media City and International
Media Production Zone and the proposed Qatar
Media City.
Despite the job cuts, Bin Hendi insists the channel’s ad sales are growing.
BBC Prime will be available on theShowtime pay TV platform from this month.
Two heads are better than one, and with the latest advancements to EVS’ hardware
and software, sharing ideas is easier than ever before. The XT[2]’s media transfer and
exchange capabilities, now with standard gigabit Ethernet, allow you to exchange your
clips, live feed and associated metadata with the most popular post production tools.
A new dual media sharing network offers you the best combination of reliability and speed.
Thanks to the open architecture and the scalability of all EVS software and hardware,
you can add more tools to your workflow wherever and whenever you need them.
Are you ready to share?
For more information go to www.evs.tv
Live Sharingvisit us at
Cabsat 09Stand LB-3 Dubai 3-5 March
08 www.digitalproductionme.com
Al Jazeera English (AJE) has applied for carriage
on Canadian Cable networks and launched a new
web portal aimed at refi ning its public profi le in
North America.
Th e channel currently reaches 130 million
households in more than 100 countries, however
it has struggled to fi nd mainstream distribution
channels in Canada and the US.
Th e network has now confi rmed that it has ap-
plied to the Canadian Radio-television and Tele-
communications Commission (CRTC) to obtain a
place on the list of eligible satellite services.
Th e application process involves a 30-day pe-
riod of feedback from the public. In order to gar-
ner public support, the network has established a
website – IWantAJE.net – to dispel common mis-
conceptions about the channel.
“It is clear to us there is a signifi cant demand for
AJE in Canada,” said Tony Burman, managing di-
rector, Al Jazeera English.
“Canadians want to understand the world in all
of its diversity and cultural richness. Our website
AJE PURSUES NORTH AMERICAN CARRIAGE
QTEL EYES MOBILE ENTERTAINMENT STRATEGIES WITH MEFQtel has become the newest member of the Mobile Enter-tainment Forum (MEF), after signing a membership agree-ment during the 2009 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
The international forum was established in 2000 to provide a platform for discussion between various players posi-tioned throughout the mobile entertainment business chain.
Senior representatives of the Qatar-based telco said the forum would be used as a means to communicate directly with content and ap-plication developers, focusing on innovation trends and strategies in the emerging markets of the Middle East, North Africa and Asia.
AL AAN AUTOMATES WEB PUBLISHINGUAE-based satellite broad-caster Al Aan TV has become the fi rst service in the region to deploy SysMedia’s newsroom-to-web automation technol-ogy, NewsWatch. The installa-tion was overseen by regional partner Wecom Global.
Al Aan TV approached reseller and systems integra-tor Wecom with the aim of updating its website with news stories from its Avid iNews newsroom system.
NewsWatch tracks the run-ning order in a broadcaster’s newsroom system, watching for stories highlighted for re-publishing by an editor. It then automatically extracts the text from stories and converts it to XML for republishing without any additional editorial effort.
BROA
DCA
ST BYTES Network steps up efforts to break into lucrative US and Canadian markets
receives 22 million visits every month with over
50 percent coming from North America, and our
branded YouTube page is by far the most popular
news site on YouTube,” claimed Burman.
“Th ese numbers alone show how hungry Cana-
dians are for the fearless, groundbreaking report-
ing that runs daily on AJE,” said Burman.
“Th is is a demonstration of the country’s com-
mitment to freedom of expression.”
MARCH 2009
THE BRIEFING
Al Jazeera English is currently available in 130 million households..
JMC UPGRADES ARABSAT PLAYOUT FACILITY
Jordan Media City (JMC) has upgraded its satel-
lite television playout facilities with the addition of
new Omneon Spectrum media server systems.
Th e new servers are currently being used to
broadcast JMC client Arabsat’s 28 satellite televi-
sion channels across the Middle East and North
Africa (MENA) region.
“Following an evaluation of broadcast server
technologies, we elected to use Omneon Spec-
trum servers to support our expanding opera-
tions, including transmission for the Arabsat
service,” said Suleiman Nakai, transmission engi-
neering manager at Jordan Media City.
Each of the two Omneon Spectrum servers at
JMC carries 14 Arabsat channels to air.
“We have invested in the latest technology and
continually update our infrastructure to keep
pace with the industry and give our customers
superior service,” he added.
JMC is currently responsible for the playout of more than 60 channels.
010 www.digitalproductionme.com
EDITOR’S CHOICES
MARCH 2009
DPME.COM ROUND-UP
SPOT POLL
WEBSITE VIEWER STATS
What is your main infl uence when you select a pay TV operator?
34%Sport
BROADCAST BUSINESS
I WANT MY MOBILE TVThe impending launch of DVB-H mobile TV services in various territories across the Middle East bodes well
CONTENT PRODUCTION
ROUGH CUT: THE TROUBLE WITH HDHaitham Dargouth, head of technical and broadcast for CNBC, discusses the commercial challenges of HD
TOP MIDDLE EAST SOURCE MARKETS - FEBRUARY
1 UAE2 Saudi Arabia3 Qatar4 Bahrain5 Egypt
TOP GLOBAL SOURCE MARKETS - FEBRUARY
1 US2 UK3 Germany4 India5 Canada
SOURCE: Google Analytics.
Some parts of the Middle East will be able to receive free mobile TV services as early as this year, according
to the S2M Group. Th e company will launch its satellite/terrestrial network in key regional markets later
this year, with a mixture of free and subscription channels.
www.digitalproductionme.com/news
MIDDLE EAST SETFOR FREE MOBILE TV
The online home of:
30%Price
14%Movies
11%I only need
FTA channels
8% 3%Arabic
I only needthe internet
Interoperable workflows. Integrated technologies. Innovative solutions.
Thinking about 1080p? We’re ready when you are.
Whether you’re outfitting a brand new broadcast facility or updating your current infrastructure,3 Gb/s provides an insurance policy for your future.
Only Harris offers a full line of interoperable, 3 Gb/s-ready solutions to future-proof yourinvestments. And many are software-keyed, so you only pay for 3 Gb/s when you need it.
®, 6800+™ and X75™ signal processing and conversion™ ™ routers® test and measurement
™ fibre optics™ advanced media platform
Harris is ready for 1080p and 3 Gb/s … are you?
Only from Harris.
For more information visit Harris at www.broadcast.harris.com
See us at CABSAT 2009, Zabeel Hall Stand 21
Harris is the ONE company delivering interoperable workflow solutions across the entire broadcast delivery chain with a single, integrated approach.
CORE PROCESSING
Europe+44 118 964 [email protected]
UK, Israel, Africa+44 118 964 [email protected]
Southern Europe+33 1 42 87 09 [email protected]
North, Central, Eastern Europe+49 89 149 049 [email protected]
Middle East+961 322 2054
012 www.digitalproductionme.com
WORLD DATELINE
UNITED STATESUS CONGRESS VOTES TO DELAY DIGITAL SWITCHOVER
BRAZILENDEMOL LAUNCHES PRODUCTION ARM IN BRAZIL
AFRICAAFRICAN PAY TV OPERATOR GOES BUST
A bill to delay the termination of analogue TV signals in the US was passed last month.
The country’s digital swi-tchover had been scheduled for February 17 however it became clear that an unacceptably large number of Americans were unprepared. The deadline for the remaining analogue viewers has now been ex-tended until June 12.
A report by the Nielsen Company published in January found that an estimated 6.5
million US households were unprepared for the roll-out of digital only TV services.
The bill was passed by a majority of 264-158.
The decision sparked claims that consumers would now be increasingly confused as well as adding to TV stations’ costs as they broadcast in both ana-logue and digital for another four months.
Channels have been given the option to switchover early if they choose.
International production giant Endemol has announced that it will launch a production opera-tion in Brazil.
Endemol already has a par-ticipation TV company – Action Media – operating in the coun-
try. This will now be absorbed into Endemol Brasil with Action Media’s chief Daniela Busoli assuming the role of managing director at the new company.
A deal between Brazilian broadcaster TV Globo and Endemol will not be affected with the pair’s joint venture Endemol Globo continuing to create content exclusively for the TV Globo channel while Endemol Brasil will cater to the rest of the market.
“Endemol has already proven that there is a big appe-tite for its formats in Brazil and there is now huge potential for us to build on that,” com-mented Busoli.
UK-based African pay TV opera-tor GTV went into liquidation last month and immediately withdrew its services. In a statement to the press, the company revealed that the board had made the unanimous decision after it failed to secure suffi cient investment.
“Increased instability in global markets interrupted our ability to secure funding on an acceptable
timescale and has left us no choice but to cease operations,” said a company spokesperson.
“We realise the negative impact this has had on our loyal customers, creditors and staff. We have tried every possible step to keep the company going.”
GTV had broadcast the English Premier League across Africa. South-African broadcaster Super-Sport has taken over the rights.
UNITED KINGDOMBT RESULTS SLIDE BUT IPTV SUBSCRIBERS GROWUK based telco and infrastructure provider BT announced a rise in subscribers for its IPTV service BT Vision, despite a sharp dip in the group’s profi ts.
The offering added 58,000 subscribers in Q4 reaching a total of 398,000.
Despite being the dominant UK broadband supplier with 4.7 million homes, the company’s quarterly profi t dropped to US $163 million from $867 million in
the same period last year.The BT Global services
division – which incorporates BT Media and Broadcast – re-ported 40 percent growth in revenues internation-ally. In total, Global Services revenues rose 15 percent to $3.25 billion.
Car manufacturer Honda also announced that it would become the fi rst sponsor of a branded VOD service.
Endemol was previously producing content in Brazil with TV Globo.
GTV
MARCH 2009
The US analogue switchoff was delayed to ensure minimal disruption.
www.digitalproductionme.com 013
One of Hong Kong’s largest mobile network operators, CSL is to launch a 24-hour Cartoon Network channel for mobile TV.
The service will be available on CSL’s Studio on Demand platform. User will also be able to download, wallpapers, ringtones and icons. There will be no advertising breaks in the programming.
“Hong Kong has the highest penetration of mobile phones in Asia and it only makes sense for us to lead the way in providing world-class mobile
TV services here,” said Aenil Premji, chief marketing offi cer of CSL. “Studio on Demand provides users with the choice to watch their favourite programs as and when they please exercising a degree of control similar to their living room whenever and wherever they are.”
US ONLINE VIDEO: USAGE AND EXPECTA-TIONS ON THE RISE
10%Percentage of US online video users aged 13-54 watching full-length episodes of TV shows in 2006...
21%... That percentage in 2008.
65%Percentage of those who ex-pect to watch this content on the device of their choice.
28%Percentage of people using third party content hosting sites to access US TV network programming (this fi gure has doubled since 2007).
86%Percentage of 13-54 year-olds who said they would be more engaged with advertising around programs available on the internet.
BY THE N
UM
BERS
WORLD DATELINE
HONG KONGCARTOON NETWORK MOB-TV CHANNEL TO LAUNCH
SWITZERLANDNAGRA SECURES WIFI TV ENABLERPacketVideo’s ‘Telly’ device, that converts WiFi capable phones and portable media players into mobile TVs has is now available with content security functionality.
The Telly device decodes
broadcast signals and optimises them for a user’s particular device, regardless of whether or not it has an in-built mobile TV receiver.
