Africa’s pay-TV operator StarTimes has announced that it will broadcast all 51 games of the UEFA Euro 2020 tournament across its five sports channels both live as well as in HD.
StarTimes secured broadcast rights for UEFA Euro 2020 in 2019 for territories across sub-Saharan Africa, on all media platforms. With this acquisition, StarTimes had further expanded its portfolio of football broadcast rights, which includes UEFA Europa League, La Liga, the Bundesliga, the Emirates FA Cup, Coppa Italia and Copa Del Rey among others.
Same as for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, all Euro 2020 matches will be broadcast in multiple languages and in high definition (HD) using the latest technologies. Signal will be supplied by StarTimes’ satellite network which covers the whole continent.
Vlady Terimbere, StarTimes Marketing and PR Manager, said: “This will ensure a strong and stable signal everywhere in Africa, both in rural and urban areas, providing clear pictures and sound, even in case of bad weather. Matches will also be available live and on replay on the streaming application StarTimes ON, providing football fans with more watching options. We are making sure that every family, wherever they live, can enjoy this amazing football festival. Fans have been waiting for Euro 2020 for more than a year and they deserve to have the best viewing experience.”
StarTimes’ match telecasts for the UEFA European Football Championship will include pre-game, halftime and post-game studio segments.
Axiom Space Ax-2 Commander Peggy Whitson and Pilot John Shoffner.
Axiom Space has announced that retired NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson and auto racer John Shoffner will lead the companys second private spaceflight to the International Space Station, tentatively scheduled for the second half of 2022.
Whitson, who retired from NASA in 2018 after 22 years, will lead a crew of three others on the second trip in late 2022 or 2023.
During a 22-year career at NASA, Whitson became the ISS first female commander, the first ISS Science Officer, and set and still holds the American record for time spent in space, will return to flight as a private citizen and commander of Ax-2. Alongside her, as the planned mission pilot will be John Shoffner a pilot, champion GT racer, and active supporter of life science research from Knoxville, Tenn.
Whitson and Shoffner will train together in Axioms standard astronaut programme to prepare them to lead the flight. In addition to their flight training, they will learn how to translate terrestrial single-cell genomic methods to an orbital science process in collaboration with Pleasanton, California-based 10x Genomics, a global player in developing products to master biology for advancing human health whose offerings are used by all of the top 100 global research institutions.
Whitson said: Im thrilled to get to fly to space again and lead one of the first of these pioneering missions, marking a new era of human spaceflight. But even more than that, Im eager for the chance on Ax-2 to open space up to the first full generation of private astronauts and directly link John to the research opportunities on the ISS. In the time weve already spent together as crewmates, its clear to me that John will be an excellent pilot and researcher. Its a pleasure to take him under my wing.
Shoffner added: “Growing up, I closely followed every NASA flight of Gemini and Apollo. Now to experience astronaut training teamed with Peggy is an honour. I am also excited about our upcoming work with 10x Genomics in this first step towards making their single-cell technologies available to researchers in a microgravity environment. I look forward to the process of testing and validating this technology for future groundbreaking work in low-Earth orbit.
In addition to standard training on ISS systems, Shoffner will receive specialised spacecraft operations training to assist the commander during flight as pilot of the crew capsule and develop with Whitson the protocols necessary to conduct single-cell sequencing experiments in microgravity.
Whitson and Shoffner are also currently training to serve as backup commander and pilot for Axioms Ax-1, the first-ever fully private mission to the ISS slated for launch on a SpaceX Crew Dragon in early 2022. As with this proposed Ax-2 mission, Axiom will also compete for the opportunity to fly commercial missions to the ISS approximately every six months, subject to NASA approval and as traffic to the ISS allows.
Michael Suffredini, CEO of Axiom stated: Humankinds expansion off the planet, and the benefits it can bring back, will only be sustained by building and serving the demand for expanded life and work in Low Earth Orbit. There is no one better than Peggy who would be historys second private mission commander to the ISS to lead the way on a mission so central to that plan, and we are thrilled to have beside her a pilot as driven and committed to this vision as John to cement this new era.
