Broadcastpro – Page 22 – Virtual BroadcastPro Tech Summit | 14 – 15 Jun 2022

Broadcast technology provider Open Broadcast Systems has added support for next-generation mobile networks in its encoder products, allowing low-latency, high-quality video to be transported from its encoders in full broadcast contribution quality.

Open Broadcast Systems has built 5G support into its existing encoder products, making it possible for customers to contribute live video over 5G without the need for external hardware. This integration makes delivering over 5G simple for any broadcaster or content provider and enables remote production from anywhere with a 5G network.

Commenting on the development, Kieran Kunhya, Founder and CEO of Open Broadcast Systems, said: “By adding 5G support to our encoders, customers for the first time can experience broadcast quality, not backpack quality, at sub-100ms latencies over mobile networks. Anyone with a spare slot on their encoder can add 5G modems to take advantage of the growing connectivity available.”

5G modules for Open Broadcast Systems encoders are available immediately. Irish content provider Nemeton TV has announced that it will be using the 5G support as a proof of concept during the next season of Gaelic Football and Hurling Championship later this year.

Fiachna Mac Murchú, Technical Systems Manager, Nemeton TV, added: “We have already begun some tests with Open Broadcast System’s 5G equipment and have been pleased with the results. This will make it much easier for us to contribute feeds from live matches across Ireland, without impacting the quality.”

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Extreme E’s inaugural X Prix – the Desert X Prix – came to a close at the beginning of April in AlUla, Saudi Arabia, and the global impact of the event has now been assessed with the broadcast bringing in a cumulative worldwide audience of 18.7m.

The series has worked alongside YouGov Sport – global sports, sponsorship and entertainment research company – to gather data and insight into the audience of Extreme E’s first-ever race.

In total, the broadcast audience was 18.7m covering close to 900m households in over 180 countries. There were more than 1,500 hours of broadcast coverage with China topping the table, closely followed by Europe and Asia.

Speaking about the data, Ali Russell, Chief Marketing Officer at Extreme E said: “We’ve seen a phenomenal success for Extreme E’s first-ever event. Our strategy of attracting strong free-to-air partners, and a digital-first, always-on approach, when combined with our exciting and innovative racing format and a sporting platform with pitted males and females racing equally together created a truly winning combination. The diverse nature of Extreme E meant there was plenty of action across the weekend, with some truly memorable performances, with our female driver line-up coming out as clear winners. These numbers demonstrate the massive appeal, not only of our racing format, but also our wider messages around the climate crisis, both of which featured heavily in our broadcast. As a sport without spectators on-site, these figures are fantastic as they show our broadcast only model really does work to engage people on so many levels, whether that be through broadcast, social or press. We are looking forward to building on these statistics as we continue through Season 1 and bringing the messages of our series around the environment, electrification and equality to as many people as possible.”

Frank Saez, Managing Director of YouGov Sport, added: “For a first-time event, these figures are incredibly promising and show that Extreme E has tapped into something that looks to have real potential for growth. When we watched the event, what leapt out immediately was the shareable content it would produce – and that’s exactly what the data has shown. A billion social impressions for an inaugural race tells us that Extreme E could be on to something very special here, especially with the strong broadcast partners they have.”

YouGov Sport also looked into online media articles with more than 5,000 being published around the X Prix totally a readership of 1.6bn, with the biggest spike being on race day itself. The UK and US were the top countries for readership.

From a social media point of view, there were over a billion impressions, with a strong performance specifically on TikTok and Facebook.

The series is now fully focused on delivering its second event at Lac Rose in Dakar, Senegal which takes place from May 29-30. The action will be available in over 180 countries through more than 60 broadcasters including FoxSports in the USA and Asia, ITV, BBC, Sky Sports and BT Sport in the UK and Eurosport in Europe.

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STC Bahrain has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Huawei to establish a Content Delivery Network (CDN) serving various sectors regionally and globally.

As heavy video and gaming traffic have resulted in the need to provide optimum streaming experiences for users, the CDN service nodes coupled with STC Bahrain’s infrastructure and transmission links will allow faster data transfers that are needed for loading internet content.

The services will target sectors such as advertising, e-commerce, media and entertainment, online gaming, health and education services, allowing them to store their content securely with enhanced availability and performance, closer to users to avoid unnecessary round-trip delays.

STC Bahrain and Huawei will localise a wide variety of digital content ranging from dynamic to multi-purpose content types. This collaboration should result in improved website loading times, responsiveness, downloading and video-on-demand acceleration.

Speaking about the agreement, Eng Nezar Banabeela, CEO of STC Bahrain, said: “We are focused on revolutionising the network services in Bahrain and to better serve the region with demanded services. Our CDN plans with our long-term partners Huawei will accelerate Bahrain and the region’s positioning as an ideal digital network hub.”