“While the mobile TV market has signifi cant growth potential and stands to change the way
consumers watch, and demand, television, usability challenges have stunted adoption to date,” said Dr. Osama Alshaykh, chief technol-ogy offi cer, PacketVideo. “Our partnership with Nagravision is a strong step forward in acceler-ating the mass market adoption of mobile TV by putting broadcast TV services into the hands of new users.”
The Telly unit supports DVB-H and MediaFLO.
SOU
RCE: Knowledge N
etworks (2009)
MARCH 2009
GTV collapsed despite holding African EPL football rights.
014 www.digitalproductionme.com
categorically dispelled in the fi rst quarter of 2009.
Etisalat won the right to the third mobile license
in Iran and promptly revealed to Reuters that it was
also hoping to complete an acquisition of an Iraqi
telco. Th e UAE based giant has previously spoken of
a US $3 billion fund set aside for acquisitions.
In January, Egyptian fi rm Orascom announced
an investment in Namibia, Qtel pressed ahead with
its plans to take a 65 percent stake in Indonesia’s
Indosat and Bahrain-based Batelco spent $225 mil-
lion acquiring Indian GSM fi rm S Tel.
As ARPU from traditional voice services con-
tinues to wane, content is at the heart of many of
the strategies aimed at compensating for this. Th e
health of the Middle East’s telcos and their overseas
growth, secures the future of continually expanding
services in their domestic markets.
Th ese cash rich operators will continue to invest
in the broadcast infrastructure required to distrib-
ute these services and of course, to purchase the
content that is delivered.
By the end of 2009, it is likely that there will be a
minimum of three DVB-H services available in the
Middle East, triple play off erings will be standard
and IPTV rollouts will be gathering steam. Th e
associated investment into the broadcast technol-
ogy sector that is associated with these is massive;
set top boxes, middleware and conditional access
developers, playout, VOD servers, quality monitor-
ing, encoders… the list goes on.
Th e increase in demand for content should also
mean additional spending money available for the
region’s producers and production service providers
feeding more investment back in to the broadcast
technology business.
W hile it would be foolish and short-
sighted to say that the region’s
broadcast sector is not aff ected by
the recent fi nancial slide, it is im-
portant to note that there several regional buff ers
protecting the Middle East from the global threats.
Th ere is one particularly ominous catchphrase
spawned by the downturn that has yet to be applied
to the local broadcast industry; stimulus package,
formerly known as a bailout.
Th e previously buoyant US car industry had
cruised along on the basis that people would always
need cars. Th e Japanese car industry, largely attrib-
uted as the largest benefactor from any pre-credit
crunch slide by its US counterparts, now also fi nds
itself in trouble.
Yet the media and broadcast industry – so often
perceived as vulnerable – is yet to invoke the tagline
of the downturn. In the Middle East this is unlikely
to ever happen.
Economically, a stimulus package is simply an
intense hit of investment, an economic adrenaline
shot. Over the next three years or so, content own-
ers, broadcast technology vendors, distributors
and all the associated service providers can expect
stimulus from a more organic source, the regional
telecoms sector.
It must also be remembered that Etisalat and Ku-
wait-based Zain are the world’s two fastest growing
telecom operators in the world. Th e regions that
they are expanding into are some of the most active
worldwide in the various forms of telco-derived
television services.
If there were any doubts over the health of the
telecom sector in this region these have been
MARCH 2009
OPINION
WORLD’S FASTEST GROWING TELCOS BY PROPORTIONATE
SUBSCRIBER GROWTH Q1, 2008
106.41%Etisalat
70.31%Zain Group
64.62%SK Telecom
57.77%Telekom Malaysia
50.86%SingTel Malayasia
SOURCE: Informa Media & Telecoms
Continued investment by the region’s telcos into various broadcast services could be all the stimulus that the regional market requires, writes John Parnell.
SHOT IN THE ARM
live switching - live virtual sets - web streaming - real-time keying - titling - sD & hD eDiting
NewTek Europe - 3D Storm - 70, avenue de Capeyron 33160 St-Médard-en-Jalles - France Tel. +33 (0)5 57 262 262 - Fax +33 (0)5 57 262 261 www.newtek-europe.com
LiveSet™ allows you to achieve the look of a sophisticated studio setting, virtually, within a very small studio space and without the need for external equipment because LiveSet is integrated into every TriCaster BroadCaST™, TriCaster STUdIo™, TriCaster PRO™.
With lights, a simple camera set-up, and a green or blue backdrop your camera talent can be placed in any one of the LiveSet virtual sets.
EUROPE - MIDDLE EAST - AFRICA - RUSSIA - PAKISTAN
Com
mun
icatio
n m
ultim
édia
- Té
l. +3
3 (0
)5 5
7 26
2 26
4
Com
mun
icatio
n m
ultim
édia
- Té
l. +3
3 (0
)5 5
7 26
2 26
4
Com
mun
icatio
n m
ultim
édia
- Té
l. +3
3 (0
)5 5
7 26
2 26
4
Com
mun
icatio
n m
ultim
édia
- Té
l. +3
3 (0
)5 5
7 26
2 26
4
VT TriCaster LightWave 3D SpeedEDIT 3D Arsenal
There is a reason TriCaster™ is the standard in portable live production for major players like Fox Sports, MTV, Sky News, the BBC, VH-1, NBA D-League and the NHL, it is simply the most complete, reliable and efficient system available for live production and web streaming.
NewTek offers a full range of TriCaster portable Live production systems
TriCaster™ 2.0 TriCaster PRO™ 2.0 TriCaster STUDIO™ 2.0 TriCaster BROADCAST™
™
p o w e r e d !
™
p o w e r e d !
™
p o w e r e d !
authorized NewTek reseller
See demos and discover NewTek products during CABSAT 09 at
Mediacast booth Nr. ZD-1 Zabeel Hall
[email protected]: +971 (4) 368-1623
NAB 2009 NewTek BooTh Nr. SL5011
WITH vIRTUAL STUDIOS - E/S SDI
CABSAT SpecialTriC
aste
r, Tr
iCas
ter P
ro, T
riCas
ter S
TUdI
o , T
riCas
ter B
road
CaST
and
Tim
eWar
p ar
e tra
dem
arks
of N
ewTe
k, In
c. C
opyr
ight
(c)2
009
New
Tek,
Inc.
and
New
Tek
Euro
pe. a
ll rig
hts
rese
rved
.
Order your TriCaster BROADCAST before 16/03/2009 and we’ll ‘bundle it up’ with a LiveSet Pack Vol.1, Sports Graphics Pack Vol.1, SpeedEDIT for FREE!Offer valid until 16/03/09
016 www.digitalproductionme.com
IN ORBITadvertising and subscriptions. It is not possible.
Th ey have become extremely expensive and Al
Jazeera Sports has been extremely active in the
football rights market jacking up prices in the
process. If they can aff ord it, good luck to them.
Al Jazeera does not have a commercial agenda so
whatever it does, it will be permissible.
: What are the company’s plans for the Orbitfone service?SA: Around a year ago we suspended that business
however, there may be opportunities in the future
and if things change we’ll be the fi rst to be back.
Th e Bahraini telecoms sector has become too
liberalised and too many licenses were issued
for that kind of business. If we want to provide
high service standards to our consumers we
need to ensure that whatever we off er is not only
competitive but also of a high quality and in the
environment that exists in Bahrain at present, we
are unable to do so.
: What will Orbit primarily focus on in 2009?SA: Orbit always plans to improve its service. We
have focused on news in the last quarter adding
Fox News and Orbit News 2, primarily because
there is a huge interest in news from the Arab
population in the region and they wanted to have
access to high quality, fi rst hand news especially
at the time of the US election.
We have also recently added Fox Sports
exclusively and there will be two more sports
channels to be launched in the near future.
: You have previously called for consolidation in both the pay TV and FTA sector in the Middle East, do you think the current fi nancial situation could prompt that process?Samir Abdulhadi: Yes it could act as a catalyst
to trigger this. Not all of the FTA channels are
viable and in my opinion having three pay TV
operators is not viable in the long run. Some form
of consolidation must take place. I could make
predictions, however, ultimately what makes
economic sense should be the prevailing modus
operandi. Consolidation hasn’t happened yet, but
you never know…
: It seems that there is a consensus among the pay TV operators that this is necessary. Why hasn’t it happened yet?SA: People think they can continue to operate
alone but at the end of the day, one has to leave
passion aside and focus on the economics of the
business. Every single [pay TV] market outside the
Middle East has seen consolidation and the new
companies do better in terms of the bottom line,
than the previous entities. Th ere is a lesson to be
learned from that process.
: The exclusive regional broadcasting rights for the English Premier League will be auctioned later this year. Will Orbit take part in the bidding process?SA: We haven’t decided whether to participate
or not. Th e licence fees for such events, although
important – I’m not questioning the importance of
the EPL in any way – can never be recouped from
MARCH 2009
Q&A
Every single [pay TV] market outside the Middle East has seen consolidation and the new companies do better in terms of the bottom line, than the previous entities. There is a lesson to be learned from that process. SAMIR ABDULHADICEO, Orbit.
Pay TV operator Orbit has enjoyed a strong start to 2009, a promising indicator for the company and the industry at large. CEO Samir Abdulhadi speaks to Digital Broadcast about consolidation, football rights and new channel launches.
019MARCH 2009
SELLING SOCIALWith question marks over the ability of so-called “general” social media sites, such asFacebook and MySpace, to make money, what commercial case is there for social media?Digital Broadcast spoke to Dubai-based H2O New Media about the value of enterprise social media in the broadcast and entertainment industries.
ing fi gures have declined. Of the top 20 highest
rated telecasts in the US, the most recent was
from the 1996 Winter Olympics.
“If you look at the leading TV programmes from
the 1950s and the viewer rates for primetime TV to-
day, it is one tenth of what it was. Th ere really is a lot
of competition and broadcasters are going to need
to redefi ne their business models,” claims Vaile.
“Whether you are a broadcaster or a web-based
publisher, one-way communication is not as
valuable as having an audience that is actively
interacting with your content. If there is a news
story online and I can submit a video blog on what
I think of the story, then that creates a content
asset for the media operator and creates the data
asset as well. CNN does this well with iReport and
the others are following suit.”
Vaile is adamant that Middle East content-based
business has no other way to turn but the user gen-
erated content (UGC) and viewer community path.
“Th is is not something that is going to happen,
or is happening…it has happened. Th e removal of
media restrictions and freedom of press across the
Middle East is happening. Regulators can block
as many sites with as many fi lters as they want,
people always fi nd their way round these blocks.
Th e authorities have to accept UGC and citizen
journalism,” states Vaile.
In order for emerging media business models
to succeed in the Middle East, Vaile believes the
industry itself needs to embrace social media
applications and the creative and commercial
benefi ts that they enable. With the region now
boasting the second highest rate of internet adop-
tion the pool of consumers open to social media
networking is expanding all the time.
“Th e region has always tended to lag a little in
technology and media adoption. What tends to
Seven of the world’s ten most visited
websites involve at least some element of
social media. Despite the main players’
inability to turn traffi c into revenue,
there are an increasing number of smaller social
media companies fi nding a thriving market for
tailor-made, specialised platforms.
