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VOLUME 3 ISSUE 2 FEBRUARY 2010
An ITP Business Publication
Will 3D TV be a missed opportunity for Middle East broadcasters?
COMMERCIAL BREAKSMaximising revenues from
interactive advertising apps
THE BUSINESS OF DIGITAL CONTENT DELIVERY
AFTER THE STORMBroadcasters to pursue post-
downturn plans at CABSAT
Licensed by Dubai Media City
TRAPPED IN HD
More satellites in 2010, more capacity to let you reach farther than everWith new, more powerful, state-of-the-art satellites launching every year until 2012, the largest Arab community in the sky is growing
faster than ever. In 2010 alone, two more satellites are joining our fleet. Badr 5 at 26º East will bring unrivalled capacity for the coming
HDTV revolution and provide “hot” in-orbit backup for Arabsat DTH services, while Arabsat 5A at 30.5º East will provide unprecedented
100% coverage of the entire African continent. Indeed, from the Middle East to the whole of Africa—and to Europe and beyond—-
Arabsat now offers more reach, reliability and flexibility like never before. Join our premium neighborhood now!
www.arabsat.com
More satellites in 2010, more capacity to let you reach farther than everWith new, more powerful, state-of-the-art satellites launching every year until 2012, the largest Arab community in the sky is growing
faster than ever. In 2010 alone, two more satellites are joining our fleet. Badr 5 at 26º East will bring unrivalled capacity for the coming
HDTV revolution and provide “hot” in-orbit backup for Arabsat DTH services, while Arabsat 5A at 30.5º East will provide unprecedented
100% coverage of the entire African continent. Indeed, from the Middle East to the whole of Africa—and to Europe and beyond—-
Arabsat now offers more reach, reliability and flexibility like never before. Join our premium neighborhood now!
www.arabsat.com
03www.digitalproductionme.com
CONTENTS
FEBRUARY 2010
36AFTER THE STORMA look at some of the picks from next month’s
CABSAT show in Dubai.
27COMMERCIAL BREAKSHow to get the most from targeted and
interactive advertising technology.
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE...
WEB HIGHLIGHTSSpot poll: Will HD compensate
for OSN’s loss of EPL?; top web
stories; editor’s choice: iPad.
THE BRIEFINGAMG CEO steps down; UAE’s
TRA to push for improved telco
competition; OSN goes HD.
SERVICE ARRAYSenior satcoms execs discuss the
benefits of diversifying services.
COVER STORY: ANOTHER DIMENSIONDigital Broadcast looks at 3D TV’s
regional prospects at a time when
HD is only just finding its feet.
MARKET ANALYSISFind out what consumers will and
will not pay for online.
4
8
14
22
40
22 THE MOSTCOMPREHENSIVEFAMILY OFDIGITAL TVMONITORING,MEASUREMENTAND ANALYSISPRODUCTSIN THE WORLD
04 www.digitalproductionme.comFEBRUARY 2010
DPME.COM ROUND-UP
EDITOR’S CHOICE
MOST POPULAR STORIES
1 Middle East should not rush 3D TV: Taj TV exec
2 Omnicom TBWA confirms twofour54 move
3 UAE telco watchdog to boost operator competition
4 JCC unveils first Arabic VOD educational portal
5 Jordan orders online press crackdown
VOD advertising technology and data firm
Concurrent has announced plans to trial its
services with operators in the Middle East as
early as this quarter.
digitalproductionme.com/news
VOD AD FIRM TARGETS MIDDLE EAST IN 2010
The online home of:
DA
TE: J
anua
ry 2
8
ALSO ON THE DPME SLATE THIS MONTH...
HD and SD graphics systems are becoming increasingly affordable.
ANALYSIS
GRAPHICALLY SPEAKINGMBC’s Sam Barnett reveals how the network has thrived in the downturn.
INTERVIEWS
BUCKING THE TREND
Saudi’s Al Ikhbariya news channel streamlines its newsroom operations.
TECHNOLOGY
AVID NEWS CHASERSThe point of connec-tion: Will Nexus One’s arguably exorbitant retail price damage its chances?
COMMENT
GOOGLE’S NEXUS ONE
IN PICTURES
JOBS UNVEILS IPAD
digitalproductionme.com/analysis
digitalproductionme.com/technology
digitalproductionme.com/interviews
digitalproductionme.com/comment
Apple reveals its latest device designed to shake-up the con-tent delivery landscape.
READER COMMENT: “If I were watching a VOD movie, I’d protest the presence of any advertis-ing. Unless there is an ‘incentive’ to watch ads... Such as exchanging ad views for VOD credits.”Clyde, UAE.
SPOT POLL
WILL THE OSN HD ROLLOUT COMPENSATE FOR THE IM-PENDING LOSS OF THE EPL?
49% EPL will be on OSN, they’ll do a deal with AD Sports.
26% HD will attract more subs than EPL ever did.
15% EPL wasn’t that hot.
10% HD EPL would win out. DA
TE: J
anua
ry 2
8
Check-out our future-proof solutions to secure, differentiate and grow your content service offering.Viaccess provides a range of powerful solutions to secure, expand reach, drive usage and increaseuser appeal, enabling instant access to personalised experience of live TV, and VOD programs onany device over any managed or unmanaged network.www.viaccess.com
Phot
o : P
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VU DU
TOIT
The way people watch videos is no longer what it used to be!
Visit us at� MWC Barcelona: Feb. 15th to 18th, Hall 2 - 2B69
� CABSAT Dubai: March 2nd to 4th, E1 - 11
Dubai Studio City, Boutique Studio 09, Offi ce 201/202, Tel +971 (0)4 4331596
SPECTACULAR START
SPECTACULAR HITS
SPECTACULAR ENTERTAINMENT
middle east
www.digitalproductionme.com
Registered at Dubai Media CityPO Box 500024, Dubai, UAETel: 00 971 4 210 8000, Fax: 00 971 4 210 8080Web: www.itp.comOffices in Dubai & London
ITP BUSINESS PUBLISHING
CEO Walid AkawiManaging Director Neil DaviesDeputy Managing DirectorMatthew SouthwellEditorial Director David InghamVP Sales Wayne Lowery
EDITORIAL
Senior Group Editor Aaron GreenwoodTel: +971 4 435 6251 email: [email protected] Editor John ParnellTel: +971 4 435 6271 email: [email protected]
ADVERTISING
Commercial Director Fred DuberyTel: +971 4 435 6339 email: [email protected] Manager Gavin MurphyTel: +971 4 435 6369 email: [email protected] Advertising RepresentativeMichael J. Mitchell Tel: + 1 631 673 3199email:[email protected] Advertising RepresentativeMikio Tsuchiya Tel: + 81 354 568230email: [email protected]
STUDIO
Group Art Editor Daniel PrescottDesigner Lucy McMurray
PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography Sevag Davidian Chief Photographer Khatuna Khutsishvili Senior Photographers G-nie Arambulo, Efraim Evidor, Thanos LazopoulosStaff Photographers Isidora Bojovic, George Dipin, Lyubov Galushko, Jovana Obradovic, Ruel Pableo, Rajesh Raghav
PRODUCTION & DISTRIBUTION
Group Production Manager Kyle SmithProduction Coordinatior Sophia WhiteManaging Picture Editor Patrick LittlejohnImage Retoucher Emmalyn RoblesDistribution Manager Karima AshwellDistribution Executive Nada Al Alami
CIRCULATION
Head of Circulation & DatabaseGaurav Gulati
MARKETING
Head of Marketing Daniel Fewtrell
ITP DIGITAL
Director Peter Conmy
ITP GROUP
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Published by and Copyright © 2010 ITP Business Publishing, a division of ITP Business Publishing Group Ltd. Registered in the B.V.I. under Company Registration number 1402846.
COMMENT
FEBRUARY 2010 07
N ext month’s CABSAT exhibition
offers the broadcast industry a much
needed dose of reality.
The combination of Avatar and the
raft of 3D TV announcements generated at the
CES show in Las Vegas fuelled a frantic month
of hype that made its way into the mainstream
press and water cooler conversations everywhere.
CABSAT presents the perfect opportunity for
the region’s broadcasters to come back down
to earth and turn their attentions squarely on
the essential upgrades and short-term changes
needed to fine tune their operations.
While 3D TV deserves its place on the agenda
for the industry at large, there are more pressing
issues locally that need some attention.
The roll out of HD channels is upon us in
the Middle East. Although most of the major
broadcasters have installed the majority of the
infrastructure required for HD, CABSAT provides
the perfect shop window for them to tie up any
loose ends or upgrade HD kit purchased several
years ago.
CABSAT remains by far the best event
for broadcasters to meet face to face with
the manufacturers, developers and systems
BACK TO REALITY
TO SUBSCRIBE please visit www.itp.com/subscriptions
JOHN PARNELLDeputy [email protected]
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FOR THE LATEST NEWS, ANALYSIS AND REVIEWS FROM THE MIDDLE EAST CONTENT DELIVERY, MEDIA MANAGEMENT AND NEW MEDIA DISTRIBUTION BUSINESS HEAD TO DIGITALPRODUCTIONME.COM
integrators to discuss how best to execute these
plans within budget and on time.
The reappearance of the Satellite MENA show is
also timely.
The increasing number of events hosted in
the Middle East is fuelling requests for DSNG
services by overseas clients and the opportunity
is there for local operators that can fulfil these
requirements with a high quality of service.
These events together with the emergence of
HD will drive additional demand for capacity
– for contribution and distribution – making
CABSAT’s sister show the perfect time to discuss
how to meet this demand in the coming year.
Investments in asset management systems,
digital archives, internal and external content
networks and the upgrade of studio sets and
production equipment to meet HD standards will
keep visitors and exhibitors busy at the show.
