2 March 2017
Arabsat, a leading satellite services provider in the Arab world, has been selected by global media solutions provider Globecast to broadcast TRT World, the international news platform of Turkey, in high definition over the MENA region on Arabsat’s Badr-6 satellite at 26°E. Globecast is the worldwide distributor of the TRT news platform.
Building on its existing relationship with Arabsat, Globecast is supplying global packaged services to TRT World for this project. The company is providing connectivity through its fully redundant fibre network and its Paris NOC, which enables the uplinking of the channel to Arabsat’s Badr-6 satellite.
“This new HD channel will further grow our HD neighbourhood and reinforce our HD dominance in MENA. We are grateful to once again be working with our long-term partner Globecast for the distribution of a premium channel, which will undoubtedly attract a wide range of viewers,” said Khalid Balkheyour, President & CEO of Arabsat.
The cooperation means TRT World will be available to viewers in the Middle East and North Africa.
“We’re delighted to once again be teaming with Arabsat, our trusted partner in the Arab region, for this important project. We’re seeing a lot of growth in the 26° neighbourhood lately, especially in terms of exclusive content. This region is perfectly suited to our customer, TRT World,” commented Philippe Bernard, Globecast Group CEO.
(Source: Arabsat press release)
15 February 2017
Arabsat and ONT have signed an agreement to launch a Tunisian broadcast platform on Arabsat Badr-4 at 26°E.
This platform operation will start by end of Q2, 2017 and will allow Tunisian and regional broadcasters to have direct access from Tunis to the growing 26°E neighbourhood with a coverage encompassing MENA and Western Europe.
“This platform is the result of the long term cooperation between Arabsat and the Office National de la Telediffusion Tunisien (ONT) which had started several years ago “said Khalid Balkheyour, CEO of Arabsat. “It will enhance our relationship with Tunisia where Arabsat is already present through our Satellite Control Station as well as the HQ of our strategic partner ASBU.”
“Expanding our cooperation with Arabsat will enable us to meet our customers’ needs and position ONT as a true one stop shop. We believe the 26°E neighbourhood will continue its growth through the addition of exclusive TV channels respecting the traditions of the region” added the CEO of ONT Mr Dhaker Baccouch.
Rohde and Schwarz was chosen for the installation and commissioning of the platform with the most up to date technical specifications.
(Source: Arabsat press release)
6 February 2017
Arab Satellite Communication Organization – ARABSAT- is holding its 9th Telecom Forum in Tunis from 14th -15th February 2017. Arabsat holds its Telecom Forum annually to strengthen its professional and operational association with its customers. The 2017 Forum will provide a platform for ARABSAT customers, industry experts, technology and service providers to share their views on latest technological trends.
Arabsat’s CTO Eng. Mueid Al-Zahrani said “This occasion will be a great opportunity to present our reliable high powered capacity to deliver connectivity services to different verticals over extensive coverages in the Middle East, North Africa, North West Africa, Central Asia and South Africa. Our Future High Throughput Satellites (HTS) that are scheduled to be launched in 2018 will complement existing capacities and supply adequate bandwidth and coverage.”
The 9th Telecom Forum will provide a platform for international experts to explore, in-depth, a range of issues pertaining to the market needs for satellite capacity to fulfil the growth of satellite-based broadband solutions, aeronautical in flight entitlements, HTS applications and GSM backhaul.
(Source: ARABSAT press release)
14 November 2016
Arab Satellite Communications Organization – Arabsat – participates in AFRICACOM Conference & Exhibition held in Cape Town, South Africa, from 15-17 November 2016.
Eng. Khalid bin Ahmed Balkhyour, President & CEO of Arabsat, stated that “Through our participation in this show, we are looking forward to presenting our services provided to the African continent, as our 5th generation satellites are covering the entire African continent broadcasting TV, telecommunications and Internet satellite services. Arabsat satellites also broadcast dedicated bouquets over North Africa and other dedicated bouquets over the whole African continent including TV & telecom broadcast, in addition to the existence of several ground satellite stations inside Africa connected to the European and the Asian satellite ground stations to provide Internet services and mobile networking. ARABSAT will also showcase the capabilities of its 6th generation satellites, scheduled to be launched next year which will provide extra massive satellite capacities covering the whole African continent and its potential market with full in Orbit – back up.”
Balkhyour concluded that “We are currently working hard on several important strategic projects to operate many of our new orbital positions and keep up with our customers increasing needs, maintaining Arabsat status as the best choice to provide customers’ needs in satellite broadcasting & Telecommunication services.”
(Source: Arabsat press release)
20 October 2016
The 9th MENA Broadcast Anti-Piracy Coalition meeting took place in early September gathering stakeholders from the satellite broadcast (Eutelsat, Arabsat, Gulfsat) and content production and distribution industry (MBC, OSN, Rotana, ART, CNE and the MPA) to take stock of the state-of-play of piracy in the region. They agreed that continued effort between all the members remains a key priority to reduce the numbers of infringements and to prevent notoriously rogue pirate channel operators from infringing members’ rights. The coalition members also discussed statistics which clearly indicate that pirate channels are operated by a handful of individuals and agreed on how better to identify and take actions against them.
“Satellite TV piracy has relied upon everyone ignoring or being ignorant of the rules, of the individuals behind the pirate channels and of the major companies who profit by selling services to the pirates. Our coalition is step by step removing the cloak from this murky sector,” stated Sam Barnett, MBC Group CEO.
TV piracy remains an important problem in the region. Statistics show that over the past six months a total of almost 200 Western content infringements and over 4,000 Arabic content infringements occurred.
“We are very encouraged by the progress made so far by this important coalition but it is equally clear that a lot still needs to be done. It has been our experience that progress in this area can only be made when stakeholders constructively work with each other. Curbing TV piracy is essential to keep growing legitimate TV channels thereby enhancing the consumers’ viewing experience, reinvesting money into the creation of new high-quality content and securing millions of jobs worldwide.” stated Okke Delfos Visser, Head of the Legal Department of the MPA in Europe, Middle East and Africa.
The Broadcast Satellite Anti-Piracy Coalition members include Noorsat, Gulfsat, Viewsat, STN, JMC, Etisalat, Du, Nilesat, Arabsat, Eutelsat, Rotana, Art, OSN, MediaGates, Motion Picture Association (MPA members include Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures; Paramount Pictures Corporation; Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc.; Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation; Universal City Studios LLC; and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.), WWE, TNA, Spot2000, Cedars Art, Egyptian Media Production City, Egyptian Chamber of Cinema, Cable Network Egypt, Eagle Films, IAA, Almassa Art Production, Miser International Film, Misr for Sound and Light, and MBC.
The Coalition was formed in March 2014. As major stakeholders in the Middle East Satellite TV industry, the members share information and align strategies to prevent copyright infringement in the Middle East.
(Source: MBC press release)
