News

November 29, 2020

The shortlists of the 93rd Academy Awards will be unveiled early next year with the awards ceremony slated to take place in April in Los Angeles, US.

OSN appoints SRM as exclusive commercial distributor in UAE

November 29, 2020

As part of the agreement, SRM will manage all the commercial licensing for OSN for Business across the Emirates.

Cannes Corporate Media & TV Awards announces winners for 2020

November 29, 2020

This year’s Grand Prix winner was also awarded a sponsored trip to the Maldives for two people in partnership with CinéTravel, a French travel agency.

Qvest Media appoints Christian Massmann as MD of Qvest Group

November 28, 2020

Effective January 1, 2021, Massmann will be appointed to the management board of the Qvest Group to manage sales activities in the media sector.

Abu Dhabi Sports launches exclusive channel for mixed martial arts

November 27, 2020

The new channel, which will be aired via eLife by Etisalat, will offer access to regional and global events, in addition to a range of exclusive content in both English...

Asharq News chooses Megaphone TV solution for interactive viewing experience

November 26, 2020

Since its launch on November 11, Asharq News is broadcasting live from its studios in Dubai.

Sharjah Film Platform announces winners of third edition

November 26, 2020

More than 60 short and feature-length films from around the world were screened in Sharjah cinemas and online during this year’s festival.

Mads Mikkelsen to replace Johnny Depp for third ‘Fantastic Beasts’ film

November 26, 2020

The release date for the third 'Fantastic Beasts' installment is July 15, 2022, and will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures.

Fifth episode of ‘Nemra Etnein’ to premiere on Shahid VIP tomorrow

The episode will bring together Menna Shalaby opposite Ahmed Malek and Huda El Mufti for the first time.

Abu Dhabi’s Yas Creative Hub to open in 2021

The Hub is aiming to accelerate the industry’s anticipated growth, with the number of professionals working in the field in Abu Dhabi expected to triple to 16,000 over the next...

OSN to offer Disney’s ‘Mulan’ from December 3

OSN is also launching a competition which will allow select non-subscribers the chance to join the virtual premiere of 'Mulan', along with 24-hour OSN streaming access.

Turkey’s ATV expands playout and editing capabilities using Cinegy software

Turkuvaz currently owns Cinegy Archive with redundancy, 55 Cinegy Air PRO bundles, several Cinegy Converts with 24 agents in total, 45 Cinegy Captures, and 380 Cinegy Desktops for editing.

StarzPlay extends deal with Lionsgate Play India for OTT tech solutions

As part of the new project, StarzPlay will deliver the entire infrastructure, both back-end and front-end, including an advanced intuitive content management systems (CMS), billing solutions, video player, search and...

BeIN Media Group successfully broadcasts Ajyal Film Festival in MENA

BeIN also set up live studios during the closing celebration between 6 pm to 7.30 pm, where it hosted several guests including DFI spokespeople, filmmakers, jury members and award winners.

Shure acquires Stem Audio

Shure and Stem Audio will continue to operate separately as integration plans for sales and support are finalised.

SynProNize signs multiple key content deals in Africa

Launched in early 2020, SynProNize is partnering with various digital platforms and linear broadcasters in South Asia, Africa and the Middle-East.

Egyptian director Hadi Elbagoury’s ‘Al Daif’ to stream on Netflix from December

November 23, 2020

The film stars Khaled El Sawy, Ahmed Malek, Shereen Reda and Jamila Awad, alongside guest stars Maged El Kedwany, Mohamed Mamdouh, Arfa Abdel Raoul and Mahmoud Al Lithy.

Emirates Airlines to air nature documentaries for inflight passengers

November 23, 2020

The partnership aims to fulfil Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi's objective of raising awareness of key regional environmental issues and initiatives among as wide an audience as possible.

Zee5 Global launches first-ever OTT Content Festival for independent filmmakers

November 23, 2020

Participants can send in their entries to contentfest@zee5.com which will be open for a month.

