Emirati brothers take MENA broadcast to new

Transcription

issue 37 | July 2013
Technology inTelligence for TV, film and radio
CASE STudIES
frOm AfrICA
* In Somaliland
* Integrating TVC News
in Nigeria
APP'S THE wOrd
Sebastien Marteau on
the power of apps
Ad brEAk
With filmmaker
Pegah GhaemI
PUBLICATION LICENSED BY IMPZ
GOING
PLACES
Emirati brothers take MENA
broadcast to new level with social
travel series
Broadcast Systems
The Region’s Leading Systems Integrator
Beyond distributing broadcast equipment, First Gulf
Company is a major force in the broadcast systems sector in
the region with the most signiﬁcant achievements in HD TV
Production and Post-Production facilities and studios.
FGC’s capabilities cover the design, implementation,
integration and support of the most sophisticated systems.
Additionally, FGC provides turnkey solutions in all systems
including high-capacity Media Asset Management and
Digital Archiving Systems.
www.fgcltd.com
P.O.Box 25560, Riyadh 11476, Saudi Arabia Tel: +966 1 219 0888 Fax: +966 1 219 1888 Email: info@fgcltd.com
in this issue
59
BROADCASTASIA 2013
WRAP-UP
June 2013
FOCUS ON AFRICA
28 Connecting Somaliland
32 Integrating TVC News
in Nigeria
TRENDS
14 TV viewing in Ramadan
TECH UPDATES
16 UAE warms up to
surround sound
39 The cost of
multi-platform delivery
20
55 Sebastien Marteau on
Intigral’s big break in
the region
PEETA PLANET
EVENTS
46 Grass Valley’s
discovery sessions
50 PSS in Dubai
GUEST
64 Tristan Ferne, Exec
Producer, BBC R&D
INTERVIEWS
42 Filmmaker Pegah Ghaemi
5 NEWS
info@wiseband.net
www.wiseband.net
PRONEWS
stop
press
* harris broadcast appoints
alain Pecot as vP for
Middle east and africa
* al jazeera Director general
ahmed al thani steps down
twofour54 to DeveLoP bahraini
MeDia taLent
ses announces new
ceo
xxxxxxx
Satellite operator SES has announced that
Romain Bausch is to step down as President
and CEO from April 2014.
Karim Michel Sabbagh has been appointed
as Bausch’s successor and will join the
company as CEO Designate from September 1,
2013. He will officially take over as President
and CEO from April 3, 2014.
twofour54’s Noura Al Kaabi (third from left) with the Tamkeen team.
icfLix signs content DeaLs
icflix, a VoD platform from the Middle East,
has secured major content deals with Turner
Broadcasting, Italy’s Mondo TV and Canada’s
DHX Media.
The icflix platform went live early this month
across the Middle East and North Africa as
the Middle East’s first dedicated streamed
programming platform.
As part of the deal, Turner Broadcasting System
Arabia will provide icflix programmes from pay-TV
network Cartoon Network Arabia.
iclfix also has a deal in place with Canuck
Kids’ TV distributor DHX, which gives it exclusive
local rights to the animated Super Mario
series, and children’s series such as Calilou
and Arthur. All three shows will be available in
Arabic, English and French. Financial terms of
the deals were not revealed.
oasis PPD to have
new engineering anD
oPerations Manager
Oasis PPD has appointed
David Gold to the position
of Engineering and
Operations Manager. Gold
will focus on engineering
and operational activities
of PPD, to ensure the best operating quality
and efficiency of projects implementation.
With more than eight years of experience
in the UAE, Gold previously worked for
Omnix Media Networks followed by ALMO AV
Systems as Service Manager and Service &
Project Manager, respectively. “His experience
and knowledge of the region will be an asset
to the company. We are happy to welcome
David to our team”, said Basel Al Aref, General
Manager of Oasis PPD.
twofour54 has signed a two-year agreement with Tamkeen
Bahrain to help Bahraini media professionals and
entrepreneurs find employment in the private sector. The
programme will develop and boost the skills of young
Bahraini professionals by offering training courses in Public
Relations and Communications and Graphic Design. The
internship will be offered to 100 young Bahrainis.
The courses, developed and executed by twofour54’s
tadreeb, will be rolled out over the next two years. The
academy has plans to offer advanced media courses in
the future.
YahLive boss joins abs
Mohamed Youssif has joined Asia Broadcast Satellite (ABS) as
the COO and President/MD of a newly formed Middle
East division.
Youssif previously served as the CEO of YahLive and
as the Chief Commercial Officer responsible for sales for
Arabsat. He has also held executive positions at ICO Global
Communications, Hughes and is the founder of MESAT
Consultancy in Beirut.
A press statement from ABS said that Youssif will be
Mohamed Youssif.
Sami Boustany.
responsible “for global sales and revenue for the company as
well as directly managing business development for the Middle
East region”. The satellite operator recently appointed Felix Damba as its MD for Africa.
Meanwhile, Sami Boustany has been appointed as the acting CEO of Yahlive. Boustany is currently the Chief Strategy Officer
of Yahsat. With 15 years of experience in the satellite industry, Boustany has been involved with Yahlive since its inception. In
his new role, he will be overseeing the day-to-day operations while focusing on Yahlive’s growth objectives.
venuetech Partners
with barco LiveDots
Barco LiveDots, a Barco company,
has entered into a strategic
partnership with Dubai-based
audiovisual expert Venuetech.
Venuetech will be the exclusive
distributor of LiveDots’ full LED
portfolio in Saudi Arabia and a
non-exclusive reseller for the GCC
(Kingdom of Bahrain, Kuwait,
Sultanate of Oman, Qatar and the
United Arab Emirates).
The company provides both
system integrators and local
channels with a wide range of
products and services - from
consultation, design, supply, and
training through to after-sales services.
“Distribution partners can help us
increase the number of customer
touch points and improve our
customer services, thus growing
our market reach. We are glad to
rely on the know-how, expertise and
services of Venuetech to distribute
our solutions and, hence, spread
the Barco LiveDots products
across the Middle East,” said Carl
Rijsbrack, CMO of Barco LiveDots.
The partnership will ensure ready
access to LiveDots’ LED portfolio,
thus offering exciting opportunities
for growth.
July 2013 | www.broadcastprome.com |
5
PRONEWS
ARGOSY AND TSL SIGN
PARTNERSHIP
Argosy Broadcast Asia Sdn Bhd (ABA), and
TSL Products have announced that they
will join forces to provide local customer
support and stock availability as well as a
distribution capability that will strengthen
the companies’ presence across the Asia
Pacific region. This partnership signals the
significance of the Asia Pacific market to
TSL Products’ overall business and will
solidify the company’s broadcast presence
in the territory.
As part of the agreement, TSL Products
will provide ABA with a comprehensive
range of its surround sound microphones,
audio processing, broadcast control
systems and power management products
to stock at Argosy’s recently expanded
facility in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This
local distribution centre will provide TSL
Products with an excellent route to market
and the regional expertise needed to meet
the growing needs of broadcasters across
the region.
“The agreement with Argosy will
provide TSL Products with a regional
principle supplier who has the breadth
and depth of expertise needed to
meet the growing customer demand
for our solutions in Asia Pacific,” said
Chris Exelby, managing director, TSL
Professional Products Ltd.
ABA will keep stock of the main
products for warranty exchange and
emergency spare substitutions and will
provide local support for any first level
technical support issues.
du restructures
at the top
UAE telco du has promoted Farid Faraidooni to the position
of Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Fahad Al Hassawi to the
role of Chief Commercial Officer (CCO). Prior to this new role,
Faraidooni held the position of Chief Commercial Officer and Al
Hassawi served as Chief Human Resources & Shared Services
Officer at du.
Ahmad Bin Byat, Chairman of du stated that the two
executives will “drive our company through this exciting new
phase of growth and into the future”.
“This year, we will focus on maximising shareholder returns
and share equity while meeting stakeholder expectations,
improving productivity and profitability. As both Farid and
Fahad demonstrate, we are proud of our Emiratisation
programmes and are keen to nurture and reward UAE
national talent, by providing them with stimulating, challenging
opportunities to work in the private sector. I wish them all the
best in their new roles.”
Farid Faraidooni.
Fahad Al Hassawi.
Osman Sultan, CEO of du added that the telco is
entering the next phase of its business.
Other key appointments include Hatem Bamatraf
as Executive VP, Enterprise; Saleem Albalooshi as
Executive VP, Customer Operations, and Acting VP, Network
Development and Operations, Walid Kamal as Senior VP,
IT and Marwan Bin Dalmook as VP, Technology Security,
Risk and Fraud Management.
KASSAb MEDIA AND SKY NEwS ARAbIA TIE
Kassab Media and Sky News Arabia have signed a strategic
advertising concession partnership agreement that provides their
existing and potential clients with an extensive, competitively
priced advertising network.
“Our strategic partnership with Kassab Media reflects our
aspiration to collaborate with companies that share our vision.
We trust that this affiliation will provide Sky News Arabia with the
ability to reach the business goals and targets that we have set
for the channel,” said Nart Bouran, Head of Sky News Arabia.
“Kassab Media is known for its specialisation in media
services and solutions in the United Arab Emirates and the
Middle East region. Our new strategic partnership with Sky News
Arabia is an important step for the company and this partnership
reflects our confidence in Sky News Arabia’s distinctive news
coverage and technology, as well as our confidence in the media
sector and the economy,” explained Ghassan Nadeem Adra, CEO
of Kassab Media.
HARRIS bROADcAST
LAuNcHES MESA AcADEMY
Harris Broadcast launched its new
demo and training academy in the
Middle East, as an extension to its
existing Dubai office. The academy offers
specialist courses for engineers and
operators. Each course comes with a full
certification pack.
The academy, which includes a
demo room for equipment as well as
a fully equipped training centre, has
been created to allow Harris Broadcast’s
customers to experience the latest
broadcast tools and technologies, and
provide an opportunity to conduct
comprehensive demos and training
sessions in the Middle East.
INfOcOMM
MEA TO
Stuart Wood.
RETuRN IN OcTObER 2013
Exhibitors are returning to InfoComm
MEA 2013 in a show of continued
support for the region’s dedicated pro-AV
communications technology event in the
Middle East.
Arthur Holm, LG, NMK, Theatro and
Venuetech have doubled their booth size
from last year. Other companies that have
confirmed their participation include Extron
Eletcronics, Jupiter Systems, Crestron, DaLite Screen, DAS Audio, Mitsubishi Electric,
RGB Spectrum, Sharp Middle East, Sonic
Foundry, Taiden, Wavetec and WolfVision.
Several manufacturers such as
Blackmagic Design, Exterity, Primascreen,
Matrox, MMD Monitors and Display, R&M
International, Shanghai Pallas, Shenzhen
Leyard, Shenzhen Retop LED, Tyans and
Techrobotix, will also be making their debut
in the Middle Eastern market at InfoComm
MEA 2013.
Focusrite debuts
redNet to Middle
east studios
Melody House, distributor of Focusrite has recently
launched the New RedNet system. The system is
now available in the Middle East, after being officially
announced in the US earlier last year.
Rednet is Focusrite’s new flagship range of Ethernetnetworked studio interfaces based around the tried
and tested Dante Ethernet audio networking system
from Australian company Audinate. Focusrite’s RedNet
is the first to offer IP network audio interfaces for the
recording studio – or any application that requires
moving high-quality audio around with ultra-low latency.
RedNet forms a scalable system that comprises
high-quality, versatile interfaces to deliver traditional
Focusrite quality sound and performance, with
exceptional value for money. Fundamentally, RedNet
6 | www.broadcastprome.com | July 2013
is a near zero-latency audio distribution system. It is highly
expandable; Audinate’s Dante technology enables a single link
on the network to handle up to 512 channels (I/O) at 48kHz.
See us at
IBC Stand 10.A31
The Future Is Networked.
MEDIORNET
COMPACT
• Synchronized 50G real-time network for 3G/HD/
SD-SDI video, audio, data & intercom at the price of
multiplexing point-to-point ﬁber products
• Flexible signal routing incl. point-to-multipoint
• Integrated Frame Store Synchronizer, Embedder/
De-Embedder, Test Pattern Generator, On-Screen
Display & Timecode Insertion at every port
• Fully compatible with modular MediorNet systems
www.riedel.net
Camera Integration for
MEDIORNET COMPACT
PRONEWS
AViD HiRES NEw TERRiToRy ACCoUNT MANAGER foR MiDDlE EAST
Avid has announced the appointment of Ammar Fawzy to the position of Territory Account Manager
Middle East. As Avid’s Territory Account Manager Middle East, Ammar Fawzy will focus on exploring new
areas of growth for Avid in the Middle East and assume responsibility for developing and maintaining the
company’s customer relationships in those areas.
With more than ten years of experience in the media and entertainment industry, Fawzy will help build
relationships with the company’s partners and customers across the region.
Prior to joining Avid, Fawzy was the Regional Sales Manager MEA for TELEX and RTS at The Bosch
Group, as in-charge of sales for broadcast and critical communication line of products. He also worked
with MediaCast, Avid’s regional distributor for pro video and audio equipment. Fawzy holds Engineering
degree and an MBA.
The SMC team with KBS crew.
ETHiopiAN BRoADCASTER opTS foR
GRASS VAllEy
Ethiopia’s state-owned Amhara TV has selected Grass Valley to
provide several solutions to build the country’s first HD terrestrial
TV broadcast station. Grass Valley solutions will be used to outfit
two HD studios and a master control room (MCR). Amhara TV is
an important part of the developing media landscape in Ethiopia,
and will be available both terrestrially and via the Nilesat free-toair satellite service.
“This project with Grass Valley holds real importance for
Ethiopia because it will offer our 50 million television viewers
their first ever HD experience,” commented Leykun Mekonnen,
Vice General Manager and Media Technology Head of Amhara TV.
“With this in mind, it was crucial for us to select a partner we
could trust and that could offer us the best HD solutions. Grass
Valley’s reputationw precedes it as a provider of high quality,
flexible, and cost-efficient solutions which enable broadcasters
to give their customers premium services.”
Amhara TV selected six HD LDK 3000+ cameras for their
flexibility and high picture quality, and a Kayak HD video
production switcher for its advanced HD capabilities. The master
control room will be based around a Grass Valley Maestro SD/HD
branding and master control system for multichannel control. At
the heart of the HD infrastructure will be a Concerto series routing
switcher with Prelude router control. A GeckoFlex signal processing
system will provide the necessary modular platform for signal
control, complete with an integrated browser-based control system.
SMC ExpANDS To ASiA THRoUGH KBS AND ARiRANG
Sharjah Media Centre, the media and communications arm of the Government of Sharjah, visited the
Korean Broadcasting System’s headquarters and the Arirang Network based in Seoul, South Korea, to
participate in the third UAE-Korea Economic Partnership Forum 2013, held in Seoul.
During the visit to KBS World and worldwide television network Arirang, His Excellency Sheikh Sultan
bin Ahmed Al Qassimi, Chairman of Sharjah Media Centre, and Osama Samra, Director of Sharjah Media
Centre, met with Lee Jeong-Ok, Managing Director of the Global Strategy Centre KBS; Kim Kyung-Hee,
Executive Director of International Relations KBS, Kim Hyuk-ong, Executive Producer at KBS World.
