BroadcastPro ME October 2017

Issue 88 | OCTOBeR 2017

Publication licensed by Dubai Production City

much more than tv Huawei's MENA-friendly streaming platform

hidden gems at ibc 3d holograms, Vr, ar, and that's Just for starters

GOING LOCAL FOX STYLE

Three new FOX channels redefine storytelling in the region

14 November 2017 HABTOOR GR AND / DUBAI / UAE

1 day / 4 panels 25 speakers / 16 awards 1 gala awards dinner BroadcastPro ME Summit & Awards is our annual flagship event to promote and celebrate excellence in the broadcast and satellite industry across the MENA region. Featuring extensive networking opportunities, seminars and awards presentations by key industry and government leaders.

Event Sponsors TITLE SPONSOR

PANEL & CATEGORY SPONSOR

WELCOME SPONSOR

CATEGORY SPONSORS

Sponsorship

Nominations

Information

Raz Islam | +971 50 451 8213 raz.islam@cpimediagroup.com

Vijaya Cherian | +971 55 105 3787 vijaya.cherian@cpimediagroup.com

Sheena Sapsford | +971 4 375 5498 sheena.sapsford@cpitrademedia.com broadcastpromeawards.com

PROintRO

Publishing Director Raz Islam raz.islam@cpimediagroup.com +971 (0) 4 375 5471 Editorial Director Vijaya Cherian vijaya.cherian@cpimediagroup.com +971 (0) 4 375 5472 EDITORIAL Editor Vijaya Cherian vijaya.cherian@cpimediagroup.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@cpimediagroup.com +971 (0) 50 929 1845 Sales Manager Lionel Matthews lionel.matthews@cpimediagroup.com +971 (0) 55 775 89 27 DESIGN Art Director Simon Cobon MARKETIING Marketing Manager Sheena Sapsford sheena.sapsford@cpimediagroup.com +971 (0)4 375 5498 CIRCULATION & PRODUCTION Production Manager Vipin V. Vijay vipin.vijay@cpimediagroup.com +971 (0)4 375 5713 Circulation Manager Sunil Kumar sunil.kumar@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 375 5476 DIGITAL SERVICES Mohammad Awais

Welcome back, after a fantastic show in Amsterdam this year. I hope all of you had the opportunity to go beyond the traditional fare at the show to explore the new and expanding world of artificial intelligence, machine learning, virtual reality, new tools combining engagement with entertainment and what have you, to cater to a new generation that probably began their world of entertainment on an iPad. While I don’t belong to that generation, I must confess that the iPad or iPhone has increasingly become my preferred device for entertainment, primarily because I’m always on the move or have had to relinquish the linear experience to other members of the family. With the growing demands of the workplace, I have come to acknowledge that I have also become a more demanding viewer and that I belong to a generation which is part of the churn if the streaming experience is not seamless, buffer-free and able to make accurate programme recommendations.

In the introduction to our IBC wrap-up, we have Dominic Baillie, a tech specialist whom we have often viewed as a visionary, identifying some hidden gems that he came across on his visit to the show, and we urge you to have a look as well.

As always, IBC signals the start of the busy season here in the region.

We have some exciting times ahead for the BroadcastPro and SatellitePro team. Even as we are getting ready to head to Salalah to attend Arabsat’s customer event Atheer, we have the ASBU BroadcastPro Summit and Awards looming in the horizon. If you haven’t nominated a regional project that you believe to be of award-winning quality, or registered to attend our event at www.broadcastpromeawards. com, I encourage you to do it now – spaces are filling up fast.

Vijaya Cherian, Editorial Director

Sadiq Siddiqui FOUNDER Dominic De Sousa (1959-2015) PRINTED BY

Issue 88 | OCTOBeR 2017

Publication licensed by Dubai Production City

Printwell Printing Press LLC

On this month's cover…

Let’s create a vibrant online broadcast community!

much more than tv Huawei's MENA-friendly streaming platform

Published by

hidden gems at ibc 3d holograms, Vr, ar, and that's Just for starters

GOING LOCAL FOX STYLE

Three new FOX channels redefine storytelling in the region

Licensed by TECOM to registered company,

Sanjay Raina, General Manager for the Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan, Fox Networks Group Middle East.

@BroadcastProME www.facebook.com/BroadcastProME BroadcastProME

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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While the publishers have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of all information in this magazine, they will not be held responsible for any errors therein.

October 2017 | www.broadcastprome.com | 1

PROCONTENTS

Inside this issue 05 NEWS PLC boosts UAE football broadcasts with wTVision, New Panasonic MD announces robust ME plans, MBC revamps digital with Wildmoka’s editing platform, Bedaya TV invests in 25 Ikegami cameras for reality show and more

October 2017 uae football TV milestone

going local fox style

18 going local fox style With the launch of three payTV channels on eLife, Sanjay Raina of Fox Networks Group makes the case for the Middle East viewer being willing to pay for high-quality content

18

05

28 much more than tv

much more than tv

Strategies for a CDN World

Telecom infrastructure specialist Huawei’s first foray into digital content came with the launch of MuchTV in the Middle East two years ago.

The plug-and-play solution was recently upgraded to a more streamlined and efficient platform with the help of systems integrator MediaGuru

31 Strategies for

a CDN World The pursuit of agile, scalable, IT-informed CDN workflow infrastructures can yield collateral – in some cases, existential – security benefits, say Brad Price and Joshua Rush of Audinate

28

31 ibc wrap-up

pay-tv delivery

34 hidden gems at ibc A walk through IBC highlighting 3D holograms, UHD and more

48 pay-tv delivery Khaled Al-Jamal, Head of Sales at Irdeto, on securing a new era of pay-TV delivery

34

48 October 2017 | www.broadcastprome.com | 3

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PROnews

PLC boosts UAE football broadcasts with wTVision

Andre Chagas, Middle East Operations Coordinator for wTVision.

The UAE Pro League Committee (PLC) has adopted the player performance tracking system called the Tracking and Heatmap System, to be trialled throughout the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons in collaboration with football data collection and graphics technology company wTVision, BroadcastPro ME can reveal. PLC is the UAE’s professional football league.

The system tracks players’ movements during matches to provide accurate data about their speed and

positioning, and heatmaps for movements and distance covered. It also provides data on percentage of play in different areas of the pitch and other related statistics.

Speaking to BroadcastPro ME, Waleed Ebrahim Alhosani, Chief Executive Officer of PLC, commented: “The Tracking & Heat Maps System will provide us with in-depth data about our matches, and that will benefit broadcasters, analysts and our media partners by adding a reliable source of information.”

Managing Director Hiroki Soejima addressing the annual Panasonic convention.

The technology will be used in select matches throughout the season starting with three matchweek two fixtures; Ajman vs Shabab Al Ahli Dubai, Al Wasl vs Emirates and Al Nasr vs Al Wahda. PLC has trialled the system in five matches, including the Arabian Gulf Cup semi-final and final.

Data collected by the system will be displayed at half-time and full-time. The technology is expected to add important statistics and data for TV broadcast and contribute to a better quality of service to stakeholders including broadcasters, media, clubs and partners, in addition to having a positive impact on the technical analysis of matches.

Andre Chagas, Middle East Operations Coordinator for wTVision, added: “It’s our honour to take the wTVision partnership with PLC to the next level and, at the same time, allow football fans of AGLeague and AGCup access to a strong set of innovative data.”

MBC revamps digital with Wildmoka’s editing platform MBC Group has selected Wildmoka for its nextgeneration, live video editing and publishing platform. It will use Wildmoka’s Moments Studio platform to instantly clip and edit highlights from live broadcasts, and publish them to social media. MBC Group owns a number of online digital platforms, including Shahid.net and mbc.net, and boasts a large social media footprint.

“We started investing time and resources in the Middle East region earlier this year,” commented Wildmoka cofounder Cristian Livadiotti.

“We discovered a region with very advanced technologies and platforms, and a strong push towards digital. The partnership with MBC is one of our first in MENA, and the stepping stone for our growth in the region.”

Fadel Zahreddine, Group

Director of Brand Management & Digital Businesses, added: “At MBC, we are at the forefront of adopting new trends, with the steadfast aim of getting closer to our users on all available platforms. The choice is a clear one for us, in that our digital strategy has always been about offering instant publishing and live clipping as an essential and scalable solution in today’s digital publishing environment.”

New Panasonic MD announces robust ME plans Panasonic Marketing Middle East & Africa (PMMAF), the Dubai headquarters for Panasonic, has announced robust plans for 2017 under the leadership of new Managing Director Hiroki Soejima.

More than 80 business associates from 12 countries attended Panasonic’s annual convention last month in Dubai.

Speaking at the event, Soejima, who recently took over as Managing Director of PMMAF, said: “To invigorate our brand, we will launch our strong 360-degree marketing campaign highlighting ‘Japan Quality’, reinforcing us as a premium Japanese brand.”

IN FIGURES

$65 billion Estimated global OTT market revenues by 2021

October 2017 | www.broadcastprome.com | 5

PROnews

PTTV upgrades newsroom with Grass Valley

Palestine Today TV (PTTV) has deployed a complete newsroom upgrade from Grass Valley, to enhance the delivery of its news production and up its game in digital media workflows.

Systems integrator Pharaon Broadcast undertook the installation.

With the upgrade, PTTV hopes to have the efficiency, reliability and scalability it needs for a simple and integrated workflow with the flexibility to grow as

business needs require.

The upgrade includes GV Stratus video production and content management with nine LDX 82 Flex cameras, three RS-LDX Première integrated robotic camera systems. Furthermore, PTTV selected two GV Korona K-frame V-series production switchers, a KaleidoModular-X multiviewer and a 3 RU Densité 3-frame to serve as the monitoring and master control system for ingest, live and file-based content across

the facility. PTTV also opted for an NVISION 8140 hybrid series router, along with all related software and hardware for complete integration.