H2O New Media caters develops tailor made for
social media platforms for enterprises looking to
exploit the opportunities they can present.
“We looked at the trends and noticed that every
media platform over time fragments into niche ar-
eas,” explains Steve Vaile, CEO of H2O New Media.
”I remember when there was one TV channel in
the UK and you had to wait till 6pm for the second
one to start. Now there are hundreds of satellite
channels and some signifi cant niche broadcasters
like the Discovery Channel. We saw social media
as the next sector to fragment just as print, radio,
TV and regular websites had previously.”
Vaile admits to almost “accidentally” falling into
the social media business. After establishing Dubai
Lime – an entertainment and arts online commu-
nity – he began to receive requests to develop social
media applications for an increasing number of
third-party media companies until the foundation
of H2O had been laid by sheer market demand.
“It’s a year since we started the business. We
have acquired more than 50 customers, our fi rst
year’s revenue was US$600,000 – which isn’t bad
for a company in its fi rst year – and the target for
2009 is between $1.5 and $3 million. We have a
software platform that allows us to come to you
as a company and provide you with your own
customised social media platform. It’s basically
Software as a Service (SaaS).”
As broadcasters face increasing competition
from alternative sources of entertainment, view-
www.digitalproductionme.com
NEWS REVIEW
Whether youare a broadcaster or a web based publisher, one-way communication isnot as valuable as having an audience that is actively interacting withyour content. STEVE VAILECEO, H2O New Media.
020 www.digitalproductionme.com
MIXED BAGA number of international and regional media companies offer social media applications and communities leveraging video content. H2O New Media’s Steve Vaile gives his opinion on the perceived quality of some of those web offerings.
MBC“MBC has done an incredible job at user engagement. It has developed its own social media sites. MBC is doing a good job with its women’s platform, iMatter and this has more in the pipeline.”
AMEINFO AND ZAWYA“They will both have to make a technology changes if they are to make the leap from on-line media providers to online media communities, but the companies that make that change will be valued higher than the traditional media platforms in the future.”
AMG“AMG has dipped a toe into the UGC market with projects like SHOOF tv – which is not particularly impressive in terms of its functionality.”
AL JAZEERA“The Al Jazeera Network is one of the leading online providers. It has solid content distribution strategies across several platforms.”
MAKTOOB“We may see people like Maktoob looking to acquire other people’s digital content in the future… Maktoob has around 13 million users, I would be surprised if half of those are active.
MARCH 2009
happen in the Middle East market is that it will be
behind for a period and then it will invest in and
adopt the most recent technologies and suddenly
leapfrog its US and European counterparts. We
have seen that with some of the WiMAX adoption
in places like Bahrain,” observes Vaile adding
that he sees no immediate technological barriers
preventing the main players from exploiting the
opportunities that social media presents, with
existing portals growing steadily.
So what exactly are these benefi ts that Vaile and
H2O are championing?
Vaile says that as media companies continue to
experiment with various business models and look
to fi nd their new positioning, social media could
provide several vital tools for content generation
and delivery, marketing, and cost saving.
“If a broadcaster is supported by advertising
and their market moves to the internet, it needs
to have a solution in place or its revenue will fall
through the fl oor. I am 35 and I do not consider
myself up to date with the latest gadgets, yet I still
watch YouTube and other online platforms more
than I watch TV. In fact last week I cancelled my
TV subscription services simply because I wasn’t
watching them. If I can get everything I want
online, then people aged 16 to 25, the group adver-
tisers want to target, will be more than capable of
doing the same.”
Th e fact that the Middle East’s demographics are
heavily skewed towards youth (one in fi ve people
are aged 15-24 according to the UN) in comparison
to other markets indicates that these trends should
be adopted in the region with little resistance.
Social media is not just about following a
trend for the sake of not missing a fad and Vaile
is quick to highlight the business case behind it.
“Everybody knows that if you distribute a print
title online instead, there is a signifi cant cost
saving. If you have a community built around
your online publication, you benefi t from user
generated content, one-on-one interaction, affi nity
marketing and of course the creation of a data
asset,” says Vaile.
“A media company could use Facebook advertis-
ing to drive its business or it could develop its
own vertically focused community where it can
conduct the one-on-one marketing element within
its own infrastructure and can own the data asset,
maintain, control, manipulate and monetise that
database,” explains Vaile.
A continued diversifi cation of revenue sources
is inevitable, Vaile claims. He predicts a sustained
period of consolidation in the near future.
“Th ere is a swing [toward new revenue streams]
and broadcasters are asking themselves how they
are going to make money,” claims Vaile. “Th e
advertising models are changing, the markets have
shifted and the things that are driving spending
are changing. We will see some merger and acqui-
sition activity and some telco operators acquiring
media companies three to fi ve years from now.”
NEWS REVIEW
REGIO
NA
L ON
LINE CO
MM
UN
ITY DEV
ELOPM
ENT
Encouraging membership and user contributions on a web platform enables companies to build a data asset while acquiring free content.
We’ve always had an eye on the future – a strong vision for
where the TV business is going and the technologies
it needs to succeed. With our Emmy award-winning video
compression and on-demand solutions, and the latest
in content management systems, we’ve built a strong
Now as part of the Ericsson group, our vision is
deeper and broader as we enable all television service
providers to deliver the Individual TV Experience
and generate subscriber and revenue growth with
next-generation DTH, IPTV, VOD and personalized
advertising solutions.
Our new collection of visionary papers will give you
all the information you need to build your individual
journey into the future of TV. Share our vision,
visit www.tandbergtv.com/vision.
On track, on vision
T he content delivery industries in the Middle
East have come along way in a very short
time. Th ree satellite pay TV operators and
the ever expanding FTA market were more
or less the sum total just a few years ago. Today, the
region has broadcast services on three screens; mo-
bile, PC and television. Th ere are increasing numbers
of Fiber to the home (FTTH) roll-outs, presenting
new opportunities for two-way delivery networks.
On-demand programming and digital content
delivery services have fl ourished and the region’s fi rst
PVR boxes have been rolled out by pay TV operators.
Th ese new services often depend on new network
infrastructures tying the fates of the telecommu-
nication and broadcast industries. Th is scenario
has been seen in the region on several levels and
in many forms. Satellite service operators and net-
work infrastructure providers are benefi ting from
the broadcast boom, telcos are off ering TV services
– often via their own branded platforms – and the
The Middle East is keeping pace with global shifts in content delivery and broadcast technology and is even leading the pack on some fronts. Digital Broadcast looks at ten of the most innovative and noteworthy projects in the region that are creating new revenue streams for the content delivery industry, enabling new services and protecting its future.
TELEVISIONARIES
COVER STORY
www.digitalproductionme.com MARCH 2009 023
internet is becoming a key source of legitimate,
rights protected content.
Digital Broadcast off ers the following 10 examples
of broadcast innovation not as a quantifi ed like-for-
like comparison, but to demonstrate the breadth
and diversity of the advances that have been made
in the region. Technology is not the sole criteria for
the entries. Th e development of untested business
plans, public service provision, scale, pioneering
network architectures and more have been con-
sidered alongside the underlying technology that
enables them.
Unfortunately, there are more worthy projects
than can be mentioned in this article. In cases
where numerous similar projects have occurred at
the same time, the example that is likely to have the
widest impact moving forward, have won out. New
platforms feature prominently however these have
been judged on function and paths to monetisation,
rather than novelty value.
The Nokia online music store, which launched in December 2008, is perhaps the most high-profi le legitimate online content portal available in the Middle East.
Although only currently accessible in the UAE, Nokia has signalled its intentions to expand the service’s availability into other markets.
The platform is one of 12 around the world with the same user interface and styling with content tailored for each repsective market.
With most of the other portals based in Europe, the initialisation of the UAE store is an indication that the major players in the industry now view the region as a feasible market. Just a few years ago, the extent of piracy activity in the UAE would have
rendered such an initiative doomed from the outset. Nokia is the fi rst international content aggregator
to establish such a service in the region. Over the coming years it is likely that more regional media companies will feel confi dent enough to follow suit, creating a vibrant digital content marketplace.
This will be all the more likely as broadband penetration levels rise. The early move by Nokia will help to improve its case as the default provider of digital music when broadband reaches critical mass.
Nokia has also refused to rule out the possibil-ity of launching its ‘Comes with Music’ unlimited download service in the region as early as this year. ‘Comes with Music’ offers 12 months of free music downloads with certain Nokia handset purchases.
NOKIA BRINGS GLOBAL MUSIC STRATEGY TO THE MIDDLE EAST
25-40%Percentage of internet traffi c comprising of video and fi le sharing traffi c
50%Average percentage of population in the ‘net generation’, under 25 in territories included in PwC’s Arab Media Outlook report
Nokia’s music business manager for the MEA region, Ayman Chalhoub.
024 www.arabianbusiness.com/media_marketingMARCH 2009
COVER STORY
Abu Dhabi government backed satellite com-pany Yahsat may not have launched any of its proposed satellites as of yet, however it has de-veloped a service that will drastically improve the entire Middle East’s access to the internet. With content and advertising revenues both migrating to online sources, increasing broadband penetra-tion across the region is key to enabling a future generation of media consumers.
YahClick will offer satellite based broadband access across the MEA region for individual consumers and enterprises alike.
“It will be available through Y1B, Yahsat’s second satellite set for launch in mid 2011,” says Shawkat Ahmed, CCO, Yahsat. “The service has been developed to address the gap in the broad-band internet supply in the region. We are seeing growing demand for broadband internet driven by emerging applications such as YouTube, IP video services and the fact that dial-up can’t
handle rich web content.”Yahsat will use a Ka-
band multi-spot beam with
reusable frequencies to maximise this scarce resource, a technology only recently introduced in the US.
“The multi spot-beam technology means greater effi ciency on the ground, which enables use of a smaller antenna size with a low power amplifi er. The ability to re-use frequencies will enable faster, reliable and affordable broadband to urban and remote areas of the region.”
Broadband is currently limited to the main urban centres throughout the Middle East limiting penetration rates.
Yahsat will manage both the satellite and ground infrastructure with service partners focusing on customer acquisition and support.
“The YahClick business model has been well received by potential service partners. They will bundle hardware and software services, offering packages tailor-made for specifi c markets. User terminals will range between US $350 to $400 and service plans will start at $30. There will also be plans for more demanding consumers and enterprise.”
YAHSAT FACILITATES THE MIDDLE EAST’S ‘NET GENERATION’
BBC ARABIC UNIFIES OUTPUT AND EXPANDS ACROSS PLATFORMSThe BBC Arabic service has grown rapidly of late and now includes various mobile offerings available in an increasing number of markets in the Middle East and beyond, a redesigned website with video and audio content and a 24-hour TV news channel.
“We believe that our audiences in the Arab world should be getting a consistent stream of content on all our platforms,” says Hosam El Sokkari, head of BBC Ara-bic. “Our teams work collaboratively to make sure that each platform is used to its full capacity.”
El Sokkari points out that BBC Arabic is currently providing 72 hours of news content across three sepa-rate platforms and has also recently expanded its WAP platform.
