News

January 27, 2020

The festival, which is free to attend, will screen films that explore environmental issues, conduct talks with environmental activists, workshops and events focussed on waste management.

Video Assistant Referee approved for Egyptian Premier League

January 26, 2020

The incorporation of VAR in Egypt makes it the second African country to do so, after Morocco.

Cairo International Book Fair screens 11 films by Mad Solutions this month

January 26, 2020

The films including “Between Two Seas” and Oscar shorts like “Ave Maria” and “Nocturne in Black” will be screened during the artistic and cultural events at the book fair.

Ross Video reveals updated Ultrix routing/AV processing platform

January 26, 2020

The updated versions will allow customers to scale their IP deployments cost-effectively by using any of the Ultrix frame sizes.

Nigerian Film Corporation signs agreement with French agency on film and cinema

January 25, 2020

As part of this agreement, CNC will provide its expertise to NFC to enable it to acquire the skills required to manage its archives in a professional manner.

Vox Cinemas opens new cinema facility at Atyaf Mall in Riyadh

The new facility features seven standard cinemas, two VIP theatres, and two kids’ movie houses.

Image Nation to screen ‘History of the Emirates’ documentary in Abu Dhabi

The documentary will be screened at the historic landmark Qasr Al Hosn in Arabic and English on January 24 and 25.

Second edition of Al Ain Film Festival gets under way

The festival, which will run till January 25, will award films in several categories including the Falcon Emirati, and the Falcon Gulf among others.

Netflix reports annual revenue of $20bn in 2019

Netflix has posted a strong 2019 driven by its Q4 performance and high sales in EMEA last year.

YouTube appoints new MD for EMEA Emerging Markets

January 22, 2020

Okosi will assume this role from April and will be based in YouTube’s London office.

Sonnet announces dual 2.5-inch SATA SSD PCI Express 3.0 card

January 22, 2020

The card includes a hardware RAID controller for drive configuration, plus an external USB 3.2 Gen 2 USB-C port with 15 watts of power.

Viacom18 to launch subscription-based streaming service ‘Voot Select’

January 21, 2020

Voot Select is the second subscription-based streaming service from Viacom18 and will go live on Viacom18’s VOD service Voot, which boasts of around 100m monthly active users.

Masstech launches Adobe Premiere Pro panel for Kumulate

January 21, 2020

Kumulate is a modular platform which allows users to build a storage ecosystem, utilising asset management, workflow orchestration and transcode modules to store media assets efficiently.

Synamedia partners with USSI Global to provide video network services

January 21, 2020

The companies will also partner to help customers with a go-to-market strategy for ATSC 3.0, the next-generation broadcast standard.

BBC Director General Tony Hall to step down after seven years

The 68-year-old said it was a "hard decision" as he announced he will leave later this year in a message to BBC staff.

Tunisian filmmaker Meryam Joobeur’s ‘Brotherhood’ nominated for Oscars

Last year, the film won the Best Short Film award at the Malmö Arab Film Festival (MAFF) in Sweden.

OSN acquires license to broadcast new Turkish drama series ‘The Choice’

Under the terms of the agreement, OSN will broadcast new episodes of “The Choice” within one week of their Turkish broadcast.

SPI/FilmBox renews digital partnership with Turkey’s D-Smart

According to the updated agreement, four channels of SPI/FilmBox along with access to select VOD content will be available for another two years on D-Smart’s OTT platform, D-Smart GO.

Disney drops Fox name, rebrands it as 20th Century Studios

January 19, 2020

The rebranding comes a year after Disney acquired the 20th Century Fox film studio along with other media operations in a $71bn deal.

Ryan Giggs to make punditry debut on beIN SPORTS

January 19, 2020

The thirteen-time Premier League champion will be live from the beIN SPORTS studios for the first time

NBCUniversal to offer free and premium packages for Peacock streaming service

January 18, 2020

The free premium ad-supported streamer will be offered in two tiers: Peacock Free and Peacock Premium which will cost $4.99 per month for users in the US.

Broadcast Solutions and Ross Video deliver broadcast system for Sharjah mosque

January 17, 2020

After opening its doors in 2019, Sharjah Grand Mosque is the United Arab Emirates’ second-largest mosque and has a capacity to accommodate over 25,000 worshippers.

Sky News Arabia brings eight new programmes for viewers across the MENA region

January 17, 2020

Sky News Arabia is also re-launching several its flagship shows including "Al Sabah", "Niran Sadiqa", "Al Massa" and “Malaeb”.

MBC Group unveils Shahid, announces new Original productions and partnerships

January 16, 2020

While Shahid Premieres will offer exclusives from the world of cinema and television, Shahid Originals will focus on a variety of local and regional premium productions.

Radio Simba in western Kenya broadcasts with Lawo technology

January 16, 2020

The main studio features Lawo’s sleek crystal mixing console and Compact Engine mixing platform connected to a standard-based AES67 / RAVENNA AoIP network.

Vodafone Qatar offers free subscription to OSN’s WAVO

January 15, 2020

WAVO is an online streaming platform hosting popular TV shows, Hollywood and Arabic blockbuster movies, kids’ content, and live sports.

Nigeria bans exclusive sports broadcasting rights

January 15, 2020

The ban would keep in check the anti-competitive and unfair practices by a foreign or local broadcaster in the television and radio markets.

Jameel Arts Centre screens films by renowned artists this month

January 15, 2020

The films, which will be premiered, include the 1954 feature “Les Statues Meurent Aussi” and “The Apollo of Gaza”, among others.

ViacomCBS reorganises leadership roles under CEO David Lynn

The newly merged entity has broken its ViacomCBS Networks International (VCNI) into two brand divisions and three pan-regional management hubs.