Speaking about the deal, Fadi Boustany, Pharaon Broadcast GM, said: “Working together with Grass Valley, we were able to offer PTTV an end-to-end newsroom solution to leverage PTTV’s news production.”

For PTTV’s news productions, the three RS-LDX integrated robotic cameras

make full use of the small but powerful features of the LDX Compact Series, which is combined with robotics and various options. It enables a complete customisation in one easy-to-use package, right out of the box.

Once the images are captured, Grass Valley switchers come into play as broadcasters and directors work to build the show efficiently. With the GV Korona K-frame V-series, PTTV has the flexible support needed for its news studio.

Jan Pieter van Welsem, VP of Sales and Marketing, EMEA at Grass Valley, commented: “Grass Valley understands that as the news environment changes, broadcast equipment must adapt to mobile studios, new media platforms and the growing use of usergenerated content.”

Al Aan TV streamlines news workflow with Avid Dubai-based broadcaster Al Aan TV has revamped its news production environment with Avid tools and workflow solutions. The new workflow promises greater efficiency, reduces costs, speeds time to air and will boost the network’s social media presence.

After ten years on air, the growing channel’s hardware infrastructure was limiting further growth. Escalating costs, inefficient operations and time-consuming manual tasks were taking away from creative time and

straining resources. Al Aan TV turned to integrated Avid tools for a fastturnaround infrastructure, powered by Avid’s MediaCentral Platform.

“As a longtime Avid customer, we knew that Avid could provide the right solutions to help us meet the fast-paced, changing nature of news production today,” said Raad Haddadin, Head of Engineering & Support at Al Aan TV. Al Aan TV’s new workflow includes Avid NEXIS, a software-defined storage platform, and

6 | www.broadcastprome.com | October 2017

MediaCentral UX, a cloud-based web front end for the MediaCentral Platform. These work together to provide a unified experience for fast, collaborative media production. In addition, Avid Interplay has been deployed for Al Aan TV’s complex asset Raad Haddadin, Head of Engineerin g & Support at Al Aan TV. management system.

“Al Aan TV is the latest member of Avid’s preof Global Sales, Avid. eminent client community “The broadcaster’s new to transform from a workflows will provide hardware infrastructure to efficiency and streamlined a virtualised environment,” servicing, and also offer said Tom Cordiner, the potential of cloud Senior Vice President deployment in the future.”

PROnews

Bedaya TV invests in 25 Ikegami cameras for new reality show Riyadh-based Bedaya TV, a private satellite TV channel, purchased Ikegami camera systems as part of a brand-new production facility built for a new reality show. The show was based in an outdoor camp and was broadcast live 24/7 for 90 days.

“We required high-quality HD cameras that could be mounted on Eagle Pan Tilt

BeIN secures content delivery with Irdeto deal BeIN has signed a threeyear deal with Irdeto.

The deal will enable the network to further secure the delivery of its live sports and entertainment content to customers across the region through Irdeto’s Conditional Access Solution.

“As a growing brand providing premium content across the MENA region, it’s important that we work to secure the investment that we put into showing highvalue live sports and entertainment content. In doing so, we can continue to focus on providing the best experience and the latest technology for our customers,” said Yousef Al-Obaidly, Deputy CEO, beIN Media Group.

PTE 300 heads as part of the fixed rig,” explained Abdelaziz Al Oraify, owner of Bedaya TV. “We looked at several manufacturers, but Ikegami cameras gave us the best picture quality for this production.”

Bedaya TV purchased 25 Ikegami HDL-57 and five HDL-45E cameras for the production. The HDL-57 features a 2.5 mega-pixel

CMOS sensor that promises superior picture quality. The sensors include significant circuitry within the sensor itself, resulting in a digital video interface between the sensor and the Ikegami camera DSP, all in a very small device with low power consumption. The CMOS sensor includes native progressive and interlace modes for multi-format HD operation. The HDL-45E

multi-purpose compact HDTV camera provides superior picture images with the latest 14-bit A/D converters, and due to its lightweight construction is ideally suited to being mounted on a pan and tilt head.

Osama Salah, Chief Engineer at Bedaya TV, added: “Ikegami is a trusted brand, and we have found the cameras to be very reliable.”

Iraqi broadcaster deploys MediaWall from Custom Consoles at London facility Al Sharqiya, a privatelyowned satellite television channel in Iraq, recently took delivery of a large Custom Consoles MediaWall from Altered Images, a UK-based supplier of visual communications technology solutions, for its London production centre.

The MediaWall is being deployed as a dynamic video background for the network’s news programmes. “We operate six broadcast studios with a variety of video wall types,” commented Al Sharqiya Group CTO Ahmed Bin-Afif.

“This time, it was a special requirement to create a curved video-wall with large screens.”

Altered Images Broadcast & Media Solutions Director Russell Butcher added: “The challenge was to create a very wide curving display which the studio cameras would see as a convincingly real element of

The Custom Consoles MediaWall at Al Sharqiya is fitted with 18 55-inch monitor screens.

the studio presentation.”

“MediaWall offers a modular approach to multiscreen displays that we know from experience are configurable to practically any scale as well as being highly robust.

The requirement in this instance was for a 6.7m-wide backdrop in a concave configuration giving wideangle production options.

We designed the display

based on three MediaWall support frames, each two metres wide. These support a total of 18 55-inch NEC X series monitors, which are ideal for this application, including features such as an ultra-narrow-edge bezel and high-contrast imaging.

The display is augmented in this application by LED light-boxes with adjustable brightness and colour temperature.”

October 2017 | www.broadcastprome.com | 7

Reimagine everything

We’re at the threshold of a new era— the media cloud era.

New workflows. New capabilities. New opportunities. Cloud-based production workflows give media enterprises, creative teams and independent professionals many possibilities for more efficient and profitable ways to create, manage, distribute, and monetize content. With Avid’s® cloud-enabled MediaCentral® Platform and comprehensive suite of industry-leading tools and workflow solutions, you’re ready to exploit the media cloud era—at your own pace, with flexible licensing and deployment options to match your unique requirements.

See how moving to the cloud with Avid introduces operational efficiency, infrastructure flexibility and greater business agility.

Learn more at GITEX. We will be on the Microsoft booth in Hall 7, booth number B7-10.

YO UR P L AT F O R M TO T H E CLOUD © 2017 Avid Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. Avid, the Avid logo and MediaCentral are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Avid Technology, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries.

PROnews

UAE’s first legal drama premieres on OSN The UAE’s first legal drama, Qalb Al Adala (Justice), premiered on OSN last month. OSN secured the Middle East premiere rights from Image Nation Abu Dhabi and Beelink Productions, and the deal was closed

by IM Global Television.

The legal family drama was created by Oscar nominee Walter Parkes (He Named Me Malala, Flight) and Emmywinning producer William Finkelstein (L.A. Law, NYPD Blue), and produced in partnership by Image Nation and Beelink Productions.

Based on real cases from the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department – which partnered on the production

The team behind Qalb Al Adala

for authenticity – Qalb Al Adala is a legal family drama set in Abu Dhabi.

Qalb Al Adala tells the story of Farah, an ambitious young lawyer who has just returned home to Abu Dhabi after having attained a law degree in the United States. She is

determined to succeed on her own, and does so while pushing legal and cultural norms in the process.

The series stars Emirati actors Mansoor Al Feeli and Fatima Al Taei, who appear alongside a host of Arabic stars, including Emiratis Abdullah Al Junaibi and Saif

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Al Ghanem, Lebanese singer Nicole Saba, Lebanese soap opera star Carlos Azar and Saudi actor Khaled Alburaiki.

On the larger goals for the landmark production, Ben Ross, Head of Narrative Productions at Image Nation Abu Dhabi, stated: “Our goal with this production is to raise the bar for Arabic television and showcase Image Nation’s commitment to producing Arabic-language content that combines worldclass production values with storytelling that reflects real life in the region.”

Martin Stewart, CEO of OSN, said Qalb Al Adala takes Arabic drama “to a new level in terms of production values, narrative and acting”.

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October 2017 | www.broadcastprome.com | 9

NETWORK. AUDIO. VIDEO. CONTROL.

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PROnews

Jeremy Rees joins as TSL's MD

TSL Systems has appointed Jeremy Rees to the role of Managing Director. He will take over from outgoing CEO Roger Henderson and will have global oversight of TSL’s life cycle services, consultancy, systems design, integration and fibre and structured cabling services.

Rees has thirty years’ experience in the television industry, starting his career in the Network Engineering department of the BBC, working at Television Centre and the New York bureau.

Prior to joining TSL, he was a VP at NDS and Senior Director at Cisco, leading teams in system engineering and technologies to broadcasters all over the world.

Anghami transforms audio ads with real-time consumer impact Anghami, a prominent music streaming company in the MENA region, has introduced global technology in the area of ad-supported music streaming that the company claims will transform a listener’s experience.

Anghami is driving the change through its “Dynamic Creative Audio Ads” and “Programmatic Audio Ads” along with “ResearchEnabled Audio offerings”.

Anghami’s new tools were launched last month, at the company’s regional “Audio Day” conference, organised with the support of its media representatives DMS, the digital arm of Choueiri Group.

The technology will help brands target consumers in real-time with personalised messages based on weather, time of day, location, device and the music they’re listening to. The programmatic tools allow for real-time consumer reach across all their devices.

The data communicated allows consumers to provide their feedback and preferences. This flow of data going through the platform can generate, as per Anghami representatives, research-enabled audio offerings that are best suited to brands strategies.

Addressing more than 200 representatives of media agencies in the region at Anghami’s Audio Day, Elie Habib, co-founder and CTO of Anghami said: “These new tools will allow us to customise a more personal experience for our listeners while providing customers

Elie Habib, co-founder and CTO of Anghami.

with third-party research on the impact of their campaigns.”