Collaborating on further initiatives, Lee Jeong-Ok (KBS) and Richard WP Shim (Arirang) mentioned the
Global News Forum, which will be hosted by KBS in association with the Asian Pacific Broadcasting Union
News Group (ABU) in Seoul. KBS and Arirang extended an invitation to HE Al Qassimi, Osama Samra and
Sharjah Media Centre to attend the Forum as their honoured guests on September 5, 2013.
The Forum is an international meeting point for the region’s newsroom decision makers to examine
issues regarding the digital media’s evolution and the changing role of journalism. It welcomes global and
regional broadcasters, in addition to key media organisations such as BBC World, Arirang Network (Korean
Network) and Al Jazeera.
CNN SHUTS BAGHDAD BUREAU
NilESAT CoUNTERS piRACy
CNN has closed its news bureau in Baghdad.
The network will, however, continue to maintain
an editorial presence in Iraq through a dedicated
team of CNN stringers and correspondent
assignments as and when news warrants. Other
networks have also pared down operations in
Baghdad. The decision to close down comes more
than a year and a half after President Obama
announced a withdrawal of U.S. troops stationed
in Iraq during the war.
The cable news channel has had a bureau
in Iraq since 1990, before the first Gulf War. The
scaling back in Baghdad also illustrates a broader
scaling back among TV news organisations
when it comes to foreign bureaux. Networks also
increasingly rely on content partners from across
the globe, who can supply raw footage while
reporters are en route.
Nilesat has taken off the air two satellite TV
channels for allegedly broadcasting pirated
content. Egypt-based Panorama Comedy
and Panorama Action are no longer
broadcasting via the Nilesat satellite.
Industry figures allege that both channels,
which are believed to be based in Egypt,
are involved in illegal broadcasting of films
to which they do not own the rights.
“The channels were clearly illegitimately
inspired. There was no attempt to get
rights,” said Sam Barnett, Chief Executive
of MBC Group.
Meanwhile, regional broadcasters
such as MBC Group, OSN and Rotana
continue to campaign for better
copyright enforcement in the region to
counter piracy.
ADM AND DMi ExTEND UAE pRo lEAGUE
TV pARTNERSHip
Abu Dhabi Media (ADM) and Dubai Media Incorporated (DMI) have
extended their partnership for the coverage of UAE Pro League for
another three seasons. Under the agreement, AD Sports and Dubai
Sports channels have been broadcasting the league matches live for
the last five seasons.
The television rights deal, which begins in September, covers the
rebranded Arabian Gulf League, Reserves League, Super Cup and
League Cup. Both channels will be able to show every match live,
with their own commentary by studio-based experts.
“This proposed partnership showcases the solid ongoing
relationship between Abu Dhabi Media and Dubai Media
Incorporated over the past five years. We are committed to
maximising the reach and quality of the PLC coverage, providing
viewers with a highly innovative HD experience. We look forward to
working with DMI on these tournaments,”
said Mohammad Najeeb, Head of Abu Dhabi Sports.
“The decision of both the sports channels to have a unified offer for
TV rights of the UAE Pro League is another example of the successful
cooperation of both channels for the benefit of UAE viewers.
“It is also a step forward for the future of the UAE league as it
promotes the UAE league matches worldwide,” added Rashid Al
Amiri, General Manager of Dubai Sports channel.
fiRST DolBy ATMoS iN UAE
Cine Royal Cinema LLC has launched the UAE’s first Dolby Atmos
equipped theatre in Abu Dhabi at the Cine Royal Cinema, Khalidiyah Mall.
Dolby Atmos introduces a hybrid approach to mixing and directs
sound as dynamic objects that envelop the listener, in combination
with channels for playback. It enables adaptive rendering to ensure
that the playback experience is as close as possible to the creator’s
original vision in any given environment.
9
SE SH
PTE IPP
MB ING
ER
20
13
Live Production. Anywhere. Anytime.
The Anycast Touch.
Say hello to a sleeker incarnation of Sony’s all-in-one studio. The
AWS-750 Anycast Touch. This compact, affordable, all-in-one live
production solution with an intuitive touch panel operation makes
live production accessible to anyone who requires live
broadcasting or webcasting anywhere at any anytime.
Remarkably small, incredibly compact and amazingly portable,
the Anycast Touch features two responsive touch screens - one for
all the video sources, program preview and effects, and another
for all secondary controls. With no previous live production
experience required, it is suitable for a wide range of customers to
get up and running with minimal training.
“Sony” and “make.believe” are registered trademarks of Sony Corporation
AWS-750
Sony Professional Solutions MEA FZ LLC, Unit C-50, P. O. Box 502050, International Media Production Zone, Dubai, United Arab Emirates,
Tel: +971 4 391 8400, Email: middle.east@eu.sony.com, website: www.pro.sony.eu
PRONEWS
ADVANCED MEDIA HOSTS
AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY
WORKSHOP
Advanced Media hosted an open house
workshop of aerial photography demonstrations
using DJI products to enhance both the
artistic and technical understanding of aerial
photography and DJI products. The workshops
were led by Emirates Airlines pilot Captain
Jürgen Weidig and Advanced Media’s Sales
Engineer Pejman Ghorbani. The demonstrated
products were first exhibited at CABSAT 2013
at the Advanced Media booth.
The sessions touched upon the concepts
of aerial photography and introduced the
latest products from DJI such as drones and
gimbals. The experts also assembled and flew
the spreading wings S800 and Phantom to
demonstrate its capabilities to a wide audience
of industry professionals.
Cliff Nelson and Khalid Balkheyour.
DIFF tIes
wIth FestIval
BIarrItz
amerIque
latIne
The Dubai International Film
Festival (DIFF) has announced a
partnership with Festival Biarritz
Amerique Latine, a Latin American
film festival held annually in
Biarritz, France. The partnership
is the first of its kind for DIFF and
takes the form of an exchange with
Shivani Pandya (L) with Marc Bonduel.
each festival offering exhibition
space to select films.
Biarritz Film Festival is the most attractive
After
French event dedicated to Latin American
a second successful
cinematographies.
event celebrating popular culture in
Shivani Pandya, Managing Director of DIFF,
the region, the Middle East Film and Comic
said: “With this mutually beneficial partnership,
Con has teamed up with the Dubai International
Arab cinema will continue to travel outside of
Film Festival and Attitude Enterprises to give sci-fi and
the region to Europe and on to Latin America.
superhero film fans in the Middle East a chance to have
Conversely, the Latin American films that are
their genre themed concept produced into a short film. The
selected in Biarritz will gain exposure to the
competition, which is open to talent across the region, will see
Middle Eastern and South Asian markets
the winning treatment have a script written locally and refined
that are on DIFF’s doorstep. DIFF has always
by Max Landis of the Chronicle fame. The script will then be
sought to leverage Dubai’s position as a
directed and produced by Attitude Enterprises, a media
crossroads, and this bridge to Europe and
production group in the UAE. It will be supported and guided
Latin American is another welcome pathway
by key people from the regional and international film
for Arab cinema to reach the world.”
industry including DOP, Mike Allen and popular
Marc Bonduel, Managing Director of Festival
Emirati Director Ali Mostafa (City of Life).
Biarritz Amerique Latine added: “We are thrilled to
The competition is officially taking
be collaborating with the Dubai International Film
entries until August 31.
Festival, the leading festival in the Middle East. This
partnership will offer Latin American films selected
in Biarritz a new world visibility beyond the French
and other European markets.”
MY-HD AND ARABSAT CELEBRATE
THE SUCCESS OF THEIR ALLIANCE
My-HD, a satellite pay-TV platform in the MENA region
and Arabsat, a prominent satellite operator and service
provider in the Arab world, celebrated the success of
their strategic partnership by announcing the official
launch of the full bouquet of 39 channels including 31
high definition (HD) channels.
Cliff Nelson, CEO, My-HD and Khalid Balkheyour,
President and CEO, Arabsat hosted the celebration for
achieving this milestone on May 30 in Dubai.
Speaking during the occasion, Cliff
Nelson, CEO of My-HD said,
“My-HD and Arabsat’s
arabsat was
partnership is set to
awarded the “Best satellite
shape the future
Operator of the year” at satCOm
of HDTV in the
africa 2013 in Johannesburg, south
MENA region.
africa. the award came as a recognition
Ever since our
for the company’s contribution to the
tie-up in March
satellite industry, especially in developing
2013 we have
satellite services in africa. the satellite
been working
operator had also won the award
hard to secure
in 2010.
premium HD content
for the region”.
SAUDI STATE TV TO LEASE ARABSAT
TRANSPONDER
Saudi Arabia is to lease a transponder from the Arab
Satellite Communications Organisation (Arabsat)
to broadcast state satellite television channels. The
announcement was made by Saudi culture and
information minister Abdul Aziz Khoja. The decision
authorises the Audio Visual Media Authority to establish
the satellite platform for the transmission of TV
programmes and to coordinate with Arabsat and other
relevant agencies to carry out the project.
Along with Saudi TV, the country’s television market is
currently dominated by free-to-air satellite networks MBC,
Rotana, and Dubai TV — with pay-TV operators OSN and Al
Jazeera Sport also beginning to make significant inroads.
Private television stations are not allowed to operate
from within the Kingdom, however Saudi investors are
behind the Dubai-based MBC and OSN networks, while
Rotana – which broadcasts pan-Arab free-to-air TV
channels including Cinema, Khalijiah, Masryiah, Clip,
Musica, Aflam, Classic and LBC – is owned by Saudi
billionaire Prince Al Waleed bin Talal.
VIEWSAT CHOOSES IS20
SATELLITE FOR SERVICE
IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
ViewSat, a global broadcasting company
for television and radio channels, has
chosen IS20 to support growth in subSaharan Africa. From its origin serving
only sub-Saharan Africa in 2006,
ViewSat has grown to become a global
satellite provider, extending its reach to
additional areas, including the Middle
East, Europe and North America.
“We have chosen to extend our
partnership with Intelsat in response to
our growth aims in 2013,” said Awaes
Jaswal, CEO, ViewSat. “We are proud
to build on a strong start to the year,
in terms of growth and attendance at
a range of worldwide exhibitions from
the beginning of 2013, with this new
agreement.”
11
PROOPINION
Servers continue
global growth
The maturing broadcast server market
continues to see healthy growth in an
otherwise difficult global environment for
many other products, as it advances in its
Third Wave.
The new broadcast server report,
Broadcast Servers World 2013, published
by D.I.S. Consulting Corporation, reveals
continued growth and health in the
worldwide server market, despite obvious
softness in the European region.
On a global basis, the server product
genre continues to see enthusiastic
purchasing, as broadcast and cable
operations, production and post production
operations and institutional venues all find
greater use for servers. This health has
continued to attract not only customers but
also suppliers, with more than 60 server
brands now competing for shares. That
being said, a handful of major international
brands still account for most of the channels
purchased.
There appears to have emerged two fairly
distinctive types of suppliers in what we
have termed servers’ Third Wave; the highly
reliable and higher priced brands and the
less expensive but potentially less reliable
brands.
Clearly, there is a supplier to meet
virtually every need and budget.
Technologically solid state solutions based
on Flash have been offered for close to
a decade and were somewhat slower to
be adopted primarily due to chip cost.
However, a demand has begun to build on
the part of customers seeking more assured
reliability offered by those system makers.
Channel expansion means server growth
The new report, fielded last year, and
answered by 1,440 broadcasters and
industry professionals, worldwide,
highlights continued purchasing while
defining what is motivating buyers the
most. Amongst the numerous market
drivers for continued broadcast server
buying are:
• A massive build-out of storage
140
FIgURE 1 input channels compared to 2012
120
129
100
80
76
60
40
36
20
16
0
•
•
•
•
•
•
Increase
Decrease
infrastructure, where servers act as
headends
A continuing retirement of analogue
and early digital recorders
The growth of archival system building
The growth of deployed channels
(some of which belong to the ‘channelin-a-box’ territory, but many do not)
Continued interest in further
automation of operations in which
servers play a key role
Changes in workflows and expansion
of where servers can be deployed and
A build-out of high resolution
applications, as a result of the
adoption of HDTV, which is still seeing
considerable take up and which we
see having substantial head room for
additional growth.
Middle East and Africa optimistic about
server channel growth
Of the five regions studied, regarding
whether input channels would increase,
decrease or remain the same in 2013,
compared with 2012, the 257 survey
respondents in the Middle East and
Africa were fairly optimistic in their
prognostications. Of those respondents,
129 expected to see the number of input
Remain the same
Don’t Know/No answer
channels increasing, 76 to see them
decreasing, 36 thought they would remain
the same and only 16 stated don’t know or
gave no answer.
Compared to 2012, do you anticipate
your number of INPUT Channels in
2013 to increase, decrease or remain
the same?
In the minds of professional end users the
future of broadcast-oriented media servers
may be seen as mixed in with channel-ina-box and its feature-combining strategies
and with playout automation system
uses. But at least, most certainly, missionspecific servers continue to be a healthy
territory for suppliers to go after and a
healthy investment that broadcasters, cable
operators, producers and institutions will
make as they build workflows or update
and modernise their existing structural
capabilities. With no end in sight for the
massive capacity build out for storage,
even factoring in cloud technology servers
regardless of where they are deployed,
represent important basic building blocks
of workflow functionality. PRO
Douglas I. Sheer is CEO and Chief
Analyst of D.I.S. Consulting.
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PROTRENDS
Learning from History
Most broadcasters believe that viewers spend hours watching TV during Ramadan. Figures,
however, tell us a different story
Ramadan is upon us. It may even have started by
the time you read this article, written some weeks
before the actual event.
I am, therefore, going to make some
brave predictions about what is likely to
happen, based on what we’ve seen over
the last year through the people meter
data. As the saying goes, ‘Those who do
not learn from history are doomed to
repeat it and there is a familiarity about
Ramadan television which could benefit
from less repetition.
with a clear message and undivided
attention, X Factor is available on three
channels, Rotana Khaleejiah, MTV
Lebanon and CBC.
I can’t tell what happened in their
‘home’ markets, and maybe, whatever
viewing and advertising they got there
justified whatever price was paid. But, as
far as the UAE market went (arguably a
microcosm of the region) the sum of parts
FIGURE 1: TV Viewing during ramadan
Single source is best
The best coffee comes from a single
origin, doesn’t it? And the same applies
to content. We’ve seen two very different
approaches between X Factor and Arab
Idol, so far, this year.
While Idol is available only on MBC,
was not greater than the whole.
The lesson here is what we have been
preaching since data first started flowing
from our boxes. People follow content,
not channels.
If you have the show that people want
to watch then they will come – it might
even be the only thing they watch on
your channel, appearing at showtime and
disappearing the moment the closing
titles run. Of course, the viewers need to
know about the content, and that requires
marketing and promotion. Viewers can be
persuaded and a single big hit will bump
up the whole channel’s average.
TaRgeT
auDIence
avg DaIly HRS
RamaDan 2012
avg DaIly HRS
maR-may 2013
emiraTiS
6.28
6.61
It’s not as big as we think
arab expaTS
7.78
7.32
all HouSeHoldS
9.27
8.59
If you speak to people in television or
advertising there seems to be a belief that
Ramadan is when people spend hours
PROtRends
FIGURe 2: tOtal tV VIewInG
Rtg%
TTV RAMADAN
TTV MAR-MAy 2013
30
25
20
15
10
Biggest is not best
Alternatively, this could be titled ‘Pick
Your Fights’.
00
-2
6.
