WRN Broadcast and MBC today announce a partnership that sees London’s leading broadcast managed services provider responsible for a range of broadcast services for the Dubai-based commercial broadcasting company.
WRN Broadcast, who secured the deal after initial discussions at NAB 2013, offers tailor-made end-to-end broadcast solutions as well as a comprehensive range of individual services from their four core broadcast areas – Manage, Originate, Deliver and Store – across TV, Radio and Digital. The London-based company has a strong reputation for global broadcasting projects, having worked with NHK World for almost a decade, enabled the launch the East African triple-play provider Zuku and most recently agreed an international distribution deal with UK-based Channel 4’s Box TV.
MBC was the first private free-to-air satellite broadcasting company in the Arab World, launching in London in 1991 and later relocating to UAE (in 2002). The MBC Group network includes both commercial radio and television services and reaches over 77% of MENA satellite households.
Andy Palmer, Group Director of Technical Operations, MBC, said: “WRN Broadcast have been appointed to work with MBC on a number of key projects moving forward. The company’s in-house expertise and leading technology are highly impressive and were a contributing factor to our decision.”
WRN Broadcast has seen consistent business growth over the past five years which has been supported by regular large-scale investment over this time – the most recent being £1m in January this year. This has enabled the company to strengthen and develop existing and emerging technologies and in the process future-proofing their London-based facility, whilst also developing new services such as OTT Delivery and building a dedicated Broadcast Data Centre, all to better support its client’s requirements.
David Treadway, CEO, WRN Broadcast, said: “WRN Broadcast is privileged to work with some of the greatest broadcasters in the world and we’re all thrilled to have the opportunity to include MBC in this as we partner with them on a range of broadcast managed services over the coming years. This project shows how we work with a client to understand their broadcast objectives and how our flexible and fast approach, alongside our expertise in certain key areas, can be used to realise the ambitions of the world’s major broadcasting powers.”
WRN Broadcast’s continued growth and heavy investment has been supported by staff numbers doubling, primarily focused on the operational and engineering teams as well as the dedicated account teams, now under the leadership of Andrew Davies, who joined WRN Broadcast in August from TSL’s Dubai office. (Source: WRN Broadcast press release)