Since its launch, Anghami’s catalogue has expanded to more than 26 million songs, and its user base is expected to reach 55 million by the end of

this year. Anghami, as per Eli Habib, generates 750 million streams per month with revenue growing at a rate of 250% to 300% a year and is forecast to exceed $20 million this year.

Commenting on the targeted nature of the service, Elie Abou Saleh, Commercial Director at Anghami added: “The dynamic creative technology can scale a personalised experience while allowing marketers to target listeners."

With a current count of around 53m users and an average of 80 minutes a day per user, Anghami is aiming for 101 minutes towards the end of 2017.

www. c anare. c o. j p/ en

Japan Quality See us at IBC, booth 12.G64

October 2017 | www.broadcastprome.com | 11

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PROnews

DFTC partners with Facebook for VIDXB

Jamal Al Sharif, CEO of DFTC.

VIDXB, the MENA region’s first official annual gathering celebrating online content creation, has announced Facebook as a strategic partner.

Facebook will play an integral role in the two-day VIDXB set to take

place December 8-9 at Dubai World Trade Centre, offering a curated programme for fans, creators and industry professionals alike. The debut event will coincide with the Dubai International Film Festival being held December 6-13 at Madinat Jumeirah.

“With the support of industry powerhouse Facebook, we are highly committed to shaping and driving the progression of online video content creation by trailblazing regional storytellers,” said Jamal Al Sharif, CEO of the Dubai Film and TV Commission (DFTC).

Jonathan Labin, MD, MENAP at Facebook, added: “With 164m people on Facebook and 63m on Instagram in MENA, we’d like to support regional talent."

The DFTC will produce VIDXB in partnership with The Alliance LLC, the organisers of the Middle East Film and Comic Con.

EVS appoints new Chief Customer Officer EVS has announced the appointment of Ervan Pouliquen as the company’s new Chief Customer Officer. Ervan was previously at Microsoft, where he spent 14 years in a range of leadership positions in the US and in EMEA, focusing on maximising the positive impact that digital transformation can have on large enterprises. Previously, Ervan held positions at McKinsey & Co and IBM.

Nielsen launches radio audience measurement in UAE Nielsen has announced a new initiative for the broadcast radio industry in the UAE. With the methodology and quality controls being subject to independent verification

by PwC, Nielsen will work alongside industry stakeholders to deliver Radio Audience Measurement (RAM), to help redefine the way the industry understand and target radio listeners in the country.

In a presentation by Sarah Messer, Director of Media, Nielsen Middle East North Africa and Pakistan, at the Palazzo Versace Hotel in Dubai last month, Nielsen RAM will

Sarah Messer, Director of Media, Nielsen MENA and Pakistan.

provide, comprehensive and robust measurement of radio listeners in the UAE, with granular insights into the changing patterns of radio audience behaviour.

Radio listenership will be measured in all seven Emirates, delivering data analytics to assist the

radio industry in driving investment in the platform and content, and ensuring marketing strategy can be developed with data-driven radio audience targeting.

Commencing in Q4 2017, this initiative will feature Nielsen’s paper diary as well as its new mobile diary.

With one of the highest smartphone penetration rates in the world, the UAE market will feature Nielsen’s first full rollout of the mobile diary, which reportedly makes for a more intuitive user experience, higher engagement, and better compliance.

Commenting on the initiative, Sarah Messer, Director of Media, Nielsen Middle East North Africa and Pakistan, said: “We’re delighted to be at the forefront of this radio initiative, and through our seven-day diary data collection method, we will deliver robust audience metrics for radio listening.”

October 2017 | www.broadcastprome.com | 13

PROnews

Narrativa secures funding from twofour54 for content generation Narrativa, a start-up that uses proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) to translate data into accessible narrative content, has secured funding from twofour54 and Abu Dhabi’s media free zone, as well as a number of media companies and angel investors in Europe, the US and the UAE. Funds raised in this round will go towards team expansion, sales and marketing, and technology development to further enhance the evolution of Narrativa’s GabrieleAI technology. It will also enable Narrativa to penetrate the wider MENA market and expand beyond its current roster of clients in the media, e-commerce and enterprise reporting space to those in financial services and oil & gas.

David Llorente, CEO of Narrativa claims that the company is “the only

David Llorente, CEO of Narrativa.

one worldwide to automatically generate content in Arabic. Narrativa’s AI technology helps companies in the media, e-commerce and enterprise reporting space to exponentially increase the amount of content generated, significantly reduce costs,

Arab celebrities judge Emmy semi-finalists in Abu Dhabi The semi-final round of judging for the 2017 International Emmy Awards was hosted in Abu Dhabi last month

by Pyramedia Group.

A host of Arab celebrities from the world of TV, cinema and theatre converged on Bab El Qasr Hotel, Abu Dhabi, to select the semi-finalists

Shereen Ghobrial of Pyramedia and Jessica Franco of International Emmy Awards.

in the Best Performance by an Actor category.

Speaking exclusively to BroadcastPro ME, Franco underscored the significance of the MENA region for the Emmy brand and said: “Abu Dhabi is a strong production hub, and we believe our presence here will encourage regional players to submit their work and compete on an international level.”

This was the eighth year that Pyramedia Group hosted the International Emmys Awards semifinal judging panels.

The event was endorsed by the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

14 | www.broadcastprome.com | October 2017

and develop new revenue streams”.

Narrativa’s client base is primarily in the UAE, KSA and Europe.

Speaking about twofour54’s role in the project, Maryam AlMheiri, CEO of the Media Zone Authority, Abu Dhabi and twofour54, added: “Our investment in Narrativa is in line with our vision to champion the creative community and foster the production of content. Less than 2% of online content is in Arabic, making startups like Narrativa so valuable.”

Prior to this round, Narrativa previously participated in Hamburg’s Next Media Accelerator and Abu Dhabi’s Flat6Labs start-up accelerator programmes, raising $250,000. Its long-term vision is to target the global digital content licensing market.

Arabsat to host France24 in Arabic The French Channel, France 24, has launched two HD channels, France 24 in English and France 24 in Arabic, on Arabsat’s Badr 4 satellite. France 24 Arabic is exclusive to Arabsat in the Middle East.

Commenting on the launch, Khalid Balkheyour, President and CEO, Arabsat, stated: “By choosing Badr4, France 24 will cover most of Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.”

Speaking about the reach of the channel, Marie-Christine Saragosse, Chairwoman and CEO of France Médias Monde, the group in charge of French international broadcasting including France 24, stated: “We are delighted to strengthen our ties with Arabsat, allowing France

Khalid Balkheyour, President and CEO, Arabsat.

24 to better serve North Africa, the Middle East and Europe to reach close to 200 million homes. Thanks to this new agreement, France 24 in Arabic is now broadcast for the first time in HD quality across the region.”

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PRORESEARCH

Is TV adVerTIsINg dead?

Not really, say experts at Intertrust. By combining the best qualities of television with the addressability of digital, advertisers can have targeted, dynamic video ads in TV-quality streaming environments

Television has endured a lot of heat since over-the-top (OTT) was introduced to the living room. Following years of mobile and second screen proliferation, the number of households subscribing to cable, satellite and telco TV packages declined 0.7% this year, to 98.7 million. Total media spend will reach $206 billion this year, a moderate increase of 6.1%, and digital spend will surpass TV for the first time.

95% of homes with TV have access to services that can be viewed on another screen, contributing to the lowest growth rate ever for worldwide pay-TV subscribers.

Globally, Asia-Pacific saw the biggest gains, adding 2.4 million homes – compared to the Americas, which added 850,000 homes, and EMEA with 210,000 homes.

16 | www.broadcastprome.com | October 2017

PRORESEARCH

While eyeballs may be shifting, many advertisers report that TV ads deliver better ROI than digital. Coca-Cola’s Global Chief of Marketing famously told conference attendees that it sees $2.13 returned for every dollar spent on TV, compared to $1.25 for digital.

A recent study by Accenture found that marketers over-state ROI from digital by almost 18% when seen as a stand-alone channel, by failing to track and measure the halo effect from multi-platform television. Conversely, multi-platform TV’s adjusted ROI is understated by 10% according to the study, due to being mistakenly credited to single channels; the study analysed $12 billion in anonymised marketing spend. In addition, while ROI from search, display and short-form video is high at initial spend levels, returns diminish as spend increases.

Ideally, advertisers experience the same brand recall from TV, combined with the audience-based targeting advertisers use in digital. By combining the best qualities of television with the addressability of digital, advertisers can have targeted, dynamic video ads in TV-quality streaming environments.

Programmatic TV buying is expected to grow by 600% between 2016 and 2018.

October 2017 | www.broadcastprome.com | 17

PROCOVER

GoiNG LocaL, Fox style

With the launch of three pay-TV channels on eLife, Sanjay Raina of Fox Networks Group makes the case, in conversation with Supriya Srinivas, for the Middle East viewer willing to pay for high-quality content With landmark decisions on content, delivery and economics, Fox Networks Group’s three new channels, Fox Crime, Fox Rewayat and Fox Life, are milestones for the region’s broadcast industry.

The conversation between Fox and Etisalat to go purely IP on the three new channels began nine months ago. The decision to place the channels on Etisalat’s pay-TV platform eLife was inspired by Fox’s own shift to the pay-TV model two years ago, when Fox and Fox Movies were placed exclusively on the beIN platform.

The third landmark decision, to create indigenous content in addition to a bouquet of international fare, is a reflection of Fox’s success with local content on National Geographic Abu Dhabi.

“It is all about telling a good story,” reveals Sanjay Raina, General Manager for the Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan, Fox Networks Group Middle East. Speaking to BroadcastPro ME at Fox’s sprawling new 8,800sqft office in Dubai Media City, Raina was just days away from announcing the launch of the three channels on Etisalat’s eLife platform.

