Issue 90 | DECEMBER 2017
Publication licensed by Dubai Production City
MENA TV’s
movers & shakers Celebrating the best of the industry at ASBU BroadcastPro Selevision Awards 2017
GTV PROUDLY PRESENTS THE WORLD PREMIERE OF
ART IN THE C TY
Join GTV, the homegrown, globally-recognised production house, as it showcases its exceptional documentary commissioned by Meraas—a film about 16 of the world’s most influential street artists applying their craft to the walls of City Walk, Dubai.
Friday - December 8th - 6 pm. The Beach - JBR. Free admission. Learn more about GTV Film Production’s local and international work at www.gtv.ae
PROintRO
Managing Director Raz Islam raz.islam@cpitrademedia.com +971 (0) 4 375 5471 Editorial Director Vijaya Cherian vijaya.cherian@cpitrademedia.com +971 (0) 4 375 5472 EDITORIAL Editor Vijaya Cherian vijaya.cherian@cpitrademedia.com +971 (0) 55 105 3787
Welcome
Assistant Editor Supriya Srinivas supriya.srinivas@cpitrademedia.com +971 (0) 4 375 5478 Sub Editor Aelred Doyle ADVERTISING Group Sales Director Sandip Virk sandip.virk@cpitrademedia.com +971 (0) 50 929 1845 DESIGN Art Director Simon Cobon MARKETIING Marketing Manager Sheena Sapsford sheena.sapsford@cpitrademedia.com +971 (0)4 375 5498 CIRCULATION & PRODUCTION Production Manager Vipin V. Vijay vipin.vijay@cpitrademedia.com +971 (0)4 375 5713 Circulation Manager Sunil Kumar sunil.kumar@cpitrademedia.com +971 4 375 5476 DIGITAL SERVICES Mohammad Awais Sadiq Siddiqui
The survival of the MENA media industry is at stake with the impending arrival of FANG (Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google – although a more recent modified coinage has been FANGA, with Apple joining the bandwagon)! Are we ready? This was the key takeaway from the ASBU BroadcastPro Selevision Summit last month, where the CEOs of some of the most high-profile media entities in the region congregated to discuss the best way forward. The threat is no longer from within but from external forces – particularly FANG, which is taking over the world of entertainment with more investment, more daring and varied content, more universal distribution and the power to take away the advertising dollars. There was a sense of urgency as MBC Group CEO Sam Barnett urged the decision makers in the room to put aside their differences and come together on a common platform: “I’m offering you Shahid ... if you would like to come and put your content on this platform… we don’t want your money… come and make your advertising dollars on the platform...
FOUNDER
yes, the platform will get stronger, but we will benefit from such a collaboration.” Martin Stewart, CEO of OSN, and most of the others on the panel agreed that collaboration and partnership are the way forward, and he said he had his pen ready, although he seemed sceptical about any regional collaboration coming to fruition. It does seem, however, that some serious talks on collaboration have been taking place, and I won't be surprised if we hear collaborative announcements in the near future. On another note, the ASBU BroadcastPro Summit and Awards hit some record numbers in terms of attendance, with more than 300 industry executives joining us during the day and a little under 400 at the gala awards. This is one of our most celebrated issues with some of the most influential people in the industry coming together and it resonates with the grandeur and joy of the Christmas season. See you next month! Until then, enjoy.
Vijaya Cherian, Editorial Director
Dominic De Sousa (1959-2015) PRINTED BY ISSUE 90 | DECEMBER 2017
Publication licensed by Dubai Production City
Printwell Printing Press LLC
On this month's cover…
Let’s create a vibrant online broadcast community!
Published by MENA TV’S
MOVERS & SHAKERS Celebrating the best of the industry at ASBU BroadcastPro Selevision Awards 2017
Licensed by TECOM to registered company,
@BroadcastProME www.facebook.com/BroadcastProME BroadcastProME
The winners of the ASBU BroadcastPro Selevision Awards of 2017.
CPI Trade Publishing FZ LLC whose registered office is 207 – 209, Building 3, Dubai Studio City, Dubai, UAE. www.cpitrademedia.com © Copyright 2017 CPI. All rights reserved.
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December 2017 | www.broadcastprome.com | 3
NETWORK. AUDIO. VIDEO. CONTROL.
Broadcast Broadcast Welcome to Broadcast 3.0
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PROCONTENTS
Inside this issue 07 NEWS Vice Arabia launches with Bil Arabi, Nat Geo Kids Abu Dhabi launched, Arab Format Lab and DISCOP invite pitches, Zee Weyyak hits 1 million, DIFF world premiere for GTV doco, Bahrain Cinema posts record profits and more
December 2017 gtv Doco'S WorlD PrEmiErE
caN araBic coNtENt travEl?
16 Summit 2017 A ringside view of what the more-than-300 delegates watched
18 coNtENt caN travEl Panel 1: Content creators and strategists discuss why Arabic content has not enjoyed international success
7
18 moNEtiSiNg ott aND morE
23 ott - thE NEW Normal Panel 2: OTT operators and a telco player chart the way forward
28 tEch travailS Panel 3: Breaking down the new-age concepts of blockchain, cloud, AI and more
23 tEch EXPErtS DEBatE
34 hD iN thE mENa A whopping growth since 2016 in HDTV reception in MENA: Eutelsat research
28
36 cEoS coNvErSE
cEoS chart thE courSE
Panel 4: Eminent CEOs offer multiple strategies to achieving growth
42 aND thE WiNNEr iS... Here's why our 17 entries won
58 caBSat PrEviEW An overview of products and solutions from more than 130 participating countries
64 comBatiNg Piracy Johan Bolin of Edgeware describes a unique watermark.
36 December 2017 | www.broadcastprome.com | 5
AMTDubai
advanced_media_uae
amt_dubai
AdvancedMediaDubai
PROnews
Vice Arabia launches with Bil Arabi Vice Media has unveiled its MENA platform Vice Arabia with an original Arabic production, an hour-long documentary titled Bil Arabi. The documentary highlights the perspectives of Arab youth on modern-day life in the MENA region. Spanning 12 Arab cities, the film covers a wide range of topics including religion, politics, love and money, as well as how it feels to be an Arab millennial in 2017.
Vice Media's regional hub is based in Abu Dhabi. The Middle East launch follows a wave of recent global rollouts from Vice Media, with its video content slated to reach 80 territories by early 2018. Earlier this year, the youth-focused company inked deals that saw its presence expand across South Africa with Econet Media, Brazil with Globosat, the Middle East with Moby Group, India with Times of India, and Iberia with AMC Networks International.
Abu Dhabi Media announces Nat Geo Kids Abu Dhabi
Officials from Abu Dhabi Media and Fox at the launch with children who attended the event.
National Geographic Kids Abu Dhabi, a global first for the brand, was announced last month as part of a high-profile launch between Abu Dhabi Media and National Geographic. The new channel, a Fox product, will bring a variety of factual entertainment to children in the region, covering science, exploration, adventure and wildlife. All shows will be dubbed to Arabic. National Geographic Kids will also produce local programmes such as I am a Little National Geographic Photographer. The sixepisode programme will be presented in the form of challenges in which contestants will
discover different locations in Abu Dhabi. A jury will then select a winner to be the " Little National Geographic Photographer of 2018". The channel aims to reach 26% of children in the Arab world who represent the segment that views FTA channels. Children who view paid channels constitute only about 7% regionally. Abdul Rahman Al Harthi, Executive Director of the Department of Television at Abu Dhabi Media said: "Abu Dhabi Media has succeeded in developing its edutainment offering in the last three years with the Majid Kids TV channel. Today, we are moving to the next level by launching a channel with content that fuels the interest of our children and fosters a culture of learning and exploration delivered in an innovative, experiential format." Commenting on the launch, Sanjay Raina, General Manager and Senior Vice President of Fox Networks Group, added: “With up to 95 million under the age of 14 in the region, this channel is anticipated to be one of the most popular for kids across the region.”
VuClip announces Arabic and Asian original productions VOD service provider, Vuclip, has announced that one of its many original productions for the Arab world, Hob Al Tayebin, a family comedy, produced in partnership with Saudi-based entertainment company UTurn, will be online from December 2017. The platform will
also launch ten Asian Viu originals in the Middle East. “Globally, our originals have been very well received by Viu’ers and this propels us to create many more fresh and engaging originals for a youthful audience,” commented Arun Prakash, President and COO of Vuclip.
Prior to this role, John Saad worked in the telco sector.
iflix MENA appoints John Saad as CEO iflix has announced the appointment of telecommunications industry executive John Saad as its new CEO for the MENA region. With more than 15 years of commercial and marketing experience in the mobile telecommunications sector, Saad worked previously with Mobily in Saudi Arabia and Vodafone in Egypt and Qatar. Nader Sobhan, who used to head the MENA office, will shift to a new global role as Strategic Advisor working closely with iflix Cofounder and Group CEO, Mark Britt.
In brief
Arun Prakash, President and COO of VuClip.
Marwan Shehab, who used to head Voddler's Middle East operations has joined Qwilt as VP EMEA. He will be based in Dubai.
December 2017 | www.broadcastprome.com | 7
PROnews
Arab Format Lab and DISCOP invite pitches
Khulud Abu Homos, CEO of Arab Format Lab.
beIN expands cricket offering The best of English cricket will soon be broadcast across MENA following a deal signed by the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and beIN Media Group. Alongside the agreement, beIN has also announced plans to introduce a dedicated beIN Sports cricket channel in the MENA region in 2018. Under the six-year deal, beIN will screen premium cricket clashes including India’s 2018 and 2022 tours to England, as well as the Ashes series in the UK in 2019. beIN recently announced an exclusive deal to broadcast Cricket Australia content in the MENA region, starting with the 2017-18 Ashes series. beIN will broadcast cricket in more than 24 countries, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt and Morocco.
Arab Format Lab, a content developer, producer and distributor with offices in Dubai, Cairo and Jeddah, has partnered with DISCOP Dubai to unveil the Arab Format Accelerator, a matchmaking and pitching programme facilitating the commerce of TV adaptation rights into the Middle East. Arab Format Accelerator will run parallel to the three-day entertainment content market from February 25-27. International adaptation right holders and local producers will be invited to “elevator pitch” their scripted and unscripted TV shows in front of a live audience.
The pitches will be directed to key production, commissioning and marketing executives seeking to adapt fresh ideas for Middle East TV audiences. Arab Format Accelerator will culminate with an awards ceremony, where innovative international and locally developed formats will be awarded in different categories. Speaking about the initiative, Khulud Abu Homos, CEO of Arab Format Lab stated: “I’m honoured to be appointed as chairperson of Arab Format Accelerator. Submission processes to pitch content began last month.”
Deluxe spotlights IP at workshop Deluxe conducted a half-day demo of the Deluxe Broadcast Delivery Network. Anders Hoog, VP/principal architect, video transport platforms for Deluxe focused on the cloud-based content delivery solution enabling broadcasters to deliver HD-quality broadcast content directly into their facility. “First and foremost, the solution aims to help linear broadcasters achieve their goals to be able to receive large scale events and have a global reach – in terms of
Attendees at the Deluxe event.
8 | www.broadcastprome.com | December 2017
receiving feeds from other countries and broadcasting your own content to a larger global audience. The broadcast delivery network is built on the public internet. We have the same geographical span as the internet has," Hoog said. Confirming that there will be trials in the region, Paul Wallis, Director and SVP Media Cloud for Deluxe added: “We are hoping to test the system with a major broadcaster in the region including a trial with a sporting event in a neighbouring GCC country.”