Cao Hongyu, CEO of Huawei Bahrain, added: “We at Huawei Bahrain, with our valuable partners STC Bahrain, share a common vision to put Bahrain in the forefront of digital services in the region and this CDN initiative is one step towards this journey, where we are growing our future business by meeting consumer needs. Huawei stays committed to deliver the best-in-class technology and services to the Kingdom of Bahrain.”

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Truth Media Entertainment (TME) has signed a distribution agreement with Mimyuni Media Entertainment (MME) to bring MME channels to the different territories of Africa.

Commenting on the deal, Damien Pitchee, Director of TME, said: “Truth Media is delighted and proud to collaborate with Mimyuni Media Entertainment to bring over 40 premium channels to multiple territories in Africa. We hope it will be a long-term partnership between both companies. MME has the most exciting international TV content through their different genres which include Lifestyle, Music, Sports, Kids, Movies and 4K channels.”

Mertin Duran, Head of International Businesses at Mimyuni, added: “We are excited about this new partnership with Truth Media Entertainment, which will help Mimyuni to expand into the African Market. We are totally dedicated to constantly enrich our channels, so we can bring an ultimate entertainment experience to the African audience.”

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Viasat has announced that it was granted a full suite of operating licensesInternet Service Provider (ISP) license, VSAT license and three Earth Stations in Motion (ESIM) licensesin order to bring high-quality satellite internet connectivity to Nigerian communities where limited or no internet service is currently available.

The Nigerian Communications Commission granted Viasat multiple licenses to operate within the 28GHz Ka-band satellite frequency band.

With access to the 28GHz Ka-band spectrum, Viasat will be positioned to expand its satellite-based internet connectivity service to more regions and citizens across Africaahead of the launch of ViaSat-3, its global satellite constellation comprised of three communications satellites. A ViaSat-3 satellite also aimed to serve Africa, as well as Europe and the Middle East.

Rick Baldridge, President and CEO, Viasat, said: “We are proud to be working with the NCC and the Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy to help the Nigerian government achieve their broadband goals to improve the quality of life of its citizens. We believe our proven satellite internet solution, will bring cost-effective internet services to Nigerian towns where large gaps exist between demand and the affordability and availability of internet services. We want to thank the NCC for granting us the license framework required, and for preserving 28GHz Ka-band spectrum for satellite-based services that will greatly contribute to breaking down barriers required to achieve digital and social inclusion for all of Nigeria.”

Since being granted the licenses, Viasat has begun a trial programme to connect five unserved Nigerian communities covering approximately 15,000 people.

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RS1 rocket acceptance testing.
Photo: ABL Space Systems

ABL Space Systems has won its fourth launch contract with the US Department of Defense. The launcher in development has received a Responsive Launch II from the Defense Innovation Unit(DIU). The DIUs responsive launch programme looks to partner with commercial launch providers that can enable precision delivery of payloads to prescribed orbits with minimal delay, according to the unit.

This award builds on ABL’s growing portfolio with the Department, which includes over $50m+ in active contracts.

Speaking about the contract, Dan Piemont, President of Dan Piemont, said: “ABL is proud to partner with the full team that has come together to meet this need. We have designed our systems to provide responsive capabilities since day one, and this effort exemplifies how rapidly developed commercial capabilities can be leveraged to meet emerging DoD needs. Our systems will provide access to space when and where needed, without making any compromises on performance or cost.”

ABL will utilise its purpose-built launch vehicle (RS1) and deployable ground systems (GS0) for the DIU Responsive Launch II mission. RS1 and GS0’s rapid, flexible operations ensure that the launch can respond to disruptions in the existing space architecture. ABL has focused on adaptive manufacturing and production and offers capabilities at a low cost. Together, this enables users to focus on the mission at-hand.

Harry O’Hanley, Chief Executive Officer of ABL, added: “We designed RS1 and GS0 to enable unique responsive launch missions. We’re excited to partner with DIU to demonstrate responsive launch operations and deliver new capabilities to the US Government.”

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The Red Sea International Film Festival has opened submissions for its first edition, which will now take place from November 11–20, 2021. Filmmakers are invited to submit films from May 18 until August 18, 2021.

Established names and emerging filmmakers from Arab, Asia and Africa are welcome to submit their films to the Red Sea: Competition and Red Sea: Shorts Competition. Saudi filmmakers can also apply to screen as part of the New Saudi/New Cinema and Tajreeb. Submissions will be viewed and selected by the Red Sea International Film Festival team alongside a further seven curated categories.

The inaugural edition of the festival will take place in the UNESCO world heritage site of Jeddah Old Town in the cosmopolitan city on the Red Sea Coast. The festival provides a vital new platform to strengthen creative connections between Saudi and the world with a programme of the best in global cinema, classic and contemporary Arab film, alongside professional and industry strands.