08 www.digitalproductionme.comFEBRUARY 2010
THE BRIEFING
This year’s edition of CABSAT and Satellite
MENA, the Middle East’s largest annual broad-
cast industry exhibition, is on track to eclipse
the 2009 event in terms of floorspace, claims
event organiser Dubai World Trade Centre.
While declining to reveal actual figures, a
DWTC representative confirmed the show was
“already bigger than last year”.
The claim would appear to be supported by
the fact Sony, Arabsat, SmartSat and Hamresan
have doubled their stand space for 2010 while
other key players including AMT, Hitachi, Tek
Signals, The Vitec Group and UBMS have also
committed to the show.
The exhibition will also welcome some big
names such as Hewlett Packard (HP) and Blus-
ens for the first time in 2010.
CABSAT will run from 2-4 March.
Abullatif Al Sayegh confirmed last month he had
stepped down as CEO of the Arab Media Group
(AMG) after nine years with the company.
“I have been here since 2001, and I believe now
I have completed nine years it is time to (move
on). It is not about making more money, it is
about... I have done quite enough, and I saw my
role was not as effective as it used to be. I am a
person who just wants to keep going and build-
ing and doing more, and right now everything is
established,” Al Sayegh stated.
In October 2009, state-backed rival Dubai Me-
dia Incorporated (DMI) took control of some of
AMG’s products including its daily newspa-
pers Emirates Business, Al Emarat Al Youm
and its Noor Dubai Radio and TV station
following a resolution from Dubai
ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin
Rashid Al Mak-
toum. Under
the resolution,
the transfer
included all assets, properties, rights, liabilities
and commitments while all staff also moved
from AMG to DMI.
Al Sayegh plans to set up a media consultancy
within the UAE to help foreign media players
looking to set up in the Gulf understand local
demographics and sensibilities.
“I believe I could be a great help to the entire
region rather than just focusing on my own
company,” he said adding that
leaving AMG would create an
opportunity for others in the
team he built.
Al Sayegh will be re-
placed by former executive
director Mohammed
Al Mulla.
ARAB MEDIA GROUP CEO STANDS DOWNLong-serving boss resigns months after products and staff shift to DMI
CABSAT TO DEFY DOWNTURN: ORGANISERS
MONTH IN NUMBERS
6.7 billionGoogle’s revenue in the
last quarter of 2009
BROADCAST BUSINESSGOOD MONTHGOOGLEGoogle has announced quar-terly profits of US $1.97 billion after a strong performance in its online ad business during the holiday season.
The results also showed a 17 percent revenue growth compared to the same period last year having taken $6.7 billion during the quarter.
“Given that the global economy is still in the early days of recovery, this was an extraordinary end to the year,” said Eric Schmidt, CEO, Google adding that he was “hugely optimistic” about 2010.
BAD MONTHYAHOO!Yahoo! recorded mixed Q4 financial results, with revenues down on the same period of 2008 but improving slightly over the preceding quarters of 2009.
Revenues decreased four percent from the fourth quar-ter of 2008 and increased 10 percent from the third quarter of 2009.
“Our business has positive momentum and we feel good as we head into 2010,” said Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz.
6.5 billionYahoo’s revenue
for all of 2009
Abdullatif Al Sayegh, former CEO of the Arab Media Group.
www.digitalproductionme.com
THE BRIEFING
FEBRUARY 2010 09
Orbit-Showtime,
which has been re-
branded as OSN
(Orbit Showtime
Network) will
launch eight new
channels this month,
of which three will be
in High Defini-
tion. The new
offerings
will include
OSN Ara-
bia, OSN
Variety,
Food Network, BET (Black Entertainment
TV), Discovery ID and OSN Movies HD,
Discovery HD Showcase and Nat Geo Wild
HD. The network promises that more HD
channels will be available on its bouquet
in the course of 2010.
The HD channels will only be avail-
able on OSN’s HD receivers, which will be
rolled out to its subscribers this month
Marc-Antoine d’Halluin, CEO of OSN
commented that the pay TV operator will
deliver on its promises.
“When Orbit and Showtime merged in
2009 we promised to deliver the best pay-
TV platform in the Middle East and North
Africa. Now, in less than six months we
are ready to unveil OSN, a single plat-
form that offers even more Western and
Arabic premium content than ever before
on its exclusive 75 channel platform. We
continue to push boundaries and lead the
industry by launching the region’s first
HD bouquet and the region’s first Western
channel fully dubbed into Arabic.”
MOTOROLA ACQUIRES DRM AND CA FIRM SECUREMEDIAMotorola has announced the acquisition of con-ditional access and digital rights management (DRM) software developer SecureMedia.
Under the terms of the deal SecureMedia will be integrated into Motorola’s Home and Net-works Mobility operations. The deal is expected to be finalised before the end of March.
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
OSN’S BUDDING HD BOUQUETOSN will launch three new HD channels
this month; OSN Movies HD, Discovery HD Showcase and Nat Geo Wild HD.
PLATFORMS
OSN COMPLETES RE-BRAND AND EXTENDS HD OUTPUTEight new channels including three in High Definition launch this month for new look OSN
The Middle East should concentrate on HD. I don’t see any possibility of 3D coming to the region inside the next three years. MANAF AHAMMED, director of operations at Taj TV.
DISCOVERY LOOKS TO EXPAND MIDDLE EAST PRODUCTIONDiscovery Networks is looking for local partners as it aims to ramp up its Middle East produc-tion, a senior exec has told Digital Broadcast.
Discovery is looking to broaden the range of themes covered in its Middle East content, said Caleb Weinstein, senior VP and general manager, Discovery Networks EMEA.
JORDAN ORDERS EXTENSION OF ONLINE MEDIA CRACKDOWNJordan is to extend its Press and Publications Law to all online content including news sites and blogs, drawing criticism from media activists.
Web filtering watchdog OpenNet Initiative previously referred to Jordan as a “beacon in a region of heavy Internet filtering”, this situation could now be set to change.
Caleb Weinstein.SecureMedia COO, Fred Ellis.
010 www.digitalproductionme.com
THE BRIEFING
FEBRUARY 2010
The UAE’s telecoms watchdog on Monday pub-
lished its new regulations to ensure greater com-
petition between operators Etisalat and du.
Under the new Competition Framework, the
Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA)
said it would crack down on any anti-competitive
practices, adding that any complaints lodged by
either company would be investigated.
Mohamed Nasser Al Ghanim, director general of
the TRA, said the move was an “important piece”
for regulating the telecoms sector in the UAE in a
statement posted on the TRA’s website.
He added that the new regulations would help
“foster growth and development of the telecom-
munication sector through
the creation of sustain-
able, vibrant and fair
competition”.
The new framework
policy said it was “ulti-
mately for the benefit
of consumers... by
deterring en-
tities from
engaging in
unfair and
e x c e s s i v e
pricing”.
BROA
DCA
ST BRIEFS
BROADCAST BUSINESS
UAE TELCO WATCHDOG TO PUSH FOR COMPETITIONNew framework designed to stop ‘unfair and excessive pricing’ in UAE
THE BRIEFING
JCC UNVEILS VOD ED-UCATIONAL PORTALAl Jazeera Children’s Channel (JCC) and the Qatar Founda-tion have launched a learning website called Taalam.TV aimed at teachers and pupils.
The website, which in-cludes educational resources and videos extracted from JCC programming, is aimed at making teaching more stimulating for students.
VOD ADVERTISING FIRM SETS SIGHTS ON MIDDLE EASTAdvertising technology and data specialist Concurrent has revealed it is looking to break into the Middle East this quarter and is looking for partners to trial its services.
The firm offers advertising, content and audience data to enable broadcasters to offer targeted advertising.
“The region is our next expansion territory, we’ll be looking for service providers to trial our solutions,” said Paul Haddad, VP and general manager of Concurrent’s Media Data and Advertising Solutions (MDAS) business.
The total annual revenues from transactional VOD in the US will reach by 2013. Source: Futuresource Consulting2.4 billion
GREG HOSKIN JUMPS SHIP TO OMNIBUSGreg Hoskin has stepped down from his position as man-aging director of MHz Systems to take the role of executive VP
of broadcast sales at Omnibus Systems.Hoskin, who previously worked for Omnibus,
will play a key role in developing the markets for the manufacturer’s iTX IT-based transmis-sion and automation platform.
“I made the decision to rejoin Omnibus because of the huge potential of the iTX plat-form,” said Hoskin.
RED BEE MEDIA APPOINTS NEW CTORed Bee Media has appointed Brian Levy as director and chief technology officer.
Levy was previously VP and CTO for the
communications and media solutions software business at HP.
“Red Bee Media has a unique fusion of inte-grated solutions for the changing demands of the market,” said Levy. “I am looking forward to joining the business. It is perfectly poised to take advantage of the convergence of televi-sion, video, broadcast and the internet.”
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Mohamed Al Ghanim, director general of the UAE TRA.
2 4 54_Intaj_Digital Studio_205x275.ai 2/3/10 12:12:25 PM
012 www.digitalproductionme.com
THE BRIEFING
FEBRUARY 2010 012
Developments in 3D TV in the Middle East are
unlikely to begin within the next three years,
according to Manaf Ahammed, director of op-
erations, Ten Sports.
With high definition services still in the fledg-
ling stages in the region, Ahammed believes 3D
ambitions should be put aside until these have
been perfected.
“One of the main reasons that I don’t see 3D
TV in this region in the next three years is con-
tent,” said Ahammed. “Real 3D has to be shot in
3D, converting regular content is not enough.”
A new report from Euroconsult has found growth
in the global satellite pay TV market remained
strong in 2009 despite the economic downturn.
The Satellite TV Platforms, World Survey & Pros-
pects to 2019 report found that pay TV platforms
combined currently reach 131 million subscribers
and earned $70 billion revenues in 2009.
