Digital Broadcast

THE BUSINESS OF DIGITAL CONTENT DELIVERY

An ITP Business Publication

OUTFOXED

TELEVISIONARIES

Showcasing the region’s leading broadcast technology innovators

VOLUME 2 ISSUE 3 MARCH 2009

Abdullatif Al Sayegh, CEO, Arab Media Group

FIC and Rotana take on MBC and Co with Fox TV channels

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CONTENTS

22

5 THE BRIEFING New Iraq DVB-H launch confi rmed; Al Jazeera English seeks Nth American carriage.

10 WEB HIGHLIGHTS Spot poll: Pay TV service factors; top reader source markets; editor’s pick.

12 WORLD DATELINE US delays analogue switch-off ; African pay TV operator goes bust; Endemol expands its operations in Brazil.

22 COVER STORY: TELEVISIONARIES Digital Broadcast profiles 10 of the region’s most innovative content delivery services.

56 MARKET ANALYSIS MENA HD channels on brink of momentous expansion.

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE...

18

34

44

SELLING SOCIAL

OUTFOXED

BOXED IN

Tailored enterprise social media applications are being leveraged to create new media assets.

Fox International Channels poised to carve a profitable niche in the region’s FTA TV sector.

The STB industry is in a state of flux as vendors jostle to uncover a killer app.

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MARCH 2009 01

I N N O V A T I O N

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COMMENT

Registered at Dubai Media City PO Box 500024, Dubai, UAE Tel: 00 971 4 210 8000, Fax: 00 971 4 210 8080 Web: www.itp.com Offices in Dubai & London ITP BUSINESS PUBLISHING CEO Walid Akawi Managing Director Neil Davies Deputy Managing Director Matthew Southwell Editorial Director David Ingham Publishing Director Diarmuid O’Malley EDITORIAL Senior Group Editor Aaron Greenwood Tel: +971 4 435 6251 email: aaron.greenwood@itp.com Deputy Editor John Parnell Tel: +971 4 435 6271 email: john.parnell@itp.com Assistant Editor Patrick Elligett Tel: +971 4 435 6181 email: patrick.elligett@itp.com ADVERTISING Commercial Director Fred Dubery Tel: +971 4 435 6339 email: fred@itp.com N.American Advertising Representative Michael J. Mitchell Tel: + 1 631 673 3199 email:mjmitchell@broadcast-media.tv Japan Advertising Representative Mikio Tsuchiya Tel: + 81 354 568230 email: ua9m-tcy@asahi-net.or.jp STUDIO Group Art Editor Daniel Prescott Art Editor Simon Cobon PHOTOGRAPHY Director of Photography Sevag Davidian Chief Photographer Nemanja Seslija, Senior Photographers Valeriano Handumon, Alan Desiderio, Efraim Evidor, Khatuna Khutsishvili Staff 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 Smith Production Manager Eleanor Zwanepoel Managing Picture Editor Patrick Littlejohn Image Retoucher Emmalyn Robles Distribution Manager Karima Ashwell Distribution Executive Nada Al Alami CIRCULATION Head of Circulation & Database Gaurav Gulati MARKETING Head of Marketing Daniel Fewtrell Marketing Executive Masood Ahmad ITP DIGITAL Director Peter Conmy ITP GROUP Chairman Andrew Neil Managing Director Robert Serafin Finance Director Toby Jay Spencer-Davies Board of Directors K.M. Jamieson, Mike Bayman, Walid Akawi, Neil Davies, Rob Corder, Mary Serafin Circulation Customer Service Tel: +971 4 286 8559 Certain images in this issue are available for purchase.

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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.

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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.

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SHOW OF STRENGTH

I

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.

The 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 highprofi le end users such as Dreamworks, have been leveraging 3D technology to great effect.

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 benefitted from some of the spotlight shining on 3D production.

The industry had similar doom mongering when Apple dropped out of NAB 2008 (preeconomic 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. The 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 floor 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 affairs.

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.

That may sound ominous, however in the runup 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.

JOHN PARNELL Deputy Editor john.parnell@itp.com

TO SUBSCRIBE please visit www.itp.com/subscriptions MARCH 2009 03

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THE BRIEFING

Mobision 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.

Mobision officials last month confirmed that Iraq’s DVB-H mobile television service would launch on March 10.

The mobile TV rollout was initially postponed in late-January, when the company cited Iraq’s provincial elections as the reason behind the delay.

Despite the delay, Alsumaria TV’s 20-channel Mobision service will still be the first DVB-H-based mobile TV offering to launch in the Middle East.

The service will be hosted independently by Mobision, without the involvement of a mobile net-

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 revealed exclusively to Digital Broadcast.

“The construction of a 40-seat call centre facility located in Beirut has also recently been completed,” he added.

Abi-Nassif said the launch delay allowed time for extra work to be conducted to increase the coverage area of the mobile TV service.

“We have improved Mobision’s signal strength in Kurdistan to the north, and in greater Baghdad.

“The delay allowed us to complete the installation of further repeaters, transmitters and antennae throughout Iraq.”

Abi-Nassif said significant interest in the project was demonstrated by global service providers at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, indicating a promising future for DVB-H technology.

“Everybody was astonished at the success of our project,” he claimed.

JCC INVESTS IN BTS MANAGEMENT SYSTEM Broadcast Traffic Systems (BTS) has implemented 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 preschool children.