On the new channels, Raina elaborates: “Fox Rewayat is a first-of-its-kind drama channel in the Middle East that promises to bring the best stories from all over the world, fully dubbed in Arabic. Our content team will be scouring the global drama catalogues and identifying stories based on shared values and common experiences with the MENA audiences. The channel launches with stories from Mexico, Brazil, Turkey, Spain, Egypt and Colombia.”

Fox Crime, the region’s first entertainment channel dedicated to the crime genre, will have, in Raina’s words, “legal dramas, espionage tales, whodunnits, heist dramas and thrillers across all formats, including series as well as movies”.

18 | www.broadcastprome.com | October 2017

With Fox Life, however, the concept promises to go beyond dubbing Portuguese, Turkish and Spanish stories and moves into the rarefied realm of the modern Emirati woman.

Raina explains: “In Fox Life, we will be acquiring programming in English while also creating local productions. For instance, our first local production on Fox Life is a show on two Emirati women who are motorcycle riders. They are articulate, fluent in English, and they will take us on a journey around the Middle East on a bike. They will not only explore places, they will explore people, food, the weather and so on.”

“Our content will have a strong undercurrent of fun, thrill, style, serendipity and reality. It will also be a home to lifestyle celebrities such as Jamie Oliver, Haylie Duff and Nigella Lawson, among others.”

With an in-house team curating content, Raina believes the new channels will shake the status quo among international players, in terms of generating local content.

“All three channels will be locally developed and tailor-made for the MENA audience. While Fox Rewayat is fully dubbed in Arabic, Fox Life and Fox Crime will be subtitled in Arabic. This takes our tally of homegrown channels to 10, making it the largest portfolio of multi-genre, made-for-the-region pay-TV channels amongst all international networks in the region.”

The delivery of the three channels over pure IP to Etisalat’s eLife customers is considered futuristic by most in the industry. On the decision and execution of the IP-only delivery system, which took nine months overall, Raina explains: “We partnered with Etisalat and opted for the TVoI [TV over internet] delivery method for these three new channels, as their cloud-based infrastructure

PROCOVER

October 2017 | www.broadcastprome.com | 19

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PROCOVER

In 2015, Fox and Fox Movies moved to an exclusive pay-TV environment with beIN.

offers the benefits of end-toend delivery control along with being cost-effective.” (See box) The third big decision, to place the new channels on a pay-TV platform, may appear less of a milestone considering the robust precedents set by Fox Networks Group two years ago.

The successful shift in 2015 of Fox and Fox Movies to an exclusive pay-TV environment with beIN allowed the company to “breathe easier about the business model”, says Raina. Like most content providers, Fox had initially entered the widely pursued free-to-air route with Fox and Fox Movies.

“It worked very well for some time, and then we faced economic challenges. We had to decide at one point of time whether we wanted to continue being free-to-air or shift dataSo video_BPME_September_2017.pdf the model. we shifted to the

“How long can FTA sustain itself? And how long can it sustain everybody else? It is a big pie, but someone has a larger share and most of the others get some nibbles. We decided that our entertainment channels should not be part of this environment.

Our choice to take the pay-TV route has worked for us”

1

9/29/17

11:14 AM

Sanjay Raina, General Manager for the Middle East, North africa and Pakistan, Fox Networks Group Middle East

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October 2017 | www.broadcastprome.com | 21

PROCOVER

National Geographic Abu Dhabi's Mission Everest: The UAE Military Team.

“The whole credo of the National Geographic Abu Dhabi channel is not just to produce programmes in Arabic – the aim is to take Abu Dhabi to the world. We are taking a lot of Abu Dhabi productions and slices of life through a National Geographic environment to the whole world. We have run the channel since it was set up in 2009 as if it is an Abu Dhabi channel.

That translates to the unique nature of the content we generate” Sanjay Raina, GM, MENa and Pakistan, Fox Networks Group Middle East

pay-TV model by making these two channels available exclusively on beIN.” The company also launched three movie channels – Fox Action Movies, Fox Family Movies and FX – on Etisalat, My-HD and Ooredoo.

Subsequently, of course, other channels have decided to follow Raina’s path and adopt the pay-TV route.

“I guess others face economic challenges too. This has led a lot of people to rethink the model

22 | www.broadcastprome.com | October 2017

of television in our part of the world. How long can FTA sustain itself? And how long can it sustain everybody else? It is a big pie, but someone has a larger share and most of the others get some nibbles.

We decided that our entertainment channels should not be part of this environment. Our choice to take the pay-TV route has worked for us.

As I said before, we are breathing easier about the pay-TV model.”

Raina dispels any popular notion we may have about the Middle East customer not being willing to pay.

“The end user will always pay if you give him or her a compelling reason to pay. Nobody wants to pirate, and it is not easy to pirate.

If the consumer gets the content in a favourable environment at a favourable economic value, he or she will always pay.”

Pay-TV is no longer an outlier in the industry, and more significantly, ready-made imported content dubbed in Arabic is also no longer the only path international players will adopt. From exploring Abu Dhabi’s historic sewerage system to understanding the nuances of conducting a disease-free Haj, the priority given to creating content is not about being

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PROCOVER

The sprawling new 8,800sqft Fox office in Dubai Media City.

politically nice to the hosts. There is a serious business rationale to going local, Raina explains.

“International players have to realise that the English game is only a limited game at the end of the day. Not because there is less content, but because there are fewer consumers for that content. The consumer feels more comfortable consuming in their own language. There is an Arabic-speaking diaspora that runs into millions and they are not catered to properly.”

The journey of 10 men from the Abu Dhabi army to Mount Everest, telecast on National Geographic Abu Dhabi, a free-to-air channel, found resonance in places as far away as Japan and India.

Raina explains: “The first stage of localisation is you dub your content to Arabic. The second stage is all about working with local stories and broadcasting it in other parts of the world. We’ve begun this process for the Farsi market, where we have recently re-launched our Farsi factual channel, National Geographic Farsi, catering to the Farsi-speaking populace in the region. As the channel builds traction, we will also move towards developing local content for its audiences.”

From running Chinese channels in Taiwan to becoming a dominant player in India under the banner of

Star, Raina dons his self-admitted professorial hat to reiterate the importance of telling a good story.

“It is about acquiring the skills to tell the right story. Then you can compete in any market. You can be an international player and yet be very local. Take Pakistan, for instance, a whopping 200 million-strong potential audience.

If you have to make a dent in Pakistan, you need to have an Urdu product. And if you are not in that pie, then your pie becomes smaller. I think India and Southeast Asia models have shown that.”

Raina walks the walk when it comes to creating content in the

24 | www.broadcastprome.com | October 2017

local language with one of the new channels, Fox Rewayat. “‘Rewayat’ means story in Arabic. This is a first in this region.

We will be featuring the best stories in the world. We believe there is an audience for good stories, including Arabic stories that have not seen the light of day.

Sibling rivalries, inter-generational conflicts, romantic sagas, women’s emancipation and vindictive relationships are some of the story arcs that our dramas will explore.”

Raina’s ‘go-local’ initiative moves one step further when he talks about taking the region to the world, in particular with the free-to-air National Geographic Abu Dhabi channel.

“The whole credo of the National Geographic Abu Dhabi channel is not just to produce programmes in Arabic – the aim is to take Abu Dhabi to the world.

We are taking a lot of Abu Dhabi productions and slices of life through a National Geographic environment to the whole world.

We have run the channel since it was set up in 2009 as if it is an Abu Dhabi channel. That translates to the unique nature of content

PROCOVER

we generate on the channel.”

In the absence of credible rating systems, 15 million fans for the Facebook page of the National Geographic Abu Dhabi channel, among other social media platforms, guide Raina’s team.

“Luckily, social media and digital media give you that outreach. It may not tell you ratings, but it shows you the conversation. Social media is massive in this part of the world. We see conversations from countries as far away as Chad and Mauritania, Niger and even Morocco, which is not entirely Arabic-speaking.”

While channels such as Fox are taking social media seriously enough to appoint agencies for the task, a credible rating system needs to be implemented, stresses Raina.

“Unfortunately, the only currency on FTA is Ipsos. It has its own challenges, because it is a recall method. You are called and asked about what you watched, which is not a flawless method. A people metre method is more rigorous. There

“International players have to realise that the English game is only a limited game at the end of the day. Not because there is less content available, but because there are fewer consumers for that content. There is an Arabicspeaking diaspora that runs into millions and they are not catered to properly” Sanjay Raina, GM for the MENa and Pakistan, Fox Networks Group Middle East was a system called Tview that unfortunately died down.”

Beyond the world of people metres and creating local content, the elephant in every broadcast office is the paltry share of pay-TV across the MENA region. Raina

concurs that the pay-TV market is small in this part of the world.

“With more than 60 million TV households across the Arab world, not more than four or five million households have pay-TV connections, be it IPTV or DTH, or even OTT services, because at the end of the day, you pay to watch. That’s just about 1% of the entire audience.”

To compound the issue, Raina admits that credible tools to gauge audience reactions aren’t available, even for pay-TV. However, the onus of listening to the consumer falls primarily on the platforms, he says.

“It is incumbent on the platform, and I am not shifting responsibilities here. We are not in the direct-to-consumer business, at the end of the day. We are in a business where we generate content, curate it, package it and offer it to the operator. Ultimately, it is the operator that secures and sources a consumer.”

Platforms and their customerfacing services notwithstanding, Raina believes collaboration

October 2017 | www.broadcastprome.com | 25

PROCOVER

Raina says the Facebook page of National Geographic Abu Dhabi has more than 15m fans.

between pay-TV operators can help better understand the customer.

“The Hulu model is one of the great examples of collaboration. It has been successful even in Japan and elsewhere. I do believe that at some point in time, at least on data, pay-TV operators will work together. When I refer to the sharing of data, I am not talking about subscriber numbers, but the consumption data defining the customer. Disney, for instance, is competing with Fox and Warner, but they are collaborating because the audience sees Disney in a certain distinct light, as they do Fox and the others.

