TECH TALK
INSIDE TELCO TV Ten years after its launch by UAE telco Etisalat, cable TV service E-Vision has become one of the largest pay TV operators in the region. Digital Broadcast tours the company’s head-end and nerve centre near Al Dhaid, in the emirate of Sharjah.
The facility in Al Dhaid contains two small production studios for the E-Junior channel (above). A larger space to be used in part as a virtual is currently being installed.
KHALED MOHAMMED SHAMS AL BALOUSHI Technical manager, E-Vision. “We have 252 SD channels, 28 audio stations and 8 HD channels playing out from this facility. We are also operating two 3G streaming channels. E-Vision’s video on demand and pay per view services are also distributed from this facility. We will be looking to find new content partners for these services at CABSAT this year. We are looking at installing a new automation system and the servers. When we do we will be able to support in the region of 700 channels. The technology is changing all the time so our selection will be based on the viewer requirements and we will have an evaluation committee and bidding process in place to ensure we make the correct choice. We are running a digital management system at the moment to evaluate what people are interested in so we won’t just fill this allocation of channels with anything and everything that is available. We are currently using a tape-based archive but we have plans to invest in a tapeless archive and a new asset management system system. There is also some content production work based here. There are two smaller studios in place and we are in the process of finishing a third, larger space that we will be able to use as a virtual studio when ready.” 014 MARCH 2010
A new Evertz monitoring system is being installed that will be able to handle 700 channels.
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