The BTS system manages activities such as programme rights, long term planning and frame accurate transmission scheduling for the channels. The system has been fully integrated with an automation solution to provide a fully integrated broadcast management solution.

Speaking about the deal, Craig Buckland, technical director at BTS said: “We are pleased that JCC selected BTS for its traffic operation. The system we

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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.

BROADCAST BYTES

IRAQ DVB-H LAUNCH DATE SET FOLLOWING DELAY

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 fixed 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 specifically for the needs of enterprise customers,” he added.

“The service has been developed 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 approximately five percent. This figure is 20 percent for the Asia-Pacific region and over 50 percent in Western Europe and the US, according to figures provided by Yahsat.

An announcement regarding service partners for YahClick is expected soon.

MARCH 2009 05

THE BRIEFING

Pay 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 broadcasts popular BBC series including 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 relationship” with BBC Worldwide.

“The new channel will complement the wide range of British programming available on Showtime including Sky News, BBC Lifestyle, and the English Premier League,” d’Halluin added.

BROADCAST BYTES

SHOWTIME ADDS BBC PRIME TO SCHEDULE

CITY 7’S BIN HENDI EXPLAINS JOB CUTS FTA channel cancels three in-house productions; denies ad sales falling

Despite the job cuts, Bin Hendi insists the channel’s ad sales are growing.

Ninety staff have been retrenched by Dubaibased television station, City 7 TV, as part of a ‘lean and mean’ approach by management to cut operating costs.

Three of the Bin Hendi Enterprises-owned station’s regular programmes were also axed, as part of the company’s strategy to remain financially viable 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

numbers as low as possible in order to afford 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]. These shows were not financially viable and they were costing the station a lot of money with no return on that investment 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.

“That’s not true, it is simply a rumour. We haven’t made pay cuts yet, but obviously if the financial situation 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 financially stable position, and not suffering 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 figure of about 10 or 15 percent.”

SAUDI MEDIA CLUSTER GETS THE GO AHEAD

BBC Prime will be available on the Showtime pay TV platform from this month.

06 MARCH 2009

The planned Riyadh Media Production City (RMPC) has been approved by the Municipality of Riyadh and master plans are currently being drawn up.

The 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.

The RMPC will face competition from across the GCC once it is complete.

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THE BRIEFING

Qtel has become the newest member of the Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF), after signing a membership agreement during the 2009 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

The international forum was established in 2000 to provide a platform for discussion between various players positioned 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 application developers, focusing on innovation trends and strategies in the emerging markets of the Middle East, North Africa and Asia.

AL AAN AUTOMATES WEB PUBLISHING UAE-based satellite broadcaster Al Aan TV has become the first service in the region to deploy SysMedia’s newsroomto-web automation technology, NewsWatch. The installation was overseen by regional partner Wecom Global.

Al Aan TV approached reseller and systems integrator Wecom with the aim of updating its website with news stories from its Avid iNews newsroom system.

NewsWatch tracks the running order in a broadcaster’s newsroom system, watching for stories highlighted for republishing by an editor. It then automatically extracts the text from stories and converts it to XML for republishing without any additional editorial effort.

08 MARCH 2009

BROADCAST BYTES

QTEL EYES MOBILE ENTERTAINMENT STRATEGIES WITH MEF

AJE PURSUES NORTH AMERICAN CARRIAGE Network steps up efforts to break into lucrative US and Canadian markets Al Jazeera English (AJE) has applied for carriage on Canadian Cable networks and launched a new web portal aimed at refining its public profile in North America.

The channel currently reaches 130 million households in more than 100 countries, however it has struggled to find mainstream distribution channels in Canada and the US. The network has now confirmed that it has applied to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to obtain a place on the list of eligible satellite services.

The application process involves a 30-day period of feedback from the public. In order to garner public support, the network has established a website – IWantAJE.net – to dispel common misconceptions about the channel.

“It is clear to us there is a significant demand for AJE in Canada,” said Tony Burman, managing director, Al Jazeera English.

“Canadians want to understand the world in all of its diversity and cultural richness. Our website

Al Jazeera English is currently available in 130 million households..

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.

“These numbers alone show how hungry Canadians are for the fearless, groundbreaking reporting that runs daily on AJE,” said Burman.

“This is a demonstration of the country’s commitment to freedom of expression.”

JMC UPGRADES ARABSAT PLAYOUT FACILITY

JMC is currently responsible for the playout of more than 60 channels.

Jordan Media City (JMC) has upgraded its satellite television playout facilities with the addition of new Omneon Spectrum media server systems.

The new servers are currently being used to

broadcast JMC client Arabsat’s 28 satellite television channels across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

“Following an evaluation of broadcast server technologies, we elected to use Omneon Spectrum servers to support our expanding operations, including transmission for the Arabsat service,” said Suleiman Nakai, transmission engineering 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.

www.digitalproductionme.com

DPME.COM ROUND-UP

The online home of:

WEBSITE VIEWER STATS

TOP MIDDLE EAST SOURCE MARKETS - FEBRUARY

MIDDLE EAST SET FOR FREE MOBILE TV 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. The company will launch its satellite/terrestrial network in key regional markets later this year, with a mixture of free and subscription channels.

1 2 3 4 5

UAE Saudi Arabia Qatar Bahrain Egypt

TOP GLOBAL SOURCE MARKETS - FEBRUARY

1 2 3 4 5

US UK Germany India Canada

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SOURCE: Google Analytics.