“The pay-TV market is small and growing at a slow pace. The question we need to ask ourselves is how we can jump start the market and get better numbers. Also, the MENA is a misnomer. There are around 22 countries in all. How can we streamline regulations so that pay-TV can become more robust in these markets?”

From issues related to the repatriation of money to taxation laws and the appointing of agents, leaders in the broadcast industry have often spoken of a ‘third-world’ mentality creating bottlenecks stifling the growth of pay-TV. Endorsing a lobby of sorts between operators, Raina explains: “The collaboration between operators should help us pressurise governments to open up 4G networks and allow telecom companies to set up IPTV networks.

Operators will readily contribute with content, and it will generate value for the governments. As content owners and providers, we believe this is the direction the industry should move towards.”

The wider MENA region offers a mixed picture around pay-TV, according to Raina.

“What is available outside the UAE is largely FTA. There is no visible form of pay-TV distribution

“The pay-TV market is small and growing at a slow pace. The question we need to ask ourselves is how we can jump start the market and get better numbers. Also, the MENA is a misnomer. There are around 22 countries in all.

How can we streamline regulations so that payTV can become more robust in these markets?”

Sanjay Raina, General Manager for the Middle East, North africa and Pakistan, Fox Networks Group Middle East

26 | www.broadcastprome.com | October 2017

apart from initiatives in Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Morocco and to an extent Lebanon. Oman, for instance, does not have a homegrown pay-TV market, although that is now being addressed by OTT. “Egypt has an absolute population of around 95 million that does not have a homegrown IPTV or pay-TV structure. The market is dominated by one form and that is FTA. If an IPTV provider emerges in Egypt, we could see the possibility of producing content targeted at Egyptians, apart from the MENAwide channels we already have.”

Despite bureaucratic roadblocks, the light shines brightly for the broadcast industry in the next three to four years, Raina predicts: “I certainly see telcos laying better pipes for 4G or 5G connectivity, and some of that data will be

PROCOVER

used to deliver video. The most successful in this regard is the UAE model with du and Etisalat.”

Data superseding voice has given rise to opportunities that entertainment channels are exploiting to extend their presence. The success of a National Geographic initiative with an Australian telco can be replicated in this region, Raina believes.

“Voice revenues are falling around the world and data is what will sustain the heavy investment in pipes. National Geographic has an app designed for the mobile and it provides video, photography and articles from the 130-yearold documentary media company.

The app has been launched with Optus, an Australian telco, as part of a data-bundling option. Optus subscribers now have access to priceless made-for-mobile content.

“We are sure the moment the National Geographic app is available here it will be popular, given the following for the brand. National Geographic Abu Dhabi has helped with this huge inward and outward equity of the brand in this region.”

As channels continue to extend their visibility vis-à-vis the consumer, there is very little that can be deemed outside-thebox thinking. Sitting in his office with a staggering view of the Palm Jumeirah, Raina has the advantage of an array of options, from intuitive apps and branded travel to the not-so-new kid on the block, OTT. While acknowledging the OTT initiatives in the region and elsewhere, Raina is sceptical about the sustainability of the model.

“My concern is that while OTT is the way to go forward, can it sustain itself at a $4 price point?

An OTT service is supposed to carry a huge amount of content, otherwise why will you pay $4?

That content is in no way inferior to what a traditional linear operator has. Both pay millions of dollars

Jonathan Haysom Jonathan Haysom, Vice President/ Home Product Marketing Etisalat, on the unique IP-only delivery system that brings the three Fox channels to eLife customers: “The new Fox channels join only a handful of other IP-only channels on the eLife TV service. All of these new channels are completely IPingested via fibre end-to-end. This was a collaborative effort between Fox, the engineering team and Evision.

Our conversation with Fox began nine months ago for this project. From a technical standpoint, there weren’t many hurdles to cross, but we had to ensure our IP ingestion capability was ready for the start of their broadcast.

There are not many carrier facilities that do direct ingestion via IP even today.

The reason is two-fold. One is that headend facilities aren’t cheap or easy to upgrade, and with the need to be resilient, change management is task-heavy. The second reason is that not every content provider is ready to broadcast via IP-only, and they rely on satellite ingestion due to its ease of reach and scale.

I believe that most of the channels we ingest in the future will be IPonly. There is no risk of picture loss or audio loss with this method, as we simply take the raw feed, encrypt it, add DRM and watermarking and send it to our eLife subscribers.

With high-quality and high-availability broadcast-level IP streams now possible globally, there is limitless possibility to expand this ingestion method, as well as using CDNs to even broadcast this for partners beyond our borders in future.”

to acquire that content. However, the difference between a payTV operator subscriber and OTT subscriber is 10 times – $6 versus $60. While the pay-TV operator at $60 finds it difficult to survive, how can the $6 OTT player survive?”

Commenting on the economically tenuous situation for the business model, Raina believes OTT providers will have to face hard but necessary choices.

“OTT is the subscription growth story that everyone wants to get into. The negative whammy is that while the OTT player is acquiring subscribers at $4 per month, the subscriber numbers are not growing as much because this is not a refined pay-TV market. We are not assured of the volumes. For the provider, there are serious questions of the sustainability of ARPU.” Where Raina finds the digital environment particularly helpful is in defeating the silo mindset of the linear pay-TV operators.

“Studios could potentially talk to each other and decide to combine forces in one branded environment and put it on an OTT platform. This will not happen in the linear world, as we work independently of each other. Collaboration, undoubtedly, is the way to go. The consumer is becoming far sharper in terms of his or her content needs. The youth have switched to non-linear devices. While they have limited the amount of TV they watch, they are still watching content.”

The name of the game is to reach out and collaborate and create content, urges Raina. As he takes us on a tour of the new office, complete with a breakout area for brainstorming or just weekend karaoke, he emphasises the collaborative nature of the business.

“We buy content from everyone.

We curate everyone’s content. The Fox brand allows us this access.

And what we have seen is, while we grow everyone else grows.” PRO

October 2017 | www.broadcastprome.com | 27

PROCASESTUDY

Snapshot • Objective: To automate the workflow and MAM for a VOD platform • End user: Huawei • Location: Dubai • SI: MediaGuru • Key technology providers: Media Alliance, Harmonic

MucH MorE than tV

Telecom infrastructure specialist Huawei’s first foray into digital content came with the launch of MuchTV in the Middle East two years ago. The plugand-play solution was recently upgraded to a more streamlined and efficient platform with the help of systems integrator MediaGuru. BroadcastPro ME looks at some of the key technologies used to revamp the MuchTV platform Huawei, Dubai recently deployed a centralised solution to manage its media assets and push content on IPTV and OTT platforms. Huawei's streaming platform, MuchTV, was launched in September 2015 as part of the company's expansion into digital content and hosting space. The platform offers content to address the tastes and demands of the MENA audience. It needed an advanced media asset management (MAM) solution, with all functionalities such as metadata creation, fast search and distribution capability, EDL support, archiving, workflow integration and multiple language support.

One of the key requirements for Huawei was censorship of content with a role-based approval mechanism.

Huawei contracted systems integrator MediaGuru to provide a centralised content management solution that provided metadata enrichment and was capable of delivering across multiple platforms. After a meticulous assessment of technical and budgetary requirements, MediaGuru suggested an advanced MAM solution by Media Alliance to Huawei.

Sanjay Salil, Managing Director of MediaGuru, says the systems integration specialist “offered a comprehensive solution including the database and content processing server as well as storage”.

“The solution provides content censorship, which was a key requirement for the client. It also allows for the screening and selection of content to be pushed to the OTT and IPTV platforms,” he said.

The Media-Alliance MAM solution, BORNEO, is cloudbased and works as a single integrated and modular application offering MAM, newsroom, workflow and metadata

28 | www.broadcastprome.com | October 2017

management, content processing, archiving and delivery.

It has been deployed to handle MOV and MXF file formats.

Within the MAM system, the operator can selectively pick the content to be distributed after getting approval from the director, and create the final clip by using integrated render capabilities. The operator also has an option to send the media files for non-linear editing (NLE) on Apple Final Cut Pro. Screen Subtitling provided the subtitling software, an automated solution that converts a library of subtitle files to a streaming format. QNAP provided networked attached storage (NAS) and the workstations were supplied by Dell.

“All these solutions and the centralised platform are scalable to cater to the growing volume of content and users.

Archiving was not part of the set-up; however, the system is ready for integration with archive modules (ALTO or tape library) as and when required by the client,” Salil clarifies.

MediaGuru carried out on-site testing and finetuning of complete workflows. Users were sufficiently trained to ensure efficient use of the solution.

The workflow As part of the workflow, the video files in MXF or MOV formats are ingested into the system. The Watchfolderbased ingest takes the files to create system-generated metadata, which is then pushed to the MAM database.

Once in the database, the files create a high-quality proxy for web browsing and thumbnail creation.

This is followed by high-resolution, high-quality file

PROCASESTUDY

Sanjay Salil, Managing Director of MediaGuru.

“The solution provides content censorship, which was a key requirement for the client. It also allows for the screening and selection of content to be pushed to the OTT and IPTV platforms”

movement from the cache storage to production storage.

The high-res files are then picked up by the Edit Decision List (EDL) for content censorship.

After finalising the EDL, only the approved content is sent for subtitling to the Screen Subtitling system.

Screen’s software solution uses open subtitling, a technique whereby the subtitled text is permanently burnt in and visible in the video portion of the media. In this process, all NG (non-genuine) clips are removed from the exported copy of the HQ files. The EDL files go through the transcoding system to create proxies and thumbnails for browsing.

The files are subsequently moved to the MediaMat Subtitling desk for streaming to multiple platforms. At this stage, the system-generated metadata is available. The client can further undertake a custom metadata

Sanjay Salil, Managing Director of MediaGuru enrichment on the platform.