IBC has confirmed that this year’s event will take place from December 3-6 at the Rai in Amsterdam. The announcement follows a decision at an IBC Partnership Board meeting to move the event from its usual September slot.
Commenting on the development in a statement, Michael Crimp, chief executive of IBC, said: “Following a period of industry consultation, the IBC Partnership Board has agreed that December is the best date in terms of safety and industry readiness to engage. Our conclusion is based on the results of the recent IBC exhibitor and visitor surveys and macro evidence of Europe opening up for business. We really value the feedback and candid input of our community — we have always been ‘By the industry, For the industry’, and this ethos continues to guide our daily decision-making process.”
Crimp added: “IBC’s primary focus is to deliver a safe and valuable event, and we believe the best way for us to achieve that is to take advantage of our opportunity to move the event to December. We did not shift from September lightly. However, as the evidence was gathered and considered, there was a shifting sentiment towards December from both exhibitors and visitors. Clearly, IBC will be safest when attendees are vaccinated, and shifting to December allows us to implement the most appropriate safety protocols. In turn, this will enable us to maximise the audience. We also had to consider the ability of the supply chain to deliver a high-quality event. We believe that key services such as airports and airlines, and hotels will have established smooth operations and be able to provide a more streamlined service by December.”
Crimp referred to a survey of exhibitors and visitors which showed that two-thirds of respondents said the assurance of robust onsite health and safety protocols would encourage them to attend; vaccination passport entry was by far the most popular measure.
Furthermore, 86% of respondents said they were very likely, and 13% likely to have been vaccinated by December. Also, two-thirds of respondents already feel they are ready to travel, and a vast majority expect any corporate travel restriction policies to be updated by the end of the summer. Macro trends point to accelerated vaccine rollout and opening of borders across IBC’s core markets over the next six months.
IBC2021 will bring the content and technology industry together again to discover the future of media and do business face-to-face. IBC2021 will lead the way in a new era of hybrid events.
Netflix is set to launch a new documentary based on the life of Lebanese singer Myriam Fares.
The Lebanese singer took to Instagram to announce the news to her nearly 16m followers, alongside its release date, June 3, 2021.
Titled Myriam Fares – The Journey, it is set to be an hour and 11 minutes long documentary chronicling Fares’ personal and family life duringa the lockdown last year.
Filmmaker Sherif Tarhini has directed the film which will be the first Netflix documentary to be based on an Arab artist.
Its description on Netflix reads: “From pregnancy to album preparations, Lebanese singer and ‘Queen of the Stage’ Myriam Fares documents her experiences with her family while in lockdown.”
In the trailer for the documentary, Fares can be heard saying, “Six years of marriage passed in the blink of an eye. Even though a lot of things happened during those six years, time flew by, because me and Dani always support each other. And we thank God for this beautiful family.”
AVOD expenditure for TV episodes and movies will climb by 144% between 2020 and 2026 to reach $66bn across 138 countries, according to the latest report by Digital TV Research.
Its growth dipped to only 9.2% in 2020 but is set to increase significantly from this year onwards.
From the $39bn additional revenues generated between 2020 and 2026, the US will contribute $21bn and China $5bn. Revenues will triple in India and the US where AVOD revenues are set to reach triple between 2020 and 2026 to $31bn. The UK AVOD sector is set to almost double in value between 2020 and 2026 to total $3.44bn.
The US became the largest AVOD country in 2019 as China saw expenditure fall by 9% due to its economic downturn. A combination of the coronavirus lockdown and the continued economic downturn led to China’s AVOD dropping by a further 14% in 2020. China will not better its 2018 total until 2024, although growth will return from 2021.
Commenting on the findings of the report, Simon Murray, principal analyst at Digital TV Research, said: “US AVOD revenues will triple between 2020 and 2026 to $31bn. Rather than lose market share as other countries catch up, the US will grow its share of the global total from 37% in 2020 to 47% by 2026.”
OneWeb has been tapped to lead a consortium of space companies to develop a satellite that can beam hop, switching which part of the world it covers. The group has received about £32m ($45m) from the UK Space Agency, through the European Space Agencys (ESA) Sunrise Programme. A demonstration satellite is set for launch in 2022.