“Subscriber growth in the satellite pay TV mar-
ket has been robust, increasing 15 percent world-
wide,” explained Pacôme Revillon, CEO of Euro-
consult. “Growth in emerging digital markets has
been particularly strong.”
MIDDLE EAST SHOULD NOT RUSH 3D TV: TAJ TV EXEC
GLOBAL PAY TV REVENUES TOPPED $70 BILLION IN 2009
TELECOMS MARKET
The United Arab Emir-ates (UAE) Telecom-munications Regula-tory Authority (TRA) has confirmed that a new policy to allow voice
calls over the internet is being ‘implemented’, local daily Khaleej Times reported.
The news is the latest chapter to the issue of legalising VoIP in the country. In 2008, director general of the TRA, Mohamed Al Ghanim, revealed that the authority was developing a framework for VoIP providers but that there were challenges as-sociated with it. In reaction, local ISPs Etisalat and du confirmed they were both prepared to roll-out the technology pending the TRA’s final ruling.
UAE TO PERMIT LIMITED VOIP SERVICES IN UAE
Google has finally taken the wraps off its ‘iPhone killer’, known as Nexus One.
As previously reported by Digital Broadcast, the smartphone handset is being manufactured by Android technology partner HTC, but with some exclusive features that exceed those available in Apple’s iPhone, according to the web giant.
Google has launched a web store located at
www.google.com/phone, where customers located in the US, Great Britain, Sin-gapore and Hong Kong, can place orders for the device. Other international markets for Nexus One will be consid-ered throughout 2010.
GOOGLE TAKES THE WRAPS OFF NEXUS ONE HANDSET
BROA
DCA
ST BRIEFS
4G MULTIMEDIA SER-VICES ‘TO GENERATE $70 BN BY 2014’A new report from ABI Research predicts that as 4G network deployments gather momentum, a substantial 22% of device subscription revenues will come from suites of operator-branded premium services. Further-more, it estimates total 4G mobile consumer service revenue – including mobile Internet services – will grow rapidly to exceed $70 billion worldwide in 2014.
According to ABI Research practice director Philip Solis, “operators of 4G networks will refuse to be marginalised as ‘dumb data pipe’ service providers. Instead, they will offer suites of ‘smart services’ – some internally developed, others with part-ners – that will be provided over ‘smart networks’ en-abled with all-IP technolo-gies, IMS infrastructure and cloud-based storage”.
Solis claimed these 4G services would be optimised to enable a proliferation of mobile devices. He also predicted the technology would ensure a range of multimedia services, includ-ing VOD and P2P video sharing, would come to the fore commercially.
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Next-Generation Media Networking for Broadcast Media, DTT, IPTV and CATV Networks in over 40 countries.
014 FEBRUARY 2010 www.digitalproductionme.com
VOX POP
MOHAMMED AL SHAHISenior director, du Broadcast Services.
SERVICE ARRAY
It’s very important for a broadcast services operator to offer a diverse range of services. We
don’t just want to focus on satellite we also want to focus on fibre, file transfer, technologies
like Signiant and BT’s MPLS transfer, we want to bring those services into the region and make
our broadcasters use them and utilise them, not just our satellite services.
It’s about providing the latest services to your clients and expanding your product port-
folio so yes we are always looking at new product to enrich our offering.
Two things drive this diversification, the technology and also the market demand.
We have received a few requests from some of the top broadcasters for services that
weren’t yet offered by us so we have investigated that technology and we do this in
partnership with our clients and our technology partners.
File transfer – whether it’s over the internet, MPLS networks, SDH fibre – this
has been used in Europe and US for some time and as we are seeing more
fibre links come into the region people are starting to use these services for
contribution for sending live and recorded content. A lot of content is sent
from the Europe and the US by tape, why not send these by file transfer.
It’s more efficient and it’s more cost effective too.
New technologies outside of the satellite industry drive added
demand too. HD and now 3D are bringing more business for satellite
operators and will bring them some growth.
If an operator did not diversify its services it would miss out on a
lot of the new trends. The competition would take all the business in
these new areas and expand and they would be left behind with their
narrow portfolio.
As part of a telco we have lots of telco expertise in house that
has helped us move into these new areas. This is a big advantage.
We have the infrastructure, the international submarine cable
systems, we have colleagues in other departments at du that will
help us with other technologies whether its submarine cables or
video expertise.
The satcoms industry has performed particularly well during difficult economic times. Digital Broadcast asks representatives from the industry about the trend for diversifying services that has helped many operators
enjoy a boom during the bust.
FEBRUARY 2010 015www.digitalproductionme.com
VOX POP
DIVERSIFY ON DEMANDOMAR SHOTERCEO, Noorsat.
Diversification has always been a sensible option
for businesses to consider. It is important for
satellite operators to diversify within the scope
of their business to reduce the risk of depending
on one market segment and a limited customer
base. By providing new offerings to the
market companies can achieve growth
and find new ways to better utilise
existing resources.
This situation has always been
the case in the satellite communi-
cations industry for many reasons,
which are a mix of technology and
the natural evolution of the business.
Satellite operators are taking
advantage of the growing demand for
new applications and services,
which will increase the
utilisation of exist-
ing and planned
satellite resources.
The areas of
providing space
segment capaci-
ties for telecom, data and broadband services,
have proven to be successful sources of new busi-
ness. This success was possible because the expan-
sion in these services is supported by the growth
being witnessed in these various telco sectors.
We have expanded our services to offer capacity
for telecom services, including telephony, satellite
based internet and point-to-point connections.
These new services, in addition to our existing
core business of providing satellite DTH TV
capacity on the only two hotspots used
to reach the Arab World and providing
backhauling and TV feeds to the pub-
lic and private Arab TV sector, have
enabled us to sustain our revenue,
achieve growth and offer our available
satellite resources to a broader market.
We are gearing up to provide HD TV
transmissions and preparing other solu-
tions required for new technol-
ogy applications and a
variety of uses of
satellite services.
This will ensure
a continued
diversifica-
tion in the
future.
SOU
RCE: OOX
These new ser-vices... have enabled us to sustain our revenue, achieve growth and offer our available satellite resources to a broader market. We are gearing up to provide HD TV trans-missions and preparing solutions required for new technology appli-cations and a variety of uses of satellite ser-vices. This will ensure a continued diversifica-tion in the future.
OMAR SHOTER
CEO Noorsat
SERVICE SURVEY
TELCO CUSTOMERS BRINGING NEW BUSINESSThe World Teleport Association (WTA) surveyed executives from teleports in 12 dif-ferent countries about the source of their revenues at present and their priorities for their respective businesses in the future.
At present media and entertainment comprises the largest chunk of revenue at around 34.7 percent. Terrestrial telecom service providers come in second on 17.8 percent. Enterprise, satellite carriers and government and military applications make up the rest of the pie.
When you consider the priorities for the future we see a swing with mobile backhaul rated as the most pertinent target for teleport operators beating TV and radio contribu-tion and distribution into second place, even though these service represent more than a third of current revenues.
Other new opportunities, including man-aged networks and internet backbone, also prove popular with more than 40 percent of those questioned citing them as high priorities for the coming years.
The above graph shows that the satcoms industry is increasingly looking to pro-vides full services, rather than providing capacity for others to run these services from. This trend has already protected the sector from the effects of the recession.
Media and entertainment still encompasses the largest chunk of revenue for teleport opera-tors but telcos and enterprise customers are on the up.
SOURCE: World Teleport Association
Th b h h h h i d i i i l l ki
Applications: Priorities of the Business
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Intl voice (nonVOIP)
WiFi backhaul
Mobile TV
Non-broadcast content
Internet backbone & VOIP
Managed network svcs
SNG
TV/radio contrib/distrib
Mobile backhaulHighLowNone
Source of Revenue by Industry
Media & Entertainment,
34.7%
Civilian Govt & Military, 12.1%
Enterprise, 17.5%
Terrestrial Telecom Service
Providers, 17.8%
Satellite Carriers, 15.2%
Other, 2.6%
016 www.digitalproductionme.comFEBRUARY 2010
need to review a browse quality clip stored on the
server or digitised video from tape, listening to
audio, extracting relevant dialogue and sounds,
then typing into a new subtitle file with in and out
timing. Alternatively, the subtitles may be a trans-
lation of existing subtitles with relevant retiming
and editing for inappropriate material.
Often subtitles may not be available in advance
of time of air, or need late editing, and this re-
quires a facility for late playout. While live events,
such as news or sports broadcasts, require live
input from a subtitling workstation via a subtitle
transmission unit, either through the use of high
speed input devices such as Steno or through re-
speaking of dialogue or commentary, using voice
recognition that is trained to the subtitler’s voice,
with the generated subtitles sent to air either by
a voice or keyboard command, with the ability
to correct misspellings or incorrectly recognised
words. These early, late and live workflows require
an end-to-end subtitling solution, with seamless
Compressed production cycles, require-
ments for easier global distribution
and high definition are driving a shift
to file-based or tapeless workflows.
As broadcasters, networks and content creators
switch to file-based operations the traditional
captioning workflow has ceased to be a viable way
of handling the growing requirement for caption-
ing, especially as much content is now delivered
across multiple formats.
In file-based broadcasting, the typical subtitling
workflow is to use early bound subtitles, where
the subtitles are encoded into the asset
stored on the server well in advance of
broadcast, or may even be ingested to
the server complete with subtitles. The
subtitles may be created on a subtitle
preparation workstation, or require
extraction and editing, for example to
fit a version of the content that has been
squeezed to fit a time-slot. A subtitler may
Increasing statutory requirements, viewer expectation and geographically diverse content distribution mean that subtitling is now an integral part of modern broadcasting and content delivery, writes Sam Pemberton.