EDITOR’S CHOICES CONTENT PRODUCTION

BROADCAST BUSINESS

ROUGH CUT: THE TROUBLE WITH HD

I WANT MY MOBILE TV

Haitham Dargouth, head of technical and broadcast for CNBC, discusses the commercial challenges of HD

The impending launch of DVB-H mobile TV services in various territories across the Middle East bodes well

SPOT POLL

What is your main influence when you select a pay TV operator?

34% 30% 14% 11% 8% 3% Sport 010 MARCH 2009

Price

Movies

I only need FTA channels

I only need the internet

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WORLD DATELINE

The US analogue switchoff was delayed to ensure minimal disruption.

UNITED KINGDOM BT RESULTS SLIDE BUT IPTV SUBSCRIBERS GROW

UNITED STATES US CONGRESS VOTES TO DELAY DIGITAL SWITCHOVER A bill to delay the termination of analogue TV signals in the US was passed last month.

The country’s digital switchover 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 extended 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 analogue and digital for another four months.

Channels have been given the option to switchover early if they choose.

UK 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 profits.

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 profit 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 – reported 40 percent growth in revenues internationally. In total, Global Services revenues rose 15 percent to $3.25 billion.

Car manufacturer Honda also announced that it would become the first sponsor of a branded VOD service.

BRAZIL ENDEMOL LAUNCHES PRODUCTION ARM IN BRAZIL Endemol was previously producing content in Brazil with TV Globo.

International production giant Endemol has announced that it will launch a production operation in Brazil.

Endemol already has a participation 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 appetite for its formats in Brazil and there is now huge potential for us to build on that,” commented Busoli.

AFRICA AFRICAN PAY TV OPERATOR GOES BUST UK-based African pay TV operator 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 sufficient 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 SuperSport has taken over the rights.

GTV

012 MARCH 2009

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WORLD DATELINE

SWITZERLAND NAGRA SECURES WIFI TV ENABLER PacketVideo’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

BY THE NUMBERS

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 significant 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 technology officer, PacketVideo.

“Our partnership with Nagravision is a strong step forward in accelerating 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.

HONG KONG

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Percentage of US online video users aged 13-54 watching full-length episodes of TV shows in 2006...

... That percentage in 2008.

TV services here,” said Aenil Premji, chief marketing officer 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.”

65%

Percentage of those who expect 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 figure has doubled since 2007).

SOURCE: Knowledge Networks (2009)

GTV collapsed despite holding African EPL football rights.

10% 21%

CARTOON NETWORK MOB-TV CHANNEL TO LAUNCH 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

US ONLINE VIDEO: USAGE AND EXPECTATIONS ON THE RISE

86%

Percentage of 13-54 year-olds who said they would be more engaged with advertising around programs available on the internet.

MARCH 2009 013

OPINION

SHOT IN THE ARM

Continued investment by the region’s telcos into various broadcast services could be all the stimulus that the regional market requires, writes John Parnell.

W

hile it would be foolish and shortsighted to say that the region’s broadcast sector is not affected by the recent financial slide, it is important to note that there several regional buffers protecting the Middle East from the global threats.

There 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.

The previously buoyant US car industry had cruised along on the basis that people would always need cars. The Japanese car industry, largely attributed as the largest benefactor from any pre-credit crunch slide by its US counterparts, now also finds 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 owners, 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 Kuwait-based Zain are the world’s two fastest growing telecom operators in the world. The 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

014 MARCH 2009

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

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. The UAE based giant has previously spoken of a US $3 billion fund set aside for acquisitions.

In January, Egyptian firm 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 million acquiring Indian GSM firm S Tel. As ARPU from traditional voice services continues to wane, content is at the heart of many of the strategies aimed at compensating for this. The health of the Middle East’s telcos and their overseas growth, secures the future of continually expanding services in their domestic markets.

These cash rich operators will continue to invest in the broadcast infrastructure required to distribute 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 offerings will be standard and IPTV rollouts will be gathering steam. The associated investment into the broadcast technology sector that is associated with these is massive; set top boxes, middleware and conditional access developers, playout, VOD servers, quality monitoring, encoders… the list goes on.

The 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.

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Q&A

IN 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. : You have previously called for consolidation in both the pay TV and FTA sector in the Middle East, do you think the current financial 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. There 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. The licence fees for such events, although important – I’m not questioning the importance of the EPL in any way – can never be recouped from

016 MARCH 2009

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 ABDULHADI CEO, Orbit.

advertising and subscriptions. It is not possible.

They 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 afford 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 first to be back.

The 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 offer 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, first 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.

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NEWS REVIEW

018 MARCH 2009

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NEWS REVIEW

SELLING SOCIAL

With question marks over the ability of so-called “general” social media sites, such as Facebook 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.

S

even of the world’s ten most visited websites involve at least some element of social media. Despite the main players’ inability to turn traffic into revenue, there are an increasing number of smaller social media companies finding 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 areas,” 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 significant 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 community – 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 first year’s revenue was US$600,000 – which isn’t bad for a company in its first 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

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.

STEVE VAILE CEO, H2O New Media.

ing figures 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 today, it is one tenth of what it was. There really is a lot of competition and broadcasters are going to need to redefine 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 generated content (UGC) and viewer community path.

“This is not something that is going to happen, or is happening…it has happened. The removal of media restrictions and freedom of press across the Middle East is happening. Regulators can block as many sites with as many filters as they want, people always find their way round these blocks.