The satellite, nicknamed Joey-Sat for its beam-hopping abilities, will be able to remotely direct beams to boost coverage in certain locations, such as areas of high usage where the network is struggling to cope with demand.
Speaking about the project, Science Minister Amanda Solloway said: From helping during a disaster to providing broadband on planes, this amazing technology will show how next-generation 5G connectivity can benefit all of us on Earth. It is fantastic to see some of our finest space tech companies joining forces on this exciting project which will put the UK at the forefront of satellite communications technology.
The new funding, which builds on the UK Space Agencys previous investments in the Sunrise Programme, will see OneWeb team up with other UK companies, SatixFy, Celestia UK and Astroscale UK, to demonstrate the technology for its second-generation constellation of satellites.
Massimiliano Ladovaz, Chief Technical Officer at OneWeb, added: Innovation and collaboration are at the core of OneWeb. Working together with our partners, OneWeb will accelerate the development and expansion of our cutting-edge technologies and manufacturing capabilities for the benefit of communities, enterprise and governments around the world. This is an exciting opportunity to work with talented potential supply chain partners and we are delighted with the support from ESA and the UK Space Agency to bring continued innovation across the whole of OneWebs connectivity ecosystem.
The satellites pilot beam-hopping payload will be developed by SatixFy, based in Farnborough. The user terminal to support this satellite is also being developed by SatixFy, who have been awarded over £25m.
Charlie Bloomfield, CEO of SatixFy Space Systems, commented: We are really excited to be demonstrating new game-changing satellite payload capabilities in space next year, in collaboration with OneWeb. The £25m funding from the UK Space Agency via ESA, matched with SatixFys own internal investment, will not only demo best-in-class future payload capability, but will also result in the lowest-cost and highest performance electronically-steered multibeam user-terminals on the market. UKSA and ESA support has been fundamental in unlocking these new technologies and we look forward to a fruitful and ongoing partnership with them.
Celestia UK, based in Edinburgh, has been given £4.4m to develop and trial smart ground-station technology featuring multibeam electronically steered antenna to reduce the footprint and costs of each ground station and increase the efficiency of the whole ground network.
José Alonso, President of Celestia UK, stated: The business opportunity that OneWeb and UK Space Agency have presented to Celestia UK in the context of the Sunrise Programme is outstanding. The pioneering project we are developing looks set to become a game-changer in the satcom ground segment market. Gateways and user terminals are key elements in the OneWeb constellation, and Celestia UKs products will be state-of-the-art and fit for commercial purpose. We are very proud to be part of Sunrise.
The Sunrise Programme has maintained a clear focus on encouraging the development of Responsible Space using debris removal technologies, and this element is being developed by Astroscale UK, based at Harwell Campus, Oxfordshire. Astroscale UK has received close to £2.5m to develop novel technologies to safely de-orbit unresponsive satellites.
John Auburn, Managing Director of Astroscale UK and Co-Chair of the In-orbit Servicing and Manufacturing Working Group at UK space, said: Astroscale UK will deliver important innovations in space debris removal, develop new expertise on Harwell Campus, and provide UK commercial leadership to help protect space for future generations. Following our ELSA-d mission demonstrations later this year, the Sunrise programme will help to mature our debris removal technologies ready for commercial service launch by 2024.
OneWeb currently has 182 satellites with another launch of 36 satellites scheduled for May 27.
Elodie Viau, Director of Telecommunications and Integrated Applications at ESA, added: Joey-Sat will be used to demonstrate how next-generation 5G connectivity can benefit life on Earth. ESA is proud to support the space industry in Europe to bring such innovation to the competitive global telecommunications market. We congratulate all the partners involved.
With the support of these British companies, OneWeb is already starting to create the roadmap for its future generation constellation so as to be launch-ready for its Gen2 constellation in 2025.
You are CEO of a newly integrated entity with all the freedom to operate autonomously within the region. How has that been to your advantage?
As a local entity, we understand all the nuances that go with the region and have the full freedom to construct solutions both technically and commercially, and that is a massive advantage. We have a significant advantage over competing peers because we are not bound by central rules. That’s Diversified’s operational model across the board, where all our entities operate autonomously. Of course, we have principles and policies and goals and aspirations, but everything else is localised. That is what motivated me to continue with the company post the acquisition. We remain fully agnostic when it comes to vendors, and aspire towards using the best-of-breed to deliver to our customer’s needs and goals.
