Televisionaries

The Middle East is keeping pace with global shifts in content delivery and broadcast technology and is even leading the pack on some fronts. Digital Broadcast looks at ten of the most innovative and noteworthy projects in the region that are creating new revenue streams for the content delivery industry, enabling new services and protecting its future.

The content delivery industries in the Middle East have come along way in a very short time. Three satellite pay TV operators and the ever expanding FTA market were more or less the sum total just a few years ago.

Today, the region has broadcast services on three screens; mobile, PC and television. There are increasing numbers of Fiber to the home (FTTH) roll-outs, presenting new opportunities for two-way delivery networks. On-demand programming and digital content delivery services have flourished and the region's first PVR boxes have been rolled out by pay TV operators.

These new services often depend on new network infrastructures tying the fates of the telecommunication and broadcast industries. This scenario has been seen in the region on several levels and in many forms.

Satellite service operators and network infrastructure providers are benefiting from the broadcast boom, telcos are offering TV services - often via their own branded platforms - and the internet is becoming a key source of legitimate, rights protected content.

Digital Broadcast offers the following 10 examples of broadcast innovation not as a quantified like-for-like comparison, but to demonstrate the breadth and diversity of the advances that have been made in the region. Technology is not the sole criteria for the entries.

The development of untested business plans, public service provision, scale, pioneering network architectures and more have been considered alongside the underlying technology that enables them.

Unfortunately, there are more worthy projects than can be mentioned in this article. In cases where numerous similar projects have occurred at the same time, the example that is likely to have the widest impact moving forward, have won out.

New platforms feature prominently however these have been judged on function and paths to monetisation, rather than novelty value.

Nokia brings global music strategy to the Middle East

The Nokia online music store, which launched in December 2008, is perhaps the most high-profile legitimate online content portal available in the Middle East.

Although only currently accessible in the UAE, Nokia has signalled its intentions to expand the service's availability into other markets.

The platform is one of 12 around the world with the same user interface and styling with content tailored for each repsective market.

With most of the other portals based in Europe, the initialisation of the UAE store is an indication that the major players in the industry now view the region as a feasible market. Just a few years ago, the extent of piracy activity in the UAE would have rendered such an initiative doomed from the outset.

Nokia is the first international content aggregator to establish such a service in the region. Over the coming years it is likely that more regional media companies will feel confident enough to follow suit, creating a vibrant digital content marketplace.

This will be all the more likely as broadband penetration levels rise. The early move by Nokia will help to improve its case as the default provider of digital music when broadband reaches critical mass.

Nokia has also refused to rule out the possibility of launching its ‘Comes with Music' unlimited download service in the region as early as this year. ‘Comes with Music' offers 12 months of free music downloads with certain Nokia handset purchases.

Yahsat facilitates the Middle East's ‘net generation'

Abu Dhabi government backed satellite company Yahsat may not have launched any of its proposed satellites as of yet, however it has developed a service that will drastically improve the entire Middle East's access to the internet. With content and advertising revenues both migrating to online sources, increasing broadband penetration across the region is key to enabling a future generation of media consumers.

YahClick will offer satellite based broadband access across the MEA region for individual consumers and enterprises alike.

"It will be available through Y1B, Yahsat's second satellite set for launch in mid 2011," says Shawkat Ahmed, CCO, Yahsat. "The service has been developed to address the gap in the broadband internet supply in the region. We are seeing growing demand for broadband internet driven by emerging applications such as YouTube, IP video services and the fact that dial-up can't handle rich web content."

Yahsat will use a Ka-band multi-spot beam with reusable frequencies to maximise this scarce resource, a technology only recently introduced in the US.

"The multi spot-beam technology means greater efficiency on the ground, which enables use of a smaller antenna size with a low power amplifier. The ability to re-use frequencies will enable faster, reliable and affordable broadband to urban and remote areas of the region."

Broadband is currently limited to the main urban centres throughout the Middle East limiting penetration rates.

Yahsat will manage both the satellite and ground infrastructure with service partners focusing on customer acquisition and support.

"The YahClick business model has been well received by potential service partners. They will bundle hardware and software services, offering packages tailor-made for specific markets. User terminals will range between US $350 to $400 and service plans will start at $30. There will also be plans for more demanding consumers and enterprise."

BBC Arabic unifies output and expands across platforms

The BBC Arabic service has grown rapidly of late and now includes various mobile offerings available in an increasing number of markets in the Middle East and beyond, a redesigned website with video and audio content and a 24-hour TV news channel.

"We believe that our audiences in the Arab world should be getting a consistent stream of content on all our platforms," says Hosam El Sokkari, head of BBC Arabic. "Our teams work collaboratively to make sure that each platform is used to its full capacity."

El Sokkari points out that BBC Arabic is currently providing 72 hours of news content across three separate platforms and has also recently expanded its WAP platform.

"We have made sure that several providers in the region have added it to their landing page to offer easy access for their users. This has led to four and sometimes five-fold increases in the number of page impressions generated on this platform," claims El Sokkari. "In addition to this we recently launched a news video bulletin for mobile devices. It is currently offered by an operator in Saudi and we are working to forge more partnerships."

El Sokkari identifies the extension of the TV channel to a 24-hour operation as a key development for BBC Arabic.

"The launch of BBC Arabic TV has received a positive and encouraging response from the Arab world. BBC Arabic journalists are maintaining on TV the same editorial values associated with our radio and online operations for the past seven decades," adds El Sokkari.

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