Gerry O'Sullivan.
New VP for Global TV & Video at Eutelsat Eutelsat has appointed Gerry O’ Sullivan as Executive VP, Global TV and Video. In his new role, he will drive the product development strategy that ensures that Eutelsat continues to offer customers video services across its global footprint. O’ Sullivan has experience creating commercial, marketing, operational and technical strategies for leading broadcasters and system operators, including the BBC, BSkyB, Deutsche Telekom, Digicel, Fox News and ABC.
The all new Ultimatte 12 features one touch keying, incredible new image and color processing for realistic composites, plus 12G-SDI for Ultra HD. Ultimatte 12 is more than the world’s best keyer, it’s an advanced real time compositing processor designed for next generation broadcast graphics. Ultimatte 12 features new algorithms and color science for incredible edge handling, greater color separation, amazing color fidelity and better spill suppression than ever before. You get real time cinematic quality keying in a 12G-SDI design that works in both HD and Ultra HD.
Incredible Color Fidelity Now you can faithfully reproduce bright colors that were impossible before! Ultimatte 12 has a huge internal color space, smooth transitions between colors and photorealistic compositing. This lets you retain and faithfully reproduce colors such as a bright yellow dress in front of a green screen. You get crisp clear images with vibrant colors that pop!
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PROnews
Turkmenistan TV expands OB fleet Sam Kiley.
Sky News journalist joins CNN Abu Dhabi
CNN has hired Sky News journalist Sam Kiley as senior international correspondent based out of its Middle East office in Abu Dhabi. Kiley has worked previously at the BBC, PBS and Sky News.
Zee Weyyak announces 1m unique users Zee’s new VOD portal Z5 Weyyak, which launched six months ago, reportedly had one million unique visits in October. The portal offers Bollywood and Arabic content in Arabic for Arab audiences. Speaking to BroadcastPro Middle East, Nadine Samra, VP Digital Business MEA, Z5X, Zee Entertainment, stated: “People have realised we create great experiences across multiple platforms and bring the highest quality of content they love. We were expecting to hit this number considering our growth figures. Exclusive content especially during Ramadan has helped and we are constantly building our library of Arabic content.”
Broadcast Solutions GmbH and Turkish company Polimeks have together delivered a fleet of eight vehicles (two sets) as part of a second phase to Turkmenistan TV. Each set of production vehicles delivered consists of an OB trailer, support tender, generator vehicle and an SNG. The last set, which was delivered this year, is a full UHD fleet. Polimeks is the general contractor for the Ashgabat Olympic Complex in Turkmenistan and coordinates all broadcast facilities on-site. All production resources were deployed at the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games that took place in September 2017 at Ashgabat Olympic Complex, Turkmenistan. Besides delivering the OB vans to Turkmenistan TV, Broadcast Solutions was on-site during the competitions to support the production and the teams. Broadcast Solutions previously delivered two sets of eight production vehicles to Polimeks Turkmenistan in 2015. The largescale contract was completed this year. To protect the vehicles, all trucks were placed on a flatbed truck to be transported to the customer. Part of the last set was a UHD/4K
Bahrain Cinema posts record $98m nine-month profit Bahrain Cinema Company, a major player in the entertainment industry in Bahrain, also known as Cineco, has announced a record net profit of USD 98 million for the nine-month period ending September 30, 2017. The increase in net profit is reportedly due to the sale of 50% of the assets of the City Centre Cinema location and the resultant fair value increase due to revaluation of the remaining 50% of the assets of the said Cinema. Cineco owns and operates a total of 49 cinema screens in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
10 | www.broadcastprome.com | December 2017
The interiors of the new fleet.
OB van with 15 cameras – the first ever 4K OB van in the Central-Asian country. On completing the project, Wladislaw Grabowski, COO at Broadcast Solutions and project manager stated: “This project was the continuation of our successful collaboration with Polimeks and Turkmenistan TV. "Although the schedule was very tight, and we completed building all eight vehicles in just seven months, we accomplished this project without any compromise on quality or on cutting-edge technology.”
Colors TV launches new show Indian entertainment channel, Colors TV, has launched Entertainment Ki Raat with stand-up comedy, musical rapping, drop the mic and celebrity chat segments. Spanning multiple segments in a one-hour episode, the show brings together an ensemble cast that includes Ravi Dubey, Dipika Kakar and Aditya Narayan with the ‘Drop The Mic’ segment that will challenge celebrities to sing. Entertainment Ki Raat will be aired in the UAE every Saturday and Sunday at 10pm.
Entertainment Ki Raat was launched in the UAE last month.
PROnews
GTV documentary set for world premiere at DIFF When 16 artists from around the world descended on Dubai to create art on walls, the property developer, Meraas, and Dubai-based production house, GTV Film Production, decided to tell their story. The 52-minute, feature length documentary Art in the City will have its world premiere on The Beach at JBR, on December 8 as part of DIFF 2017. The film follows the street artists as they create one-off masterpieces transforming City Walk, a development in the Jumeirah area of Dubai, into an open-air museum of street art. Directed by Tewe Pannier and produced by Fritzi Hirschmann, both from GTV Film Production, Art
An artist in action at City Walk.
in the City captures the unscripted, behind-the-scenes action with candid voiceovers by the artists as they choose their medium and canvas, and work towards creating the final artwork. Commenting on the logistics of the shoot, Pannier stated: “We deployed a crew of around 12 persons with Harvey Glenn as DOP. Overall, we shot for 16 days in Dubai and one
day in San Francisco. With large walls as canvases, our DOP spent a good amount of time shooting on a crane.” The striking visuals shift from colourful palms and fire hydrants covered with knitting by artist Magda Sayeg, the founder of the global yarn bombing movement, to the signature black rodent of Blek le Rat, known as the master
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of stencil art. Polish duo Etam Cru spent several days on a crane in the hot sun to create their six-storey high painting of a little girl, which is possibly the largest mural in the Middle East. Art in the City alternates seamlessly between the artist, the artwork and the creative process. Commenting on the approach to story-telling, Pannier stated: “We attempted to capture the passion driving these world-renowned artists through this documentary and that makes the content both unique and engaging. We are excited to have the world premiere on a prestigious platform such as the Dubai International Film Festival.”
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December 2017 | www.broadcastprome.com | 11
PROnews
VR, AR centrestage at InfoComm MEA 2017
InfoComm will take place at Dubai World Trade Centre from December 5-7, 2017.
Image Nation rewards filmmakers Image Nation Abu Dhabi crowned the winners of its sixth annual short film programme, Arab Film Studio. They were judged by a panel of regional filmmaking elite including Emirati film directors Nahla Al Fahad (The Tainted Veil), Ali Mostafa (The Worthy) and Majid Al Ansari (Zinzana). Nabil Chowdhary, 33, from United Kingdom scooped the AFS narrative award for his sci-fi thriller The Replacement. He will undertake a full-time internship with the Image Nation
narrative department. There was also recognition for the eleven Emirati ‘Young Filmmakers’ who participated in a threeweek summer workshop in partnership with NYU Abu Dhabi. Arab Film Studio is a short film programme that takes finalists on a seven-month filmmaking journey that mirrors the real process of developing and producing a film. It was created by Image Nation in 2011 in partnership with twofour54 to develop UAE nationals’ and residents’ filmmaking skills.
12 | www.broadcastprome.com | December 2017
InfoComm Middle East & Africa 2017 Summit will take centerstage at the Dubai World Trade Centre on December 5-7, with 40 free education sessions. Three industry associations — VR AR Association; Association of Professional Interior Designers; and International Live Events Association — will lend support, sharing insights on AV and experiential communications. More than 100 exhibiting companies from over 20
countries will be on deck to showcase their latest innovations. Virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) is a multi-billion dollar industry, expected to be worth USD 6 billion in the MENA region by 2020 and globally, $143.3 billion. Brought to the event by VR AR Association and InfoComm Middle East & Africa, the ‘VR AR Conference – The Immersive World’ will touch on how VR/AR technologies are changing the face of every industry.
Saudi version of Takeshi’s Castle to launch
GSA inks deal with TBS.
Saudi Arabia’s General Sports Authority (GSA), which is responsible for all sports-related actvities in the Kingdom, has partnered with Japan’s Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) to bring a new version of Takeshi’s Castle, the cult Japanese TV show, back to KSA. The show is returning for the first time since 1990. The Saudi version will debut in late 2018 across several of the country’s leading channels and see the fastpaced physical gameshow and its signature challenges within a Saudi setting. An Arab style castle featuring over 50 obstacles will be built in Riyadh over a period of 10
months, in a space of 300,000 sqm. The weekly programme will be open to everyone in the region and will run over 13 weeks, with huge prizes and new challenges each week. GSA Chairman, His Excellency Turki Al-Sheikh commented: “We are delighted to announce this partnership with TBS that will see Takeshi’s Castle make a return, with a new Saudi version debuting in the Kingdom at the end of next year. The GSA is actively developing all sports across Saudi Arabia and through the programme being screened by our leading channels, we hope to not just entertain but also inspire people to get out and try these new sports and activities for themselves.” Toshichika Ishihara, Chairman of the Tokyo Broadcasting System, added that the deal was part of 'Saudi Japan VISION 2030'.
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HDR Conversions FS-HDR is designed to bridge the conversions needed from wide camera color spaces and luminance ranges to HDR standards, and from SDR to HDR to integrate non-HDR materials into HDR programming, all in realtime. Inside FS-HDR is the new Colorfront Engine™, which provides realtime wide color gamut and high dynamic range processing for both HD and UltraHD, from the Academy Award® winning leaders in color management at Colorfront.
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PROnews
KSA and twofour54 to promote media The Media Zone Authority (MZA) – Abu Dhabi, the regulatory body of twofour54, and the General Commission of Audiovisual Media (‘GCAM’) of Saudi Arabia have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that will see both organisations collaborate on efforts to help grow the media sector in the region. The agreement aims to strengthen ties between both organisations, enhance the sharing of experiences and knowledge, and collaborate on initiatives that will support
From left: Redha bin Mohammed Al Haidar of GCAM and twofour54's Maryam Eid AlMheiri seal the deal.
Saudi Vison 2030’s goal to foster job creation and enable the establishment and growth of SMEs in the media sector.
Sennheiser appoints Technical Sales Manager ME Audio specialist Sennheiser has announced the appointment of Fadi Costantine as its new Technical Sales Manager in the Middle East. In this role, Fadi will primarily focus on supporting customers and growing Sennheiser’s footprint in the business communication, system integration and audio recording segments. Fadi holds a diploma in audio-visual and sound engineering from the Academie Des Sciences Cinématographiques Et Théâtrales in Lebanon, and has achieved several certifications from vendors including Electro Voice, Dynacord, Extron, AMX, Datasat, Biamp, and Audinate.
The agreement was signed by Her Excellency Maryam Eid AlMheiri, CEO of the Media Zone
Authority – Abu Dhabi and twofour54, and Redha bin Mohammed Al Haidar, General Director of GCAM, in a special ceremony hosted by twofour54. Over the last few years, twofour54 has signed an MoU with Saudi Broadcasting Corporation to exchange knowledge and has hosted delegates for training. twofour54 has also collaborated with O3 Productions on a state-of-the-art backlot in Abu Dhabi, where Saudi drama series are filmed.
SICFF reaches out to young filmmakers
Fox's Dana Walden joins Hulu Board Dana Walden, the cochairman and CEO of the Fox Television Group, has joined the board of directors of Hulu, the over-the-top streaming video service co-owned by 21st Century Fox, NBC, Universal, The Walt Disney Company and Time Warner. Fox has long had an active role in Hulu. Walden will join two other Fox executives on the streamer’s board: Fox digital president Brian Sullivan and 21st Century Fox president Peter Rice.