Estimated value of the European dubbing and
subtitling market.
$650 million
TECH TALK
www.digitalproductionme.com
TECH TALK
integration into a broad range of automation,
workflow and video server systems and sup-
port for numerous file types and formats.
Often content needs to be repurposed for
broadcast or for web and mobile formats,
which may require that the content is also
edited down or squeezed to fit a particular
time-slot or to remove unsuitable material.
If subtitles have previously been created
and encoded into the video, these must be
extracted using Apple Final Cut Pro or similar.
When this is done, an Edit Decision List (EDL) is
created, which describes the edits, detailing the
time code or frame reference of a cut or squeeze.
Using a file-based subtitle and caption data
processor, subtitles can be extracted from the as-
set to a file and can then be edited as appropriate,
referencing the EDL, using a subtitle preparation
workstation. It’s important to select software
designed to make creating and editing subtitles as
efficient as possible. Look for features to quickly
reformat subtitles or change in/out times, and
adapt subtitles to different frame rates at the click
of a button. The preparation software should allow
files created for one format of playout, such as
DVB, to be exported in other formats like DVD or
Blu-ray bitmaps.
Also useful are pre-definable house styles that
include quality control measures such as
reading speed, along with the ability
to review subtitles at any stage,
either before committing them
to the file or after, via a browse
quality clip simulating burnt-
in subtitles.
Once the required edits have
been made, the subtitle file is re-
inserted into the original or edit-
ed video asset, using the file-based
subtitle and caption data processing
software. If content is to be repurposed for
the web or mobile, these platforms can be handled
by transcoding the video to the required output
format then either burning in for mobile or adding
a suitable subtitle file (for example DFXP or SAMI)
to the asset for web playout.
Integration with video servers and workflow
systems for early bound workflows
Seamless integration with video servers and
workflow systems is vital for efficient file-based
subtitling workflow. Integrating with the video
server ensures that native file formats including
key variants such as 436M tracks in MXF files are
As broadcasters, networks and content creators switch to file-based operations the traditional captioning workflow has ceased to be a viable way of handling the growing requirement for cap-tioning.
SAM PEMBERTON,
CEO, Softel
Sam Pemberton, CEO, Softel.
fully supported, as well as making job processing
more efficient by using built-in APIs and interfac-
es. Subtitle processing can usually be performed
against native browse quality clips, saving time,
while final encoding should be faster than real-
time, so for example an hour long program can be
processed in a matter of minutes.
By integrating with workflow systems, subtitle
processing jobs can be made not only more ef-
ficient through increased automation, but can
also be closely aligned and prioritised with the
broadcast schedule. The subtitling solution should
offer different methods to automate job process-
ing: where the product is used manually in a post
production environment, jobs can be submitted
in batches for efficiency. At a higher level, it should
also feature a flexible Software Development Kit
(SDK), providing an extensible interface that al-
lows integration with virtually any automation or
workflow system.
At the core of an integrated subtitling solution,
a sophisticated subtitle transmission unit can play
a pivotal role and become more a master cap-
tion management platform, driving
off-line caption insertion (early
binding), identification and
playout of late and/or near
live caption files and
switching of live input.
With the right blend
of integrated technolo-
gies and expertise,
multi-lingual sub-
titling in file-based
workflows can be
made more efficient
and cost-effective.
Sam Pemberton is CEO
of Softel.
int
wo
po
O
bro
wh
edi
tim
If
and
extra
When
create
time c
Usin
process
set to a
referen
worksta
designe
efficien
reforma
adapt s
The number of hours of sub-titled or dubbed content shown
on European TV stations.
408,320 hours
017FEBRUARY 2010
018 www.digitalproductionme.comFEBRUARY 2010
OPINION
create what they have termed a “mobile innova-
tion ecosystem for the MENA region”. There is no
reason why mobile content generation should not
form part of that ecosystem. The Middle East has
had a healthy mobile content business for several
years with video increasingly becoming a compo-
nent of these offerings.
The impending DVB-H network in the UAE will
only encourage this development.
The country recently passed the 200 percent
penetration barrier for mobile connections high-
lighting the appetite for all things wireless. With
further investment from the broadcast industry,
there is no reason why the region can not make
its mark in developing new formats and content-
based marketing strategies.
Consumers in the GCC are renowned early-
adopters when it comes to consumer technology
making it likely that any content that is produced
for mobile TV platforms will not go to waste.
With the development of content comes the req-
uisite distribution and marketing models required
to connect it to the consumer. Many mobile TV
services in other regions for example, have been
unable to generate any significant information on
consumer behaviour because uptake and usage
were too low. If DVB-H and other mobile video
services can gain traction they would provide the
industry as a whole with valuable information on
how to enjoy any success with the platform.
India has established itself as one of the most
successful destinations for outsourcing of all
kinds. In the media and broadcast industry
the country has enjoyed a vast amount of
animation and post-production work from clients
all over the world.
While the Middle East may struggle to offer
a lower price than competitors in India it could
perhaps offer clients more value.
The region has the distribution capabilities,
the technical facilities and a vibrant advertising
industry to offer broadcasters all the services they
might need in one place affording them greater
control of each stage along the chain.
Other destinations – not just in India but across
Asia and East Europe too – are also competing for
outsourcing work from the big Hollywood studios
and other high-profile candidates. The Middle
East needs to think about what else it can do to
differentiate itself.
One option would be to carve a niche for itself
within the wider content industry. There are two
clear areas that the Middle East could excel at.
The obvious one is Arabic content, but its appeal
outside the region is limited to a relatively modest
number of Arabic speakers in other parts of the
world.
The other possibility is the mobile content busi-
ness. Qtel and the Qatar Science and Technology
Park (QSTP) recently agreed to work together to
Until the region is generating significantly higher levels of content for the international market, the Middle East broadcast sector needs to consider what else it can offer the global industry.
GOING GLOBAL
DVB-H services have suffered varying fortunes from one market to the next. The
Middle East could be in a strong position to discover what works and what doesn’t.
90,000Number of DVB-H subscribers in Austria in Feb 2009.
13.7 millionNumber of subscribers to free DMB services in South Korea.
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020 www.digitalproductionme.comFEBRUARY 2010
INTERVIEW
helped during the economic downturn?Yes absolutely, diversification is very important. The
permanent satellite service segment of the business
is very strong. Our agreement with Hotbird is a long
term contract and the capacity we have on that
platform allows us to secure a significant part of
our revenue each year. We are now trying to estab-
lish three parts to the business. Having the ability
to integrate means we have been able to attract
some new and regular customers. For example, last
year we provided all the system for the distribution
of the (sounds like) digital bouquet for one of the
national broadcasters in Italy, Telecom Italia Media.
This has been a very important deal for us.
Who have you been working with in the Middle East?We have signed some customers in Lebanon and
Saudi Arabia for VSAT services.
But this is not our main focus for the Middle East.
We want to go into the region market and compete
on price for the provision of the live coverage of
events in Italy and surrounding countries including
France and Austria to Middle East broadcasters.
This includes coverage of sports, news and also
large concerts.
What will you be looking to show-off at CABSAT and how does this affect your plans for the region in the next 12 months?We will be co-exhibiting at CABSAT with one of our
partners Elber – which manufactures microwave
bridges – and so a big part of our goal at the show
will be to educate the market about what we can do
in terms of digitalisation. Our partner companies
are well established in the Middle East and we are
confident we can expand our turnover in this part
of the business.
What is the scope of M-Three SatCom’s operations and services? We provide a range of services for the broadcast-
ing sector. Through our teleport in Milan we have
capacity on Hotbird and Eurobird 9.
We provide DTH capacity as well as contribution
services. We also offer DSNG services in SD and HD
for live events in Italy and most parts of Europe.
What is the background of the business?We founded M-Three SatCom in 2004 with our
services on the Hotbird platform, then in 2006 we
added the DSNG services. We had been doing some
integration work at this time but then in 2008 we
formalised it as a distinct operation within the
business. We have been distributing Thomson/GV
since March 2009, so we are still in our first year as
an official distributor.
Who are some of your clients and did this customer base change during 2009?We work with regional and international broad-
casters such as BBC and the EBU and we also have
a systems integration business – hardware integra-
tion – so we provide our customers with a turnkey
solution for the digitisation of channels or head-
ends. We are a distributor of Thomson/Grass Valley
equipment and we can integrate RF parts also.
What portion of your business is represented by the systems integration activities versus the traditional satellite services?We derive about 60 percent of our business from
permanent satellite services, 15 percent from the
DSNG and about 25 percent from the systems
integration business.
Has having the systems integration business
With the Satellite MENA event making its return next month Digital Broadcast speaks to Michele Magnifichi, president of satellite service provider M-Three SatCom to gauge the industry’s fortunes after a tumultuous 2009.
STRONG SIGNALS
M-THREE SATCOM Technical and uplink area, 24/7 monitoring, full redundancy
DVB platform, SD and HD channel management
Uplink station operating on Hotbird 8 (13°E), Eurobird 9 (9°E), W3a (7°E), W1 (10°E), EB4 (4°E), AB1 (12.5°W)
Fibre access nodes throughout Italy and Eu-rope, PoPs in Milan, Venice, Rome, Bari and several others
Full HD TV uplink quality available
Equipment supply and systems integration; part-nerships with several major manufacturers
022 www.digitalproductionme.comFEBRUARY 2010
COVER STORYCOVER STORY
HD looks set to take hold in the Middle East in 2010, but with 3D networks being announced last month in other markets, should the region try to play catch-up or consolidate its HD offerings? Digital Broadcast reports.
ANOTHER DIMENSION
Last month Avatar cemented its box office
success by becoming the biggest selling
movie of all time overtaking Titanic’s 12-
year record of US $1.242bn.