How is MENA different from other regions?
Entities often deploy technologies because it ticks a box rather than because they genuinely need it. It is probably one of the reasons why you will not see them adapt a technology to the level that you see of cloud, for example, in Europe and the US. For instance, if you build a 4K studio but only create 1080i, what was the objective of having it? That’s the difference between a 4K project in, say, the US or Europe, where this is a whole end-to-end commercial plan on why it’s being executed. Some customers are well organised because their business models and technologies are aligned. Whenever they come out with a tender, it is aligned with their business objectives – and that’s how it should be.
What approach do you advocate for a broadcast business?
Most people seem to be taking the IT approach. It depends on the kind of expertise you have in your organisation and your overall content objectives. If you are IT-heavy, you will go with IT solutions and it will be a natural evolution; we will continue to see more conversions towards IT, and data will become a key pillar of any media business operations. For the last four years, I myself have pivoted a lot towards data and have been trying to focus on internal IT and DevOps.
Our regional broadcast engineers have adapted well and are keen on upskilling. When it was SD, they moved to HD and 4K over 12G. Also, we see a growing trend with most people doing Amazon certifications being from Tx and MCR. So there is a good passion among engineers here in the Middle East to self-improve and enhance their skills.
How was 2020 for you? Did you secure any projects?
Last year was an unknown for all of us. We had no idea on how we would steer through it but as a group, our first priority was to keep everyone safe; and secondly, to retain everyone we had. We were at the last mile of the Al Arabiya project when Covid hit and it was a challenge to get them on air on March 24, but we worked closely with the MBC team and the local authorities to get them on air. We also delivered a facility for Facebook in Dubai. Towards Q4, we were also contracted by MBC to upgrade and migrate their audio mixers from Studer to Lawo. Lawo was not able to fly out. We have finished the commissioning using a hybrid delivery mechanism with our team working on the ground and Lawo’s engineers remoting in. We currently are in the last steps of handover for this. We have also been busy with a couple of consultancies for projects that require people with commercial, technical and operational knowledge.
There seems to be two factions within the broadcast fraternity – the NDI advocates and the SMPTE ST2110 believers. What is your opinion?
We need both, because one is compressed and the other is uncompressed. When you require each of them depends on what you are trying to achieve with your content. If it is news and you have a remote office, cost plays an important role. If I was trying to achieve something next-gen and wanted to go with baseband, and all it is is a talking head, I will probably capture my studio in NDI, audio in Dante and link it back using SRT because it’s a contribution feed. So across the chain, I can go with low codecs, keep my internet cost low and bring valuable contribution back. When it comes to shows or events, you will need more quality, so I would go with ST2110.
There are two factors that will always impact decisions while choosing technology – timelines and budgets. If you are an existing organisation, ST2110 has many nuances to the configuration and commissioning side, unlike SDI. The design takes more time when compared to an SDI project. Where I would require a month and a half with SDI, the design period for ST2110 would potentially be three months. ST2110 does offer greater resilience in comparison to SDI, and this can be a crucial factor for many organisations.
If an organisation is planning to look at and invest in IP, the first step is to have an internal champion who can take their current operations and work with the SIs and manufacturers to produce a solution that best fits their organisation. Also, the level of training and internal transformation is a key aspect of this undertaking.
One needs to plan ahead as they need to factor more time for an IP-based system. They will need to allocate more time in design and a lot more time in commissioning to ensure the highest level of success for their projects.
“If you build a 4K studio but only create 1080i, what was the objective of having it? That’s the difference between a 4K project in, say, the US or Europe, where this is a whole end-to-end commercial plan on why it’s being executed”
What challenges do organisations face in the digital domain?