StarzPlay partners with Finyal Media to produce podcast series

The partnership will see the production of a podcast series which is based around the popular ‘Vikings’ drama series.

Syrian documentaries ‘The Cave’ and ‘For Sama’ nominated for Oscars

This year’s Oscars ceremony will take place on February 9 at Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California.

UK theatre company uses Robe lighting in a musical for the first time

As a programmer and a designer, Jacob Gowler, who worked on the production, stated it was “a dream” to programme the Robe T1s and LEDBeam 150s on the theatre’s ETC...

Red Sea Film Festival backs five Saudi women directors for a film project

January 13, 2020

Produced and funded by the Red Sea International Film Festival, the anthology film furthers the Festival’s commitment to daring new work by Saudi directors.

Facebook appoints new Regional Director for Africa, Turkey and the Middle East

January 13, 2020

Derya Matras has spent most of her career in emerging markets and was previously the Facebook Country Director for Turkey.

African SVOD revenues to reach $1,055m by 2025: Digital TV Research

January 13, 2020

The revenue derived from SVOD in the African market is expected to increase by six times the current value by 2025, according to Digital TV Research.

Deezer signs deal with Mondia to connect more people to music

January 12, 2020

As part of the deal, Mondia Pay will connect Deezer to operator subscribers as well as payment collection through its next-generation payment platform.

AMC Cinemas launches loyalty programme in Saudi

January 12, 2020

The programme has been built specifically for Saudi viewers offering a personalised experience and points for money spent.

BeIN Media secures French broadcasting rights for Euro 2020

January 12, 2020

The deal marks the broadcaster’s latest agreement with UEFA in France after securing exclusive rights to the Champions League for 2021 to 2024.

Streaming platforms win big as HBO, Hulu take centre stage at Golden Globes

January 11, 2020

Streaming platforms led the awards with 30 nominations total among Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV Plus.

Oman deploys AVIWEST tech for live coverage of the Majlis Al-Shura elections

January 11, 2020

Using AVIWEST's patented Safe Streams Transport (SST) protocol, the Public Authority for Radio and TV journalists were able to transmit live videos over bonded 3G/4G and Wi-Fi connections.

Shure partners with Adam Levine to launch new line of wireless headphones

January 9, 2020

Levine has been involved with Shure for more than a decade and will be featured in the company’s new promotional campaign.

Sky Sports boss Barney Francis to leave company

Francis joined Sky in 2001 and was executive producer of its cricket coverage until 2007, when he became executive producer for football.

Airtel Nigeria launches new TV platform

Airtel has partnered with Trace Africa, Discover Digital and other content providers to secure content for the new Airtel TV platform.

Startimes Kenya adds two new documentary channels

The channels have been added to both the Basic as well as Classic and Super bouquet tiers of the pay TV platform.

Netflix denies ties with ‘Alexander the Great’ series, confirms new productions

In response to news reports tying Netflix with a production reportedly titled Alexander the Great, the streaming platform released a statement denying any knowledge or affiliation with such a production.

European TV Guild to source more than 100 channels for SuperTV in Africa

SuperTV will also stream these live channels plus offer them through video-on-demand platforms in partnership with mobile network operators throughout Africa.

Riedel Communications acquires Embrionix

The acquisition helps Riedel gains access to considerable engineering talent in the Embrionix workforce — the majority of which comprises engineers specialising in leading-edge IP and video technologies.

Etisalat’s E-Vision taps Synamedia for new OTT services in the MENA region

By selecting Synamedia as the end-to-end provider, E-Vision has also deployed market-leading video network technologies including a private CDN platform.

Kristen Stewart starrer ‘Underwater’ to release on January 9 in the UAE

The film offers sci-fi and horror fans a compelling, visceral adventure set seven miles beneath the surface of the ocean.

Arabic YouTube series ‘Aya!’ with all-female cast set to launch on January 24

The women will take on style-related challenges every week through 20-minute episodes, in keeping with a reality-television-show format.

Dubai filmmaker Jonathan Ali Khan dies at 59

Khan, who was well known for his natural history documentaries, died due to pneumonia complications at a local hospital.

Cinema Akil to host sixth edition of Reel Palestine Film Festival

The festival, which will feature critically acclaimed movies by Palestinian filmmakers, will run from January 17 to 25.

Submissions to Muscat International Film Festival to close on January 15

The festival will be held from March 24-28, 2020 under the theme “Make Your Film in Oman”, which aims to introduce international filmmakers to have cinematic experiences.

Africa to gain 17m pay-TV subcribers by 2025

African pay-TV subscriber numbers are set to climb by 54% between 2019 and 2025 to 47.26m, according to Digital TV Research.

OSN’s WAVO to show Arab-American series ‘Ramy’ exclusively in the Middle East

The series is written, produced, and created by Egyptian-American actor Ramy Youssef who won the Golden Globe award for Best Actor in a Comedy Series.

ITU adopts ATSC 3.0 as recommended digital broadcast standard

The next step is to update the ITU Digital Handbook with best practices for implementation of ATSC 3.0, according to the ATSC.

Marc Antoine takes charge at MBC Group

In an internal memo to staff, new CEO Marc Antoine d'Halluin stated that it was a privilege to be working at MBC, which he called "the brightest in the region’s...

TikTok partners with Egyptian megastar Tamer Hosny

The megastar posted his first TikTok video and pledged to bring more diversity to his content in 2020.

ITU adopts ATSC 3.0 as recommended digital broadcast standard

January 5, 2020

The next step is to update the ITU Digital Handbook with best practices for implementation of ATSC 3.0, according to the ATSC.

Apple TV Plus signs deal with former HBO chief Richard Plepler