The opportunity to spread the 3D message
against the big, bold, blue backdrop of Avatar has
proven impossible for others to resist. The annual
Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas last
month was dominated by a raft of 3D stories and
innovations that triggered a mass of mainstream
press coverage discussing 3D TV and its seemingly
imminent arrival.
Pay TV operator Sky in the UK and a consortium
consisting of Sony, Discovery Communications and
IMAX in the US both declared plans for 3D services
this year, although other sectors of the industry
are far more non-committal to the format and are
quick to highlight the numerous challenges that lie
in its path.
Meanwhile in the Middle East, it appears that
HD services are finally finding traction with the
recently re-branded Orbit Showtime Network (OSN)
expanding its HD channel offering and the promise
of more HD channels in the region from several
other operators including Al Jazeera, Rotana and
Abu Dhabi Media Company.
If HD infrastructure investment is about to see
a serious spike, you could be forgiven for glanc-
ing at the 3D developments in other markets and
wondering whether full-HD is still an adequate level
for broadcast facilities to attain when looking to
complete an upgrade.
Should the Middle East jump on the 3D band-
wagon and start investing now, is the seemingly
www.digitalproductionme.com 023
COVER STORY
FEBRUARY 2010
endless transition now advanced enough to allow
this next phase of development and ultimately, do
consumers really want 3D TV or are they simply
blinded by the Avatar effect?
This month, Discovery HD launches on OSN. Dis-
covery has been at the forefront of HD broadcast-
ing for several years, says Caleb Weinstein, senior
vice president and general manager of Emerging
Markets, Discovery Networks EMEA.
“This was a huge innovation that our founder and
chairman John Hendricks led with the introduction
of Discovery HD Theatre in the US back in 2002,”
says Weinstein. “He captured what HD is about
for consumers and the Discovery brand; deliver-
ing quality programming and bringing audiences
something that is new and amazing.
“There is a different HD culture at Discovery that
I saw for myself when I joined last year. We don’t
talk about whether our programming is in HD, we
talk about whether it was shot in Gold, Silver or
Bronze standard HD. We have a more advanced
perspective than the rest of the industry out there,”
claims Weinstein.
Discovery has moved on from its early forays
into HD broadcasting offering a number of its other
branded channels in HD in other markets. How-
ever, Weinstein does not believe the Middle East is
quite at this stage yet.
“This is certainly the next step but it will be
driven by market demand. Right now, we have to
meet the needs of our distributors. Typically the
main brands such as the Discovery HD showcase
channel come first. These are channels that the
operators can launch their HD platforms from. This
…There is still a lot of value to be had for HD platforms. So, although we are in the first stages of 3D TV and it is very exciting, HD is here now, its very pow-erful and consumers are demanding it.
CALEB WEINSTEIN
Senior vice president and general
manager of Emerging Markets,
Discovery Networks EMEA
is what OSN is looking to do in the Middle East and
what MultiChoice South Africa did late last year,”
says Weinstein, adding that the early days of HD
deployment also fulfil an important role in demon-
strating the capabilities of HD to consumers and
offer encouragement to subscribe to the services.
“The development of the Discovery HD Showcase
was driven by consumer interest. We also have to
look at what the distributors are offering. For us, it
is consumer first with everything that we do and
what we were seeing was that consumers wanted
something to demonstrate the power of HD in a
new and distinct way,” claims Weinstein.
Discovery Network’s parent company may have
announced its move to develop a 24/7 3D TV net-
work in the US, but is there a substantial market for
3D broadcasting outside the United States?
“Absolutely. We’re currently evaluating the poten-
tial of 3D globally. The CES announcement created
a lot of interest in 3D and we’re now in the process
of gauging this interest around the world and work-
ing out how best to serve it for our distributors.
“In the same way that we innovated in the HD
arena, Discovery is really looking to innovate 3D
TV in the same way. We are, and have always been,
a leader in HD and we feel that our programming
lends itself very well to 3D so we will be able to cap-
ture the power of the 3D experience for consumers,”
claims Weinstein.
With HD services still in the early stages of
development in the Middle East, some may argue
that broadcasters should be thinking about 3D
now. But with the technology relying heavily on
an established, underlying HD infrastructure (for
3D DEMOGRAPHICS
THE AGE DIVIDEIpsos MediaCT’s recent MOTION study has identified a skew in interest for 3D video viewing among people in the 18-34 age group, with TV screen and PCs the preferred viewing medium.
When asked how interested they are in viewing 3D video on various devices 58 percent of 18-24 years olds said they were extremely or very interested in watching 3D on a TV with 49 percent of 25-34 year olds giving the same answer. Just 18 percent of the over 55s indi-cated a desire for 3D content on the TV screen.
Interest in 3D on mobile phones and MP4 players drops off in all age groups with 27 percent of 18-24 year olds indicating an interest and only one percent of the over 55s keen to see 3D on a mobile device. 3D Video Viewing Interest - Percentage Extremely/Very Interested (October 2009)
SOURCE: Ipsos MediaCT
On your TV
On your PC
On your MP3 player/iPod
On your mobile phone or Smartphone
024 www.digitalproductionme.com
COVER STORY
FEBRUARY 2010
consumers and broadcasters alike) it may not be
wise or indeed possible to make the move from SD
to 3D without all the stages in between.
“I think HD is the natural step in the evolution,”
says Weinstein. “It is hard to buy a TV today that is
not HD enabled and we’re not at the same level of
penetration for 3D. Th is means there is still a lot of
value to be had for HD platforms. So, although we
are in the fi rst stages of 3D TV and it is very excit-
ing, HD is here now, its very powerful and consum-
ers are demanding it. We are meeting that demand
now and we hope to do the same for 3D. Although it
is important to note we are still at an early stage.”
Th e case for 3D is undeniably strong but this
cannot overrule the realities on the ground in the
Middle East.
“Th e Middle East should concentrate on HD. I
don’t see any possibility of 3D coming to the region
inside the next three
years,” says Manaf
Ahammed, director of
operations at Taj TV.
“People have already
invested in LCD TVs.
At the moment to get a
full HD-enabled screen
you have to pay at least
US $1000 and what do
the public get for that?
Th ere aren’t enough
HD channels here and
Blu-ray discs are very
expensive, so there are very few options facilitating
HD content,” he adds.
With talk of HD infrastructure and production
stretching back for several years (Th e Dubai World
Cup horse racing event was fi lmed in HD way back
in 2004), why has it taken until 2010 for a meaning-
ful number of HD channels to aggregate? Aha-
mmed suggests it is purely an issue of economics.
“I feel the broadcasters have been calculating the
revenue they will get from HD and how quickly they
are going to get a return on their investment. Th ey
need to fi gure out how much they can recoup from
off ering an HD channel and what adjustments it
may need for the subscription fee,” says Ahammed.
“If the public are not interested in paying extra for
an HD signal, the broadcasters will wait. Once that
fi gure comes to a signifi cant level, and the opera-
tors see some serious revenue to be had, then the
transition will happen very quickly.”
Ahammed believes that this switch is likely to be
limited to pay TV platforms, with cable based ser-
vices able to off er superior quality. FTA operators
are also unlikely to recoup the cost of HD broad-
casting from ad sources alone.
“Th ere is also the issue of receivers. Pay TV com-
panies can provide their customers with HD en-
abled set top boxes (STB). A FTA channel can only
broadcast to the HD subscribers plus those FTA
viewers who have purchased HD STBs themselves,”
says Ahammed.
“Where the general public is concerned, setting
aside those who are more tech-savvy, HD simply
3D TV dominated the headlines at the recent CES show in Las Vegas. The announcement of several 3D channels could bring the technology to the home.
DON’T FORGET ULTRA HIGH DEFINITIONResearch fi rm In-Stat has estimated that the European market for Ultra-Hi Defi nition (UHD) nudge fi ve percent in 2021 jumping to 28.2 percent in 2025.
UHD – sometimes referred to as Super Hi-Vision – will offer viewers 4k and 8k reso-lutions (3840 x 2160 and 7680 x 4320 respectively) and a 22.2 multichannel sur-round sound in three dimen-sions (via ceiling mounted speakers pointing down).
This resolution represents an improvement of between four and sixteen times the quality of Blu-ray and full 1080p HDTV.
Broadcasters will start of-fering UHD content in 2017, according to the report.
Early UHD work is being carried out by NHK in Japan with the format expected to develop earlier in the Asia-Pacifi c region with Japan in particular leading the way.
The report also suggests that high resolution digital cinema could play an im-portant role in exposing the public to high resolution con-tent and developing demand for the same experience in the home.
CLEARLY D
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FUTU
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www.digitalproductionme.com 025
COVER STORY
FEBRUARY 2010
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means a better picture, that’s all. They don’t think
about the need for bandwidth, they are not aware
of the need for a different STB. The costs add up,
the HD screen itself, the new STB, the monthly
subscription fee… Consumers and broadcasters are
of the same mindset with HD, until they see some
value in it they won’t make the leap.”
Ahammed also paints a realistic picture
of 3D’s short-term prospects in the
Middle East.
“The problem is that 3D is still
in the process of evolution. It is
not convenient to watch a 3D TV
at the moment because of the
glasses. Philips produced a 3D
display that did not require glasses
but it was dependant on you sitting at
a specific position from the screen. The
technology is not perfected yet. It would be wiser
to wait until a finished, convenient version of 3D TV
is developed before we pursue it and in the mean-
time we can go ahead and work on developing HD.”
The problems with 3D TV are threefold; cost,
content and technology.
ESPN will show the World Cup in 3D and I have no doubts it will be amazing. But it doesn’t mean every-thing has to be 3D from now on.MANAF AHAMMED
Director of operations, Taj TV
According to Ahammed, the cost of the Philips
screen was a staggering $14,000 – price that is
almost totally prohibitive.