The 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 benefits that they enable. With the region now boasting the second highest rate of internet adoption the pool of consumers open to social media networking is expanding all the time.

“The region has always tended to lag a little in technology and media adoption. What tends to

MARCH 2009 019

NEWS REVIEW

A 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 online 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.

020 MARCH 2009

REGIONAL ONLINE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

MIXED BAG

Encouraging membership and user contributions on a web platform enables companies to build a data asset while acquiring free content.

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 benefits that Vaile and H2O are championing?

Vaile says that as media companies continue to experiment with various business models and look to find 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 floor. 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 advertisers want to target, will be more than capable of doing the same.”

The fact that the Middle East’s demographics are heavily skewed towards youth (one in five 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 significant cost saving. If you have a community built around your online publication, you benefit from user generated content, one-on-one interaction, affinity marketing and of course the creation of a data asset,” says Vaile.

“A media company could use Facebook advertising 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 diversification of revenue sources is inevitable, Vaile claims. He predicts a sustained period of consolidation in the near future.

“There is a swing [toward new revenue streams] and broadcasters are asking themselves how they are going to make money,” claims Vaile. “The advertising models are changing, the markets have shifted and the things that are driving spending are changing. We will see some merger and acquisition activity and some telco operators acquiring media companies three to five years from now.”

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COVER STORY

022 MARCH 2009

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COVER STORY

TELEVISIONARIES

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.

T

he content delivery industries in the Middle East have come along way in a very short time. Three 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; mobile, PC and television. There 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 flourished and the region’s first PVR boxes have been rolled out by pay TV operators.

These new services often depend on new network infrastructures tying the fates of the telecommunication and broadcast industries. This scenario has been seen in the region on several levels and in many forms. Satellite service operators and network infrastructure providers are benefiting from the broadcast boom, telcos are offering TV services – often via their own branded platforms – and the

internet is becoming a key source of legitimate, rights protected content.

Digital Broadcast offers the following 10 examples of broadcast innovation not as a quantified like-forlike 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. The development of untested business plans, public service provision, scale, pioneering network architectures and more have been considered 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.

25-40%

Percentage of internet traffic comprising of video and file sharing traffic

50%

Average percentage of population in the ‘net generation’, under 25 in territories included in PwC’s Arab Media Outlook report

NOKIA BRINGS GLOBAL MUSIC STRATEGY TO THE MIDDLE EAST The Nokia online music store, which launched in December 2008, is perhaps the most high-profile 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 www.digitalproductionme.com

rendered such an initiative doomed from the outset.

Nokia is the first 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 confident 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 possibility 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’s music business manager for the MEA region, Ayman Chalhoub.

MARCH 2009 023

COVER STORY

YAHSAT FACILITATES THE MIDDLE EAST’S ‘NET GENERATION’ YahClick will be available in 2011 says Yahsat, CCO, Shawkat Ahmed.

Abu Dhabi government backed satellite company Yahsat may not have launched any of its proposed satellites as of yet, however it has developed 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 penetration 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 broadband 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 Kaband 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 efficiency on the ground, which enables use of a smaller antenna size with a low power amplifier. 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 specific 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.”

BBC ARABIC UNIFIES OUTPUT AND EXPANDS ACROSS PLATFORMS four and sometimes five-fold increases in the The BBC Arabic service has grown rapidly of number of page impressions generated on this late and now includes various mobile offerings platform,” claims El Sokkari. “In addition to available in an increasing number of markets this we recently launched a news video bulin the Middle East and beyond, a redesigned letin for mobile devices. It is currently offered website with video and audio content and a by an operator in Saudi and we are working to 24-hour TV news channel. forge more partnerships.”

“We believe that our audiences in the Arab El Sokkari identifies the extension of the world should be getting a consistent stream of content on all our platforms,” says Hosam El Sokkari, head of BBC Arabic. “Our teams work collaboratively El Sokkari claims BBC Arabic’s multiplatform to make sure that each platform is approach is essential. used to its full capacity.”

El Sokkari points out that BBC Arabic is currently providing 72 hours of news content across three separate 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

024 MARCH 2009

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 maintaining on TV the same editorial values associated with our radio and online operations for the past seven decades,” adds El Sokkari.

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COVER STORY

ARAB MEDIA GROUP INVESTS FOR THE LONG TERM The region now has a well-documented collection of media free zones and production cities with more planned in Saudi Arabia and Qatar in the coming years.

The advertised benefits 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 dedicated 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 publicity 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 support it in the region becomes operational.

This demonstrates ATN’s long term planning and shows that a media free zone can offer substantial operational benefits above and beyond the plush office space and tax breaks that appear .

AMG CEO Abdullatif Al Sayegh.

ABU DHABI MEDIA COMPANY LEGITIMISES ONLINE CONTENT DELIVERY

ADMC’s Ricky Ghai looks to undercut the pirates.

026 MARCH 2009

GETMO Arabia’s main credentials as an innovator come largely with the online content store’s business plan.

In recognition of the Middle East’s rampant piracy and counterfeiting activity, the Abu Dhabi Media Company (ADMC) chose to look for ways to reduce or even completely 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 available, 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 mobile content such as wallpapers. Critically, all of this content is rights protected offering a legal – and often free – alternative to illegal P2P file sharing platforms.