30
25
.3
0
-2
4.
00
24
.0
0
-2
3.
30
22
.3
0
-2
1.
00
0
.0
21
.3
0
-2
0.
30
Last year, MBC Drama started off
slowly but by the end of the month, it
had started to eclipse its big sister MBC
1 with all the big series. Overall, Drama
was just one hundredth of a percentage
point behind MBC 1 in audience share
among Emiratis and expat Arabs.
How did that happen? Some people
may be familiar with the management
concept of Blue Water and Red Water,
representing areas where there is
relatively little competition (blue)
against areas which are hotly contested
(red).
MBC 1 plays in red space, competing
fiercely for the prime-time post-Iftar
family viewing. The top programmes on
MBC Drama were:
19
0
-1
8.
00
.0
18
0
-1
7.
30
.3
16
0
-1
5.
00
.0
15
0
-1
4.
30
.3
13
0
.0
12
.3
10
-1
2.
00
-1
1.
30
and hours in front of the television, like
shoppers at a discount sale, grabbing
every item they can lay their hands on,
regardless of whether they really want it
or not.
Not surprisingly, the public reacts to
this perception when they are asked in
surveys about their viewing habits. But,
when the viewing is actually measured,
the picture is quite different or to put it
in another way, it’s the same.
Figure 2 shows total television viewing
among Emiratis, Arab expats and all
households during Ramadan last year,
compared to the last three full months
(March-April-May) in 2013.
So, we’re actually looking at less
viewing among Emirati individuals, less
than half an hour of extra viewing among
Arab expats and around an extra 40
minutes at household level. I’ll qualify
that by saying that the tview panel was
not fully established last Ramadan, but
I’m fairly confident the results would
have been along the same lines.
What is clear, though, is where there
is more viewing, it concentrates in the
evenings and lasts longer into the night,
dipping below normal viewing during
the day. The table also shows Arab
expat viewing across 24 hours, and the
patterns are similar in Emiratis and All
Households (categories).
0
-0
9.
00
09
.0
0
-0
8.
30
0
.3
07
06
.0
0
-0
6.
00
5.
-0
0
.3
04
03
.0
0
-0
3.
30
5
Conclusion
Having said that, clearly some things
will not change. Family viewing is still
massive in Ramadan among Emiratis
and Arab expats, and the early evening
cartoon series will no doubt dominate the
programme viewing.
However, by the time I write next
month’s column we should also have
had the final of Arab Idol and I will
make another prediction, that the top
programme of the year will be either
Arab Idol or the Gulf Cup football
from earlier in 2013 – not a Ramadan
programme.
On that note, Ramadan Kareem, and I
look forward to seeing how it goes for all
of us in television.
Banat Al Aayla at 6pm
Saher Al Layl at 5pm
Hebr Al Ayoun at 4pm
Did you spot the trend?
In fact, they all rated more highly
across the period than MBC 1’s big setpiece Omar.
They didn’t start off that way,
though. In the first week of Ramadan
2012, the big shows were on top:
Omar, Tesh Ayal and Wi-Fi. They
trended down over the next few
weeks to be overtaken by shows
that, perhaps, had less publicity on
a channel with lower viewership,
but picked up by word of mouth and
loyalty, over time.
Christopher O’Hearn is GM of Emirates
Media Measurement Company, which has
rolled out ‘tview’, the UAE’s new television
ratings and audience measurement
system and the first in the Middle East.
15
PROAuDIO
Sound
entertainment
Dubai Media Incorporated
used surround sound
capture for the first time
with TSL PPL SoundField
DSF-B Digital Broadcast
Surround Microphone
package to broadcast the
Dubai Duty Free Tennis
Championship this year.
A report
When preparing to broadcast the Dubai
Duty Free 2013 Tennis Championships
earlier this year, state broadcaster
Dubai Media Incorporated (DMI) looked
to recreate the intense atmosphere
of the ATP World Tour 500 series
men’s tennis for viewers across the
globe through surround sound. The
event took place at the Aviation Club
Tennis Court, a hard surface outdoor
stadium that seats 5,000 guests.
The state broadcaster chose the
SoundField DSF-B Surround Sound
Microphone package from TSL Professional
Products Limited (TSL PPL) for this
project. The system offers the surround
capturing technology as the bed for the
effect and announcer microphones.
As this production was the first venture
into surround production for DMI, putting
the correct equipment in place, along with
a surround-aware workflow, was perceived
as challenging. In the past, an array of
effect microphones capturing the hits,
player exclamations and referee comments,
mixed in with announcer’s commentary
and overall ambience, provided the audio
experience for the event as it was sent to
two OB trucks for mixing and processing.
TSL claims that its PPL SoundField
PROAUDIO
“The Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships
is the first time we made an attempt to go into
surround sound production. The surround test was
part of a product evaluation that went very well”
Saleh Lootah, Chief Technology Officer of DMI
DSF-B Digital Broadcast Surround
Microphone package helped bring
DMI sports broadcasting into the HD
surround age. Made up of a DSF-2
Microphone System (DSF-2 microphone
and DSF-2 microphone controller) and
the DSF-3 Digital Surround Processor,
the system provided engineers that were
new to producing surround content with
a comprehensive 5.1 audio tool that was
straightforward to install and easy to use.
The single DFS-2 microphone feed
was suitable for producing the entire
programme with commentary, and some
heightened effect microphone feeds
added to the taste. The engineering
team only had to deal with blending
in the extra feeds, not constantly
synthesising an ambient field from
multiple microphones, thereby
streamlining the engineering process.
The DSF-2 Microphone system
is based on the SoundField
B-Format design principle that all
acoustic events can be represented
by four basic elements:
X – the front/back or
depth information
Y – the left/right or width information
Z – the up/down or height information
W – the central point from which the
other three elements are referenced.
The microphone itself is made up
of four high-quality, precision-aligned
condenser elements to capture a
360-degree sonic panorama. The DSF-2
Controller manages the microphone and
outputs the four-channel B-Format. The
DSF-3 Digital Surround Processor will
take the B-Format signals and output
a 5.1 ambience bed, which can be
completely customised from the comfort
of the mixing position. The resulting
5.1 is phase coherent and is, therefore,
completely downmix compatible.
“We have employed two HD OB trucks
for sports and event production for
the last few years,” says Saleh Lootah,
Chief Technology Officer at DMI.
“The Dubai Duty Free Tennis
Championships is the first time we made
Saleh Lootah, CTO, Dubai
Media Incorporated.
an attempt to go into surround sound
production. The surround test was
part of a product evaluation that went
very well. While in some instances we
felt the need to add traditional effect
microphones to sonically emphasise
certain elements, for the most part we
simply used the SoundField signal mixed
with commentary. We had no phase
issues whatsoever upon metering.”
When the SoundField stereo signal
was compared against an actual
dedicated stereo recording of the event,
the former was deemed suitable for
non-surround transmission as well.
“To be able to capture the entire
event and output — both surround
and stereo — from one source is
a remarkable efficiency for the
engineering staff,” explains Lootah.
Because of the success of the 5.1
production using the SoundField DSF-B
system, further systems are slated for
installation in the future. The system
was ideal because the DSF-2 microphone
can be situated up to a distance of
1.25km from the truck without any
signal degradation. Also, the stereo
signal may be output directly in both
analogue and digital to accommodate
any broadcasting situation. PRO
“As this production was the first venture
into surround production for DMI, putting the
correct equipment in place, along with a surround
aware workflow, was perceived as challenging”
Saleh Lootah, Chief Technology Officer of DMI
DSF-2 microphone system.
17
PROCOVER
Going places
A first-of-its-kind travel show that takes an Emirati idea to the world, Peeta Planet has been
drawing a constant following right from the day it launched on Dubai One. BroadcastPro ME
caught up with the men behind the social media travel show to learn more
When Peeta Planet first aired on Dubai
One in April this year, it immediately made
headlines. It was attention well deserved for
a TV series claimed to be the first of its kind.
The series is targeted at the social media
generation. Although not quite breaking away
from traditional TV, it offers a rather different
viewing experience, with several dimensions
of social media added to it.
A brainchild of Mohamed and Peyman
Parham Al Awadhi, it is anything but another
travel show that features exotic locales
and tourist attractions. For starters, it is
presented by kandoura-clad Emirati brothers
looking for the lesser known treasures a
place has to offer. It is also an Emirati idea
that goes out to the rest of the world.
The idea took root as early as 2009 when
social media was not so popular; it was before
the smartphone and tablet revolution.
PROCOVER
“We were big on social media and used
it extensively back then, when very few
people had taken to it. We had just opened
our restaurant Wild Peeta. To take a break
we happened to crowdsource a three day
vacation to Sri Lanka through Twitter
and Facebook. It turned out to be quite
an interesting trip as we were constantly
tweeting about the places we visited,
posting photos and comments,” says
Mohamed, the older of the two brothers.
This sort of unusual vacation
opened a whole new virtual world of
friends and followers for the brothers,
who decided to take the idea further
and came up with the concept of a
social media travel show on TV.
Mohamed says, “It was almost
like we had all the ingredients but
couldn’t figure out the recipe.”
They approached twofour54
ibtikar, which embraced the concept
and offered to fund a pilot.
After several sessions of discussions
and brainstorming, Mohamed and Peyman
set up their production company Qabeela
New Media in 2010. The newly minted
company, which is based out of Abu
Dhabi Media Freezone produced the pilot
episode to demonstrate the concept. The
pilot was shot in Tokyo with support from
Ibtikar development fund. The 22-minute
pilot was then pitched to Dubai Media
Incorporated, which commissioned twelve
21-minute episodes to Qabeela New Media.
The title of the show was an offshoot
of the brothers’ restaurant’s name.
In fact, Peeta Planet is the first
Ibtikar project to go on air and a
financially viable one at that.
Photo credit: James Daniel.
Production crew filming Locos X El Asados in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
“When we show a city, we don’t film the usual
tourist spots but try to capture the texture of
a place by filming the lesser known places that
give viewers the true essence of the city”
Mohamed Al Awadhi
Snapshot
First media project with Abu Dhabi and
Dubai working together and it is also the first
travel show to be supported by Google
* 12 episodes of 22-25 min per
episode, produced in 1920x1080 HD,
down converted to 4:3 Letterbox SD
with stereo audio for broadcast * Show format: Social media reality travel
show 24x5 minute webisodes and a
broad range of activities and content
for social networks G+, Facebook
and Twitter to support the series
* Producer: Qabeela New Media
* Development and support: twofour54
* Partners: Google, InterContinental Hotels
* Channel: Dubai One
Production crew filming musical band Urruka in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
A documentary on social travel
Peeta Planet is a social media driven
show, which means the destinations
covered on the show have been suggested
by the brothers’ social media following.
Even the places to visit and the people
to interview come from the same lot.
There is no dearth of travel shows but the
control the viewer has over this particular
format is what makes it different.
Mohamed says: “The style that you see
in our show is not the standard reality
show style. When we show a city we
don’t film the usual tourist spots but try
to capture the texture of the place by
filming the lesser known places that give
viewers the true essence of the city.”
“It’s a completely new way of
filming, the viewers are all directors
of the show,” explains Peyman.
Everything from the show goes online,
and the viewers are involved at every
step of the show in true social media
style, there is not a moment missed.
However, the team admits that there
was a degree of ambiguity involved in
21
PROCOVER
(Left to right) Peyman Parham Al Awadhi, Tony Ruthnam, Stefan McDad, Martin Roberts and Mohammed Parham Al Awadhi.
The crew
Presenters: Mohamed and Peyman Al Awadhi
Jared Levy and Justin Hamilton: Directors,
Producers and Cinematographers Steven French: Cinematographer for the
Singapore, Istanbul and Dublin episodes Tom Savage: On-location sound
recordist for the Singapore, Istanbul,
Dublin and UAE episodes
Cary Daniels: On-location Sound Recordist for
Seoul, Tokyo, Bangkok, Melbourne, Austin,
Buenos Aires, Nairobi and Beirut episodes
Craig Ormiston: Supervising Producer
and all-round problem solver
Andrew Smith: Social Media Director
James Daniel: On-location DIT traveling
to each of the countries as well as
performing narrative offline editing duties Simon Holmes, Stefan McDad and Tony
Ruthnam: Based out of twofour54 Abu
Dhabi. Holmes handles narrative offline
editing and McDad handles the audio
post. Ruthnam handles the structuring of
the show and the online editing, which
consists of the grading, finishing and output
some segments of the show, the crew
learnt as they filmed and only got a
firm grasp of the format by the time
they were in the third country.
Having said that, it is this ambiguity
that brings a thrill of unravelling
something new every time.
Tony Ruthnam, Senior Supervising
Editor at twofour54 and Lead Editor
and Co-Producer of Peeta Planet,
handled the pilot of the series. He has
also worked on the post production
of the subsequent episodes. Ruthnam
describes the show as organic; although
it doesn’t follow a definitive script,
everything falls in place because everyone
in the team shares a common vision.
He explains, “We don’t have a script
but about three hours of rushes for an
interview that are sent to us. Given
the nature of the show, you film for
two hours and get two minutes.”
A multi-cultural crew adds yet
another dimension to the multilayered show. No one in the team
except for the presenters is Arab.
The team on location puts together
a plan and the brief is sent out to the
crew at the editing desk. One member of
the post collates all the information. As
soon as the information is picked up it’s
on Google handle instantly, discussing
how things are going to playout.
The editors receive up to two terrabites
of footage for each episode to work on
in post. The colour grading is done on
ProTools10 and Final Cut Pro suites.
“The footage that comes back is
“It’s a completely new way of filming, where
the viewers are all directors of the show”
Peyman Al Awadhi
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PROCOVER
stunning; colours, levels, everything
is already there. We balance it out
at the editing desk, making sure it
comes out crystal clear, and therefore,
our task in grading is fairly minimal.
We are often pleasantly surprised by
what comes out,” adds Ruthnam.
For season one, two editors worked for
three months each and spent six months in
all to edit the footage; which makes it about
two and half to three days on each episode.
The show was in pre-production for four
weeks with 20-hour daily work schedules.
The editing to shooting ratios are
very high and finding the correct
balance can make or break an
episode, explains Ruthnam.
The editors work five days offline and
three days online – adding the social
media elements and all the graphic
overlays. The audio requires some
amount of work too. Grading, by far, is
the toughest, because unlike in a creative
grade you cannot cover up much as
most of it goes in the original format.
Mohamed says, “Our social
media director passes over all
the material that is posted online
“It is a fairly organic show. Given the nature of the
show, you film for two hours and get two minutes”
Tony Ruthnam, Lead Editor and Co-Producer of Peeta Planet
25
PROCOVER
The Peeta Planet
production crew filming
Emily Wolfe and her band
in Austin, Texas.