“The project was delivered within the stipulated timeframe, in three weeks including the time of equipment delivery. With censorship being a key requirement for the client, we made sure the solution catered to the client’s requirement.” PRO

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PROTECH

WorkfloW STraTegIeS for a CDN WorlD

The pursuit of agile, scalable, IT-informed CDN workflow infrastructures can yield collateral – in some cases, existential – security benefits, say Brad Price and Joshua Rush The epic HBO series Game of Thrones has demonstrated the power of storytelling and production brilliance in its ability to impact entertainment and popular culture.

Much like one of Game’s embattled citadels, traditional broadcast – the medium that has delivered this and many more cultural phenomena – has been under extended siege as new online and mobile platforms siphon off audiences and advertiser budgets.

Consider the array of disruptive video concepts that became new video businesses, from Netflix to Twitch to Cheddar, and platforms like Facebook, Google and Instagram that have captured advertiser imaginations with the promise of precision segmentation, immersion, interactivity and – the holy grail – data and analytics!

So a pivot has been in order for a considerable time, and broadcasters have reacted with varying urgency around

the world. State broadcasters have typically had a greater mandate and security to continue their course, whereas commercial enterprises have explored and embraced new creative, technological and format ideas. 3D, 4K and multichannel surround have each been hailed as potential industry saviours, or at the very least defensive weapons.

Now it seems as though broadcasters have broken the siege mentality, if not the siege itself. This attitude change was very evident at NAB 2017. The attachment to the old ways of doing things has been lifted, and broadcasters are actively embracing the opportunity to do things differently.

Borrowing military tactics from another time, many broadcasters have come to emulate Sun Tzu in evaluating the terrain, identifying strengths and opportunities, gathering intelligence, and defending and attacking strategically. One key element of this is recognising where your strength lies

October 2017 | www.broadcastprome.com | 31

PROTECH

(strong brands, real audiences, quality, engaging content), and another is the newly-acquired ability to deploy content better and in more ways (back-end workflow with front-end versioning), to connect with existing and larger audiences.

Applying this approach, the successful broadcaster has effectively become a content delivery network (CDN) and is now better prepared to address broadcast, media streaming and multiscreen viewing services by delivering TV everywhere (TVE) and internet protocol television (IPTV) to multiple devices.

Sports content is one area where the advantages of a new CDN infrastructure are obvious and compelling. Whereas content creation and consumption opportunities used to exist just around a game, now opportunities exist around the bus pulling into the stadium, the team entering the dressing room, fans streaming to their seats, other fans at remote locations and many more sub-narratives that viewers will consume on a diverse array of devices in various screen formats.

To address this opportunity, the broadcaster/CDN needs more (less expensive) content capture technologies; a workflow infrastructure to ingest, organise and share content and tasks; and a distribution strategy to share the content in all its shapes and sizes. These ideas from the sports domain are being successfully migrated to entertainment, news and reality TV, and even being deployed by early adopters in corporate and worship applications.

Sustained success doesn’t simply stop at this one pivot.

Broadcasters/CDNs realise this and are building agile, scalable CDN infrastructure to support IP video production and distribution.

The irony is that workflow infrastructure agility and scalability

The broadcaster/ CDN needs more (less expensive) content capture technologies; a workflow infrastructure to ingest, organise and share content and tasks; and a distribution strategy to share the content in all its shapes and sizes” Brad Price, Senior Product Manager and Joshua rush, VP of Marketing and Product Management, audinate require the embrace of IT thinking and technology – the perceived enemy at the gates for decades.

While real-time media networking has in the past been limited to networks with a single LAN, consider a system that enables audio networks to span multiple subnets with no change in performance and near zero configuration time.

This change is key to allowing networks to scale to ever larger numbers of devices across a campus or broadcast facility, while letting IT administrators preserve the balance of security and access that fully routed, multiple subnet configurations permit.

Additionally, elaborate VLAN set-ups employed as workarounds are no longer needed. Instead, consider a system that allows users and IT admins to use conveniently located switch ports to send audio between devices no matter where they are in a facility. Similarly, network agility is important where new content and commercial events present opportunities, threats and urgency that need to be addressed on the fly or in close to real time.

Just as digital presents considerable opportunities, it also brings significant risk of a network getting hacked and valuable content getting shared illicitly. The pursuit

32 | www.broadcastprome.com | October 2017

of agile, scalable, IT-informed CDN workflow infrastructures can now also yield collateral – in some cases, existential – security benefits.

With the ability to organise, share and version content on the network, and to assign access, responsibility and deadlines to individuals or departments, network administration becomes a huge consideration for a workflow strategy. IT administrators have long been accustomed to protecting network assets by assigning privileges to both users and user groups, ensuring that only trusted individuals may use the system. This basic element of management and risk abatement has been missing in the AV networking world, leaving many networks effectively open to any user with physical access.

By welcoming and extending the decades-long work of IT professionals, the AV community stands to make immeasurable gains in functionality, security, flexibility and quality of content presentation. Fear of the unknown is human and very understandable; but it is no longer excusable, given the overwhelming benefits and cost savings of networking over previous technologies. As with so many advances, acceptance will breed new possibilities that in hindsight will appear inevitable, obvious and indispensable. PRO

Brad Price is Senior Product Manager and Joshua rush is VP of Marketing and Product Management at audinate.

AMTDubai

advanced_media_uae

amt_dubai

AdvancedMediaDubai

PROIBC2017

HIDDen gems at IBC From exploring the possibilities of 3D holograms to discovering an innovative effort to create more engagement with the TV viewer, a CTO highlights ingenious solutions at IBC The move to IP is maturing, with many real products and solutions now available to help systems integrators and broadcasters build much more flexible systems. Case studies are plentiful, with the best examples of remote production seen in sports and events coverage.

Cloud The maturity of cloud still seems a long way off, even after many years of discussion, with most if not all claiming a cloud solution. If you scratch beneath the surface, however, this is often a ‘me-too’ lift-and-shift rather than a complete redesign. For those claiming true micro-services architectures, I have found loyalties to be split between Microsoft’s ACS and Docker swarm.

You can’t help but wonder if the choice hints at code reuse.

Most of the people I spoke to were happy to tell me that nobody else was really doing it properly; legacy seems to be preventing true innovation.

34 | www.broadcastprome.com | October 2017

AI? A number of vendors were talking AI, the umbrella term for a mixture of machine learning, deep learning and natural language processing. In most cases, AI (or ML) was being used for the recognition and automated tagging of content, detecting advertising or security. There were many examples of automated highlights production for sports and insights into consumption.

Some well-known solution providers gave demonstrations of NLP and ML, with some old and new vendors describing how they put these ideas to use in their software. I’m a great believer in what this technology can bring to broadcast and saw plenty of examples of refining existing processes, with a lot of focus on the automatic recognition or understanding of content; but disappointingly, there was very little on show that applied these ideas to something new and exciting, where I see the most opportunity.

There seems to be a lot of effort put into automatically

PROIBC2017

discovering things that we already know. If we target these principles at the wealth of content and data we already have, we could truly see the advantages. Human and artificial minds working together can produce incredible results, and more importantly, surprises.

Security It was encouraging to see how frequently security was discussed, not from the perspective of reasons not to do something, i.e. cloud, but in the context of recent welldocumented breaches and the increased frequency of ransomware and state-sponsored hacking. For a long time, it has been problematic for broadcasters to take the required precautions, the validation of security patches by vendors taking too long or being non-existent, and the ability to deploy server-based monitoring tools sometimes denied.

It has already become prevalent in RFPs and customer choices that security needs are met in a timely manner, and this is being written into support agreements, such is the likelihood and magnitude of the risk. Initiatives from organisations such as the DPP’s Committed to Security Programme have been launched to support this.

Blockchain A somewhat new term being bandied about was blockchain. Born from the crypto-currencies that were once the domain of the brave or the dark web, we have seen this technology enter the mainstream and the opportunities for its use are intriguing. While most of the discussion centred on antipiracy, we heard a few suggestions on how an incorruptible digital ledger of transactions could help owners not only to get paid but also to gain valuable insights into their media.

It’s great to see these technologies that have become mature in so many industries making their way into broadcasting. Of course, it’s only

“We have heard about cord-cutters, but there is a growing number of cordnevers, and even ‘mature’ people are consuming much more content on the move. With the inevitable arrival of autonomous transport and 5G, this is only going to increase ” Dominic Baillie, CTO in Residence, Disruptive Ideas Ltd when you bring them all together and start again with a clean sheet of paper that you can build something special.

There are a few companies trying this within their own breadth of experience, while others are choosing to gain benefits through alliances. Encouragingly, a handful of companies are actually trying something different.

Cord-nevers versus cord-cutters We all know that the patterns of content consumption are changing; none of our children are choosing linear and most are abandoning television in favour of smart devices. We have heard about cord-cutters, but there is a

growing number of cord-nevers, and even ‘mature’ people are consuming much more content on the move. With the inevitable arrival of autonomous transport and 5G, this is only going to increase.

Covatic has realised this and is using a mixture of AI, data crunching and really clever content manipulation to develop a solution that understands our preferences and uses the opportunities in our day to target relevant and appropriate content.

Sceenic is thinking about experience and engagement with Watch Together, a set of tools that can be integrated into a broadcaster’s existing applications or STBs. It encourages friends, family or fans to watch content together and interact in real time as if they were sharing a sofa. The mechanics are well thought-out and intuitive. Spending just a few minutes with the team, you can see how appropriate content targeted at the right demographic could lead to exciting opportunities for immersive and interactive experiences.

The future If you want something truly revolutionary, imagine a display that can project 3D holograms. Working with mind-boggling resolution and without the need for any head-worn devices would take this a step further.

Imagine also the ability to touch them. This is the vision painted by Light Field Lab, using, as the name suggests, light fields, volumetric haptics and acoustic waves to simulate the sensation of touch. The visual part is in pre-fabrication and expected within the next few years.