14 | www.broadcastprome.com | December 2017
The fifth Sharjah International Children’s Film Festival (SICFF) 2017 hosted more than 50 workshops during the festival, and continued to reach out to more young artists-in-the-making in different neighbourhoods of the emirate of Sharjah by taking some of their workshops to Dibba Al Hisn, Kalba and Khorfakkan. The films that were screened at the festival
this year continue to be shown at the Dibba Al Hisn Cultural Centre. Participation of 124 films from 31 countries, attendance of 70 directors, filmmakers and producers from around the world, social media influencers, and Hollywood movie stars like Jacob Tremblay, made this edition of the festival one of the most successful ones, the official release stated.
SICFF hosts workshops for young artists.
PROnews
MediaCast offers complete experience with BMD centre NewTek showcases IPbased workflow NewTek and MediaCast conducted two free training sessions presenting the range of NewTek solutions from cameras to integrated IP-based production systems last month in Dubai. Professionals from the fields of video for broadcast, sports, entertainment, education, corporate and government attended the session conducted by Chris Waddington, Senior Director of Sales, EMEA at NewTek. Products and solutions on display included Newtek’s video-over-IP technology NDI, NewTek Connect, TalkShow and the IPenabled camera, the NDI PTZ camera, among others. Speaking to BroadcastPro ME, Waddington stated: “We have customers asking about moving to 4K and the strategies to shift to IP. In a baseband world, there would be two upgrade cycles to get to 4K. However if you are aligning your 4K strategy with the move to IP, you are looking only at one upgrade cycle down the road. The beauty of IP is that it is far more scalable. You have the ability to scale your infrastructure infinitely by simply increasing network capacity making the process cost effective.”
at MediaCast said: “This experience centre is in line with how a typical Blackmagic workflow operates from acquisition to delivery. We have had major local channels visit us as well as representatives from post production houses. While an end-user wants one product in the ecosystem, we found that it makes an impact when they see it along with Peyman Dadpanah, Business Director, MediaCast. what comes before and after. MediaCast, Blackmagic Design’s The difference is remarkable. Now they authorised Middle East distributor, clearly see how a product adds value to launched its experience centre last their workflow and also discover if they month at its HQ in Dubai Media City, are missing anything. Moreover, our into showcase a glass-to-glass workflow house technical team drawn from various with the BMD range of products. fields of video and audio production fields Speaking to BroadcastPro ME are best placed to walk end-users through about the vision behind the centre, the Blackmagic Design workflow.” Dadpanah stated: “We wanted our Describing the centre as an immersive systems integrators and other endexperience beyond just browsing a users to look at the product range product catalogue, Dadpanah highlighted not just as isolated equipment but the growing market for Blackmagic as part of an entire workflow. Design beyond the Middle East. “Moreover, Blackmagic Design has a “For the past 10 years, we have been good number of OEM developers. We distributors for Blackmagic Design. We are trying to get people who are writing cover the entire Middle East and Turkey. and developing their own software using In the two-and-half years that we have BMD solutions to come here and integrate been in operation in Turkey, we have seen their products into this ecosystem.” amazing growth. Now, we are expanding Elaborating on the initiative, Jaffer into Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Sadique, Business Development Manager other countries in that region as well.”
Etisalat trials IPTV service on 4G network Etisalat has announced the successful completion of the first MENA IPTV service over an existing WTTx (4G) network trial. The trial is the first of its kind over an existing LTE network, and opens the doors to advanced 5G-era streaming services such as IPTV over existing wireless networks. On the successful trial, Saeed AlZarouni, Senior VP, Mobile Network, Etisalat said: “IPTV over WTTx will revolutionise TV service availability for Etisalat customers, making it seamless for them to watch subscription-based e-Life TV content across Etisalat’s 4G networks.”
Saeed AlZarouni, Etisalat.
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BroadcastPro summit: INdustry chArts A roAdMAp for MENA More than 300 professionals from the MENA broadcast industry gathered for a morning of rigorous debate at the annual ASBU BroadcastPro ME Selevision Summit 2017
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The industry turned out in full force for the annual ASBU BroadcastPro ME Selevision Summit on November 14 at the Habtoor Grand Hotel in Dubai. The morning session opened with a welcome address by Vijaya Cherian, Editor – BroadcastPro Middle East and Managing Partner & Editorial Director of publishers CPI Trade Media. Vijaya highlighted the seven years of close partnership and trust built with the industry. A brief comment on the publisher’s new autonomous avatar as CPI Trade Media was followed by an expression of appreciation for each of the sponsors. We make special mention here of Selevision, who has been our title sponsor for the last four years. Fox Networks Group, our welcome sponsor, distributed diaries to all attendees. This is the first year BroadcastPro ME has been able to attract broadcasters as sponsors for the event. A big thank you to Zee, which celebrated its 25th anniversary this year and Colors TV for adding colour to our event. To the applause of the audience, our free zone sponsor for the event, Sharjah Media City and its imminent launch in 2018, was announced. Special thanks to Irdeto, who has come forward as a panel sponsor every year and
added a lot of value to our discussions. We wanted to extend a big thank you to our category sponsors, Arabsat, Lawo, BS Broadcast and Eutelsat. Entertainer came on board this year and gave away its newly launched 2018 apps to our winners for 2017. This event is endorsed by the Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU), who has been with us from our inaugural edition. ASBU’s Director General Abdelrahim Suleiman received a commemorative plaque from Vijaya Cherian at the gala awards in the evening. The four panel discussions, moderated by industry experts, were wide-ranging and straddled the diverse worlds of content creation and technology. This issue features a detailed summary of the four panels and exclusive research from Eutelsat. Interspersed between panel discussions were attractive giveaways that included three Canon 7D cameras from Sharjah Media Free Zone, iPhone 8s from CMT Technologies, Atari consoles from Axon, Momentum headsets from Sennheiser and Entertainer apps. The afternoon concluded on a note of cautious optimism from the CEOs of the region’s major broadcasters.
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ThE GlobAl viAbiliTy of MENA coNtENt
The panel on MENA content could not predict where the region’s next internationally successful production will emerge, but agreed that the 30-episode Arabic drama formula needs an urgent rehaul
MENA.TV
Heba Korayem
CREATIVE VENTURES
Badih Fattouh
MBC GROUP
Fadi Ismail
The word ‘censorship’ is inevitable in any discussion on MENA-based content. And it did crop up at the end of the first quarter of the first panel at the annual ASBU BroadcastPro ME Selevision Summit and Awards 2017. The panel was titled ‘MENA Content: Cross-cultural viewership trends and identifying successful global distribution patterns’. What was unexpected for the 300-odd delegates gathered at the Habtoor Grand Ballroom was the candid autopsy of a formula for content creation across the Arab countries that has run its course. The question posed by moderator Heba Korayem, Client Director, Mena.TV Content Hub, was about how Arabic content can travel globally like Korean and Turkish content. “There is no secret formula,” declared Fadi Ismail, GM of O3 Productions, MBC Group, who has played a pivotal role in internationalising Turkish content. “Content needs to be authentic to the culture, plus you need good storytelling and good production values. With Turkish dramas, you had good-looking characters, great storytelling and excellent production values that projected authentic Turkey. The same can be said about Korean content, and hopefully, we will say the same about Arabic drama. We are at the beginning of the journey. It will be a long, slow and painful process
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FRONT ROW FILMED ENTERTAINMENT
Gianluca Chakra
BEELINK PRODUCTIONS
Safa Aburiziq
as producers and broadcasters adapt to international standards in formatting, pricing and so on.” Gianluca Chakra, MD of Front Row Filmed Entertainment, went one step further. Having successfully distributed Lebanese film Very Big Shot, now available on Netflix worldwide, his company is also a content aggregator for Google Play, Netflix and iTunes. He believes there is a dearth of storytelling talent in the region. “Very Big Shot was about crime in Lebanon, and locally, the press believed that we had portrayed Lebanon in a negative manner. Netflix saw what was perceived as daring in this region as marketable. In the MENA, you have to be careful about what you say. I believe the selfcensorship that a lot of writers here subject their creative process to is most damaging to good content creation.” Countering that argument, Safa Aburiziq, General Director of Beelink Productions, co-producer of the UAE’s first legal TV drama among other productions, said: “Being daring is not essential. You can achieve success with family-friendly content as well. Before we talk about global expansion, I believe we should achieve success in our region. You have already succeeded if your drama is being seen in countries across the MENA. “We are still young as an industry. Ten years ago, when Turkish dramas became big, our talent was mostly in cinema.
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“Before we talk about global expansion, I believe we should achieve success in our region” Safa Aburiziq, General Director of beelink Productions Now they have come to TV, and we have begun to see the results. Our drama series Grand Hotel has been sold to Netflix. It is the first Arabic drama series to be distributed on a global scale and translated into various languages.” As the audience applauded the success story from the MENA region, Ismail struck a sober note by weighing the handful of successes against the number of TV dramas produced in the region. “We have not reached breakthrough yet, when just one
or two of the 500 dramas produced in the last five years might have been picked up by Netflix or others. Local success is necessary, but it is not sufficient. Even a number one rated TV series in any of the territories of the region might not be sold internationally. Also, our 30-episode formula for Ramadan is not conducive for an international platform.” The audience was then treated to a ringside view of the lopsided content creation typical of the region. The pressure to produce drama for the 30-day Ramadan period, leaving very little for the rest of the year, was described as “insane” by one panelist. “You cannot have one writer write a whole 30-episode drama in a couple of months, produce it in twothree months, and call the product world-class,” declared another. Change is coming, said Badih
Pressure to produce drama for the 30-day Ramadan period is hampering Arabic content creation, panelists agreed.
Fattouh, CEO of Creative Ventures, driven by youth. With 25 years of experience in the industry having been the first to identify bankable hits such as The Voice and Arab Idol, Fattouh struck a note of optimism. “The MENA audience is overwhelmingly young, and they have switched to VOD. While linear TV will not be replaced, the name of the game is coexistence between VOD, FTA and pay TV, each catering to a different profile of viewers. The entrance of international
“While linear TV will not be replaced … the name of the game is coexistence between VOD, FTA and pay TV” badih Fattouh, CEo of Creative ventures December 2017 | www.broadcastprome.com | 19
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players will hopefully create a demand and spur local producers to elevate standards of production. We still have amazing local stories that have crossed borders. “Take for instance Nobel prize-winning Naguib Mahfouz, who wrote about the poor on the streets of Cairo. What is missing, however, is constructive partnership between broadcasters and content creators that allows for a storyline and characters to be developed. Our workflow does not have this luxury of time that can produce something unique, and this is affecting the outcome.” Chakra agreed that international players such as Netflix with a reported $8 billion, Apple with $2 billion and other platforms will eventually come to this region, “but you cannot just rely on Egyptian shows, you need to go more local with UAE dramas, Kuwait-based shows and so on to build a following
“I believe the selfcensorship that writers here ... subject their creative process to is most damaging to good content creation” Gianluca Chakra, MD of Front Row Filmed Entertainment for local content. Formulaic content will never travel.” Optimistic about the future, Ismail reiterated that competition with outside players will create dynamism. “Forget the billions of dollars. What is needed is much less to change the game. It takes few global players to come and invest $5 million each for original content. Local players such as Shahid Plus are about to start creating their own premium content and will have to intensify their efforts.
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With advertising down, it is a good time for collaboration, panelists concurred.
