Major football leagues are continuing to work together on the issue of piracy of rights-holder material in the Middle East. FIFA, the AFC, UEFA, the Bundesliga, LaLiga, Lega Serie A, LFP and the Premier League have issued a statement following the publication of an investigative report into the operations of beoutQ.
“As rights holders of globally followed sports events, whose intellectual property rights have been breached on a systematic and widespread basis by the pirate broadcaster known as beoutQ, we have commissioned a leading industry body, MarkMonitor, to conduct research and produce a detailed and independent technical analysis of beoutQ’s operations.
The report confirms without question that beoutQ’s pirate broadcasts have been transmitted using satellite infrastructure owned and operated by Arabsat.
The contents of the report are today being published in full on the rights holders’ websites to provide transparency about the facts of the case and to demonstrate the seriousness with which we, as global rights holders, view this issue.
As previously communicated, we have been frustrated in our attempts to pursue a formal copyright claim against beoutQ in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and, while we have received reports that beoutQ transmissions are currently disrupted, we nevertheless call on Arabsat and all other satellite providers to stop (and going forward agree to refrain from) providing a platform for piracy, which harms not just legitimate licensees, fans and players but also the sports that it abuses.
Cutting off its access to transmission services would be a major step in the fight to stop beoutQ. We all, individually and collectively, remain committed to bringing an end to international sports piracy.”
BeoutQ pirates all of the output of Qatar-based BeIN Media Group, including sporting fixtures for which it holds the rights for most Middle East territories.
According to the New York Times, BeIN has been a loss-making enterprise since its inception, but it said the loss of access to the market in Saudi Arabia, its region’s biggest, was the reason it eliminated hundreds of jobs — representing about a fifth of its employees — in June. A rival network in the Gulf, OSN, has withdrawn from all sports broadcasting except cricket, with its officials blaming piracy as a key factor driving the decision.
19 September will be the 1,000th day that Al Jazeera journalistMahmoud Hussein has spent behind bars after being detained by Egyptian authorities while visiting his family in December 2016.
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Al Jazeera Media Network has renewed its call for the immediate release of Mahmoud Hussein. On 23 May 2019, a court in Egypt rejected the appeal by the prosecutor for the continued detention of Mahmoud and ordered his release from prison. However, in defiance of the court order, the authorities opened a new investigation against him with unspecified charges and has returned him to prison. The Network strongly condemns the Egyptian authorities’ decision to return Mahmoud Hussein to Tora prison despite the court ruling he be released. Mahmoud is being detained by the Egyptian government in flagrant violation of international law and an infringement of his fundamental rights.
The Association for International Broadcasting joins with Al Jazeera and other media organisations in calling on the Egyptian authorities to release Mahmoud Hussein immediately.
Egypt continues its crackdown on media freedom. The country has the greatest number of journalists detained in any country in the world. Mahmoud Hussein has been robbed from 1000 days of his life with no end in sight, all without legal justification. Al Jazeera continues to strongly condemn this and refutes all charges against him and calls on the international community, media professionals, and human rights advocates to raise awareness and demand his immediate freedom.
On Thursday 19 September 2019 Al Jazeera Media Network is launching a solidarity campaign coinciding with the 1000 days of detention of Mahmoud Hussein. The campaign aims to focus on publicising the inhumane conditions he endures under detention, and to mobilise support and shed light on his case and call for his immediate release. As part of the campaign an online petition demanding his immediate release has been launched, and it can be accessed at www.FreeMahmoudHussein.com.
View a short report on Mahmoud Hussein’s detention and the international solidarity campaign here:
Productions across TV, radio and online from 20 countries have made the final cut
The shortlist for the AIBs 2019 – the 15th annual competition for the world’s best factual productions – has been published by the Association for International Broadcasting.
Work from over 50 companies has been selected to go through to the final judging by the international jury, with an immensely wide range of subjects covered. With 19 categories covering sport, daily journalism, human interest and much more, the AIBs are one of the most comprehensive international awards for factual producers.
“We have had the largest field of entries in the 15-year history of the AIBs,” says Simon Spanswick, chief executive of the Association for International Broadcasting. “Over 400 hours of work was submitted to this year’s competition, from production companies and broadcasters on every continent. The standard of work was extremely high and selecting the entries to go through to the final judging was a very real challenge. With reports and investigations covering child abuse, war crimes and natural disasters through to lighter subjects such as microscopic art, the subject range is immense.”
The shortlist of over 100 entries is now in front of the international jury of 59 programme makers, broadcast executives and other experts who will evaluate all the work. The winners in the 19 categories will be announced at the AIBs gala dinner in London on 6 November, attended by guests from all over the world. Bloomberg Television and Radio anchor Nerja Ćehić will host the awards, and Rana Rahimpour of BBC Persian will present the “in conversation” segment.
“The AIBs competition does not discriminate,” continues Spanswick, “between productions from large-scale broadcast networks or small-scale production companies, nor between productions in English or in any other language. It’s a level playing field and over the past decade and a half, prizes have been won by individual producers as well as by the broadcasting giants. That’s what makes this contest so appealing, and has gained its global reputation.”
