Cabsat-2016 took place 8-10 March at the Dubai World Trade Centre, there were 950 exhibitors from over 60 countries. Cabsat is a hot spot for the satellite, broadcast and content delivery industries in MENA and all over the world. It is focused on both electronic media technology, products, solutions and content (Content Marketplace event which became one of the most popular point in 2016).
Cabsat – 2016 demonstrates that MENA market is ready for an increase of multiscreen and HD TV. Meanwhile, the main problem for their developing is a lack of investments because of global crisis and market changings connected with reducing of oil prices.
Frost & Sullivan, a researching company, shows that nearly 60 % of TV households in MENA have HD TV-sets and more than half have HD satellite TV receivers. 85 % of Gulf TV households own HD TV-sets or HD receivers. However, fewer than a quarter of channels available in the region are broadcasted in HD.
HD transmission is turning to be not luxury, but regular. HD Channels are spreading from premium packages to standard ones. This is the next challenge for broadcasters to bring their channels to the higher level.
Security systems were in focus on the exhibition. The partnership of Verimatrix and Friend MTS was announced at Cabsat-2016. Verimatrix VideoMark content tracking and watermarking toolbox was integrated with Friend MTS content and platform protection services, this offers comprehensive protection against video piracy by accurately identifying and targeting, in real time, the source of illegitimate redistribution. VideoMark forensic profile will protect premium content (early release films and HD and Ultra HD video) from more sophisticated attacks and real-time rebroadcasting threats and subscription fraud by enabling a flashing mark.
In turn, Nexguard and Erstream presented their security solutions on Cabsat. They announced the integration of NexGuard forensic watermarking into its online video delivery platform. Erstream offers a comprehensive OTT video delivery solution for live and On Demand, which includes multi-bitrate encoding, CDN delivery, edge storage, ingest and content management solutions and is one of the major players in the MENA region. Chrys Poulain, NextGuard Sales Director, mentioned to Mediasat’s reporter that NextGuard encryption had never been hacked.
“Subscriber-level watermarking is increasingly important for premium content” said Ugur Kalaba, CEO of Erstream. “By integrating NexGuard forensic watermarking, our customers can comply with the latest content protection requirements from the top sports leagues and Hollywood studios. “Our customers can offer the best content catalogue and have the tool to address illegal re-streaming immediately and effectively.”
One of the MENA region’s leading pay-TV providers, OSN, has made a bullish satellite capacity extension to accommodate HDTV and forthcoming Ultra HD services in its catchment.
The company has extended capacity on the EUTELSAT 8 West B satellite operating at the 7/8° West video neighbourhood that reaches into homes from Morocco to the Gulf. OSN says that it will now not only be able to offer the most cutting-edge TV experience to viewers in the Middle East with 4KTV capability but also plans to ramp up its HDTV offer, with eight new channels.
OSN provides over 150 channels and services, offers exclusive access to the blockbuster films in the MENA, top rated TV series, sports, documentaries, news, kid’s entertainment and live talk shows from all the major studios including Warner Brothers, Fox, Paramount, Sony, Disney, NBC Universal, MGM, HBO and DreamWorks.
There were multiple product launches at CABSAT 2016. The highlights of the few of them are to follow.
The global satellite operator SES launched Enterprise+, a connectivity platform for Africa offering up to 1Gb per sec of connectivity with 99.5 % service availability.
ABOX42 GmbH, providing OTT and IPTV solutions, launched a new ABOX42OPL (Operator Secure Linux) and OPA (Operator Secure Android) dual-operating system solution, which allows users to run both OS environment for different services.
Eurostar Group, digital and consumer technology innovator in the Middle East, launched a range of innovative Internet of Things technologies across its satellite, security and WiFi products. With the aim to create a seamless digital connect, Eurostar introduced a wide range of technologies that come together to create smart homes and offices, making life smarter. The technologies being introduced by Eurostar’s satellite division include the Eurostar Smart Home System, which consists of a media center, wireless sensors and applications, provides independent security system across more than 64 wireless zones, Simple, easy and fast Bluetooth Satfinder, and Eurostar ETP3 – DVB T2 WiFi POCKET TV for streaming Digital TV/Radio to Android Phone or iPhone via Wi-Fi, among others.
In turn, Dalet showcased Galaxy, its enterprise MAM platform that facilitates collaboration and business visibility for news, sports, production, programming and archiving workflows. It showcased new advancements at CABSAT 2016, including work order tracking, media packaging, native subtitling support, tighter social media integration and enhanced collaboration tools.
Additionally, Dalet showed its new radio solution capabilities. Al Rayyan Radio Satellite Channel has employed Dalet software with the intention of automating, streamlining and unifying all of its media acquisition, production and delivery under a single platform.
Televés is increasing its presence in the Middle East, Africa and Southern Asia after mainly focusing on Spain and Latin America. The company presented its TV solutions portfolio for the hospitality market, integrating IPTV, video-on-demand (VOD) and over-the-top (OTT) platforms. Televés is also introduced to the market its digital signage services and solutions for deployment and management of high capacity fiber networks for small and medium-sized operators.
ETL Systems, a global designer and manufacturer of RF equipment for satellite communications, showcased its new technologies in RF distribution at this year’s CABSAT following major contract wins in the region, including QSAT Communications, which ordered eight of ETL’s new 10MHz pass Dextra combiner units for a multinational UAE based telecommunications service providers mobile VSAT systems.
ETL has designed new functionality and increased benefits into a series of advanced products including its StingRay RF over Fibre and Dextra splitters and combiners, which were presented to Mediasat reporter by CEO Ian Hilditch. New StingRay models on show includes redundancy systems for reliability and standalone component modules, while new Dextra models now include options with integrated DC & 10MHz pass.
Also on display was ETL’s compact 128×128 Vulcan L-band Switch Matrix/Router and Alto variable gain line amplifiers. The Vulcan offers excellent RF performance and benefits from reduced power consumption and hot in-service expansion, while the Alto series of amplifiers offset signal loss from long runs of cables and passive splitters and combiners by providing gain.
A 48 x 32 part populated Vortex L-band matrix with modular system splitters to provide variable gain, slope and LNB powering has also been ordered recently for a major television broadcaster in Dubai. A significant order was also placed for ETL’s 128×128 Vulcan and a 64×64 Vortex matrix by Hiltron for a large UAE broadcaster’s downlink and uplink systems.
Appear TV, a global provider of next-generation video processing platforms for broadcast and IP television, demonstrated the latest modules for IPTV, CATV and DTH broadcast for its modular XC Series Platform. On display were the company’s High-Channel Density, MultiFormat SD/HD & Multiscreen Universal Transcoder and Dense Multiscreen/OTT Encoder Modules, Adaptive Bit Rate (ABR) Packager software and DVB-S2X demodulation and modulation solutions.
These units are all part of Appear TV’s modular concept, which gives users a choice of modules and software to create a video processing solution custom-tailored to their needs. Any signal input from any carrier can be captured and adapted to any other signal output, with highly dense and powerful video processing in any format and to any device. Since Appear TV’s platform is modular, it allows users to have multiple distribution-format processes originating from one chassis, saving on hardware space and making it easy to make additions and upgrades as new formats and transmission technologies arise. In addition, all Appear TV modules can work with other third-party devices, making the integration with existing transmission equipment seamless.
ROKS, based in Ukraine distributor and producer of satellite TV, cable TV, IPTV, etc. equipment showcased its products at Cabsat for the first time.
Dubai office of Infomir, a receivers producer, presented both new set-top-boxes and already known ones to the MENA market.
See you next year on Cabsat!