The 11 programme sections will showcase contemporary international and Arab cinema, Saudi features, shorts and experimental films, retrospectives, and future-oriented AR and VR experiences.

The films in the competition will vie for the Yusr Awards, chosen by an international jury. The Red Sea Golden Yusr award for Best Film will be given $100,000. Cash prizes will also be awarded to Best Director ($30,000), the Red Sea Silver Yusr Jury Prize ($20,000) and the Golden Yusr for Best Short Film ($25,000). There will also be cash prizes for the Audience Award and Best Saudi Film. Other prizes will be awarded for Best Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Actress and Cinematic Contribution.

Apart from the four open categories, there are seven curated sections, including International Spectacular, Arab Spectacular, Red Sea: Festival Favorites, Red Sea: Immersive Future, Red Sea: Treasures, Red Sea: Next Generation, and Red Sea: Episodic.

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The Arab American National Museum, Arab Film and Media Institute, ArteEast and Doha Film Institute will present a retrospective of Palestinian filmmaker Elia Suleiman, one of the prominent figures in Palestinian cinema.

All four feature films that the director wrote, directed and starred in, will stream online for free from May 21 to 30.

Throughout his career, Suleiman directed four feature films, all with a heavy focus on Palestine and Palestinian identity. His first film Chronicle of a Disappearance, which was released in 1996 to international critical acclaim, stars Suleiman alongside his relatives and others as he documents his journey returning to the West Bank after 12 years of absence. Without a concrete storyline or character arcs, the film was created to portray the unsettling feeling of Palestinian statelessness.

His second feature film, Divine Intervention, won the Jury Prize at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival and the International Critics Prize by the International Federation of Film Critics at the festival.

The Time That Remains, the director’s third film, was also selected at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and won the Black Pearl Award at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival in 2009.

His fourth and latest film, It Must Be Heaven, was selected at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival and was awarded the Jury Special Mention award at the festival where it received a six-minute standing ovation. The satire film follows the story of a Palestinian man (Suleiman playing himself), who leaves Palestine in search of a better life only to find out that the same problems he faces are everywhere he goes.

In addition to the streaming of his films, there will also be a live talk with the director on May 30 at Arab Film and Media Institute.

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Sharjah Media City (Shams) has hosted the special screening of 218: Behind The Wall of Silence.

Directed by Nahla Al Fahd, the film is part of the Emirati Artistic Experience initiative launched by Sharjah Media City (Shams) in cooperation with the Arab Format Lab company to produce the first work made by the public in the Arab world, embodying the vision and directives of the wise leadership aimed at supporting young talents and creators.

The film will be shown to the public in cinemas starting from Thursday, May 20, 2021. Empire Entertainment, the foreign arm of Empire International, is distributing the film in the UAE.

218 is an Emirati suspense drama that revolves around the story of two young women going through what, on the surface, appear to be three separate experiences, yet are intertwined and connected in their reality. The film explores subjects ranging from domestic violence to nostalgia, the pursuit of revenge, and solidarity.

Dr Khalid Al Midfa, Chairman of Sharjah Media City, said: “Shams is working to achieve the vision and directions of the wise leadership aimed at making a qualitative leap in the economic scene in the Emirate of Sharjah and the UAE through the development of many vital sectors. The media, cinematographic and creative production sectors are at the top of our priorities because of their importance in creating economic prominence and cultural and artistic momentum in the Emirati society.”

He added: “We are proud to produce and release the first movie (218) made by the public at the level of the Arab world and the first productions of the ambitious (Emirati Artistic Experience) initiative, through which we aim to establish a unique film industry that will be a mirror for the Emirati and Arab society. In addition to creating a new generation of film professionals employing their creative and innovative ideas in producing films and other artistic works that enhance the cultural and civilisational position of the UAE in front of the world.”

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Twitter is set to launch a new subscription service called Twitter Blue that would charge users $2.99 a month.

Twitter Blue may include an ‘undo tweets’ option that would let users retract their tweets within a certain period after posting. Another inclusion of Twitter Blue is likely to be a ‘Collections’ section that may allow users to organise and save their favourite tweets or the ones which they would want to view later.

According to App researcher Jane Manchun Wong, Twitter is also working on a tiered-subscription pricing model wherein higher tiers would have premium features such as a “clutter-free news reading experience.”

Twitter was reportedly also planning to launch a $4.99 per month subscription product this year called Super Follows, which would allow users and publishers to earn money from followers for exclusive content and e-commerce deals.

The exact launch date and pricing as well as product details of Twitter Blue and Super Follows are yet to be officially announced by the company.

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