Key Kit
Prodution:
* 2x Sony FS700U with RedRock
shoulder mount kit with a variety
of Canon L lenses including
24-70mm, 16-35mm
* GoPro Hero3 for additional
stunts/underwater camera work Audio:
* Tascam DR 680 8 track recorder
* Seinheiser Lav Mics
and receivers * Rode NTG1 Shotgun mic
* Audio Technica 8035
Social Media:
* Canon 5D Mark II
* All footage was shot in 1080p
25fps, recorder to internal card
media with reference sound
* All audio media recorded
separately (double-system)
and synced later in post
Post Kit List & Workflow:
* Final Cut Pro 7
* CS6
* BCC flicker fixer filter
* Avid Protools
* Alchemist Ph.C
* Card media is ingested and
transcoded within FCP
* Log and edit are performed
on 1080p 25fps ProRes
HQ video and 48Khz 24bit
poly-track audio WAVs * XML files are emailed
between team on the
ground and at twofour54 * Each episode is locked at
twofour54 and prepped
for audio (OMF) * Each episode is finished whilst
audio post is happening * Problematic shots are sent to
Adobe After Effects using XML
and Pro-Import for stabilisation,
flicker removal on slow mo shots
* Grade is performed within
FCP using the built-in filters
(three way colour corrector) * Each episode is finalised
with graphical elements
* Each episode output is given to
digibeta using Alchemist Ph.C
doing the down conversion * Each episode output then
goes to digital file for online 26 | www.broadcastprome.com | July 2013
including all the behind-the-scenes pictures and clips.
“We ensure that we incorporate the same clips in the show
as well.”
As for the musical score, the show features local musicians
and the lesser known bands from a particular city. According
to the team, music is a good vehicle to highlight the true
flavour of a city, hence a lot of emphasis is laid upon street
music and local bands on the show. They help unravel the weft
and waft of a place, and give the show its unique streak.
The show doesn’t feature the stereotypical musicians but
slightly off-beat bands and street artists that truly define a place.
Each of the crew members wears different hats, as the
roles are not clearly demarcated. For instance, the producers
and directors are also the shows’s cinematographers –
everything they plan, they shoot at the same time.
Peeta Planet is a labour of love for all those involved. The
spontaneity of the show sets it apart from a regualr scripted
show, which is probably the reason for its popularity as well. PRO
“The footage that comes back is
stunning; colours, levels, everything
is already there. We balance it out
at the editing desk making sure it
comes out crystal clear, therefore,
our task in grading is fairly minimal”
Tony Ruthnam, Lead Editor and Co-Producer of Peeta Planet
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PROAFRICA
Connecting Africa
Somaliland is a sparsely populated and
predominantly rural, independent region
of Northern Somalia that has virtually
no broadband infrastructure. Last year,
three entities closely collaborated to
enable Somcable, Somaliland’s largest
integrated communications solutions
provider, to give the region with tripleplay connectivity, offering infrastructure
to wirelessly deliver data, voice and
video access
Easy broadband access has been shown to have a
massive impact on global economies, stimulating
markets, improving the daily lives of millions of
inhabitants, and paving the way to sustained
growth. While this is widely accepted, implementing
this connectivity is fraught with challenges and
complexity — from new infrastructure requirements to
deployment investment and operating costs.
These challenges are not limited to Africa. Across
the globe, service and content providers must spend
vast amounts of money to upgrade legacy systems,
transforming existing infrastructure and maximising
existing investment. Africa and other emerging
economies have the unique opportunity to learn from
the strategies and experiences of those who have
already invested time and resources in technology
upgrades. In many cases, these markets have the
PROAFRICA
opportunity to start anew, designing and
implementing networks to deliver voice,
data and video connectivity that make the
most of new technologies. Regions starting
“from scratch” can deploy future-proof
networks that leverage today’s IT-based
communications landscape. By embracing
and deploying advanced new technologies,
they can leapfrog developed nations in
terms of capabilities and efficiencies.
In fact, the continent has recently
overtaken Latin America as the second
largest mobile market in the world — after
Asia — with more than 620 million mobile
connections recorded in September 2013.
Over the past decade, mobile connections
in Africa have increased 30% per year
on average, with future growth forecast
to grow exponentially, more rapidly.
The next phase of Africa’s information
and communications evolution will
undoubtedly involve creating far more
widespread broadband access, establishing
the backbone networks that underpin
economic and social development. Satellite
communications technology and new
terrestrial fibre networks have the potential
to radically enhance broadband services
across the continent.
African operators have been hindered
by the operational costs of deploying
broadband in hard-to-reach areas. Physical
geography, including rocky terrain, hills,
valleys and atmospheric conditions, can all
pose problems. Low density rural areas also
pose a challenge, as they do not justify a
sufficient and rapid return on investment,
because, unfortunately, internet access,
PCs and mobile devices remain out of reach
for many who live in these remote areas.
In the meantime, the proliferation
of new submarine cables around the
African coastline has been fundamental
to enabling large-scale investment
into the development of overland fibre
infrastructures. This new international
internet bandwidth has stimulated crossborder terrestrial networks, connecting
landlocked countries to international
networks as well as to domestic
backbone networks and regional internet
exchange points (IXPs). In order for this
international internet bandwidth to become
accessible, however, these terrestrial
networks must be capable of generating
sufficient traffic through the take-up of
next-generation applications. Otherwise,
this source of bandwidth will remain
largely untapped.
A creative solution to common
challenges
Somaliland, a sparsely populated and
predominantly rural, independent region
of Northern Somalia, is an example of
a region with virtually no broadband
infrastructure. In late 2011, three
entities closely collaborated to enable
Somcable, Somaliland’s largest integrated
communications solutions provider, to give
the region with triple-play connectivity,
offering infrastructure to wirelessly deliver
data, voice and video access.
To help design and implement a solution
that would meet the requirements of
creating an easily deployable, low cost,
but highly accessible solution, Somcable
turned to Globecomm, an integrated
communications provider based in USA.
As a provider of communication systems
across all network types — satellite,
wireless, IP and hybrid — Globecomm
approached the project with an open mind,
carefully considering the physical and
economic environment, Somcable’s existing
operations in region, and deployment and
operating costs. After reviewing several
FROM TOP: Shared use of resources enables costeffective, highly accessible voice, data and video access in Somaliland; Somcable’s mobile access kiosk
provides pay-per-use broadband access.
LEFT: Map of Somalia.
technology options, Globecomm and
Somcable chose Bluwan SA, a wireless
technology company headquartered
in Paris, to provide the underlying
technology. Their innovative fibrethrough-the-air (FTTA) solution known
as Broadfusion proved to be superior
in terms of capital and operating
expenses, the ability to rollout across
the harsh terrain, high bandwidth,
and scalability to grow with increasing
customer adoption and network needs.
Once deployed, it was also easily
accessible to Somaliland’s population.
As Somcable CEO Michael
Cothill explains: “I had worked with
Globecomm before and knew they
had the know-how and the ability
“African operators have been hindered by
the operational costs of deploying broadband
in hard-to-reach areas. Physical geography,
including rocky terrain, hills, valleys and
atmospheric conditions, can all pose problems”
29
PROAFRICA
African operators have been hindered by the operational
costs of deploying broadband in hard-to-reach areas.
to think creatively about challenges and
opportunities. We were looking at a range
of solutions, including Wimax, that might
have worked, but nothing really fit the bill.
When we learned of Bluwan’s solution, we
knew we had found our answer.”
Bluwan’s fibre-through-the-air
Broadfusion solution provides very rapid
and cost-effective fibre optic broadband
access at speeds up to 100 Mbps to any
site. This fast, ultra-high bandwidth
delivery enables network operators
to offer other valuable services, from
content delivered through over-the-top
applications as well as newer HD broadcast
systems such as HDTV. Most importantly,
the content is delivered reliably. While
Bluwan provided the terrestrial, line-ofsight wireless transmission, Globecomm
delivered the LTE (long term evolution)
wireless components, core networking
capabilities and complete integration.
Fibre-through-the-air: How does it work?
The solution comprises small outdoor
antennas that receive wireless broadband
transmissions from a central transmission
hub. Each hub is able to provide eight Gbps
capacity in a 360-degree, five-kilometre
radius, thereby delivering uncontended
two Mbps — minimum bandwidth for
advanced broadband applications such
as HDTV — and up to 100 Mbps peak
performance to thousands of customers.
The solution provides easy rollout in “slowspot” areas, allowing operators to extend
fibre reach while avoiding expensive
trenching, while meeting customer demand
and enabling a fast return on investment.
This is especially pertinent for areas where
geographical landscape poses a significant
obstacle. Rocky terrain, hills and valleys,
and atmospheric conditions, all play a part
in how broadband is deployed.
Final connectivity to the consumer is
provided with compact indoor customer
premises equipment, known as a
“Broadfusion Box.” The return path is
integrated using Bluwan software for
seamless IP connectivity, regardless of
existing infrastructure and on-premise
hardware. A standard satellite set-topbox can be used to receive native satellite
signals terrestrially sent from the central
transmission hub for SD and HD television
content. This maximises the efficient use
“Through resource sharing and making access
available on a broad scale, we’ve shown what’s
possible even in areas that are remote, sparsely
populated and economically disadvantaged”
Shayan Sanyal, Chief Commercial Officer, Bluwan
of IP bandwidth for other types of services,
such as VoIP, OTT services, video on
demand, and broadband connectivity at
100 Mbps.
For Globecomm, the installation is a
prime example of applying ingenuity and
smart use of resources.
“In Somcable, we were fortunate to have
a customer that was truly a partner,” says
Steve Yablonksi, Sr. Vice President and
CTO at Globecomm.
“They were completely open, and we had
the freedom to thoroughly explore the best
possible option to achieve their goals. And
when we worked with Bluwan, they were
an instant collaborator, willing and able to
do whatever it took to tailor their solution
to our needs.”
The system enables service and network
providers to deliver service bundles
over and above basic broadband access
with minimal deployment costs, thereby
attracting more customers, cementing
loyalty, and increasing revenues. For
Somcable, the solution also paved the
way for reduced operational, connection
and deployment costs, including per
megabyte carriage fees associated with
submarine cable connectivity, fibre network
trenching costs, and last mile connectivity
to businesses and consumers. As data
consumption increases, the system will
scale for profitable business models and
reduced operational costs.
In time, the network is expected to
expand across the border to Djibouti,
which is connected to the sub-sea fibreoptic cables, and then throughout Somalia.
From there it’s possible that the network
will extend to Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda
and South Sudan.
“We’re proud of what we’ve accomplished
in the region,” says Shayan Sanyal, Bluwan’s
Chief Commercial Officer.
“Through resource sharing and making
access available on a broad scale, we’ve
shown what’s possible even in areas
that are remote, sparsely populated and
economically disadvantaged.”
The goal is one million subscribers by
2015. How quickly services are adopted
and exactly how the network will affect the
lives of those in Somaliland remains to be
known. But advanced technologies such
as FTTA and a creative approach to best
serving service and network providers and
the people who use their services, are real
benefits that can change lives. PRO
TVC News went on air early this year
giving viewers an African perspective on
news from the continent.
PROAfRiCA
The first pan-African
news channel goes live
TVC News launched early this year with the tagline ‘Through African Eyes’ giving viewers an
African perspective on news from the continent. Media services company MediaGuru delivered
the multi-million dollar, 24/7 HD-ready news channel project in less than two years. Vibhuti
Arora delves deeper into the intricacies of establishing the channel
it began two years ago when Nigerian
broadcaster Continental Broadcasting
Service (CBS) expressed a desire to
launch a news channel that would be
pan-African in nature and reflect the
continent in the right prespective. To
translate this vision into reality, CBS
sought the services of New Delhi-based
media services company MediaGuru,
which undertook a turnkey project to
establish the channel.
MediaGuru was hired to deliver end-toend solutions to launch the first 24/7 fully
automated news channel representative of
all of Africa with the long-term objective to
make the continent’s voice heard.
Snapshot
Client: CBS
Systems integrator: MediaGuru
Objective: To design and build an end-toend, 24/7, fully automated pan-African
news channel and undertake all aspects
of hiring local teams and training them
until the channel would move on its own
Location: Lagos, Nigeria
Key Vendors: Octopus, Harris, VizRt, Apple,
Snell, Ikegami, suppliers, networking experts,
electrical, HVAC and interior contractors were
identified and selected, to work at the site
The contract for the multi-million
dollar project was awarded in the second
half of 2011. The TV channel went on air
in February 2013, on a satellite named
CONSAT, which is equally owned by CBS.
Engaged in media consulting, technology
and digital archiving solutions, with
expertise across television, film, radio,
new media and print, MediaGuru provided
a turnkey solution that took care of
every aspect of the project, right from
detailed business planning, to distribution,
marketing and branding aspects as well
as the construction of the facility and
its systems integration. The project
was executed by MediaGuru in close
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PROAfRicA
“Our aim is to be the leading
broadcaster when it comes to African
affairs. We want people to make TVC
News their first point of reference for all
things African. It’s a gradual and organic
process, and we have a long way to go.
“More often than not, Africa is seen only
from a foreign viewpoint by broadcasters
who paint a negative image of the
continent. TVC News covers not just news,
but also celebrates the culture of Africa
and the many positives we have here.”
On the technology front, the selection,
acquisition, implementation, integration,
commissioning, and technical training was
also conducted by MediaGuru to create a
fully automated and efficient news station
that delivered world-class service.
The main set at TVC News studio.
Master control room of TVC News.
consultation with TVC management.
“The groundwork on the project
began in 2011 when the project was
first awarded to MediaGuru. We sat
together planning the broadcast vision
with a road map for the future for a
channel that will represent Africa in the
global media marketplace,” says Lemi
Olalemi, Deputy CEO of TVC News.
“Our business plan spanned a fiveyear period. Being a new, standalone
project, we started from the very
beginning with a broadcast specific
building. We conceptualised the
look and feel, designed the sets and
newsrooms keeping the channel’s goals
in mind. We worked on our editorial and
programming needs and a broad plan for
the timely execution of the project.”
TVC News is the first real, panAfrican news broadcaster, covering the
continent from an African perspective,
says Nigel Parsons, CEO of TVC News.
Production control room.
“Our expertise in working on
large projects, implementation
of global best practices, matched
by best solutions and turnkey
processes, helped CBS to take
the call in our favour”
Sanjay Salil, MD, MediaGuru
The TV station
The TVC headquarters in Lagos is
spread across an area of 32,439 sq ft
over two floors. With 50 workstations
on the ground floor and 36 on the first
floor, the facility has 14 high resolution,
nonlinear editing stations with high-end
machines and 27-inch LED displays.
The facility also includes an
eight-person make-up room and a
graphics room with three studios.
The project comprises three production
control rooms (PCRs) equipped with
2ME switchers. The monitor wall in
each PCR has three 65-inch displays
with one of them being driven by HD
output multiviewers. The integrated
newsroom features playout, graphics and
teleprompter and a 32-channel audio
mixer, dual-channel telephone hybrid,
audio replay units and a DVD player.
The 40-seater newsroom features
an automated NRCS with browsing,
scripting and rundown scheduling
alongside a computer system integrated
with graphics, playout and teleprompter
scripting. There are LCDs in the
backdrop with live video distribution
for viewing different news channels.
The master control room uses a fully
automated and redundant frame-accurate
playout system with a 16-automation
controlled master switcher with logo,
bugs, external graphics and a ticker key.
It also has a standby switching router
and waveform monitoring for analysing
video signals. The 50-inch display is
driven by HD output multiviewers and
offers an online graphics system.
The ingest/link room has line racks
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PROAfRicA
“We have incorporated a
state-of-the-art tapeless
workflow that expands
support for MOS-compliant
newsroom computer system”
Sushil Khanna, Director of Operations, MediaGuru
Left: Central equipment room.
Right: Ingest room.