And that really would change everything… PRO Dominic Baillie is CTO in Residence at Disruptive Ideas Ltd, helping companies use advanced concepts in AI, data and cloud to build innovative products.

October 2017 | www.broadcastprome.com | 35

PROPRODUCTS

EVS launches X-One

Ericsson launches MediaFirst Processing

EVS announces X-One.

EVS has launched X-One, an all-in-one toolset built with EVS’ software-defined technology foundation that puts the capabilities of a control room in the hands of a single production operator, controlled from the solution’s touchscreen.

The all-in-one solution allows the ingest of six camera feeds – as well as the media

import of any other files – which operators use to create replays, control audio, cut together a live feed with the built-in video switcher and even add graphics to live programming.

The system will be available for purchase by the end of 2017. www.evs.com

SPOTTED AT IBC

Ericsson announced the launch of MediaFirst Content Processing, a softwarebased multi-application platform, at IBC. The platform is designed from the ground up with highquality full performance video processing capabilities, specifically for the contribution market.

Paired with Ericsson’s AVP HEVC contribution encoders, MediaFirst Content Processing provides an endto-end solution for UHDTV or HD HEVC contribution, with optimal

picture quality and latency.

The solution supports current connectivity needs, with either ASI or IP inputs and 4:2:0 or 4:2:2, 8-bit or 10-bit uncompressed outputs via a range of industrystandard connections. www.ericsson.com

Steve Plunkett with Houssam Al Khaled, Ericsson.

Telestream and IBM capture remote live video

Abdul Ghani and Kenzo Ishizuka from Ikegami share a light moment.

IBM and Telestream have announced a solution for highspeed capture and production of live broadcast-quality video from remote locations for faster production turnaround.

Telestream Vantage, powered

by Aspera, combines Aspera’s FASPStream high-speed streaming technology and the Telestream Lightspeed Live Capture media processing platform, to enable production

teams to work on live video feeds from remote locations in near real time.

IBM Aspera’s FASPStream software line offers an open video transport solution capable of high-quality live streaming over commodity internet WANs. Less than five seconds of start-up delay is required for 50Mbps video streams. www.telestream.net

Mike Palmer, CTO, Masstech: “The merger of Masstech and SGL is an opportunity to grow and develop solutions faster than as two independent companies.”

October 2017 | www.broadcastprome.com | 37

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PROPRODUCTS

Ross Video moves with Xpression Go! Mini edition The XPression Go! Mini Series of portable real-time render engines maximises the rendering power of the new Alienware 17’ Windows 10 gaming laptop, as well as Black Magic Design’s Ultra Studio HD Mini Thunderbolt 3 video I/O device, to create a portable real-time motion graphics engine.

“Live event producers are trying to maximise their investments as well as reduce the rack space required to create network quality content,” said Patrick Twomey, Director of XPression Product

Marketing at Ross Video. “The XPression Go! Mini edition is designed for both smart freelance operators who want to offer network-quality graphics in a portable solution, and programme producers who need a high-quality real-time motion graphics engine with a selfcontained portable solution.” www.rossvideo.com

SPOTTED AT IBC

Giorgio Giacomini from Globecast: “In response to à la carte media consumption, there is a possibility of monetising short-form VOD content.”

Bryce Button from AJA focuses on the Io | 4K Plus.

Tata and F1 complete live 360º video POC to experience the action in and around the circuit almost as if they were there.

This proof-ofconcept by Tata Communications and Formula From left: Martin McKenna and 1 is reportedly Amit Sharma of Tata Communications. a first, with the live 360º video feeds and TV broadcast Tata Communications and shown in complete sync.

Formula 1 have conducted There were two 360º a test of live 360º video cameras at the Marina Bay for the first time at the Street Circuit in Singapore to 2017 Formula 1 Singapore show how viewers at home Airlines Singapore Grand can immerse themselves Prix, to demonstrate how in the world of F1. the F1 racing experience can be augmented for fans tatacommunications.com worldwide by enabling them

Snell and Cisco collaborate on IP Snell Advanced Media (SAM) has collaborated with Cisco to integrate Cisco’s IP Fabric for Media solution into its existing IP networking solutions, providing the broadcast sector with IP solutions.

SAM will design Cisco solutions with professional services as part of its IP solutions, and resell the Cisco solutions to include Cisco Nexus 9000 series switches and the Data Centre Network Manager (DCNM) software-defined networking solution, as part of its IP global go-to-market strategy including studio,

playout, OB trucks/fly-packs and remote production.

Bryan Bedford, Global Business Development, Strategy and Channel Lead, Sports, Media and Retail at Cisco, said: “Our collaboration continues to help joint customers further the transitions from legacy architectures to IP and cloud, offering the speed and agility they need to launch new services.” www.s-a-m.com / cisco.com

October 2017 | www.broadcastprome.com | 39

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PROPRODUCTS

Paywizard and Ostmodern redefine pay-per-view

Bhavesh Vaghela, Paywizard.

Paywizard, a subscription, billing and CRM company, and Ostmodern, a broadcast content and video on demand (VOD) specialist, have partnered to launch Venue, a new end-to-end payper-view (PPV) solution.

Venue is based on the shared Paywizard and Ostmodern philosophy of managing PPV TV viewers by treating them

as long-term customers rather than one-off buyers. Central to Venue is the relationship between the operator and the customer, enhanced by data-driven optimisation of the content journey throughout the PPV customer’s decision moments.

Venue is based on the decision moments dashboard capability and data-driven features of Paywizard Agile, combined with Ostmodern’s Skylark OTT platform and expertise in digital product design. www.paywizard.com

SPOTTED AT IBC

Conax launches Arena multiscreen hub created by international Conax has launched its streaming services and modular multiscreen hub, changing customer Conax Arena. The Conax preferences. Tapping the CMS is an open, cloudflexibility of the Conax based, end-to-end CMS for Arena multiscreen offering, managing, publishing and service providers can deploy distributing live and ona complete E2E solution. demand video services. The Conax Arena multiscreen www.conax.com hub is built on benchmark security backend Conax Contego and based on the Conax approach to content security.

Conax Arena provides pay-TV operators with a solution to Tor Helge Kristiansen, the growing EVP Principle Architect, Conax. challenges

OTT live streaming gets a boost with R&S

Chrisian Bockskopf with the Bolero.

Rohde & Schwarz has enhanced its R&S AVHE100 encoding and multiplexing solution by adding adaptive bit rate (ABR) encoding, as well as packetising, for all established formats for OTT live streaming.

The R&S AVHE100 also supports high dynamic range (HDR) video transmissions.

The R&S AVHE100 encoding and multiplexing solution reportedly offers the best video quality available on the market for HEVC-encoded content from QHD to UHD, as demonstrated

by Rohde & Schwarz at several shootouts during the past year.

Quality and stability are also of vital importance for OTT providers who stream premium content simultaneously with live broadcasts. With the latest enhancement, the R&S AVHE100 can, according to an official spokesman, efficiently generate streaming formats in parallel with broadcast multiplexes on a single platform. The R&S AVHE100 provides ABR encoding – it simultaneously encodes multiple OTT live streams using several different video profiles. www.rohde-schwarz.com

Nikos Kyriopoulos from MediaExcel: “The opportunities in the MENA relate to the unique language and cultures exported as compelling content.”

October 2017 | www.broadcastprome.com | 41

PROPRODUCTS

SPOTTED AT IBC

Bridge Technologies launches Instrument View

Mark Moore (r) from Dejero with local rep Ayman Alkhatib from IDEAL Systems Group.

Lawo’s IP installations have begun to take shape, says Andreas Hilmer.

Blackmagic Design launches DaVinci Resolve 14 Blackmagic Design has announced that the final release of DaVinci Resolve 14, its editing, colour correction and digital audio software, is available for download.

New features include significant performance improvement, a new audio post-production suite with Fairlight audio built in, and multi-user collaboration

tools that, according to the official release, let multiple people edit, colour and mix audio from multiple systems.

In addition, DaVinci Resolve 14 includes new features for editors and colourists, including more than 20 new effects such as automatic facial recognition and more. www.blackmagicdesign.com

42 | www.broadcastprome.com | October 2017

Bridge Technologies has launched Instrument View, a user interface that it says provides a new way of viewing network behaviour, enabling media Simen K. Frostad, professionals and Chairman, Bridge Technologies. others to obtain a view of data activity on the network.

Simen K. Frostad, Chairman, Instrument View is a new Bridge Technologies, said: GUI designed to indicate which “As IP becomes increasingly packets are audio, which are pervasive within our industry, video, which are control and so and as MoIP, SDIoIP, ST2110 on, in an ST2110 and ST2022 and ST2022 become engrained world. It is reportedly designed in its fabric, it’s vital that every for those in media production professional, not just the dealing with high bitrate video network engineer, has access characterised by ST2110 and to this kind of information."

ST2022.6. Commenting on the www.bridgetech.tv performance of the solution,

VSN boosts production asset management VSN has launched a new version of its advanced production asset management (PAM) tool.

Integrated within VSN’s flagship media and business Roberto Pascual, VSN. process management advanced PAM software gives product, VSNExplorer production teams continuous provides comprehensive control of ongoing projects project visibility and while enabling them to streamlines the management organise metadata and assets of workflows and material, into different categories," enabling, the company said Jordi Capdevila Espitia, claims, production VSN Marketing Director. departments to become more efficient and collaborative. www.vsn-tv.com “The latest version of our

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PROPRODUCTS

Greenwave launches Axon Predict

Greenwave Systems demonstrated the media delivery capabilities of its Axon platform, including its latest update Axon Predict, at IBC, as operators look to take advantage of the everincreasing amounts of content being streamed. As part of the

Axon Platform family, Axon Predict performs analytics “at the edge, on the device, in real time”.