O3 is now moving away from the 30-episode formula and is developing a 15-episode Saudi series with a different approach to storytelling that we hope will become big. We need to experiment and take calculated risks, even if conditions are against us. Advertising is down 20-40%, and it is a wonderful time for collaboration and co-production. The usual commercial and ego-related issues are no longer roadblocks.” Fattouh of Creative Ventures stressed that the mindset and format need to change. “We spoke of the success of Turkish dramas, but we did not address the number of those dramas that get axed. In this region, by the time the feedback comes in for a 30-episode drama, the project is done. However, if you had the pressure to sustain ratings on a daily basis with the fear of being axed mid-season, productions would get sharper.”
PROSUMMIT "There is no secret formula. Content needs to be authentic to the culture," Fadi Ismail, GM of O3 Productions, MBC Group said.
Charting a pragmatic route forward, Aburiziq said: “We have a mix between scripted formats and original writing. We have excellent writers, but good original writing takes time. Hopefully, with the emergence of paid platforms, we will have liberty to talk about areas that are taboo.” Moderator Korayem highlighted the shockingly low number of global recognitions the region has had, with the one Oscar nod coming from unlikely Algeria in 1969 and the one Emmy award from Jordan in 2008. The next globally viral drama could emerge from anywhere across the MENA, the panelists agreed. As Ismail concluded: “The storytelling will be good. The production values will be better, and we will have that unique content that we dream about. We are not there yet. This is only the beginning.” PRO
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PROSUMMIT
Internet vIdeo: The many roads To profiTabiliTy
The panel discussion on internet video at the annual ASBU BroadcastPro ME Selevision Summit 2017 focused on profitability, partnerships, premium content and the scourge of piracy
ChNNELSCULPTOR
Nick Grande
STARZ PLAY
Danny Bates
IFLIX MENA
Maarten Kranendonk
Since the pre-YouTube era of viral video clips in the early 2000s, viewers of all ages have increasingly shunned traditional linear TV for VOD. Much like virtual reality, the initial ‘wow’ factor around the uptake for internet video has given way to bread-and-butter issues. The second panel discussion, titled ‘Internet video is the new normal’, focused on OTT and was sponsored by Irdeto. The first question posed by moderator Nick Grande, Managing Director of Dubai-based TV consultancy and service provider ChannelSculptor, was: “Has the era of profitable OTT arrived in the region?” Danny Bates, CCO and co-founder of Starz Play, responded by saying: “We are now seeing the roadmap to profitability. Compared to three years ago, it is a completely different business now. Funnily enough, Netflix has helped. It has made customers more aware of this segment. Also, the evolution of making the product simple has been key. This includes the evolution of applications within smart TV, Android TV and so on to make OTT a TV viewing experience like any other. The individual cost per acquisition now allows us to generate a lifetime
ZEE ENTERTAINMENT
Nadine Samra
IRDETO
Richard Frankland
DU
Samer Geissah
of value for the customer that is profitable for us. We now need to grow the scale and volume of that value.” Underscoring why internet video is the new normal, Maarten Kranendonk, Head of Partnerships, iflix MENA, stated in his opening remarks: “When most SVOD players such as Starz Play and iflix launched, it was B2C. Now the telco partnerships have come into play, which is important for us because they bring us scale and subscribers, and we bring to the telco what they are not able to give to their customers.” While Kranendonk believes B2B2C is the way forward, Bates said: “We would like an element of B2C as well, since it is extremely important for us to have our own marketing channels vis-à-vis the end consumer. We also work closely with telcos. The telcos enjoy trust with the customers, and that is critical for us as online brands, especially when it comes to transactions.” Clearly, for the OTT industry to arrive anywhere close to the projected $1.75 billion by 2022, telcos will have to play a major role. Samer Geissah, Vice-President Innovation, Commercial at du, elaborated: “The moment we allowed
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“The telco partnerships have come into play … they bring us scale and subscribers” maarten Kranendonk, head of partnerships, iflix mena customers to use their post- or pre-paid credit to pay for digital services such as Starz Play, that was us saying we believe in OTT moving forward. The viewership for IPTV is on the decline, except for news and sports, and is moving towards VOD. Plus, the personalisation of services is why OTT platforms are doing better as compared to linear TV.” Geissah questioned the traditional approach of investing billions of dollars in setting up fibre networks, when the internet allows telcos to operate beyond their legally
mandated areas of operation. “We have a diverse subscriber base that is matched by the diverse flavours of OTT on offer. Our arrangement with Wavo allows us to reach a certain segment of our subscribers in the fixed category that is outside of our fibre footprint. So if you are looking to get triple play from du in areas where our fibre footprint does not exist, for instance in Abu Dhabi, Fujairah or Sharjah or even certain areas in Dubai, subscribers get premium OTT via OSN with our double play, which is a virtual triple play. For our mobile base, we are looking for partners who can bring the latest series from Hollywood and a good mix of Arabic and Asian productions.” Almost in response to Geissah, Nadine Samra, VP Digital Business MEA, Z5X at Zee Entertainment, stated in her opening remarks: “We have a large footprint outside
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The arrival of Netflix has helped OTT players gain more credibility in the region.
India, be it across the Middle East, Africa or Europe. Our aim in the digital world is to be as strong as we are on linear. Our first product was Zee Weyyak, and we launched it six months ago as an OTT service targeting Arab audiences. “In the coming months, there will be five exclusive series on Weyyak. I believe localisation is critical, especially for an Arab audience. It is an AVOD service. Z5, our international VOD platform, is more suited to a subscriptionbased model. Our pricing
“Original content created by OTT platforms will be the big differentiator” nadine samra, Vp digital business mea, Z5X at Zee entertainment
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Pirated content will be less appealing when there is an attractive bundling of services by content providers and telcos.
decisions will be based on being reasonable and reachable.” Samra announced that Zee Weyyak has had a million unique visits since its launch and reiterated that original content created by OTT platforms will be the big differentiator, as demonstrated by Netflix and others. Kranendonk of iflix questioned the long-term sustainability of the AVOD model, despite the glut of hits: “AVOD is a challenging proposition for operators and advertisers. With advertisers increasingly resistant to advertising in traditional models, subscription is the way to evolve an OTT service. “We produced an Egyptian series during Ramadan that did pretty well. We will continue to produce original content. Much like in Asia, we are looking at typically starting with comedy shows like other AVOD or SVOD players, and then move to scripted shows and eventually co-produce movies. On the whole, we are happy with how our partnership with Zain is evolving. That gives us access to a large number of countries in the region.” Whether it’s AVOD or SVOD, monetisation of content is key,
“In research we commissioned, 59% of our respondents in the GCC had access to pirated content” richard frankland, Vicepresident sales emea at irdeto Bates of Starz Play stressed. “We work very hard towards bringing content that can be monetised. Not all content can be monetised on a subscription service. Arabic content on its own is very hard to monetise, and you
have a premium local platform such as Shahid to contend with. But if you can bring content that is exclusive and in the first window and has the stars, we can take customers over the paywall.” With OTT grappling with fundamental monetisation issues, piracy was not on the top of his list, one of the panelists noted. To this, Richard Frankland, VicePresident Sales EMEA at Irdeto, presented figures illustrating significantly high penetration of piracy and predicted that OTT players will have to deal with the problem sooner rather than later. “In research we commissioned, 59% of our respondents in the GCC had access to pirated content. That is an enormous number, and if you look at millennials, the number goes up to 62%. Piracy should matter to rights owners, because they cannot sell content at the same price points; broadcasters will not attract the same number of subscribers, and consumers will suffer because they are sharing their password and credit card details with companies that are essentially criminals.” Conceding that the problem is too big for one operator, Frankland stressed the need for collective action from everyone in the industry. Enforcement is also around the corner, he said: “We fully anticipate sports content providers and
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“We work very hard towards bringing content that can be monetised” danny bates, CCo and cofounder of starz play other rights holders to enforce watermarking as part of the next phase in general licensing contracts. These licensing agreements will become more onerous on licensees.” As a solution for fighting piracy while offering consumers a superior product, Geissah of du said: “When we did our music bundling, we worked with a local start-up called Anghami. Any user who generates a certain revenue gets this service
free of charge. We saw numbers grow dramatically and have seen additional consumption of data. So it is doubly rewarding – the more we are able to bundle such quality propositions for home and mobile users, consumers will not want to opt for illegal options. Ultimately, piracy is a financial decision.” There was general consensus in the Q&A that followed that linear TV viewing will decline; but with little transparency on data in the region, the roadmap for the future of live and OTT subscriptions remains unclear. While lauding Starz Play’s stated goal of reaching a million subscribers by the end of 2017, a delegate asked where OTT was currently placed in terms of numbers.
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Clarity on viewership in the region will clear the path ahead for OTT growth.
“These are very early days for OTT,” said Bates of Starz Play. “If I was to estimate, outside of piracy there are 2.5m to 3m paid subscribers to OTT in this region. The good news is that smart TVs are now a fundamental part of TV viewing, accounting for 50% of consumption and slated to grow to 65% in the near future.” PRO
“Personalisation of services is why OTT platforms are doing better as compared to linear TV” samer Geissah, Vice-president innovation, Commercial at du
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PROSUMMIT
Beyond Buzzwords and towards deployment From IP and cloud to blockchain, the technical panel at the ASBU BroadcastPro ME Selevision Summit agrees that change is here, but there is no standard path forward
AVID
Peter Ennis
MBC GROUP
Adriaan Bloem
“We were promised a revolution,” opened Peter Ennis, Senior Vice President, Global Services, Delivery and Customer Support, Avid. The 20-year broadcast industry veteran had flown in from New Zealand to moderate the tech panel at the ASBU BroadcastPro ME Selevision Summit 2017. Ennis opened the panel discussion with the question: “We were told everything was going IP and it will change lives. Has it changed your life?” Titled ‘The Tech Revolution: Tackling new challenges in the broadcast workplace’, the over-riding theme of the hour-long discussion was acknowledgement that new technologies in broadcast are not just buzzwords. “IP has changed the way we do business,” asserted Monish Kapoor, VP of IT and Broadcast at Zee Entertainment Middle East. “We are far more agile and far more flexible towards
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ZEE ENTERTAINMENT MIDDLE EAST
Monish Kapoor
LIVE HD
Peter Van Dam
changing business needs. I will be surprised if people have not shifted to IP in this part of the world in a large way. To deliver content on digital platforms you need to be on IP, and yes, the infrastructure needs to be built accordingly. “Even with the most traditional of broadcasters, IP is being implemented. The speed of deployment will depend on management decisions,” stated Peter Van Dam, Technical Advisor – CEO office at LIVE HD Broadcast Facilities. Admitting complete bias on the subject, Adriaan Bloem, Senior Manager Online Platforms, MBC Group, said: “I am on the digital side of things. So, if you ask me the importance of IP – we would not have a business without IP. I am mostly intrigued by the fact that in our technical operations we have the broadcast side and the digital side, and the technologies have a lot of overlap, but sometimes it can be hard to communicate between the two.” Acknowledging that the barrier between broadcast and IT
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hampers effective communications, Ennis observed: “I visit a lot of broadcasters. I don’t believe a single one is fully IP-enabled from end to end. Maybe on the distribution side, but on the contribution side, less so. Do you think there is an issue with vendors not giving you the right products?” Kapoor of Zee Entertainment ME responded: “Let’s divide IP into two categories. One is the storage and production part, and the second would be the broadcast side of things. In most cases, the kind of vendors who cater to each of these processes are different but the links between each system today is smooth and does well for the broadcaster. It helps to use the strengths of each vendor. Once you have your production in file format, it allows you a lot
of flexibility to do different types of business with that content. IP is definitely the way forward.” Recalling the days in the 1970s when studios had plumbers on staff because transmitters needed to be water-cooled, Ennis believes technology is all part of a continuum. “In the 1980s, micro-processors started to find their way into studios.