Central equipment
room
* HD video server setup catering to
ingest and playout for PCR and MCR
* 38TB video storage in mirroring
* Automation servers in redundancy
for 40-seat newsroom
* Online graphics servers for
controlling PCR and MCR graphics
render and playout engines
* GPS locked sync pulse
generation system
* 128x128 sources HD station
routers with control panel located
in every room, HD digital glues
* 48-ports programmable intercom
system with WAN connection
to connect to 24-ports remote
bureau’s intercom system
* 32-key panels wireless beltpacks
to enable users to communicate
via live production
* Off air compliance login; KVM
network and KVM switches
to monitor the servers; patch
panels and HQ monitoring
Lemi Olalemi, Deputy CEO of
TVC News.
for ingesting feeds from news agencies,
DSNGs and flyways downlink via portable
3G backpack units. It also features frame
synchronisers, RF cable modulator
distribution and a live 3G portable
video unit receiving server. There is a
provision for both tape and tapeless card
based VTRs, hard disk based record and
playout devices, IRDs and decoders.
“All of these solutions have been
provided by in-house experts of
MediaGuru. We chose the vendors in
consultation with the TVC management,
with overall responsibility owned by
MediaGuru,” points out Sanjay Salil,
Managing Director of MediaGuru.
No doubt, it was a challenge for the
company to operate in Africa.
“Working in Africa was challenging.
For one, the distance between our base,
in India and the project site in Lagos in
Nigeria posed a challenge. Secondly, the
project was done from scratch, starting
from the infrastructure, going on to
HVAC, workflow, manpower, training,
integration, and commissioning. All of
these tasks required a large number of
domain expert manpower throughout.
“Thirdly, it required a thorough
recruitment process and training of local
manpower as there wasn’t experienced
manpower available, this being the first
of-its-kind project in the country.”
It’s an HD ready channel that
consists of multi-format studios,
EFP and ENG camera.
Sushil Khanna, Director of Operations
at MediaGuru, explains: “We have
incorporated a state-of-the-art tapeless
workflow that expands support for
MOS-compliant newsroom computer
system with unique integration benefits,
such as the ability to preview both
video clips and updating Vizrt graphics
templates from within the newsroom
client video asset proxies that are stored
on the online storage and DIVA tape
archive. It also offers cross-platform Mac
and Windows client support, and has
a cost-effective licensing structure.”
The station format was DVCPRO25
but its facility is designed to
support various file formats. The
existing data was migrated and
transcoded from different formats to
a native house format. The station
uses multi-level metadata.
The TVC News facility is fully
scalable with room for expansion.
This facility is designed to incorporate
future studios and playout facility.
The cost of add-on channels will
be reduced in the future because a
provision for expansion has been made
PROAfRicA
The TV station’s news studio.
Key kit
Stuart Young, Director of News
and Programmes at TVC News.
in the project right from the start.
Further expansion is underway to add
bureaux and representative setups for
news gathering in a number of countries
strategic to Africa in terms of news.
Stuart Young, Director of News and
Programmes at TVC News says: “Our
future plans are under review but we do
intend to take many of our programmes
‘on the road’, being produced and
presented from around Africa, with
local input from personalities and
ordinary people from their own locale.
“Eventually, we would hope to establish
mini broadcast centres at our major
bureaux, such as Johannesburg, Nairobi
and Cairo, allowing our own reporters
as well as invited guests to take part
in live interaction with Lagos.” PRO
* Production: Snell vision mixer
* News: Octopus newsroom with
Harris news force solution
* Cameras: Ikegami multi-format studio cameras
with control panel and accessories
* Pedestals and tripod with dollies - Sachtler
* Switcher: Snell Kahuna 2ME
* Soundcraft 32Faders audio mixers
* Automatic pan/tilt/zoom tripod power
plus and Shotoku jib
* Panasonic plasma displays * Telos telphone hybrids * Radar touchscreen * Barco video wall
* Trackable virtual chroma setup with studio
lighting controllable by dimmer panels
* MACPRO machines with Apple FCP for
high resolution, nonlinear editing
* Central apparatus room with Harris station
router, clean switch backup routers, multivewer
displays, Waveform technical monitoring, digital
glues and peripherals, TSL, Wohler and Kroma
for high quality video and audio monitoring,
* Port studio and facility talkback system - Kroma 96
* Ingest room with Harris frame synchronisers
* Card-based and tape VTR’s - Panasonic
* Hard disk recorders - Grass Valley
* IR decoders - Harmonic
* Harris Nexio ingest automation
clients with hardware control panels,
multiviewer with plasma monitoring
* KU band OB/DSNG vans with
two-camera production setup
using Sony switchers, Vislink antenna,
HPA and encoder system
* KuBand Swedish Rockwell flyway kits
“Our aim is to be the leading
broadcaster when it comes to
African affairs. We want people to
make TVC News their first point of
reference for all things African”
Nigel Parsons, CEO of TVC News
37
PROTRends
The economics of
multi-platform delivery
It is vital to know the cost of delivering content on multiple platforms in order to develop a
monetisation strategy. Tony Taylor discusses the challenges facing broadcasters today and
recommends solutions to counter them
There is no doubt that one of the
most important challenges facing
broadcasters and content owners these
days is the need to make programming
available across multiple platforms.
Increasingly, audiences expect to be
able to watch the content they want
online and on mobile devices as well
as via catch-up and video on demand
through traditional distribution.
This is being seen as a potential
new revenue opportunity. If at present
broadcasters and content owners are
being pushed into providing these services
simply because consumers expect them,
they should certainly have the eye on
realising revenues from them in the future.
So much of the debate focuses on
monetising strategies. Will transactional,
subscription or advertising models – or
a combination of the three – provide the
revenues? Are micropayments something
the broadcaster can readily collect, or
is there a need to work in partnership
with an organisation used to collecting
large numbers of small payments?
Can advertisers be persuaded to pay
incremental fees to be seen on mobile and
online versions of the programmes they
are already funding through broadcast
advertising? Will they bear the cost of
reversioning commercials for different
platforms? Can they use the detailed
demographics available from online and
mobile users to target commercials,
and will consumers accept this?
Do broadcasters maintain the direct
relationship with the consumer? Can
content owners build a direct distribution
business? Will new entrants to the
market cause a significant shift? Netflix
spent a reported USD100 million on
two series of House of Cards, available
only through its online service.
These questions and many more
are extremely vital and dominate the
debate today. But, according to me, the
other side of the business equation is
being overlooked. You can only define
revenue targets – however those
revenues are to be raised – by knowing
the cost of delivering the service.
Costs
Clearly, delivering to multiple platforms
involves additional costs for the broadcaster
or content owner. There is more hardware
39
PROTRends
“Today, a well-designed asset management
system will incorporate a significant degree of
intelligence. It will not only be capable of a very
flexible metadata schema, which can be extended as
necessary, it will be able to make decisions based on
that metadata and on responses from external devices
and systems”
Tony Taylor, Chairman and CEO, TMD
involved, in creating new versions of
content, transcoding and transwrapping it
for each device, and storing multiple copies.
In turn, these processes involve more
workflows, more paths through the content
chain. So there is likely to be the need
to extend the infrastructure, to provide
more bandwidth to move content around
and have more concurrent workflows.
More information needs to be stored,
so the metadata schemes will also need
to be extended. If the current asset
management system is inflexible this can
be a major issue, calling for a large capital
redevelopment just to make it practical.
Adding a new service calls for the
design of a new workflow. Adding a
delivery route or device needs another
set of instructions, along the lines of:
• identifythecontent
• determinetheresolutionand
frame rate, and if necessary for
the target device modify it
• encodeitusingtheappropriatecodec
and bitrate (or, in the case of mobile
devices, bitrates for adaptive delivery)
• performqualitycontrol
checks on the content
• selectorsettherequiredmetadataand
reformat for the target delivery platform
• performqualitycontrol
checks on the metadata
• deliverthecontenttothebufferstore
or to the content delivery network.
Eachsteprequiresthecontentto
be routed to a specialist device, which
might be a piece of dedicated hardware
or it might be software running on a
standard server or processor farm.
It might even be a cloud service.
Consideration has to be given to
whether each of those devices has
capacity for the additional tasks. If there
is congestion in any part of the workflow,
which services will be given priority?
How long can a task be allowed to
take before consumers’ patience runs
out because the content they want
is not available online? For catch-up
services, consumers are increasingly
expecting content to be available virtually
immediately after transmission: certainly
within a few minutes. Does the system
have the capacity to deliver this?
Managing assets
Asset management systems have
developed rapidly over the past 20
years or so since the term was first
coined. At first they were simply the
necessary database to find content
stored on servers or in digital archives.
Today, a well-designed asset
management system will incorporate a
significant degree of intelligence. It will not
only be capable of a very flexible metadata
schema, which can be extended as
necessary, it will be able to make decisions
based on that metadata and on responses
from external devices and systems.
In short, it is the “workflow engine”.
Better still, it is an intelligent workflow
engine, with the potential to put branches
at each decision point. To take one simple
example, in the outline above, the fourth
stepistoperformqualitycontrolchecks
on the content. So the decision point is,
first, does it pass or fail the QC. If it passes,
obviously it moves on to the next step.
What happens if it fails? You could
developquitesophisticateddecision
making at this point. Some delivery
platforms will be tolerant of a small
numberofqualityerrors:youmight
accept audio clipping if it does not last
more than 5ms, for example. So the
workflow engine could ask the automated
QC device for details of the failures and,
if they are within the stated tolerance
for this specific delivery, it could make
a further decision on pass or fail.
If it still fails, the workflow engine
could make another decision, on whether
to simply retry the encoding, or refer
the problem to a human operator for
rectification. If a re-encode creates good
content then it is passed on down the line.
And here is yet another advantage.
Simply trying again to see if it works
better, might get the content through but
it is not a very scientific approach. So the
workflow engine might be set to collect
extra data here. If the content failed when
encoded with device A but passed when
encoded with device B, then there might
be a problem on device A, which perhaps is
only revealed on certain types of content.
The immediate issue is resolved – the
content is passed down the pipeline – but the
chief engineer will be alerted. If a number of
similar instances occur, then the continuing
audit trail will show what the problem is.
Similarly, the workflow engine will be
tracking each piece of content through the
system. If there are large delays then it will
know where those delays are occurring.
In a manufacturing business, you can
see where the bottlenecks in production
lie, and so you can consider investing in
those areas to make the line move more
evenly. In developing the capital plan to
make that investment, you will calculate
the effect of the additional machinery
on your ability to make products better
and faster, what effect that will have on
revenue, and therefore, if there is a positive
commercial benefit in spending the money.
What we are now looking at in multiplatform delivery is a content factory and,
through asset management, good metadata
and intelligent workflows, we can treat it
in the same way. We can see where the
bottlenecks lie, and we can see where we are
over-provisioned. If, to continue the example,
weonlyreferqualityissuestooperators
once or twice a day, then having four on each
shift is clearly an unnecessary expense.
Ultimately, that is the goal: not just to be
able to optimise the human and technology
resources but to know how much of each we
are consuming in each process. From the
audit trail we can simply
calculate how much it
costs to deliver a piece
of content to a given
platform. Only when
we know that, can we
develop a monetisation
strategy. PRO
Tony Taylor is Chairman and CEO of TMD
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PROPRODUCTION
Kaxxxxxxxxxx
The crew filming inside the office; the shoot involved
office shots as well as outdoor and factory shots.
Pegah Ghamei
Ghaemi has shot three
films in Iran and five shorts
in Australia. The filmmaker
is currently working on a
documentary, which is a
sociological anthropological
thesis of sorts on Kurds in Iraq.
She joined the UAE film
circuit with the introduction
of her film Members
of the Resistance
at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival.
All in a day’s
work
In an exclusive interview with Vibhuti Arora, AustralianIranian director Pegah Ghaemi talks about the pleasures
and challenges of shooting in ‘real’ locations
PROPROductiOn
Kaxxxxxxxxxx
Filming taking place inside the factory.
Stills from The Man Inside
Steadicam operator filming the
opening scene.
Filmmaker Pegah Ghaemi doesn’t watch
a lot of films. the reason – she does
not want to colour her vision with other
people’s ideas. For Ghaemi, filmmaking
is a very personal art. Having studied
filmmaking in university gave her a
better grasp of the craft but in no way
did it shape her filmmaking ethos, which
she insists is an intrinsic quality.
While constantly updating herself on the
technological front, Ghaemi doesn’t like
to adopt other people’s style in directing.
“Filmmaking is very individual,
almost personal to me. I see it as a
way to express myself and I’d rather
do it my way than being influenced
by others’ styles,” she explains.
Combining an artistic touch and her
knowledge of filmmaking gives an edge
to her commercial shoots, each one of
which has a soul, according to her, and
is not churned out mechanically from a
marketing machinery. So when she was
approached by Conares Steel to do a
corporate film, she came up with the idea
of weaving a story around the film that
would connect better with the audience.
“In a commercial, you have to say a lot
in very little time and all of it has to make
sense. It was an exciting concept for me
and the storyline immediately popped up
in my mind. I was ready with a script in
the next few days. For the story and the
commercial to flow together, we had to
shoot it very cleverly to pack in as much
information as possible. We decided to
cover the entire workspace including
the factory as well as the office area.
We also shot some footage outdoors.”
Ghaemi and her team managed to shoot
for 12-15 hours daily over three days. The
resulting footage was then worked on in
post to produce the final two-and-a-halfminute film and a 30-second teaser.
The story revolved around the factory
and was to be shot at night in artificial
lighting. However, a night shoot was
not allowed at the premises so the
production team went ahead with a day
shoot, which was to be flipped at the
editing table to get the required effect.
“Sometimes, what you plan doesn’t
necessarily materialise due to various
constraints. As a filmmaker, one has to take
these challenges in one’s stride. Thanks
to technology, it’s possible to bring the
film as close to your vision as possible.
We decided to go ahead with a day shoot
and used DaVinci Resolve to flip it and
make it look like a night shoot. Colour
grading gave it the effect we wanted.”
The other challenge was to shoot inside
the factory, which obviously did not
offer a very conducive environment for
a camera shoot. To begin with, lighting
was a big challenge because it was not
uniform. The script involved a lot of
movement over a significant stretch of
the factory, strewn with iron rebars,
pulleys and other machinery serving as
the backdrop. The best way to capture
the desired effect was to use a steadicam.
Except for the leads, none of the other
characters were professional actors.
About 70 personnel from the factory
and office were involved in the shoot.
“It was almost like shooting a fictional
documentary within a real factory
with real people,” says Ghaemi.
“We did not have the luxury of time
to do too many retakes or hire and
train any extras. The entire shoot was
done within a very tight time frame.”
Another challenge was the noise in the
factory. Ghaemi says, “Communicating
with people sharing camera space was
extremely difficult because of the noise.
“We had to make do with whatever
resources were available. Safety was
a major concern as we were shooting
with potentially hazardous machinery.
Although we had special permission
to shoot in the factory, we had to be
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PROPRODUCTION
extra cautious to avoid accidents.”
Adhering to the budget and logistical
constraints, the script had to be pared
down to achieve everything in three
days. “I would have liked it to be at least
six days. In order to reduce the shoot to
three days, we altered the night scenes
in the script to day so that we could
shoot day for day. In doing so, we also
had to drop a lot of equipment – lights for
one, extra lenses and a host of shooting
paraphernalia,” points out Ghaemi.
However, a steadicam could fit it
all in within the given time frame.
DoP Shahram Aderangui from
Amaranthine Trading, the distributors
for ARRI in the Middle East, involved
well-known steadicam operator Hosein
Jalili, who was called in especially from
Iran to handle the three-day shoot.