There is also one crucial difference between HD
and 3D content.
“There is a legacy issue with 3D material. For
example, you can take an old movie and convert it
to HD, but 3D conversion is not as success-
ful. Although 3D effects can be created
from 2D content, to get real 3D it has
to be filmed that way. Converted
content is far inferior.”
For this reason, 3D movies and
entertainment channels will be
unable to rely on existing content.
Given this harsh reality, Ahammed
suggests live events will be key for 3D.
“When you add it all up there are issues
with cost, content and technology. ESPN will
show the World Cup in 3D and I have no doubts it
will be amazing,” says Ahammed. “But it doesn’t
mean everything has to be 3D from now on. Cin-
emas have enjoyed a lot of success with 3D films
but people are still flocking to see movies in 2D.”
30 %The percentage of
screens sold in 2015 that will 3D enabled, accord-
ing to Futuresource Consulting.
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TECH FOCUS
Branded content, series sponsorship,
product placement, call to action,
interactivity, targeted advertising… the
list of options for advertisers is growing
all the time. Broadcasters that rely on advertising
are now being asked to provide a lot more for their
clients than a prominent 30 second ad spot.
“The handling of ad sales became much more
complex,” says Dr. Siamak Tadjiky, vice president
broadcast management systems, S4M. “This is due
to several factors. For example, nowadays there
are many competing platforms growing in im-
portance. Given the current economic situation,
broadcasters are forced to make as much money
as possible out of the available air time. All of this
makes the handling of ad sales more challenging
than it was a decade before,” adds Tadjiky.
This added complexity brings with it the need
for new skills and technology to enable broadcast-
ers to provide the new opportunities that advertis-
ers are demanding.
“On one hand, with the advanced technology
available today, it is much easier to guide the
audience than it was compared to ten years ago,”
claims Saad Mouneimne, VP Middle East & Asia,
never.no. “At the same time, ad sales that were
traditionally destined for the broadcaster are now
being divided among other platforms. Now broad-
casters have to attract both the advertisers and
the consumer by offering top-notch, effective tech-
nology. Today, most people are connected in some
shape or form during a large part of their day,
which creates huge potential to cleverly engage
these users, but it is far more complicated.”
Several developments have enabled these new
Interactivity, targeting and on demand platforms have contributed to the growing complexity of the TV advertising landscape. Although new revenue streams have been created, tapping into these requires broadcasters to invest time and money. Digital Broadcast investigates.
COMMERCIAL BREAKS
028 www.digitalproductionme.comFEBRUARY 2010
TECH FOCUS
Jeff Tyre, director of product marketing, RGB
Networks. “Having said that, they’re being very
deliberate in rolling out advanced advertising ap-
plications and taking their time to get it right the
first time.
“From an equipment standpoint, there’s also a
desire to keep the number of components down to
keep both costs and complexity manageable. As
a result ‘all-in-one’ products – which combine ad
splicing, overlay and other video processing ap-
plications – are seen as ideal for reducing the cost
and simplifying the implementation of advanced
advertising techniques. Additional components
such as advertising servers and character genera-
tors are required, but broadcasters and pay TV
operators typically have them already,” says Tyre.
S4M’s Tadjiky says that the needs of advertis-
ers will vary from campaign to campaign and
the infrastructure that the broadcasters invest in
should reflect this.
“A very important issue is the provision for even
more flexibility. Customers want to be able to act
independently. They want to develop applications
or let third party companies do so, and they want
to customise sales systems themselves,” some-
thing he says S4M looks to address.
In addition to the technology required to sup-
port targeted and interactive advertising, there
is also an increased demand for accurate data on
technologies to emerge. The popularity of SMS
messages has done much in terms of allowing
viewers to sign-up to a campaign but it is two-way
communication, regardless of the infrastructure
underlying it, that has had the biggest effect on
the inventory available to those looking to spend
their ad dollars.
“Yes, the possibility to interact through a simple
SMS response to an ad is very effective. Feedback
in return for free samples gets viewers involved
and allows advertisers to target these potential
customers directly,” says Mouneimne.
“Two-way communication between consumers
and advertisers is now more tailored to individual
requirements. This trend will continue to spread
to the Middle East, thanks to the technology now
widely available. Broadcasters can integrate in-
teractivity into their routine advertising schemes.
Interactivity is key in regions with large cultural
diversity, allowing advertisers to better target the
consumer’s specific needs.”
With budgets for technology infrastructure suf-
fering as a result of the downturn, any investment
broadcasters make will be expected to offer fast
and attractive rates of return. With spot adver-
tising being the mainstay for FTA channels for
so long, technical heads have to be sure that the
outlay will recover its own cost.
“Broadcasters are convinced it’s worth it,” says
VOD DRIVES ADVANCED AD MARKETA recent report by In-Stat found that the market for advanced advertising is already growing dramati-cally in response to the shifting landscape evi-denced in both the online video market and the pay TV world.
In-Stat predicts that the advanced video advertis-ing market will be worth US $5 billion by 2013. As well as the emergence of significant online content services such as Hulu, the study expects pay TV operators to embrace new forms of advertising.
“The online VOD indus-try has the early lead for delivering advanced video advertising, but the pay TV industry is moving quickly and will surpass broad-band VOD by 2012,” says Gerry Kaufhold, In-Stat analyst. “Because pay TV services deliver qualified, repeatable audiences, we expect them to be able to negotiate higher CPM fees than online services.”
The extra revenues gained from advanced advertising have provided good returns on the investment required to operate them.
www.digitalproductionme.com 029FEBRUARY 2010
TECH FOCUS
which this targeting can be accurately – and use-
fully – based on.
“Up until now the response and the measure-
ment of the effectiveness of an ad campaign has
been done through panel-based measurement,”
says Paul Haddad, VP and general manager of
Media Data and Advertising Solutions (MDAS)
at video and data management services provider,
Concurrent. “In the US, these samples are typi-
cally 30,000-40,000 households for a population of
300 million. The results are by no means anywhere
close to the reality, but it is the best effort today in
the industry.
“The advertisers are now asking for much more
detail. Who watched what? How often? How ef-
fective was it? They also want to know how much
money to spend on TV, how much do they migrate
to mobile and online advertising in the next few
years. That’s why they want to see a lot more data
about campaign effectiveness,” says Haddad.
According to Haddad advertisers are also look-
ing for an improvement in the methods used to
gather this information.
“As well as better quality, advertisers also
want to know more. At the moment most of the
Up until now the response and the measurement of the effectiveness of an ad campaign has been done through panel-based measurement… This is by no means anywhere close to the reality, but it is the best effort today in the industry.
PAUL HADDAD
VP and general manager of Media
Data and Advertising Solutions
(MDAS), Concurrent.
030 www.digitalproductionme.com
TECH FOCUS
FEBRUARY 2010
Research and consulting firm Parks Associ-ates has predicted that the growth of US addressable, interactive advertising revenue will exceed $4 billion, accounting for around 12 percent of all pay TV revenues.
“Major U.S. cable television operators, direct broadcast satellite (DBS) TV providers, and telcos have identified advanced adver-tising as a key revenue opportunity moving
forward,” says Heather Way, research analyst, Parks Associates.
“In the short term, the digital TV opera-tors will continue to ramp up their invest-ment in advanced advertising solutions as a pre-emptive move to sustain their ad revenues. In the long term, the investment serves to grow the advertising business seg-ment versus subscriptions.”
US ADDRESSABLE, INTERACTIVE TV ADVERTISING REVENUE(2010-2014)
INTERACTIVE AD MARKET WORTH $4 BILLION IN US ALONE BY 2014
$5000
2010 2012 2014
Addr
essa
ble, In
terac
tive A
d Rev
enue
(in m
illion
s)
Source: Addressable, Interactive TV Advertising in the U.S. ©2009 Parks Associates
$0
advertisers focus on the subscriber data only, it’s
important to collect content data to go with this
information,” says Haddad. “What does an indi-
vidual viewer watch? How many people watch one
specific programme? Which area do they live in?
What kind of people are they in terms demograph-
ics? You have to focus on the content, when you
marry these two kinds of data then you have a
very beautiful picture of the relationship between
the subscriber and the content.”
Haddad believes that even this level of informa-
tion can be built on to inform broadcasters and
operators about how their viewers are consuming
their services.
Concurrent has an 80 percent market share for
all data services in North America’s VOD market,
a sector Haddad believes can yield valuable infor-
mation for broadcasters and advertisers alike.
“It’s important to know about the operational
side, the performance. When a subscriber watches
a movie using on demand you may wish to know
whether they watched it in one sitting or in
chunks? In SD or HD? You can also get informa-
tion about whether the VOD content come when it
was requested or if the session failed.
“The final element is the advertising data. Does
a viewer watch the ads or change channel? How
many turn the ad off half way through and how
In-home technology such as PVRs, coupled with the spread of two-way networks have enabled interactive and targeted advertsing to take a hold.
www.digitalproductionme.com 031FEBRUARY 2010
TECH FOCUS
many click on the request for more information?
This is real information about campaign effective-
ness. So instead of only knowing what a viewer
watched, we now have all this
additional information that
can advertisers use to
provide more efficient
advertising for all par-
ties,” explains Haddad.
This data has
implications for the ad-
vertisers who can now
fine tune their spending.
Broadcasters can raise
CPMs by anything
This trend [interac-tivity] will continue to spread to the Middle East... Broadcasters can integrate interactiv-ity into their routine advertising schemes. Interactivity is key in regions with large cul-tural diversity, allowing advertisers to better target the consumer’s
specific need.
