Page 59 - The Channel Issue 2 2010

THE CHANNEL | ISSUE 2 2010 | 59

past we were specifically looking at fulfilling client's requirements with solutions on an ad hoc basis. What we have done now is broadened that, focusing on asset management and content management. Once we have got the content in the building – in whatever format – we can then publish to multiple platforms. We can send it to an IPTV platform, we can do VOD streaming as an extra to playout. It's that easy now.

Which markets are you looking at?

The African market is extremely interesting and looking healthy in terms of the amount of discussions we are having with existing or new clients about distribution. Earlier this year we closed a major deal with Nairobi-basedWananchi Group. We are providing encoding, multiplexing and fibre delivery of more than 12 channels for distribution on Zuku, Kenya’s first triple-play service. The channels include MSNBC, Eurosport News, Nickelodeon and Bloomberg, with more to follow. Wananchi Group needed a partner that could offer a robust delivery method, due to the high profile nature of the channels and the strict SLAs in the carriage agreements.

They will be able to receive services fromvirtually any broadcaster worldwide, using our London tele-port, international satellite network

and global fibre connectivity.

How do you market your services?

A good proporation of our business comes by referral. As we are moving to more pro-active marketing we are going out and grabbing the business as opposed to it coming to us. We also picked up a considerable database of clients and leads from the TSI acquisition. We have doubled the size of the sales team, and we issue regular circulars for radio and TV that go to existing and prospective clients. We are at the beginning of a whole new strategic campaign now as we have engaged with a PR company – you're going to hear a lot more about us.

What impact has the worldwide downturn had on you?

Interestingly we continued to grow. We have seen opportunity in the economic downturn and tried to grasp it with both hands, be it acquiring another company or providing services for clients in slightly different ways to meet their economic needs. You do have to take some practical decisions based on your clients' situation, I think the downturn has caused us to work smarter.

How do you see the industry evolving - where is it all heading?

I used to work in the cable industry

and the buzz word was

convergence at the beginning of the 90's. Recently we have seen a real opportunity in the sector to deliver that, it's all about what the end user wants, where and when they want it and how they consume it. It's a gradual evolution, often led by the way younger people use media and expect it to be delivered to them. Younger people might want radio delivered in a slightly different way than in the past but they continue to want it and consume it in vast numbers.

We will continue to see TV consumed in its traditional form, but we will also see more and more TV consumed in the way that Top Up TV is consumed – that is, where and when the consumer wants it. And on which platform. I think we are much better placed now to deliver what the consumer demands rather than us trying to lead them down a technological path just because we as

broadcasters think this is the right thing to do. We have seen some very dramatic examples here in the UK where if you don't deliver what the consumers want they will abandon your channel. And the idea that the radio or TV would die because something else came along has been shown to be nonsense.

David Treadway, thank you.

The big growth currently is coming from managed services for TV

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