The film was shot on ARRI Alexa in full
HD to have different layers of shooting and
to allow for different grades of lighting.
Aderangui chose the Alexa to capture
the depth and crispness of the milieu. It
was the best choice for accommodating
the gradation in lighting as the light varied
from dark interiors to very bright sunlight
outside with the shoot spanning both.
The post production was done using Final
Cut Pro, Adobe After Effects, Autodesk
Maya 3D and DaVinci Resolve colour
correction. There was no need for dubs or
voice overs, and sync sound was out of the
question because of the excessive noise
in the factory. Audio was added in post.
Ghaemi comments: “Barring some of
the challenges, realistic imagery is easy to
shoot if you have a grasp of what you want.
It also cuts down on your work in post
as not many special effects are needed.
What you shoot is what you get.” PRO
“We had to make do with whatever resources we
had. Safety was a major concern...even with special
permission to shoot in the factory, we had to be
extra cautious to avoid accidents”
Pegah Ghaemi, filmmaker
Steadicam operator
Hosein Jalili on location.
Jalili being helped with the
equipment by crew.
45
PROEVENT
Didier Gault, Solutions Sales Consultant at
Grass Valley addresses the seminar.
Didier Gault, Solutions Sales Consultant at Grass Valley,
South Europe, Middle East and Africa.
From left: Hassan Chahine from Glocom, Hassan Ghoul from
Grass Valley and Ahmed Gamal from Systems Design.
Grass Valley
reaches out
Grass Valley
held a series of
roadshows in
the EMEA region
to introduce its
new products to
the local market.
BroadcastPro
ME brings back
comments from the
Dubai leg of
the event
Visitors to the ‘discovery sessions’ had the opportunity
to discuss the latest innovations in Grass Valley’s product
portfolio and talk to spokespeople first-hand about the
company’s vision and strategy for the future. Some of its
recent NAB solutions that were reintroduced at the
event included:
GV Stratus, an application environment for nonlinear
production; K2 Dyno ShareFlex, an easy resource and
content sharing; GV Director, a new, award-winning
approach to integrated production; Ignite, which
empowers creative resources and automates studios;
LDX e-Licensing, which is a new economic model for
software upgradeable cameras.
Beginning with Kuwait, the roadshows were held in Madrid,
Riyadh, Dubai, Doha, Milan, Rome, Paris and Cairo.
SAID BAChO, Senior
Vice President,
EMEA, Grass Valley
The EMEA roadshow
is the first official
event in my new
role in Grass Valley.
The last few
weeks have been
very exciting, with
a lot going on. I
have been busy
travelling and visiting
all the offices in the region.
Our plan is to have a decentralised
organisation, where each region and subregion is important. While we continue to
innovate and update on the technology
front, we are also developing our marketing
side quite aggressively. Engaging the
customer through such events is part of our
strategy to make the brand better known
and create more product awareness.
I would also like to add here that we are
very focused on the region with big expansion
plans underway. We will be doubling the
staff for the region, which goes to show
how committed we are to expanding the
business here. The Middle East is a growth
region for Grass Valley and we are very well
positioned to take on the leadership.
We will be expanding all the departments
in the regional office here, be it pre-sales,
sales, after sales service or marketing.
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HassaN GHOul
managing director, Grass Valley, middle East
The roadshows are to recapitulate what we
introduced at NAB this year. These are especially
aimed at customers who could not attend
the exhibition, and those who did are being
reintroduced to the technologies. Through such
events, we try to engage with our customers
in order to understand them better. All of
the products that we are talking about in the
roadshows are already there in the market,
ready to be shipped. Our experts are on hand to
discuss at length any queries or concerns that the
customers might have. Interactive sessions such as
these further improve the communication channel between us as a manufacturer
and the end user.
What better way to know and understand the market and its demands and
expectations from us than being in direct touch with the end users.
We have seen a surge in news-based channels in the region. Sports is another
area that is catching up very fast. We are, obviously, focusing on products that
especially cater to those needs. There is a continuous transformation of the
broadcast platform in the region, which makes it highly lucrative to do
business here.
FRaNcOisE sEmiN,
Vice President, south Europe, middle
East and africa, Grass Valley
We are growing the team of our Middle
East office by recruiting more people.
Strengthening the team would also mean
we can attend to our customers’ needs
better and focus more on the region. We
look forward to a robust development
of our services in the region through
aggressive marketing.
The region is abuzz with activity with
several big projects underway. Al Arab
in Bahrain and the Al Jazeera workplace
transformation have been some of the big
projects that Grass Valley has executed.
We are coming back very strongly in Saudi
Arabia, where we expect more business.
Egypt is picking up too, where we
recently closed a deal to supply the latest LDX camera series to Dream TV. This
is the first big step in the market that has opened many doors for us and it helped
us establish a foothold in the country. We have also got a breakthrough in Ethiopia
with the Amhara TV project.
Innovation has always been our focus and it will continue to be so. These
roadshows further reiterate our focus on innovation and technology.
We are now moving away from transitional products and promoting more of
IT- based products including K2 servers and Stratus workflow framework. The
Stratus workflow framework hosts a lot of tools of ingest, transcoding, editing and
we are also progressively integrating all our products into the backbone to share
the media and the metadata across the studio as well as broadcast to speed up the
distribution of content.
We are in the process of closing some big deals in the region, which is indicative
of our strong presence here and our desire to build it further.
HassaN cHaHiNE
cEO, Glocom
I notice that the
company has adopted
an aggressive marketing
strategy, which is a good
way to go forward.
The presentation
explains the workflow,
which is very useful
for customers to
understand what
would best cater to
their needs. Many a time, the end-user tends to
buy the highest model of a product available,
which they may or may not need. The LDX
e-licence enables you to make a conscious decision
based on your individual needs and resources.
The GV Mixer and GV Director have a fairly
good market presence having made a mark in
the industry for their superior performance. As
a systems integrator now and having been an
end user before, I am well-versed with Grass
Valley equipment and have been using it.
On the technology front, the company has
always been quite strong. However, in the
past, management changes took a toll on the
company’s customer service. Now, with the
new management, they are back on track.
The product range and the software offered
enables us to handle the entire workflow in
the same chain, from production to post.
aHmEd Hadi al Kaya
Executive sales manager, Qvest media
Adopting a new technology is
always a challenge. It
involves unlearning the old
techniques and learning
new ones, which in turn
is time-consuming. Yet it
is critical to the growth
of a company especially
now when so many tools
are available to improve
workflows and manage your
data properly. Roadshows
and customer engagement
programmes go a long way in educating and
informing the customer about new developments.
At times, just to reinforce a technology, the
manufacturer brings them here to the customer
to explain the relevance specific to the region.
The LDX and GV Director hold huge potential.
Grass Valley is an established brand
name and events such as these roadshows
reiterate its position in the market.
Zaid Wattar
Managing director, aV Solutions
Events such as this one, are a
good way to educate customers to
introduce the latest innovations
and technologies adopted by the
manufacturer. I think it’s very useful
to familiarise ourselves with the new
technology.
Grass Valley’s product range offers
a wide range of products that take
care of every aspect of a broadcast
workflow. Also, the fact that these
can be upgraded in time adds to the
product’s asset value for the end
user. Informing and engaging the
customers is an essential
Grass Valley’s discovery
part of introducing new
session in progress.
technologies.
There was a time when
Grass Valley’s technical
support was not up to
the mark but things are
changing for the better
now. With such initiatives,
it will only improve.
As the products have
already been introduced
at NAB, I had a basic
understanding of them,
but being reintroduced
Said Bacho and Didier
to them at a local event
Gault at the seminar.
is very helpful. At
exhibitions, there are
too many people and too
little time to get hold of
a particular technology.
We can ask questions
more freely as the event
is dedicated to these
technologies and experts
are at hand to clarify our
doubts. Local events are
always welcome.
tariq raja
Managing Partner, tek Signals
I am here today to support the event and to
brush up on my knowledge of
the products.
We have worked very closely with Grass
Valley as its distributors and have remained
loyal to the brand despite the ups and
downs the company has seen
in the past.
It is reassuring to know that the
company’s top management is reaching
out to the end user to keep them informed
about the latest products and innovations.
As the company is moving ahead, it is taking
its customers along.
The local office in Dubai is a huge support
for us as Grass Valley distributors because it opens a two-way communication channel
between the customer and the manufacturer.
It was announced that the company will be adding broadcast and IT staff alongside
sales personnel. We see this decision as a big impetus for our association with
the brand. It also goes to show the company’s commitment to the region.
I would like to add here that with Said Bacho and Tim Thorssteinson at the helm
of Grass Valley, the company is in good hands as they are both very effective leaders
with proven track records.
GhaSSan alaSad
Managing Partner,
Creative Media Solutions
Our association with Grass
Valley goes back many
years. The LDX cameras
are the Rolls Royce of
cameras. I would like more
such initiatives where the
customer and manufacture
come together to discuss
on an open platform. Their
announcement to add more personnel to their
presales and sales departments shows that they
are interested in
the region.
As a customer, it is reassuring to know
that the manufacturer is trying and reaching
out to build the relationship. It is a welcome
move. Local events are better focused on local
requirements and the manufacturer can give
solutions that are most suited to the region’s
demand. In any business, building relationships
is as important as providing a good product
or solution. Their announcement to expand
the Middle East operations reiterates their
commitment to the region.
49
PROSEMINAR
PSS Dubai
Professional Seminar Series, held in Doha and Dubai
last month, saw a good turnout of technical experts
from the region. BroadcastPro ME attended the Dubai
segment to bring you the details
This year’s edition of the annual
Professional Seminar Series
(PSS) concluded in Dubai last
month with a good turnout of
broadcast professionals. The
all-day seminar was conducted
in collaborative partnership by
Axon, Dolby, Ericsson, Soundfield
and Tektronix. The speakers
addressed issues and challenges
faced in broadcast and content
distribution and discussed the
evolution of television broadcasting.
The interactive session saw
a convergence of more than 75
professionals representing the
UAE’s leading broadcasters, system
integrators and telcos including
Etisalat, du, MBC, BFE, Tek Signals,
Dubai TV, twofour54, ADM, LIVE
and Media Group International.
Pieter Schillebeeckx from
Soundfield spoke
Mark
about surround
Barkey.
sound capture
and delivery, and
how it is relevant
to the region and
beyond. Antoni
Caceres of Tektronix
discussed the launch
of IPTV services
and the challenges
facing quality
of experience.
Ericsson’s Luke Williams spoke
about 4K TV with special reference
to sports. Marc Derks of Axon shed
light on the latest AVB technology
and the end of SDI while Dolby’s
Jacob Smith spoke about loudness.
Mark Barkey, Regional Sales
Manager at Axon, who has been
associated with the seminar since its
inception three years ago, said: “The
event is growing with every edition
and now it needs to venture out to
more locations. It warrants to go to
Abu Dhabi and other regions such as
Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
“These seminars provide a
platform for professionals to interact
with like-minded people and to
hear from the experts. Where Dolby
stops Soundfield picks up followed
by Ericsson and Tektronics and
Axon is somewhere in between.
“The five companies represented
here complement each other
perfectly to complete the
broadcast chain and the topics
discussed give an overview of the
entire broadcast ecosystem.
“Next year, we hope to collaborate
with more manufacturers to make
it even more comprehensive.”
He added that the event will see
more players from the cloud domain
and, perhaps, cabling too next year.
PIETER SchIllEbEEckx,
Product Manager, Soundfield
The idea of PSS is to share our knowledge with the
market, it is not about products but focuses purely
on the technology. I have been conducting talks from
Soundfield for over 12 years now and see a palpable
difference on how the technology has progressed in the
past decade. When I first joined Soundfield, it was in a
very rudimentary state. Broadcasters nowhere in the
world were ready for it. The scenario is quite different
now and there is growing interest in the technology. The
interest in surround sound has picked up in this region
as well and the Middle East seems ready for it now.
We began with music recording but now focus more
on live broadcast capture, and I believe that’s where the
future of surround sound capture lies. Sports drives any
technology in broadcast and surround sound is one of
them. It is still very early days for this region but we see
it coming very soon. Sports and live shows is where the
future and growth of surround sound lies.
We are now more proactive in the region. For
broadcasters who want to produce using this
technology we help them with the set-up to show it is
not complicated.
Our installation for DMI’s
coverage of Dubai Tennis
was a big breakthrough. Al
Kass trial with Emir Cup has
been completed and we are
refocussing on looking at doing
some cricket with Ten Sports.
Bahrain and Oman are the
other territories in the region,
which are of big interest to us.
We are seeding the market
at the moment and hope to see
results in the coming years.
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MARc DERkS
Regional Sales Director, Axon
We do these seminars in many places to
educate the market about our technology.
Our previous one in Moscow was a huge
success and then in Doha, which also saw a
great turnout.
Through PSS, we give companies
a platform to communicate with the
engineers and technical experts on the
ground about new technologies. We bring
the experts deploying solutions to those
using it at the same platform to discuss
what’s on offer and how it can be employed
to suit their requirements.
Last year, we discussed aspect ratio and
conversion and the problems associated
with that. Axon’s focus at this year’s PSS
was AVB technology and how video over IP
networks works.
The technology is still new to the region,
nevertheless it is relevant because that’s
where the future is leading to.
Our topics may or may not be region
specific but give an overview of what’s
happening globally on the technology front,
because the idea of this platform is to
share knowledge and prepare the market
for the future.
BRuNO SchMEtz
Regional Sales Director, Solution
Area Media, Ericsson
We at Ericsson talked about how
the industry will move forward
in terms of strategy and major
choices for ultra HD and HEVC new
compression systems and 4K.
PSS has grown in the last three years
as a major technology event in the region
as it provides an excellent platform
for exchanging ideas and learning
from the very best in the industry.
We skipped the commercial aspect and
concentrated on technologies that are
shaping the broadcast industry today.
The global trend is now increasingly
focused on 4K, which is the next big
thing to come. We expect this technology
to gain traction. The beginning of the
workflow in 4K is ready but there are
missing links, which will be fixed in time.
The upcoming World Cup and Olympics
2016 will see more of 4K broadcast.
ANtONI cAcERES, Applications
Engineer, tektronix
The amount of content to check
is growing, hence theEhenderi
importance
volenim quia
of quality control instruments
andet,
nessit et lis eum,
techniques. With growing interest
in multiscreen delivery and content
being made available on Android,
iPhones, tablet, Amazon, YouTube
and so on, the amount that needs to
be checked is growing too. For every
transmission in multiscreen, we need
to check different versions of it.
Our main topics of discussion
at PSS were IPTV and encoding
quality. When IPTV operators
receive channels, and send them
on IP networks, there are specific
challenges like network jitter and
packet loss that need to be altered.
There is a lot of focus on HEVC as
it is the technology of the future with
the potential to unleash tremendous
opportunities and revolutionising
the way we view TV today.
JAcOB SMIth, Broadcast Systems Engineer, Dolby
Dolby is an ingredient brand, we don’t sell anything here but support our partners – telcos
and broadcasters who use our technology. The PSS is a platform to share the knowledge
we have. At the seminar we work with the entire ecosystem and address the issues at every
step of the chain.
The issues each broadcaster faces are different and a platform like this gives us an
opportunity to discuss the problems and brainstorm solutions to counter them.