IP has changed the way we do business. We are far more agile and far more flexible towards changing business needs” Monish Kapoor, VP of IT and Broadcast at zee entertainment Middle east
Newer technologies are not taking over; they are just the next step in the journey, Peter Ennis stated.
Then we went digital. I don’t see the newer implementations like blockchain or microservices or IP and the cloud as a takeover. I see it as a continuum, and what we are talking about today is just the next step in that journey.” His next question was: “Do you think the cloud is delivering along the entire media value chain?” The question inspired quite the story from Bloem of the MBC Group. “Sometime around 2002, I was running an online infrastructure with servers in our building,” he recalled. “It was a full server room with all the fixtures that you would expect with backups and fire extinguishers, and the servers had multiple power supplies. “Everything was redundant for reliability. However, one power supply did fail, and caught fire
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AI is amazingly broad in its applications for broadcast, from analysing video and translating text, to much more.
and set the other power supply on fire as well, and eventually, took down the rest of the servers. This was the moment I vowed never to run my own server on premises again. It took us about three weeks to recover from this. “Of course, then you get into a broadcast company and you realise one needs to have hardware in the building. Applications such as SharePoint and databases are relatively easy to move to the cloud. With video, just the amount of data and levels of connectivity you need creates a huge problem besides being costly. Bandwidth is a huge challenge concerning video. Even though I do not want to run servers, I have had to acknowledge in the past few years, that it sometimes makes sense.” Kapoor, a big believer in the cloud, said: “Broadcasters have far more acceptance towards the cloud, with the scalability it offers. Also, the cloud allows your locally created content to be worked on remotely from another location, which is a huge benefit for studios.” Reiterating the issues that stop a company from fully embracing the cloud – connectivity and hosting costs – Ennis asked Van Dam about the third critical issue of security. “We were one of the early adopters of cloud playout. We did run into arguments related to security. People are afraid of putting stuff on an intangible cloud. “My stance on this issue is that a company that runs hosting or cloud services as their main business will be a better choice in cooperation with the in-house broadcast IT department. To hack particular information from Amazon or Microsoft would involve crossing so many hurdles. Companies such as Microsoft are very proud of the number of certifications on security they have.” Bloem added: “As for virtual security, to me there is no difference between the company
“An increased proportion of processing is fueled by AI, and it is exciting because it is starting to get commoditised and easy to use” adriaan Bloem, senior Manager online Platforms, MBC Group network and the cloud network. You have to put in place proper configurations and firewalls. The main difference is the cloud is a lot easier to secure. This may seem counterintuitive to many people – though you cannot physically see the server, the cloud is many times more secure on multiple levels.” Shifting the conversation to AI, Ennis asked whether this technology is adding value to the workflow. Bloem responded: “Any software now claims to have AI in some form or the other. Startup companies will tell you that they mention AI to investors because it sounds cool. Many people don’t even know the difference between AI and machine learning. But AI is amazingly broad in its applications for broadcast, from analysing video and translating text to finding scenes
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to recognising faces on video and much more. An increased proportion of processing is fueled by AI and it is exciting because it is starting to get commoditised and easy to use.” With Netflix poised to use AI techniques to compress codecs and optimise network data transfers, the panelists agreed that more broadcasters are deploying AI techniques towards audience engagement, content planning and network management. While Van Dam spoke of deploying AI for more efficient use of media libraries, Kapoor said his company is in the process of implementing AI on OTT platforms and weighing options to outsource or do it in-house. The final discussion on blockchain was in equal parts a crash course on the term for those in the audience not familiar with the concept, and a critical look at the usefulness of the solution for the broadcast industry. Ennis asked the panel about the impact of blockchain on distribution and payment for content, and on protection, if any, from piracy. Referring to an earlier panel discussion on content creation, Van Dam stated: “We can use blockchain in content creation. The first panel spoke of needing more writers. I believe there are a lot of good writers in the world. Smart contracts within blockchain will help the work to be monitored and picked up and worked on by someone else, with transparency and monetisation at every stage.” Earlier this year, Spotify acquired Mediachain Labs, a company developing better technology for connecting artists and other rights holders. The start-up is working to leverage blockchain technology in order to help solve problems with attribution, complete with an attribution engine for creators and a cryptocurrency that rewards creators for their work. While Bloem spoke of the possibility of global collaboration
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over cloud with content producers receiving royalty automatically using blockchain-based solutions, Kapoor lauded the security offered by the technology. “Bitcoin uses blockchain as infrastructure, and until now we have not heard about hacking in bitcoin.
“Smart contracts within blockchain will help the work to be monitored, and picked up and worked on by someone else, with transparency and monetisation at every stage.” Peter Van dam, Technical advisor – Ceo’s office at LIVe Hd Broadcast Facilities
I believe coders and developers are working towards the next level where content can be broken down and stored for greater security.” “Blockchain could very well be the future of DRM,” Bloem pointed out. “DRM is based on centralised servers. But if you build a DRM based on transactions, and distributed ledgers using encryption, it does not matter what you use to play your video. It could be an app some 15-year-old devised, or it could be the official app from the broadcasters, because the transaction per video is what is counted on the ledger. That would be an exciting application.” Regarding piracy, the panel agreed that blockchain will not preempt the placing of a camera in front of a screen and illegally recording the movie. The new technology, however, may allow for more platforms for distribution
32 | www.broadcastprome.com | December 2017
“Blockchain could very well be the future of DRM” adriaan Bloem, senior Manager online Platforms, MBC Group of content. The ease of use for the viewer would help fight piracy. While 2018 looks set to be the year when new technologies in broadcasting are deployed at scale, so that they no longer remain mere buzzwords, the path forward is not uniform. “The cloud,” observed Van Dam, “like any other technology needs to be used where required. Technology needs to serve people.” Kapoor concurred: “The new technologies need to be cost effective and suit your business model. You need to pick up technologies that make you a better broadcaster.” PRO
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PROSUMMIT
THE RisE of HD in MEnA
A consumer research paper on TV reception modes and the rise of HD in MENA was presented by Claudia Vaccarone, Head of Market Research & Customer Experience, Eutelsat at the summit before its global release Based on updates from the Eutelsat TV Observatory 2017 and on a survey of the largest MENA countries that involved 4,000 face-to-face interviews in JuneJuly 2017, Claudia Vaccarone, Head of Market Research & Customer Experience at Eutelsat, presented a MENA research paper entitled “TV reception modes and the rise of high definition: Updates from the Eutelsat TV Observatory 2017”. Presented for the first time at the ASBU BroadcastPro ME Selevision Summit 2017 before its global release, the survey was conducted in collaboration with Ipsos MENA. Commenting on the choice of countries, Vaccarone said: “We surveyed four countries: Morocco, Algeria, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. These four countries alone represent 70% of the TV homes in the region and so
34 | www.broadcastprome.com | December 2017
we get a good sense of the changes since last year. For the rest, we aggregated data from the 2016 edition. The whole area comprises 14 Arabic-speaking markets.” Among the first insights gained from the study, the increase in TV homes in the region was evident. Vaccarone explained: “The number of TV homes went from 60.8m to 62.6m, which indicates a 4% growth in the four countries. 1.8m more TV homes in the region is significant and speaks for the ongoing demographic growth.” Moving to the issue of TV reception, the object of the study, Vaccarone noted: “This year, like last year, offered no surprises in that satellite TV remains the favoured digital infrastructure to access television in 94% of TV homes, rising to 58.9m TV homes, up from 56.3m TV homes last year. This represents a healthy growth of 7%.”
PROSUMMIT Satellite vs Other TV Reception Modes
2016
Hotel Survey: TV Channels and Access Mode
132
2017
Channels
Average number of TV channels offered to guests satellite
iPTV
Exclusive DTT
Perimeter Evolution
2016
2017
30%
46%
of homes HD equipped
of homes HD equipped
17.7
28.2
While observing that except for the UAE and Saudi Arabia, IPTV has a very small installed base compared to the reach of satellite in countries such as Egypt and Morocco, Vaccarone said: “We are also seeing exclusive DTT reception reducing to 0.6m TV homes and exclusive analogue TV homes reducing to 1.9m in favour of satellite.” Looking at the rise of HDTV, Vaccarone observed: “In terms of equipment, we are seeing strong growth from year to year with more TV homes equipped to enjoy HDTV with at least one TV screen. An estimated 28.2m homes this year have been equipped with HDTV, up from 17.7 in 2016, and this is a conservative figure, considering the growth has been measured only in the four countries surveyed. “Consumers are getting used to the better image quality. And to match the expectation, there is increasing content, with HD channels at the Eutelsat 7/8° W neighbourhood growing from 133 to 179 in 12 months. 20.6m homes in the four surveyed countries and 66% on average in the 14 Arabic-
Hotels access channels via satellite
Exclusive Terrestrial
MENA HDTV Equipment
Million TV homes
75%
Million TV homes
HOMES
% TV
TV HOMES
speaking markets, are receiving HDTV at these locations. This is a growth of 90%, since last year only 10m homes received HDTV.” Noting that the broadcast industry is not just about addressing consumers at home, Vaccarone said: “We talked to 147 five-star hotels in Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia and the UAE. We selected countries that enjoy high traffic from business travellers and tourists. We wanted to understand how luxury hotels access TV channels, and there were interesting insights.” “The average number of channels offered to guests is 132, and 75%
“Satellite TV remains the favoured digital infrastructure to access television in 94% of TV homes, rising to 58.9m TV homes, up from 56.3m TV homes last year” Claudia Vaccarone, Head of Market Research & Customer Experience at Eutelsat
2016
2017
94%
95%
64.3m 66.2m 60.8m 62.6m of the hotels access television via satellite. In terms of equipment, HDTV and surprisingly 4K screens are part of the premium experience, with 73% of fivestar hotels having close to 100% of their rooms HD equipped. “44% of the hotels we talked to had more than 50% of their channels in HD – so HD is really perceived as a differentiator that adds to the consumer experience. Sports and news channels are the more popular of available HD content. “Lastly, 77% of the five-star hotels we talked to wanted to reduce SD channels to provide more HD channels, and 89% consider HD as very important to the mix of services for their guests.” Vacarrone reiterated that satellite will remain a key video-delivery infrastructure across the MENA. With initiatives such as its Sat. TV app to help consumers navigate through FTA channels they offer, Eutelsat executives at the summit suggested that the roadmap ahead will feature greater interactivity and hybrid offerings. PRO
December 2017 | www.broadcastprome.com | 35
PROSUMMIT
CEOs Chart path Of cautious optimism With initiatives ranging from localisation and multi-platform solutions to diversifying revenue streams, CEOs at the BroadcastPro Summit made a case for growth despite challenges
SYNC MEDIA
MBC GROUP
Karim Sarkis
FOX NETWORKS GROUP
Sanjay Raina
ZEE MENA
Sam Barnett
VIACOM18
Sachin Gokhale
The ballroom at Habtoor Grand was packed as industry professionals gathered to hear some of the most distinguished voices on the MENA broadcast landscape come together for the ASBU BroadcastPro ME Selevision Summit. They discussed issues critical to the survival of the broadcast industry in light of dipping market conditions, the geopolitical issues that have undermined the morale of the industry and the impact of FANG (Facebook/Amazon/Netflix/Google). Prior to the debate, Sam Barnett, CEO of MBC Group, issued an informal but potent statement in light of the recent events in the region, declaring that the broadcast network, despite the myriad challenges it was facing at the
36 | www.broadcastprome.com | December 2017
Mukund Cairae
OSN
Martin Stewart
TURNER
Tarek Mounir
moment, was firmly forging ahead with its launches. “MBC is a prized asset, a jewel in any crown ... We have several launches planned and intend to go ahead with them. In December, we will launch the region’s largest and safest kids’ VOD. Wizzo, our games portal, has broken all records this year, and in 2018, we will be publishing our own games. Shahid.net has had 10m unique users every month and 26m users during Ramadan. In 2018, we will be commissioning our own exclusive content for Shahid. On TV, we have just finished Top Chef. We have Voice and Voice Kids and we anticipate maintaining ratings at the same level we have had them to date. Our Turkish production company has produced the most successful Turkish
PROSUMMIT
“MBC is a prized asset ... a jewel in any crown ... We have several launches planned and intend to go ahead with them” sam Barnett, CEO, MBC Group TV drama ever. It has now launched on MBC and we will have the largest show in Turkey next year on MBC. “So, it’s business as usual and ... we will be competing as strongly as ever.” Karim Sarkis, CEO of Sync Media, who has traditionally moderated the CEO panel at the Summit, queried if the CEOs in the room were still in favour of an advertisingsupported business in the region, given the 30%-plus decrease in ad dollars in the last year. Zee MENA CEO Mukund Cairae
commented that, despite the fact that the industry has lost north of a billion dollars of advertising revenue in the last two years with 2016 being “bad” and 2017 “worse”, he did favour the ad-supported model for running a TV business as “active engagement, and eyeballs is the goal towards which everybody is running”. However, he did caution that surviving 2018 would mean being “fiscally prudent” and aiming for “collaboration now more than ever”. Barnett offered a more optimistic outlook. While he agreed that in Saudi Arabia, TV advertising on FTA is four times more undervalued per capita compared to countries elsewhere, he added that the launch of people meters would give advertisers the confidence to invest. “As the business cycle starts to pick up, particularly in Saudi Arabia, and as the economy diversifies and gets more competitive, advertisers will
Some CEOs were optimistic that people meters would give advertisers confidence to invest in TV.