At GITEX 2008, the platform announced a tie up with Samsung mobile connecting customers who purchase Samsung phones directly into the site.

GETMO is just one part of ADMC’s digital initiatives, which also include football portal GoalArabia.com and the online homes of ADMC’s stable of print and broadcast entities, such as UAE daily newspaper The National.

www.arabianbusiness.com/media_marketing

COVER STORY

MBC AND ETISALAT EXPLOIT BUMPER RAMADAN AUDIENCES WITH DEDICATED ONLINE PLAYER The region’s largest FTA TV network had a busy year and as usual, the Ramadan musalsals 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 programming and drive traffic through its website and promote its brand while the respective telco partners see increased traffic and data usage in the

Dr. Ammar Bakkar, MBC’s head of new media promises more webbased and online content.

case of the mobisodes as well as benefiting from the positive brand association.

Both operations show that the region is not merely talking about these platforms but is actively pursuing them.

“The success of the venture will hopefully offer new opportunities for our viewers to interact with our infotainment,” says Dr. Ammar Bakkar, head of New Media, MBC.

www.gulfmedcom.com

The Power of Talking Heads

Media

Gulf Media Co. is achieving serious milestones in accomplishing the restoration and archiving of Kuwait TV film library. “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 Bahrain, Qatar and Oman. Gulf Media Company is one of the Mr. Khalid Al-Aamiri largest providers of integrated turnkey media solutions in the Gulf Region for establishing, generating, managing, and “Gulf Media is spreading horiallocating high-end media related affairs. Mr. Al-Aamiri add- zontally providing ed “Our market segments are divided among governmen- turnkey video and tal ministries of information, private channels and studios, audio integrated sysbroadcasting networks, producers, gigantic private media tems for steady and mobile broadcast libraries and high-tech advertising agencies.” With Harris such as studios and Broadcasting Corporation as an exclusive strategic partner, OB Vans”. Says Gulf Media slowly but surely is dominating the Gulf market Mr. Al-Aamiri in the field of film restoration and archiving due to its tactical planning and its high expertise effort in this field of interest.

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“With a battery of professionals Gulf Media is planning insistently 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 locations 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 cameras, which was considered one of the biggest HD/OB provided

by Gulf Media in the region.” said Mr. Al-Aamiri.

MARCH 2009 027

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COVER STORY

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 represent the entire on-film 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 film.

Systems integrator Saudi technical Engineering 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 workflow for the MOCI. Thomson’s ContentShare2 media management and automation system have been installed to feed Thomson Grass Valley K2 media servers with NETIA providing tools for restoration, digitisation 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 BROADCASTING The cost of building the new network infrastructure 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 profitable of these spread across the region, operators can often struggle to find an audience large enough to justify the initial outlay required.

S2M has developed a satellite/terrestrial 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

030 MARCH 2009

Group. “This platform is technically and commercially proven to deliver high quality video and audio while sharing the infrastructure between several countries thus substantially reducing the costs of deploying and operating the service.”

The repeater network is designed to boost signals in densely populated areas or where direct 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 applications. Basic packages will start at less than US $10 per month for unlimited TV viewing,” says Harzallah.

S2M’s Wejdi Harzallah is confident the platfrom will offer cost cuts to operators.

www.arabianbusiness.com/media_marketing

COVER STORY

ORANGE JORDAN LAUNCHES REGION’S FIRST TRUE IPTV SERVICE There is much talk about the benefits 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 Jordan Telecom Group, under the Orange brand, launched the Middle East’s first IPTV service.

The TV from Orange service has been operational for almost six months. The premium package (priced at around $35 per month) offers 25 channels plus many of the benefits

that cannot be provided by satellite DTH services. These benefits include initiating user profiles to offer a degree of parental control and a VOD platform offers movies and films 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 international trends,” Mickael Ghossein, CEO, Jordan Telecom Group.

Combining internet, voice and TV services has proven lucrative in other markets.

In the UK, dominant broadband supplier BT has attracted almost 400,000 subscribers 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.

Jordan Telecom Group CEO Mickael Ghossein says the service keeps the firm up to date with international trends.

QTEL ON THE BRINK OF NATIONAL DVB-H MOBILE TV LAUNCH CEO Dr. Nasser Marafih is leading Qtel towards increased content delivery services.

032 MARCH 2009

Although the accolade of being region’s first commercial DVB-H service may now be snatched from under their noses by the Mobision platform in Iraq, Qtel’s own mobile TV offering expected later in 2009 will still be highly significant.

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. www.arabianbusiness.com/media_marketing

see Hitachi at Cabsat 2009 on stand LC-1

PLATFORMS: FOX

034 MARCH 2009

www.digitalproductionme.com

PLATFORMS: FOX

OUTFOXED

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.

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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 partnership 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.

The 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.

The once-dormant sector had been dominated to date by Saudi-based pan-Arab broadcaster MBC, whose formula of broadcasting Hollywood feature films 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 opportunities 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.

This scenario prompted a dramatic shift in regional TV marketing strategies, which had previously 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

www.digitalproductionme.com

ROHIT D’SILVA CV Rohit 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.

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-language TV portfolio consisting of music, general entertainment and reality channels. The 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 commercial opportunities for the company’s planned expansion in the region.

“FTA viewer numbers in the Middle East are massive 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 complex 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.”