SAAD MOUNEIMNE
VP Middle East & Asia,
never.no.
from a factor of two to a factor eight, depending
on the level of targeting and interactivity, accord-
ing to Haddad, but what does the viewer gain?
“Advanced targeting techniques mean that
the ads themselves will become more relevant to
individual viewers,” says RGB’s Tyre. “For example,
locally relevant information can be added to
nationally broadcast ads. In this scenario, the ad-
dresses of local outlets of a national retailer can be
sent to specific geographies.”
This could mean that viewers in the Middle East
can receive adverts specific to their nation rather
than the frequently Egyptian and Saudi focused
ads shown across the satellite footprint today.
This kind of information can unsettle some
viewers, creating questions over security. Haddad
claims that Concurrent’s combination of automat-
ically swapping the MAC address of a STB with an
arbitrary identifier effectively camouflaging the
identity of that subscriber.
“Anything related to data that is collected at a
user level, is filtered for privacy, in order to meet
privacy regulations. We have no visibility to the
account information or who owns that STB. Our
systems filter that out,” assures Haddad. Saad Mouneimne.
ARCHIVES
032 www.digitalproductionme.comFEBRUARY 2010
Replacing tape and film archives with digital alternatives has obvious benefits and has led to the creation of a mature market for both the storage systems themselves and the software required to organise and exploit file-based libraries. Digital Broadcast showcases the burgeoning digital storage market.
CONTENT CONSERVATION
OMNEONCONTENTSERVERThe Omneon ContentServer provides the storage capacity for the company’s MediaGrid active storage system.
The ContentServer takes up 1RU and comprises four SATA disk drives with a total storage capacity of 1TB, 2TB, 3TB or 4TB.
As part of the Omneon Medi-aGrid set-up, the company says that each individual ContentServer can be networked to create a total sys-tem capacity of a few terabytes to multiple petabytes. MediaGrid also uses a Dynamic Data Redundancy (DDR) concept that immediately replicates content once it has been written to the system placing multiple active copies in different locations within the network. As well as speeding up the data recov-ery process the accessibility of files during normal use is also improved.
www.digitalproductionme.com
ARCHIVES
033FEBRUARY 2010
FRONT PORCH DIGITALDIVAWORKSFront Porch Digital provides data tape library infrastructure and a range of software applications required to control them.
The company’s DIVAworks family is a group of entry-level products including 4RU, 9RU and 13RU op-tions featuring between 24 and 50 slot LTO-4 tape libraries, either one or two tape drives and Windows-based CPU servers.
The Front Porch system allows tapes to be taken offline, removed, and stored externally allowing the library to be extended indefinitely, according to the manufacturer. If data is requested by a user that is stored on an external tape, they are prompted to install the correct one.
A number of extras are also available including Avid or Final Cut Pro interfaces for post-production and newsroom environments, near-line RAID protected storage allow-ing faster access to high-rotation or pertinent data.
NOANOA RECORDAudio-archiving specialist NOA offers radio and TV broadcasters a dedicated ingest system to digitise legacy analogue audio libraries.
The NOA Record ingest system provides for three parallel analogue
stereo inputs. The system includes the NOA Record software, and the N6071 workstation (including high-quality A/D converters and re-player communication modules).
Users can view each ingest simultaneously on a single screen that displays the relevant record
and playback parameters. Quality assessment can be done
directly through the capturing soft-ware or within the workflow system at a later stage.
NOA recently installed eight NOA Record systems for the Sudan National Radio Corporation.
BCE – OU
TSOU
RCE YOU
R ARCH
IVE
Smaller broadcasters may decide against invest-ing in their own archiving infrastructure, choosing to outsource it to a third-party. Luxembourg-based BCE offers clients remote access to their own content which it houses on fully redundant digital archive.
The company uses two separate physical archives in different buildings several kilometres apart. They feature fire detection and extinguishing systems, surveillance cameras and a fully redundant power supply that can provide power for three weeks without the main power grid.
Each is housed in a dedicated vault designed to meet the security standards of the banking industry. The security encrypting the electronic access to the data is also comparable to that of the financial sector.
034 FEBRUARY 2010
ARAB TELEVISION NETWORK (ATN)The Arab Television Network (ATN) – part of the Arab Me-dia Group (AMG) – installed a Quantum Scalar tape library controlled by an SGL FlashNet storage management system and using Snell’s Morpheus automation solution.
The archive has capacity of around 4000 hours.
SAUDI ARABIAN MIN-ISTRY OF CULTURE AND INFORMATIONThe Saudi Arabian Ministry of Culture and Information (MOCI) is undertaking a mammoth restoration and digital archiving project that will see it create 700TB of digital information taken from 770,000 video and audio tapes.
Content management software developer Netia provided a number of solu-tions for the project ensur-ing the interoperability of media management systems throughout the MOCI facility with EMC providing much of the hardware.
French firm Vectracom provided the restoration services for the project.
TWOFOUR54 Abu Dhabi-based two-four54’s intaj broadcast facility has installed a digital archive for the benefit of the media precinct’s tenants.
The archive is built around Sony’s Petasite LTO tape library and uses a number of additional technologies including Avid Interplay, Pharos Mediator 4 and Front Porch Digital’s DIVArchive content storage manage-ment system.
www.digitalproductionme.com
ARCHIVES
SEACHANGEMEDIALIBRARY 1GVOD and digital advertising soft-ware and hardware manufacturer SeaChange offers broadcasters a nearline archive and a back-up play-to-air server via its MediaLi-brary 1G solution.
The system is based on high ca-pacity, enterprise class SATA disks offering customer anything from nine to 243 TB of storage.
SeaChange claims that this al-lows it to increase the productivity of broadcasters by offering faster and easier access to their archived material than alternative data-tape based systems.
IPVTERAGATORIPV, an independent supplier of low bit-rate, frame-accurate video tech launched its Teragator relational metadata aggregation and man-agement engine at IBC last year.
Teragator provides a platform to aggregate metadata sources and data mining services to identify and manage complex relational links between assets and provide a
simple visually compelling graphical user interface to represent and interact with these links.
Users can browse through the contents of multiple libraries to identify related content, quickly and simply, driving improved workflow and cost-efficiencies in finding, retrieving and managing assets and associated metadata and maximis-ing earnings from a media asset portfolio, claims the manufacturer.
With the advent of digital libraries and file-based workflows, metadata has become as important as the asset itself. Metadata that describes a single source may exist in multiple formats – plain text, an XML file or a relational database record – and be distributed across numerous locations. Teragator allows users to aggregate these elements extracting the semantic content from the aggregation.
RECENT M
IDD
LE EAST A
RCHIV
E PROJECTS
036 www.digitalproductionme.comFEBRUARY 2010
COVER STORY
markets, are looking for systems integration
partners who will co-operate with them not
just during the planning and installation
phases but over the long-term. We maintain a
dedicated support department that can be de-
ployed throughout the entire life of a system.”
The rapid growth in the number of FTA
channels may have subsided recently but the
continued investment in new infrastructure
by the remaining stations has been signifi-
cant. Technology trends led by HD upgrades
and digital archiving have played their part
as has the pursuit of distribution on new
delivery platforms.
Following on from its successful launch
last year, the Satellite MENA exhibition
returns with a host of leading satellite opera-
tors, service providers and infrastructure
suppliers demonstrating why the industry
What was always expected to be
a challenging year, 2009 also
saw a number of developments
for the broadcast and comms
industry that could prove to have long-term
benefits far exceeding the difficulties experi-
enced by some since last year’s CABSAT.
Increased competition from new platforms
provides continued investment from the
telcos and a very active period of mergers and
industry consolidation have taken the edge
off the economic downturn for many.
“The DTH landscape in the MENA region
is now less crowded and on a much more
realistic business footing,” says Guy Elliot,
managing director of systems integrator
ATG Broadcast, who says there is a growing
sense of maturity within the regional media
sector. “Middle East broadcasters, as in other
CABSAT and its companion show Satellite MENA return next month as international service providers and technology developers serving the Middle East market come together in the wake of a turbulent, but ultimately positive year for the industry.
STORM…
Net Insight
Zabeel Hall , Stand ZM-1
continues to thrive despite the wider eco-
nomic situation.
A number of research reports in the previ-
ous 12 months have identified the Middle
East and Africa as a key region of growth for
the global satellite industry. This interpreta-
tion has been confirmed with several opera-
tors – including Noorsat, Eutelsat and Intelsat
– choosing to expand their coverage for MEA
clients. In addition to the expansion of exist-
ing satellite capacity providers, the region has
also seen two new entrants to the market in
as many years with Yahsat and Smartsat set
to boost capacity over the Middle East as they
launch their hardware in the near future.
This year’s Satellite MENA show will also
incorporate the GVF MENASAT Summit
2010, which will focus on the broadband sat-
ellite and hybrid applications market.
After the
Media transport solutions provider Net Insight will look to build on its CABSAT debut last year with a larger
presence at the show in 2010. “Last year was more about analysing the mar-
ket, and meeting as many people as possible to build up our regional contacts as we looked for potential customers and partners,” says Tomas Delden, Middle East sales director, Net Insight.
“We met a lot of customers in 2009 and we have formed some partnerships, we have also done some work to develop the brand. At CABSAT this year we have a clear message that we are look-ing for qualified partners. This selection process will be very stringent. I know from my experience in the region’s telco sector that it is quite easy
to get partners, but to find the right one can be more difficult.”
Net Insight will have a number of live dem-onstration products on its stand including the compact 2RU Nimbra 360 multiservice access and switching device for video and data applications.
www.digitalproductionme.com 037FEBRUARY 2010
CABSAT
Polytron IPM 600 & 1100
Hall 2 , Stand A2-3
Polytron will be demonstrating its IPM series of IPTV head-ends. The modular units come with space for
either six or 11 modules, each with its own power supply.