battle for market share and the ad industry will continue to use TV. With technology able to divide up different markets into North Africa, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, there is a very robust case for FTA with TV. If the market has come down, it will go back up again.” A fine example of a media house that has come up the ranks with new commercial strategies is Fox Networks Group under the helm of VP and GM Sanjay Raina. “A couple of years back, we took a call and rolled back our FTA model
“For us, the debate is not FTA versus pay. It is all about content, collaboration and the consumer” sanjay raina, Vp and GM at fox Networks Group December 2017 | www.broadcastprome.com | 37
PROSUMMIT
Barnett warned that the threat was now from external forces and called for collaboration.
and moved into pay,” Raina said. “We have found some ways of launching more pay-TV products. Last year in April, we launched three Fox-branded channels that found widespread distribution across most of the pay-TV platforms. This year again, we have launched three Foxbranded products, one of which is an Arabic product. We are typically Fox. We are always hungry; we are always hunting. For us, the debate is not FTA versus pay. It is all about content, collaboration and the consumer. We will keep pursuing everything that falls within the three Cs.” Sachin Gokhale, who heads Viacom 18, which targets Indian expatriates in the Middle East, commented that the way forward for this brand has been to diversify its business. “We have been targeting a niche demographic that forms a large segment of the population in many markets but has historically been under-indexed and under-valued. We have premium content, so we have taken the conscious call of putting that content on pay. Because the pay market itself has not really grown for us, we diversified and set up a successful ancillary operation with localising our content and syndicating it to more broadcasters based here. We have grown from a single channel to a 22-channel operation; we make 30% of our top line from local initiatives like live events and local content. The fundamental appetite for content in the region is growing among that demographic, and you will see us work more in the SVOD space in collaboration with our partners.” Sarkis turned the discussion to Martin Stewart, CEO of OSN, the channel which lies at the heart of the pay-TV sector. He stressed that one of the big issues with pay is “the lack of respect for intellectual property rights, and I think it is incumbent upon content owners to take the lead for that”. He commented that while MBC and OSN have taken the lead on this
front “fighting piracy with whatever legal means are at our disposal”, it's important for the rest of the ecosystem including “content owners, telco operators and the entire marketplace” to come together ... to grow our businesses in a profitable way”. He cautioned that if steps are not taken with urgency, one would “see uneconomic prices being paid for content which, in the short term, will hugely benefit those content owners, but does not create a sustainable business moving forward.” He called for “greater regulation” and stated that “it doesn’t matter if people meters are put in place if most of the viewing is done through illegal means.” A slightly different player in the mix was Tarek Mounir, VP and GM of Turner MENAT. Sarkis asked how Turner’s approach to the business has been different, given that it offers “niche content”. Turner’s business model over the years has been to distribute
“We make 30% of our top line from local initiatives like live events and local content” sachin Gokhale, Media & Entertainment Business head, MEa & asia pacific, Viacom18
38 | www.broadcastprome.com | December 2017
its revenue generation between advertising, subscription, merchandising and events. “Having a diversified portfolio of revenues helps,” said Mounir, especially “in the light of 2017 not being a vintage year for the ad sales market”. He added: “We have managed to consistently grow our business in the last seven years, and I think while some of our partners don’t necessarily grow as the rest, having a full portfolio helps create a greater balance. Being part of the largest theme park and a big retail industry has paid off. Even with advertising, our partners have delivered for us so we didn’t take the hit people expected us to take.” Having said that, he added that the market “remains very undermonetised in several areas, whether it is pay-TV penetration or ad sales undervaluation per capita”. Sarkis then moved to a bigger debate that a number of regional broadcasters have been toying with, without much success – collaboration. He commented that Barnett has mentioned collaboration and invited other broadcasters to join the Shahid platform. “The next wave of competition in this market is not from here,” clarified Barnett. “It is from the international players. The cost of their platform is amortised in another 70 countries, and they
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PROSUMMIT
Monetising short-form content on digital platforms will be an interesting experiment going forward.
are coming with cheap overheads to take the advertising dollars from us. While before we had the luxury of competing between ourselves, we now face an external threat and they provide an opportunity to collaborate. “Shahid generates 10 million unique users every month, and if people want to put their content on this platform, they are welcome. We don’t want your money. Come and make your advertising dollars on the platform. Yes, the platform will get stronger, but all of us will benefit from such a collaboration. And on the back of that, I have had three serious approaches and we are trying to work out a model on how we do it,” he explained. Stewart seconded this. “The great FANGA (with Apple making up the last A) is coming… unless everyone starts cooperating and developing partnerships in such a way that mutually benefits those who have been here a long time, those outside corporations will simply take the eyeballs.” When the term ‘joint venture’ was thrown in, the response was mixed. Cairae was sceptical, calling it a “surefire recipe for disaster” and stating that often, there is nothing “joint about a JV”. He said: “I prefer to date first before we engage in a joint venture.” Barnett agreed that a JV can be complicated and suggested a simpler contract between media entities to take that first step towards collaboration. Gokhale stepped into the conversation at this point, stating that most of the biggies in the US, from CBS and Disney to Showtime and HBO, had all done it individually,
“Active engagement and eyeballs is the goal towards which everyone is running” Mukund Cairae, CEO, Zee Entertainment
“It doesn’t matter if people meters are put in place if most of the viewing is done through illegal means” Martin stewart, Chief Executive Officer, OsN and Hulu was an exception. He seemed to suggest that collaboration is still some years away. “Everyone’s doing their own B2C venture. While we recognise the need for collaboration, as content owners we have always traditionally been in the B2B space, where we have relied on other parties to make that last mile possible. And now, we are in a scenario where we suddenly see that there is limitless potential to reach the consumer directly and create that value for your business by being B2C. So I think it will take a while before serious players come together to collaborate.” Sarkis asked if Turner would consider a collaboration with MBC, given the latter's plans for a kids’ VOD launch in December. “Collaboration sounds much more appealing than doing it on your own,”
40 | www.broadcastprome.com | December 2017
Mounir said, although he added that Turner prefers to launch its product with a number of platforms rather than go for an exclusive tie-up. Raina added at this point that Fox was launching Nat Geo Kids Abu Dhabi “and if Sam says let’s go ahead with it, we will go ahead with it”. But he also cautioned: “Like in India with arranged marriages, it’s all in the stars. If they don’t mix, typically you don’t have a match.” OSN’s Stewart suggested they “go to the back room”. “I even have a pen,” he quipped. On a more serious note, Stewart seemed less optimistic that a regional collaboration would happen soon. “I guess we will do more deals with FANGA before we do anything here.” Clearly, there was an urgency for collaboration in the room. As Raina pointed out: “Netflix goes to 121 markets and has 100 million subscribers. The ability to distribute globally is what makes them a threat to our business. How can we create that universality and versatility in our distribution within the region and be part of it?” Reiterating the urgent need for collaboration, Barnett pointed out: “We have less time here, because the market does not have the degree of regulation that most other markets have. This market has been anarchic in the past, and what has happened across the region in the last weeks and months leads me to predict that governments will try and become more protectionist. FANG then can come here and dump cheap advertising on this market.” The discussion then turned to the other big issue – going digital. Stewart said OSN is rolling out short-form content on its web platform, Wavo. “We are not sure how it will pan out, but we are trying to take the opportunity to bring that sort of content into the platform, given the type of demographic that we are going after. Bringing it into
PROSUMMIT
Wavo is an interesting experiment to see how it develops.” One of the big discussions around digital was the choice of content, the technological infrastructure and what makes the platform so successful, and if it was indeed overtaking linear platforms. “It has definitely lowered VPN usage, and this was evident when Netflix launched here,” Stewart pointed out. Gokhale cited the example of Voot, a product from the Viacom 18/Indiacast stable. “Voot is an AVOD play service which collates around 40-45,000 hours of content that we run across our group channels. 90% of the content consumption comes from the top 5% of the content. OTT players have tapped into this. One of the big things that OTT is bringing to the table, apart from the convenience of accessing content, is lower ARPUs, easier subscription models and lesser lock-ins. Given how people consume content, OTT will take away from
“Being part of the largest theme park and part of a big retail industry has paid off” tarek Mounir, Vp, General Manager MENat – turner linear consumption and our traditional pay-TV platforms. We should try to get out of the channel business and truly be in the content business.” Bernett disagreed, saying the market remains strong. ”We are not seeing the decline that we see elsewhere. There is a positive story about FTA in the region, and linear TV continues to be popular. It is an economic fact and we will continue making money out of it for the next few years.” Mounir pointed out that shortform content is getting a lot of traction but has a short monetisation life. “If you really want to be in the business of monetising content and premium content, you need to know
Despite a strong call for working together, the panelists were sceptical about collaboration.