“We have made sure that several providers in the region have added it to their landing page to offer easy access for their users. This has led to
four and sometimes fi ve-fold increases in the number of page impressions generated on this platform,” claims El Sokkari. “In addition to this we recently launched a news video bul-letin for mobile devices. It is currently offered by an operator in Saudi and we are working to forge more partnerships.”
El Sokkari identifi es the extension of the
TV channel to a 24-hour operation as a key development for BBC Arabic.
“The launch of BBC Arabic TV has received a positive and encouraging response from the Arab world. BBC Arabic journalists are main-taining on TV the same editorial values associ-ated with our radio and online operations for the past seven decades,” adds El Sokkari.
YahClick will be available in 2011 says Yahsat, CCO,
Shawkat Ahmed.
El Sokkari claims BBC Arabic’s multiplatform approach is essential.
An information infrastructure reveals the potential of your information.
Information has the power to illuminate your world—but only when it’s accessible, searchable, shareable, and actionable. An information infrastructure makes this happen. It enables you to store information efficiently. Protect and secure it continuously. Add intelligence to leverage its value. Automate its management. And virtualize your entire environment. The result is information that reveals its true potential, illuminating what’s possible and moving your world forward.
Learn more at www.EMC.com/life.
of information
Release the power
EMC2, EMC, and where information lives are registered trademarks of EMC Corporation. © Copyrght 2008 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.
Information has the power to illuminate your world – but only when it’s accessible, searchable, shareable and actionable. Speed your migration to a tapeless broadcast environment and turn broadcast content into revenue. Automate the creation, ingestion, editing, and transformation of rich media fi les and metadata to populate new service off erings. Store, protect, reuse, and archive media content to maximize revenue and optimize your infrastructure.
Digital management of your rich media content reveals the potential of information
Learn more at www.middle-east.emc.com
w
Visit us at MEACAST Stand at CABSAT 2009
COVER STORY
026 MARCH 2009 www.arabianbusiness.com/media_marketing
ABU DHABI MEDIA COMPANY LEGITIMISES ONLINE CONTENT DELIVERYGETMO Arabia’s main credentials as an innova-tor come largely with the online content store’s business plan.
In recognition of the Middle East’s ram-pant piracy and counterfeiting activity, the Abu Dhabi Media Company (ADMC) chose to look for ways to reduce or even com-pletely remove any cost for the consumer.
A network of commercial partners, typically well-known consumer brands, offer free credit for the GETMO store alongside purchases of their products. Fully subsidised content is also avail-able, offset by the advertising and sponsorship revenues generated on the GETMO portal.
“Brand owners can see the value of their brand being bundled with content to stimu-
late and increase their market share. In return they are underwriting the cost for us to provide content to the consumer for free. It’s a win-win situation,” says Ricky Ghai, executive director, digital, ADMC.
The platform includes music, movies and mo-bile content such as wallpapers. Critically, all of this content is rights protected offering a legal – and often free – alternative to illegal P2P fi le sharing platforms.
At GITEX 2008, the platform announced a tie up with Samsung mobile connecting cus-tomers who purchase Samsung phones directly into the site.
GETMO is just one part of ADMC’s digital initiatives, which also include football por-tal GoalArabia.com and the online homes of ADMC’s stable of print and broadcast entities, such as UAE daily newspaper The National.
ARAB MEDIA GROUP INVESTS FOR THE LONG TERMThe region now has a well-documented collec-tion of media free zones and production cities with more planned in Saudi Arabia and Qatar in the coming years.
The advertised benefi ts of operating from these industry clusters generally include relaxation of certain labour laws and the convenience of being surrounded by potential partners and related service providers.
Moving operations to one of these dedi-cated centres also provides the opportunity to design and build the infrastructure required from the ground up, and in line with broader commercial strategies.
The Arab Media Group (AMG) portfolio includes newspapers, magazines, radio stations and TV channels based in several locations across Dubai. The network scored a major pub-licity boost for the entire region with the launch of MTV and Nickelodeon franchises. These drew international attention to the health of the region’s progressive media scene as a whole.
To support these launches, ATN moved into a new facility at Dubai Studio City (DSC) and has embraced the opportunity to operate from the free zone, with four of the group’s radio stations also relocating to DSC.
The company is currently leasing space in DSC but has already begun designing a purpose built complex that will become its long-term home.
“We want to ensure that we have the best technology and the most state-of-the-art infrastructure to support our creative and technical staff,” says Abdullatif Al Sayegh, CEO, Arab Media Group.
The new facilities are ready to switch to HD as the transmission technology to sup-port it in the region becomes operational. This demonstrates ATN’s long term planning and shows that a media free zone can of-fer substantial operational benefi ts above and beyond the plush offi ce space and tax breaks that appear .
AMG CEO Abdullatif Al Sayegh.
ADMC’s Ricky Ghai looks to undercut the pirates.
COVER STORY
MARCH 2009 027www.digitalproductionme.com
Mr. Khalid Al-Aamiri
Gulf Media Co. is achieving serious milestones in accom-plishing the restoration and archiving of Kuwait TV film li-brary. “The project is one of the leading projects in the GCC in the restoration and archiving fields; our motto is to move digital.” Said Mr. Khalid Al-Aamiri Gulf Media Vice Chairman & Managing Director. Moreover, he added that Gulf Media is copying the approach to other GCC countries such as Bah-rain, Qatar and Oman. Gulf Media Company is one of the largest providers of integrated turnkey media solutions in the Gulf Region for establishing, generating, managing, and allocating high-end media related affairs. Mr. Al-Aamiri add-ed “Our market segments are divided among governmen-tal ministries of information, private channels and studios, broadcasting networks, producers, gigantic private media libraries and high-tech advertising agencies.” With Harris Broadcasting Corporation as an exclusive strategic partner, Gulf Media slowly but surely is dominating the Gulf market in the field of film restoration and archiving due to its tactical planning and its high expertise effort in this field of interest.
“With a battery of professionals Gulf Media is planning insist-ently to expand through the MENA Region in the soon future.” Said Mr.Al- Aamiri. Gulf Media’s main concern is to unleash the power of innovation in order to circle the customer with the integrated media solutions appropriate for their strategic growth. One of the key elements of success for Gulf Media is Audio & Video broadcasting solutions whether steady loca-tions such as TV and Radio studios or mobile vehicles such as Outdoors Broadcasting Vans. During CabSat 2009 Gulf Media is conducting excessive meetings with clients and potential customers to elaborate about its OB Vans new arrangements. Mr. Al-Aamiri declared that Gulf Media provided a number of GCC national TV & Radio stations with fully equipped OB Vans, some with 6, 8, and 12 HD cameras during the last 18 months. “One of the biggest achievements for Gulf Media was winning the KTV OB Van project at 2005 with 12 camer-as, which was considered one of the biggest HD/OB provided by Gulf Media in the region.” said Mr. Al-Aamiri.
Talking Heads
www.gulfmedcom.com
“Gulf Media is spreading hori-zontally providing turnkey video and audio integrated sys-tems for steady and mobile broadcast such as studios and OB Vans”. Says Mr. Al-Aamiri
The Power of M e d i a
The region’s largest FTA TV network had a busy year and as usual, the Ramadan musal-sals attracted the highest ratings. To further exploit this unique annual opportunity, MBC and UAE telco Etisalat created an internet TV portal to expand the reach of its nine most popular drama series.
The service was an extension of the online portal available in 2007 when the company launched its mobisodes offering with the UAE telco du. Popular comedy show Tash Ma Tash and other content was edited down into four minute packages optimised for mobile phones.
In both cases the content was offered free of charge with MBC happy to market its program-ming and drive traffi c through its website and promote its brand while the respective telco part-ners see increased traffi c and data usage in the
case of the mobisodes as well as benefi ting from the positive brand association.
Both operations show that the region is not merely talking about these plat-forms but is actively pursuing them.
“The success of the venture will hopefully offer new opportuni-ties for our viewers to interact with our infotainment,” says Dr. Ammar Bakkar, head of New Media, MBC.
MBC AND ETISALAT EXPLOIT BUMPER RAMADAN AUDIENCES WITH DEDICATED ONLINE PLAYER
Dr. Ammar Bakkar, MBC’s head of new media promises more web-based and online content.
broadcast graphics...Afresh
Unveiling WASP3D 2009All new WASP3D 2009, the latest release from WASP3D redefines the broadcast graphics paradigm with fresh new design tools & features, enhanced workflow for speedy delivery and touch screen based application for presenting the content in a rich, engaging and an interactive way.
Beehive Systems I B-37, Sector 1, Noida, India I T: +91 (120) 430 8888 I www.wasp3d.com
Experience the ‘Touch of Freshness’ with all new WASP3D 2009 at:
Stand# ZH11 I Zabeel HallMarch 03-05, 2009 I Dubai
WASPi Mimosa: Zoom, Pan, Rotate, Telestrate and present your content on a touch screen panel.
Unified Basic Templating (UBT): Virtually zero coding environment for creating basic data entry forms.
Widgets for WASP (WFW): Quick access toolbar in Drone Designer for moving controls on a touch screen.
Software Developers’ Kit (SDK): For writing custom interactive broadcast applications.
WASP3D2009 Release
COVER STORY
030 MARCH 2009 www.arabianbusiness.com/media_marketing
SAUDI ARABIA: MINISTRY OF CULTURE AND INFORMATION SECURES THE NATION’S FILM ARCHIVE
While the value and importance of original and entertaining content production is undisputed, the contribution of archival footage cannot be underestimated. When these recordings repre-sent the entire on-fi lm collection of a country’s history and heritage, the archive is priceless.
Earlier this year the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Culture and Information (MOCI) took considerable steps to digitise 750,000 reels of 16mm and 35mm fi lm.
Systems integrator Saudi technical Engineer-ing Systems Associated (STESA) together with
Thomson, NETIA and the French National Library of Radio and Television archives (INA) were given the task of implementing the technical infrastructure and workfl ow for the MOCI.
Thomson’s ContentShare2 media management and automation system have been installed to feed Thom-son Grass Valley K2 media servers with NETIA providing tools for restoration, digitisa-tion and preservation.
The deal for the project was signed in April 2008 and the system has now been fully implemented, according to a Thomson spokesperson.
The INA is supporting a team of 140 Saudi archivists which has already begun the process of digitising and indexing the material.
The MOCI hopes to have completed the entire process for all of the archive within the next two years.
S2M BRINGS ECONOMY OF SCALE TO MOBILE TV BROADCASTINGThe cost of building the new network infra-structure required to put a mobile TV service in place often proves prohibitive to mobile network operators. With many Middle East telecom operators working in a fragmented market and with the more profi table of these spread across the region, operators can often struggle to fi nd an audience large enough to justify the initial outlay required.
S2M has developed a satellite/terres-trial network architecture, which it claims eliminates much of these costs and the risks associated with them.
“S2M’s hybrid digital broadcasting platform includes an S-band geostationary satellite operating in conjunction with a terrestrial repeater network,” explains Wejdi Harzallah, vice president of commercial operations, S2M
Group. “This platform is technically and com-mercially proven to deliver high quality video and audio while sharing the infrastructure between several countries thus substantially reducing the costs of deploying and operat-ing the service.”
The repeater network is designed to boost signals in densely populated areas or where di-rect line of sight to the satellite is not possible.
