Summit speak

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Sam Barnett.

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Yousef Mugharbil.

The second Middle East Broadcasting summit in Dubai attracted a mix of regional and international industry executives who discussed issues ranging from legal rights and advertising, to satellite bandwidth and IPTV. Digital Studio looks at some of the highlights.

New media

Ten of the 23 scheduled speeches and discussions included matters related to new media in their titles. Of the other 13, practically all mentioned it at some stage.

Sam Barnett, COO of Saudi-owned and Dubai-based MBC Group, confirmed that they were experimenting with mobile TV in both long format and through shorter clips. MBC has seen its mobile related profits doubling in the last three years. The group will be focusing on subscription services rather than a bit-by-bit payment policy in order to better secure revenue, Barnett said.

He also revealed that MBC is taking a relaxed approach to IPTV describing it as "low reach". He did concede, however, that it would take action should the platform take off in the region.

Russel Merryman, editor-in-chief of Al Jazeera International (AJI) web and new media, described the benefits AJI has received from its deal with video web-hosting giant, YouTube. AJI uploads an unlimited amount of content on a dedicated YouTube channel and receives a share of the advertising revenue. With uploading material effectively free, AJI has found a foolproof way to monetise its content online.

"People are reluctant to pay for news but are willing to pay for premium content like sports and movies," Merryman said.

This would justify the Qatar-based broadcaster's decision to pursue advertising revenue via YouTube, rather than subscription fees.

Piracy

Although not the focus of any delegate's speech, piracy was mentioned as an issue by many.

Most vocal on the subject was Yousef Mugharbil, president of Rotana digital entertainment.

"Piracy laws are in place but are not being implemented whatsoever. For every US$1 we make, another $1 is lost due to piracy," he claimed. "There are 63 channels currently showing Rotana content, who cover our logo with black boxes. There are two Kuwaiti websites offering Rotana music content and registering 5 million downloads a day. We have pursued these but have discovered there is absolutely nothing we can do about it.

This claim was countered by Samir Abdullhadi, president & CEO of Orbit Television who offered some words of encouragement, saying that prolonged lobbying of governments had delivered his organisation results against pirates in the past.

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