whom you’re really after and know what to deliver to them, whether it’s FTA, pay, OTT or linear.” He added that despite the many challenges and adjustment periods that broadcasters will have to face, eventually premium content developers will stay, regardless of the technology that delivers it. The panel agreed and concluded with positive notes from everyone. Barnett declared that MBC had its busiest wweek in early November, while Mounir pointed out that the Middle East and Turkey remain “high-growth markets” for Turner. Cairae said his focus would be on localisation, multi-platform solutions, reaching the consumer and getting the eyeballs, while Raina added that “there’s still a lot we can do on pay-TV platforms as differentiated content”. Gokhale advocated localisation, diversifying revenue streams, getting out of the channel business and sticking to content. Stewart concluded by saying that OSN’s aim is to produce better content and grow its reach. PRO
December 2017 | www.broadcastprome.com | 41
PROAWARDS
sAluTiNG THE champions The MENA broadcast industry converged at Habtoor Grand on the evening of November 14, 2017, for the seventh annual ASBU BroadcastPro Selevision Awards
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PROAWARDS
The glittering Habtoor Grand ballroom played host to more than 380 delegates from the broadcast and satellite industry as they cheered their peers who were shortlisted from more than 100 entries received by the ASBU BroadcastPro ME Selevision judging committee. Selected for their expertise and representing the MENA region, the judges scrutinised entries vying for categories within production for TV and film to broadcast installations and OTT strategies. Keeping with the changing face of the industry, OTT operators were recognised for outstanding productions and trendsetting innovations. Excellence was also recognised in the satellite and telco sectors. Music and good food accompanied what was a thoroughly enjoyable evening with industry peers.
fREEzONE PARTNER
The jury Our judges this year were (in alphabetical order): • Abdulla Al-Balooshi, Director General of Technical Affairs, Bahrain IAA • Andrew Clemson, Cinematographer, Goldfish • Dr. Fares Lubbadeh, Director General SpaceTech TV Engineering, Jordan • Hasan Sayed Hasan, Managing Director, Master Media, • Houria Khatir, Director, Algeria Television • Eng. Khalid Abu Ali, Director of Digital Workflow Systems, Mediacast • Vijaya Cherian, Editor, BroadcastPro Middle East
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December 2017 | www.broadcastprome.com | 43
PROAWARDS
Broadcast Awards
BEST SHORT PRODUCTION OF 2017
Electric Films & Mubadala Investment Company Untold Stories from Electric Films & Mubadala was chosen unanimously by the judges for being "slick, impressive and engaging". The award was presented by Shihab Alhammadi (l), Director of Sharjah Media City to Gemma Wale, Senior Producer of Electric Films and Mohamed Nizar Luqman from Mubadala Investment Company.
BEST LONG PRODUCTION OF 2017
Nomad Productions Each of our entries this year was an orchestration of great production values and presented an engaging story. The winning entry, Fighting Fit Dubai from Nomad Productions, however, edged out competition as it was found to be the most engaging in terms of content, pacing and cinematography. Pictured from left are Nomad's founders, Phil and Zoe Griffiths; Tim Swain, MD; Stewart Game, Senior Producer and Tim Orr, Head of Production.
44 | www.broadcastprome.com | December 2017
PROAWARDS
Broadcast Awards
EXCELLENCE IN VFX
Dubai Media Inc. The Dubai Racing Channel Identity Video by Dubai Media Inc. has used VFX as an organic element in narrating the story making the content compelling and immersive. The riveting scenes of horses, camels and the flight of a bird combined with the dramatic music score had not just our judges captivated but our audience as well at the gala awards, where we played the clip. The award was presented by Ammar Hares (l) of Selevision to Fadi Izzaldin at DMI.
BEST ANIMATED WORK OF 2017
Real Image Production This stunning opener, which was produced for DUBAI CHAMBER for the MRM Awards 2017 ceremony, by Real Image Production, epitomises technological innovation and versatility with both composition and execution on an uncommon aspect ratio. This entry requied an output resolution that is four times the width of full HD and was clearly a challenge to create. Pictured is Aiham Ajeeb, MD of Real Image Production, with the award. December 2017 | www.broadcastprome.com | 45
PROAWARDS
Broadcast Awards
OTT PRODUCTION OF THE YEAR
iflix MENA Waklinha Walaa from iflix MENA won this award hands down for its content and production value. The Egyptian comedy, co-produced by Shadows, Front Row, Kuwait National Cinema Council and iflix, depicts the lives of four families that live in a dilapidated building, where new guests enter each day as a carpenter, concierge, cook and so on, and become part of the plot. Pictured is the iflix team with Klaus-Joerg Jasper (extreme left), Sales Director Middle East, Lawo.
BEST DIGITAL STRATEGY OF 2017
Dawri Plus, Intigral 500,000 active users in one day, 1.6m total active users in one month, 3m+ downloads of the app, 1.8m registered users, 10+m hours of video content has been streamed over the past three years, 7m GB of overall data consumption and 220k users on its gaming platforms. Need we say more about the success of the Dawri Plus strategy? Pictured is Mike Rich (extreme left), Global Marketing Director for Entertainer with the Intigral team.
46 | www.broadcastprome.com | December 2017
PROAWARDS
Broadcast Awards
TVC OF THE YEAR
SocialEyez This winning entry titled Canon Live for the Story, from SocialEyez, a Dubai-based digital engagement agency, caught the attention of the judges for being both visually evocative as well as telling a story well. Pictured with the award from left is DoP Mark Williams and Production Director, Ali Hameed.
STUDIO OF THE YEAR
MBC GROUP MBC's Dubai Studio City facility stood out in terms of its sheer size at 25,000 sqft with many set designs to accommodate different programmes for various channels. The incredible mix of multi-tiered studios with different sizes and shapes of LED screens not undertaken before in the region, the social media screens and the interactive technologies made this an outstanding facility. Khaled Jamal (l), Head of MENA and Pakistan at Irdeto presented the award to Raed Bacho (r), Broadcast Manager at MBC Group. December 2017 | www.broadcastprome.com | 47
PROAWARDS
Broadcast Awards
OTT TRENDSETTER OF THE YEAR
Z5X Global The Zee Weyyak platform from Z5X was chosen for the unique way in which it has acquired and provided premium exclusive content to Arab online viewers. 45% of its content is from Bollywood and is part of its own brand and, therefore, not available on any other platform. It has a large mix of Syrian, Egyptian and other Arabic content as well. In October, it had 1m unique visitors. Pictured is Richard Frankland of Irdeto with the team from Z5X Global, the digital arm of Zee Entertainment.
BROADCASTPROME INNOVATIVE PROjECT OF THE YEAR
Blink Studios Blink Studios is an innovator that has demonstrated the courage to take on the relatively unknown. Blink experimented with and developed solutions around mixed reality to create content here in Dubai. The result was the totally enthralling Karim and Noor. Sachin Gokhale, Media and Entertainment Business Head, MEA & APAC, Viacom 18 presented the award to Nathalie Habib, GM at Blink Studios.
48 | www.broadcastprome.com | December 2017
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PROAWARDS
Broadcast Awards
SYSTEMS INTEGRATOR OF THE YEAR
Television Systems Ltd. Television Systems Ltd. stood out for many reasons: the sheer size of the project it undertook, the complexity of connecting two different sites, managing several vendors and addressing complex requirements within a rigorous timeframe. More importantly, TSL received glowing referrals from the client. Mukund Cairae (l), CEO of Zee Entertainment presented the award to Suhail Ahmed, who heads TSL's regional office, and Managing Director, Jeremy Rees.
SPECIAL RECOGNITION AWARD
CMT Technologies CMT Technologies' outstanding work in providing OTT solutions in the region is truly award winning. CMT recently deployed a fully customised end-to-end OTT solution for Saudi Broadcasting Corporation with nine HD channels and six radio channels. The project included the deployment of a multiCDN solution. CMT has now been contracted to run the operations and maintenance for SBC. Pictured with the award is CEO Hisham Arafat flanked by team members, Salma Asharef (l) and Victor Hasan (r).
50 | www.broadcastprome.com | December 2017
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PROAWARDS
Broadcast Awards
BROADCAST EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR
Sanjay Raina, GM and VP, Fox Networks Group Raina demonstrated leadership by strengthening the pay-TV ecosystem across the region. He has done a number of trendsetting deals that has made him the envy of the broadcast community. By walking the talk on both pay-TV and regional content, he has found a sustainable model for the broadcast industry grappling with disruptions in both content creation and technology. Raina (r) received the award from Raz Islam (l), MD of CPI Trade Media.
OUTSTANDING DOCUMENTARY PRODUCTION
TRT World TRT World had a number of entries and its documentaries didn't go unnoticed by the judges. Fitting well into the documentary genre were a number of humaninterest stories on children as the victims of war and the rebuilding of cities destroyed by millitary forces. Rising From the Ashes was especially award winning. Pictured here is Irfan Gondal, CEO of BS Broadcast with Alexandra Francoise Pauliat, Executive Producer of Planning, TRT World.
52 | www.broadcastprome.com | December 2017
BroadcastAsia unveils a brand new look!
www.Broadcast-Asia.com 26 - 28 June 2018 Level 3 – 6, Suntec Singapore
CAPTURE THE FUTURE A fresh new experience awaits! BroadcastAsia joins CommunicAsia, and the new NXTAsia, to form ConnecTechAsia - the region’s answer to the converging worlds of Telecommunications, Broadcasting and Emerging Technologies. BroadcastAsia is Asia’s must-attend international event for the pro-audio, film, digital media and broadcasting industries. The event will showcase latest technologies and innovations that are reshaping the broadcast value chain including Content Media Security, Live Production, Audio over IP, OTT and Alternative Content Platforms, UHD / HDR and many more. 2018 Techzones:
Book your stand Now! Contact us at enquiry@Broadcast-Asia.com
Organised by :
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PROAWARDS
Broadcast Awards
BROADCAST PROjECT OF THE YEAR
Kuwait TV
Kuwait TV has deployed 4K infrastructure at its facility for its news studio and production environment. Both projects were integrated by INC System Integrations. Several manufacturers were involved in these projects including EVS and Tedial on the production side, and SAM, Avid, Calrec, SGL and Vantage on the newsroom side. Meshal Al-Makled (r), Undersecretary for Technical Affairs of the Ministry of Information, State of Kuwait received the award from Hasan Sayed Hasan (l), MD of Master Media.
TECH ACHIEVER OF THE YEAR
Bassam Alsaqqa, Palestine TV Bassam Alsaqqa, Broadcast Engineer at Palestine TV, is a go getter. When the TV station needed an OB van to cover news, Bassam didn’t just have to design a vehicle that could successfully run on the road, he also had to identify local resources, and oversee the building and integration of a broadcast van. Bassam braved several odds to come to the ASBU BroadcastPro Awards to receive his award. Where there is a will, there is a way.
54 | www.broadcastprome.com | December 2017
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PROAWARDS
Broadcast Awards
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN STUDIO & SET BUILD
twofour54
twofour54 Abu Dhabi began the construction of a new outdoor set spanning 20,000 sqm at the beginning of 2017, bringing the total space occupied by the backlot facility to 150,000 sqm. The recent construction was used for Bollywood movie Tiger Zinda Hain. A timelapse video shared with the audience showcased how the backlot was transformed to cater to different productions, making the work twofour54 does truly award winning. Seen with the award is the twofour54 team.
56 | www.broadcastprome.com | December 2017
PROAWARDS
Satellite Awards
MSS OPERATOR OF THE YEAR
Thuraya SatellitePro ME’s ‘MSS Operator of the Year’ went to Thuraya Telecommunications Company for the deployment of 2000 satellite terminals — the largest ever — that helped facilitate seamless connectivity for a key government project in Kenya. Ahmed Al Shamsi, Acting CEO of Thuraya Telecommunications Company, accepted the award on behalf of the team from Abdelrahim Suleiman, Director General of ASBU.