Adoption of Dolby Digital Plus, our current codec is on the cards. It is expected to
become a standard in the region. Things are moving in the right direction and we have seen
some success in that area.
Dolby is a brand neutral company and PSS gives us that neutrality.
PROSeMiNaR
Steve HaliS, independent Broadcast Consultant
There’s multiscreen on everyone’s mind. I don’t see 4K becoming mainstream any
time soon, rather there is a proliferation of multiscreens and manufacturers need to
take heed of that. Manufacturers are pushing it to the bigger screens for cinemas and
entertainment sports in hotels but I doubt, if we really are ready for 4K in homes. 4K for
every subscriber is a long way considering the huge costs involved.
The cost of delivering the bandwidth to deliver the content, satellite delivery, set-topboxes, each step of the switch involves massive costs.
Overall, it was a very informative seminar with a lot of relevant information being
shared. I have been attending PSS since its first edition three years ago and I find it
progressing every year. It is a great networking platform.
v. Jaya KuMaR
Manager, Broadcast Playout
Systems technology, du
du is a customer-driven company and
we provide what the customer wants.
Our IPTV partners were here to
attend the seminar; there were a lot
of relevant issues being discussed.
We are supporting loudness
standards through our teleport, and
that’s what brings me here – to learn
what’s new in the market today.
Loudness control is not a defacto
standard in this region yet but we have
been supporting loudness control for
a long time because our customers
are not limited to this region.
Loudness is not just about quality
but also gives a competitive edge.
Ericsson’s talk about 4K was quite
interesting. The technology is attracting a
lot of attention but we are still a long way
from transmitting 4K over satellite. The
procedure will involve a huge amount of
investment in terms of time and of money.
The region is still struggling with
bandwidth availablity for HD. HD
is still not widespread with10 -20%
penetration in the region.
aBDul GHaNi
Sales Manager, Middle east, argosy
The session was extremely useful.
I had a chance to attend the Doha
edition also. It is a networking platform
besides providing an opportunity for
sharing knowledge and information.
It’s a good way to keep up to date
with the market trends and see
where technology is progressing. The
segments delivered by Tektronix and
Ericsson were superb. TSL is of special
interest to us as they are our partners;
we have their stocks locally available
at our office in Dubai to help all
systems integrators for urgent needs.
DaviD CaStle, Middle east Regional
Sales Manager, editShare
I feel there is far too much focus
on connected TV whereas the
manufacturers and innovators should
concentrate more on multiscreen
delivery. iPads and tablets is where
the future of broadcast lies.
It is also important to learn what the
end user has to say. Youngsters should
be asked what they would like. They are
the ones who use technology the most.
53
PROINTERVIEW
“The traditional SMS services have generated
so much money for the telcos but there’s been a
significant shift in the way content is consumed
today. They need to make that business shift”
Sebastien Marteau, Vice President, Intigral
and build services. In this way, we
work with multiple content providers
for different services spanning news,
women’s services, kids, family, games,
music, entertainment and music to cover
the entire spectrum of programming.
What was your perception of this
region when you first came here?
The Middle East is a very young market
and what is really encouraging is the
appetite for our kind of services. With
a large chunk of the population being
below 30 years, the level of consumption
is very high and the engagement is
very interesting here. Saudi Arabia is
the second biggest market for YouTube
consumption per capita. One sees
similar trends with the social networks
as well. It’s a very unique market.
What are the challenges you
faced when you came here?
We had to work on improving the
infrastructure. Then, working with telco
operators is a challenge by itself. The
operators here don’t really understand
the value they can get from content.
They look at the content business as a
revenue generation centre. What they don’t
understand is the type of differentiation
you can make with content and how
that can impact on consumption and
customer satisfaction. They are very
advanced in terms of market segmentation,
nationalities, preferences and so on but
they forget that content can be a big add
on. For instance, we have so many expats
here and they are so eager to consume
content from their own countries and
operators must exploit this. So for instance,
if you offer the right cricket service to
blue collar workers, who have access to
entertainment primarily on their mobile
phone that opens up a whole revenue
stream for you. This would be a huge
differential factor if they would see it.
Tell us a bit about the SMS versus
communication apps debate?
There are two aspects here.
One, we see that today more messages
are exchanged on Whatsapp than on SMS.
This is really one of the big challenges for
the operator today. The traditional SMS
services have generated so much money
for the telcos but there’s been a significant
shift in the way content is consumed today.
They need to make that business shift.
The overall mobile industry has been
based on the GSM standard traditionally
but users today want to share videos,
pictures and music, which can only be
achieved if the operators deploy solutions
to cater to these. That’s why Whatsapp
is turning into a global standard. The
mobile industry is evolving at a speed that
society has never witnessed before.
So on the one hand, you see that
communication apps that can offer
more features such as allowing you to
share videos, pictures and so on, free of
charge and across the globe are gaining
significance over traditional SMS. The
second aspect is the social aspect.
If you look at this generation of digital
natives i.e. those born with an iPad or
iPhone, for them, connectivity is a given
and the use of social messaging tools is a
part of their daily lives. This generation
seems to favour the one-to-many approach
of Facebook and Twitter rather than the
traditional one-to-one method of SMS.
The one-to-many approach seems to
offer more values such as sharing one’s
status, seeing friends reacting and so on.
Telcos who don’t make these
components part of their regular
service are in serious trouble.
How can telcos address the threat
from apps such as Whatsapp?
It is clearly a technical disruption; they need
to adapt to it. In some markets, the telcos
are offering zero charge for the use of SMS
as part of their mobile package. They could
also potentially consider a partnership with
Whatsapp or Skype where the operator
markets Whastapp as part of its package with
zero data charges on the service. It could
be part of your differentiaion factor if you
partner with them and helps you to build
loyalty with customers. The value of this
messaging application, however, is scale and
volume and this is where telcos have reason
to worry. Apps like Whatsapp are universal
so instantly, they become very attractive
while local telcos are limited to offering
services that are limited to the local market.
PROINTERVIEW
What, according to you, are the
three big communication apps?
On the social messaging side, there
is BBM, iMessenger, Whatsapp,
and also, Viber and Skype.
You recently built an app for the
Saudi Football Championships?
Yes, we did. It is called Dawri Plus and
was launched about three months ago. It’s
actually a live streaming service for the
Saudi Premiere League games. Users can
watch the games live on their mobiles and
they can access older games for the season;
DVD-type features; timeline of all the
major events; access to real-time statistics
around the players and teams such as
shots on targets, passes, possession,
lineups, cards, substitutions and so
on; and social networking. Any service
you bring today must have the social
networking component in that service
so this has been incorporated as well.
Currently, we are in the first stage of
marketing it. We have seen some very good
usage. We have seen people stay for nearly
40 minutes on the website at one time.
It is very interesting to see the
usage both on the website and the
application which shows that people
are consuming long-form video
content even on the smartphone.
We also had about 5000
“consecutive” users on the website.
Would you consider charging
for your app in the future?
We might go into a solution where if
you want to watch Dawri Plus, you will
pay some sort of fee. The app can be
bundled as a co-offering to make the
most of the offering. We offer a lot of
applications in Arabic on our app store.
I believe you are working on a
new portal for STC as well?
Yes, we are bringing a completely new
thing called STC mode. This is the model,
where you can access any type of content
in a very structured and new way in terms
of user experience. What we are doing on
STC mode is all the type of content that
you could imagine from news, women,
mobile ads, from Islamic services, game
services and a lot of education services.
It is a completely new way to
consume content. We are also
bringing a sports vertical, which is
very important. With this, you can
“It is very interesting to see the usage
both on the website and the application which
shows that people are consuming long-form
video content even on the smartphone.”
Sebastien Marteau, Vice President, Intigral
access the service on any device.
We have reworked the design and
the interface so people find it more
attractive. For us, this is one of the big
developments we have at the moment.
What is Intigral’s vision for
the mobile division?
Our main work as Intigral is to develop
the ecosystem in the right way, to make
it grow and to offer more capabilities to
third parties. Our objective is to create
ways to monetise content so innovation
is happening especially where Arabic
content is concerned. It is important to
find new routes to make this content
available to audiences through telco
partners and we are doing this. PRO
57
Technology inTelligence FoR TV, Film and Radio
Pro50 has all you need to know about the
top players in the region’s broadcast and
satellite market. A compilation of profiles of
50 broadcast and satellite companies in
the GCC, the hardback coffee table book is
a valuable resource for not only business
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PRINT RUN 15,000 copies
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Rodi Hennawi
Sales Manager
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Email: rodi.hennawi@cpimediagroup.com
ArGoSy BrinGS HiGH
DenSity connectiVity Cable and connector specialist
Argosy introduced high density
connectivity products at
BroadcastAsia. To meet the
challenge of higher equipment
density, Argosy is now supplying
the Amphenol HD-BNC connector,
giving a 400% improvement in
packing density.
Modern digital and electronic
design has enabled complex
broadcast products to be realised
in ever-smaller devices. The
advantages are obvious in terms of
reduced rack requirements, which
leads to smaller machine rooms
and less air-conditioning. The
challenge is to provide secure and
highly reliable connections in this
reduced space. This is particularly
the case for modern, high capacity
compact routers.
To meet this challenge,
connector specialist Amphenol has
taken the classic design of the 75Ω
BNC and reduced it in physical size.
The HD-BNC — HD for high
density in this context — provides
the same secure connection and
maintains the exacting standards
for HD-SDI return loss, but in
a size which allows 8mm fixing
centres, rather than the 15.9mm
(.625”) centres of the original. The
result is an increase in density of
connectors of 400%.
more tHAn 51,000 AttenDeeS At
BroADcAStASiA 2013
BroadcastAsia held in conjunction with CommunicAsia
and EnterpriseIT closed after a week of fulfilling business
interactions and knowledge exchange amongst industry
professionals last month. The four-day event, held from
18 to 21 June at the Marina Bay Sands, saw more than
51,000 attendees from 100 countries/regions throng the
exhibition halls and conference suites.
“The shows have done extremely well this year.
Attendees, including exhibitors, conference speakers
and delegates, as well as members of the press, have
expressed fulfillment with what they were able to achieve
this year. For us, this is testament to the success of the
shows,” said Stephen Tan, Chief Executive of Singapore
Exhibition Services, the organiser of the exhibitions.
“By holding all the shows under one roof, we could
leverage the increasing convergence of technologies
across both sectors, and still have each show maintain its
own appeal.”
Ultra HD (or 4K) was the buzz word at
BroadcastAsis2013, where various aspects of the entire
4K ecosystem, from cameras to production, and from
post-production to content delivery technology were
underlined. In addition to showcasing the latest products,
the exhibition hosted talks and conferences that
discussed the growth of the industry. The exhibitions will
return to the Marina Bay Sands from 17 – 20 June 2014.
Pixelmetrix KonnectS
Pixelmetrix, an innovator for professional video and television
solutions, rolled out Konnect, its iP-based video distribution
system, at BroadcastAsia.
Konnect is ideal for corporate, government military and campus
applications. capable of full HD resolution, Konnect enables
administrators to route any video to any screen in the facility via straightforward drag-and-drop Html5 GUi. central
administrators also have a choice to allow or disallow local control of each screen. Being fully iP-based effectively
eliminates the expense, hassle and inflexibility of traditional patch-panel based distribution systems.
Danny Wilson, President and ceo of Pixelmetrix said: “With Konnect, we now apply our considerable expertise in
quality management for television distribution to the problem of distribution itself. With full HD support, it surpasses
the limited quality and flexibility of cctV systems, while avoiding the expense and complexity of traditional iPtV
systems. the idea is that Konnect empowers our customers to maintain both local and central control.”
triVeni DiGitAl WiDenS itS ScoPe
Triveni Digital demonstrated its range of StreamScope real-time DTV transport stream monitors and analysers at
BroadcastAsia. New to the show were the StreamScope Portal and StreamScope MT-40P, two portable MPEG analysis
tools that ensure superior quality of service for television viewers. StreamScope MT-40 Video Quality Assurance offers
complete DTV stream analysis, including support for RF, ASI, and DVB card options, as well as GigE input for PCR
analysis, from a portable chassis.
59
PROPROducts
eyeHeIgHT’s log legalIser
Eyeheight’s LE-2M-K logging legaliser made its
South East Asia market debut at BroadcastAsia.
Eyeheight demonstrated the LE-2M-K’s ability
to maintain a timed log of every non-compliant video or audio event requiring correction in the course of a
24-hour transmission schedule. This enables broadcasters to archive a record of as-run conformance data
in countries where government legislation or transmission authority regulations make this compulsory. Each
action is logged complete with its linear timecode identifier. Video legalisation and loudness correction
timelines can also be monitored on-screen.
The LE-2M-K incorporates Eyeheight’s unique clobberRing automatic luma overshoot and undershoot
suppression together with luma and chroma gain, black level adjustment, hue rotation, adjustable clipping
levels and soft-clipping-knee levels. An ‘out-of-gamut’ indication feed displays overshoot or undershoot
severity and shows the user where on the picture any signal correction is being performed.
vIsIon researcH expands
pHanTom mIro
Vision Research, a manufacturer of digital high
speed imaging systems, is expanding its line of
Phantom Miro cameras to include a ruggedised
body style. The Phantom Miro R-series, the third
member of the Phantom Miro family, is targeted
at applications in harsh environments where the
camera must survive high shock and vibration as
well as a broad range of operating temperatures.
The Miro R-series is offered in the same four
performance levels available in the other Miro
body styles—110, 310, 120 and 320S
“Our new Miro R-series gives customers
another choice in camera body style, expanding
the number of applications for the camera family,”
said Rick Robinson, Marketing Director at
Vision Research.
“The R-series is targeted specifically towards
those that need a ruggedised camera to
withstand severe environmental conditions”
The Miro R-series is designed for applications
such as automotive crash tests, high-speed sleds
and explosives research. As with the other Miro
models, the R-series has an external rechargeable
battery (BP-U30 only) and the popular CineFlash
non-volatile data storage system. It includes
flexible tools for both qualitative and
quantitative analysis.
speedcasT gaIns wITH newTec
Satellite communications specialist Newtec and
Asian satellite service provider SpeedCast have
announced the results of an intensive trial of
Newtec’s latest S2 extensions and Clean Channel
Technology. In the trial results, the combination of the two
technologies boosted performance and achieved
substantial efficiency gains.
The technologies trialled are all incorporated
in the Newtec MDM6000 satellite modem, which
despite being able to handle up to 380 Mbps
bi-directionally, can also operate at much lower
rates as required for multi-carrier applications. Newtec’s long-term customer SpeedCast, is
a global network and satellite communications
service provider, offering network services in over
50 countries throughout Asia-Pacific, the Middle
East, Europe and Africa.
“We are always looking to add value for our
customers – one way of achieving this is by
adopting highly efficient technology to offer them
the greatest value for money,” said Pierre-Jean
Beylier, CEO, SpeedCast.
“We are very pleased with the gains
demonstrated by Newtec, especially while also
transmitting at lower rates of a few megabits/
sec. We look forward to expanding the use of
S2 extensions to offer significantly improved
performance and efficiency for our customers.”
Newtec has taken the lead and teamed
up with other DVB members to define
and develop the updates to the DVB-S2
standard, currently named S2 extensions.
When comparing the current DVB-S2
standard against the full implementation
of S2 extensions, efficiency gains of up to
37% can be achieved.