In line with its five-year growth plan to provide first-rate content tailored to audiences around the world, MBC Group announces the launch of MBC5, a brand-new satellite channel promising the very best in family entertainment dedicated to the Maghreb.
Referred to as ‘MBC Cinq’ in French, the free-to-air channel will televise content that remains faithful to – as well as further enrich – the North African region’s cultural and historical heritage.
MBC Group’s relationship with the great Maghreb public is one that is not new; for its current channels already broadcast across the region. This launch is only set to cement MBC’s dedication to broadcasting more targeted content, whilst also promising to increase the distribution of localised content to wider territories. This will reinforce the mutual benefits for television producers and directors, whilst improving the quality of skills already present in the field.
Furthermore, the launch of MBC5 is expected to benefit the target countries’ economic development and employment, through new investments in the region’s media sector, as well as the creation of new jobs, especially for first-time employees/the youth market.
This ambitious project will provide a platform to encourage the exchange of diverse experiences and dialogue between local, regional and even global media sectors, encouraging growth and improvement in line with international standards.
LAUNCH DATE
MBC5 launches on the evening of Saturday 21 September, marked by the exclusive broadcast of the first episode of ‘The Voice’ Season 5.
Viewsat, an established operator in the global media broadcast industry, announced its new name – Viewmedia – to reflect the expansion of their portfolio in order to service the requirements of broadcasters worldwide, the company announced at IBC (12 September 2019).
To facilitate this new development, the company has been rolling out a range of new services across the past six months including:
the launch of media and OTT services globally, including social media streaming
the launch of extended platform delivery with managed services to any platform anywhere
the launch of VS play, the company’s Playout solution which is seamlessly integrated with Phoenix 7
In addition to the above developments, Viewmedia will expand its satellite services.
CEO, Awaes Jaswal said: “For 13 years, our company has been passionate about finding solutions in delivering our clients’ content, while offering affordable broadcast services and world class customer care. We are now expanding the options to continue to meet our customers’ requirements.”
“Our service is flexible and tailored to suit each client and their business needs, and we are delighted that our new name now clearly reflects our portfolio of services.” Added Sandra Squire, Business Development Director.
Viewsat was founded in 2006 with clients predominantly in the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa. Today, it provides broadcast services to 150 customers ranging from entertainment to news channels.
Peter Limbourg, director general of Deutsche Welle (DW), and Marie-Christine Saragosse, CEO and chairwoman of France Médias Monde (FMM), met at the DW headquarters in Bonn for their third annual seminar to discuss new ways of strengthening their editorial cooperation regarding European media projects.
On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, DW, RFI (Radio France Internationale) and France 24 are planning multilingual digital co-productions for social media aimed at young people. Other events such as the second edition of the Paris Peace Forum in November or the Munich Security Conference in February next year, will be used to explore new ways of collaborating, for instance by sharing editorial teams on the ground.
DW Director General Peter Limbourg: “We like to deepen our successful collaboration because together we can reach even more people around the globe with high quality journalism from Europe.”
France Médias Monde CEO and Chairwoman of Marie-Christine Saragosse: “Because our role as international media is increasingly important in a global context of tensions, because on European news France Médias Monde and Deutsche Welle have expertise and multilingual editorial forces that no one can match, this cooperation between our two groups is essential.”
Cooperation at the heart of the public service missions
One successful joint project was the coverage of the latest European elections in May, including several TV debates co-produced by France 24 and DW in Brussels and in Berlin, as well as a major investigative report “European elections: when Russia interferes” and a series of videos about first-time voters from every European country. These videos were tailored for social networks and were all co-produced by DW, France 24 and RFI.
This cooperation at the heart of the public service missions of the two international media groups in the EU, led FMM and DW to continue developing a key project temporarily named “Enter!” which seeks to deliver multilingual digital information to European youth. This project, which meets one of the objectives set out in the Franco-German Treaty of Aachen (Aix La Chapelle), could be preceded by a pilot tested and running in 2020. The idea has already been positively assessed by the European Commission which deemed it feasible and praised its innovative strength.
These projects come on the heels of the success of “InfoMigrants.” Launched in March 2017 by FMM, DW and Italian news agency Ansa, with the support of the European Commission, “InfoMigrants” delivers reliable information to migrants wherever they are, in five languages (Arabic, English, French, Pashtoun and Dari) on all online platforms they may use (mobile site, Facebook, Viber etc). 37 million users were reached last year. This accomplishment has led the European Commission to renew its trust in “InfoMigrants” and to commit to funding it for one more year.
Another shared effort is “+90”, a Turkish-language YouTube launched in April by the international broadcasters DW, Voice of America, BBC and FMM. France 24 provides stories which are then adapted in Turkish by DW. Just five months after its launch in the Turkish-speaking market, the “+90” content was viewed more than 500,000 hours in total and the channel has close to 140.000 subscribers.
France Médias Monde and Deutsche Welle reaffirmed their ambitions to continue achieving success on these different fronts and joint projects aimed at European citizens and the rest of the world. In a context of widespread competition and the global information battle, the two groups are more than ever determined to join forces to fight the spread of fake news and all forms of manipulation by providing free, independent and balanced information for the benefit of every generation.
CEO, Awaes Jaswal said: “For 13 years, our company has been passionate about finding solutions in delivering our clients’ content