The lesson learnt from 2020 is that every business must be part of the digital ecosystem. We have seen different digital offerings from major channels in the region. The thing which OTT brings to all this is more in-depth knowledge of your user. Any existing linear channel that is not considering an OTT avenue will be going for closure soon. That is how important it is. Whether it is in-house or you outsource it, there are plenty of sizes, shapes and ways to achieve it. But it must be part of your business objective. The biggest challenge is customer acquisition. All our customers are used to freemium; converting them is a key challenge. Then there is the issue of churn. Why do people leave a platform? It’s simple. If you don’t like the service you will leave.
We can’t lose sight of the fact that in the OTT media business, they are primarily selling content. In our region, there should be a balance between producing local content and buying internationally. I think our region has a massive potential for local content. We are seeing that the local productions are not only going up in quantities, but also in quality. There is a mix of international directors, producers and technicians flying in and bringing knowledge with them. That is fundamental, where there is a learning and mixing of resources, producing local content and then pushing that across your OTT. Technology today is there. You have to sort out what you want to achieve on the business front and then, depending on the target audience and the revenue, you can choose which part to keep in-house and which to outsource.
Two fundamental things will always keep coming back – timeline and budget. Budget will have two parts. First is building up the business infrastructure, which includes the OTT and the acquisition of content. Second is the marketing budget, where you will need x amount to acquire these customers. You need to reach these customers.
There are questions to ask: Which telco will you partner with in which region? How soon can you come into the market and compete with existing players? How strong are your telco offerings? What is your technology roadmap? For the business team, this undertaking could spread across various projects as they bring their product to market and scale it.
Does the tendering process need to change with the times?
We still see a lot of box-specific tenders. The client then loses that commercial advantage. In the world of cloud and SAS models, where you are selling services, everything becomes agnostic. So our tenders need to adapt to that, where if I need to build a studio with on-ground cameras, you can put in quantitative features but don’t put in brands. What operational functions are you trying to achieve? That will get you the best-of-breed responses.
AMC Cinemas has opened its ninth location in the Kingdom at Jeddah’s Stars Avenue shopping mall. It is a first for AMC Cinemas in the Kingdom’s west coast city.
It offers 755 seats across nine auditoriums, including eight luxury screens equipped with 4K Barco laser projectors, surround sound, and luxe recliner and plush rocker seating throughout, together with an IMAX theatre.
It also includes AMC Cinema Souq, a fully customisable food and beverage concept. An additional feature of the Stars Avenue cinema will be a conference room connected to one of the main auditoriums, which will be available for private hire for meetings or parties later in the year.
The Jeddah opening is part of AMC Cinemas’ expansion plan to reach the largest possible number of viewers across Saudi Arabia, a goal in line with government plans to diversify entertainment content, as well as providing new experiences to suit the tastes of different audiences.
Speaking about the new opening, Andrew Such, Chief Executive of AMC Cinemas, said: “The AMC Stars Avenue 9 cinema in Jeddah city is part of our ongoing strategy to provide innovative and creative cinematic experiences for movie-lovers throughout Saudi Arabia. We pride ourselves on offering industry-leading, state-of-the-art technology in luxurious surroundings for an exceptional movie-going experience. We want a visit to AMC Cinemas to be nothing short of memorable. By offering the latest international advances in cinema enjoyment, we continue to support the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, which focuses on improving the entertainment sector. This is a vitally important part of the Kingdom’s Quality of Life programme and motivates us to continue our efforts to build and provide innovative cinema.”
The opening of AMC Stars Avenue 9 cinema in Jeddah city, in addition to the opening of the first cinema in Dawadmi (a town in Riyadh region) in April, brings the total number of AMC Cinemas in Saudi Arabia to nine locations, with five in Riyadh and one each in Hafar Al-Batin and Al-Majmaah governorates.
Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution (DMED) Technology has added several new executives to its leadership ranks and restructured its tech teams as part of an ongoing effort to speed up innovation and Disney’s growth.
The realignment creates eight core groups within the DMED Technology group; Advertising Platforms, Business Operations, Consumer Experiences & Platforms, Content Operations, Content Platforms, Design, Engineering Services, and Media Engineering.
In addition to the structural changes, DMED Technology’s executive vice president and CTO, Aaron LaBerge announced that three new technologists-Oke Okaro, Jen Schwarz, and Mike White-would be joining his senior leadership team.