The Axon Platform for Media has a solution set that connects the media core to an IoT back end, providing operators the ability to deliver video services and develop new offerings that leverage existing networks and remote sensing, according to the official release. The TV streaming platform and network can also be used to add alerts, overlays and automation services to the media delivery system. www.greenwavesystems.com

SPOTTED AT IBC

Speechmatics powers speech recognition Speechmatics has announced its new realtime virtual appliance, which it says will improve automatic speech recognition across the industry. While continuous transcription technology has come a long way, current offerings aren’t versatile enough to perform effectively across a range of criteria.

With the real-time virtual appliance, users are able to plug Speechmatics’ new software directly into an audio stream and get

instantaneous real-time transcription. Speechmatics says its technology has been built from the ground up to offer the same capabilities in real time as it already does in the batch cloud transcription service. www.speechmatics.com

Promethean monetises video content

Litepanels raises the bar with Gemini, says Alan Ipakchian.

Andrew Gray from Limelight Network: “Customer experience comes first and a CDN must enable a flawless experience everywhere.”

44 | www.broadcastprome.com | October 2017

Promethean TV exhibited proven CTRs of up to 56%.” its video commerce solution The Promethean TV platform as part of the Akamai Media works by offering viewers more Innovation Showcase at IBC. of what they want to see through With demonstrations on new video commerce functions the stand showcasing the such as augmented advertising.

Promethean TV platform, the Users could order pizza, buy team spoke to BroadcastPro merchandise and get live updates on their fantasy league ME about maximising without leaving the video stream. monetisation opportunities through an interactive overlay. www.prometheanworld.com Commenting on the performance of the solution, Abe Gottesman, CRO and co-founder, said: “Promethean TV licenses a tool that allows broadcasters to place contextual, relevant and clickable overlays Abe Gottesman, CRO onto live streams and co-founder, Promethean. and VOD, with

PROPRODUCTS

SPOTTED AT IBC

Avid extends MediaCentral Platform

From left: Mark Barkey of Axon with Durdana Farid of MBC and Derek Holland of BFE.

Tristan Boyd from Bitmovin: “To deliver reliable video content over the web, a well-planned infrastructure is critical.”

NewTek-Vizrt launches 3D Graphics server Trio/Viz Engine software provides users with live graphics inside NewTek’s endto-end IP-native video workflows.

“Graphics are an integral part of how a video production looks Ian Davies, Regional Product Manager, Vizrt. and feels, making this another step in enabling our users NewTek and Vizrt have to create the highest quality announced the availability of productions possible,” said the NewTekVizrt IP Graphics Brian Olson, VP of Product Server – the NVG1 – a real-time Management for NewTek. 4K-capable 3D graphics system The NVG1 streamlines designed for deep integration graphics operations by using with the NewTek IP Series and NewTek’s NDI IP video standard the new TriCaster TC1 video to transfer video, audio, key, production systems. The NVG1 control and metadata. combines the NewTek 1RU server platform with NDI IP www.newtek.com video connectivity, and the Viz

Avid has unveiled its nextgeneration media production suite extending from the Avid MediaCentral platform.

MediaCentral scales from a team of two to an organisation of thousands, and reportedly gives news, sports, post-production and live broadcast teams the ability to create and deliver more content more efficiently in shorter timeframes.

The new MediaCentral

production suite is customisable and modular, featuring a cloud-based user experience; workflow modules and apps for editorial, production, news, graphics and asset management; and an array of media services and partner connectors.

Every user is connected in a completely integrated workflow environment. www.avid.com

Primestream simplifies media management At IBC 2017, Primestream demonstrated the next generation of its Dynamic Media Management platform. The new platform is built for ease of use, with features needed to manage complex sports, enterprise and broadcast workflows from capture through delivery.

Primestream has highlighted new versions of FORK and Xchange Suite, 4K/ UHD workflow, VR/360-Asset Management, web-based metadata tagging, an

updated Adobe Premiere Pro extension panel with project-centric workflows, and archival workflows for storing and restoring media from object-based storage providers such as Amazon, SwiftStack, IBM and Cloudian. www.primestream.com

Robert Lisman, Director of Marketing, Primestream.

October 2017 | www.broadcastprome.com | 45

PROPRODUCTS

SPOTTED AT IBC

Shotoku hits heights with Graphica camera cranes physical rotary encoders designed for VR applications.

Reportedly free of the jitters, external markers and area limitations often associated with other positional tracking systems, Shotoku encoders Drago Flores, Marketing Co-ordinator, Shotoku. process data via the SPI interface to provide real-time data output Shotoku Broadcast Systems in the studio or on location. has launched a series of The SPi-Touch origin reset and manual VR/AR tracked camera 2-Point calibration function cranes at IBC 2017. The series reportedly add another level of is the result of a partnership convenience and high production with well-established crane flexibility. A set-and-forget manufacturer CamMate. system, complete calibration The camera cranes have is needed only once and can tracking capabilities in a portable be achieved in 20 seconds. package that is scalable.

Graphica calculates positional www.shotoku.tv data output from embedded

Grass Valley debuts scalable solution for UHD

Tim Thraves, VP Marketing Communications, Grass Valley.

Grass Valley, a Belden brand, has added the ITX Appliance 2+ to its range of playout solutions.

“For the past ten years, iTX has led the content delivery industry, expanding to meet the needs of each new channel along with more traditional channels,

both linear and non-linear,” said Raed Al Tikriti, Vice President, Content Delivery.

“With the new Appliance 2+ model, Grass Valley customers can design a solution capable of SD/HD and UHD channels in both square division and 2SI.” Coupled with ITX’s ability to play over 25 file formats on the same playlist, including the recently added Apple ProRes, broadcasters have the flexibility to launch services on a single platform. www.grassvalley.com

46 | www.broadcastprome.com | October 2017

Exploring MAM solutions with Jay Batista, general manager US operations, Tedial.

Ibrahim Al Akkad, Regional Sales Director, Middle East with Milan Jovanovic, who joined the Dubai office of SAM recently.

Media Excel platform takes 4k global Media Excel, a supplier of software solutions for real-time multiscreen video delivery, has announced that Turksat, Turkey’s leading communications satellite operator, has selected Media Excel’s 4K ultra HD HEVC encoder to help deliver the country’s first 4K live broadcasting channel.

Based in Ankara, the new Turksat 4K ultra TV channel will use the Media Excel Hero 4K, deployed by LG Electronics (LGE) to enhance the quality of experience for viewers across the region. Turksat will leverage Media Excel’s Hero 4K encoder to provide 4K

pixel density, 50fps motion fluency and 10-bit colour depth for viewers in Turkey.

The Hero 4K encoder meets the demands required for UHD/HEVC elevated processing power, using reduced bandwidth transport capacity while reportedly providing superior 4K video. www.mediaexcel.com

Nikos Kyriopoulos, Media Excel.

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PROGUEST

“Android TV is an excellent option for operators who want to launch a hybrid STB quickly, with low development and operational costs. By leveraging built-in features of Android TV, operators can add their broadcast service in six to nine months"

Securing a new era of pay-TV delivery It has been predicted that global OTT market revenues will reach $65 billion by 2021. This is largely being driven by increasing uptake and the global expansion of services like Netflix, which launched in the Middle East last year. In the meantime, a recent report from IDATE predicts that the number of pay-TV subscribers will double in the next five years in the Middle East and Africa, partly fuelled by the growth of OTT video services.

The same report also states that more than 80% of households in the MENA region receive their television programmes via satellite.

It’s clear from these statistics that demand for quality content across platforms continues to grow both regionally and globally. The main challenge for operators is to navigate this converging ecosystem and ensure that consumers receive premium content securely, with the best possible user experience.

Unlike a couple of years ago, when pay-TV operators viewed services such as Netflix as direct competitors, operators today are looking for ways to collaborate with such services or even non-traditional TV platforms. It’s clear by now that we are not living in an either/or scenario. Collaboration, or at least strategic co-existence, is often a practical and efficient way to enhance the overall user

experience, a key differentiator in today’s competitive market.

The common approach for operators is to offer a hybrid settop box (STB) with linear TV and OTT services – whether their own or from a partner such as Netflix.

This way, the operator controls the HDMI 1 and gets consumers to pay attention to its content instead of the OTT apps on the smart TV. In fact, Android TV is an excellent option for operators who want to launch a hybrid STB quickly, with low development and operational costs. By leveraging built-in features of Android TV, operators can add their broadcast service in six to nine months and give consumers instant access to thousands of OTT and other apps in the Google Play Store.

Android TV allows operators to futureproof the STB and expand business opportunities beyond media. Securing this open platform requires careful planning, but it is well worth the work for the benefits Android TV offers.

However, what if the consumer is on the fence about your broadcast service? How can you make the sign-on process easier and cheaper?

There are now two more ways for operators to do so: one is to embed CA directly into TVs, the other is to give them a small CI plus 2.0 USB CAM that plugs into the TV. At IBC 2017, both of these

48 | www.broadcastprome.com | October 2017

approaches have been announced as a reality, to offer premium content to consumers easily and cost-effectively.

With pre-integrated pay-TV security capabilities within a TV, consumers can now have the best of both worlds – instant access to their favourite pay TV service on the big screen, without extra equipment. For operators, this has the potential to make subscriber acquisition easier by providing consumers with frictionless instantaccess pay-TV services on a new TV that they purchase. CI plus 2.0 USB CAM offers another cost-effective method for operators to provide consumers access to pay-TV without an STB. The world is going unmanaged in the long term: consumers love watching content on tablets, mobile phones, game consoles and smart TVs. But for at least the next 10 years, broadcast services in MENA will remain important. Operators must be free to choose the platform that delivers the best user experience and cost efficiencies to compete, whether that is a hybrid STB, a USB CAM or delivery direct to the TV. The right security partner will protect the operator’s overall ecosystem and business model. PRO Khaled Al-Jamal is Head of Sales, MENA, Irdeto. The company recently announced the launch of TV Cloaked CA and a partnership with Vestel to integrate pay TV security directly into TVs

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