This 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-

MARCH 2009 035

PLATFORMS: FOX

One of the more unlikely challenges facing new free-to-air (FTA) channels entering the market centres on the negotiation of carriage agreements with pay TV networks operating in the region.

A report published on DigitalProductionME.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-profile and first-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 first time du has been slow to act in this regard – a near two-month gap separated the official 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 Showtime IPTV subscribers before the end of February.”

A du customer service representative was unavailable for comment at the time of press.

036 MARCH 2009

BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS

CARRIAGE CHALLENGES

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.

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 definitely reaping the benefits 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 massive boost to the local operation’s regional profile.

“Globally, we operate 20 channel brands, and we have 95 feeds of these channels in various markets worldwide. There 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.”

The 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.

“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 the GCC countries.

“Yes, there are 400 channels operating here, but we have a distinct advantage over our competitors both in terms of branding and the content we offer. We’re very positive about the future, given the success we’ve achieved in a relatively short period of time.

“The 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 differs greatly from many other regional broadcasters.”

D’silva also argues that the combined experience offered by the various FIC subsidiaries operating worldwide provides significant 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. “There are new Fox-branded channels launching somewhere in the world every single month. We are competing internally and learning www.digitalproductionme.com

PLATFORMS: FOX

from one another: which scheduling, branding and packaging strategies work best both in individual markets and across the board.

“We are very confident that this collective experience will benefit 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. The channel is the first dedicated 24hour US series TV channel operating in the Middle East.

Interestingly, and despite the initial branding rights association with Fox and its various production divisions, 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 American 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

www.digitalproductionme.com

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 the GCC countries.

ROHIT D’SILVA General manager, FIC.

deal with Fox, which comprises of first-run movies and CDs. We managed to secure this deal from a competitor [MBC] when we first 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 confirms.

“There are a lot of similarities between us and our competitors. Rotana has multiple channels in various markets, as does MBC and LBC. The key lies in differentiating our offering from theirs.

“The Middle East is still an evolving market, so there’s plenty more growth here, for sure.”

MARCH 2009 037

ADVERTISING PROMOTION

d n o y Be leware d d i M

What is Latens ECOsystem?

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 flexibility. Using their technical knowledge and market experience 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.

www.latens.com Latens Systems Ltd, Aisling House, Stranmillis Embankment, Belfast, BT9 5FL. Tel: +44 (0)2890 998240

e

The advantages of Latens ECO 1. Technical Developed on the latest technology platforms, ECO allows operators to easily create and run a series of applications at low cost and of great benefit 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

What does Latens ECO offer the operator?

Firstly ECO 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.

Secondly ECO 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 headends, VOD and STBs, ECO provides a proven solution that allows operators to launch services quickly.

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 of 4 technicians.

Thirdly

Summary

ECO 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.

Latens 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.

Our products are open standards compliant which allows operators to easily integrate to external or back office systems such as SMS or billing systems.

INDUSTRY SERVICES: KIT DIGITAL

040 MARCH 2009

www.digitalproductionme.com

INDUSTRY SERVICES: KIT DIGITAL

KITTED OUT

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.

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ast year IP video technology provider KIT Digital relocated its executive offices to Dubai as part of its ambitious plans to establish itself as the leader in its field.

“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 offices are spread across the world. In the process we have basically 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 fields (Australian content management systems vendor Morpheum, Czech IPTV solutions provider Visual Connection and Swedish mobile TV firm 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, endto-end technology supplier in our space but to achieve that we needed to

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 CAMPION President, KIT Digital.

www.digitalproductionme.com

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 possibility of KIT making further acquisitions in the future.

“We have an ongoing, active merger and acquisition process in the company and we will always seek best practise, pioneering, market leading technology that allows us to monetise a client’s business, connect their brands and their consumers and do so at a profit. 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 profitable business.”

Campion says the company is well placed financially, and is “running on its own fuel”, which he points out is unusual for technology firms in this sector.

The 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

MARCH 2009 041

INDUSTRY SERVICES: KIT DIGITAL

that. Around 35 percent of our business is from the Asia-Pacific region, 56 percent from Europe and 10 percent from the US, which is a good position to be in. The acquisitions made a considerable contribution to this.”

With the company having moved its headquarters 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 firmly on the broadcast and telco markets. That is a function of a number of factors. 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.”

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 traffic 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 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,” claims Campion.

With more of these new services coming online all the time, Campion believes that the company’s tailored approach could prove attractive, offering operators more flexibility with the option to launch new services “with the flick of a switch”.

“Generally, most of the enquiries we receive at the moment are about STB and browser based technologies with most people definitely flagging mobile for the future,” says Campion.

The slowdown has led some to believe that spending on new technology will be prioritised over the next few years and that established, traditional services will take precedent over what some may view as untried, experimental offerings.

“In times of trouble the first budget that gets cut

042 MARCH 2009

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 CAMPION President, KIT Digital.

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?’ They are not coming to us and asking to cut their costs, they want to find new revenue streams. The 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 demonstrate and quantify the value of the services on offer.

“There 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, technology 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 playlists; 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.