They are capable of converting DVB-S and DVB-T signals into the IP data stream required for IPTV applications.
The base units of the IPM series can be com-bined to from larger systems.
Horizon Satellite Services will be showcasing its offerings at this year’s Satellite MENA exhibition co-located
with CABSAT.As well as a number of services for the
telecommunications industry, Horizon can offer broadcasters occasional use or permanent access to capacity on a number of orbital positions held by Eutelsat and Intelsat hardware.
Horizon was the first company in the Middle East to provide DVB-S2 services.
Omnibus will be showing the latest version of it iTX software-based automation system at this year’s
CABSAT MENA exhibition. The latest iteration has more than 100 new
features including a number of updates to its graphics functionality such as adjustable speed text crawls driven from RSS feeds or external text files and support for full-screen-resolution TARGA sequences.
The audio processing engine delivers multi-stream PCM and AC3 capability, remapping and processing of streams with 16-channel embedded output, automatic multi-language mapping using language tags and desktop preview monitoring.
Horizon Satellite
Hall 2 , Stand E2-1
Omnibus
Zabeel Hall , Stand ZP-12
The manufacturer claims it is best suited for smaller IPTV installations such as enterprise and hospitality complexes.
The head-ends are programmed using either a PC or a separate handheld device.
PHABRIX SxA
Hall Zabeel, Stand ZR 28
PHABRIX will be exhibiting at CABSAT for the very first time this year on stand ZR 28. On display will
be its award winning range of handheld test and measurement instruments designed for the broadcast industry which have made it a mul-tiple award winner in the US, Asia and Europe.
To celebrate this first introduction to the Middle East at CABSAT, PHABRIX will be offering visitors the chance to win the IABM award winning PHABRIX SxA simply by leaving a business card. The winner will be announced at the show.
The PHABRIX SxA is a combined generator, analyser and monitor hand held device sup-porting SD-SDI, HD-SDI and the new 3G-SDI as standard. Configured with a full range of test patterns, both static and animated, the SxA is
ideal for studio, OB, and lab environments operating from either the internal four hour battery or mains adaptor. It has a waveform monitor and vector scope as part of its complete toolset. Audio support includes 16 channels of embedded audio and AES in and out. With built-in Ethernet connectivity for remote operation, the PHABRIX SxA sets a new standard in portable video/audio signal test generation and monitoring.
PHABRIX’s new SxE will also be on show. Of-ficially the world’s first hand held device capable
d lab
r mains tor
of displaying eye and jitter patterns with measurement up to 3G, PHABRIX has sold
over 300 since its release at IBC 2009.“We are really looking forward to
meeting potential customers at CABSAT,” said Paul Nicholls, PHABRIX’s sales and
marketing manager. “We have a great range of products for test and measurement and I am sure anyone visiting our stand will be impressed,” added Nicholls.
2006 – 4392007 – 5802008 – 6502009 – 678Source: DWTC
CABSAT EXHIBITOR NUMBERS
www.digitalproductionme.com 039FEBRUARY 2010
CABSAT
PHABRIX®®
THE VERY BEST IN HAND HELD SDI TEST AND MEASUREMENTWWW.PHABRIX.COM TEL +44 1635 255494 UK CABSAT ZR-28
STAND ZR-28STAND ZR-28
Broadcast Traffic Systems
Zabeel Hall , Stand ZR-23Hiltron
Zabeel Hall , Stand LB-1
Traffic management specialist Broadcast Traffic Systems will place its entry-level application Express at the heart of its
CABSAT stand. The downloadable software app will be making its CABSAT debut.
“Express is based on three modules which together provide programme planning, traffic scheduling, transmission scheduling, as-run scheduling and media management,” says Craig Buckland, technical director of BTS.
Hiltron will launch the HMAM motorised satellite antenna mount at this year’s CABSAT exhibition.
The new HMAM is a high-precision rotatable satellite antenna mount capable of supporting a reflector dish of between 1.2 and 3.4 metres in diameter.
“It was shown as a prototype at IBC2009 and is now in full production,” says Michael Schiestl, managing director of Hiltron. “Designed for two-way VSAT communica-tion or receive-only downlink applications, it has a combined head and drive forming a three-axis motorised system with 180 degrees of azimuth adjustment, 90 degrees of elevation adjust-
ment range and fully adjustable polarisation,” he adds.
A number of additional options are available for the HMAM mount including a satellite track-ing system, inclined orbit tracking, integration of parabolic reflectors according to customer pref-erence and a choice of standard steel mounts or non penetrating mounts.
040 www.digitalproductionme.comFEBRUARY 2010
DATA
A recent survey by Nielsen Online
has found that consumers are more
willing to pay for online content than
previously believed.
The survey asked a global sample of consumers
to identify the genres of content that they have
paid for online or would consider paying for.
The overall results showed that there is a
broad willingness to pay for a variety of content
although this is matched by an appetite for in-
creased advertising to further subsidise costs.
Music and movies generated the most enthusi-
asm among content consumers with 57 percent of
the 27,500 surveyed saying they have or would be
prepared to pay for online sources.
Games notched up 51 percent and profession-
ally produced video – chiefly television content
– was identified by half of those asked.
At the other end of the scale, only 20 percent
said they would be willing to pay for access to
blogs and less than a quarter identified user-
generated content as something they would be
prepared to purchase.
These two sets of results highlight the skew
towards material produced with the professional
production markets. There is also a visible trend
towards video-based content – whether it be
As the paid versus ad-funded debate continues in the online content realm, a new study by Nielsen goes straight to the consumer and asks ‘what would you pay for?’.
PREPARED TO PAYDATA SOURCE: The Nielsen Company
movies, TV or games – at one end of the scale, and
spoken- and written-word content at the other.
Nielsen’s Nic Covey, director of cross-platform
insights, also identifies a trend among consum-
ers to pay for content that already costs them
money and a reluctance to pay for material this
has traditionally been free such as music radio
(32 percent), talk radio (26 percent) and social
networking (28 percent).
When asked whether they would accept more
advertising to subsidise the cost of content, con-
sumers revealed a distinct polarisation in their
answers based on their geographic location.
The Middle East region was the keenest to see
further ad-funded models utilised with 57 percent
advocating their use, ten percent above the global
average. Asia Pacific-based respondents were
close behind on 55 percent. This number drops
sharply in developed markets with just 40 percent
of North American and 39 percent of European
consumers willing to accept a rise in advertising.
The survey shows that there is an overriding
willingness to pay for content but the extent of
this varies greatly across platforms and territo-
ries. Those charged with the task of monetising
content must be aware of these differences and
tailor their own online ventures accordingly.
57%Percentage of those surveyed willing to pay for music online.
57%The proportion of respondants that would pay online for access to theatrical movies.
20%Percentage prepared to pay for access to blogs.
SOURCE: Nielsen Online
Perc
enta
ge %
Mus
ic
Thea
trica
l mov
ies
Gam
es
Pro-
prod
uced
vide
o (in
cl. cu
rren
t TV s
how
s)
Mag
azin
es
New
spap
ers
Inte
rnet
-onl
y new
s sou
rces
Radi
o (M
usic)
Podc
asts
Socia
l com
mun
ities
Radi
o (Ne
ws/
Talk
)
Cons
umer-
gene
rated
vide
o
Blog
s
What types of online content have you or would you be prepared to pay for?
57% 57%
51% 50% 49%
42%
36%32%
28% 28% 26% 24%20%
P. O. BOX 7639 - DOHA, QATAR Tel : +974 431 4972, 466 98 68 Fax : +974 442 4046
N o t a n y I n t e r a c t i v e T V i t s I P T V
vis ion through innovat ion
Technoserve delivers Interactive TV solutions based on IPTV technologies that work with any type of TV set and with any kind of distribution network.
Technoserve solutions allow for time-shifting over live TV reception and personal video recording over the network (nPVR), so your guests will never have to miss any of their favorite programs while travelling.
That is one way we add value to hospitality business and increase customer loyalty.
Please contact us to know about even more inspiring features. www.technoserve.net
Are you planning to broadcast your satellite TV channels over the internet and searching for a solution to give you control over broadcast bandwidth with built in billing system, customer Management interface and reporting & statistics tools. Technoserve brings to you a turnkey solution to transcode your DVB-S/S2 TV streams with multiple output video formats per channel (MPEG2, MPEG4, WMV7, WMV8, VC1 or FLV) which guaranty to carry your channels to millions of internet clients around the world regardless of the soft client browser or IP-STB they are using.
Please contact us for full [email protected]
Newtec
Belgium | USA | Singapore | Dubai | China | Brazil www.newtec.eu
IP Transmission Equipment
So many paths to choose from. So many technology providers, so many IP over satellite solutions. So many plans in your head.
Time to choose. Time to get the facts straight.
Fact #1: No technology provider off ers in-house hardware and software expertise like Newtec does. Integration should not cost you extra.
Fact #2: No IP trunking solution suits your changing business needs like Newtec’s Elevation. Basic to cutting edge, Elevation grows comfortably with you, at your pace.
Many paths will present themselves to you, but only one leads to the ROI you want. And here’s another fact for you: no technology provider has gone as far down the satellite path as Newtec. We set the standard.
All things considered, maybe this is not such a tough choice after all.
The name is Newtec. The solution is Elevation.And there you are.
Did you know our cutting edge FlexACM solution guarantees 100% signal availability under all circumstances?Get full FlexACM specs on www.newtec.eu/FlexACM
IP over satellite by Newtec, from high performance to unmatched performance
HERE YOU ARE
Visit us at CabSat 2010
Dubai,March 02-04
Booth Hall 2 E2-11
Satellite 2010Washington,March 16-18
Booth 817
WTA Teleport Technology of the year 2009.