TELECOM STRATEGY OF THE YEAR
Etisalat Etisalat executed a connectivity driven multi-million dollar project for offshore communications and a unified ICT infrastructure to one of the biggest oil & gas clients in the United Arab Emirates. The award was received by Ibrahim Mohammed Hassan (l), Sales Manager, Government Sales-Security Entity; Abubaker Mohamed Almarzooqi (c), Senior Director, Government Sales-Security Entity and Nadim Katayeh (r), Client Director, Energy & Utilities, Etisalat. December 2017 | www.broadcastprome.com | 57
PROCABSAT
CABSAT 2018: AT The CuTTing edge of innovATion CABSAT 2018 brings together experts to make sense of viewer-driven disruptions and the array of solutions, to devise the best strategy to address your target audience
With an estimated 13,000 attendees, at least nine country pavilions and in excess of 90 hours of content generated, CABSAT 2018 will be held January 1416 at Dubai World Trade Centre. CABSAT’s 24th edition will feature a number of new sections and initiatives aimed at putting not just equipment and services in the spotlight, but talent as well.
58 | www.broadcastprome.com | December 2017
The annual event, put together by Director Exhibitions, Frederique Maurell and her team, will have more than 130 countries represented. With the industry vying for eyeballs and ROI, CABSAT is dividing its conferences into focused technical, strategic and creative sessions to draw engineers, decision-makers and content creators more closely into the fold. A number
PROCABSAT
of new sections will be created to dedicate space to audio as well as film and music talent, as part of efforts to bring more visibility to communities operating in these sectors. There will be an Airwaves Showcase, where manufacturers will feature their latest audio equipment, technology and services for the broadcast, radio and live events market. A Tech Innovation Startup Zone is also being developed to put emerging VR, AR, drone technology and media, film and satellite start-ups in the spotlight. CABSAT is also looking to host Script to Screen in 48, an interactive session aimed at offering training to young professionals and students. The Script to Screen in 48 Workshop and Competition will engage young professionals and filmmakers with a half-day workshop; they will then pitch a short film idea and film it on-site at CABSAT within 48 hours. Winners will be announced on the last day of the show.
CABSAT 2018
13,000 9+ 90+ 130+ CABSAT attendees
Country pavilions
Hours of content generated
Countries represented
In an effort to bring together not just equipment but also talent in the music community, the event organiser is launching CABSAT Beats, a twoday music festival where the audience will enjoy a variety of different genres and performers, from local musicians to international talent. CABSAT Beats will take place on the first and second evenings of the show – January 14-15 between 6 and 9pm. Lastly, with estimates that content marketing will more than double in under four years to become a $300 billion dollar industry by 2019, CABSAT 2018 promises products, conferences, green room wizardry and the occasional celeb vlogger, with content creation and marketing taking centrestage. As official media partners, BroadcastPro ME and SatellitePro ME will be presenting a comprehensive overview of the products and innovative solutions on display in the January issue, in addition to the brief preview that follows. PRO
December 2017 | www.broadcastprome.com | 59
PROCABSAT
LiveU to promote IP with UBMS
At CABSAT 2018, LiveU will be showing its latest range of live video acquisition, management and distribution solutions over IP in the booth of local partner, UBMS.
for the first time at CABSAT, Liveu will demonstrate the Lu600 4K portable transmission solution with the hevC Pro Card for global newsgathering, live sports and events coverage. integrating the Lu600 with the new 4K hevC/h.265 hardware-based encoder allows professional broadcasters and content creators to benefit from unparalleled video performance with extreme bandwidth efficiency, the company claims, using one of the smallest portable cellular bonding units in the market. The solution also enables vR and 360-degree applications. Liveu will also be presenting the new AP Live Community, the first live video content platform for global newsgathering. Stand # ZB5-A20
End-to-end QC by Interra
At CABSAT 2018, Interra Systems will showcase its comprehensive approach to QC and monitoring, which ensures the delivery of video on every device, in an efficient and cost-effective manner. new features that will be displayed include QC checks, adaptive bit rate (ABR) stream validation, real-time quality of experience (Qoe) measurements, live content monitoring and deep-dive
compressed stream analysis. interra Systems will showcase the QC capabilities for its BATon QC solution, powered by workflow tools that go beyond standard automated QC systems to provide comprehensive quality checks and verification efficiency in a flexible environment. BATon supports a wide range of new codecs and formats including iMf App2 extended, iTunes Subtitle, CineCanvas Subtitles and Kodak Cineon as well as multiple dRM systems, to ensure quality on every screen. Stand # Z4 102
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Appear TV to showcase modular X platform
Appear TV will be exhibiting the capabilities of its modular X platform. Built to handle bitrates in the uncompressed domain as well as compression in the contribution market, it supports TICO, JPEG2000, AVC and HEVC with a reported ultra-low-delay mode. interoperability and standards compliance is a key asset. it has specifically been designed for an iP-based or satellite infrastructure, where the satellite modulator and demodulator supports
the higher order modulation schemes. for iP-based systems, the platform has a default video firewalling functionality for seamless and secure video handling. Redundancy is ensured through an intuitive user interface where control is achieved by external scheduling and monitoring of operations. Stand # ZB5-B61
Telestream delivers tools for streaming
CABSAT 2018 is the first event since Telestream acquired ineoQuest, a provider of video quality monitoring and analytics solutions for content distribution across managed and unmanaged networks. The company will demonstrate how the ineoQuest iQ product line extends Telestream media production and distribution
from the point of content ingest right up to the point of consumption on traditional and mobile devices. This year, Telestream will spotlight enhancements to its Lightspeed Live Stream and Lightspeed Live Capture and iQ end-to-end monitoring solutions which, all together, enable Telestream customers to stream any content to any audience, at any level of resolution, meeting industry standards. Stand # Z5 112
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PROCABSAT
Pixel powers productivity
Pixel Power will demonstrate the benefits of combining its graphics and processing power with intelligent automation. The company has already delivered multi-channel automated content production solutions in the Middle East. Through two core technology frameworks – StreamMaster media processing and gallium workflow orchestration – Pixel Power can work with
Quicklink streamlines remote communication
broadcasters and media enterprises to create tailored workflows. Systems can support multiple tasks from automated content production all the way to premium channel playout. The software architecture means Pixel Power automation systems can exist on premises or in the cloud, or a combination of the two. Stand # Z5-103
Canara lighting champions green technology Having participated in CABSAT for the last four years, India-based Canara Lighting Industries, will bring to the event, a total studio lighting solution. Speaking to BroadcastPro Me, Managing director Ajeet Khare said: “We provide consultancy at the project stage followed by technical and project design and the commercial proposal. Then the entire equipment from lighting fixture to rigging to network management systems, dimmers, consoles and electrical power distribution panels is manufactured at our facility. on-site, our experienced team will be responsible for installing, commissioning, testing, training and handing over the equipment.
We also provide after-sales service. This complete set of services from consultancy to commissioning under one roof is part of our unique offering.” Stand # F3-30
62 | www.broadcastprome.com | December 2017
At CABSAT 2018, Quicklink will demonstrate its new, Remote Communicator solution which allows streaming of real-time, full duplex ultra-low delay audio/video or audio only that is sent and received from a single web browser, enabling broadcasters to create high quality, ultra-low latency video and audio contributions. The Quicklink Remote Communicator can be used on
Quicklink hardware or installed on users’ own hardware. The new solution includes cloud advanced firewall punch through with automatic fall-back to Quicklink Relay Services guaranteeing connectivity on the most challenging and secured networks, according to the company spokesperson. Stand # I2-35
New-gen displays from sonoVTS
sonoVTS, a Munich-based provider of system design and integration will feature substantial advancements to its modular videowall, and introduce a new range of IP-optimised broadcast displays at CABSAT 2018. The new videowall consists of 3x3 55” hdQLine displays, featuring an extremely small, 0.9mm bezel
coupled with an engineered, self-supporting rack system. Wolfgang huther, sonovTS' head of Products and displays, said, “We took great care in designing this videowall, to ensure it represents the very best of a new generation of powerful and versatile broadcast displays.” Stand # ZB4-C 13
CABSAT.COM @CABSATofficial
Strategic | Technical | Creative
UNLEASH YOUR IMAGINATION
14-16 JAN 2018 DUBAI WORLD TRADE CENTRE
Technology for Content Creation | Broadcast | Film | Satellite | Radio | Music
GIVING YOU THE INSPIRATION AND THE TOOLS TO ENGAGE & MONETISE MODERN AUDIENCES for New 8
201
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Live onsite
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900+ exhibiting brands
Strategic, Technical & Creative
Tech Innovation Startup Zone
Conference Content
Kick-start the new year and register now at cabsat.com/register TECHNOLOGY INTELLIGENCE FOR THE SATCOM MARKET
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TECHNOLOGY INTELLIGENCE FOR THE SATCOM MARKET
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PROGUEST
“The best approach to make sure content survives the CDN is to manipulate the bitstream for each individual viewer”
Combating OTT content piracy Piracy is an ever-evolving problem for content creators and owners. Whether because of the cost of programming or the geographic limitations on availability, more viewers than ever are tuning in to illegally-delivered content. The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), made up of 30 leading content creators and media companies, estimates that there were 5.4 billion downloads of pirated films and television shows in 2016. When content is distributed or downloaded illegally, its quality is usually degraded. As higher resolutions become the norm, 4K can be degraded to HD. This means it remains at a high enough viewing quality, creating even more of a market for illegally-shared content. This all adds up to much more than just a headache for those in the industry. It costs content owners and distributors a lot of money, so it is a problem they are eager to address – and quickly. After all, for a media company, content is their most important asset. It’s why people use their service. So, if content is king, how do content owners stop someone stealing the crown jewels? Creating a unique stream Watermarking assets isn’t a new approach to protecting content. But with the number of pirates surfing
the internet, the amount of content being distributed using IP and the multiple versions of each programme, it’s hard to implement in such a way that it’s easy to track the pirates. And watermarking content through online delivery is traditionally very difficult to do. The very point of a CDN – which is used to scale TV delivery – is to make delivery more efficient by copying content. To protect content through delivery, broadcasters and filmmakers need to be able to forensically track the source of illegally shared content. One method that has gained momentum is manifest-based watermarking. Online TV content isn’t streamed as one long video file, but as a collection of three-to-five second segments. By creating two versions of each segment and marking them A and B, content distributors can create a unique string of sections. While this does create a unique watermark that survives CDN delivery, content must be stored twice on each server, increasing operating costs. This watermark also takes a long time to identify, and it is possible to obscure it by splicing together the two versions. A new kind of watermarking The goal is to put the spotlight back on content thieves and catch them in the act. By watermarking from the edge of a dedicated TV CDN, a bitstream-based watermarking
64 | www.broadcastprome.com | December 2017
solution inserts a unique watermark directly into the bitstream, on the fly. The best approach to make sure content survives the CDN is to manipulate the bitstream for each individual viewer. The process only requires a few byte changes, performed by specialised servers on the edge of the network as they stream content. Just before delivery to the end user, the system identifies just a few pixels within the picture’s frame and changes them in a way that’s completely unnoticeable to the viewer. For example, black might be changed to very dark grey. This pixel identification creates a unique code for each streamed version of the video and is easily detectable by the client. Within five seconds, a pirated stream can be identified and tracked to the specific user. This bitstream-based watermarking, compared to manifest-based watermarking, can be embedded much faster, at a rate of several bits per second. It’s also much harder to cheat this watermark, so pirates can be identified much faster. We’ll quickly see an increase in premium online content being protected using this kind of watermarking application when it’s delivered online via a CDN. Protecting content in this way gives broadcasters and content owners the forensic tools they need to track down anyone who illegally streams or copies their content. PRO Johan Bolin is VP Products at Edgeware
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