“S2M will offer access to live broadcasts of 40 TV channels plus radio channels and interactive services on a variety of mobile devices covering a wide selection of brands and pricing structures. There will be some free channels and other public service appli-cations. Basic packages will start at less than US $10 per month for unlimited TV viewing,” says Harzallah.
S2M’s Wejdi Harzallah is confi dent the
platfrom will off er cost cuts to operators.
COVER STORY
032 MARCH 2009 www.arabianbusiness.com/media_marketing
ORANGE JORDAN LAUNCHES REGION’S FIRST TRUE IPTV SERVICEThere is much talk about the benefi ts of IPTV; the increased returns from targeted advertising; the marketing feedback that can be acquired from a two-way network; the increased functionality and services that can be offered. Despite all of this however, there is only one IPTV service in the Middle East, ‘TV from Orange’, in Jordan.
While many people may be receiving TV by IP, it is a stretch to consider these offerings as IPTV services.
While Hong Kong’s PCCW was once viewed as the IPTV pioneer, Orange’s ‘TV from Orange’ service offering in its domestic French market is now the world’s largest.
According to some sources, TV from Orange now has 2.3 million subscribers in France and has been rolled out in several other markets.
Not least of these is Jordan, where the Jor-dan Telecom Group, under the Orange brand, launched the Middle East’s fi rst IPTV service. The TV from Orange service has been opera-tional for almost six months. The premium package (priced at around $35 per month) offers 25 channels plus many of the benefi ts
that cannot be provided by satellite DTH services. These benefi ts include initiating user profi les to offer a degree of parental control and a VOD platform offers movies and fi lms for just over $2.
“The launch of the service was a response to Orange’s understanding of the needs of the telecommunications market and keeps us up to date with the inter-national trends,” Mickael Ghossein, CEO, Jordan Telecom Group.
Combining internet, voice and TV ser-vices has proven lucrative in other markets. In the UK, dominant broadband supplier BT has attracted almost 400,000 subscrib-ers to it’s BT Vision IPTV service and pay TV leader BSkyB is fast approaching two million broadband subscribers.
Triple-play packages are nothing new for the region and are available in several markets, however the additional revenue streams that IPTV offers and the potential to offer marketers targeted advertising marks out the Jordan Orange package for particular recognition.
QTEL ON THE BRINK OF NATIONAL DVB-H MOBILE TV LAUNCHAlthough the accolade of being region’s fi rst commercial DVB-H service may now be snatched from under their noses by the Mo-bision platform in Iraq, Qtel’s own mobile TV offering expected later in 2009 will still be highly signifi cant.
As well as being a larger network than proposed by Mobision, the Qtel roll-out will also crown a sustained period of research and development into mobile TV, regardless of platform, by the operator.
Qtel has pursued TV services based on its 3G network more aggressively than many of its rivals recently expanding it’s offering to 23 channels and developing subscription by SMS. The company invested
more than $60 million at the end of 2008 to upgrade its 2G and 3G network infrastructure
to double the network’s capacity.
Jordan Telecom Group CEO Mickael Ghossein says the service keeps the fi rm up to date with international trends.
CEO Dr. Nasser Marafi h is leading
Qtel towards increased content delivery services.
L aunching FTA TV channels in a market
populated by more than 400 rivals all
vying for eyeballs and advertising dollars
would seem a risky move given the current
economic climate.
But when those channels result from a partner-
ship between the one of the region’s most successful
media organisations and one of the world’s biggest
media companies outright, the chances of success
would seem to increase dramatically.
Th e launch of Fox Movies last May marked a
major signal of intent on behalf of Rotana and News
Corporation to aggressively pursue a television
broadcasting niche peculiar to the Middle East
– the FTA movie channel market.
Th e once-dormant sector had been dominated
to date by Saudi-based pan-Arab broadcaster MBC,
whose formula of broadcasting Hollywood feature
fi lms 24 hours a day via its MBC 2 channel had
proved a major hit with viewers across the region.
It was also one laced with commercial op-
portunities previously unheralded by a pan-Arab
broadcaster. Following its launch in 2001, the
broad multinational appeal of the channel quickly
translated into advertising dollars with English and
Arabic-language commercials combining relatively
seamlessly during programming breaks.
Th is scenario prompted a dramatic shift in
regional TV marketing strategies, which had previ-
ously been segmented largely by way of language
and cultural boundaries.
Seeing an opportunity to snare their own share
of these revenues, Rotana and News Corp, by way of
its Fox International Channel subsidiary, settled on
leveraging the best of their respective strengths to
launch Fox Movies.
“Following an initial round of discussions we
With the launch of Fox Movies and Fox Series, Fox International Channels (FIC) is going head-to-head with pan-Arab free-to-air TV juggernaut MBC for a share of the lucrative English-language FTA movie and serial market. Aaron Greenwood spoke to FIC Middle East GM Rohit D’silva about the company’s expansion strategy for the region.
OUTFOXED
PLATFORMS: FOX
www.digitalproductionme.com MARCH 2009 035
both came to the conclusion that our mutual
interests would be best served by way of a
partnership,” explains FIC Middle East general
manager Rohit D’silva.
“Rotana operates a very successful Arabic-lan-
guage TV portfolio consisting of music, general
entertainment and reality channels. Th e company
has been keen to get into the English-language
market for some time and saw an opportunity to do
so working with us.”
D’silva, who is also responsible for managing
Fox’s pay TV portfolio of channels in the region,
which includes Fox Sports and Fox News, says the
FTA market arguably holds greater long-term com-
mercial opportunities for the company’s planned
expansion in the region.
“FTA viewer numbers in the Middle East are mas-
sive compared to pay TV, hence the number of satellite
television channels vying for attention,” he says.
Given this scenario, D’silva concedes the process
of launching the Fox-branded channels in this com-
plex environment has proven “very challenging”.
“In saying that, the key to our success has been
teaming with a very strong partner,” he says.
“Rotana is one of the biggest media organisations
operating in the region and is one of the few to have
adopted an international mindset in the way they
do business.”
“We are leveraging each other’s strengths – ours
lies in our brand, Rotana’s lies in its experience in
this market and the sheer scale of its presence.”
Th is inherent strength extends to Rotana’s ability
to snare advertising dollars for its media portfolio,
including the Fox-branded FTA channels, D’Silva says.
“It makes it much easier – particularly given
these channels are start-ups – when they are part of
a major portfolio of channels, in securing advertis-
ROHIT D’SILVA CVRohit D’silva was appointed general manager of Fox International Channels (FIC) Middle East in January 2008.
D’silva’s promotion followed a three-and-a-half year tenure at FIC and its sister company National Geographic Channels in the Middle East & India.
Before joining FIC in 2004, D’silva held marketing and promotional positions with a variety of companies in India including Radio City 91.1FM and Gillette.
036 www.digitalproductionme.com
CARRIAGE CHALLENGESOne of the more unlikely chal-lenges facing new free-to-air (FTA) channels entering the market centres on the nego-tiation of carriage agreements with pay TV networks operating in the region.
A report published on Digital-ProductionME.com on January 27 highlighted this situation in relation Fox International’s efforts to negotiate a carriage agreement with UAE-based IPTV platform provider, du.
The channel, which airs a number of high-profi le and fi rst-run US series including The Simpsons, Boston Legal and Desperate Housewives, launched across the region on December 1.
At the time of the report, Fox’s D’silva said Fox Series would likely debut on du’s Showtime IPTV service by the middle of February. Yet, at the time of press, the channel had yet to be added to the platform.
It is not the fi rst time du has been slow to act in this regard – a near two-month gap sepa-rated the offi cial launch date of Fox Movies and its appearance on the Showtime IPTV bouquet in the UAE, while a similar timespan separated Showtime securing the broadcast rights to Sky News and its addition to du’s broadcast slate.
In the initial report, D’Silva attributed the time lapse to “the nature of the broadcast business” in the Middle East.
“We expect to have the situation resolved in the coming weeks,” he said. “Fox Series should be available to Show-time IPTV subscribers before the end of February.”
A du customer service rep-resentative was unavailable for comment at the time of press.
BREAK
ING
DO
WN
BARRIERS
ing dollars,” he explains. “It draws advertisers in
from the outset, which is hugely important in the
free-to-air market.
“In the past three to four months, the response
from advertisers has been very encouraging.
We’ve been receiving a lot of interest from new
advertisers in particular.
“We are very much on track in terms of our
commercial ambitions,” he continues. “We are
defi nitely reaping the benefi ts of being part of
Rotana’s channel bouquet.”
D’silva argues the strength of the Fox brand,
which is attached to at least one FTA or pay TV
channel property available in more than 80 percent
of the world’s developed markets, provides a mas-
sive boost to the local operation’s regional profi le.
“Globally, we operate 20 channel brands, and we
have 95 feeds of these channels in various markets
worldwide. Th ere is strength in these numbers,
particularly in terms of branding,” he adds.
“As a result, Middle East viewers can easily
identify with the Fox brand, which gives us added
value in the marketplace.”
Th e allure of the brand is further enhanced by
FIC’s ‘youthful’ marketing approach, D’silva claims.
“From a marketing perspective, the Middle East
boasts a very young viewer demographic com-
pared to other markets worldwide,” he says.
“Th ere is a considerable consumer appetite for
Hollywood movies and television content in the
Middle East. Television consumption in the region
is very high, particularly in the GCC countries.
“Yes, there are 400 channels operating here, but
we have a distinct advantage over our competi-
tors both in terms of branding and the content we
off er. We’re very positive about the future, given the
success we’ve achieved in a relatively short period
of time.
“Th e other major point that needs to be made
relates to scheduling and branding this content.
We have the experience to leverage our content
to achieve maximum impact. It’s a sophisticated
approach which diff ers greatly from many other
regional broadcasters.”
D’silva also argues that the combined experi-
ence off ered by the various FIC subsidiaries oper-
ating worldwide provides signifi cant advantages
when it comes to branding and programming
strategies implemented locally.
“We launched Fox Series on December 1 and
on the same day Fox Life launched in Greece,”
he notes. “Th ere are new Fox-branded channels
launching somewhere in the world every single
month. We are competing internally and learning
MARCH 2009
PLATFORMS: FOX
D’silva says FIC is has no privileges when it comes to acquiring broadcast rights of content, such as 24, produced by fellow News Corp subsidiary Fox.
PLATFORMS: FOX
037www.digitalproductionme.com
from one another: which scheduling, branding and
packaging strategies work best both in individual mar-
kets and across the board.
“We are very confi dent that this collective experience
will benefi t our business in this region.”
D’silva says the launch of Fox Series last December
marked a major step in the implementation of FIC’s
regional strategy. Th e channel is the fi rst dedicated 24-
hour US series TV channel operating in the Middle East.
Interestingly, and despite the initial branding rights
association with Fox and its various production divi-
sions, D’silva denies FIC and Rotana receive any special
privileges to Fox programming or related content.
As if to provide further evidence to this claim, he
points to the fact both Fox Movies and Fox Series
broadcast content produced by any number of Fox
rivals, including NBC Universal, Paramount and Ameri-
can television networks ABC and CBS.
“We have deals with all the major studios, not just
20th Century Fox,” he says. “We do have an output
deal with Fox, which comprises of fi rst-run movies
and CDs. We managed to secure this deal from a
competitor [MBC] when we fi rst launched the [Fox
Movies] channel.