MBC Group and Rotana Media sign deal to bring Rotana TV channels to Shahid VIP

November 22, 2020

Rotana Media Group’s TV channels will be available to stream live in high definition (HD) on Shahid VIP from today across the MENA region.

Nat Geo to premiere ‘Virus Hunters’ documentary on November 26 in UAE

November 22, 2020

The documentary will trace the journey of experts and scientists on a quest to not only understand and stop the Covid-19 outbreak but also prevent the next deadly pandemic.

Marvel’s ‘Black Panther’ sequel shoot may begin in July 2021

November 22, 2020

Disney, which owns Marvel, has indicated that it will not use CGI to include Boseman in the film.

Warner Bros. to release ‘Tom and Jerry’ live-action film in March 2021

November 19, 2020

The new film has been written by Kevin Costello and is based on Joseph Barbera and William Hanna’s classic ‘Tom and Jerry'.

Ajyal Film Festival announces beIN as official media partner for eighth edition

November 19, 2020

BeIN Media Group will broadcast the ceremonies and awards of the film festival on beIN Movies HD1 Premiere channel and beIN Movies Youtube channel.

Red Sea Film Festival to host exclusive Tajreeb screenings online this month

The 11 selected films will screen online over the course of two weeks, starting from today until November 30 on the Red Sea Film Festival’s YouTube channel.

Twofour54 and Media Zone Authority announce new business licensing opportunities

Licenses include 57 dedicated categories for gaming companies and freelancers, as well as additional categories in the creative and digital sectors.

Egyptian horror film ‘Ammar’ lands world premiere at Cairo Film Festival

Directed by Mahmoud Kamel, and co-written by Ahmed Al-Dahan and Haitham Al-Dahan, 'Ammar' stars Sherif Salama and Eman El Assi.

Amjad Abu Alala’s ‘You Will Die At Twenty’ to represent Sudan at Oscars 2021

The film was submitted as Sudan’s official nomination for the Best International Feature Film category at the upcoming 2021 Academy Awards.

Italian film festival features Moroccan film ‘Fadma: Even Ants Have Wings’

Following the new Covid-19 restrictions, the festival programme is being streamed on MYmovies.it until November 22.

Orange signs exclusive partnership with Deezer to provide music service in Egypt

In addition, individual customers can get a 50% discount till January 2021 for the first 100,000 customers who subscribe to the service.

Arabic series ‘The Platform’ begins filming season two in UAE

The series, which was created and written by Hozan Akko, comprises of 12 episodes and is streaming on Netflix.

Spotify launches initiative to celebrate emerging Arab female artists in MENA

Arab superstar Latifa will debut as SAWTIK’s godmother to mentor 16 emerging female artists including Almas from UAE.

Image Nation Abu Dhabi to screen documentary on autism tomorrow

The screening and the following panel discussion will take place on Image Nation’s webinar platform, with free online registration.

MediaCast to host virtual seminar for media technology market in November

Each day will run a seven-hour event featuring different brands offering an insight into the technology and products of leading x brands.

BAFTA includes Egypt’s Amir El-Masry in Breakthrough participants list for 2020

BAFTA Breakthrough is the only new talent initiative that showcases and supports the next generation of creative talent in film, games and television.

Premier League scraps pay-per-view model following backlash

Under this model, viewers were asked to pay nearly $20 to watch games not selected for broadcast by Sky Sports or BT Sport in October.

Viu to premiere two Original productions at Cairo International Film Festival

The Cairo International Film Festival will be held from December 2 to 10 and the third edition of Cairo Industry Day will be held from December 4 to 7.

Netflix to release South African film ‘Riding With Sugar’ on November 27

The film stars British-Kenyan actor, Charles Mmene and Hollywood star Hakeem Kae-Kazim.

UAE Pro League hosts technical sessions for staff members in professional clubs

The sessions were designed according to the AFC and UAE Pro League licensing and development initiatives with the aim of focussing on development areas of football.

