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a fitness channel is a step in the right direction to combat the surge of obesity and lifestyle diseases in the region. “The idea is to inculcate a culture of healthy living in the region. Physique TV fills a major gap in that area as the region lacked a dedicated channel that caters to such needs. Companies and products encouraging health and fitness are our partners in launching region-wide campaigns to promote healthy living. In fact, a number of banks and insurance companies have also shown interest as potential advertisers on the channel,” he adds. The channel has been patronised by entities such as Dubai Municipality to support healthy lifestyle campaigns. Physique TV’s programming includes a variety of entertaining, inspiring, instructional and informative shows to keep the viewers engaged. “We produce about 25% of our content in-house with our own production team,” explains Einstein. “The rest of it is acquired. We
have close to 600 hours of content available at present. The production team has eight members including the cameramen and technical crew. Our production unit includes two studios with a 2500 sq. ft gym studio,” he adds. The massive gym studio is a first-ofits-kind in the region, which was purpose built for the channel. This studio will be kitted further to enable live broadcast. “Our mantra for the channel is ‘be your best’. In order to keep the viewers engaged, we offer a good balance in terms of content including entertainment shows and dramas, alongside instructional programmes. The local content is carefully planned with gym and spa reviews in English and Arabic,” explains Einstein. “Technically, we are very sound with a brand new channel management system that can accommodate any type of sponsorship opportunity. We provide advertisers with a diverse array of partnership options, including product integration into the programmes that are produced in-house,” he adds.
Transmission and playout Alan Constant, who led the technical upgrade at Physique TV, says the channel was revamped from SD to a state-of-the-art full HD facility with renewed programming. “The channel’s infrastructure is built around five pillars, namely the Oasys Chameleon automated playout, a Phoenix7 Zeus channel management system, QNAP storage, Adobe Adobe Premier CS6 editing suites and One Connxt’s content delivery system. The content is delivered to the station on flash drives or via our FTP site,” explains Constant. At the heart of Physique TV's transmission lies the Oasys Chameleon automated playout, which has been integrated with Zeus channel management system from Phoenix 7, a UK-based company. Oasys deployed a multiplex solution for Physique TV that encompasses one video channel, two audio channels, DVB subtitling, graphics and conversion to ASI. The ASI is sent over a fibre
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February 2014 | www.broadcastprome.com |
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