“But other than that, we have no other privileges
when it comes to Fox-produced content. We still
have to compete with all our rivals in the region
for content.”
D’silva stresses that despite the current economic
slowdown, FIC and Rotana are committed to
launching new Fox-branded channels in the region
over the next 12 months.
“We do have other channels in the pipeline,
some of which we’ll launch this year,” he confi rms.
“Th ere are a lot of similarities between us and our
competitors. Rotana has multiple channels in vari-
ous markets, as does MBC and LBC. Th e key lies in
diff erentiating our off ering from theirs.
“Th e Middle East is still an evolving market, so
there’s plenty more growth here, for sure.”
There is a considerable consumer appetite for Hollywood movies and television content in the Middle East. Television consumption in the region is very high, particularly in theGCC countries.ROHIT D’SILVAGeneral manager, FIC.
MARCH 2009
Latens ECOsystem (ECO) is an open standards compliant solution comprising of a tightly integrated Middleware and software CAS, operating from a single database.
ECO was developed by Latens as a result of its IPTV customer’s frustration with the delays and restrictions caused by their existing middleware providers. Due to their close working relationship with its CAS customers, they approached Latens to provide them with
a middleware product that met their requirements of scalability and fl exibility. Using their technical knowledge and market experi-ence gained in the Pay TV broadband and broadcast markets, working closely with its customers in order to clearly understand their needs, Latens developed the ECO product. ECO has now been deployed in Europe and the USA and is being launched in other regions in 2009.
What is Latens ECOsystem?MiddlewareBeyond
www.latens.comLatens Systems Ltd, Aisling House, Stranmillis Embankment, Belfast, BT9 5FL. Tel: +44 (0)2890 998240
ADVERTISINGPROMOTION
What does Latens ECOoffer the operator?
The advantagesof Latens ECO1. TechnicalDeveloped on the latest technology platforms, ECO allows operators to easily create and run a series of applications at low cost and of great benefi t to their customers, thereby providing added value and reduce customer churn. Such services include local web cam services, games, VoIP, caller ID and Web TV. All these services are made available in a secure environment through Latens ECO.
2. Flexibility ECO has been developed to address the requirements of all operators from those with low volume subscribers and scaling up to several million, which is why Latens has created 3 levels of customization. Level 1
for small operators wishing to carry out basic changes to ECO, Level 2 medium sized operators wishing to have a higher level of customization done by Latens themselves, and lastly Level 3 with a SDK that allows the operator to perform their own customizations.
3. Service and Costs A major advantage of Latens ECO is its low operational costs. Latens ECO has been designed with a series of automated processes in place at the headend, which means that even for large scale systems, the number of people required to operate the Latens system is minimal. As an example, one of Latens largest IPTV operators with over 200,000 subscribers across 33 regions in 2 countries with services in 2 languages, manages the system with only a team of4 technicians.
SummaryLatens is the only provider of a fully DVB compliant software CAS for cable, IPTV, DTH and DTT together with its ECO product – (single application software comprising of Middleware and CAS), Latens has solutions for all Pay TV broadcasting and broadband segments. Latens CAS is now installed in over 20 countries around the world protecting high value and premium content from all the major Hollywood and regional studios.
FirstlyECO is the only integrated middleware that includes award winning software CAS as part of the application. This provides great advantages as it removes one of the most problematic stages of getting an IPTV service running – the integration between middleware and CAS. Based on low cost servers, operational costs and future support issues including upgrades are removed in an instant with ECO, as it eliminates the issues caused by dual suppliers and constant interoperability testing. Selected by Echostar in the US for its ViP-TV services, Latens ECO is a middleware platform secured by Latens CAS is proven to work.
SecondlyECO offers an extensive set of features and functionality that enables high viewer retention. These features include, DVR, Timeshift TV, VOD, regionalization, series linking, local services, Web TV and many more. Integrated with the leading industry suppliers for head-ends, VOD and STBs, ECO provides a proven solution that allows operators to launch services quickly.
ThirdlyECO provides operators with the opportunity to offer their customers a Home Networking Solution. ECO’s functionality allows any device which is DLNA enabled in the home to share content across these devices, for example a DVR in the lounge sharing its content with a PC, wireless application or basic STB in the same home.
Our products are open standards compliant which allows operators to easily integrate to external or back offi ce systems such as SMS or billing systems.
e
041
L ast year IP video technology provider KIT
Digital relocated its executive offi ces to
Dubai as part of its ambitious plans to
establish itself as the leader in its fi eld.
“We moved it here for a number of reasons, we
think the region is incredibly strong for a business
like ours, it is a much better place to run a global
company from given as our regional offi ces are
spread across the world. In the process we have basi-
cally ramped up our customer, sales and technical
support for our Middle East clients.”
Since then the KIT Digital has also invested
heavily acquiring three companies in related fi elds
(Australian content management systems vendor
Morpheum, Czech IPTV solutions provider Visual
Connection and Swedish mobile TV fi rm Kamera) in
deals worth a total of more than US $21million.
“We acquired Kamera in the second quarter of last
year. Our mission is to be the number one, end-
to-end technology supplier in our
space but to achieve
that we
needed to
acquire a few assets to build out the business,” says
Gavin Campion, president of KIT Digital.
“Kamera focused on mobile capability and content
repurposing. So this acquisition has given KIT the
mobile capability and hardcore content digitisation
credentials. A lot of our relationships with clients
begin with digitisation and we have that capability
from end to end now.”
Kamera has been fully integrated into KIT Digital
and the old Kamera brand discontinued.
“It was an important acquisition. Our global head
of content, Ola Scholander, came here from Kamera
and is now based within the executive, which shows
the quality and extent of the integration between the
two companies.”
Campion says that the company now has the right
structure in place to provide the full array of services
required by its clients, but he refuses to rule out the pos-
sibility of KIT making further acquisitions in the future.
“We have an ongoing, active merger and acquisi-
tion process in the company and we will always seek
best practise, pioneering, market leading technol-
ogy that allows us to monetise a client’s business,
connect their brands and their consumers and do
so at a profi t. Having said that, the world has now
changed economically and that in itself presents new
opportunities for a company in our position, leading
the market place with a profi table business.”
Campion says the company is well
placed fi nancially, and is “run-
ning on its own fuel”, which he
points out is unusual for technol-
ogy fi rms in this sector.
Th e three companies
acquired have also extended the
KIT Digital’s global reach.
“We said that 2008 would be the year that
we became a global company and we have achieved
The quality of broadcast services in this region is fantastic. Many of them literally have warehouses full of content. We are helping them to digitise that and then extend it out into the world on new platforms.GAVIN CAMPIONPresident, KIT Digital.
Whether it is being used as a marketing tool or a mainstream distribution method, consumer demand for online video is rising. KIT Digital president Gavin Campion tells Digital Broadcast how his company looks to turn this demand into revenue.
KITTED OUT
INDUSTRY SERVICES: KIT DIGITAL
www.digitalproductionme.com MARCH 2009
042
that. Around 35 percent of our business is from the
Asia-Pacifi c region, 56 percent from Europe and 10
percent from the US, which is a good position to be
in. Th e acquisitions made a considerable contribu-
tion to this.”
With the company having moved its headquar-
ters to Dubai the Middle East is now set to become
a key territory for KIT. According to Campion, the
company’s business in the region is likely to be more
focused than in other territories.
“We work with print publishers and other verticals,
but here in this region we are focused more fi rmly on
the broadcast and telco markets. Th at is a function of
a number of factors. Th e quality of broadcast services
in this region is fantastic. Many of them literally have
warehouses full of content. We are helping them to
digitise that and then extend it out into the world on
new platforms.”
Campion cites underdeveloped internet penetration
and the lack of sophistication in many of the existing
browser based services as the main reason behind the
company’s current position in the Middle East.
“Web traffi c hasn’t reached critical mass here,
despite tremendous growth. Mobile revenue is tied
directly into the operators, and we have companies
like Sony Ericsson launching an on deck TV channel.
Sadly these services are often only an extension of
portal-based capability. I think there is huge scope
for more advanced mobile services here. It is inter-
esting that in the US these services are all browser
based and the infrastructure for mobile is rather
antiquated. In this region we are looking at leapfrog
technologies and mobile video will be a key driver for
those,” claims Campion.
With more of these new services coming online
all the time, Campion believes that the company’s
tailored approach could prove attractive, off ering
operators more fl exibility with the option to launch
new services “with the fl ick of a switch”.
“Generally, most of the enquiries we receive at the
moment are about STB and browser based technolo-
gies with most people defi nitely fl agging mobile for
the future,” says Campion.
Th e slowdown has led some to believe that spend-
ing on new technology will be prioritised over the
next few years and that established, traditional ser-
vices will take precedent over what some may view
as untried, experimental off erings.
“In times of trouble the fi rst budget that gets cut
is the advertising budget and a lot of our clients view
advertising as a primary source of income. Excitingly
they come to us and say ‘our revenues are dropping,
what can we do?’ Th ey are not coming to us and ask-
ing to cut their costs, they want to fi nd new revenue
streams. Th e other positive trend we are see is that
in times of trouble people move their advertising
budgets into more accountable media. People tend to
put more focus on the numbers,” says Campion.
In order to ensure KIT’s marketing video solutions
meet these criteria, the company has developed a full
set of analytical tools, which Campion says can dem-
onstrate and quantify the value of the services on off er.
“Th ere is an underlying truth, behind all this, the
consumer demand for IP-based video far outweighs
the scale that it is being supplied in. So there is a huge
opportunity gap. I don’t think consumer demand for
IP video solutions is going to drop, they are going to
keep consuming it and the market will keep growing
so the only question is how fast can we monetise that
opportunity on behalf of our clients and that – to
some degree – insulates us from the more mature
industries,” claims Campion.
As well as the consumer demand being high, tech-
nology tastes are also increasingly sophisticated.
“A lot of our clients believe they can stick a
video player on their site and that will be adequate.
Consumers now demand a certain set of tools to go
alongside that player; they want to drag the player
onto their MySpace site; they want to have sharing
tools; they want to be able to set up their own playl-
ists; to have in video chat and so on. If you look at the
list of applications available for Facebook then you
get an idea of just what is available and that should
make some people ask questions about their own
players,” claims Campion.
Th ese tool sets and the analytical support behind
them are a large part of the company’s off ering with
the remainder comprising of its content business.
“We repurpose content for people with large
archives including AP, Disney and ABC, essentially
making it web and mobile ready. Th is can involve
digitising, repurposing, making it web or browser
ready, translating and publishing. We translate into
12 languages, including Arabic.
“Arabic is a key language for us moving forward.
Partly because of the demand and also due to the
desire of the operators in the region to embrace new
services and be pioneers.”
I think there is huge scope for more advanced mobile services here. It is interesting that in the US these services are all browser based and the infrastructure for mobile is rather antiquated. In this region we are looking at leapfrog technologies and mobile video will be a key driver for those.GAVIN CAMPIONPresident, KIT Digital.
MARCH 2009 www.digitalproductionme.com
INDUSTRY SERVICES: KIT DIGITAL
Accessing video content is now
possible via a vast number
of methods. Networks born
on the web – particularly
YouTube – are increasingly available on
diff erent platforms including TV STBs and
traditional broadcasters are continually
expanding their accessibility online.