InvIew
reveals THe FUTUre
Inview, the over the top (OTT) solutions
specialist, launched its fully functional low cost
SmartTV ecosystem with OTT functionality into
the Asian market at BroadcastAsia.
Inview’s Liberator revealed for the first time
in Asia, combines cloud delivery of OTT services
with lightweight software that can be deployed
on a wide range of hardware platforms. The
product is completely scalable without
incurring additional cost — from basic set-topbox (STB) functionality to advanced DVR.
As well as a core of cloud OTT services,
including VOD, social media and a ready-togo apps library, Liberator has a user interface
(UI) and back office management system that
can be completely customised. This allows
for user profiling and recommended content
functionality, which can ultimately help the
operator introduce targeted advertising,
bringing in an additional revenue stream.
Multi-screen functionality within the solution
will be demonstrated at the event, bringing a
unified viewing experience for users across
all platforms.
eTl sysTems’ dIsplay
British-based global designer and manufacturer
of RF distribution equipment, ETL Systems,
showcased new technology at CommunicAsia
– some of which is already being used in the
region’s latest and most advanced projects. ETL is recognised internationally for superior
quality and a very personal one-to-one
service offering. The company’s award-winning
designs benefit from a quarter of a century of
experience in the RF distribution sector, with all
new products and innovations being developed
and built by its growing team of R&D experts
in the UK.
PROPROducts
dalet’s
mam-driven
solutions
Dalet Digital Media Systems, a provider
of media asset management (MAM)
solutions, software and services for content
producers, showcased Dalet Galaxy
at BroadcastAsia.
Dalet Galaxy is a new MAM platform with
the latest versions of Dalet workflow
solutions for news, programme preparation,
production asset management, archiving,
sports and radio.
Dalet also featured several new product
modules including the Dalet Onecut
multimedia editor, the Dalet On-the-Go
mobile app, and the Dalet Cube
graphics suite.
“Broadcast Asia is a very important venue for
us. It’s where the regional content providers
come to find cost-effective technology
solutions that help streamline workflows and
make it easier for users to perform their tasks
more efficiently,” said Tomer Azenkot, General
Manager, Asia Pacific, Dalet.
ip Consoles from axia
Axia displayed its full line of broadcast
consoles at Global Broadcast Supply
stand. The Axia line of connected
broadcast consoles consists of five
different models in 16 different sizes,
with features that match the needs of
virtually any studio: Element, iQ, Radius,
DESQ, RAQ.
More than 4,500 broadcast studios
are on-air using Axia Livewire technology;
more than 50,000 connected devices,
such as codecs, audio processors, phone
systems, and digital delivery systems, are
in the field.
Canon in super telephoto mode
Canon Middle East has added a new category to its
range of high-performance super-telephoto lenses.
The EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM extender 1.4x
features a flexible 200-400mm focal range with a
fixed f/4 aperture, 4-stop optical image stabiliser
and for the first time in a commercially available
lens, a built-in 1.4x extender. These features
combine to provide a lens for professional sports
or wildlife photographers. A robust magnesium alloy
design, environmental protection and specialised
lens coatings also make it ideal for mobile use,
combining with quality optics to deliver exceptional
results, even in the harshest conditions.
The reach of the EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM
extender 1.4x is boosted by its internal 1.4x
extender, which is engaged or disengaged at the
flick of a lever to provide an extended focal length
of 280mm to 560mm — allowing photographers
to get even closer to distant action. Ensuring the
highest image performance, the optical design
includes both fluorite and Ultra-low dispersion
(UD) lens elements, which help minimise chromatic
aberration and eliminate colour blurring. Advanced
anti-reflection sub-wavelength structure coating
(SWC) and super spectra coating also reduce
ghosting and flare. Thanks to the use of the
latest optical technologies, image performance is
unaffected when the integrated extender is used.
Designed to answer professional demands for
superior image quality and versatile zoom range,
the EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM Extender 1.4x a
boasts a premium-quality design befitting Canon’s
industry-renowned L-series lenses.
digital vision’s image teChnology
Digital Vision presented enhancements to the Nucoda colour grading product line, the latest version
of Phoenix restoration software and the Golden Eye III archive scanner. In addition, for the first time
in the Asia Pacific region, the company unveiled Thor, the forthcoming dedicated hardware product for
advanced image processing.
Kelvin Bolah, Managing Director, Digital Vision said: “We’re pleased to bring our latest product
developments to Broadcast Asia, and to demonstrate many of our new technologies and features for
the first time in the Asia Pacific region. We are particularly excited to present Thor, which garnered
enthusiastic feedback at NAB.” Thor will be suitable for video and file-based sources, and will initially be able to process up to
four HD video streams in real time, or one stream of 4K in real time, producing high quality images
initially using Digital Vision‘s DVO tools. It can be deployed as multiple cards in a single system and
will be able to switch between algorithms on the fly. It is designed to be platform independent.
integrated toolbox from hbbtv
power trio
Three market-dominant HbbTV technology vendors
combined their knowledge and products to present
a powerful new HbbTV toolbox for broadcasters at
BroadcastAsia. The partnership between Screen,
Icareus and Digisoft.tv has, according to Screen’s
Head of Interactive Sales Daimon Hall, produced
one of the most comprehensive solutions available
to broadcasters to monetise content via
HbbTV platforms.
“The HbbTV Toolbox, which can be hosted in
the cloud or locally installed, integrates with the
delivery of video feeds into an HbbTV environment
to provide multiple options for how a TV programme
is viewed; that includes second screen devices and
the web too,” he stated.
The toolbox enables broadcasters to add a
vast scope of additional services to content which
consequently opens up extensive opportunities for
supplementary revenue generation.
In addition to extended viewing options such
as providing racing data and football results, the
HbbTV Toolbox facilitates the simple placement and
management of services like interactive advertising,
EPG banner advertising and branded or even
seasonal themes.
61
PROPROducts
LiNeAr AcouStic’S
iNteLLigeNt dyNAmicS
SoNy oN the ShouLder
Sony announced its PMW-300 XDCAM
camcorder, equipped with the 1/2-type Exmor
full-HD 3CMOS sensors, capable of delivering
quality images even in low-light conditions. The
PMW-300 is aimed at broadcast producers
and corporate event camera operators, who
require a flexible semi-shoulder camcorder that
can easily be adapted to suit a wide range of
production environments.
An evolution of Sony’s PMW-EX3, the PMW300 is able to record 50Mbps HD material in
MPEG HD422, meeting broadcast standards
around the world, including the European
Broadcasting Union’s (EBU) requirements on HD
broadcast acquisition for long form programme
making. The high bit rate ensures excellent
capture of fast moving objects, while its chroma
sub-sampling feature is perfect for a wide range
of video encoding areas such as VFX and green
screen applications. The camcorder can also be
upgraded in the future to support Sony’s XAVC
codec, extending the lifecycle of the product to
ensure maximum return on investment.
The 1/2-type Exmor full-HD 3CMOS sensors
offer highlight sensitivity and low image noise. As
a consequence, it delivers clear high-resolution
images even when filming in low-light conditions.
The camcorder also includes Sony’s advanced
signal processing technology, which suppresses
noise effectively and thus creates noticeably
clearer images.
The PMW-300 features the same EX-mount
interchangeable lens system as the PMW-EX3,
making it compatible with a wide range of 1/2
inch and 2/3 inch lenses. There are two types
of lens packages planned to be available for the
PMW-300. One is with a 14 times zoom lens,
and the other is with a 16 times zoom lens.
Both lenses have a focus ring for quick switching
between auto and manual focus.
Linear Acoustic demonstrated its
patented Intelligent Dynamics hybrid
metadata processing at BroadcastAsia.
An integral part of the company’s
AERO.1000 audio/loudness platform
and AERO.2000 audio/loudness
manager, Intelligent Dynamics allows
the content itself to determine the
amount of processing needed and
is non-codec dependent. Trusted,
well-produced content can be left
untouched, while unverified programming
can still be well-controlled to ensure
compliance. Broadcasters can even
choose to make their processing partially
or completely reversible, allowing viewers
to tailor the audio to their liking.
Also at the show were the recently
introduced AERO.2000 audio/loudness
manager. Offering AEROMAX loudness
control, UPMAX II upmixing, and optional
Dolby encoding/decoding, AERO.2000
supports up to 16 channels of audio in
two independent instances (5.1+2+Local
and 2+2+Local) providing a high degree
of programme flexibility.
An ITU-R BS.1770-3 loudness meter
is included for all programmes.
New Avid S3L
Avid has introduced the new
Avid S3L, which delivers the sound
quality, performance, and features of Avid live
systems in an all-new modular, networked design. The
open and flexible system comprises high-performance
HDX-powered mix engine running VENUE software and
AAX DSP plug-ins, scalable remote I/O, a compact
EUCON-enabled control surface, and Pro Tools software
for integrated live sound mixing and recording.
For artists and musicians, S3L delivers the audio
clarity and familiar studio processing they need. For
engineers, having a high-performance engine at the
core empowers them to create richly layered mixes
quickly and champion their clients’ signature sounds,
without worrying about technical limitations. The
streamlined networked design simplifies system setup
and configuration with drag-and-drop functionality,
while direct Pro Tools recording and mixing capabilities
open opportunities for live album releases.
roSS’ New viSioN
Vision Tritium offers a full 3MLE modular production switcher with 48 x 32 multi-definition inputs and
outputs, six real 3D DVE’s, 16 channels of internal media stores, 16 keyers, UltraChrome chroma keys,
built in dual head multiviewers, and external device controls.
With Vision Tritium, Ross’ customers can own a Vision series modular 3MLE panel with a choice of 24
or 32 direct access crosspoint buttons. Vision’s AuxKeys, colour correction and MultiDSK are included in
Tritium’s extensive feature set and is fully compatible with standard Vision Octane options. Tritium also
offers the ability to convert to a full Vision Octane 3G system as production needs change.
Nigel Spratling, Switcher Business Development Manager, Ross Video said: “With Tritium there is no
basic package – no options necessary, as the system is fully loaded with a powerful feature set. When
we introduced Carbonite we reset expectations for cost and performance of 1 and 2MLE systems, and
I am convinced Tritium will do the same thing. All the power and modularity of Vision rolled into a truly
cost-effective new package.”
Tritium comes with all of the Ross protocols for full integration with XPression graphics and
BlackStorm playout servers. It also talks to Ross’ DashBoard control
system and can provide control of entire productions, as well as
build task specific control interfaces via DashBoards’ PanelBuilder
application. Tritium is compatible with Ross’ OverDrive
automated production control system.
RAI Amsterdam
Conference 12-17 September : Exhibition 13-17 September
IBC Conference
Stimulating debate and sharpening strategy, the IBC
Conference attracts the industry’s most influential
and authoritative speakers to discuss the future of
electronic media and entertainment.
The conference is designed to:
• deliverinnovativeandthoughtprovokingcontentover6days
• enableyoutogaincrucialinsight
intotheconvergingworldof
electronicmediaandbroadcasting
• giveyouaccesstoover300
influentialindustrypioneers
IBC2012 Speakers included:
• Miles Young,CEO,Ogilvy&
MatherWorldwide
• David Eun,ExecutiveVice
PresidentGlobalMedia&CEO
Advisor,SamsungElectronics
• will.i.am,InternationalRecording
Artist,Technologist,Entrepreneur
andIntel’sDirectorofCreative
InnovationIntelCorporation
For more information please visit: www.ibc.org/conference
IBC Exhibition
Each year, 50,000+ attendees from over 160 countries
come to IBC. They are able to browse fourteen themed
halls housing the latest innovations from more than
1,400 leading brands. In addition there is a wealth of
free to attend feature areas including:
IBC Connected World
aspecialareaofIBCwhichencapsulates
theverylatestdevelopmentsinmobileTV,
3Gand4Gservices IBC Big Screen
providingtheperfectplatform
formanufacturerdemonstrations
andgroundbreakingscreenings
IBC Production Insight
centredaroundaprofessionalstandard
studioset,attendeeshaveahostofthe
latesttechnologytogettheirhandson
Future Zone
atantalisingglimpseintothefuture
oftomorrow’selectronicmedia
IBC Workflow Solutions
dedicatedtofile-basedtechnologiesand
providesattendeeswiththeopportunity
totrackthecreationmanagementjourney
IBC Awards
celebratingthepersonalitiesandthe
organisationsbestdemonstrating
creativity,innovationand
collaborationinourindustry
For more information please visit: www.ibc.org/exhibition
www.ibc.org
IBC Third Floor 10 Fetter Lane London EC4A 1BR UK
t. +44 (0) 20 7832 4100 f. +44 (0) 20 7832 4130 e. info@ibc.org
PROGUEST
60
SecondS
with Tristan Ferne,
Executive Producer,
BBC R&D
Frank Huerta
Do you think broadcasters in general
have been slow on the uptake with
cloud-based services?
If broadcasters have been slow to fully
use the cloud, it is because they are
concerned about the issues of privacy,
trust and security for their content
and audience relationship data. Public
broadcasters, particularly, need high
standards of resilience and reliability. And
there’s also the danger of getting locked in
to a particular cloud provider.
Is it always the most appropriate
technology? Where do you see its
current limitations?
No. There are certainly circumstances
where applications will require higher
security, higher performance or lower
latency, where cloud computing may
not be appropriate. Particularly for
security and privacy reasons, with
personal data or valuable digital assets,
for example, organisations will continue
to want their own servers in certain
geographical locations and completely
under their control.
How flexible will it be in its
applications? Is there any part of the
business that you think it won’t touch?
‘The cloud’ is just easily available
computing power and storage. So as the
broadcasting business goes increasingly
digital then all parts of the business could
use the cloud.
BBC R&D has an enormous number
of diverse projects on the go at the
moment, some of which seem quite leftfield from a casual glance. What are the
ones that have surprised you?
FascinatE [http://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/
projects/fascinate] This, when you see
it, is amazing. It lets you, the viewer,
select any viewpoint from within an
ultra-high resolution panaromic view of
a sporting event.
Recreating the sounds of the
Radiophonics Workshop: [http://webaudio.
prototyping.bbc.co.uk/] At first it looks
like a cool demo of Doctor Who sound
effects. But it’s actually a testbed for
the latest web standards and browser
technologies for audio, which we are
working with browser makers to specify.
And it teaches you how to re-create the
sounds in code.
The World Service archive: [http://
worldservice.prototyping.bbc.co.uk] We’re
experimenting with putting 50 years of
the BBC World Service’s radio archive
online, using cloud computing.
The sheer variety of programmes in
there has surprised me – from bicycles to
UFOs to Roger Bannister!
How cloudy in general do you think the
future is for broadcast?
I imagine cloud computing will continue to
be a cost-effective, scalable and convenient
way of processing and storing media.
And I believe that processing, storing and
distributing media via the internet is the
future of broadcast.
What other technologies coming down
the pipe make you excited?
The combination of advances in
computer science research and the
mass availability of computing power
via the cloud will mean more and more
clever things happening – machine
learning, data mining, trend spotting,
object recognition, face detection, text
mining. All these will become increasingly
common in surprising places.
Tristan Ferne was a speaker at the New
Business and Technology Opportunities
session on day one of the London
Technology Booster. The IBC event was
held in London on June 25 and 26. This
meta-session looked at how a combination
of both on-premises and cloud-based
media services can potentially provide
innovative platforms for both existing and
new markets in broadcasting.
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Emirati brothers take MENA broadcast to new

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