These tool sets and the analytical support behind them are a large part of the company’s offering 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. This 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.” www.digitalproductionme.com

INFRASTRUCTURE: SET TOP BOXES

N I D E BOX ) e set top box (STB th g n ri te n e s ie rt et new pa With a number of ats from games consoles and intern re et. space recently, th asking questions of the STB mark re based platforms a vestigates. in s internet conDigital Broadcast 360 platform ha ntent is now ccessing video co st number possible via a va works born of methods. Net rticularly on the web – pa ble on y creasingl availa YouTube – are in Bs and ST TV ng di clu s in lly different platform ua in dcasters are cont traditional broa e. lin on accessibility expanding their e crosses enabling thes gi lo no The tech tionality improved func overs are adding rosoft’s ic experiences. M and better user

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044 MARCH 2009

Xbox hard iFi if you like), a nectiv ity (by W ry social ta rie op bility, a pr drive, HD capa ) and form (Xbox Live community plat (Xbox e line content stor a dedicated on ce).

Live Marketpla e a PV R, might sound lik is th While all lled into and more all ro VOD platform at it is ny maintains th one the compa 360 as a ox sition the Xb not look ing to po b. home media hu

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INFRASTRUCTURE: SET TOP BOXES

“The 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. The Xbox is a gaming device first, but we also want to provide an entertainment offering as part of the experience.”

Di Piazza claims that the Xbox Live Marketplace portal offers the largest supply of downloadable HD content in the US and currently boasts 16-17 million users daily. The 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 offering 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 providers involved,” says Shane McCarthy, group account director, Pace. “There 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 benefit 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 different signals remains limited. The 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.

“This also enables them to become media servers and therefore allows push content via fire-walled player portals. In some systems like the PS3, DVB tuners via USB connections are being added allowing for freeview only content.”

Tometzki expects to see both types of devices www.digitalproductionme.com

embrace increased storage with both pursuing 1Tb capacities. He also expects to see more STBs including Blu-ray drives as the available catalogue expands.

However, he believes that connectivity will be the key differentiator 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 certainly doesn’t fit all. The 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. The 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 inbuilt ability to comply with DRM protection.

“Delivering content to a range of devices – consoles or computers – makes content security extremely difficult. 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.

“The pay TV market has evolved rapidly over the past decade and this has been driven by STB development, 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.

This switch in the leader of innovation has not just been from one device to another. There has also been a switch in the industry behind these services. Several companies with core business interests elsewhere have developed media products and specifically user interfaces (UI) that have surpassed what was previously on offer, raising expectations along the way.

Creating a single home entertainment hub is preferable from a consumer perspective, but has the potential to present problems for the service providers involved.

SHANE MCCARTHY Group account director, Pace.

MARCH 2009 045

INFRASTRUCTURE: SET TOP BOXES

“The 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. That means releasing a better product into the market, with better graphics capability, suitable UIs that can compete with Apple plus all the additional functionality.

At the moment, the operators are somewhat behind.

They 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.

“They need to think more about home networking, DNLA support (the standard associated with the Digital Living Network Alliance) and distribution to other devices and continuing to secure exclusive rights to content. This means that the digital rights of this content must also be transferred between devices,” explains Borland.

046 MARCH 2009

10% Worldwide growth in STB shipments in 2009 versus 2008

20%

Global increase in number of ‘digital households’ in the same year

US $19bn

Peak of STB revenues, estimated to occur in 2011

10%

Predicted annual decline in STB revenue from 2011 onwards SOURCE: IMS Research 2009

This is less complicated than it may sound, according to Borland. AES encryption algorithms – often used to secure Wi-Fi networks – are compatible 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 specifically, Borland believes that a combination of attitude and broadening fibre networks, put the region in a strong position to be fully exploiting all the capabilities of a future STB or home gateway. There are difficulties however.

“The biggest challenge facing the Middle East pay TV market is the growing availability of high quality FTA channels, which makes consumers reluctant to spend unnecessarily.” says McCarthy. “This 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.”

www.digitalproductionme.com

CASE STUDY

L L O P OLL P O T ok at the vided o l a s e k a o oadcast t twork pr Digital Br ewsgathering ne during the n satellite hannel Alsumaria n. for Iraqi c qi national Electio recent Ira

048 MARCH 2009

www.digitalproductionme.com

CASE STUDY

Alsumaria used Servicesat’s system to broadcast live from five cities across Iraq on election day. Delays in the tendering process gave Servicesat just one month to assemble, design and implement the network.

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 five field 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 five major cities simultaneously. Th is offered them the flexibility to ‘follow the news’ over the course of the day wherever it broke.

“The major challenge for Servicesat and Alsumaria was having to work within a tight time frame,” says Alex Oikononou, technical director Servicesat. “The 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 coordination 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 significant challenge of bringing together all the necessary hardware components within the narrow timeframe.

“Fortunately we have sufficient equipment supplies of our own to release inventory immediately.

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The major challenge for Servicesat and Alsumaria was having to work within a tight time frame... The systems were being set up just one day prior to the elections.

ALEX OIKONONOU Technical director, Servicesat.

We also have excellent relationships with a production unit in the United States which has the quickest 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.

“The Direcstar auto-deploy antenna is a onetouch 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 compression 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 discussions with Alsumaria regarding future collaborations after the broadcaster was highly satisfied 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.

MARCH 2009 049

TECHNOLOGY

GO WITH THE FLOW Driven by the demand of ‘instant access’ to media, the streamlining of workflows and the perceived financial savings that this would bring, content owners and broadcasters alike are embracing the concept of filebased technology, writes Greg Hoskin.

050 MARCH 2009

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TECHNOLOGY

T

he media industry has processed videos as fi les for some time as fi le-based editing, digital graphic creation and other special effects, 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 transparent workflow throughout the content distribution chain from acquisition and ingest, right through to transmission.