Th e technologies enabling these cross-
overs are adding improved functionality
and better user experiences. Microsoft’s
Xbox 360 platform has internet con-
nectivity (by WiFi if you like), a hard
drive, HD capability, a proprietary social
community platform (Xbox Live) and
a dedicated online content store (Xbox
Live Marketplace).
While all this might sound like a PVR,
VOD platform and more all rolled into
one the company maintains that it is
not looking to position the Xbox 360 as a
home media hub.
MARCH 2009 www.digitalproductionme.com
With a number of new parties entering the set top box (STB)
space recently, threats from games consoles and internet
based platforms are asking questions of the STB market.
Digital Broadcast investigates.
BOXED IN
INFRASTRUCTURE: SET TOP BOXES
044
“Th e Xbox is a gaming device. Microsoft has been
very clear in positioning the Xbox as just that,” says
Gabrielle Di Piazza, managing director, Microsoft
media, entertainment and communications. “We
also provide entertainment through the Xbox but
we are not confusing the two things. Th e Xbox is a
gaming device fi rst, but we also want to provide an
entertainment off ering as part of the experience.”
Di Piazza claims that the Xbox Live Marketplace
portal off ers the largest supply of downloadable HD
content in the US and currently boasts 16-17 million
users daily. Th e company is also continuing to add
to the number of applications.
“We have announced that the Xbox can be used
as a STB for our IPTV Mediaroom off ering but I
don’t think we should be talking about exchanging
the STB for an Xbox,” concedes Di Piazza.
So although other devices are gaining STB
functions, even the manufacturers of these new
platforms admit that the STB is not about to be
superseded with an all-in-one solution.
“Creating a single home entertainment hub is
preferable from a consumer perspective, but has the
potential to present problems for the service provid-
ers involved,” says Shane McCarthy, group account
director, Pace. “Th ere is certainly some attrition
now between the PC, games console and the STB in
terms of which is in the best position to take home
entertainment to the next level. But the real benefi t
of the STB is that it is designed to manage content
whereas the PC and games console are not.”
As consumers continue to receive their principal
TV service in ever diversifying methods, the ability of
a separate device to cater for all these diff erent signals
remains limited. Th e Xbox’s ability to act as a STB is
not just restricted to IPTV services, but to those IPTV
services using the Microsoft Mediaroom platform.
“I think consoles and STBs will coexist; neither
will be the dominate player. Game devices such as
the Nintendo Wii, Xbox360, and Playstation 3 have
all been made network capable to create networked
gaming communities,” says Mike Tometzki, senior
director, client device strategy, Irdeto.
“Th is also enables them to become media servers
and therefore allows push content via fi re-walled
player portals. In some systems like the PS3, DVB
tuners via USB connections are being added allow-
ing for freeview only content.”
Tometzki expects to see both types of devices
Creating a single home entertainment hub is preferable froma consumer perspective, but has the potentialto present problemsfor the service providers involved.SHANE MCCARTHYGroup account director, Pace.
INFRASTRUCTURE: SET TOP BOXES
www.digitalproductionme.com MARCH 2009
embrace increased storage with both pursuing 1Tb
capacities. He also expects to see more STBs includ-
ing Blu-ray drives as the available catalogue expands.
However, he believes that connectivity will be the key
diff erentiator for the STB moving forward.
“Wireless home media hubs are likely to be the
STB of the future, the home gateway with more
than 1Tb of storage, several DVB tuners, catering for
multiple devices for local viewing around the home
and place shifting, and a broadband pipe in excess of
10 Mbs – allowing push content and targeted content
based on the viewing habitats,” predicts Tometzki.
Pace’s McCarthy says that viewers are already
beginning to demand such functionality making it
harder for one currently available device to perform
all of these roles.
“Operators provide services for an extremely
large variation in consumer needs – one size cer-
tainly doesn’t fi t all. Th e way people view content
has dramatically changed in recent years. New
services such as HD, VOD and live replays have
been adopted in markets around the world. Th e STB
is instrumental in facilitating the delivery of new
content services and as consumers’ expectations
continue to grow, the STB and its place at the centre
of the TV experience will continue to play a key role
in driving further innovation,” says McCarthy.
One of the most important features on STBs that
could ensure their continued necessity is the in-
built ability to comply with DRM protection.
“Delivering content to a range of devices
– consoles or computers – makes content security
extremely diffi cult. In view of this, the digital home
environment is likely to remain dependent on a
number of connected boxes with secure content
managed by a dedicated STB,” assures McCarthy.
“Th e pay TV market has evolved rapidly over the
past decade and this has been driven by STB devel-
opment, which is continuously enabling improved
entertainment and content delivery. Traditionally,
innovation took place with the TV although now this
has largely shifted to the STB,” claims McCarthy.
Th is switch in the leader of innovation has not just
been from one device to another. Th ere has also been
a switch in the industry behind these services. Sever-
al companies with core business interests elsewhere
have developed media products and specifi cally user
interfaces (UI) that have surpassed what was previ-
ously on off er, raising expectations along the way.
045
046
“Th e Apple UI is without doubt the best and most
recognisable in the marketplace,” says Alex Borland,
business development director, Latens. “Now the
operators need to be able to keep up with that. Th at
means releasing a better product into the market, with
better graphics capability, suitable UIs that can com-
pete with Apple plus all the additional functionality.
At the moment, the operators are somewhat behind.
Th ey haven’t faced these challenges before and they
have been hampered with legacy infrastructure.”
Despite this, Borland believes that the operators
could have done more in order to lead development
of the technology.
“Th ey need to think more about home network-
ing, DNLA support (the standard associated with
the Digital Living Network Alliance) and distri-
bution to other devices and continuing to secure ex-
clusive rights to content. Th is means that the digital
rights of this content must also be transferred
between devices,” explains Borland.
Th is is less complicated than it may sound, ac-
cording to Borland. AES encryption algorithms – of-
ten used to secure Wi-Fi networks – are compat-
ible with a number of portable devices and games
consoles and installing DRM software over the top
of these is straightforward, says Borland.
For the Middle East specifi cally, Borland believes
that a combination of attitude and broadening fi bre
networks, put the region in a strong position to be
fully exploiting all the capabilities of a future STB or
home gateway. Th ere are diffi culties however.
“Th e biggest challenge facing the Middle East pay
TV market is the growing availability of high qual-
ity FTA channels, which makes consumers reluc-
tant to spend unnecessarily.” says McCarthy. “Th is
makes the Middle East an important growth region
for STB manufacturers, as providing innovative
services beyond those of the FTA platforms is likely
to be the key factor in driving consumer adoption of
pay TV services.”
MARCH 2009 www.digitalproductionme.com
INFRASTRUCTURE: SET TOP BOXES
10%Worldwide growth in STB
shipments in 2009 versus 2008
20%Global increase in number
of ‘digital households’ in the same year
US $19bnPeak of STB revenues,
estimated to occur in 2011
10%Predicted annual decline in STB
revenue from 2011 onwards
SOURCE: IMS Research 2009
MARCH 2009 www.digitalproductionme.com
Digital Broadcast takes a look at the
satellite newsgathering network provided
for Iraqi channel Alsumaria during the
recent Iraqi national Election.
POLLTO POLL
CASE STUDY
048
T he diligent planning and execution of the
logistics supporting any TV broadcast
determine the success and cost of the
production. When that broadcast is live,
any margin for error is removed.
When that broadcast is taking place across fi ve
fi eld locations as well as the studio and must be
organised and deployed in under four weeks, the
ease of use and simplicity of the technology at
work, are paramount.
One of Iraq’s largest TV stations, Alsumaria,
wanted to cover the nation’s election on January 31
from fi ve major cities simultaneously. Th is off ered
them the fl exibility to ‘follow the news’ over the
course of the day wherever it broke.
“Th e major challenge for Servicesat and Al-
sumaria was having to work within a tight time
frame,” says Alex Oikononou, technical director
Servicesat. “Th e contracts were awarded late and
we also had to ensure large quantities of hardware
arrived in Iraq from numerous ports around the
world. Fortunately some excellent logistical coor-
dination coupled with the cooperation of various
shipping companies made this possible.”
Alsumaria had requested a tailor-made digital
broadcasting solution that sat in line with its
resources. Once the US $200,000 deal was agreed,
Servicesat faced the signifi cant challenge of bring-
ing together all the necessary hardware compo-
nents within the narrow timeframe.
“Fortunately we have suffi cient equipment sup-
plies of our own to release inventory immediately.
The major challenge for Servicesat and Alsumaria was havingto work within a tight time frame... The systems were being set up just one day prior to the elections.ALEX OIKONONOUTechnical director, Servicesat.
CASE STUDY
www.digitalproductionme.com MARCH 2009
We also have excellent relationships with a produc-
tion unit in the United States which has the quick-
est turnover for these kind of products anywhere
in the world,” claims Oikononou. “Although the
systems were being set up just one day prior to the
elections – and despite the last minute activation of
the service – the project was an immense success
and a huge accomplishment for Servicesat.”
At the heart of the Servicesat implementation
were three core items of equipment.
“Th e Direcstar auto-deploy antenna is a one-
touch self-aligning auto deploy antenna that
requires no technical training to operate and is
deployed and locked on to the satellite in about
three minutes,” explains Oikononou.
“In conjunction with this, Servicesat teamed up
with Quicklink gaining access to its latest com-
pression techniques, enabling live MPEG4 video to
be sent at speeds under 400 kb/s.”
Together with the Hughes Network Systems
HN 7000s broadband satellite router, these key
components combine to represent what Oikononou
describes as the “lowest priced product of its kind”.
Servicesat claims to have already begun discus-
sions with Alsumaria regarding future collabora-
tions after the broadcaster was highly satisfi ed
with the end results.
“We evaluated many options before settling on
Servicesat solution and we are very happy with our
choice... an impressive video and audio quality has
been reached using 360 kb/s dedicated bandwidth,”
says Jad Atallah, CTO, Alsumaria TV.
049
Alsumaria used Servicesat’s system to broadcast live from fi ve cities across Iraq on election day. Delays in the tendering process gave Servicesat just one month to assemble, design and implement the network.
TECHNOLOGY
050
Driven by the demand of ‘instant access’ to media, the streamlining of workfl ows and the perceived fi nancial savings that this would bring, content owners and broadcasters alike are embracing the concept of fi le-
based technology, writes Greg Hoskin.
MARCH 2009 www.digitalproductionme.com
GO WITHTHE FLOW
T he media industry has processed videos
as fi les for some time as fi le-based
editing, digital graphic creation and
other special eff ects, as well as more
recently playout, have been the early adopters of
this technology. However these have historically
operated as isolated islands of technology. Today’s
challenge is to link these independent islands
together to provide a truly seamless and transpar-
ent workfl ow throughout the content distribution
chain from acquisition and ingest, right through
to transmission.
However to embrace the real benefi ts that fi le-
based workfl ow solutions can deliver, the media
industry needs to move away from its tried and
trusted current operational practices which have
been derived from years of working in tape-based
environments. Instead to ensure the design will
deliver the fi nancial benefi ts of such a solution,
companies need to engage in developing new
workfl ows practices and harnessing the advan-
tages that these technologies bring.