DMED Technology is one of the major business segments of The Walt Disney Company. It brings together product, technology and commercialisation teams that are responsible for next-generation DTC and linear distribution, advertising technology, engineering, operations, and Disney’s digital product portfolio.
“DMED Technology is among the most talented and innovative collection of people on the planet and I am inspired and privileged to work with them each day,” said LaBerge. “This new alignment recognises where our company is today, where it is going tomorrow, and positions us to continue Disney’s legacy of using technology to bring amazing stories and products to consumers everywhere, drive businesses and power innovation.”
Among the new members of the leadership team, Okaro joins as senior vice president, business operations, DMED Technology, leading the team that will partner with DMED businesses, to deliver global programme and project management, capital and portfolio management, investment and resource prioritisation and other key functions.
Schwarz joins as senior vice president of engineering services DMED Technology. The newly-created role will lead a team that provides connectivity and services across all of DMED Technology.
White joins as SVP Consumer Experiences & Platforms, uniting the engineering and product development teams responsible for the digital product portfolio from ABC, ABC News, Disney.com, Disney Now, ESPN, FX, Marvel, National Geographic and Star Wars. He joins from Disney Parks, Experiences and Products.
In addition to these new members of LaBerge’s leadership team, the division’s CTO has tapped several other executives for expanded roles, including Mike Andrews, Tagu Kato, Chris Lawson and Michael Pollard.
Jeremy Helfand will continue to lead the group’s Ad Platforms team, as senior vice president of Ad Platforms, DMED Technology, managing the development of advertising technology and products in collaboration with Disney Advertising Sales.
Andrews will lead the new Content Platforms team as senior vice president of content platforms at DMED Technology.
Kato will head up a new, centralised Design team as the vice president of design at DMED Technology.
Lawson has been elevated to the newly created role of senior vice president of content operations at DMED Technology.
Pollard has been elevated to senior vice president of media engineering.
Along with these changes, John Heerdt will move into an advisory position to LaBerge and Pollard until the end of 2021, when he will retire.
Film Gate Productions and Al Kalema Productions have announced the third season of The Platform, a UAE-produced series. The show will premiere on Netflix and Abu Dhabi TV on June 1, 2021.
The Platform, the first Emirati production to stream on Netflix worldwide, rose to the global streaming platform’s ‘popular’ list within two days from its launch, as well as Abu Dhabi TV’s online platform ADTV.
The show was also the first pan-Arab production to reach American platforms such as Crackle, Crackle Plus, Popcornflix, and Truli.
This season brings a vast array of surprises, with the plot thickening as Covid-19 brings the world to a halt while the team continues to drive forward on their truth-seeking mission.
The series is co-created and produced by Emirati Director, Producer and Writer Mansoor AlYabhouni AlDhaheri, working alongside Egyptian Director Yasser Sami and Syrian Writer and Creator Hozan Akko.
The third season will feature actors from across the Middle East including Maxim Khalil, Abdulmohsen AlNemr, Bassem Yakhour, Samer Ismaeil, Ahmed AlJasmi, Salloum Haddad, Muna Wassef, Motasem AlNahar, Sayed Ragab, Khaled AlKaish, Yaser AlNeyadi, Oweiss Mkhallalati, Shadi Safadi, Reham AlKassar, Leen Ghurra, Khaled AlSayed, Alaa AlZuabi, Nazli AlRawas, Maram Ali, Wael AbuGhazala, Wael Zeidan, Jaber Jokhadar, Ghanem Zrelli, Noora Alaiek, and Osama Halal; in addition to rising stars Emirati actor Mad Rabdan and Tunisian actress Sabrina.
The show will also see the return of Shaikha, a character played by Mahira Abdulaziz, along with the addition of new characters played by Maisoun Abu Asaad, Jafra Younes, and Emirati Saeed Alraisi.
The series was filmed across various locations in Abu Dhabi within specially built studios.
OneWeb has been tapped to lead a consortium of space companies to develop a satellite that can beam hop, switching which part of the world it covers. The group has received about £32m ($45m) from the UK Space Agency, through the European Space Agencys (ESA) Sunrise Programme. A demonstration satellite is set for launch in 2022.