However to embrace the real benefits that fi lebased workflow 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 benefits of such a solution, companies need to engage in developing new workflows practices and harnessing the advantages that these technologies bring.

With traditional tape-based workflows, 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 operators, 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 significant to the success of a fi le-based operation.

Systems must provide a user-friendly and intuitive desktop experience combined with superb media delivery. Broadcasters will need to allocate time and money to train their staff while manufacturers must develop systems that can be easily and quickly adopted across a facility – while at the same time meeting the workflow requirement and company’s business needs. Ultimately they need to simplify the business process of content management and bring clearly identifiable cost and revenue benefits.

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With... the increasing expectation from the viewer for immediate results, a file-based workflow is the only practical way for content to be simultaneously delivered in today’s multi-platform environment.

GREG HOSKIN Managing director, MHz Broadcast.

However clients often make these fundamental decisions without obtaining the true facts or setting 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 expectations, and then review and evaluate potential applications with their corresponding configurations. Those 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 workflows is no trivial task since the media can be encoded (digitised) in any one of many different formats and resolutions – each delivering a specific benefit, although often incompatible with each other. Furthermore equipment interoperability is paramount. Today we see different equipment vendors each putting their own interpretation on the industry’s best efforts to standardise interfacing thus hindering the true implementation of seamless fi le-based workflows.

That said, the industry has for many years been striving to develop workable interoperability standards. 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 specific 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 workflows, focusing on creating a single MXF master fi le from which multiple versions of a program may be created.

Last year Harris opened the first “Interoperability Lab” seen in the industry at its Toronto headquarters to ensure that interoperability issues amongst its own products, as well as those with third party products, were identified before they popped up in the field. These initiatives are all heading in the right direction as they ultimately provide best working practices for everyone in the business.

MARCH 2009 051

TECHNOLOGY

Part of the AZCAR Group, MHz plays a significant role in designing 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 implementation from engineering planning, project management, design, product evaluation, commissioning 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 file-based installations 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 file-based workflows, the project also included two new DSNG trucks to handle the news coverage in and around Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban. These were designed and built at MHz’s UK headquarters and incorporate MHz’s internally-designed innovative satellite remote-control system, M2RC, which offers cost-effective and simple remote control capabilities.

052 MARCH 2009

COMPANY PROFILE

MHZ BROADCAST

Newscasters have been particularly keen to embrace digital workflows due to the improvements they create when handling there large archives.

With all this in mind, it is possible today to design and deliver operational benefits from filebased workflow solutions. In fact with competitive challenges to the traditional broadcast model, and the increasing expectation from the viewer for immediate results, a file-based workflow 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.

The process of determining the optimum workflow for a facility therefore involves various considerations. Improved workflows and the resulting efficiencies may in fact enable a content owner and broadcaster to use less physical space, thereby 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 reliability levels and robustness of a complete file-based

solution is at least on a par with the “perceived” security offered 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 commercial 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 file-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. The choice of an experienced systems integration partner is a fundamental 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 efficiencies are maintained across the operation 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.

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INDUSTRY EVENTS

INDUSTRY EVENTS The digital content delivery sector’s top forthcoming industry events in the spotlight CABSAT 2009 3 – 5 March Dubai, UAE www.cabsat.com

IPTV WORLD FORUM 25 – 27 March London, UK www.iptv-forum.com

054 MARCH 2009

AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING SUMMIT 2009 4 – 5 March Sydney, Australia www.acevents.com. au/broadcasting2009

BROADBAND GLOBAL SUMMIT 10 – 11 March Dubai, UAE www.broadbandglobalsummit.com

CEBIT 3 – 8 March Hannover, Germany www.cebit.de

MIPTV 2009 30 March – 3 April Cannes, France www.miptv.com

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vision through innovation

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DATA

150

50 TOTAL HD CHANNELS TOTAL TPEs LEASED FOR HD 40

90

30

60

20

30

10

0

0

20 17

20 16

20 15

20 14

20 13

20 12

20 11

20 10

20 09

20 08

20 07

TPEs

CHANNELS

120

MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA HD CHANNELS AND TPE TRENDS

DATA

SOURCE: Northern Sky Research

DEFINED GROWTH A new report predicts 2400 percent growth in the number of HD channels in MENA over a ten year period.

T

elecoms analyst Northern Sky Research (NSR) recently released the fifth edition of its Global Assessment of Satellite Demand study.

The report forecasts an increase in HD channels in the Middle East and Africa of 2400 percent between 2007 and 2017. The number of channels added each year will vary with an average growth rate of 38 percent till 2017. This equates to an average 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.

The 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

056 MARCH 2009

87 million Number of households worldwide with HD capable TVs in 2007.

500 million Number of households worldwide with HD capable TVs in 2012.

110 million Number of those that receive only SD services.

SOURCE: Screen Digest.

East spots, the Eutelsat’s 13 degrees East Hotbird fleet and the Turksat fleet are responsible for much of this overlapping coverage.

Even when accounting for these channels, the level of growth remains strong and NSR recognises 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 fleet of satellites that will serve the region by 2017.

The report also points out the significance of the improved signal compression of HD signals stating 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. The resulting 60 percent gain in efficiency will provide a significant boost to the ability of the region’s satellite hardware to provide the highly sought after capacity.

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Make sure it works!

Broadcast network planning and measurement

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