Emirati short film ‘Athel’ wins at Calcutta International Cult Film Festival

November 16, 2020

Distributed by Mad Solutions, the film is produced by Toaster Productions and Anasy Media and directed by Alyazia Bint Nahyan.

Finyal Media launches second series of Arabic podcast ‘Juha’

November 16, 2020

With a new episode launching every other day until November 22, the 15-episode series has now launched across all popular podcast channels.

Arab Film Festival Stockholm to screen two Egyptian films

Organised by Malmo Arab Film Festival, the Stockholm edition will open with Palestinian drama 'Wajib' (2017).

Egyptian DOP Ahmad Al Morsy wins at Australian Cinematography Society

The new awards raise the tally of Al Morsy's international and regional accolades to 22 in the past decade.

Disney+ crosses 73m subscribers in Q4

The figure includes subscribers for Disney+ in collaboration with Hotstar in India and Indonesia.

Netflix to release African Original series ‘Kings of Jo’burg’ in December

The series, produced by South African company Ferguson Films, will feature six episodes.

European Union agency helps shut down 5,500 illegal IPTV servers across Europe

November 14, 2020

One person has been arrested while computer equipment, other communication tools and payment instruments, as well as luxury cars, have been seized.

Third edition of Sharjah Film Platform to open tomorrow

November 13, 2020

Festival venues include the Foundation’s open-air Mirage City Cinema, the iconic Flying Saucer and the big screens in Cinemacity IMAX, Zero 6 Mall.

Bahrain’s Baby Clay to release season two of ‘Lantern’s Tales’ next year

Season two will be featured at the Dubai International Content Market (DICM) on December 7, 2021.

Netflix signs deal with KSA’s Telfaz11 studios to produce eight films

The upcoming projects will bring together a band of unconventional storytellers who are passionate about combining narratives drawn from Arab culture with elements of comedy and humanity.

TikTok-owner ByteDance may rake in $27bn in ad revenue by year-end

The company is also reportedly in talks with investors to raise around $2bn in a new financing round that will value it at $180bn after the investment.

Cairo Film Festival reveals another selection of films under its 42nd edition

The line-up features titles that will mark their world and international premieres in Cairo.

Showmax introduces subscription-free streaming service in South Africa

Ad-supported Showmax features a limited content slate and doesn’t include all the functionality available with a paying subscription, like downloads and watchlists.

Discovery to launch new streaming service across Eastern Europe and Asia

Discovery+ will combine Discovery’s library with sports and offer content from Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, ID, Discovery Science, Food Network, Travel Channel, as well as Eurosport.

Riedel names Vincent Lambert as General Manager for Japan and South Korea

Moving into his new role after serving for four years as Riedel's head of global system consulting, Lambert will report to APAC Director Simon Roehrs.

Shaping audio for broadcast

by Guest Columnist

With social distancing measures in place, there is an increasing demand within broadcast for high-quality audio capture and wireless transmission that is both stable and efficient in its use of...

OSN to double its investment in Arabic content through OSN Originals

OSN cemented its foray into Original productions this year with the launch of new shows including 'A’adet Regala' season three, food reality show 'Yalla Neta’asha' and Syrian war drama 'No...

Third edition of Sharjah Film Platform opens this weekend

The third edition of the annual festival from Sharjah Art Foundation runs from November 14 to 21, 2020 in select Sharjah cinemas and online.

Nat Geo to premiere ‘Rebuilding Paradise’ documentary on November 14

The documentary is on a devastating firestorm which engulfed California in November 2018, killing 85 people, displacing 50,000 residents and destroying 95% of local structures.

Image Nation film ‘Scales’ to premiere in cinemas across KSA on November 12

The film will be available in cinemas across Riyadh, Jeddah, Tabuk, Jizan and the Eastern Province in its first theatrical release.

Asharq News to launch today

by Vijaya Cherian