With traditional tape-based workfl ows, the
physical media brings with it a level of familiarity
and recognition of the content. Th is is often lost in
a fi le-based environment, as the physical media is
replaced by fi les within a computer system. Th is
can lead to a perception, often amongst opera-
tors, of ‘losing’ content. Th is can easily become the
outcome as the simplest typing or naming error
to the fi le can result in the media ‘disappearing’
into the system. To prevent this requires rigorous
discipline at every stage, especially in the naming
and cataloguing of media.
Key to this process is the choice of user-tool
and hence the media management or asset
management system that becomes extremely sig-
nifi cant to the success of a fi le-based operation.
Systems must provide a user-friendly and intui-
tive desktop experience combined with superb
media delivery. Broadcasters will need to allocate
time and money to train their staff while manu-
facturers must develop systems that can be easily
and quickly adopted across a facility – while at
the same time meeting the workfl ow requirement
and company’s business needs. Ultimately they
need to simplify the business process of content
management and bring clearly identifi able cost
and revenue benefi ts.
However clients often make these fundamental
decisions without obtaining the true facts or set-
ting realistic expectations. It is at this stage that
a trusted and respected systems integrator (SI)
comes into it own. SIs can provide an objective
view to evaluate the operational needs and expec-
tations, and then review and evaluate potential
applications with their corresponding confi gura-
tions. Th ose SIs not aligned to any particularly
manufacturer, will choose the best-of-breed
solutions to meet the customer’s individual needs.
Failure to do this may produces designs that fall
far short of meeting the business and operational
objectives of the client’s management teams.
In practice, the implementation of fi le-based
workfl ows is no trivial task since the media can be
encoded (digitised) in any one of many diff erent
formats and resolutions – each delivering a specif-
ic benefi t, although often incompatible with each
other. Furthermore equipment interoperability
is paramount. Today we see diff erent equipment
vendors each putting their own interpretation on
the industry’s best eff orts to standardise interfac-
ing thus hindering the true implementation of
seamless fi le-based workfl ows.
Th at said, the industry has for many years been
striving to develop workable interoperability stan-
dards. For instance, it produced MXF to replace
the SDI and tape formats that have been refi ned
over many years. Nonetheless as soon as MXF was
born, variants were developed to meet specifi c
technology and operational needs. Th is in itself
created its own issues for those designing a system
that required interoperability. In fact Turner
Broadcasting Systems, along with a selection of
equipment vendors, has developed an initiative to
attempt to cut through the interoperability issues
and to provide proposed, real-world solutions for
key workfl ows, focusing on creating a single MXF
master fi le from which multiple versions of a pro-
gram may be created.
Last year Harris opened the fi rst “Interoperability
Lab” seen in the industry at its Toronto headquar-
ters to ensure that interoperability issues amongst
its own products, as well as those with third party
products, were identifi ed before they popped up
in the fi eld. Th ese initiatives are all heading in the
right direction as they ultimately provide best
working practices for everyone in the business.
TECHNOLOGY
MARCH 2009 www.digitalproductionme.com 051
With... the increasing expectation from the viewer for immediate results, a fi le-based workfl ow is the only practical way for content to be simultaneously delivered in today’s multi-platform environment.GREG HOSKINManaging director, MHz Broadcast.
052 www.digitalproductionme.com
COM
PAN
Y PROFILE
MHZ BROADCASTPart of the AZCAR Group, MHz plays a signifi cant role in design-ing and delivering innovative solutions to the world’s leading broadcasters, telecommunication and digital media companies.
MHz boasts more than 25 years of experience and encompasses every aspect of systems imple-mentation from engineering planning, project management, design, product evaluation, com-missioning through to training, support & IT services.
Furthermore, through its partnership with Feltech, one of the leading UK-based digital broadcast and Audio Video Information Technology (AVIT) equipment suppliers and systems integrators, MHz is also capable of supplying broadcast AVIT equipment, IPTV, and digital signage solutions within the government, corporate, venue and education sectors.
Some recent fi le-based installa-tions from MHz can be found at The Times Group in India and eTV in South Africa.
MHz completed the installation of the server-based infrastructure and broadcast system for the South African broadcaster eTV’s 24-hour news channel. Alongside the state of the art fi le-based workfl ows, the project also included two new DSNG trucks to handle the news coverage in and around Cape Town, Johan-nesburg and Durban. These were designed and built at MHz’s UK headquarters and incorporate MHz’s internally-designed in-novative satellite remote-control system, M2RC, which offers cost-effective and simple remote control capabilities.
MARCH 2009
TECHNOLOGY
With all this in mind, it is possible today to
design and deliver operational benefi ts from fi le-
based workfl ow solutions. In fact with competitive
challenges to the traditional broadcast model, and
the increasing expectation from the viewer for im-
mediate results, a fi le-based workfl ow is the only
practical way for content to be simultaneously
delivered in today’s multi-platform environment.
Examples of this can be found in the home where
time-shifted recoding from downloading Internet
media players (such as iPlayer), personal video
recorders (PVR’s), web and other mobile devices.
Th e process of determining the optimum work-
fl ow for a facility therefore involves various con-
siderations. Improved workfl ows and the resulting
effi ciencies may in fact enable a content owner
and broadcaster to use less physical space, there-
by reducing their overheads for rent and related
costs. Although it might appear a simple task,
the choice of technologies requires considerable
deliberation about the longer term business and
strategic goals of the client. But before this can
happen it is necessary to ensure that the reliabil-
ity levels and robustness of a complete fi le-based
Newscasters have been particularly keen to embrace digital workfl ows due to the improvements they create when handling there large archives.
solution is at least on a par with the “perceived”
security off ered by the use of traditional tape.
Consideration must be given to the source
of the content and the formats as well as what
vehicles will be used to deliver them. Also thought
must be given to the type of content and com-
mercial opportunities presented by that content
and the markets being served today and well into
the future.
It is also paramount to ensure that the level of
training to operate and maintain the fi le-based
new systems is implemented and maintained
across the board. And of course there needs to
be a business plan underpinning this change to
ensure its ongoing success. Th e choice of an expe-
rienced systems integration partner is a funda-
mental part of this equation – not only to provide
best-of-breed, integrated turnkey solutions which
deliver the business plan but also to ensure that
cost effi ciencies are maintained across the opera-
tion and the potential revenue streams, which the
adoption of new technology enable, are optimised
now and into the future.
Greg Hoskin is managing director of Megahertz Broadcast.
054 www.digitalproductionme.comMARCH 2009
The digital content delivery sector’s top forthcoming industry events in the spotlightINDUSTRY EVENTS
CABSAT 2009 3 – 5 March Dubai, UAE www.cabsat.com
CEBIT 3 – 8 March Hannover, Germanywww.cebit.de
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTINGSUMMIT 2009 4 – 5 March Sydney, Australia www.acevents.com.
au/broadcasting2009
BROADBAND GLOBAL SUMMIT 10 – 11 March Dubai, UAEwww.broadband-
globalsummit.com
IPTV WORLD FORUM 25 – 27 March London, UKwww.iptv-forum.com
MIPTV 2009 30 March – 3 April Cannes, Francewww.miptv.com
INDUSTRY EVENTS
P. O. BOX 7639 - DOHA, QATAR Tel : +974 431 4972, 466 98 68 Fax : +974 442 4046
N o t a n y I n t e r a c t i v e T V i t s I P T V
vision through innovation
Technoserve delivers Interactive TV solutions based on IPTV technologies that work with any type of TV set and with any kind of distribution network.
Technoserve solutions allow for time-shifting over live TV reception and personal video recording over the network (nPVR), so your guests will never have to miss any of their favorite programs while travelling.
That is one way we add value to hospitality business and increase customer loyalty.
Please contact us to know about even more inspiring features. www.technoserve.net
056 www.digitalproductionme.comMARCH 2009
DATA
T elecoms analyst Northern Sky Research
(NSR) recently released the fi fth edition
of its Global Assessment of Satellite
Demand study.
Th e report forecasts an increase in HD channels
in the Middle East and Africa of 2400 percent
between 2007 and 2017. Th e number of channels
added each year will vary with an average growth
rate of 38 percent till 2017. Th is equates to an aver-
age of 13 new HD channels launched per year.
Restrictions on the rate of this growth are
acknowledged by NSR with the latest report
claiming that Ku band utilisation for the MENA
region at the end of 2008 was well in excess of 90
percent, with C band utilisation between 60 and
70 percent.
Th e methodology used in the study classes a
‘MENA’ HD channel as one that can be accessed
from within the region rather than a channel that
is uplinked from the Middle East or marketed
towards its population.
Given the number of satellite footprints in
neighbouring regions that are already carrying
HD content, many of the HD channels included in
the report do not originate from broadcasters in
the region itself. SES Astra’s 19.2 and 23.5 degrees
A new report predicts 2400 percent growth in the number of HD channels in MENA over a ten year period.DEFINED GROWTH
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
150
120
90
60
30
0
TOTAL HD CHANNELS
TOTAL TPEs LEASED FOR HD
CHAN
NEL
S
50
40
30
20
10
0
TPEs
MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA HD CHANNELS AND TPE TRENDS
DATA SOURCE: Northern Sky Research
East spots, the Eutelsat’s 13 degrees East Hotbird
fl eet and the Turksat fl eet are responsible for much
of this overlapping coverage.
Even when accounting for these channels, the
level of growth remains strong and NSR recognis-
es that it will be necessary for the satellite sector
to match this performance if it is going to provide
the capacity required to meet the unquestionable
demand for HD services.
According to NSR the impressive forecasts for
the number of HD channels in the MENA region
are not so great that they cannot be supported by
the existing and planned fl eet of satellites that will
serve the region by 2017.
Th e report also points out the signifi cance of the
improved signal compression of HD signals stat-
ing that research at the end of 2007 had found that
2.5 HD channels could be housed on a 36 MHz
transponder equivalent (TPE) across the MENA
region. As part of the new NSR forecast however
this number is expected to rise as high as 4.1 HD
channels per TPE.
Th e resulting 60 percent gain in effi ciency will
provide a signifi cant boost to the ability of the
region’s satellite hardware to provide the highly
sought after capacity.
87 millionNumber of households
worldwide with HDcapable TVs in 2007.
500 millionNumber of households
worldwide with HDcapable TVs in 2012.
110 millionNumber of those that
receive only SD services.
SOURCE: Screen Digest.
Make sure it works!Broadcast network planning and measurementRohde & Schwarz Emirates LLC over the years has gained experience in delivering complete turnkey solutions for analog and digital broad-casting networks. Now we have acquired skills and tools to offer you precise network coverage predictions and measurements.
Measure, for example, your digital TV network’s coverage using our R&S®TSM-DVB. Simply take a relaxed drive around your city andthe entire coverage data is captured on your notebook – readfor an in-depth analysis at home. Or would you like to measureindoors? Then take our systems inside in a backpack. To find out more, just give us a call.
Phone +971 25 54 94 [email protected]. rohde-schwarz.com
Transmitter locationOutdoor portable, 95% probabilityOutdoor portable, 70% probability
DVB-H Coverage
Please visit us at CABSAT MENA
Dubai International Conven-tion & Exhibition CenterMarch 3-5, 2009Stand No. ZK-1, Zabeel Hall